Winterspace

Winterspace was a crystal sphere that played a significant role in both the First and Second Unhuman Wars.

Description
The crystal sphere had a very recognizable cluster of stars or starlike objects at its center, which most observers described as an hourglass in shape. One of the stars in the top (or bottom, depending on one's perspective) of the "hourglass" had a yellowish color, while one of the stars toward the center of the cluster was pinkish. The rest were white.

System
The sphere included at least three planets known to scholars of the Realms:
 * Armistice
 * Radole
 * Whyst

Location
Winterspace was about 45 days travel through the phlogiston from Realmspace, provided that one was able to find one of the especially fast but small "rivers" that connected the two crystal spheres within the flow.

History
In 1362 DR, the elven mage Vallus Leafbower reported to the grand admiral of the Elven Imperial Fleet on Lionheart, then near the planet Garden in Realmspace, about the discovery of an abandoned elven armada adrift in Winterspace. The vessel had been discovered by the Starfoam, a dolphin class vessel, on patrol a few days space travel from the planet Radole. It had no survivors, and whatever had killed the crew also slew three separate boarding parties sent by the Starfoam. It was later determined that these deaths were caused by a secondary witchlight marauder released as a test by the scro.

Sometime later, the Cloakmaster, Teldin Moore, was able to see through the eyes of the Spelljammer by means of a magic amulet. When he described what he was seeing to his friends Hectate and Vallus, they suspected that he was seeing Radole in Winterspace. A course was plotted for this crystal sphere in response.

The ship was followed, secretly, through the flow. Once it arrived in Winterspace, the elven swan ship that carried Teldin and his companions was ambushed by a klicklikak and three cloaked shrike ships. The swan ship was crippled and then boarded by a group of bionoids, who easily slaughtered most of the elven defenders, before they took Hectate, himself a bionoid, prisoner and withdrew from the battle.

Teldin decided that they had no choice but to land their damaged vessel on the nearest planet for repairs, and the nearest planet was Armistice. He landed the vessel despite the protests of Vallus, who informed him that the elves forbade anyone to land on that planet.

While on the planet of Armistice for repairs, a search team sent to find potable water discovered that the goblinoids of the planet were building a fleet of spelljammers for the Second Unhuman War.

A major battle of the war soon followed, after the swan ship had returned to orbit, in which a fleet of scro and bionoids attacked. Only the presence of a radiant dragon allowed Teldin and some of his companions to retreat at last to Radole.

After this escape, the elves of the Imperial Navy sent an agent to release the primary witchlight marauder that was kept in stasis on Armistice, which likely killed all life upon that planet and turned the tide of the war. Teldin parted ways with Vallus and the others and continued on the rest of his journey alone, his next stop being the port of Remagin on Whyst, before leaving Winterspace and heading to the crystal sphere of Heartspace.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * The Broken Sphere • The Radiant Dragon