The Tanysh Empire & the Chak'sa

1

I am attempting to come to some resolution regarding the Chak’sa, and the dual-race human - thri-kreen kingdom/empire/state seemingly presided over by the “Great One” avangion and his colleague thri-kreen. Clearly this state existed, but what were its origins, where were its capital and boundaries, and how did it end?

Given the Chak’sa’s location, it seems to be loosely in the area in the sway of Tanys. A creation of we who keep the the flame of Dark Sun lit, Tanys as a civilization and empire seems to have already been waning by the time of the beginning of the Preserver Jihad, which foreran the Cleansing Wars. I believe I shall posit that an already declining and tyrannical Tanysh Empire was rebelled against, and defeated and replaced by the dual-rule of the Great Thri-Kreen and avangion sometime shortly before the advent of the Preserver Jihad proper. I speculate it functioned for a few hundred years or less before it was in its turn destroyed during the first proper war of the Preserver Jihad, being obviously the clearest obstacle and threat to Rajaat’s vision, being led by an emerging avangion (surely the first) and surely some sort of extremely impressive thri-kreen, wielding considerable state power.

I speculate this realm, which I shall call the Sunrise Kingdom, was ruled from Tanys, or else perhaps some new capital, with its sway extending throughout much of what is now the great tohr-kreen savannahs to the east, and all the way to the Sunrise Sea in the west, all to the north of what we think of as the core Tablelands of the future seven city-states.

If anyone has any useful notes or errata that would either compliment or critique this theory, I welcome it.

I may place their new capital where Desaraches would later stand, protected by the Dragon Crown Mountains. After the Sunrise Kingdom was defeated by the proto-Champions, this city was likely leveled by the defilers. I speculate that later in the Preserver Jihad, the Wind Mages built Desaraches in the ruins of the capital, a mighty bastion raised in defiance of the Pristine Tower, and an homage to the avangion who once ruled there with his thri-kreen colleague.

Again, your notes, comments and criticisms of this proposal are welcomed.

1 Like
2

I’d question if that Tanys extended that far, but that’s a @darkinterloper question - I honestly wouldn’t know.

A minor quibble, but why would a kingdom of the western edge of the massive shelf that golds both the Hinterlands and Tyr Regions call itself the “Sunrise” kingdom?

Perhaps its related to this? “…extending throughout much of what is now the great tohr-kreen savannahs to the east, and all the way to the Sunrise Sea in the west, all to the north of what we think of as the core Tablelands of the future seven city-states.”

I have no idea what’s going on with the map you’re referencing, but the Crimson Savannah is to the west, the Sunrise Sea (which became the Silt Sea) is in the east, and if the Chak’sa is relatively close to the Dragon’s Crown Mountains as Thri-Kreen of Athas says, I would describe “all to the north of what we think of as the core Tablelands of the future seven city-states.” as a miss-characterization (its really west or west-northwest).

1000008682
10000086821920×1692 586 KB

3

I do not know for certain what the kingdom is called, but i play with the notion that there was a solar aspect to the kingdom, stemming principally from the two rulers. I contemplate explaining the thri-kreen ruler as having extraplanar sponsorship from the para-elemental plane of the sun, specifically from a primordial being called the Sunrise King. Uniquelly empowered to combat the rise of the defilers after a long and storied career, his solar magnification would help explain how he was colleague of the first avangion.

As to geography, my sense is loose. I doubt theirs would have been an especially authoritarian realm, but i could see their network of alliances and cultural influence stretching throughout an enormous portion of the continent, with its new capital at the heart of the Dragon’s Crown. Indeed, these mountains may have been raised by the avangion or his allies.

At the height of their realm, one could imagine such a kingdom erecting a monument such as the Chak’sa, with the stone busts of the curule magistrates lining the road from the capital to the Chak’sa, which itself overlooks the Circle, an obviously highly important socio-religious site. That site might also, in origins anyway, be of a solar aspect. Like the Steeple of Crystals, it is a convex reflector, for though much wider and deeper (at two miles across and 500 ft. deep), it resembles much the floor basin of the Steeple of Crystals at the Pristine Tower, which is obviously of solar orientation in its design, built to share, focus and harness the rays of the sun.