Dear Fellow Travelers Under the Dark Sun,
Gentlemen, I have been much pleased to review the work of the Athasian Cartographers Guild. I say again, a superb effort, and much valued. Let it not be said that what I write below is any matter of criticism–indeed it is the opposite, as their excellent work now evokes my own efforts and interests, which I now feel compelled to bring to the table.
For some months now I have been devoting considerable effort to building a new sub-setting for Dark Sun, based on the far side of the Silt Sea, which we have collectively named Anattan. To my knowledge, no one beside Sysane and his players (and at that, some time ago) have actively campaigned in this remote region, which first captivated our imaginations when tiny pieces of it were revealed in the map that came with the famous Valley of Dust and Fire. We know precious little, if anything about this continent, and what we do know comes from the imagination of but a handful of us, most notably to my knowledge Sysane, Dark Interloper, of course the mighty Brian Sanchez, and whoever was behind DarkSunRising. To this list I will now boldly list myself for your consideration.
I have endeavored to incorporate the maps and scant lore regarding the Anattan region into a coherent whole, and though I may have imagined much differently myself, I have done my best to pay respects to those voices who have helped breathe life into this side of Athas thus far, and have therefore preserved as many of the originally chosen names, land features, etc. as reasonably possible for my own setting. I have however fleshed out a great deal, and added considerable depth, color, and specifics to the region. Though it is my own campaign, I have tried to design it so it would do the least to offend original creators like Sysane and Dark Interloper, and hopefully please them should they ever peak in one of my game sessions.
However, amidst my designs for the Anattan setting, the Athasian Cartographers Guild has issued two new maps of Anatta, and behold, I noticed some considerable changes. I suspect these changes, adding this city here or moving that location there, were executed with the greatest consideration, but they have thrown off to not an insubstantial degree my own design for the region, which like I said has heretofore taken great care to consult all previous work. This is fine, but I would love to know and understand the thinking.
Compare and contrast previous maps, which I have gathered here, to the new E5. I would love to discuss these changes, and thereby learn more about our collective vision for this region.
To this end, as I much wish to add positively to work on Anatta, I therefore propose we create a forum, perhaps this very thread, to discuss the development of this region. I saw in the Cartographer’s Guild that an Anattan Gazetteer has been proposed and projected. I would offer my own efforts to have a hand in this, and would proffer my own considerable work on the subject.
I have prepared extensive “Player Cards” regarding the city of Khormen (the name of which has been replaced with Gilland in the new map) and the famous Last River, the Salar, around which my upcoming games will revolve. I suppose that collectively these Player Cards form a gazetteer of sorts. I am willing to share these, via email, with interested members of the Arena, and in doing so enter the discussion as to what is to be developed into the Anattan continent. I certainly have my vision forming for this part of Athas. Ultimately I may go off in my own way in Anatta, apart from the vision offered by the Cartographers Guild, but ideally I would like to add to our collective consensus, and build a largely shared Anatta. For your consideration, I offer the first two pages from my Player Cards. If you are interested, message me, and I will send you the rest if you wish.
Either way, hopefully this thread can help the Arena build greater interest in this fascinating and mysterious “hidden continent” on Athas. There are a great many secrets, histories and adventures to be had in Anatta, and it would be good to explore them further in a an open manner, so that by a general consensus we build a largely shared vision for this mysterious side of the Dark Sun world.
