Borka is the eighth celestial body in orbit around the system primary Oerth in the crystal sphere known as Greyspace.[1][2][3] Borka is a cluster of several thousand size A earth bodies, all sharing a common atmosphere. Originally a small planet dominated by orcs, goblins and other humanoids, Borka was shattered by the elves during the first Unhuman War with the aid of their gods.[1]
"Never forgive, never forget."
- Orcish aphorism.[4]
Overview[]
Borka is a cluster of several thousand rocks, all sharing a common atmosphere. Individual rocks range in size from less than 500 yards (457 meters) in diameter to almost 10 miles (16 kilometres) in diameter. Some rocks are roughly spherical, while others are completely irregular. The cluster itself is roughly spherical, or at least the atmospheric envelope is, and is about 5000 miles (8046 kilometres) in diameter. The average distance between individual rocks is about 500 yards (457 meters). Most rocks are on the smaller end of the scale, with an average rock being less than 1 mile (1.6 kilometre) in diameter. There are perhaps 50 major rocks within Borka, all over 5 miles (8 kilometres) in diameter.
Each rock within Borka has its own gravity, with ‘down’ being towards its center of mass. The strength of the gravity field appears to vary from rock to rock and, apparently, has no correlation with the rock's mass. Generally speaking, a rock’s gravity field extends about 100 yards (91 meters) from its surface. When rocks are in close proximity, however, things begin to change. For some reason, the gravity fields will not overlap, If two rocks are less than 200 yards (182 meters) apart, their gravity fields actually change shape so that they do not overlap. No matter how close two rocks are, there is always a gap of at least 5 yards (4.5 metres) between their gravity fields.
Each rock within Borka tumbles or spins around its own axis at its own rate. This means that each rock has its own day length. Rotation rate generally relates to mass, in that smaller rocks usually rotate faster than their larger brethren. ‘Usually’ is the key word, however; there are several very noticeable exceptions, including a major rock that has a day only one hour long. The rocks all orbit a point at the center of the cluster. They do so very slowly, taking almost a century to complete one orbit. During their orbits, rocks may come near each other – so near that their gravity fields have to adjust – but they never collide.[5]
Inhabitants[]
"A civilization based on the desire for destruction may be dynamic, but yet is fundamentally flawed, carrying the seed of its own doom."
- excerpt from Directions by Lukaas Benden[6]
Borka is dominated by humanoids, including orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and kobolds. The inhabitants of Borka have divided themselves along racial lines. The orcs, who are the most numerous, hold most of the major rocks. The hobgoblins have taken a few of the major rocks as their own, and spill over onto some of the smaller ones. The goblins own most of the mid-sized rocks, while the kobolds are left with the smallest or most irregular rocks that nobody else wants. There exists a strong rivalry among these different racial groups, but only rarely does it reach the level of violence. After all, everyone on Borka knows who their true enemy is, and recognize that fighting among themselves will ruin any chance of ever getting the vengeance they so lust after.
The inhabitants of Borka are secretly turning their shattered world into a significant military base. Hidden in the midst of the cluster, far away from prying eyes, are several rocks that have been almost completely hollowed out. Within these hollow asteroids are the warships that will one day sail forth as the Borka Retribution Fleet. Other asteroids have been turned into supply dumps and training camps. Almost all of these facilities are concealed within asteroids so that casual visitors will not spot them.
The humanoids of Borka fear, quite reasonably, that the elves will descend on them in force should they ever discover their plans, and that this time they won't leave any survivors. For this reason, the Borkan humanoids operate under principles of strictest secrecy. Visitors to the Borka cluster will, at first, see nothing but the shattered remnants of a humanoid culture, inhabited by destitute war victims trying to claw their way back from the savagery into which the elves blasted them. If the visitors seem to be on the verge of penetrating this carefully crafted illusion, the humanoids will either drive them off or will simply destroy them. Ships that sail, unannounced and uninvited, into the heart of the cluster are attacked without warning. Several smaller rocks around the hollow star-base asteroids have been turned into floating weapons platforms, bristling with enough concealed catapults, jettisons, and ballistae to reduce even the most powerful spelljamming vessel into flotsam. So far, several vessels from Oerth have been lost in the Borka cluster, but nobody seems to suspect foul play, thinking instead that the ships were lost to accidents or incompetence. (In fact spacefarers are beginning to believe Borka is jinxed, a place of ill omen to be avoided at all costs.)[7]
Trade[]
As far as most inhabitants of Greyspace are concerned, Borka has absolutely nothing of value whatsoever to contribute to trade. Visitors to the Borka cluster are allowed to see only those settlements that reinforce this view.[8]
- Potemkiz - Located on the periphery of the cluster is a large asteroid 5 miles (4.5 kilometres) in diameter, and is the first notable asteroid that visitors will see when approaching the cluster. Potemkiz is home to several hundred orcs and hobgoblins, apparently eking out a hard and savage existence on this jagged chunk of rock. Agriculture is difficult, and the inhabitants all look malnourished and weak. Having apparently lost their warlike spirit, they appear instead to be pitiful war victims. Of course, this is all a facade, In fact, all the inhabitants of Potemkiz are volunteers from other orc and hobgoblin communities. They serve a six-month tour of duty on the rock before returning to their normal lives. Potemkiz volunteers are drilled and trained beforehand, so that they all tell the same, pitiful story about the harsh realities of life on Borka.[9]
- Despite the way things might appear on Potemkiz, most of the rocks of Borka are quite rich in natural resources. Most of the rocks have at least one mine operating on them (the mine-heads and support facilities are concealed so they cannot be spotted by visitors). The humanoids of Borka keep most of the useful metals for use in the construction of spelljamming vessels, weapons and armor. The softer, less useful metals and minerals are traded surreptitiously to other humanoid nations elsewhere in the universe, or directly to the arcane for helms, weapons, and other necessities.[8]
- The Egg - Deep within the cluster is a large egg-shaped asteroid, named unimaginatively enough, “the Egg”. At about 10 miles (16 kilometres) long and seven miles (11 kilometres) in diameter at its widest point, the Egg is one of the largest rocks in Borka, It also serves as a major base for the Borka Retribution Fleet. While the Egg has gravity along its external surface, the massive 100 yard+ (91 meters+) caverns the humanoids have excavated within have no gravity. This makes the Egg an ideal spacedock for spelljamming vessels. Currently there are almost two dozen vessels of various types within the Egg, while more are being built all the time.[9]
- Visitors will rarely get to see the Egg, and even more rarely will they survive the experience. Surrounding the spacedock are several small asteroids that have been turned into devastating weapons platforms, armed with dozens of heavy weapons. Ships coming anywhere near near these weapons platforms are surely doomed.[8]
History[]
"Racial hatreds are the most long-lasting. It is virtually impossible to erase them without resorting to genocide."
- excerpt from Directions by Lukaas Benden[10]
Originally, Borka was a spherical earth world about 3,500 miles (5,633 kilometers) in diameter (about size D). It resembled Oerth in terms of its atmosphere and its ecology, except that its weather patterns were considerably harsher, and its winters significantly more brutal (due to its distance from the Sun). Unusually, the dominant sentient species on Borka were predominantly goblinoid races, including orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and kobolds.
For centuries, the Borkans were confined to their homeworld: after years of astronomical and astrological study they had come to understand that the moving lights in the sky were actually other worlds like their own, though they had no way of visiting them. Quite naturally, they assumed these worlds would be like their own, including the fact that goblinoids were at the top of the evolutionary ladder.
Then one day a vessel came spiralling down out of the empty sky; a vessel of yellow-green living crystal with an angular body and upswept wings: an elven man-o'-war. Fascinated, crowds of goblinoids drew closer for better look at this wonder. The elves onboard the vessel looked out on what they thought was a horde of attacking humanoids, and panicked. They lashed out with magic and the ship's heavy weapons. Suddenly under attack, the spectators turned into the violent mob the elves feared, and before the ship could climb out of range, hundreds of goblinoids swarmed the vessel, forcing it down through shear weight of numbers. The mob then broke into the vessel and slaughtered the crew, before destroying the ship itself. This was the inhabitants of Borka's first encounter with elves, and it would set the stage for what happened next.
Over the next few decades, other ships would land on Borka; some would meet the same fate as the elves, but most survived the experience. The vessels that fared the best were themselves crewed by goblinoids - members of various spacefaring fleets that would go on to face the Elven Imperial Navy in what would become known as the first Unhuman War. As the conflict began heating up, the goblinoid fleets began actively recruiting Borkan's as crewmen and marine's to serve on their ships, though the majority of Borka's population seemed fated never to have the chance to participate in the great events unfolding in the skies above them.
It was at this point that several Arcane merchants approached various tribes, offering to sell them spelljamming technology in exchange for minerals, ores and other natural resources. Several of the major tribes jumped at the chance to make their mark on the universe, and used their arcane-supplied helms to build a fleet of warships and almost immediately took to the void.
The Elven fleet based in Greyspace hadn't been expecting any kind of trouble from Borka. While they were fully aware that the planet was dominated by tribes of their racial enemies, the prevailing thought was that they were far too primitive to ever leave their world and cause any trouble for the Imperial Fleet. So overconfident were they, that they hadn't even bothered to maintain the barest level of surveillance over the goblinoid homeworld, so when the small, ill-trained and poorly equipped fleet from Borka boiled over into wildspace, the elves were taken completely by surprise, allowing the Borkan fleet to inflict significantly more damage than they would have achieved under normal circumstances.[11]
At the time, the Greyspace fleet had committed the bulk of its resources to engaging enemy fleets elsewhere. Unable to divert enough ships and personnel to invade Borka and suppress their military forces, the elves came to a fateful realization that has colored their thinking ever since: planetary invasions were expensive, in terms of manpower, ships and material; planetary destruction was not. Having made their decision the elven high mages began formulating spells of cataclysmic power, while elven priests began praying to their gods for aid. When all was in readiness, and with the aid of their gods, the elves struck the world of Borka with a blast of extradimensional magic titanic in scope, shattering the planet into thousands of rocky fragments. Most of the population of Borka was killed, though some lucky individuals survived to eke out a subsistence living on what remained of their world.[12]
When they learnt of the catastrophe that had struck their people, the Borkan fleet immediately returned to save as many survivors as they could. Some captains loaded their ships with as many refugees who wished to leave as they could and sought sanctuary elsewhere. Other crews swore vengeance, dedicating their lives to destroying as many elven ships as they could before meeting their own ends. Some, however, decided to remain on what remained of Borka and rebuild what the elves had destroyed.[13]
Fortunately, goblinoids breed very fast and they were able to recover some of their population in short order, and as the first Unhuman War drew to a close, surviving fleets began to arrive looking for sanctuary. Even as these refugees provided some much needed manpower, they also brought with them the spelljamming technology, weapons and ships that would form the core of what would become the Borka Retribution Fleet. While the inhabitants of Borka were divided along racial lines, rarely did any rivalry spill over into armed conflict: afterall, everyone knew who the true enemy was, and they all recognized that any infighting would ruin any chance they had of getting the vengeance they so lusted after.[13]
As for the elves who had committed genocide on the people of Borka, they met their fate soon after. The entire Greyspace fleet was destroyed to the last ship, through a combination of accidents (which the natives of Borka claimed as retribution by their own gods) and relentless attacks by goblinoid forces. The details of exactly how the elves of Greyspace annihilated an entire world died with them, though many races have tried to replicate the magical rituals required to release such destructive power, fortunately without success.[13]
Appendix[]
See also[]
- Torgnakh
- Ragininth
- Ja-Ja-Kek
External Links[]
- Oerth article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
- Greyspace at Beyond the Moons (the official Spelljammer website)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Lorebook of the Void, 1989, (TSR Inc.), chapter 4: Known Spheres, page 91
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jeff Grubb, AD&D Adventures in Space, Concordance of Arcane Space, 1989, (TSR Inc.), Greyspace sidebar, pages 78 and 80
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Borka chapter, pages 54-59
- ↑ Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), sidebar, page 54
- ↑ Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Borka chapter, page 54
- ↑ Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), sidebar, page 57
- ↑ Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Borka chapter, pages 56-57
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Borka chapter, page 58
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Borka chapter, page 57
- ↑ Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), sidebar, page 56
- ↑ Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Borka chapter, pages 54-55
- ↑ Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Borka chapter, pages 55-56
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Borka chapter, page 56
Connections[]
| Greyspace |
|---|
| Celestial Bodies of Greyspace |
| Oerth (Primary) | Kule | Raenei | Liga | The Grinder | Edill | Gnibile | Conatha | Ginsel | Borka | Greela | The Spectre |
| Additional Astronomicals of Greyspace |
| The Sisters | The Great Sargasso | The Habitat | Dark Stars |