Pillarspace

Pillarspace is a crystal sphere located within the Rapide Frontier. Its name derives from the massive pillar of fire that travels across the diameter of the sphere, serving as its sun, in addition to the large pillars of water, earth, and miasma that are located at regularly spaced points at the edges of the sphere.
Pillarspace is downstream of a Phlogiston current from Nilespace, upstream from Mirrorspace, and is connected with Bugspace via a two-way current.
Three planets orbit around the Pillar at the center of the crystal sphere, though they do so at different "elevations," as if they were stacked on top of each other.

Geography

Dominating the center of the sphere is the Pillar, a mass of flames that spans the entire diameter of Pillarspace. Orbiting around the Pillar are three planets, all equidistant from the Pillar but at different "elevations" due to the unique nature of the sphere's sun. These planets, in order of smallest to largest, are:

• Secundus
• Minutus
• Hourus

Traditionally, Pillarspace is displayed "upright," that is with Secundus at the top and Hourus on the bottom.
The use of time-imagery for the planets' names is apt. Each planet rotates on its own axis and around the pillar at varying speeds, from a 6 month day and 12 month year around the pillar, using Astral Standard, on Secundus to a 1800 year day and 3600 year rotation around the pillar, using Astral Standard.
If Pillarspace could be viewed from "above," where the pillar of flame meets the crystal sphere at either end, then three additional significant bodies can be seen at areas that would denote 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and 9 o'clock on a standard clock. These areas are, traveling clockwise:

• The Shards, a column of 12 large and uncountable smaller planetoids floating motionlessly in a line
• The Columns, a vast network of watery columns that are frozen where they touch the crystal sphere and thaw as they approach the sphere's equator
• The Vortex, a massive, unceasing, static storm

Each of these areas are another pillar of a different element (earth, water, and air respectively) and also stretch from one wall of the crystal sphere to another.

Ecosystem Cycles

Based on the regular rotations of the planets of Pillarspace, Hourus, Minutus, and Secundus line up with one another once every 43,200 years. This, combined with reported instances of unreadable symbols appearing in the flames of the Pillar everytime Secundus completes a yearly rotation, has led to the speculation that some great event occurs everytime the planets aligns. The existence of the various elemental pillars is further proof, for believers of this theory, that a new pillar is formed every cycle. However, with the four elemental planes already represented in Pillarspace, opinions are divided on what could be summoned next.

Localized Phenomena

Due to the nature of each of the elemental pillars, Pillarspace shares an unusually thin barrier between the material and elemental planes. Of all the spheres of the Rapide Frontier, one is more likely to encounter elementals, genasi, and other representatives of the elemental planes in Pillarspace than anywhere else. 
Each pillar also displays unique phenomena. The largest of the planetoids that form the Shards contain their own gravity planes and atmospheres but yet seem resistent to the pull of gravity from their neighbors, hanging stagnantly. A few of the watery pillars that make up the Columns are permentately frozen while others become free-flowing water around the equator of the sphere with only the occasional glacier. Still others are formed entirely of water, but see to form and disappear without reason. As for the Vortex, the swirling storm is near impossible for most explorers to visit, but it is reported that the air within the Vortex is completely breathable, despite its location in space without an air envelope.

Fauna & Flora

The four pillars of Pillarspace each contain life representative of the elemental planes to which they are aligned. Of these, the Shards have the strongest spelljamming presence, as the planetoids provide easy places for spelljammers to dock and for crews to rest and trade. Additionally, the Pillar is a favorite nesting ground for solar dragons, who are drawn to its size and space when compared to the typical stars they reside in.
Each of the planets of Pillarspace has a native population, though with far more limited spelljamming presence than the elemental creatures of the pillars. The people of Hourus have adapted to its glacial rotation by building monumental structures all around the equator, measuring time according to which of these structures most recently passed into night.
Minutus is dominated by dragonborn that often war with each other over the sections of the planet bathed in light. As a day is 30 years and a year is 60, according to Astral Standard, few settlement on Minutus are permenant. The dragonborn of Minutus do have limited intra-system spacefaring technology, which they use to trade with Secundus, though due to the length of time it takes to travel between one planet and another, most of this trade is saved for the time when the two planets are aligned, once a year.
Secundus has the most robust spacefaring technology of the three planets. Ruled over by the four Lords of Secundus, most of the population and economy is dedicated towards resource harvesting, especially the minerals that can be extracted from its vast equatorial desert, or the creation of arts, like fine glass. These materials are then traded with the populations of Hourus and Minutus as Secondus passes by each one once a year. Said materials and fine arts also find their way into the greater spacefaring community beyond Pillarspace through spelljamming merchants that take contracts to shuttle goods to and from the planet.

by Original design by John Calvin (Chimpman)

Type

Planar Sphere/Grouping

Location under

Rapide Frontier