 |
This article is currently being worked on by Sirwhiteout (talk). Please check back later for changes and check if edits made will not disrupt work. This article has been tagged since 03:41, January 21, 2018 (UTC). |
 |
This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations. |
|
|
This requires cleanup. Reason: Needs past tense Please discuss this issue on the talk page and improve it if you can. This has been tagged since 05:29, August 5, 2017 (UTC). |
Template:Planet Glyth was the sixth planet from the Sun in the Realms' solar system and was a bastion of the Illithids.[1] Seen from Toril, it looked like a dull gray orb surrounded by a spectacular ring and orbited by 3 smaller bodies. It was one of the Five Wanderers, the five outer planets of the Torilian solar system, which (from the perspective of Toril) seemed to defy the normal paths of the stars.[2][3]
Geography
Glyth was a ringed planet approximately 1,000,000,000 miles (1.6 billion km) from the sun. It had 3 satellites.[1]
Glyth was a harsh planet, but only because of its inhabitants. What forests they didn't have absolute control over they made sure were burned to the ground to prevent their humanoid cattle from hiding in them. This resulted in smoke filling the atmosphere which, in turn, nearly destroyed the atmospheric envelope and caused the planet to precipitate acidic rain constantly. The smoke caused the entire atmosphere to smell like a charnel house. Of course, this didn't bother the mind flayers, who almost universally lived underground.[1]
80% of the surface of Glyth was land while the other 20% was a strange gelatinous substance containing large amounts of water. The substance was edible and quenched thirst just like water would. It never turned brackish like normal water, nor did it ever freeze, remaining remarkably pure, despite the awful atmosphere. A sage who investigated the substance noticed that material that touched it was eventually sucked harmlessly right down to the bottom so that the substance remained on top. The poles of the planet were covered in regular ice, but, thanks to the smoke, it was dirty.[1]
Glyth's planetary ring orbited the planet at the equator. During the day it looked like a beautiful, perfectly formed cloud with sharp edges but at night parts of it were coloured in various soft oranges, reds and blues. Sometimes, the ring cast a slight shadow on the planet's surface during the day. From the ground, Glyth's satellites were reported as being attractive-looking as well.[1]
Days were warm and lasted 30 hours and 30 minutes but being on the surface ran the risk of getting hurt by the acidic rain that could burn the flesh of a lot of creatures.[1]
Glyth's Satellites
Mingabwe
Mingabwe is a small moon where all spacefaring races were welcome. It is completely empty, but was the best choice for humanoid ships to land at if they didn't want to risk the attention of the mind flayers. Edible plants grew here and were freely available if picked personally. There was also water, but it became more and more scarce and the plant growth suffered. The moons surface is constantly bitter cold but it never snows and is completely covered in pack ice with the only warm areas being where shelters had been built for the visitors. The only permanent resident of Mingabwe was Justin "Do Good" Demonslayer, a paladin who is the only known illithid cattle who ever managed to escape the planet's surface. Others who had been living on the moon for a while were generally trusting and good-natured, often because there was nowhere to hide on Mingabwe should someone steal from them (in fact, only two thieves in the entire history of Mingabwe ever got away with their theft). Once thieves had been caught and punished, most folks were ready to implicitly trust them again. Evil-doers and repeat offenders were never seen again though.
Haven
Haven is the smallest of Glyth's satellites, a hollowed out oval-shaped asteroid that was used as a neutral meeting ground for rival illithid factions. Gravity is spherical here so when walking on the surface, a humanoid's head would face away from the asteroids core, whilst inside the hollow rock, it's head would point towards the core. The interior is oxygenated and many molds, fungi and mushrooms purified the air. Ships enter through a hole at the southern pole of the rock but if the ship didn't not belong to an illithid, and didn't have a *very* good reason to be there, it was unlikely that the ship would ever leave again. Haven was also the base for the planet's security forces that patrolled the region around the planet for intruders. The mind flayers here meet to trade, solve disputes and plan
Polluter
Pockmarked by asteroid impacts and with frozen water, but no atmosphere, this tiny moon orbits Mingabwe. Hidden somewhere on this moon are two evil magical items placed there when Justin Demonslayer became a paladin.
The Rings
Glyth has four rings made up of ice balls and small asteroids that orbit the planet's equator 7000 miles above the surface. 100 miles thick at their widest, they average out to 50 miles in most places. The first ring is mostly ice, made dirty by smoke escaping the planet's atmosphere. This ring is separated from the second by the gravitational forces of Haven. The asteroids that make up this ring have managed to arrange themselves according to color. The third ring is 400 miles away from the second and is occupied by several large dark objects, none of which are smaller than 300 feet across. Rumors persist that this is where Code Helm made their base. The fourth ring, at its most distant extent 20,000 miles from the planet surface is made up of tiny asteroids that got wedged together and form lines that appear as if they are wagon spokes. Each 'spoke' is separated from the next by thousands of miles.
Glyth's illithid
A group of over 300 mercenaries from the Code Helm reside on Glyth conducting raids against illithids in the system.[4]
History
Mind flayer refugees originally came from Glyth to Toril circa -10,700 DR in their Nautiloids and founded the city of Oryndoll.
Sometime before 1367 DR, a sage who was an expert on illithids drilled into the ice of one of the poles and noticed that the mind flayers living on Glyth at the time had only been there for around a century.[1]
Currently, Glyth is an empty husk. One of the objects in the planet's rings, always thought to be an uninhabitable moonlet, turned out to be Atropus. Atropus was drawn to the planet when a war broke out between the illithids and a group of rebel cattle. When Atropus got close enough, he annihilated all life he could find before moving on, some say towards Toril.[5]
Appendix
Further Reading
- Dale "slade" Henson (April 1991). Realmspace. Edited by Gary L. Thomas, Karen S. Boomgarden. (TSR, Inc). ISBN 1-56076-052-4.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Dale "slade" Henson (April 1991). Realmspace. Edited by Gary L. Thomas, Karen S. Boomgarden. (TSR, Inc), pp. 39–43. ISBN 1-56076-052-4.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo (June 2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 231. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. Edited by Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 85. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ Tim Beach (1992). Gold & Glory. (TSR, Inc), p. 11. ISBN 1-56076-334-5.
- ↑ Schwalb, Robert J. (December 2007). Elder Evils. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 18. ISBN 978-0-7869-4733-1.
Connections
Comets: K'Thoutek • King-Killer Star
Nebulae: Galleon Nebula • Color Spray Nebula
Far Realm-infested stars: Acamar • Caiphon • Delban • Gibbeth • Hadar • Khirad • Nihal • Zhudun
Other astronomical bodies: Caer Windlauer • Skull of the Void • Sargassos