So, What Exactly Is A Crystal Sphere?

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

lord_karsus

Jan 03, 2006 22:48:55
I started playing D&D in 2000, shortly after 3e came out. I have no experience playing 2e. But, from reading Sourcebooks and Novels, I know a fair amount of stuff about it. One thing that always confused me was the phrase Crystal Sphere. Is the Crystal Sphere the planet itself, the solar system, the local galaxy...?
#2

eldersphinx

Jan 03, 2006 23:50:09
A crystal sphere is the starstuff enclosing a single solar system in the Spelljammer cosmology. Start at the sun (or other central body), and take the distance to the farthest planet. Then go that distance again, and you come to the crystal sphere.

It seems crystalline, though it's unbreakable by any method known to man or god, and it's basically black in that it can't reflect light. It can be bypassed, by portal spells or naturally-occuring portals, but can never be permanently damaged, destroyed or (presumably) created. Stars are inscribed on the inside - anything from radiant globes or never-ending flames to always-open portals in the sphere to phosphorescent towers clinging to the sphere's surface. Each solar system has its own sphere, which has different constellations and such - which is why the Krynnish constellations move when their deities start mucking around, and the Oerthians and Realmsies never notice. (One short novel reference from Weis and Hickman, and we get Big Heap Key Setting Elements in a completely different setting ten years later. Would-be world designers, take note.)

Between and beyond the crystal spheres is phlogiston, which is just as weird and mysterious as crystal spherestuff - though a lot more flammable. Please extinguish all sources of open flame before entering the phlogiston; Management is not responsible for any sudden catastrophic explosions that may result from entering the Flow.

Hope this helps!
#3

zombiegleemax

Jan 04, 2006 15:37:50
That's very well detailed, but it might be too much information for a newcomer to Spelljammer.

In the Spelljammer game, each solar system is encased inside a massive "crystal sphere." The spheres themselves float in an interstellar ocean of color called the Phlogiston; and you can travel from one crystal sphere to another by navigating through the Flow.

In the original Spelljammer game, each D&D campaign world (Dragonlance, Greyhawk, etc.) was encased inside its own crystal sphere. You could travel from one campaign to the next by spelljamming across the Flow. That's probably changed now in the 3d edition, though.

There were many other crystal spheres that existed only in the Spelljammer game as well.

Pax,

KRad
#4

lord_karsus

Jan 04, 2006 22:41:31
-So, there is literally a casing around each solar system? I always figured that the term 'crystal sphere' was more figurative than actual. Thanks for the information, guys!
#5

ripvanwormer

Jan 06, 2006 15:06:19
The crystal sphere is the night sky itself. It looks solid, right? In a fantastic universe, it is solid. There are stars and constellations embedded in it, and inside are the planets. You can literally touch the sky, or kiss it.

The Phlogiston, or Flow, is the chaos outside Creation. It's the region the gods haven't gotten around to making yet. Some believe it's liquid sky. When this liquid phlogiston crystallizes, it forms a spherical shape, and a new crystal sphere is born.
#6

Xorial

Jan 07, 2006 19:18:22
I liked what they did with Crystal Spheres in the new Hackjammer setting for Hackmaster. The Crystal Sphere is still in the same place, but you wont see it. The galaxy is still how we see it in the "real" world, but once you get to the area of space where the sphere would be, you can create a portal, that takes you thru it. The Sphere is visible in the phlogiston just like a normal Spelljammer campaign. The basically made it an intangible boundary int the prime material, and turned the phlogiston into a hyperspace for fantasy. The onbly real way to travel FTL to get to other stars. That would mesh well with the Spider Moon update in Polyhedron/Dungeon.
#7

nightdruid

Jan 07, 2006 19:59:55
Thank you; the big reason we did Spheres that way was because it was firmly established that Garweeze Wurld was sci-fi (KotDT comic had BA attempted to use his Space Hack (sci fi) PCs to screw over his Hackmaster PCs...didn't work, ended up in a war aimed at world domination...;) ). So thus the compromise
#8

zombiegleemax

Jan 08, 2006 10:42:51
SNIP Each solar system has its own sphere, which has different constellations and such - which is why the Krynnish constellations move when their deities start mucking around, and the Oerthians and Realmsies never notice. (One short novel reference from Weis and Hickman, and we get Big Heap Key Setting Elements in a completely different setting ten years later. Would-be world designers, take note.)

Interesting! Great summary by the way. I'm not familiar with the "Big Heap Key Setting Elements" event you ellude too, could you please explain this further?
#9

mean_eyed_cat

Jan 08, 2006 12:35:54
Here's a little history about Crystal Spheres and Phlogiston (hopefully, it won't make things more confusing ;) ):

[by Dr. J. Alsoszatia-Petheo] "Claudius Ptolemy (AD 85-165) had devised a catalog of celestial bodies and their positions throughout the year which was used to determine ones position on earth. The system assumed that the heavens, being farthest from the earth and therefore, perfect, was characterized by circular movements (the circle being the perfect shape according to Aristotle). Thus all heavenly bodies moved in a circular motion, or with additional circular variations around the earth. These circular motions were thought to result from a layer of totally transparent crystal spheres, each nested within the other, on which the heavenly bodies embedded. Each heavenly object, the sun, the moon, each planet, and the fixed stars, was embedded in a separate sphere. Each sphere moved at its own speed relative to the others, and the slight friction of these spheres against each other occasionally produced a faint sound-the 'music of the spheres.'"

[from Infoplease.com] "Phlogiston theory - hypothesis regarding combustion. The theory, advanced by J. J. Becher late in the 17th cent. and extended and popularized by G. E. Stahl, postulates that in all flammable materials there is present phlogiston, a substance without color, odor, taste, or weight that is given off in burning. 'Phlogisticated' substances are those that contain phlogiston and, on being burned, are 'dephlogisticated.' The ash of the burned material is held to be the true material. The theory received strong and wide support throughout a large part of the 18th cent. until it was refuted by the work of A. L. Lavoisier, who revealed the true nature of combustion. Joseph Priestley, however, defended the theory throughout his lifetime. Henry Cavendish remained doubtful, but most other chemists of the period, including C. L. Berthollet, rejected it."

While it's probably not Phlogiston, there is something that supports the notion that a gas of some sort surrounds galaxies:

[from Space.com] "The gas surrounds our own galaxy and appears to weave through about three dozen others that make up what’s called the Local Group of galaxies. The hot, intergalactic fog is thought to be a relic of the early universe, material that did not fall into galaxies back when the first great structures formed more than 13 billion years ago."

"In all, the gas makes up a giant cloud, estimated to weigh a trillion times more than our Sun, all surrounding the Local Group."
#10

rhialto

Jan 08, 2006 17:32:56
Addendum to the above post:

The "music of the spheres" was supposedly the sound that those spheres (in which the stars and planets were embedded) made as they moved around. Given the obvious connection between the spheres and music, I'm actually surprised that bards played such a minor role in Spelljammer.

The gas clouds between galaxies.

The largest object in space most people are aware of is the galaxy. Galaxies are typically clumped into galaxy clusters, each cluster being up to about 50 galaxies. There are only two large galaxies in our own galactic cluster, the milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy, but there are 35 known smaller ones. The largest of these is a mere 7 kilo-parsecs across (our galaxy is 30). A galaxy cluster is typically about 50,000 kilo-parsecs across.

http://www.sunspot.noao.edu/sunspot/pr/tree/filament.html

Imagine a large mass of soapsuds. galaxy superclusters (clusters of clusters) are arranged along the faces, corners, and edges of each and every bubble. On a large scale, that is the structure of the universe. The inside of those bubbles makes our typical concept of vacuum look like neutronium.
#11

eldersphinx

Jan 09, 2006 12:24:11
SNIP Each solar system has its own sphere, which has different constellations and such - which is why the Krynnish constellations move when their deities start mucking around, and the Oerthians and Realmsies never notice. (One short novel reference from Weis and Hickman, and we get Big Heap Key Setting Elements in a completely different setting ten years later. Would-be world designers, take note.)

Interesting! Great summary by the way. I'm not familiar with the "Big Heap Key Setting Elements" event you ellude too, could you please explain this further?

Heh. Sorry if that wasn't clear. The first Dragonlance book threw in a bit of exposition where a couple of major stellar constellations (representing two of the major deific powers in the setting) disappeared from the night sky, as an omen of the upcoming conflicts. The Spelljammer designers specifically state that trick as a reason why each world has to have its own crystal sphere.

Nothing important, in other words.
#12

zombiegleemax

Jan 09, 2006 17:31:32
Heh. Sorry if that wasn't clear. The first Dragonlance book threw in a bit of exposition where a couple of major stellar constellations (representing two of the major deific powers in the setting) disappeared from the night sky, as an omen of the upcoming conflicts. The Spelljammer designers specifically state that trick as a reason why each world has to have its own crystal sphere.

Nothing important, in other words.

Ah! Cool! That does make since, and I remembering wondering which systems winked out during that incident. Man, It's been like, 16 years since I read that...

Here's a thought; are we sure that all the campaign worlds are even in the same galaxy? Even deeper, can galaxies even exist in Spelljammer?
#13

Xorial

Jan 10, 2006 12:41:24
You could have galaxies. Just because Spheres appear close to each other in the Phlogiston, doesnt mean that they HAVE to be in close proxcimity back in Wild Space. Two star systems, only 6 light years apart, may be nearly unreachable from eachother in the Flow. Where as, two that are only 45 days travel apart in the Flow, may actually be 1,000 light years apart.
#14

ripvanwormer

Jan 10, 2006 18:51:53
Ah! Cool! That does make since, and I remembering wondering which systems winked out during that incident. Man, It's been like, 16 years since I read that...

Here's a thought; are we sure that all the campaign worlds are even in the same galaxy? Even deeper, can galaxies even exist in Spelljammer?

The crystal spheres surrounding Krynn, Oerth, and Toril are next to one another in a stable configuration called the Radiant Triangle. Since part of the point of Spelljammer was to provide an interesting way to travel between those three worlds (the only official campaign settings at the time), they tried to make it easy.

Galaxies would be enormous spiral configurations of billions of crystal spheres. There may well be galaxies in the Spelljammer setting. Only one - the one in which the Known Space of the Spelljammer books is located - is known.

There's some speculation that at the edge of this "galaxy" the phlogiston becomes too thin to travel on.

In another sense, "galaxies" are just patterns of stars, like the Milky Way. They're enscribed into the surface of the various crystal spheres. "Galaxy" comes from the Greek kyklos galaktikos or "milky circle," and originally referred to the Milky Way only.
#15

Kamelion

Jan 11, 2006 13:17:56
Wasn't there a late TSR-era product that contained a ruling about Crystal Spheres being transparent when viewed from a distance? The same product stated that the Crystal Spheres also act as a visual filter, iirc, making the Flow invisible when viewed through a Sphere wall. The upshot of this was that some of the stars that you can see from within a Sphere really are others suns in distant Crystal Spheres. As one nears the Crystal Sphere, however, it gets gradually more opaque. And, once within the Flow itself, you are surrounded by its customary brilliance, with nothing else being visible at any great distance.

I am wracking my brains to recall where I read this, but to no avail. I'm sure it's not something I made up, as I recall the "wow, cool!" factor when I read it. Can't remember where for the life of me - I'm not even sure it was a core SJ product - it may even have been one of those throwaway crossover references that you used to see in 2e. It was clearly a late-in-the-day retcon, but I kinda dug the idea that you could see other suns from your own planet. Anyone else remember this, or have the hallucinations taken hold again?
#16

extempus

Feb 10, 2006 3:14:42
I never did like the whole crystal sphere concept. IMC, the universe is really no different than the real one. Now, perhaps in a parallel universe, there might be crystal spheres...
#17

trolloc

Feb 10, 2006 14:37:25
I don't use crystal sphere. In my game, the phlogiston would be some sort of hyperspace. The ships can only enter that particular hyperspace when they are far from a large gravity well such as a moon or planet.

I'm not using any normal DnD settings such as Krynn or Toril, thus no conflict in cosmology and astrology.
#18

millennium

Feb 24, 2006 10:38:32
Read up on Ptolemy and Kepler (specifically his older theories, the ones which he later abandoned). Once you understand the older models of physics on which Spelljammer is based, a lot of the "strangeness" suddenly makes a lot more sense.

You might say that it's like a kind of science-fiction, but it uses older (and now discredited) science. Because of that, it doesn't feel like the science fiction we're familiar with, but it has its own kind of consistency that manages to work in a D&D setting.
#19

zombiegleemax

Mar 17, 2006 23:53:11
I seem to remember a Spelljammer module or novel that was based on or at least mentioned a cracked crystal sphere so they can be damaged but it's pretty difficult to say the least. I wish I could remember the name of it but it's been years since I read any SJ stuff
#20

taradusis

Mar 19, 2006 14:46:44
In the cloak master cycle,which consisted of Five books ,detailed the quest of teldin moore to become the captain of THE SPELLJAMMER.Book 5 was called the BROKEN SPHERE and contained info on THE SPELLJAMMER and crysal sphere formation.I 'm fortunate enough to own the entire cloakmaster cycle,god only knows where you'd get it today.
#21

zombiegleemax

Mar 19, 2006 16:27:09
Book 6 of the Cloakmaster books was 'The Ultimate Helm'.
#22

taradusis

Mar 19, 2006 16:54:49
Book 6 of the Cloakmaster books was 'The Ultimate Helm'.

Right you are,I read it and seem to have stored it somewhere seperately from the first five,I may actually have to clean my house just to find it again,BOTHERATION!
#23

nightdruid

Mar 19, 2006 17:25:10
Right you are,I read it and seem to have stored it somewhere seperately from the first five,I may actually have to clean my house just to find it again,BOTHERATION!

You ain't missing much...;)
#24

zombiegleemax

Mar 19, 2006 17:37:11
I just read all six Cloakmaster books again this past summer, and I didn't dislike Ultimate Helm the way some hardcore spelljammer fans seem to. It was actually one of the better written books--compare it, for instance, to Dave Cook's Beyond the Moons--and though there were a few transgressions, it would have been easy enough to explain them if only the author had taken a moment to do it. To me, that's easy enough to overlook, given how badly the series started out and how well it finished.

Pax,

KRad