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'''''Spelljammer''''' is a [[campaign setting]] for the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons|Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]'' (2nd edition) [[role-playing game]], which features a [[fantasy|fantastical]] (as opposed to [[Wikipedia:Science|scientific]]) [[Wikipedia:Outer space|outer space]] environment.
''Spelljammer'' introduced into the AD&D universe a comprehensive system of fantasy [[Wikipedia:Astrophysics|astrophysics]], including the [[Wikipedia:Ptolemaic system|Ptolemaic]] concept of crystal spheres. Crystal spheres may contain multiple worlds and are navigable using ships equipped with "spelljamming helms". Ships powered by spelljamming helms are capable of flying into not only the sky but into space. With their own fields of [[Wikipedia:GravityGravitation|gravity]] and [[Wikipedia:Celestial body atmosphere|atmosphere]], the ships have open decks and tend not to resemble the [[Wikipedia:Spacecraft|spaceships]] of [[Wikipedia:Science fiction|science fiction]], but instead look more like [[galleon]]s, animals, birds, fish or even more wildly fantastic shapes.
The ''Spelljammer'' setting is designed to allow the usual [[Wikipedia:Sword and sorcery|sword and sorcery]] adventures of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' to take place within the framework of outer space tropes. Flying ships travel through the vast expanses of interplanetary space, visiting moons and planets and other stellar objects.
===The Phlogiston===
The [[phlogiston]] (also known as "the Flow") is a bright, extremely combustible gas-like medium that exists between the Crystal Spheres. A signature property of the substance is that it does not exist within the boundaries of a crystal sphere, to the degree that it cannot be brought into a crystal sphere by any known means up to and including the direct will of deities. Every crystal sphere floats in the phlogiston, very slowly bobbing up and down over time. Travel between Crystal Spheres is facilitated by the formation of "Flow rivers" — sections of the phlogiston which have a [[wiktWikipedia:Ocean current|current]] and greatly reduce travel time. Travel through the "slow flow" (i.e. off the Flow rivers) is possible, but very dangerous.
===The ''Spelljammer''===
The ''Spelljammer'' is a legendary ship which looks like a gigantic [[manta ray]], and houses an entire city on its back. All spacefarers (people who live in wildspace) have heard of the ''Spelljammer'' but very few have ever seen it themselves. It is this ship that gives its name to "spelljamming", "spelljamming helms" and anything else connected with spelljamming. The ship has been reported to have been seen in countless spheres for as long as records go back. Even some groundlings (people who live on planets that have very little or no commerce with spelljamming communities) have legends about it. There are hundreds of conflicting legends about this ship, and a mythology has developed about the ship that is similar to the legends surrounding the ''[[Wikipedia:The Flying Dutchman|The Flying Dutchman]]''.
As a living thing (although it does not consume any matter, it does absorb heat and light through its ventral (or under) side and uses them to produce air and food for its inhabitants), the ''Spelljammer'' has a complex life cycle and means of procreation. Normally the ship has no captain and wanders the cosmos seemingly aimlessly. When the ''Spelljammer'' has a captain, obtained through another complex process, it will create Smalljammers (miniature versions of the ''Spelljammer'') that go forth as its spawn. Apparently there can only be one Spelljammer at any one time. One Smalljammer will mature into a full ''Spelljammer'' ship if its predecessor is ever destroyed.
