Geography and Culture of Koffuspace

The sphere is mostly solid crystal, made of the same black substance as most normal crystal spheres. There are large pockets, roughly circular, that may be reached via passages which periodically open up. Some powerful creatures are said to exist who manipulate the appearance of these passages, and it is believed that certain beings called the Ones Between actually live within the crystal shell itself.

The dominant sentient race of Koffuspace is the Koffu - racial drow who lack the innate magical abilities of their Underdark cousins but otherwise are drow in all physical respects. The Koffu do not know the term "drow" and do not consider themselves that race should it be described to them. Rather, the Koffu will, if pressed, claim that their earliest legends refer to their people as "darkalfar." Now however, they will insist that they are merely the Koffu, and that they need be nothing else.

Koffuspace contains small populations of other sentient races. Many myconids and other intelligent, fungoid plant life dwell in the mushroom jungles, while lizard men and bullywugs live in the swamps. Flying reptile men of some sort have been seen soaring in the high places of the sphere, though the Koffu have almost no contact with them. Koffu stories also feature the appearance of a race that is recognizable as dwarven, but no member of that race has been seen since the earliest tales of the Koffu. The three largest world pockets of Koffuspace are:

• Obsul Ill Illindeth (Opening to Destiny)
• Ustus (First One)
• Pro-Belbol (Gift of Life)

The hollow-worlds of Koffuspace have no known source of magnetic attraction, and no simple way to specify direction. The ideas of north and south are entirely artificial. The Koffu chart direction by the rivers, which typically flow 'east' to 'west'. One river flows entirely around the world of Obsul Ill Illindeth. It encompasses the greatest drainage basin on the 'planet'. Though it is inconceivable (theoretically) that a slope continues in one direction in a complete circle, the river does in fact flow into itself - it has no beginning or ending, and is known as the "River of Life." The other two hollow worlds have similar rivers which define east and west.

The east is called upstream, and west is downstream. The 'north' tends to be cooler, and so the Koffu call it windside, while the south is very warm and humid, so the Koffu call it steamside. When cold, dry fronts from the north and warm, humid fronts from the south meet, there are great storms along the middle axis of the sphere worlds. It is along these middle axes, the great drainage basins, that the mushroom jungles grow thickest.

Each hollow world is lit by a single blue star which floats at its center. The light is constant - the Koffu do not have a natural "day" or "night." The Koffu worlds' ambient light is equivalent to that found on a bright moon-and-star-lit night on a standard planet.

The largest hollow-world (Obsul Ill Illindeth) measures some 25,000 miles in radius from its central star. Its surface consists mostly of humid mushroom jungles with some hilly areas and savanna. There is some evidence of volcanic activity in a few of the hilly regions.

The largest city of Obsul Ill Illindeth - and indeed all of Koffuspace - had been the City of Illindrae, which was annihilated when an eight thousand ton Vodoni crystal citadel detonated its power core in the city's midst, slaying 1.5 million of its 4-5 million inhabitants, and diverting a nearby river into the crater. The resulting lake has been named the Lake of Sorrow, the Lake of Woe, and Lake Illindrae. It is generally avoided by Koffu and Vodoni alike, for fear of misfortune and restless spirits.

A plethora of fungoid life forms exist in Koffu Space, including various medicinal drugs, as well as many poisonous or incapacitating substances. Please refer to the Plants file for the properties of various flora found in Koffuspace. The following is a brief list of some other life forms which have been identified:

Vedula Worm: The worm itself is an innocuous creature. However, the Koffu have learned to use the hollow silk of its cocoon as a substitute for glass globes. When filled with fungoid dust or spores, these cocoons become effective weapons, since when they strike a hard surface, they automatically explode, spewing their contents out to cover a ten foot radius. Cocoons which hit a moderately soft surface, such as grass or spongy moss must save versus Crushing Blow (as thin wood) or break open with the same result.

Thurengiri: These large riding salamanders are used by the Koffu as mounts. They can travel at MV 12 through even the densest mushroom jungles, and carry up to 300 pounds distributed among rider and gear for up to twelve hours without rest. Furthermore, they are durable swimmers, able to carry their riders at MV 6 across most rivers and lakes.

Thurengiri consume fungus and grubs, and are generally not vicious creatures. Herding the lizards is simple. While they reproduce by laying clutches of eggs, Thurengiri have maternal instincts and thus take care of their own young. In addition, they are passive and easily trained.

The Koffu have managed to breed a strain of aggressive Thurengiri for war over the years. These are 4+4 HD, AC 6, and claw/claw/bite for 1d4/1d4/1d6 damage. The Koffu have been known to coat their claws with poison before entering combat.

The Koffu also make use of a wide variety of mushrooms for peaceful purposes, including construction material, fiber for clothing, food, extraordinary dyes and pigments which glow in the light of the blue star of each Koffu world, unique spices, and of course fuel.

While the Koffu worship the drow deities Ellistrae, Vhaeraun, and Kiaransalee, their primary worship appears to be directed to a number of Vanir deities (Frey, Freya, Uller, and others). Lolth appears to have no power in Koffuspace. However, some strange and alien deities appear to draw worship power from the sphere, such as the rumored god of the myconids. A few monstrous deities also have power in Koffuspace, such as the deities of the bullywugs, lizard men, and various swamp creatures which claim small parts of the Koffu worlds and fight wars with the Koffu.

Prior to the initial Vodoni invasion of two centuries ago, the Koffu political structure centered around two parallel and cross-cutting structures: Clans and Namings. These are described below. After the Vodoni occupation, these structures were largely abolished, though they were secretly preserved by the Vodoni. The Vodoni instead attempted to implement a civil service regime, in which they recruited Koffu to help the Vodoni occupiers manage artificially constructed regions and cities. Over two hundred years, and after an amazing investment of time and organizational energy on the part of the Vodoni, the Koffu eventually developed an official government centered in city-states that served as regional capitals. Although this set-up allowed the Vodoni to begin extracting tribute and resources, it was never run as efficiently as the Vodoni would have liked.

When the Vodoni were driven out by the Elven Imperial Navy and other alliance ships during the first Alliance War, the Koffu immediately rebelled. Over the next decade, they rebuilt the old political structures, but many of the newer political structures (specifically the organized city-states) persevered. They immediately set about preparing defenses against the return of the Vodoni. When the Vodoni did eventually return after only a decade of absence, they did so in even greater force and severely punished the Koffu for their resistance. The Vodoni never did manage to completely pacity the sphere, however, as many Koffu took their resistance to the wilds and continued to launch ambushes against the Vodoni in spite of the Vodoni policy of massive communal punishment. The sheer expanse of wilderness in the three huge cavern-worlds prevented the Vodoni from systematically hunting down the rebels, particularly as the number of bionoid lycanthropes in the population mysteriously skyrocketted. Before the Vodoni could make significant progress, the Eye of the Gods was shattered and the Elven Imperial Navy once again invaded to drive out the Vodoni. The Koffu rose up once more, and the Vodoni retreated with whatever forces they could evacuate.

Since then, the Koffu have slowly started to rebuild. The Koffu political structure remains very fluid and the lines of power are shifting. More than one local conflict has broken out among the normally chaotic and war-prone Koffu, however the Koffu try to limit their internal conflict in order to be ready to oppose the next enemy that tries to invade their sphere. Their opposition to the external foe has taught them greater unity of purpose and shared vision than they would have otherwise learned in several millennia. Only time will tell whether they will fall back into their old parochial ways, but the Koffu are a long lived race and many centuries will pass before they forget the lessons they learned under the Vodoni occupation.

The political structure of the Koffu is quite complex. Each adult Koffu belongs to one of nine Namings, which are not so much religious or political organizations as they are cultural phenomenon. These are the crafts and philosophies which each Koffu dedicates themselves to. The Namings are intensely personal in nature. Koffu choose Namings based on each Koffu's individual abilities and leanings. These callings thus exist outside of clan blood ties and tribal loyalties. Because of their nature, Namings do not have leaders or an organization other than the small religious orders that preserve the Namings and teach aspiring Koffu. Most Koffu do not consider their Naming to be a religion and do not worship their Naming's founder. Instead, their Naming is the philosophical guide and touchstone by which they live their life.

In some larger cities members of individual Namings have been known to organize themselves into guilds, and have thus wielded significant power. However, these organizations have invariably been drawn into clan and tribal politics and have never been endorsed as representative of the Namings by the religious orders that preserve each philosophy.

The Namings are life paths which were taught to the Koffu by the nine children of Rauva and Tathlyn. (These nine are hero-gods, each actively worshipped by small religious orders which teach that hero-god's Naming. Rauva and Tathlyn are both now demi-gods in the service of Ellistrae and Vhaeraun.)

Every Koffu also belongs to a clan. While Namings are chosen, one's clan is determined by one's birth. Only rarely do clans ever adopt members who are not linked to them by blood, and even marriage does not sever clan connections. If a Koffu man or woman marries outside of the clan, then they become a temporary adopted member of their clan-by-marriage, a link that lasts only as long as the marriage. Children often are promised to one clan or the other based on pre-marriage agreements.

However, it is not unusual for clans whose members have mingled freely through marriage to unite into one larger clan. Similarly, it is not unusual for large clans to split into smaller clans due to disagreements among the elders of the clan, who are known as Clan Councilors (Alur-Qu'ellar), and who lead the clan. Villages typically belong to single clans, while most cities and towns are shared by multiple clans.

Tribes are loose alliances of clans which rule over large areas. Tribal leaders, many of whom take on the trappings of nobility, are chosen from among the young and energetic rising stars of each clan which makes up the tribe by the elders of that clan. The many tribal leaders from the tribe's clans theoretically rule the tribe together as equals, but which tribal leaders wield the most power is actually dependent on the cult of personality that these leaders form around themselves, and the political maneuvering of the various clans who are allied with each leader's clan.

Clans fall in and out of tribes on a semi-regular basis as borders shift and power changes hands. The Koffu have made these political games into an art form, and only rarely does a short-lived war erupt. More likely, individual blood challenges settle matters of honor and the trouble is forgotten by both sides. Peacemaking by neighbors and blood prices paid for dead kinsmen further eliminates the possibility that a clan or tribe will swear a blood feud and engage in a real war, something that has not occurred in Koffuspace for centuries.

Some tribal leaders occasionally gather enough power, through the loyalty of clan elders and other tribal leaders, to actually call themselves princes (as opposed to the lesser titles of other tribal leaders) and rule as such. Cities are often ruled by one or more tribal princes.

During the second occupation of Koffuspace by the Vodoni Empire, a small proportion of the Koffu population somehow underwent transformation into bionoids, the insect-like elven warriors created by the Elven Imperial Fleet during the First Unhuman War. Many of these very changed Koffu have banded together to form groups of shadow warriors who move among the Koffu unseen and undetectable. During the second occupation and its aftermath, these Black Knights launched lightning raids and ambushes whenever presented with a Vodoni target of opportunity. No one knows who leads the Black Knights, if they have any leaders at all, or how they came to be. Nor does anyone know their numbers. The Koffu fear the Black Knights, not only because they do not understand the bionoids among them, but because the bionoids have been known to attack Koffu targets as well, and their reasons, like their nature and origins, are a mystery.