Essentially, defiling is a tempting shortcut to power, and preserving is sacrifice required to not go down that path.
Long yet simple, this is my take on arcane power on Athas, where I tried to make things balanced so being a preserver has a benefit as well:
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All magic users are either preservers or defilers, though this distinction is lost on the general populace.
All magic outside of cantrips (footnote 1), when not prudently used, strains the land with a defiling radius (in game terms, this means a close burst 1 that kills all normal plant life in the burst), but conscientious wizards, known as preservers, have developed some preserver skills to mitigate this damage to their surroundings and souls. To counter one’s personal defiling radius during the use of a power, one may use do one of the following (these techniques are known as preserver knacks):
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Concentrate, at the cost of mobility, by doing one of the following:
#Lose a minor action for the turn (this option is not available outside of one’s own turn)
#Lose a move action (this option is not available outside of one’s own turn)
#Leave oneself open, granting combat advantage to all adjacent opponents until the beginning of your next turn
#Increasing the time rituals need by one hour.
Use one’s inner reserves of vitality, by doing one of the following:
#Lose a healing surge
#Lose, temporarily, 5 hit points, which will be regained after a five minute rest
#Lose an encounter power
#Lose a daily power. A power lost this way can be regained after a five minute rest
#Lose an action point
#Lose the ability to use cantrips until after an extended rest
Other options include:
#Other feats, powers, and side effects may provide additional options to stop a defiling radius
#Some feats, powers, and effects caused by outside sources may effectively suppress all defiling radiuses in an area, removing the need for knacks in some situations
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One who uses a preserver knack is working in harmony with existence itself, which besides being morally wise, has a tangible benefit, called a harmonious aura. Anyone who uses a knack receives a harmonious aura, a special status, until the beginning of their next turn, during which the character gets a bonus of 4 temporary hit points added to any healing they give or receive. Harmonious auras don’t stack, nor can one gain more than one harmonious aura.
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On the other hand, powers of the arcane descriptor, as long as their defiling radiuses are not repressed, are more potent and likely to strike enemies if not restricted by these preserving knacks, adding a +2 bonus to arcane powers’ attack rolls, and rituals cast without preserver knacks similarly are easier, giving the caster a +2 bonus to their arcane check. Increase these benefits to +4 at level 10, and +6 at level 20.
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Defiling comes at a price to the soul as well as the land; all acts of defilement have the potential to give a player dark action points. Any time a player fails to somehow suppress their defiling radius and uses a power or ritual, they must make a taint check. The DC is 15 plus the current level of dark action points the character has. Failure nets the character a dark action point.
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Unlike action points, dark action points cannot be spent, and do not typically give benefits (some feats, rituals, and powers may utilize them; however, points cannot be shed by such things in most cases). When one has dark action points equal to their wisdom modifier, they become tainted, are true defilers, and their alignment becomes evil. Even if the DM doesn’t elect to treat the character as an NPC at this time, the character will probably not last long among it’s fellow adventurers, depending on their morals and alignments. A tainted character has a penalty to wisdom checks (equal to their dark action points) to avoid doing evil when presented with the choice, though they may be able to perform good actions under the pretense of larger, evil plans their character has laid out. They suffer a similar temptation to defile when casting, and must make a wisdom check whenever they try to overcome their bad habits and use a preserver knack.
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Tainted characters do not benefit from the harmonious aura status of their own preserver knacks until they manage to remover their tainted status.
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Another consequence of tainted status is its tendency to make those who stoop to defiling stand out to the sensitive. Animals won’t like defilers, and those with the power to sense alignment through magical or psychic means will make perception checks at a reduced difficulty. The DC to sense if someone is a defiler is 15 minus the amount of dark action points the individual is tainted with. All characters have the chance to sense defilers’ tainted natures when they use the sense magic arcane skill check (in which they must be trained). Psionic NPCs often sense defilers at inopportune times.
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Dark action points can be removed through acts of atonement. Each time a milestone is achieved or a level is gained, the character may make a wisdom check (DC=15+number of dark action points) to remove one dark action point. Certain rituals and actions may also be able to remove a dark action point, as the DM or adventure supplements sees fit to allow, but they will probably entail great risk or personal sacrifice. If a tainted character reduces their dark action points to 1/4 of their level, they are no longer tainted and may gain the benefits of the harmonious aura once again. The temptations and regrets of defiling will always be with them.
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1:Performing cantrips in public on Athas is just as foolish as other forms of magic, of course, as the public has instinctive hatred of all magic and mages. Fellow adventurers may not like them either.