We have a copy of the timeline of athas on site. This was originally crafted by Kevin Melka, back in the DS2 era.
We have added a few things to it, but it’s been largely unchanged since the DS2 era. Which means that we havn’t added anything from the 4e run.
I’m going to be doing some work on cleaning up the presentation of it; while I’m “in” there, I’d like to make a number of updates. Part of that will include getting the events of the DS4 timeline noted. I’m not necessarily sure that anything actually goes to the level of alternate history. Can anyone tell me if the 4e timeline negates anything in the established Prism Pentad timeline?
I’d also like to add sourcing information to the timeline, so you’ll be able to see where to find out more about a given event. That will likely be something I’ll be looking for help on, as it’s likely very easy to miss things going forward.
4e Dark Sun starts at the time of Kalaks death and never really moves forward any appreciable amount of time. There shouldn’t be any new details as far as I know.
@raddu and @flip as part of my helping with the Dead Lands accessory I am working on the timeline of the Dead Lands.
I wanted to both volunteer to help out with what @raddu offered/suggest almost 6 years ago and also to give some feedback on a few incongruities I found within the timeline by going through it.
I will list those incongruities here.
Dregoth’s 1st and 2nd generation Dray creation dates are nonsensical.
168th King’s Age, in the year of Desert’s Fury (Free Year -1684) lists Dregoth creating the 1st gen Dray
168th King’s Age, in the year of Guthay’s Fury (Free Year -1698) lists Dregoth creating the 2nd gen Dray
Given the Free Year accounting: Now unless he can timetravel and went back to undo his 1st Gen by creating the 2nd Gen before this does not make sense at all of course
I therefore propose the year Dregoth created the 2nd gen Dray to be in the 169th King’s Age, in the year of Guthay’s Fury, corresponding to Free Year -1621
This accords with canon since City by the Silt Sea mentions on page 93: “More years passed, and another generation of humans died out. The experiments continued, and eventually Dregoth was ready to try again. This time he succeeded. The second generation dray were born.”
Dregoth’s timetraveling antics with the Planar Gate?
168th King’s Age, in the year of Guthay’s Slumber (Free Year -1555) lists Dregoth discovering the planar gate and studying it for 10 years before going to the Outer Planes for the next 19 centuries but …
190th King’s Age, in the year of Friend’s Agitation (Free Year 10) lists Dregoth returning, having not been away for 19 centuries (unless time dilating or some such weird time thing happening to him) but only for (FY -1555 to FY 10 is 1565 years, subtracting the years researching coming to 1555 years away) 15 1/2 centuries.
Yeah that last one is more nitpicky but a timeline should be factually correct imho.
Did they deal with that idea in City by the Sea of Silt at all really? I mean how did New Guistenal get on for well over a thousand years without Dregoth there? Why did they continue to remain in his service all that time?
You mean during Dregoth’s planar travels? I assume that the power he provides templars is enough to keep people in line. New Guistenal is like the Hotel California. You can check-in but never leave.
@Redking - This timeline is based on what Athas.org considers canon. We’re following those rules. I think we discussed it at length in the Tower Discord relating to other projects as well. Do you remember?
But to summarise (others can correct specifics if I miss a detail):
Anything officially published by TSR and WotC is looked at first
2e revised canon takes precedence in the event of contradictions with 4e.
Anything Athas.org has published under OGL is also added.
From there, we massage out contradictions as best we can trying to save as much canon as possible.
Mmm, I’d say the general pipeline we’ve been using is 2e (Revised edition) > 2e (Original release) > Paizo Dark Sun 3/4e > Existing Athas.org fanon > Other fanon content
To pitch in, quite late, but I’d say still relevant to the matters raised concerning source materials.
In the work I’ve done on the timeline in 2021/2022 as part of the Pristine Tower Dev group is also try to pinpoint in what source a timeline entry comes from.
To give you some examples of this.
The moment the Dragon’s Levy is instantiated. KA 165, Wind’s Defiance (165.5).
The timeline of Athas.org mentions this with the description: “Borys emerges from his insanity and learns Rajaat’s prison is on the verge of collapse. Soon after he collects a levy of 1,000 slaves from each sorcerer-king, using their lifeforce to reseal the First Sorcerer’s prison on a yearly basis.”
I’ve sourced it (for now only from here, but obviously it comes from somewhere else too) from LCotTP: “Borys emerges from his insanity and learns Rajaat’s prison is on the verge of collapse. Soon after he collects a levy of prisoners from each sorcerer-king, using their lifeforces to periodically reseal Rajaat’s prison. Although the Kings of the south were warned in advance, Keltis and Daskinor are taken by surprise by the Dragon’s demands, and forced to pay the first levy out of their own citizens. Hard- hit by the levies, Kurn and Eldaarich begin to empty as citizens flee to the Trembling Plains. Keltis resolves never to use his own in such a way again, and uses all of his might and cunning to scrape up enough beings for sacrifice each year so none of his own will die in this way.”
As you see, some of the sources might have a slightly different formatting or exact formulation. This is just one of the artefacts that might turn up when working on the timeline of Athas.
Another example then.
Dregoth killed and raised to unlife. KA 164, Friend’s Fury (164.57).
The timeline of Athas document here reads the exact wording as coming from CbtSS: “Lead by Abalach-Re of Raam, the sorcerer-kings storm Guistenal and kill Dregoth, Ravager of Giants just before he is to become a 30th-level Dragon. The battle destroys the city, the land, and most of its population. Afterwards, Hamanu throws the Scorcher into the Silt Sea.
With the aid of his high templar Mon Adderath, Dregoth is returned to life as an undead dragon king. The surviving populace is gathered soon after, and construction of New Guistenal begins.”
The Lost Cities of the Trembling Plains timeline section (LCotTP) reads: “Lead by Abalach-Re of Raam, the sorcerer-kings storm Guistenal and kill Dregoth, Ravager of Giants just before he is to begin the ritual to transform himself into a Dragon.”
It would be useful, especially when you have different levels (or whatever you wanna call them) of canonicity going on in a setting as rich and diverse as Dark Sun, to establish sources. But it’s a monk’s task for sure.