Wildspace

Every D&D world—whether round, flat, or some other shape—exists in an airless void known as Wildspace. A world might be solitary, or it might have neighbors: one or more suns, worlds, moons, asteroids, comets, or other bodies. This neighborhood of celestial and planetary bodies is called a Wildspace system.
In Wildspace, the Material Plane and the Astral Plane overlap. Creatures and objects in Wildspace age normally and are effectively on both of those planes at once. If you were to leave your home world and continue outward until you neared the edge of your Wildspace system, you would begin to see a faint, silvery haze. By traveling into this haze, you pass from Wildspace into the Astral Sea, more colorfully known as the Silver Void. The deeper into the Astral Sea you travel, the thicker and brighter the haze becomes, but the stars that shine through it are always visible.
Wildspace and the Astral Sea together comprise the Astral Plane. The boundary's between Wildspace and the Astral Sea are said to ebb and flow throughout the ages, sometimes quite sporadically, or with strange 'pockets' or 'rivers' separating the two.

Wildspace System Classification

Wildspace (Crystalsphere) systems within the 'Crucible of Creation' setting are classified by their overall size of the material plane which has formed to create the system in question. Though exceptions have been recorded by various explorers, the vast majority of systems are spherical in nature, and so the overall diameter of the system utilized for providing a shorthand reference to the scope and size of those systems.

Traveling through Wildspace

Voyagers planning to explore or travel through Wildspace via a Spelljamming vessel would be wise to plan accordingly for the occassionally rather lengthy legs of the journey that traversing Wildspace entails. The environment is deadly, and travelers would be wise to pack their supplies, chart their course, and prepare contingency plans in the event of the unexpected. The following are some of the more common considerations that Wildspace Explorer's attempt to account for:

Air

Air Envelopes of Objects

The envelope of breathable air that forms around an object extends out from its surface a distance equal to the longest dimension of its form. For example, a spherical planet 5,000 miles in diameter has an air envelope 15,000 miles in diameter, with the planet at the center of it. An air envelope need not be spherical; for example, a block of wood 1 foot by 2 feet by 3 feet is surrounded by a more-or-less rectangular envelope of air 3 feet by 6 feet by 9 feet. The air envelope around a spelljamming ship typically has an ovoid shape. Diagram 2.1 shows the air envelope that surrounds a nautiloid that has a keel length of 180 feet. It extends 180 feet from the ship in all directions. The air envelope around a habitable planet or moon is called an atmosphere. An atmosphere is a special kind of air envelope that replenishes itself constantly. A creature or an object can refresh its air envelope by entering the atmosphere of a planet or moon (see “Overlapping Air Envelopes” below).

FIRE IN WILDSPACE - Although nonmagical fire cannot exist in the vacuum of Wildspace, magical fire (such as that created by a fireball spell) does burn in a vacuum. Magical fire does not cause objects to burst into flame, however, because there is no air to make ignition possible.

Air Quality and Air Units

The air envelope around a body or ship can be fresh, foul, or deadly. Air quality within an air envelope can change from one quality to another over time, but will typically remain constant if it is left undisturbed.

• Fresh air is completely breathable. Within the 'Crucible of Creation' campaign setting, the air envelope of a ship is considered fresh if it has more than 2/3 of of its total air unit capacity still present.
• Foul air is stale and partially depleted. It is humid and smells bad. Any creature that breathes foul air becomes Poisoned until it breathes fresh air again. If an air envelope contains more than 1/3 of its total air unit capacity, but less than 2/3, then the air is considered foul.
• Deadly air is unbreathable. Any creature that tries to breathe deadly air begins to Suffocate. If the supply of air within an air envelope is less than 1/3 of the envelopes total air unit capacity, than the air is considered deadly.

Each living creature requiring air that is onboard a ship will expend 1 unit of air each day. Thus, if a ship carries more creatures than its normal crew complement, it will exhaust the supply of fresh air more quickly. Non-magical fire will also consume air units, with each 5ft cube of fire expending 1 unit of air every minute. The following is a table was developed for use in the Crucible of Creation to help assess the air envelope quantities associated to ships of various sizes and to model the flow of fresh, foul, and deadly air across envelopes of similarly sized objects.

Overlapping Air Envelopes

When two bodies come close enough to each other, their air envelopes merge, with the remaining air units of the smaller vessel merging into the air envelope of the larger. The merging of air envelopes is partially dependent on the size difference of the bodies in question. For a ship (small) entering the air envelope of a planet (large), it will immediately come to match the air quality of the planet. For a ship (small) entering the air envelope of another ship (small), the air units of the smaller ship will merge with the air envelope of the larger. If the sum of the combined remaining air units exceeds the total capacity of the air envelope of the larger vessel, the excess units will burst forth from the envelope in a flurry of 'bubbles' that gradually float away from the ship and dissipate into nothingness.

When the air envelopes of two bodies split off from one another, the remaining air units will also be evenly divided between the two bodies. For a ship (small) leaving the air envelope of a large body such a planet, it will leave with the maximum amount of the equivalent air quality of that larger body (see the appropriate Air Limits in the Table above). For a ship (small) leaving the air envelope of another ship (small), the remaining air units of larger vessel gets divided evenly between the two vessels. If this even divide would result in the smaller vessel exceeding its total air unit capacity, the smaller vessel will only take up to its total air unit capacity (see Total Air Unit capacity in the Table above).

Air Envelopes of Creatures

The envelope of breathable air that forms around a creature takes the shape of a cube centered on that creature. The creature’s size determines the cube’s dimensions, as shown in the Air Envelopes of Creatures table.

A creature that needs to breathe will exhaust the air in its personal envelope in 1 minute. Since this is barely enough time to get anywhere, most creatures travel through Wildspace aboard spelljamming ships, which have much larger air envelopes.

Food and Water

While traveling through the Astral Sea does not impose any impact or requirements for food or drink, once explorer's have reached the islands of the material plane that exist as Wildspace locations, these daily functions will once more begin to assail them. Ensuring that the voyage is properly stocked with the necessary supplies for the voyagers and their crew to reach their intended destination and return is one of the basics of preparing for a voyage. When all else fails, many explorer's often opt to reduce the travel speed of their ship in order to try their hand at Astral Fishing, though one can never know exactly what they will catch.

Adversaries

Though wildspace may seem vast and empty, the reality is that there is a wide variety of adversary's who seem to raid and plunder unsuspecting vessels of whatever valuable resources they may be in possession of. Wild beasts prowl in search of prey and to mark their territory. Pirates plunder for wealth and goods. Desperate survivors may be looking for supplies or air. Slavers are looking to fill their holds. Empires seek to patrol, secure, and expand their borders. The list goes on and on. As such, ensuring the vessel is well equipped and restocked to handle these challengers is always a wise idea prior to heading out on a voyage.

Type

Region

Related Reports (Secondary)

• Session 1: The Ritual

Sources:

Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, Chapter 2