Karpri Station

Overview

Karpri Station was a spaceborn military base constructed by the Elven Imperial Fleet in orbit above the water world Karpri to protect the local elven population. Slowly orbiting at about 150,000 miles (241,401 kilometres) above the planet's surface, Karpri Station was created by linking together seven archaic men-o-war in a circular formation which were then firmly welded together by the growth of their crystalline wings.

The ships shared the same gravitational plane and atmospheric envelope, and all of their weapons were emplaced facing outwards, towards open space. The outpost served as an elven military base for over 144 years before being overrun by an illithid squadron, who slaughtered the entire crew before abandoning the base. Several attempts have been made to reclaim or salvage the base, but all attempts have failed, possibly because the air has long ago become deadly.

Captain Icarus, commander of the Realmspace Fleet, has subsequently petitioned the Admiralty to officially reinstate Karpri Station.

Inhabitants

Karpri Station is haunted by the ghosts of the thirty elven personnel who had been stationed there at the time of the illithid assault. Their purpose in death is to ensure that the base never falls into the hands of an enemy: unfortunately, the ghosts consider all non-elves to be enemies. When intruders arrive at the base, the ghosts reveal themselves in the hopes of scaring the intruders away. Most humanoids are afflicted by unnatural aging merely by seeing the ghosts, and those overcome by the supernatural fear caused by the ghosts may flee back to their ships and try to leave the base at once, even if they have to abandon their companions.

Elves who board the station are given free reign, as long as they appear to be fulfilling the base's original task of standing watch over the aquatic elves of Karpri. Should it become apparent that they have some other agenda, the ghosts will immediately try to drive them from the station. Th ghosts cannot rest until they have ensured that the aquatic elves will never be in danger. This is of course impossible, meaning they can only be put to rest by removing the entire aquatic elven population from Karpri.

History

The Imperial Fleet helped establish a colony of aquatic elves on Karpri, transporting sea elven colonists from their homes in the Trackless Sea near the isle of Evermeet on the planet Toril to their new home in the depths of this beautiful water world. An elven base, later known as Karpri Station, was subsequently established to protect the elven colony, and was designed to periodically "dip" into the planetary atmosphere below to refresh its own air envelope. The whole idea was to maintain long term surveillance without being intrusive, a role it performed for over 144 years before being abandoned.

When the illithids became aware of the existence of Karpri Station, they were unsure of its actual purpose. Eventually the decision was made to attempt to discover what the base was protecting, and to destroy it if it couldn't be taken. The mind flayers were hopeful that they would capture a source of great wealth, or possibly many delicate elven brains to eat. Needless to say they found nothing, as the elves fought to the death, holding out against the attackers until their air ran out. Thankfully, the existence of the aquatic elven colony on the planet below was never revealed as the elven warriors took the secret to their graves.

Appendix

Notes

See also

• The Crown of Corellon, an elven space station constructed of seven archaic men-o-war.
• Lionheart, the secret headquarters of the Imperial Fleet.

External Links

• Karpri article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

References

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