Chapter 13: Star - The Book of Many Things

Chapter 13: Star. When Istus created the first Deck of Many Things, she drew constellations from the sky to create each card. This chapter presents these constellations, known as the Sky of Many Things, complete with magical effects created by the constellations as well as a zodiac that might influence the destiny of those born under its signs. The latter part of the chapter, intended for the DM, includes details and rules for observatories: locations that facilitate stargazing and astronomical studies. The Sky of Many Things A zodiac is a series of constellations that appear to rotate around the night sky in time with the changing seasons. Many people use the alignment of zodiac constellations to explain personality traits, mysterious phenomena, or other patterns. This section presents a zodiac called the Sky of Many Things. It was from this zodiac that Istus, god of fate, drew the original Deck of Many Things. If you're a player, the Sky of Many Things might inspire your character's backstory, starting from the moment that character was born. If you're a DM, this zodiac can inspire countless adventures themed around prophecy and fate, or it could be a starting point for a zodiac of your own creation. Many Stars, Many Worlds In the settings of D&D, most stars in the night sky are suns, planets, or other distant objects, all of which exist in pockets of vacuum called Wildspace. A group of associated celestial and planetary objects is called a Wildspace system. Wildspace systems exist on the Astral Plane-an infinite void that surrounds all worlds of the Material Plane. Different Wildspace systems drift about the Astral Plane. Greyspace is the system of the Greyhawk campaign setting, for example, and Realmspace encompasses Toril and the neighboring planets of the Forgotten Realms. Clownspace, Krynnspace, Xaryxispace, and countless other Wildspace systems populate the Astral Plane. Some stars in D&D aren't ordinary astronomical phenomena-they're far stranger things:...