Comets, eclipses, and cosmic wind! Welcome back, Outlander, to the 15th entry in Mythic Ecology, my series on how learning real-world landscape features can enrich our fantasy worldbuilding and storytelling. In this post I return to my minimalist framework for Dungeon Masters, Game Masters, fiction writers, and similar worldbuilders to merge the realms of general myth and geomorphology. Last entry I took a look at Rock Formations. As I resume my journey sketching a framework for designing Yridia, my unique D&D 5e fantasy world, let’s learn some rock formations, with a visual guide. With the deep space themes of Spelljammer set for official release for D&D 5e, I figure this one might be especially helpful!

How does one interact with such astronomy aspects in normal D&D 5e play? Here’s some ideas, which I will tag where relevant:

1. Magical Means: Arcane & Divine Scrying (e.g. the Scrying, Legend Lore spells), deific powers (e.g. Cleric’s Divine Intervention, the Wish spell), teleportation (e.g. the Teleport, Teleportation Circle) planar portals (e.g. Gate, Plane Shift, Astral Projection spells).

2. Spelljammer Vehicles: spacefaring vehicles in the forthcoming Spelljammer material.

3. Magitek Telescopes: a bit of a deus ex machina of magic-powered optics comparable to some variety of industrial telescope lenses, perhaps powerful artifacts.

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