The Moons of Athas

Setting
#1

So one little tidbit I enjoyed from 4e was the concept of travelling to the moons of Athas. It really adds a nice extra layer of planetary romance to Dark Sun. So the big questions I had for you all was how do you depict the Moon Gates of Athas if they exist at all? Were they psionic artifacts of the Green Age? Unknowable relics of the Blue Age? Or crafted by lunar visitors?

The other question I had was how do you depict Ral and Guthay? Are the moons more hospitable than Athas? What creatures live there? What level of technological advancement are they at? Do they rely on psionics, magic, or something else entirely?

I personally saw this as an excuse to depict the races that perished in the cleansing wars on these moons, keeping a few of the core qualities that makes an orc an orc, while also throwing plenty of curve balls. Also it gives a really easy excuse to have a bunch of eldritch aliens haunt the fringe myths of Athas.

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Is Athas tidally locked to its Red Giant?
#2

great topic! can’t wait to hear people’s thoughts on this.

just earlier today I was reviewing http://arena.athas.org/t/expedition-to-the-barrier-peaks-dark-sun-adaptation/616

@ProfessorZik-Chil identified the following races from each moon:

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#3

Failed life-shaped creations banished to one or both moons by the rhulisti. Have since evolved over the centuries and formed their own society.

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#4

As I’m fond of the theory that the Thri-kreen were the actual original natives of Athas, and the Rhulisti were actually star travelers who arrived on Athas, I lean toward science-based portals for said Moon Gates.

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#5

Guthay is where the Silk Wyrms come from. So says Uncle Tantor.

Since hearing that story (and no doubt influenced by Nijineko’s cystalsinger idea) I’ve been thinking about them dropping from the sky like Pern Thread.

Inspired by this, in my last session the players ran into a storm with greenish thunderheads that rained burrowing insects wrapped in a comet tail of acidic filaments.

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#6

Are there any maps of the moons?

I am very interested in adding these into my campaign when the characters get to higher level, Spelljammer-esque. We know for certain that the Gith came from the Astral Plane and could not find a way back, so the moons most definitely would have been reachable by the Gith, and possibly the Gith on the Moons are far more technologic and civilized than their Athas counterparts. Perhaps they even have Spelljammers that have since broken down, because they can’t make the new parts… or perhaps the metal and ice on the planet are so vast that they are busy rebuilding and refueling a crashed Spelljammer… Also, we know the Phaerimm, and the Mindflayers were insidious parasitic space faring races that expanded through the Astal Plane very early in their existence and ended up on many worlds.