Another noodle:
Would a living city have a spirit of the land? Would it possibly have several?
1 Like
Yes, I believe this was one of the plots of the Pavek/Chronicles of Athas books.
2 Likes
Ah, I missed those .
1 Like
Indeed it was. I spent many years slavering over the Urban Druid class in Cityscape and figuring out how to work it into my home Dark Sun game.
I ended up deciding to use urban druid (and the Disaffected PrC from Requium for a God by Monte Cook) as the two late-stage factions of post PP Tyrian templars who had regained spellcasting powers through two very different means (the Disaffected would have been very much like 4eās The True, but this was years before 4e DS came out).
Anyway @LibraryOgre, thatās a solid āSure, maybeā out of me. 
1 Like
The Zwunn could also be what your looking for.
2 Likes
2e had Complete Druidās Handbook which had many kits for unusual druid protected lands. Just an FYI, if looking for ideas.
1 Like
Has anyone developed a circle of the city-state druid for 5e/5.5e?
The Zwunn? Where are those from?
1 Like
Its the aggregate spirits of Nibenese preservers from the adventure Marauders of Nibenay.
2 Likes
I am becoming increasingly aware that I am not widely read on Athas.
4 Likes
Cool! That means thereās still old Dark Sun material for you to get to read for the first time!
1 Like
The Zwuun is a fascinating entity and little explored beyond the occasional references. Perhaps a good start to expound upon your original concept.
1 Like
Bear in mind I donāt have so much as an āoriginal conceptā as a āweird shower thoughtā. 
So, I bought the pdf of Marauders of Nibenay, and I donāt think the Zwuun would qualify; itās a local spirit, to be sure, but itās not a spirit of the land in the sense of a druidās patron.
Iāve asked this a couple other places, and I tend to agree with whatās suggested there, that in cities with a Sorcerer-King, such a spirit would be of limited power; too much drain on the local land, even with extensive gardens of Trees of Life. But, then, you have cities without sorcerer-kings, especially ones that might continue to restrict defilers; post-Kalak Tyr, post-PP Balic (if Wavir has his way) both spring to mind. Alternatively, youāve got places up near the Last Sea, or New Kurn. Or Green Age cities.
I suppose the question really is āAre there parts of Athas without spirits of the land?ā
2 Likes
The Ivory Triangle and The Veiled Alliance have more info on Nibenay, and at least one of them covers the Zwuun. I recall that the adventure Marauders comparatively provides little in details.
1 Like
I suppose the question really is āAre there parts of Athas without spirits of the land?ā
Even an area with no life, like a rock in the middle of the silt ocean, has a spirit.
That being said, defiling (beyond its effect on life) can come to kill a spirit, if itās strong enough and sustained.
Coming back to that rock in the silt: if it lost its spirit nothing would seemingly change. A druid could tell, though, and transplanting something there would see it slowly die despite being watered and receiving sunlight, like potted plants in the hands of most 21st century humans.
In a place full of life, though, such as scrubland, first defiling would kill every plant, root, and soil microbe, and drive the animals away. Second, it could come to kill the spirit. Wait long enough and the ashen defiling remnants would be blow away. Youād then have an area mysteriously devoid of life despite areas adjacent to it being full of life themselves.
Thereās supposed to be plenty of these dead areas across the world, all dating back to the Preserver Jihad and Cleansing Wars.
3 Likes
The zwuun is also discussed in Veiled Allianceās Nibenay section.
I wonder if a spirit of the land can be ātransplantedā? Really high level druids can merge with a spirit of the land; maybe that process can expand a spiritās influence into neighboring ādeadā lands (not The Deadlands, but spiritless lands)?
2 Likes
Also, what determines a spiritās domain? In the game, obviously, a player or DM does. But what makes a chunk of land (or sky) have a spirit?
1 Like
Iāve wondered the same thing. In some cases a feature is fairly distinct - an oasis, a free standing mountain/volcano, a canyon. But in more indistinct cases, how is the landscape divided up? I doubt entire large regions like the Endless Sand Dunes or the Great Ivory Plain - or even the Sea of Silt! - have a single spirit for the entire thing, but where there are no natural boundaries, how does that work?
Also, how long does it take a spirit to form / arrive at a new feature, like the Great Rift formed by the Great Earthquake?
2 Likes