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Shou Empire
Humans branched off from the Aventi long ago. Empire based off of imperial china. Dragonships
Vodoni Empire
The Vodoni (sometimes misspelled Vodani) are a hostile, spacefaring humanoid race in the Spelljammer campaign setting. Ruled by Emperor Vulkaran the Dark, Master of the Twelve Spheres and Ruler of All Known Space, they use ships built by the enslaved Zalani race for interstellar travel.
The Vodoni Empire was a vast and aggressive empire. The largest and mightiest empire in the ring. Lycanthropes
The common perspective is that the Vodoni are blood-thirsty savages who conquered their all-so-peaceful neighbors (I kinda want to gag on that). So let me start spinning things and see where things end up.
Vodonispace - home sphere of the vodoni, so naturally they'd colonize it. There's also no reason that, by the time Valkaran took the throne, that there wasn't already a strong Vodoni Empire, just like Ceaser took control of Rome, which by then was far more than a
single city-state.
Vodonikaspace - we know nothing of the previous inhabitants. There's no reason that they should be peaceful in any way; I could easily see the Vodoni conquering this sphere in retaliation for pirate attacks originating from it.
Passarspace & Gorthspace - Pretty much unclaimed prior to the Vodoni, so really no "conquest" here, just basic colonization for resouces.
Lostspace - A blasted out ruin of a sphere…can't blame this one on the Vodoni!
Golothspace & Vergonspace - some pretty rough neighborhoods. These guys were already duking it out prior to conquest. To peasants, the Vodoni could easily be liberators…until they got hauled off in chains ;)
Kofuspace, Zalanispace, Kra'akenspace, & Salzarspace - not all is as it seems. Any one of these, or all of these, could have their darker sides. The Zalani are shipbuilders, true. They can also be cuthroat merchants & profiteers. They certain benefited greatly from the Vodoni conquests. The Kra'aken could be masterminds, using psionics to quietly manipulate things to their advantage. Etc.
Thasiaspace - Vodoni could just be trying to clonize here, and really don't view the natives as even existing.
Under the Dark Fist adventure - you know, I could make an arguement that the "alliance" spheres are, in fact, the "bad guys". What were Vodoni ships doing in the Known Spheres? Can think of a couple reasons, actually. A few could be renegades, expatriots,
pirates, etc. An empire that vast, and you don't think there'd be defectors? PCs could mistake pirates for agents of the Empire. A second reason is that the ships are merely on "specimen collecting" missions. They're gathering up plants & animals for their homeworld, and maybe a captain got a little overzealous.
Anyways, part of me ponders what about the capital city makes it "obvious the Vodoni are preparing for war". The word of the peasants, who have a vested interest in overthrowing the Emperor? In fact, the adventure outcome really makes it the opposite; the Empire is, in fact, completely caught off-guard by the attack. Here's an empire with thousands of ships, millions of troops, supposedly preparing for a major invasion of three worlds. Yet the Alliance's dinky fleet can attack the capital city with impunity, and manage, DESPITE the neogi turning on them, to achieve victory on the ground AND in the air. So much so that the Emperor must make a desperate gamble to decapitate the Alliance fleet by destroying the fleet's flagship.
Were the Vodoni preparing for war, would they not have huge armies & fleets mustered at the capital, or elsewhere in the sphere? Afterall, it IS the closest sphere to the Allance's homespheres. Yet the Alliance can not only take the capital, but every populated world besides. For the Alliance, it should have been walking into a death-trap. Yet they win, no matter what casualties they take in the Web. That speaks to how NOT ready for war the Vodoni really were!
but yeah, i could see how the vodoni could at least be toned down a little. there's still the fact that their fleet is crewed entirely by creatures that are prone to go on violent rampages and brutally murder everything around them… you'd have to do something with that, imo. but yes, i could believe the vodoni as not planning on conquering known space, at the very least. i do think that an empire the size of the vodoni would have a really hard time having enough helms to power all their ships, however. i mean, for a huge empire that size to just mass-produce hulls is no problem, but that's a lot of major helms they're gonna need! additionally, while they might have a lot of ships, they're also going to need a lot of ships to patrol their empire. it does little good to have a huge empire if you can't bring all the loot back to your main city after all ;) i could certainly see a significant portion of the fleet being busy elsewhere, running those errands.
of course, it would make little sense to have the fleet build-up at the capital for an offensive. why would you set up shop in the part of the empire that's hardest to get through when you want to transport a huge fleet?
i would have to say that painting the vodoni as 'the good guys' is a little improbable. they could certainly be seen as less evil than the module implies, but i don't think i would use the word good for them…
Vodonispace
Principal sphere of the Empire and the location of its capital, the Imperial City, located in the planet Vulkarus.[13][3]
Golotspace
Inhabited primarily by humans and dragons, with a culture similar to Greyspace.[14]
Gorthspace
Located in a central location within the Empire's territory, its only habitable planet Gorth served as a hunting ground and leisure center for vodoni armies.[14]
Kofuspace
A strange, solid crystal sphere whose "planets" were bubbles within the shell material, each with its own "star" at the center of the bubble. It was inhabited by drow-like elves who did not know the concept of night.[14]
Kra'akenspace
A sphere entirely filled with breathable air, where large asteroids made of plant matter floated freely, unattached to any gravitational body. It was inhabited by the benevolent kra'aken, or kra', translucent winged humanoids with telepathic abilities and unearthly beauty.[14]
Lostspace
Totally ravaged by an ancient, all-consuming war, this sphere had no surviving inhabitants, but was intensely researched by vodoni in search of advanced weaponry.[14]
Passarspace
A system with no central star and bereft of life, its numerous asteroids were explored and mined for their abundant natural resources.[14]
Salzarspace
One of the first spheres to be annexed by the Empire, it had a small water body at its center, surrounded by eight fiery stars that produced small explosions when they collided with one another. Its inhabitants, the immortal salzarians, were huge watery spheres immune to all magic. No magical devices operated within the sphere.[4]
Thasiaspace
This sphere's only planet, Thasia, was an enormous body inhabited by intelligent entities similar to shambling mounds. Vulkaran's hold on the system was extremely tenuous and was expected to be challenged when the thasians became sufficiently advanced to achieve space travel.[4]
Vergonspace
This system's six planets' human inhabitants were at a constant state of war with each other, a situation that was maintained by Vulkaran in order to ensure the system's weakness. After the dissolution of the Empire and the end of the internal wars, it was expected that the warlike inhabitants would unite and pose a new threat to known space within one century.[4]
Vodonikaspace
The closest sphere to Vodonispace, it was the destination of their exodus. After wiping out the original inhabitants, the vodoni colonized the sphere and turned it into a replica of the original Vodonispace, as diversely populated as the spheres of the Free Space Alliance.[4]
Zalanispace
This was inhabited by the peaceful, yet terrifying zalani, humanoids that resembled gargoyles and had an alien taste for art and beauty. It was the location of all the Empire's shipyards.[4]
Planets
- Anadia
- Coliar
- Toril
- Abeir
- Selûne
- Karpri
- Karpri Station
- Chandos
- Glyth
- The Rings
- Haven
- Mingabwe
- Polluter
- Garden
- Grandchild
- Yerthad
- Reaceon
- Retinae
- Icon
- Fjord
- Locci
- Dragon Rock
- Knurl
- Sunson
- Templar
- Farworld
- H'Catha
- Turnbetl
- Lumbe
Additional Astronomical Bodies
- Comet K'Thoutek
- Skull of the Void
- Caer Windlauer
- Galleon Nebula
- Color Spray Nebula
- King-Killer Star
- Stardock an abandoned illithid port
- Yeomen’s Loft the capital of Netherese spelljamming activities during the Arcane Age
- Nimbral an island on the world of Abeir-Toril.
Stars
- Hajama, visible in the Zakharan night sky in winter;
- Hakiyah, winter/spring;
- Haku, spring;
- Jauhar, spring;
- Jisan, spring/summer;
- Kor, summer;
- Najm, summer;
- Selan, summer/autumn;
- Zann, autumn;
- Bala, autumn; and
- Vataqatal, autumn/winter.
- Jarmik
Far Realm-infested Stars
- Acamar
- Caiphon
- Delban
- Gibbeth
- Hadar
- Khirad
- Nihal
- Zhudun