So, this is a cool theory to talk about, at most for fun and not to impose it a truth or gospel.
In short: The collapse of the Green Age Civilization was inevitable due to resource depletion from an over-reliance of psionic technology. Magic and the cleansing wars just came as a consequence and sped up the collapse, overkilling the planet as well.
Yeah, I know it sounds crazy and NOT what is implied to have happened from an authorship pov, but I’d like to support my theory not only from what the lore implies, but also what the meta ecologist metaphor the setting aims to make.
First, let’s start by describing what psionics is: From the timeline given by athas.org, we know that the use of psionics started shortly after the beginning of the green age, where it manifested as a skill used by the newborn races of the rebirth. From what I was able to gather from most official and fan sources, despite psionics being latent in almost every being, the study of the Way, or how to use psionics, was a very protected knowledge, usually reserved for the wealthy and the city elites. Heck, according to Mind Lords of the Last Sea, during the Green Age criminals and lower class peoples used to be locked within obsidian orbs, psionic devices used basically as the equivalent of modern computers, for communication, teleportation, even as traffic lights. Also, considering that Athasian slavery is implied to have during this time, it seems that the Green Age civilizations were all to some degree harsh, stratified and hierarchical technocratic oligarchies. Basically, those within the elites who had the money and power to learn psionics dominated those who didn’t, with those on top living pampered easy lives while those on the bottom risked lobotomy should they not keep up with the system.
Despite that, the Green Age is described as a time of wonders, so despite being often described as a regular high magic fantasy setting, it would still mean they’d have a lot of advanced tech. Assumptions vary, but many say flying cities, super weapons, computer in the shaped of the obsidian orbs, locked elementals to power fountains, psionic locks, teleportation, and more.
Now it is proper to say, this level of sophistication is very close to what we have in our modern era, and this is where the correlation between my theory, our world and the collapse of Athas comes. In such a sophisticated and advanced civilization, in the span of 7 thousand years (longer than our industrial one), the peoples of Athas, with the use of psionic-powered technology, were able to mine out most easily available metals off the planet’s crust, not really depleting them, but to make most ores only reachable through specialized techniques and devices.
This is where I take us back to our planet, because unlike most other potential consequence from climate change, the one most people don’t talk about is that of resource depletion. You might think that ores and other metals are abundant on Earth, and they are, with a caveat. In reality, most ore deposits are reachable only through very sophisticated mining operations and machines that peer deep into the earth to find them. Before, you could go to any river and find nuggets of metal right there, something not really possible at least in industrialized countries (you could still do so in countries like the Congo or Venezuela, look it up). Another factor to consider, of course, is that the more and more sophisticated and interconnected technology and trade becomes, the more frail and vulnerable it becomes.
Now, if we consider that industrialization is barely 200 years old compared to 7000 years of psionic powered tech in Athas, you might need to hear that should a collapse in civilization happen, at least to the point that a considerable part of the knowledge and technology that powers said civilization is lost, it will make it very difficult for us to reach previous high stages ever again.
My claim is that this is what was about to happen in the Late Green Age, right before the Time of Magic, because after thousands of years of psionic dependency, economic inequality, slavery and oppression by the elites, the pressure was rising so that in the event of a revolution, or a disruption in the trade of resources powering society, basically civilization would never be able to recover the same. Not only that, but because resources were becoming more and more difficult to find, racial tensions to some degree may have started to pop up as the many civilizations started hovering or fighting over increasingly scarce resources.
Does that mean that Psionics was the culprit of Athasian collapse? No, none at all, but it layered the foundations of it, because when Rajaat introduced Magic to society, the first consequence was social upheaval as magic acted as an equalizer and slowly started to dismember the old order, and dues to the existing racial tensions previously mentioned, Rajaat only had to play within that frame to convince the many human masses to gather the armies of the champions, because it was a war not only for supremacy, but also to ensure humanity’s future, at least in the minds of the champions and their soldiers.
That means that despite magic being responsible for the destruction of the world, civilization was already being led to collapse because of psionics, and should Rajaat never appeared and introduce magic, society was still screwed, although not the planet necessarily. Ultimately, this twist makes the current state of the setting all the more tragic, and helps bringing blame not only to the Rajaat and the Champions, but also to everyone overall, which I think it’s more effective with the environmentalist message of Dark Sun.
So, what do you think? Cool theory right? Again, it doesn’t have to be true, but I think is cool to ponder about lore this way, even if it is about stuff that doesn’t really mean anything in the context of your games.
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