Behold the toolset preview pic in all its half done glory.
Anyway, I'm really curious about our town specific lore. Granted, the town itself is only a supply point, and our focus is likely going to be the planes. But its still going to be our main rp hangout outside of the ship itself.
When I say lore, I don't really mean anything rulesbook oriented, just the details of who rules it, who keeps the peace, its name, and who lives there. The only two things we really know about it so far is that 1) its a port town that caters to Spelljammers, and 2) it has a portal to Sigil. It also appears to be sturdily built, due to the fact that I was going for a blue and grey color template and stone house placeables could give it to me.
A couple of ideas (that necessarily don't go together):
- It was originally a Githzerai monastery which people decided to settle around. The Githzerai are still there, and act as the peacekeeprs of the town (in the capacity that people keep bringing their problems to them, and they hit hard).
- Its ruled by the family who lives in that gothic building at the top of the hill. They have a rather dubious reputation, and are descended from an archmage who claimed this rock centuries ago.
- Since its a waystation for astral travelers, it has a strong devotion to various wind gods.
- It has very little structure, or at least, peace is only kept by the local militia. Everyone has weapons on them, all the time!
Now that I know this forum exists and I'm a part of it, I'll start brain storming and forming opinions. I'm partial to "pirates den" type place, but that's because I've never been big into rule of law and formality in my gaming.
Hmm... we could have 3 groups of NPCs in the town. One is a coalition of mages who came to the Astral to experiment, the other being the githzerai, the third being a merry band of ork space pirates.
Something like this: Originally the rock was settled by a wizard and his family. The founding wizards, like many wizards, was quite full of himself and styled himself the "lord" of his little domain. For several generations the family lived there with only their servants and hangers on. But at some point, a member of the family, very fond of the monkish ideals, invited a band of githzerai to come and build a retreat on his island and teach him their ways. Later generations (as well as his family members) , honored his wishes and let the Githzerai stay, but were not particularly interested in their ideals. With the passage of time, the rise in population, and the opening of a portal to Sigil, the island became a more popular place. Some of Sigil's grunginess and low morals rubbed off on it, and it ended up as a haven for Astral pirates. The Githzerai weren't very happy about this, but the wizardly family saw the opportunity for profit, and so an agreement was worked out between the "lords" and the "pirates" to keep the town in some semblance of order so money could be made.
In current times, the Githzerai keep to themselves in their tower, though they are often appealed to to settle disputes (when the disputes don't just turn into brawls). They are given a certain amount of respect by the locals, since they are "fair", and good fighters, even if the town is largely chaotic.
There are a lot of unsavory creatures coming and going in order to trade in the town (orcish pirates, random astral travelers). Stealing or damaging town or town resident property ranks high on the list of offenses (this is about making money after all!), but all's far in a bar brawl amongst "foreigners".
The wizardly family continues to think much of itself in its house on the top of the hill, and insists on being address by titles. They every so often appear to make pompous speaches.
