Proposed supplement: Mysteries of Athas

[redking]

Continuing the discussion from Constant battles among the city-states:

I proposed an idea for the Dark Sun setting last year. That is, a supplement for Dark Sun similar to the Legends of the Twins supplement for Dragonlance.

@redking

The SKs have the equivalent of nuclear weapons in the context of potential for ecological destruction.

It would be a trivial matter for an SK to turn up at the fields surrounding a rival’s city and start razing/defiling those fields through epic psionic enchantments. That would render the population of the city without an agricultural base. Of course, the victimized SK could do the same in revenge.

This is a tactic that can’t be deployed unless the other SK is dead. Obviously, it’s rare.

I think that the 3.5 Dragonlance supplement Legends of the Twins should be the model on which we present the Dark Sun setting. Don’t like Rajaat and the halfings? Fine - something else happened in Athas’ hidden history. Think Kalak is a cool guy and wouldn’t have allowed himself to get killed? No problem. The problems in Raam finally boiled over and now Raam is known as the Free City of Raam. Think that Dregoth’s plan to be a god on Athas is lame, and that Dregoth would know better? No problem - Dregoth is planning to move his chosen people, the dray, to another prime material plane world beyond the gray, but not before he gets revenge on his enemies.

The Prism Pentad, which I enjoyed, railroaded people into a scenario which is largely at odds with the mystery of the original Dark Sun boxed set. We can do better.

Proposed Format (Work in Progress)

The Occulted History of Athas. Alternative histories to unearth. Maybe Athas is the homeworld of the gith Forerunners. Maybe the gods were killed by the sorcerer monarchs and the Dragon in an act of utter blasphemy. Many possibilities.
The Free City Can Be Any City. A rebellion could take place in another city instead of Tyr, with that city becoming the Free City instead.
Rumored City States. Are there other cities around Athas? The are rumors about them. Lets see what the rumors have to say.
Different Defiling. What if defiling isn’t what destroyed Athas and Athas was originally an impoverished world. Perhaps defiling drains the happy emotions of sentient beings. Magic drains happiness of people, making them hostile. Or defiling might to something else altogether.
War Between The City States. Do the city states have any rules of war? How come all the city states aren’t destroyed?

And so on.

[nijineko (nijineko prismaticpsion)]

Interesting propositions! Would like to see this sort of a book, along with new optional rules to support the concepts.