An "Expanded Athas"

Rules
#21

Athas’ Charter does not permit any edition but 3e. So unless and until WotC says otherwise…

If there are votes, I would vote against any non-3e project. Do it elsewhere, fine I’ll support you, but not on Athas.org.

Regarding changes to lore and timeline and so forth… why not side step it?

Start producing material set somewhere else on Athas outside of the known world. What ELSE happened on Athas while all the official stuff was happening? There’s a whole world out there, why stay inside the fishbowl?

Just a thought.

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#22

Ravenloft sidestepped things like that by introducing ‘Dread Possibility’ ideas.

#23

Did it work out well?

#24

I have always ignored 5, 6 and 9.

#25

Yes. The Dread Possibilities in Ravenloft worked out great.

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#26

Do you mean 3e or 3.5e?

#27

Apologies that I keep flipping back and forth on the terms I use.

I use the concept of “the 3.0 material not updated is still valid for 3.5, and 3.5 is part of d20, everything official that fits that definition goes” for my 3rd edition.

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#28

In that case there is the mighty Lasher! A prestige class I’ve always thought of as fun. :chains:

#29

I do not like the revised setting as a whole, and try to stick to the original boxed set as much as possible, even though I’ve used some pieces of things after the revised setting.

Why couldn’t the SK’s who were killed in the PP come back via contingency-like spells especially within the realm of psionic enchantments.

The perma-death of Kalak can be explained by having to ritually cleanse yourself of all enchantments when casting the metamorphosis spell. Pg. 38 of DK states “Generally, any divergence from the letter of the spell description or any interference with its casting results in the failure of the spell and the death of the caster.” Which made it even possible to slay an epic level being by mere 16th level characters. I italicized ‘generally’ because this allows for corner cases (such as Kalid-Ma).

I think folks should collaborate to build out parts of this and still keep the verbiage 'Blue Age, The Gray, The Black, Green Age, etc that were introduced in later but intentionally make things vague like 4e did.

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#30

No reason they couldn’t at all. More to the point, the only reason that the Sorcerer Monarchs turned out to be such pushovers was that it was required to make the plot work.

The easiest way to handle it is to say that all the SM’s that got killed by the Heroes of Tyr (except Kalak) were actually simulacrums, not the real deal. That way the entire Prism Pentad story actually happens, but the setting is kept in it’s original state at the end.

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#31

That could still leave Andropinus trapped and Abalach-re to return to Raam (after Dregoths invasion, she’s not stupid, perhaps that’s why she waited). The only other ones besides Kalak to die would be Techtuklay (because Rajaat) and Borys.

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#32

I’d say it’s up to everyone to decide because we must remember that Rajaat IS the creator of magic. Therefore, any magic or contingency could just not work if he decides so. After all, if his will is to kill them, do you really think he would let them save their life with something he knows exactly how to counter?

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#33

From the cannon SMs, here’s a short list of current states/how they got there in my campaign that may assist.

Borys - Not directly killed by Rajaat, but instead one of his swords, contingency spell from before he was a champion kicked in, he became a wraith and got stuck in the body of a half-elf female. Currenty trying to get out of the demihuman body, return to dragonhood, and gather the remnants of his city/outposts.

Kalak - Still dead (maybe), body is still missing and hasn’t been found.

Tek - Dead, but a copy of his mind inhabits his throne and the longer his “son” sits on it the more control it has.

Dregoth - Failed his bid to become a god but was transformed into a living dragon. Freed from his undead mind lock he’s reassessed the world and is actively recruiting Dray, restoring his old city, and spreading the word of a return to the Green Age. He’s harnessed many Tyr storms and is slowly refilling the bay.

Hamanu - Still running Urik, trying to reconcile the return of Sielba and all the other changes going on while staving off his metamorphosis.

Abalach-Re - Killed by a part of the sword, she was reborn into the first child born to her line and is now rapidly aging and gathering her power. She’s hiding out with control of a single village far from Raam, watching Dregoth, Nanda, and Sielba specifically.

Sielba - Returned to life when her mind, body, and soul were combined. Has only recently been discovered to be rebuilding Yaramuke.

Andopinis - Stuck in the Black, working with a shadow wizard and his shadow templars. Attempting to find a way to maintain his connection to the elemental planes so he can grant spells again. Has a keen interest in what’s happening in his city, but no desire (or ability) to return to it.

Oronis - Still sitting at home, afraid to fully transform and lose the rest of his humanity, spying on everyone and not being terribly effective anywhere.

Lalali-Puy - Pushing the Forest Goddess vibe, actively trying to enslave spirits from more than just the forest and trying to push it’s boundaries even further.

Daskinor - Still mad, doing his own thing.

Kalid-Ma - Recently returned to life and to the plane after the orbs were brought together. Has a small population and is trying to understand the changes that occurred. Is very interested in Baltic and what’s going on there.

Other Champions:
Sacha - Ressurected at the Pristine Tower when Rikus killed him. Has a full body now and has become a stage 1 become a dragon, trying to find out what happened to Rajaat.

Wyan - Believed dead but was recently uncovered by Sacha

Egendo - Freed from the Cyst, getting his bearing still.

Pennarin - Still dead

I’ve got a few of my own Champions active in the tablelands such as Sielba’s sister Cielbia, Irikos, Arenek and a few more out beyond it. My current party recently found the homeland of the Yaun-ti and has so far discovered a champion nearly defeated her race of ancient serpentine beings before realizing she was cut off from the tablelands and infused the last of that race with her human army to create the Yaun-ti so she could exist forever and keep her sanity.

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#34

The Cerulean Storm (PPV) and the Revised Campaign Setting completely change the metaplot of Dark Sun and that’s always been controversial. I’m torn. On the one hand, I liked the original setting, but then change is the only constant in the universe and the Revised Setting box reflects that.

I agree with @redking, @SeruZmaj and others that it’s unlikely all of the SMs who fell actually died. Just look at Elminster, arguably a less powerful wizard than many of the SMs - plot armour aside, he has contingency upon contingency upon contingency.

I reconcile this by having some of them permanently dead (Tec I’m looking at you) but others cloned or otherwise alive through judicious contingencies and magical/psionic items. However, just because Uyness, or Borys, or whoever may survive, that doesn’t mean they’re going to go straight back to being moustache twirling villains.

I think the utter change and trauma of what they went through with Rajaat is going to make at least some of them question what they want to do. After all, as far as the rest of Athas is concerned, they’re dead. IMHO the SMs are as trapped in the Brown Age cycle as everyone else, thanks to the LEvy and the fear of Rajaat busting loose. The Levy is irrelevant now and they don’t have to act as the jailors of the First Sorceror anymore.

If the remaining SMs (bar Daskinor and his box of frogs) are questioning how they should react to FY11+, their erstwhile colleagues would do the same. Some might want to go back to absolute power. Others might want to find a way off Athas and explore the multiverse (jailbreak anyone?). Or they might want to try and restore the Green Age as a prelude to restoring the Blue Age - that is after all why they ostensibly signed up to being Champions.

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#35

Again, thats if you take the revised history wholesale. But say Rajaat is just the first mortal to master arcane magic and leave it there. It makes things ambiguous and lets individual GM’s decide what happens or what history is correct.

2 Likes
#36

I like that. Better than Atzetuk spontaneously becoming a dragon on his own. For my game he’s in control of the Obsidian Man which deters the other city-states from sacking Draj.

For my game most of the SM have remained dead with the following exceptions:

Borys was restored to a long forgotten pre-dragon clone body. Might merge that with your wraith scenario in that he’s searching for said clone body.

Andopinis was “freed” from the Black by loyal templars. The catch is that the ritual was botched and he’s only free during the daytime and is forced to return to the Black during the night.

Abalach-Re is dead, but Raam is now ruled by a returned Irikos who assisted with freeing the city-state from dray occupation.

Sacha and Wyan are still kicking (floating?) around as heads. Undying is part of their punishment so their disembodied heads slowly regenerate.

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#37

Mysteries of Athas, anyone?

There are so many variations. Guess what? The Dark Sun setting can accommodate them all.

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#38

I was thinking about this after my DS game last night.

Expanded Athas
Chronicles of Athas
Mysteries of Athas
Beyond the Horizon

Definitely sounds good. Here is a sampling of some sample logos I quickly put together. As well as how one would look on a product page.

June

DS Possibilities
DS Possibilities1106×656 860 KB

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#39

Looks good. We’ll get there one day.

1 Like