Pyreen are what the last of the Nature Masters turned themselves into, after everybody else was turned into elves and humans, etc.
Iâve always liked the fan theories that there was more to Badna than just ARâs shenanigans. Like, everybody KNOWS that Badna is a fiction she made up.
But what if he WERENâT?
What if he were some kind of primordial / Far Realm / Lovecraftian thing, like that ridiculous âdemonâ in the crummy âCity Under the Sandâ book? And, locked away in a similar prison to Rajaatâs Hollow, faded from memory, until AR found reference to it, thought it made a grand idea, and ran with it? Except words and thoughts have power, and maybe Badna is waking up?
Well, my Badna is a deity, and one of the stronger in the green age;
So the Wars of Cleansing (called by the races which fought back Wars for Survival) raged on; some endangered race, like the Gnomes and the Orcs, decided to leave Athas (the orcs went underground, the Gnomes left for the Fairy realm) but the Godâs Champions managed to slay several of Rajaatâs.
But that was exactly what Rajaat wanted; anytime a Godâs Chosen or one of his Champios died, he colllected more energy for his ultimate plan; One of the Champions, Oromis, defected to the godâs side; finally when Rajaat victory whose within his reach, Borys of Ebe, one of the mightiest champions realized that Rajaat ultimate goal was to become the only god in Athas and plunge it back in the Blue Age, destroying all whioch came before, humans included. So, the surviving Champions, and the surviving chosen united to stop Rajaat; but the First Defiler was already too foreward on the path of divinity, and they could not kill him; but they managed to contain him. However, the world payed a big price; the sun darkened and reddened, almost all oceans vaporized; So begun the brown age of Athas; The Black was created as a prison for Rajaat, but this severed the connection between Athas and the gods in the Astral realm; the only connection with the beyond now passed thought the elemental planes, and the Elementar Gods; but natures, even on wounded words, abohors vacuum;
Thus the surviving Champions and Chosen became the new gods, in a sense; They werenât astral beings, but they were now able to harvest energy ftom the faith of mortals; they had also certain obligations in regard of they mortal followers. 27 City states were formed, in those region of the word were more peoples had survived. Each of the 27 winners of Rajaat became the ruler of a city; they are collectively known as the God-Kings or the Sorcerer-Kings.
How about this for a moral dilemma.
The PCs find out about Rajaat, and his threat to the peopleâs of Athas. However, it turns out that Rajaatâs prison is being fortified mainly by the life essence of Athas itself, with the dragonâs levy being merely a supplement to that.
The PCs are left with a choice. Release Rajaat to stop the draining of Athas and subject the peopleâs of Athas to cleansing, or leave Rajaat in his prison and allow the eventual death of the planet in the long term.
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Not a bad idea; but Athas is actually already on an healing process, in my hopinion; So Rajaat is not so much killing the planet, but he is slowing down the healing process; The use of defiling magic slows it down further. But the evil SKs do not want for the process to be completed as it would bring the green age back, and with it, the meddling outsider deities. The good ones would love that, but they still do not know how they could eliminate Rajaat.
The 25 Sorcerer Kings are so organized:
The following ones are the leader of a cult, in witch they are the deities: Hamanu (L/E), Kalak (L/E), Nibenay (L/E), Dregoth (N/E) The Oba/ Lalani Puj (N), Kalid-Ma (L/N), Lilandra (C/G), Tektutilay (C/E); Jaalik(N); Sielba (L/N), Beskha (L/G),
This group, instead, have founded religions in which they are not the deities.; Abalach-Ra (C/E), Andropinis (L/N), Oronis (L/G) ,Ghijaar (N/E), Marragh( N/G)
The last group have not directly founded religions, but cult around them are born anyway: Daskinor (C/E); Borys (C/E), Aranna (N/G), Wayn (C/N), Vasnarg (L/G), Sacha (L/N), Rrosh (N); Shagvras (C/G).
The other Religions are the Elemental cults (N) and the Cult of Rajaat (N/E).
Each of the Sorcerer-King related cult is based in the latter city-State:
The Lion-King Cult (Hamanu) is seated in Urik; The Eternal King Cult (Kalak) is based in Tyr; The Shadow King Cult (Nibenay) is based in Nubenay, The Death Dragon Cult (Dregoth) is based in Giustenal; The Cult of the Oba (Lalaj-Puj) is based in Gulg; the cult of The Sleeping King (Kalid-ma) is based in Kalidnay; The Cult of the Butterfly Queen (Lilandra) is based in Zerich (which sits on a lone hill in the southern tablelands). The Cult of the Son of the Moons (Tektutilay) is based in Draj, the Cult of the Wise King (Jaalik) is based in Tarax (halfway between Ur-Draxa and Uruk) the Cult of the Queen of Clouds (Sielba) is based in Yaramuke, the Cult of the Ageless Queen (Beshka) is based in Sydn, Tyrâs twin city.
The cult of Badna (Abalach-re) is based in Raam; The Cult of the Honoured Ancestors (Andropinis) is based in Balik; The Cult of the Returning Gods (Oronis) is based in Kurn; The Cult of Zyrtax e Zahtrak, the Battling Twins, (Ghijaar) is based in Lakan (opposite side of the Sea of Silt of Balik); the Cult of the Wounded Mother (Marragh) is based in Vesdra, in the Crimson Savannah.
The Cult of the Secluded King ( Daskinor) is based in the city of Eldarich; The cult of the Dragon is based on Ebe/Ur-.Draxa. The Cult of the Queen of Life (Aranna) is based in Duarta (50 Km westof the Halfling forest). The Cult of the Restless Heart (Wayn) is based in Bodach; The Cult of the Relentless Warden ( Vasnarg) is based in Kandahan, which is nestled on the Resounding Moutains. The cult of the Everthinking (Sacha) is based in Arala. The Cult of the Silent Scribe (Rrosh) is based in Bilok (It sits in the center of the Deadlands, which, in this TL are dubbed the wounded lands).finally, the cult of the Laughting King (Shagvras) is based in Syrcs on the Last Sea.