A Sargasso is a magic-dead area which causes all magic to fail, including spells, magic items, and spelljamming helms.[1]
Description[]
Most sargasso are completely invisible and uncharted, though a few are discernible from their surroundings, such as the Sea of Shadows. As soon as a spelljammer enters the affected region, the helmsman at the helm will feel the lack of magic as a kind of sickening emptiness, similar to the sensation of falling. At this point, an experienced helmsman has a small chance to make a last-minute correction to their course in the hopes of avoiding the sargasso; otherwise they cross the boundary and fully enter the null-magic zone.
When a spelljamming vessel enters a sargasso, the helm's functionality will fade, then recover for a minute, before ceasing to function entirely.[1] If a helmsman is still at the helm when it loses power, they will fall unconscious and will remain in a catatonic state for a number of days. During this time, the ship will continue to move in a straight line at tactical speed due to its own inertia, and will continue to drift until it escapes the effects of the sargasso, or its progress is impeded or altered by striking an object.[2][3]
Depending on the size of the sargasso (and they can range in size from hundreds[3] to a million miles[4] in diameter), and unless the ship entered at an oblique angle, it could take a drifting ship many months, even years, to reach the edge of the magic-dead zone, meaning the crew of a ship trapped in a sargasso would surely exhaust their supplies before their eventual escape.[2][3] To somewhat mitigate the threat posed by these navigational hazards, a device known as a sargasso detector was developed by an elven mage named Thalia over a hundred years ago. However, only a few of these devices have been made and they rarely appear for sale on the open market.[5]
Escaping from a sargasso can be as simple as being spotted by another ship, which then fires over a tow cable (often for a hefty fee), or as complex as tearing the helm loose from the ship, tying a rope to it and catapulting it and a spellcaster out of the sargasso so that they can pull the ship free.[6]
Types of sargasso[]
Deadwood sargasso[]
When entering a Deadwood sargasso, a spelljamming ship immediately comes to a dead stop, as if it ran into a wall of force, causing all unsecured objects and crew members to crash to the deck or into any nearby bulkheads. Unlike a normal sargasso, a deadwood sargasso does not affect spells, magic items or helms; instead it renders a spelljamming vessel inert by temporarily altering the material that makes up its hull - be it wood, metal or some other material - so that it no longer responds to the propulsion produced by a spelljamming engine or helm. Though the helm itself appears to be unaffected by the deadwood sargasso, the ship will not respond to any form of magical propulsion for up to 8 weeks.
The ship itself does not drift through space; instead it is frozen in place. However, the vessel can be towed or physically moved out of the sargasso, though it remains inert for up to 8 weeks. The deadwood sargasso even resists the effects of a wish spell, which merely negates the effects of the sargasso for only a few seconds - hardly a meaningful period of time. A deadwood sargasso is typically around 500 yards (1,500 feet) in diameter, and does not affect a trapped vessel's air envelope.[7]
Magekiller sargasso[]
A Magekiller sargasso resembles a standard sargasso, except that the effect randomly drains a single spell from a wizard's mind every hour, until their full compliment of spells are gone, whereupon the sargasso slowly drains the spellcaster's lifeforce over a number of days. Other spellcasters, such as priests and sorcerers, are affected in much the same way, except that it is often much easier for them to recover spells, whereas it is often impossible for a wizard to relearn their spells while within a magekiller sargasso. Magekiller sargassos are fortunately quite rare, and range in size from 5,000 to 10,000 yards (15,000 to 30,000 feet) in diameter.[6]
Appendix[]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ed Greenwood, SJR1 Lost Ships, 1990, (TSR Inc.), Flotsam of Space chapter, page 37
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dale "Slade" Henson, SJR2 Realmspace, 1991, (TSR Inc.), The Sun chapter, page 6
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), The Sisters section, Additional Astronomicals chapter, page 71
- ↑ Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), The Sisters section, Additional Astronomicals chapter, page 72
- ↑ Nigel D. Findley, SJR6 Greyspace, 1992, (TSR Inc.), New Magical Items chapter, pages 87-88
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Sam Witt, The Astromundi Cluster, The Celestial Almanac, 1993, (TSR Inc.), Navigational Hazards section, pages 9-10
- ↑ Rick Swan, SJQ1 Heart of the Enemy, 1992, (TSR Inc.), Dead Stop section, chapter 1: Kora, Iki, and Tolivin, page 17