Starbeasts are the largest living creatures in the Known Spheres in the Spelljammer campaign setting. They are far larger than many planets - and in fact, often carry or support a planet in some way. The term "starbeasts" is used as a collective name for these creatures, though they are often unique, and may resemble monsters, beasts, or humanoids.[1]
Description[]
Starbeasts are usually unique beings found in the wildspace of various crystal spheres, supporting one or more celestial bodies. However, not all spheres contain starbeasts, and not all starbeasts support a world. Starbeasts are living creatures: they move, and in some cases are noticeably sentient, reacting to the presence of others. In certain spheres they are known to answer questions or pass on messages, and are revered as oracles, or as messengers of the gods, or as actual gods. However, in some spheres they are believed to have transgressed in some way and are being punished by the gods.
Starbeasts are typically 1 to 4 million miles (1.6 to 6.4 million kilometers) tall. They may occur singly, or form a system of various starbeasts standing on top of each other. Starbeasts are similar to the crystal shells in that they do not have gravity nor do they have an atmospheric envelope. Why this should be is unknown; most sages mumble something about the "will of the gods" and leave it at that.
A spelljamming ship can moor alongside a starbeast, but since it has no gravity, actually walking along a starbeast is very difficult. Actually communicating with a starbeast can be be very challenging, considering the difference in scale. Gargantuan creatures and larger have a small chance of gaining a starbeasts attention.
Where a world is in contact with a starbeast, the land is usually a devastated wasteland in perpetual shadow. The land itself is twisted and buckled by the constant pressure of the starbeasts' fingers, back or flippers. The starbeast itself is unaffected by contact with the world, and nothing grows on the creature's surface; not even those sections that lie within the planet's atmosphere.
Combat[]
Starbests cannot be harmed by physical or magical attacks; similar to a crystal shell. In turn, a starbeast can only attack with a death spell, which has a range equal to the starbeasts' height. A starbeast cannot be slain through conventional means; and even if it was possible, the ramifications of such an act are too horrible to contemplate. Legends tell of great heroes (or villains) who have tried to slay a starbeast, only to destroy their world in the process, or being punished for their hubris by being enlarged and forced to replace the starbeast in its task.[1]
Society[]
On the whole, starbeasts could care less about the lives of the inhabitants of the worlds they carry. However, they do know a great deal about the whereabouts and movements of other starbeasts.[2]
Notable Starbeasts[]
Starbeasts do not occur in all crystal spheres, and are for the most part quite rare. Natives of planets carried by starbeasts insist that their existence is the only logical explanation for planetary movement. Furthermore, they claim that all planets are carried by starbeasts, except that these creatures remain invisible and intangible because the inhabitants of those worlds are not worthy of the starbeasts' attention. Whatever the case, those starbeasts known to exist include the following:[2]
- A single giant holding a world above its head.
- A flat world supported on the backs of four elephants, which in turn are supported on the backs of eight dragons, which in turn are held up by a turtle which slowly moves around the sun.
- A water world held in the grip of a huge squid starbeast.
- A fire disc world carried in a vast bowl, held aloft by a female giant in flowing robes.
- An air world held between two huge hands, whose arms extend far below the surface of the crystal sphere itself.
- A monstrous jester who juggles a number of worlds. When the giant jester holds a world in its hands, the planet is rocked by earthquakes, tidal waves, and massive destruction. Of course, it takes centuries for one world to make a complete circuit, which is long enough for civilizations to rebuild.
- An enormous beholder, supporting the flat plane of a disc world above it with its eye stalks.
- Alligator-headed, jackal headed and giff-headed giants working in conjunction.
- One legendary starbeast resembles a neogi standing on the back of an umber hulk. The pair do not support a world, and it is surmised that the neogi ate the planet millenia ago. Of course, this is a spacefarers tale, and remains for the most part unconfirmed.
- A world held by a humanoid giant, who stands on the backs of four elephants, which in turn stand on the shell of an enormous turtle, which slowly swims through wildspace at the bottom of the crystal shell.[3]
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jeff Grubb. AD&D Adventures in Space; Lorebook of the Void, TSR, Inc., 1989, Starbeasts section, chapter 3: Spacefarers (pp.65–66)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jeff Grubb. AD&D Adventures in Space; Lorebook of the Void, TSR, Inc., 1989, Starbeasts section, chapter 3: Spacefarers (p.66)
- ↑ Jeff Grubb. AD&D Adventures in Space; Lorebook of the Void, TSR, Inc., 1989, Starbeasts section, chapter 3: Spacefarers (p.65)