(Joking) What do natives of the Cacaus region have anything to do with it? (/joking)
For those who are not aware of why that is a joke, the term Caucasian actually refers only to the natives of the Cacaus region of Georgia (the country, not the state) who were famous back then for their unusually light colored skin compared to the surrounding nationalities, which historical reasons for that happening are a rather interesting story, for another time.
The term was later conscripted to erroneously refer to anyone of light colored skin regardless of origin… using the classic “ignore the inconvenient facts, steal and repurpose whatever grammar and vocab we want” nature of the English language.
As a side comment, people who are actually Caucasian appreciate being recognized for their unique heritage and origin, based on my own experiences of conversing with people of said origin, and successfully recognizing them.
Huh, fun. I knew Caucasians were related to the Caucas mountains, but iys my understanding that English was generally spamming everyone NW of there as Caucasian.
Facts aside, i feel like the phrase “white people” is a good way tonstart a fight so, IDK, whatever: pseudo-European Athasians maybe?
The low-UV-band element is a good point- I sort of have it in my notes that Green Age Athas was probably pretty dark due to the earthlike golden sun, with “european” people mostly limited to up north past Saragar (Saragar being analogous to southern france or spain, climate wise).
Very few rebirth beings lived in the far south- I wanted to reconcile Brax’s Wisdom of Sorrow with the Steve Bell/ACG maps by having those large interior areas of desert on the Bell Green Age map be desertified by the lingered scars of the Brown Tide: the Brown Tide initially desertified much of the now exposed seabed but between a mix of the Pristine Tower encouraging seed dispersal, wind patterns, ect, areas greened into plains and forests quite rapidly, while the forests and fauna that were on the Blue Age islands that became mountains migrated into the lowlands. The desert areas were sections of now-exposed seabed where the lingering corruption of the brown tide and/or unfavorable wind patterns made life untenable for the rebirth races. These included much of three entire continents (the other bell continents), the peninsulas south of Ulyan (methvezem’s brown lands and the southern peninsula by Brian Sanchez), and most of the southeastern Anattan continent.
As the Green Age went on, grasses and forests made inroads, and in the area south of Ulyan, various elemental cults and druidic communities, primarily Giants, Tari and Centaurs, cultivated life to both expand livable areas and bury the poisonous effects of fossilized/dead brown tide (basically powdered stromatalite).
The toxic jungle extracts the poison from the land and dies, turning the poison into harmless sand… the equally toxic bugs protect the jungle until it finishes the job…
We’re generally going with the other side of the planet being the one drafted by Steve Bell - most of it was not exactly friendly to the rebirth races and thus not particularly settled, with races like the Nikaal, Rhulisti remnants, and Kreen and other bugs being dominant- the sole exception was the lush continent of Remaan (added an extra A so it was a bit more unique from a certain species of star trek mutant romulan ), which, in many ways, was the actual center of the Green Age world- the largest populations, the highest standard of living and technology (Bodach and other tablelands cities matched them in terms of psitek, but had much greater levels of disparity and were seen as a “frontier”). Cool, lush, rainy and or snowy, with massive glacial lakes in the north and rich farmland due to the continent sitting on a number of dormant supervolcanoes.
It went boom thanks to Rajaat, cutting the Cleansing Wars short by several thousand years. One of the harder decisions for him, given a ton of Halflings and most of the world’s Pyreen lived there, and racist bastard he may be, but he stlll had some affection for his own kind.
Anyways back on topic, I can trace at least three Illithid colonies on athas based on both canon and fanon- we have the Flayers under Tyr (presumably exterminated in the events of Wake of the Ravager), the Flayers of the Hiramin Highlands, in (New) Oshul, still alive as of 12 FYA, and the Flayers of the Dark Cupola on Anattan, also still alive as of 12 FYA.
It even presents opportunities for differing illithid approaches to survival on Athas- the Tyr ones were more classic mind flayers- it got them wiped out. The ones of Oshul have best adapted to Athas via their own strain of lifeshaped organisms, with their city being a giant water-retaining organ and wandering the surface in stillsuits. The Flayers of the east resorted to aggressive epic-level magical/psionic “terraforming” and created a shell of darkness and moisture, but are in constant war with their neighbors due to the slaving/food raids and people understandable wanting to conquer a little swampy, cool pocket-world.
Sorry Pennarin. 15 years ago I had long abandoned D&D, and was starting up my career after changing country.
It was Athas.org’s wonderful expanded timeline and the ACG’s geography which inspired me to give the setting (and D&D itself) a second chance during the UK’s first COVID lockdown.
But it does seem like since I started the ball rolling with the Pristine Tower Development Group back in late 2020, it’s been growing and picking up some nice momentum ever since.
Hadn’t really become active on Athas.org yet, if I recall correctly.
That would have been around 2007, back I was fighting with the US government regarding family health and safety versus job security; they used that as an excuse to force me to “voluntarily” resign, as I was putting my family first and would not back down.
The project I was working on at that time was the collection of the entirety of the 3rd ed content from the WotC website and collating into my Archive (still available online).
I distinctly recall a post by a Templar to the WotC forums (don’t recall which one anymore) updating everyone on project status.
I and at least 5 other people immediately volunteered to assist on the projects, but got only radio silence.
That’s one of the major reasons that we’ll (the current Pristine Tower dev group) always prioritize finding a place for anyone that wants to help develop content for Dark Sun.
Yesterday is gone, but we are alive and kicking now. The Pristine Tower lives!
And this stands as an open invite to everyone. If you fancy helping us on any ongoing project, or would like support on the project you’re currently working on, come join us on our Discord server!
), which, in many ways, was the actual center of the Green Age world- the largest populations, the highest standard of living and technology (Bodach and other tablelands cities matched them in terms of psitek, but had much greater levels of disparity and were seen as a “frontier”). Cool, lush, rainy and or snowy, with massive glacial lakes in the north and rich farmland due to the continent sitting on a number of dormant supervolcanoes.
