Until about two hundred years ago, this was an `empty' crystal sphere, nearly devoid of sapient inhabitants - and most other life as well. That changed with the arrival of the Invaders, who saw the mineral laden asteriods of this sphere as a valuable resource for their multi-sphere spanning empire and proceded to establish a series of mining colonies and military bases here. The Invaders rule Passarspace absolutely; while there is a criminal underground and a rebel movement of sorts, these are tiny groups that possess no real threat to the Invaders authority. Because of this, the Invaders could maintain their control here, unchallenged, for centuries to come.
Passarspace is unusual; not only does it have few objects within its confines large enough to be termed `planets', it is also lacking a central `sun' as well. Instead of a asteriod belt, there are several tight clusters of asteriods, all orbiting a central dark mass. Most of these asteriods are lifeless voidworlds, though a few are marginally habitable. Passarspace is also rather small; were it set in the center of Torilspace or Kyrnnspace, the outer edge of its shell would be well within the orbit of Toril or Krynn.
Each of Passarspaces asteriod clusters has a greek letter designation (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, ect); each asteriod in a cluster has a number as well, based on its size. Hence, typicals `name' might be `Delta-7' or `Gamma-12'. Most of the clusters have one or two smallish firebodies amongst them; it is in these clusters where life bearing asteriods can be found.
Only a very small selection of Passarspaces inhabited asteriods are described here (on the order of about one in ten). Additional mining bases, military outposts ect are found all through the system.
The Sphere Wall and Stars
Passarspace has few stars; the dominant formation is a line of twelve stars, set at thirty degree intervals, that form a continuous `belt' all the way around the sphere. Two more close set stars are set at the spheres `top'; these are said to represent the Voidwalker (at least thats what that beings clergy claim). The spheres half dozen other stars seem set at random, though one group is said to represent the Chainbreaker.
Passarspaces stars are not eternally burning torches or gargantuan glowing gems. Rather, they are `windows' in the sphere wall itself; their `light' is actually the glow of the phlogiston itself. These `star windows' are quite large - usually on the order of several miles across. They are also more than merely stars; they are the actual portals into and out of the sphere; when a portal opens, the clear material of the star simply vanishes, permitting entry to and exit from the sphere. The effect seems automatic, triggered by active spelljamming helms within a few hundred miles of the sphere wall; they remain open for as long as a spelljamming helm is active within this distance.
Distances
The Maw: 0 Alpha Cluster: 50 million miles Beta Cluster: 45 million miles Gamma Cluster: 24 million to 65 million miles Delta Cluster: 45 - 55 million miles Epsilon Cluster: 20 - 40 million miles Zeta Cluster: 60 million miles Eta: Cluster: 50 - 60 million miles.
