Spelljammers

in Vehicles

A spelljammer was a type of magically powered vessel that could travel great distances, even into the Sea of Night. Each ship had a magical helm or "captains-chair" that allowed a suitably powerful mage to pilot the ship. Some spelljammers were also capable of traveling to other planes of existence.

Description

Spelljammers varied enormously in design, but many contained common elements. One such element that was present in a variety of spelljammers was fan-shaped sails, whose purpose was to harness the flow of the phlogiston, or, if within a planet's atmosphere, the wind.   The size of spelljammers was typically measured as their "tonnage", which reflected the volume occupied by a ship in spatial tons and was different from the typical tonnage of seafaring ships. One spatial ton was equivalent to a volume of 100 cubic yards (76 cubic meters).   When traveling through the emptiness of wildspace or the flow of the phlogiston, away from large objects, spelljammers could reach a top speed of 100,000,000 miles per day (6,800,000 kilometers per hour).   These high speeds also called "spelljamming speeds", could not be maintained in the vicinity of a gravity plane or inside an atmosphere. Whenever approaching an object at least 10 spatial tons, or 1,000 cubic yards (760 cubic meters) in volume, spelljammers immediately decelerated to much slower speeds, which were usually determined by the ship's size, the quality of the helm, and the pilot's magical capabilities.

History

Spelljamming technology has existed in the Realspace for a long time. For example, accounts say that some species, like beholderkind have always had Spelljamming technology. While most races can pilot and control a spelljammer, there are those that have a propensity for tinkering with the spelljamming helms themselves - the control seats of a spelljammer. Some rumors state that Illithids and Ceremorphosis Deep Gnomes under their control, have found a way to pilot massive ships without the need of a magical spelljamming helm. These new, revolutionary ships are not only faster than spelljammers but also can ignore the one-way flows of the phlogiston, able to punch holes into and out of any crystal sphere. The technology that has been recovered and looked over by artificers, scientists, scholars, and wizards alike, has been dubbed by the scientific community as Faster Than Light or FTL technology.   Because anyone can supposedly pilot an FTL ship, without the need of magic or psionics, the knowledgeable crystal spheres have set about trying to reverse-engineer this technology, while those who profit from the making and selling of spelljamming helms have been accused time and time again of sabotaging such research facilities, to prevent the technology from coming to fruition. Many scholars estimate that it will take some 1 million years, without any negative interference from outside groups and originations, before the FTL technology can be replicated.

The Spelljamming Helm

A spelljamming helm, spelljammer helm, or simply helm, is a magical device that powered a spelljamming vessel by converting magical energy into motion. Spelljamming helms are not the only method of moving spelljammers through space, but they are the easiest to come by and the most common. A helm can look like any sort of chair—from basic to as ornate as a throne. If examined with a detect magic spell, the helm gives off an intense magical aura. The helm has indentations for one's feet, arms, and head. A spelljamming helm, like a magical artifact, is nearly impossible to destroy.

Powers of the Helm

Any spellcaster—a user of arcane or divine magic—or creature with innate magical powers can sit in a helm. The spellcaster provides the magic that powers the vessel, like a kind of "living engine". Rangers and paladins can only pilot a spelljammer using a helm if they are capable of casting spells.   Spelljamming helms work best if the helmsman is well-rested and has not performed any magic that day. Whether "fresh" or not, a spellcaster will immediately lose all of his or her casting ability upon sitting in the helm and will be unable to use other forms of magic until he or she has rested again. The helm will attune itself to the brain waves of the helmsman and begin siphoning away magical power, which it can do from any distance. Oddly enough, even though this "link" remains for 24 hours and can extend over any distance, the helmsman can only utilize the benefits of the link—that is, piloting the ship—if seated in the helm.   When a spellcaster sits in a spelljamming helm, it feels like being submerged in a warm bath. At this point, one's senses are expanded; the spellcaster is still aware of his or her usual, physical senses but also feels as if the ship itself and the bubble of air around it are a part of his or her body. Sitting in a spelljamming helm gives the spellcaster awareness of everything taking place within the limits of the spelljammer's gravity plane, including vision of everything happening on the deck. Most individuals can pilot a spelljammer through its helm for half a day before tiring; using the helm for a solid day will eventually cause the helmsman to pass out.   If one spelljammer encountered another in wildspace, the helmsmen would sense their vessels automatically slowing down, usually with a general idea of the size of the encountered object. If the hull of the spelljammer took damage, the helmsman would feel pain or even be knocked unconscious. If a helmsman were killed, a spelljammer would drift forward, unable to change course. A helmsman could talk and act normally while seated in a helm, but if he or she moved or cast spells, the link to the spelljammer would be broken.   To move the ship at high speeds, the helmsman only had to mentally visualize distance and direction and will the spelljammer to move. This was said to feel like trying to move an arm or leg that has gone numb. It took some practice getting used to controlling a spelljammer through its helm. One new to piloting might accidentally send a spelljammer into orbit from the surface! For tactical control, the helmsman could also will motion but only very slowly. It was up to other crew members to use the vessel's sails for tight turns and other maneuvers.   Helms were limited by the mass of objects that they could move; if the object were too large or too small, the magic of the helm could not be used. The more magically powerful the spellcaster or creature sitting in the helm, the faster the spelljammer could travel at tactical speeds. At the extremely high speeds used to travel between planets, all spelljammers traveled at the same speed, 100,000,000 miles per day (160,000,000 kilometers per day). This was a property of spelljamming magic in general and not affected by helms.) Dead-magic zones did not quench the motive action of a spelljamming helm, provided it was already in operation when entering the zone.