First of all I want to say hello, as this is my first post. I’ve been a long time lurker of this forum and a longer fan of Dark Sun. I want also to apologize in advance for my English, as is not my native language and I had to use Google Translate to be able to have this post translated to English.
This heresy is based on some of the original ideas from the Gor books, the Counter-Earth, in which existing civilizations have their origin in our Earth. So, considering that the original set was already inspired, among others, by these books, I think it may fit quite well. In addition, it is also the same concept used in the Stargate universe, which also has similar ideas, at least in relation to the movie.
It’s a bit long and makes use of several previously seen theories (especially the one that zik-chil = nature-benders), but overall I think it works quite well
The origin of Athas civilizations
After the war between the rhulisti, the nature-benders survivors decided to hide to gain strength, until they had a new opportunity to face the nature-masters.
And when the nature-masters managed to stop the Brown Tide, many of them dying in the process, they saw their chance. Using their life-shaping skills, they turned themselves into the Zik-Chil and took control of the kreen colonies, a non-intelligent insectoid species. Little by little they modified the kreen, providing them with intelligence, until they became the predecessors of the current kreen races. But above all, they physically adapted them to the new world, in which the waters had receded, providing new non occupied lands.
They did so well that the kreen spread rapidly into new territories, posing a danger not only to the rhulisti, but also to the few original species that had been able to adapt to this new world. Obviously, this was the zik-chil plan: to exterminate the rhulisti at any cost and take control of the planet.
But the rhulisti, even without knowing the true origin of the new danger that threatened them, and decimated as they were, did not want to give up. They decided that the only way to stop the kreen was to include a new element in the equation: new life had to be brought to the planet to fill the lost ecological niches and thus stand up to the expansion of the kreen. But, how to do it? It’s not possible to create life where there is none, so it had to be found “outside”. And for this they probed space-time, until they found other worlds full of life, inhabited by a multitude of different races. Humans were especially interesting to them, due to their great adaptability.
Using the power of the Pristine Tower, they broke through the Gray’s barrier, creating paths to the planes. And from there they brought large groups of humans from different civilizations: Greeks, Romans, Japanese, Africans, Babylonians, etc. But also elves, orcs, pixies and other races, seeking to bring variety to a world at risk. And it was this colossal use of power that transformed the blue sun into the yellow sun.
But it didn’t matter, because now there was a chance to stop the kreen expansion. For this, the rhulisti helped these races to establish themselves throughout the planet. And they did so by founding settlements that were a reflection of their original civilizations, although adapting to the new world.
And the plan worked. The new races adapted and spread throughout the planet, especially humans. And they fought the kreen, winning many times, others being able only to keep them at bay.
But the zik-chil, the ancient nature-benders, saw what the rhulisti did as heresy, further proof that only they could preserve life as it should be. Only they could bring Athas back to being a blue world. For a long time they thought how to get rid not of the rhulisti, who had almost completely disappeared, giving rise to the rhul-thaun, but to all the new races that they had brought to taint Athas.
And they concluded that it was necessary to fight fire with fire, making the same races fight each other. For this they needed a champion, someone capable of infiltrating the kingdoms of men and winning their favor. Something that they, with their kreen looks, could never accomplish. To do this they gathered the remnants of their life-shaping knowledge and turned one of their own into a new creature, one that brought together characteristics of all the new races that now inhabited Athas. They named the new race Pyreen and the first of them, Rajaat.
But the zik-chil’s knowledge of life-shaping was not what it was, and Rajaat began to mutate, becoming grotesquely deformed shortly after being created. However, his will was strong and he decided to move on with their plan.
The following eras are already known: Rajaat discovered magic, taught the Champions to use it, and they carried out the Cleansing Wars for him. Until they discovered his real plan and locked him in the Hollow.
But by then the world was already devastated. The great human kingdoms scattered across the planet, with their civilizations based on the cultures brought by their ancestors from other worlds, were in ruins.
The Champions decided that they had to abandon these kingdoms and relocate to one of the few places where it was still possible to survive: the region of Tyr. The place where everything had started would also be the place where everything would end.
And with one last great effort, each of the Champions founded a new city with the remains of the abandoned kingdoms, bringing with them thousands of citizens and those riches that where still deserved to save.
What is your opinion? I know there are some concepts for which many around here are detractors, and that there are loose ends, such as the existence of a majority of good Pyreen, but in general I think it may be a good “heresy”.