Over at Wildspace, the Spelljammer Fanzine, I’ve posted an article covering the specialty priests of Dukagsh, one of my own creation, and one modified from Roger Moore’s article on the Scro in the 1996 Dragon Magazine Annual. Included are some new spells for his faith. Enjoy!
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There’s an issue with the scro that’s always bothered me slightly, and I wonder what your thoughts are on the subject.
Dukaghspace – the scro’s “native” crystal sphere wherein their homeworld, and their (demi)god, dwell – is stated in that Annual article to be, if I recall correctly, a closely-guarded secret.
My question is, how do the spacefaring scro keep it a secret? Given that their race’s enemies (which are everyone in general, and elves in particular) would certainly want to know where the sphere is, wouldn’t they absolutely use mind-reading magic on the first scro captive they took in battle?
Since most every scro has to ship out from Dukagshspace, it seems like they’d all know where it is, or at least have some approximation. Is there a “guard secret” spell that’s cast on them all before they leave the sphere, or is there some other way they can protect such an important piece of knowledge in a magical setting?
I imagine it would be nearly impossible to get the location and the directions to get there from most mind-reading spells, especially low-level ones like ESP. You not only need to know what spheres to go to, but what points to leave a sphere from in order to get the right phlogiston river. I would imagine only the best navigators, or those who have made the same trip many times, would actually have the correct route memorized. navigational charts would be pretty key. I also suspect most scro who have some idea of the route would commit suicide rather than be captured, and charts would be destroyed. Charts may also be encoded in some manner, as well. Even if the elves had the location of the sphere, it’s probably beyond something like 2-4 goblinoid-dominated spheres (or other inhospitable-to-good-races spheres), as well; I highly doubt it is just one river away from any sphere the IEN has a presence in. The scro also have outposts and colonies outside of Dukagshspace, and it is entirely possible ships from their home sphere have to stop there and trade out navigators, so those encountered by the elves know the way to an outpost, but not the home sphere.