There are countless thousands of these, of many sizes, which are in orbits of 2 to 4 AU. Some are rock, some valuable ore, some earth, and some rock and ice. The only known inhabitants are strange Dwarves, who live on and in them, mining, and these worship (or respect, or at least blame) the god Finagle, whoes prophet is Murphy. They call themselves 'Belters', and some cut their hair in strange ways. Some of these dwarves trade with those on Durin. It is said that terrible monsters lurk in The Belt.
The Belt is also (for simplicity) considered to include the Dagda (Jupiter) Trojan asteroids, which are grouped about 60 degrees ahead and behind of Dadga (the Leading Trojans, and the Trailing Trojans) in its orbit.
There have been dwarven settlers in The Belt for thousands of years, maybe tens of thousands of years - even dwarven histories are unclear. And, even after all that time, probably only a tenth of the couple of million starstones have been properly mapped and explored. The dwarves are not in a hurry, and look forward to the new discoveries that will come in the future.
The largest of the starstones, Demeter (2.76AU, Tiny(C) Sphere, Earth Body), is also the main dwarven settlement, and administrative centre. The dwarven Council of Elders meets there, and here is the Hall of Records (also called the Hall of History). Allegedly the best dwarven brewery in The Belt is here, but there is a lot of argument about this.
The second largest of the starstones, Vesta (2.36AU, Tiny(C) Sphere, Earth Body), is also the second largest dwarven settlement, and is used mainly for farming and animal rearing. Originally this was one of the main dwarven mines, as it combined a large size with rich minerals, but most of the best ore is now gone, and the ex-mines all over the surface are used for storage, or for shelter in the case of raids. Notable surface features are an immense circular lake, or possibly a small sea, nearly 300 mls across, near the south pole, surrounded by mountains, which has a mountainous island in the centre. There are also a number of smaller crater-lakes, about 90 mls across, scattered over the surface.
The third largest of the starstones, Pallas (2.77AU, Tiny(C) Sphere, Earth Body), is the main dwarven trading centre. This is also where a number of the greatest dwarven merchants have their mints, and store quite a lot of their wealth. While this is about the same size as Vesta it is much less rich in minerals, so the dwarves regard it as smaller.
The fourth largest of the starstones, Hygia (3.14AU, Tiny(C) Sphere, Earth Body), is the main dwarven coal mine. The use of coal and the coke made from it, rather than charcoal, are some of the metal-making techniques that the dwarves do their best to keep secret and hidden from other races. Coal is sometimes referred to as '(dwarven) blackstone', or by the more knowledgable, 'burning stone'.
There are fragments of tales from many millenia ago that the dwarves of The Belt once found themselves in an (undetailed) situation where they looked very likely to be wiped out. They were helped by what was alleged to be a time-travelling adventurer, who used the unlikely name of 'Hackenbacker'. He was a very skilled crafter, and the dwarves who worked with him came to believe that he was divinely inspired. They asked about his religious beliefs, and, apparently reluctantly, he told them of Finagle, whoes prophet is Murphy.
The essence of these beliefs was that worship (or at least respect) of Finagle could prepare you for how things could and would go wrong, particularly dangerous if you are living in wildspace, and ensure you were as far as possible ready for this. He did warn them that the worship of Finagle was considered dangerous, and in fact insane, by some.
GM Option: If you consider Finagle is not suitable for your campaign then you may wish to substitute some sort of combination of a smith and trickster god. It is possible that some varient on Vulcan/Hephaestus would suit this, as living near the volcanos sacred to that god might be considered risky in the same way that living and mining in wildspace is. Alternatively you might wish to use a god something like AllSmith, which would be an alternative to the idea of 'Hackenbacker' proposing Finagle (Hackenbacker is in the rather strange position of being a paladin of Finagle or a priest of All Smith, depending on where he is).
Rock Boats are smaller than their immense Citadels, but still fully enclosed, dwarven craft carved from solid rock which they use for movement around in The Belt, where something like a Dwarven Citadel would be too unweildy. They do not use spelljamming Helms, as the dwarves do not tend to have the skills to make these, or the spellcasters to pilot them, but instead use something called an Anvil Helm, and as a power source a rare gem/crystal called a Star Heart. They can land, but put them down on water and they'd sink.
Hull KL BL SS T/HP Crew MC AC Hard Cost Small Boat 30 8 1 1 2/ 1 C 16 1 5 Boat 45 12 2 5 5/ 5 D 14 1 8 Large Boat 60 16 3 10 7/10 D 12 1 10
A Large Boat could carry a Small Boat, strapped to it, which is used to do the short-range work, once a Large Boat has got into the general area. In an emergency a Large Boat could probably carry a second Small Boat; carrying these uses up cargo capacity. The various rock boats do not have weapons mounted as standard, though they could be fitted to all but a Small Boat - dwarves are much more inclined to rely on boarding actions, and close-in fighting.
Anvil Helms are metalwork anvils which would look more at home in a smithy, bolted to the deck inside a rock boat. These are ritually prepared anvils which have soaked in the creative energies of a Forge, in the foundry room of a Dwarven Citadel, for at least thirteen months and a day. For every anvil soaking up energy the Forge will be -1 SR, so there is rarely more than one soaking at once, and an extra 10,000 gp of work is needed per anvil for that period. Further, the forge master must be a dwarf of at least 15th level (which is the Helm's Caster Level), though he or she can have deputies who work the other two shifts who need be no more than 8th level. Market value of Anvil Helms is 20,000 gp.
Star Hearts: Even though once its preparation is complete and Anvil Helm is ready to use, on an indefinite basis, it still needs a source of power, and even the largest possible rock boat is far too small for a proper dwarven forge. There is a special, padded, socket in the base of each Anvil Helm in which must be placed a Star Heart, a fist-sized gem/crystal which faintly glows with the light of the stars, and is only rarely found growing on a permanently dark side of a few asteroids. These have a market value of 10,000 gp.
Using an Anvil Helm is something that is only possible using the creative abilities of a dwarf, i.e. the helmsman must be a dwarf, with at least one rank in a Craft skill; and the anvil must be regularly tapped with a small hammer, at least once per two rounds. Some more traditional dwarves insist that they must be working on a small piece of metalwork while using the Helm. In all other espects an Anvil Helm functions as a standard spelljamming Helm, including the sensory abilities and spelljamming speed, limited to a maximum of ten tons, and with SR 2 (your level is irrelevant). An Anvil Helm may only be powered by a Star Heart, so a rare dwarven spellcaster would not be able to substitute their own magical energies.
A Star Heart is charged-up ready for use by exposing it to concentrated sunlight, usually produced by a carefully arranged array of metal mirrors, which must be erected outside the Rock Boat in wildspace; the more mirror, the quicker the charging time. Normal time is two hours at the distance The Belt is from the sun, Ra, using a 36 square ft. mirror, down to ten minutes for an immense mirror array. If within the atmosphere of more than a size class A(Fine) body multiply the re-charge time by at least ten, for example twenty for light cloud - forget recharging if there is complete cloud cover.
A fully-charged Star Heart can move one spelljamming ton (i.e. one hull point) of vessel at SR 2 for ten days (moving at SR 1 does not extend this period). While powering an Anvil Helm a Star Heart cannot be charging. Once a Star Heart has been used in a Helm it will work in no other Helm, and one will last for about three-hundred and twenty-five months in standard use, light use for double that, and very occasional use much longer. There is no reason, apart from cost, that a Helm should not have more than one Star Heart that can be used in it (only one may be used at a time).
Crank Engines consist of a large crank, turned by two dwarves, which via a series of valves and tubes allows air to be pumped-out around a rock boat to allow low-speed maneuvering. This is a variety of Non-magical Engine, and allows at most 17 mph or SR 1, has no spelljamming speed, and operates with MC F, no matter what the Hull normally provides. As usual for Non-magical Engines, you cannot take-off from larger than size class A (Fine) bodies. Due to the extensive tubing and careful balancing required, one of these is most sensibly fitted to a rock boat during construction, at a cost of 2,500 gp; fitting one later, typically only possible in a shipyard, costs 5,000 gp.
The down-side of using a Crank Engine, rather than an Anvil Helm, is that inside a solid rock hull, without the sensory abilities that you get from a Helm, you have very limited visibility. It might even be worth making sure you have at least a few minutes use left in your Star Heart, so you can take a glimpse, every so often, at your surroundings, even though you are using the Crank Engine to move around.
Large Rock Boats typically travel along fixed routes, which are less than the 1 AU they are capable of on one charging of their normally single Star Heart. Rock Boats are more flexible, with their 2 AU range. Small Rock Boats flit all over The Belt, and the few other parts of the system that the dwarves normally travel, with their 10 AU range. Almost all pilots like to ensure that there is at least 10% of the charge in their Star Heart left at the end of any voyage, i.e. 0.1 AU, 0.2 AU and 1 AU, respectively.
Most Rock Boat travel using spelljamming speed is out of the plane of the ecliptic, where most of the bodies in The Belt orbit. This minimises the risk of loosing time by coming too close to something, and dropping back to tactical speed.
One of the reasons that the dwarves are cautious about exploring The Belt is that they have so far discovered at least three 'Veiled Worlds'; they guess there might be up to another thirty, if the number is proportional to the number of starstones they have so far explored. The existence of Veiled Worlds is something which the dwarves make considerable attempts to hide from non-dwarves. These attempts have been mostly successful, but there are still a few myths about there being some very strange worlds in The Belt.
A Veiled World is one which from a distance looks just like a boulder, at least 25 ft. in diameter. As you get closer to one, within about ten times its diameter, it seems to get bigger (or maybe you get smaller, it is difficult to tell). As you get to its diameter away you find you are entering the air envelope over an entire world, typically spherical, of diameter between 10 miles (size class B (Diminutive)) and 4,000 miles (size class D (Small)) in diameter. Landing on and leaving these worlds is just as difficult as if they were a conventional world of that size, and they are just as prone to have weather, so an incautious approach with an insufficiently powerful means of travel might mean that you are stranded there.
Leaving a veiled world by any means, whether for visitors or locals, means that you 'get bigger' when leaving, and 'get smaller' on arrival. This also applies to magical travel via things like Teleport and Gate.
The only hint that there is a veiled world around is the 'veil' which always surrounds one of them. This is the sun getting very slightly dimmer (about -10%), so as to gather enough light from a large enough spherical volume of wildspace to illuminate the world properly. This dimming is easily overlooked, unless you are a very experienced traveller in The Belt - attempting to map its extent so as to guess where the veiled world is, that is in the centre, would not be an easy task.
GM Option: If desired some veiled worlds may be 'Locked', so that those who are living on them may not leave until someone visits them from the outside. This 'unlocks' them, and the locals can then come and go as freely as anyone else. Cruel GMs might have 'Fully Locked' worlds that wont let visitors leave, either, until some sort of special task is done - 'Ritually Fully Locked'. Or maybe there is some sort of complex task that visitors have to complete to allow locals to leave - hence 'Ritually Locked'. Such a lock would also affect things like Teleport, and you would need something like Gate, and maybe some skill in navigating the dimensions, to evade the lock. It is possible that the dwarves are afraid to let something really nasty free from a Locked Veiled World, out into The Belt.
Veiled worlds allow the GM to place anything they like in The Belt, and have the world quite difficult to find again, except to the most skilled navigators. Entire 'lost' civilizations that only the exploring player-characters initially get to know about can be placed there. It is recommended that GMs think carefully before adding any intelligent races to such worlds which do not appear elsewhere in the Maj Space system.
Albrect (2.76AU, Small(D) Sphere 4,000 ml diameter (apparent size 1000 ft.; Fine(A)), Earth Body) is the largest of the three (highly secret) veiled worlds that are generally known about by the dwarves. This is a rather mountainous world, about half oceans, with a temperate climate, and is in fact where the largest proportion of the dwarves in The Belt live. The mining possibilities there are reasonable, and mining is what quite a lot of the more traditional dwarves do there, but it is in general easier to extract materials from the Starstones. The world is more than self-sufficient in terms of food, and there is still plenty of room for expansion; quite a few of the dwarves of The Belt retire here, if they feel they are getting too old for the dangers of wildspace. The only intelligent life here is dwarves (there were no previous inhabitants), but there is all the animal life you might expect for Northern Europe. Most spelljammers would describe this world as boring, and there is not a lot of travel to and from it; what travel there is is kept as secret as possible. Quite co-incidentally there is always at least one Dwarven Citadel within at most a few hours travel at spelljamming speed from here. There are four Large Rock Boats armed with turret-mounted Heavy Ballista fore and aft, always ready to take-off from Albrect.
Bertold (3.8AU, Tiny(C) Sphere 1,000 ml diameter (apparent size 250 ft.; Fine(A)), Earth Body) is the mid-sized one of the three (highly secret) veiled worlds that are generally known about by the dwarves. This is a rocky though not mountainous world, about half ocean, that with work might be good for farming, except that it is 'infested' by goblins. There are hundreds of goblin tribes, all over the world, dug-in from just below the surface all the way down into the Underdark. Most of them spend their time feuding with and raiding each other, but they quickly unite if anyone tries to wipe-out one tribe at a time. The goblins are the only intelligent life on this world, and they've eaten most of the larger wildlife (and any previous inhabitants), apart from birds, and some goats that they have semi-domesticated. While the goblins don't have access to any spelljamming, the dwarves are quite worried about what would happen if they found a way off of this world, and they make considerable attempts to keep an inconspicuous guard on it.
Wird (3AU, Tiny(C) Sphere 200 ml diameter (apparent size 50 ft.; Fine(A)), Earth Body) is the smallest of the three (highly secret) veiled worlds that are generally known about by the dwarves. This is a smooth-surfaced grey rock sphere, with very gentle rises and dips in it and no visible water or weather. It is littered with elegant one-story buildings, in a variety of sizes, mostly one or two room, but a few much larger - the most immediate impression is of a long-disused necropolis. The rooms seem to contain nothing but dust, and any inscriptions have long worn-away (or been carefully erased...). There is no detectable life on this world, but something seems to renew the air. People visiting this world for more than a few hours get increasingly uneasy, and start seeing movement out of the corner of their eyes. The longer they stay beyond that the longer it will take to stop having nightmares about unending, bloody, and hopeless (no matter how brave they are in waking) battles, where they die again, and again, killed by unclear laughing figures, who obviously have no mercy at all. GM Note: This is where the spirits of the uncivilized War Elves (see Durin) are bound, using all the power that the elven races and their gods could raise, so that they cannot be restored to life to trouble anyone ever again. This entire world counts as an artifact, and its influence is probably why veiled worlds exist in the Maj Space system.
'Cursed Rocks' is a translation of a dwarven term for very uncommon starstones which it can be dangerous to even go near. The usual problem is something to do with the atmosphere, but there are extremely rare cases of starstones which act like immense lodestones, attracting anything made of iron (such as an Anvil Helm) with a powerful force (sometimes called 'lodestones'), or which closely resemble normal rough rock, but act like quicksand (sometimes called 'quickstones'), or which resemble a reddish-brown rock but have the same effect as the touch of a rust monster ('ruststones'). It is believed by some dwarven sages that these occur due to some sort of elemental imbalance, possibly induced by magic, though they are not magical in their own right (which makes them more difficult to detect).
The most common of the 'curses' is a starstone which is without an atmosphere, known as a 'breath stealer' to the dwarves, and afterwards slowly destroys any atmosphere it might gain by 'sharing' with something like a spelljamming vessel. This is the same problem which afflicts the two moons of Durin, Tyrfing and Naglfar, making them such deathtraps (see MajSpace), and the fact that these starstones are typically those closest in orbit to Durin, only about 2 AU from Ra, makes dwarven sages almost certain there is some sort of connection.
The next most common of the 'curses' is an unbreathable atmosphere, on a starstone where plant life cannot grow and purify it, known as a 'chokestone' to the dwarves. If a spelljamming vessel 'shares' atmosphere with one of these then it is likely that the ship's air is now completely unbreathable (exceptions might be a very large ship and a small starstone, where the ship's air just becomes foul). One explantion given for these is that there is a rumoured long and involved necromantic ritual which 'destroys all life on a world', and using a starstone is a convenient way of avoiding attracting attention, not to mention interference. Possibly magical residues of such a ritual might prevent plant life re-establishing itself, maybe for many centuries or even millenium. Some sages refuse to believe that there have been enough spelljamming necromancers around to be responsible for even the very rare 'chokestones', and that there must be another explanation.
Most of the other 'curses' tend to be more or less unique, and certainly no more common than the lodestones, quickstones or ruststones. These include things like an apparently safe atmosphere which after a while causes hallucinations (like the 'nitrogen narcosis' of deep sea diving), or an atmosphere which causes flames to explode (as if the vessel had just entered the phlogiston).
GM Note: It is recommended that no more than 0.2% (one in five hundred) of starstones, and in general no more than 0.05% (one in two thousand), is 'cursed', and these should be most commonly found in unexplored areas. As a GM you may wish to avoid using such worlds except in special circumstances, where they suit a game. The risk of these might make attempting to hide from pursuit, or preparing an ambush, by getting close to a starstone, much more ... interesting.
The dwarves of the Belt attempt to post some sort of warning on known 'cursed rocks', such as orbitting coloured boulders, which are colour-coded to describe the danger, and they are careful to mark them on their charts (which they are very reluctant to part with, even the ones without their secrets, like the Veiled Worlds). Many of these curses are reasonably easy to test for, by staying outside the atmosphere, say at least two diameters (yours or the starstones, whichever is bigger) away from the starstone, and putting a torch or lantern, maybe on a rope or pole, within it, and watching what happens to the flame, such as whether it goes out or changes colour. A weight of lead or iron on a line, thrown so it enters the starstone's atmosphere and gravity, to reach the surface can test for other things. A cautious captain might send out a longboat to do this work, just in case, for example, something travels back up the line.
For many centuries the dwarves of The Belt were little troubled by pirates, but over the last fifty years, since the people of Maj moved out into wildspace, they have become quite a problem.
At first there were military probes by various of the human spelljamming empires on Maj, but these have mostly stopped due to treaties of trade, exploration, and in some cases mutual defence. So, all that are supposed to be left are true pirates, answering to no nation. In practice there are still privateers, who with their letters of marque supposedly only prey on the declared enemies of their empire. Then there are the Norse, who raid anyone.
After the human pirates the Scro of Isis are the major problem, though they as yet have few Helms and hence few ships. Their main interest is to acquire more Helms, and they are inclined to be reasonably civilized about any captives, particularly those that have fought well, and tend to ransom them rather than selling them as slaves.
There are also some dwarven and elven 'merchants' from Hermes, who trade when they can, but also steal when they can get away with it. They are noted in particular for 'claim jumping' as yet unrecorded mining possibilities. While unpleasant they are not as a rule murderous, and will maroon captives, from wrecked ships or jumped claims, on isolated starstones known to be used by spelljammers for infrequent reprovisioning, and hence having food, water and air. Their normal theft technique is to board a ship by stealth or rapid assault, subdue all crew who do not fight back with lethal force and who refuse to surrender, and take what they want, after damaging the rigging and rudder to prevent pursuit. They don't take prisoners for ransom or slaves, often treat any injured to prevent them dying, and don't steal Helms, so in return if they are identified and captured they don't tend to be executed.
More desperate tend to be the (non-Drow) raiders from Arach, who appear to have bought Helms from the Arcane/Mercane on some sort of mortgage against their homes (and maybe even their relatives). These are Gnomes who want to acquire enough wealth so as to take back and defend land lost to the Drow over the centuries. The Hobgoblins with their Ogre slaves have similar aims, but they tend to be less fussy about how they treat captives, as they seek to squeeze every last copper piece out of their raids.
Rarest are the Drow from Arach, who seem to have got some ancient Helms and spelljamming vessels from out of magical stasis, travelled to the Leading Trojan starstones, and there grown a new crop of their thermo fungii ships. It seems likely that the Drow were stirred-up by attempts to mine adamantite on Arach, and have decided that they want to go spelljamming again, as it seems they did in the far past.
From out-system have appeared a few Mind Flayer and Neogi ships, and there is supposed to be at least one Beholder colony getting established in the wilder parts of The Belt. Quite a few people are worried about what will happen if and when out-system elves arrive, possibly in force as the IEN. Some of the more perceptive suspect that the Oreth Republic, the elder race of elves on Isis, may help keep them in line.
Some adventurers of various races have become 'pirate catchers', and one of the most notorious of these, the 'Gallant Sprite', has a very racially mixed crew, with a Dwarven (actually Dargold) captain.
ghost kindori
Dwarven 'Belters' use a number of unusual aides to assist in their survival in wildspace. Most noted among these:
Less common are the:
Long ago, the earlier versions of the Air Hat used a cruder alchemy, which bleached hair and beard unless they were alchemically protected (which also dyed them). Whether their hair was bleached, or dyed to protect it from bleaching, this led to a tradition of hair dyeing among the dwarves, sometimes in tribal patterns. Also, some shaved all their hair, bar a strip down the centre, often dyed in a bright colour, and trimmed their beards into a spade shape, to more clearly show their pride in being starstone miners. Dwarves not from The Belt, and not knowing the reason behind their traditions, can be very disapproving.
An Air Hat is a tight-fitting metal helmet which extends for nine inches above the top of the wearer's head, and replenishes their air using an alchemical apparatus in the top of the hat. As this is dwarven wear, the 'hat' also functions as a protective helm, with nearly indestructable crystal lenses protecting the eyes. The helm is as small as possible, as it may be used while mining in tight spaces, and as a result there are tight limits on the amount of hair and beard a dwarf may have. On the back of the head at the top of the neck is the flask where the Waste Liquid collects. The apparatus can supply good air for two hours, after which it must be replenished, which takes two rounds (and under 3rdEd attracts attacks of opportunity); this can safely be done even with a Sealed Air Hat in a dangerous atmosphere. Most dwarven miners will have one of these on board for each crewman, with enough supplies for two man-days per crewman. Market price 250 gp.
There is a specialist variety, the Sealed Air Hat, which can be used in environments like vacuum, or where it is not safe to risk breathing any of the external atmosphere. Cautious dwarven miners will have one of these on board. Market price 400 gp.
It is rumoured that there exist suits of Masterwork Sealed Air Armour, so dwarves can work in rare environments that may harm their skin, but these are very rarely used. Market price 2,000 gp.
An Air Brazier resembles a bucket of woven metal alloy strips in the shape of a cylinder, eighteen inches in diameter by twenty-four inches tall, which replenishes the atmosphere of a vessel that it is within. The base of the cylinder contains a special alchemical catalyst metal grid, which will last for about twenty-six months of continuous use; normal replacement cost 200 gp. A drip tray under the brazier collects the Waste Liquid. A brazier generally supplies air for four hours (this is enough for two men during this period, i.e. eight man-hours) before needing replenishing; automatic replenishment mechanisms are sometimes used. Unlike an air helm, an air brazier gets quite warm, though not hot to the touch, during use, so you can warm your hands near it. Cautious dwarven miners going into unknown places will often have one of these on board for every two crewmen, and, if they can afford it, supplies for a man-month per crewman, just in case. Market price 500 gp (200 gp for replacement catalyst).
Air Crystal is a block of a salt-like alchemical substance used in air hats and air braziers. Using the correct alchemical catalysts this can release air while 'scrubbing' bad air and excess water, producing a small amount of Waste Liquid. Occasionally attempts are made to sell blocks of common salt as this, but a quick taste will allow the experienced to tell the difference; note that air crystal is mildly poisonous. A third of a pound of air crystal will supply one man-hour of air, and it is normally packed in two-thirds of a pound blocks (market price 10 gp) to go in air helms, and two-and-two-third pound blocks (market price 40 gp) to go in air braziers. A set of two-thirds pound blocks to give two man-days of air hat use weighs sixteen pounds (market price 240 gp). A set of two-and-two-third pound blocks to give two man-months of air brazier use weighs four-hundred-and-forty-eight pounds (market price 6,720 gp). Market price 5 gp per one-third pounds.
It should be noted that the 'Waste Liquid' from both the Air Hat and Air Brazier is 100 proof (about 50% by volume) ethanol in water, sometimes referred to as 'Wild Space Rum'. The dwarves avoid drinking this unless really desperate, as it is effectively tasteless, though no hangovers tend to occur. Referring to a dwarf as a 'Wildspace Drinker' may be a good way to start a fight, as it implies that they are poor, desperate, and have no taste in drink.
An Air Bomb is an alchemical apparatus which includes a highly reliable two second friction fuse causing it to explode doing 4d6 subdual blast damage to all within 20 ft (Reflex DC 20 for half). Nothing is left except a lot of air, in fact four man-months of air. This resembles a barrel about twenty cubic feet capacity and weighs 1,800 pounds. Having lost all your air by some means, an air bomb, or several, can be very useful! Market price: 3,000 gp.
(c) Dreamer Publications, 1980 - November 2006
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