Those are exactly the passages I meant yes.
I believe later on when she is at the PT she sort of makes the comparison to the coral-like structures below Cleft Rock. Or maybe not and then that totally happened only in my head.
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Yep
Sadira resumed her careful approach to the tower, listening even more intently for any hint of trouble. As they neared the white spire, the sorceress saw that it was made of the same porous stone as the grotto at Cleft Rock. Although she found this puzzling, she was not particularly concerned by it. Since both she and Rhayn had exhausted their spells, there would be no need to draw magical energy through the stone.
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First Description of Cleft Rock:
At last, the two women reached the bottom of the rise As they climbed the slope, they had to fight their way through a network of troughs filled with billowing chiffon trees and thickets of spongy yellow fungus. The channels had apparently been dug by some intelligent race, for they were arranged in a series of concentric rings and were the same depth and width. Occasionally, a narrow ditch ran from one channel down to another, giving the place its weblike appearance.
When the two women climbed out of the last trough, Grissi led the way to the crest of the hill. There, a circular monolith of black granite rose out of the dusty ground. The rock stood about as high as Sadira’s chest, and was as big around as a large wagon. In the center was a jagged cleft, about two yards long and barely wide enough for a child to squeeze into. From its depths came a high-pitched hum, periodically broken by a rasping gurgle and the sound of trickling water.
Awesome that you posted that. When re-reading the books late last year I remember musing aloud to myself: Hell this is Celik’s structure like in the 3.5E Dev Team’s powerpoint sketches.
Book three Amber Enchantress is probably the best source for references to the Pristine Tower. Chapter 17 specifically.
I was recently reading these passages and researching what is known about the PT so this conversation is well times.
The Athas dot org adventure Dregoth Ascending part 3 has quite a bit of info on the PT it has compiled and added a several drawings that match the descriptions presented in the books.
There is not much description of the interior, but it details the domed mirror on top below the crystal steeple where the dark lens was one placed. I assumed that perhaps all the way down through the center of the interior of the tower was a series of physical and magical lenses or mirrors that helped focus the power from the sun.
There is a reference in the Wizards of Athas that talks about the magic being channels through the tower
“To find a way to save the planet, some of the nature masters gathered in the Pristine Tower. They discovered a solution, but it required a vast amount of energy.
The only source for such raw power was the sun, but the sapphire brilliance wouldn’t give up its energy easily. So the nature masters worked fervidly to change the sun so that its energy could be focused through the tower. With the altered sun’s energy, they killed the brown tide that was poisoning the sea. In changing the sun to a brilliant yellow sphere, however, they changed its effects upon the world. The seas began to evaporate, revealing large expanses of dry land. The world became a different place, but the sea survived.”
It made me think that using the PT, one would want to have the sun directly overhead at noon where its rays would be more direct. Or even have the PT located at the equator of the planet where the rays would achieve the most direct sunlight
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For folks using the novels/revised storyline, it does make sense to make the PT centered on the equator thus making this area the hottest and capable of receiving the most sun.
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Check out the Merchant Calendar program. Endlean cycle of the Dragon and any Seofean cycle. Hexameron 3rd at noon.
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Interesting map of (presumably) Cleansing War era/ealry Brown Age Kalidnay. Source unknown. Anyone have any ideas where this came from?
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Update world map
Higher resolution here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fqN3jMANUW9TucNOQXvDzRPi-AykXI0T/view?usp=sharing
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That’s a map I made of a pre-Ziggurat Kalidnay; the basic concept is that each current Athasian city-state started out as mini-nations and desertification was gradual, not sudden.
Also, I created it in February, 2003, so I don’t remember much.
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Technical support: so, I reopened Brian Sanchez’s Athasian Cartographer’s Guild, files. Like ten-years ago, on a defunct hard-drive, I made some cool maps using it; I think I used Dogwaffle and it worked just fine. Now, I’ve got Adobe 4 (from an archive, backup that I had, so I don’t think the drivers are installed property on my Windows XP Desktop (no internet-connection)). I have no idea how I got the symbols and the palettes to work. DogWaffle, it worked with ease. Are their any tutorials? Google is just coming up with brush-basics.
I have an idea and I do have other map-making programs, but, I want to get this one working again.
If you have Adobe then it’s just a matter of making brushes I think. On the Athasian cartographers guild I think there were some tutorials.
Also the guys at the pristine Tower dev group have recreated all of the symbols and everything in vector programs I’m sure they can export it if you need them as raster.
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Necroposting my own comment here, but I would be super curious, if someone who were much better than me at geopositioning. If we have one tower at the known PT location east of Nibenay. And if we had 8 towers at equidistant cubic points on the globe, where would those towers land if we used the DS Digital Wanderer globe map?
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What globe map? Do you mean from the Athasian cartographers guild?
Yes, sorry I referenced the wrong name, yes the Athasian Cartographers guild map.
I created this (D&D Basic and Expert stylized) map as part of a larger project. It’s not the best resolution, but feel free to download and use for your own campaign or game!
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Do we have an updated version of this world map for 2023 yet?
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The Pristine Tower development group is currently working on it, I think the maps will be uploaded to the Athasian cartographer site when they are ready
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I just finished a fully vectorized map for another TSR product: Star Frontiers - Alpha Dawn.
I look forward to seeing vector maps of the various Dark Sun products.