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The planet Krynn and its three moons

A Planet, also known as a world, is the most common, and most diverse, type of celestial object found within wildspace, and is typically smaller than a sun and larger than an asteroid (though certain suns are considered worlds as well).[1][2][3]

"Worlds? Why, yes, there are worlds upon worlds upon worlds!
And to study them is to be very worldly, you know."
- Etombee the gnome sage[4]

Description[]

A planet is defined by its size, shape and composition. A typical planet is usually spherical in shape, and has a thick breathable atmosphere. A habitable planet will feature a wide variety of terrain types, and will be inhabited by a vast assortment of living creatures, some of whom will be sentient. Many planets are orbited by one or more smaller celestial bodies known as a moon. Most planetary systems revolve around a central body known as the system primary, which is usually, but not always, a sun, and is contained within an enormous crystal sphere.

Due to the enormous variety of planets in existence, exceptions often crop up throughout the Known Spheres. Planetary bodies can feature an assortment of shapes, and may even be made up of smaller bodies clumped together, known as a cluster. The composition of a planetary body can range from the mostly-earthen bodies familiar to most races, to enormous bodies composed mostly of air or water. Similarly a planet may have a toxic atmosphere, or no atmosphere at all (known as a voidworld). Unusual planetary systems may orbit around a central point, or they may be carried around by enormous starbeasts, or they may not move at all. The point is, anything is possible in an infinite universe.[5]

Homeworlds[]

A commonly held belief is that most sentient beings arose from a central homeworld. While this is true for relative newcomers to wildspace, such as the tinker gnomes of Krynn, the dracon and the giff, the same cannot be said of other, more established, races. As space and planar travel becomes more and more widespread, deciphering the migration pattern of various races to determine a point of origin becomes muddled and lost in a confusion of origin and creation myths.[6]

Types of Planets[]

Earth worlds[]

Earth worlds, while by no means the most common planets in wildspace, are certainly the most familiar to spacefaring races. In general, earth worlds are spheres of rock, with more or less complex internal structures. The vast majority have atmospheres, while many also have vast oceans or seas. Surface conditions vary wildly, as do the number and types of life forms native to these worlds. The overwhelming majority of earth-type worlds have earth-normal gravity, regardless of their size - why this is true is a mystery - although a few have gravity fields much stronger or much weaker than the norm.

For comparison purposes, worlds such as Toril, Oerth and Krynn are classified as "standard" planets. Cartographers often describe a relatively unknown planet in terms of "standard" or "non-standard" when describing certain planetary characteristics.[7]

The greatest danger facing spaceborn travellers when approaching an earth world is burning up when passing through the atmospheric envelope and crashing during an uncontrolled landing. The ground tends to be very unforgiving to most ships, and many spelljamming vessels never land on earth worlds at all.[8]

Fire worlds[]

Although fire bodies are technically among the most common objects in wildspace, especially since most suns and many stars qualify as such; fire-based planetary bodies that orbit a system primary are a great deal rarer. The most common form of fire world is composed of a flaming gaseous atmosphere wrapped around a volatile fiery core. The atmosphere would normally be breathable by natural forms of Iife, if it weren't raised to such a temperature that breathing it would instantly burn out an unprotected creatures lungs. The core of a fire world is often a small sphere of liquid fire, or, more rarely, a portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire, though most fire-type planets have one or more portals to the plane of fire somewhere within their mass.

The greatest danger facing spacefarers approaching a fire world is the inhuman heat, which is great enough to totally immolate a ship and its crew unless they are suitably protected. A fire world can be considered to be surrounded by rings or zones of heat. As a ship approaches the fire world, the heat increases exponentially. At the furthest reaches from the fire world there is no heat. Within the first ring or zone, living creatures begin taking 1-6 points of fire damage per round, which doubles when entering each successive ring, to a maximum of 30-180 points of fire damage per round. A ship's hull sufferers similar damage, with fires breaking out as soon as the vessel is exposed to the heat for long enough. Eventually even a ship's hull made of stone or metal will begin to melt or liquify as it draws nearer. The extent of these zones depends on the size of the fire world, but as a rule of thumb, a body falling uncontrollably toward a sun will typically pass through a ring every round.[9][10]

Water worlds[]

Water worlds are typically quite diverse: Some water-type planets are frigid worlds, encircled by a crust of ice, or even solid ice to the core; while others are almost boiling. The majority have an atmosphere, while a few have none - the water is separated from the vacuum of space by a semi-elastic membrane. Most water worlds have at least some solid land: islands floating on or within the planet's watery sphere. Most have a solid core, although the immense pressure at that depth would crush the most rugged ship like an eggshell. Unless the particular world has islands that float on top of the water, exploring a water world requires the use of magic such as water breathing or airy water spells.[11]

Spacefarers attempting to explore a water world face the two-fold dangers of sinking and drowning. A ship landing on a water world with an atmosphere does so relatively risk free. On the other hand, landing on a water-type planet without an atmosphere risks diving below the world's surface. Unless a ship has been specifically designed to operate in an aquatic environment, diving below a water world's surface will immediately displace the ship's air envelope, sinking the vessel, which will inevitable be crushed due to the effects of water pressure. Bodies and other buoyant objects will eventually float to the planet's surface as flotsam. Unless the crew and passengers can swim or breathe water, they risk drowning.[12]

Air worlds[]

Air worlds are the most common type of planet in the majority of crystal spheres. They range widely in size, but are often the largest planets in the system (known as gas giants). Air worlds vary widely in other characteristics as well. While some are only spheres of gas, with no solid material anywhere within them - even at their core - many have floating or orbiting masses of earth, water or even fire. Many air worlds have extremely volatile weather patterns, since there is nothing, or very little, to block or reduce the effects of wind. Most air worlds have a layer of cloud cover, or many such layers, but there are some that have no clouds at all. Air-type planets can be totally invisible, and the first sign that a spelljamming captain might have is when their vessel drops to tactical speed and the ship is suddenly enveloped by an atmosphere. Most air worlds have earth-normal gravity, though some exceptional cases have reduced or increased gravity, while some have almost no gravity whatsoever.[13]

The atmosphere of an air-type planet typically trails off into the void of wildspace itself, though some air words are surrounded by a semi-permeable membrane, resembling a bubble. Although air worlds are used by most spelljamming captains to refresh their ship's air envelope, some feature poisonous clouds or smoke, while a rare few are entirely toxic.[14]

Live worlds[]

A liveworld is similar to an earth-type world in that it consists of a dense core surrounded by a layer of breathable air. However, the bulk of a liveworld is made up of living material, such as plants, and the ecosystem is typically entirely integrated. A "liveworld" as a philosophical concept was first adopted by the spacefaring cultures of Kara-Tur on Toril, whereas most other cultures categorise these planets simply as "earth worlds". Of course, within wildspace there are many enormous living creatures that are large enough to be considered worlds, including certain murderoids and the creatures known as world-beasts.

The dangers posed to spacefarers by a liveworld are similar to that of an earth world. On top of that, the surface of a liveworld typically teems with plant and animal life, though there are hardly ever any sentient races such as humans, elves or dwarves.[15]

See also[]

References[]

  1. Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Concordance of Arcane Space, 1989, (TSR Inc.), Celestial Bodies section, chapter 1: Arcane Space, page 6
  2. Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Concordance of Arcane Space, 1989, (TSR Inc.), chapter 5: Celestial Mechanics, page 71-77
  3. Nigel Findley, SJR4 Practical Planetology, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Introduction, pages 2-3
  4. Jean Rabe, SJR7 Krynnspace, 1993, (TSR Inc.), sidebar, page 91
  5. Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Concordance of Arcane Space, 1989, (TSR Inc.), Non-Standard Systems sidebar, pages 68, 70 and 72
  6. Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Lorebook of the Void, 1989, (TSR Inc.), Homeworlds sidebar, page 88
  7. Nigel Findley, SJR4 Practical Planetology, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Introduction, chapter 2: Earth Bodies, page 4
  8. Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Lorebook of the Void, 1989, (TSR Inc.), Part 1: Earth Worlds, Types of Worlds sidebar, pages 26 and 28
  9. Nigel Findley, SJR4 Practical Planetology, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Introduction, chapter 3: Fire Bodies, page 20
  10. Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Lorebook of the Void, 1989, (TSR Inc.), Part 2: Fire Worlds, Types of Worlds sidebar, pages 30, 32 and 34
  11. Nigel Findley, SJR4 Practical Planetology, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Introduction, chapter 4: Water Bodies, page 25
  12. Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Lorebook of the Void, 1989, (TSR Inc.), Part 3: Water Worlds, Types of Worlds sidebar, pages 36, 38 and 40
  13. Nigel Findley, SJR4 Practical Planetology, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Introduction, chapter 5: Air Bodies, page 33
  14. Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Lorebook of the Void, 1989, (TSR Inc.), Part 4: Air Worlds, Types of Worlds sidebar, pages 62, 64 and 66
  15. Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Lorebook of the Void, 1989, (TSR Inc.), Part 5: Liveworlds, Types of Worlds sidebar, pages 90, 92 and 94
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