I suggest that Bards be more like crystal singers, and draw the crystals from the poisoned soil of Athas as a byproduct of the poison the process also extracts. I suppose this should go under heresies, though I see it more as explaining the how and why of bards being poison masters and providing a methodology. And explain why so much crystal is available. And I still think glass-steel should totally be a thing in Dark Sun.
I really like this idea. I think a lot could be done with this.
It would make Psionās particularly dependent on Bards for their own work.
Iām using crystals in place of scrolls and potions (magic fruit always seemed weird to me --but not in a good way) in my Athas.
YAMV
I think I should have added āunchecked proliferation of rust monstersā as one possible cause for metal loss on Athasā¦
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My reason for the loss of metal is a bit of a hot take. My D&D campaigns are all connected to one another through Spelljammer and Planescape, so the relationship between mortals and gods has been a recurring theme. One of the reasons my version of Dark Sun is so awful is because the gods were all killed and each of the 12 major deities left a particularly nasty curse upon the world.
The God of Death broke the cycle of the afterlife for the Athasian Crystal Sphere while the God of Magic ensured normal arcane magic could never function on Athas. The Sea Godās death created the sea of silt, the Fertility Goddessā death created the obsidian fields, while the Sun Godās death turned the sun red and punishing. It was the Tyrant Godās curse that caused metal ore to sink deeper into the earth so that few would enjoy the gift of iron.
While deep mining was theoretically possible, metal became not just harder to access, but harder to find as well. With passing generations the secrets of iron grew scarcer as other problems grew more pressing. Today those who still hold mastery of iron are few, yet the gift of iron promises supremacy to more than one aspiring tyrant.
Edit: On an off note, the corpses of these gods still linger in the world. Heretics are able to abscond with a portion of these dead gods and use these fragments as holy symbols. However these fallen deities are insane and vengeful things that pervert their old concepts into terrible forms. Whatever they once were is gone forever. As Steven King once said āSometimes dead is better.ā
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Iāve often been tempted to mix Timothy Zahnās Spinneret novel into Athas as an explanation for where all the metal wentā¦ =D
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Better add that one to heresy 