Around 3500 years ago the Athas sun changed colour, from yellow to the burning red it is today. This was a side effect of Rajaat drawing upon the sun to empower his new Champions. Once the process was complete he withdrew to the Pristine Tower to continue his research. In fact he had little tolerence for his Champions and viewed them as mere tools. By now Rajaats sanity was slipping due to his advanced aged and self loathing. While effectively immortal time takes its passage on all things and few beings can survive the eons mentally unscathed.
The start of the wars was the end of the the green age of Athas. Athas at this time was a paradise compared to what would come later. However war wasn't unknown. Few nations existed in the blue age as most of the population lived in city states scattered through out the world. The Tyr region was basically the garden of eden for life on Athas as the rebirth happened here and the Pristine Tower continued to make new races. Part of Rajaats studies were to reverse the rebirth- to return all the new races to their original Halfling forms. Rajaats decision to unleash the Cleansing Wars indicated his lack of progress in this goal and in his mental condition he concluded it is easier to destroy than create.
The red sun was a harbinger of things to come. In the first few years of the war little happened. An non human was murdered here and there or a demi human settlement was raided by brigands. However Athas started to get warmer and due to climate change crops failed and people started to go hungry. Drought spread through out the land. In addition to several defilers destroying the land wildfires in the summer months made things worse. Some of the more charismatic champion preached words of hate to ears all to eager to recieve them. Everything going wrong with Athas was the fault of the non humans. Early battles were little more than lynch mobs murdering non humans in remote area- starving farmers seizing crops or resources. The non humans sometimes retaliated but this only fueled stories of humans being massacred and several races marked for cleansing sometimes ate anyone they killed.
One problem the Champions of Rajaat had initially was the lack of forces at their command. Rajaat had chosen them but hadn't conjured up any armies for them. They had to find their own solutions to the tasks Rajaat had set them. Dregoth had a novel solution. He set himself up as a mercenary leader and captured Guistenal and massacred its population. It would seem the Dregoth saw himself as more than human and cloaked himself in illusions to appear as a human/dragon hybrid. Perhaps as a harbinger of things to come but one possibility is that Dregoth as one of the more advanced champions was already in the early stages of Dragon metamorphosis. If true this would predate Borys use of the dark lens to transform the champions by around 1500 years. Dregoths failure to eliminate the Giants could also be due to the fact that Dregoth in the final stages of transformation was enraged in the closing years of the Cleansing Wars. If not Dregoth managed to complete the first nine stages of Dragon metamorphosis and managed to rule Guistenal in under 100 years before the remaining Sorceror Kings of the Tyr region eliminated his city after Borys used the Dark Lens.
Sacha of Arala was the first champion to complete his task. Destroying the Kobolds was made somewhat easier as they weren't a physically powerful race and were confined to a narrow area of Athas- an area that would later become the Dead Lands. Sacha wanting to prove himself in Rajaats eyes spent the rest of the Cleansing Wars undermining the remaining Champions work. Rajaat secluded in the Pristine Tower either didn't notice or didn't care. Co-operation was never a strong point between the Champions and explained why the wars lasted for over 1500 years.
For most of the Cleansing Wars each Champion was usually happy to employ non humans in their army as long as they weren't their assigned race to destroy. Daskinor Goblin Death for example was known to employ several elite units of Dwarves in his army. Several non humans also managed to survive by serving various champions prefering to die of old age rather than taking their chances at fighting back or running or hiding. Most champions were also dedicated to their task and refused to help other champions if asked. All were competing for Rajaats favour and often turned a blind eye to another races armies in their territory viewing it as a waste of resources to engage a force when it was another Champions job to do so. Why did some races survive and other not though?
As the Cleansing Wars raged tactics often changed. In the early years armies would often engage each other and if the non humans lost the Champions armies would cleanse any settlements they found nearby. Towards the end most battles were smaller affairs as major non human population centers were early targets at the start of the war. Also Rajaats Champions didn't win every engagement and were often routed and several times the Champions would find themselves under siege at some point. It seems imminent extermination is a great motivator to fight- you've literally got nothing to lose by dying.
The Elves for example learnt to run in this period and used their mobility to avoid forces sent to exterminate them. Elves that weren't fast enough usually got caught by Albeorn. Coraanu was actually an Elven General of the Cleansing Wars whose name is still remembered by the Elves although his legend has changed a bit. Other Champions had some difficulties. Dregoth for example often had difficulty assaulting Giant strongholds in the Sunrise Sea, having to resort to costly amphibious campaigns against heavily fortified redoubts. Some sieges also lasted for generations if supplies were able to be smuggled in. As powerful as the Champions were most races had powerful Psionists in their ranks and certain fortresses would only fall once a particular Psionist died of old age. Other races like the Tari scattered and went into hiding from pursuing forces. Even the Kobolds before they were wiped out set devious traps for Sachas forces. At the end even Borys was wounded badly by a Dwarven King.
Another interesting aspect of the wars were the warlords. Each champiopn had a vast taks to complete and often delegated tasks to warlords- elite generals serving the champions. Most warlords fell during the war assisting the champions in tasks they considered worthless devoting time to. Also several warlords were sent to the far corners of Athas as the champions were often reluctant to travel to far from the Tyr region as Rajaat was secluded in the Pristine Tower. All power derived from Rajaat and they didn't trust each other enough to give their rivals a chance to influence Rajaat. Warlord carried the war across the Sunrise Sea and may have even discovered other continents over the ocean. In any event most champion fell in battle vs non humans or lost contact with their sponsers as the years turned to decades and centuries. The most famous warlord was Irikos who sacked Bodach but most have been lost to the sands of time. Some warlords were powerful defilers well versed in necromancy and could steral life energy from their victems or could become undead. It is concievable some may have survived to the current era in some far of corner of Athas although it is unknown if they are still fighting the Cleansing War or are still loyal to Rajaat.
Finally while never proven towards the end Myron started to suspect Rajaat himself sometimes aided the enemy via messages and information on troop movements. It would seem that Rajaat was in no particular hurry to complete the Cleansing Wars. The longer they dragged on the more humans died as well. Myron was in no hurry either and payed the ultimate price for his suspicions. His death was also a catalyst for the other Champions who in the final decades of the war decide that Rajaat is insane. Myrons death also showed them that Rajaat was willing to eliminate them as well. The wars ceased when the Champions betrayed Rajaat and confined him. Several champion distanced themselves from their deeds during the wars. Albeorn changed his name to Andropinis and managed to get himself elected as leader of Balic- ironically promising to protect the city from the raging Dragon- actually Borys driven insane.
Sacha of Arala Kobold Curse 1st Champion
Sachas task was to wipe out the Kobolds Even by champion standards Sacha was a fanatic in Rajaats cause. After Rajaat made him a champion he headed for rural areas in the Tyr region. The Kobolds were a minor annoyance for several communities- stealing livestock, raiding grain supplies, and occasionally a farmer would be killed. Sacha initially formed a citizens militia at first which exterminated several nests of the vicious little pests. Once this was complete he managed to convince several of his followers to stay with him. They headed south and over the next hundred years or so they ravaged Kobold lands in what is now the Dead Lands region of Athas. The majority of the Kobold population was in this area. However signifigant numbers were present in the Ringing Mountains.
Sacha forces advanced north and encountered scattered resistence. One of the Kobolds main weakness apart from lack of physical strength was their culture. They tended to gather in large nests which made wiping them out somewhat easier than most races. Once Sacha's forces reached the Ringing Mountains however he realised he was in for trouble. Numerous Kobold tribes were entrenched in underground warrens scattered throughout the mountains. For the next hundred years Sacha steradily advanced north throughout the mountain range elimining Kobold settlements. He lost tens of thousands of soldiers as the Kobolds were quite adept at creating rock slides, cave ins and numerous other traps for his troops to blunder into. More than once he had to resort to dread spells to create poisonous gas or other effects to root the Kobolds out of their tunnels.
The final battle occured roughly 80 miles north of Urik. The remaining Kobolds lead by Kurlamek- a powerful Psion almost as powerful as Sacha had fortified a flat topped mesa in a valley. Kobold clerics had also devised a way to prtect the surrounding land vs defiling magic. This was a battle that had to be decided with old fashioned steel vs steel. For three years Sacha laid siege to the Kobolds while his engineers built a massive siege ramp to storm the Kobold citidel. On the day before the final assault the Kobolds knowing all was lost commited mass suicide rather than fall into the hands of Rajaats Champion. Today all that remains of the Kobolds is scattered underground ruins in the Ringing Mountains. Kurlameks citadel however is haunted. Due to the tragedy surrounding the final battle the Kobold spirits are unable to rest in peace and should anyone disturb them as a collective group they manage to manifest a presence from the Gray. A huge giant of supernatural cold (use the Nightwalker from the Monster Manual) is able to attack anyone entering the ruins. Should it be destroyed it is able to reform after 24 hours.
Sacha spent the remaining time in a hidden citadel in the foothills of the Ringing Mountians west of Celik. He managed to eliminate his race in just over 230 years- a feat he was proud of and lorded over the remaining champions. He trains defilers and formed an elite group known as the Disciples of Rajaat and prepares them for the final cleansing. He is also periodically ordered by Rajaat to assist the remaining Champions in their tasks which he does reluctantly. Rajaat also tells him of his plans for the final cleansing and creates Hamanu for the task. In the final days of the Cleansing Wars Sacha tells Hamanu of Rajaats plans who then informs Borys. In the Champions rebellion Sacha remains loyal to Rajaat and is beheaded. His head survives however and Sacha spends the next 2000 years with Kalak.
His remaining Disciples of Rajaat strike at the nearest Sorceror King in the immediate decade following Borys transformation into the Dragon. Kalid- Ma takes a dim view of this and destroys Sacha's ctidel and eliminates most of the Disciples. The few survivors flee to the far corners of Athas although Zeon hides in a secluded vale near the remains of the citidel where the Disciples intered their dead. Zeon becomes an undead defiler and takes on apprentices over the next two millenia. The Disciples manage to eliminate several would be Dragons and kill one Dragon in the early stages of the transformation. They also manage to manipulate Kalid-Ma into trying to accelerate the transformation and he is killed by Borys, Kalak and Hamanu. To this day they aim to eliminate all Dragons and Sorceror Kings from Athas although in addition to Zeon hiddden in his lair only one Disciple is active in Athas in Free Year 11.
Kalak Ogre Doom 2nd Champion of Rajaat
Even by the low standards of the champions Kalak managed to stand out for his brutality. Once Rajaat transformed his chosen into champions Kalak gathered a few followers and headed for the nearest human villagel. Once he arrived he simply conscripted the local men and threatened to destroy their families if they refused to fight. He repeated this process several times in remote areas avoiding the rulers of the cities. Once he had an army of several thousand he struck out at the Ogre settlements. Initially he was quite popular amoung certain circles in the dying days of the Green Age as Ogres raided farms and were known for their own brutality. His supporters managed to funnel funds, supplies and reinforcements to him. However the as the early skirmishers played out Kalak made a shocking discovery.
Back then the archtypical Ogre was big, dumb, and stupid who lived in small family clans and were relatively easy to wipe out if one wasn't to concerned about casualties. While the classic Ogre was the most commen one two more species were discovered. Ogre war parties were often lead by Ogre Mages who were happy to blast Kalaks armies with cones of cold and worse spells. Despite their tendency towards evil Ogre Mages were usually preservers at the start of the war. Thankfully they were reasonably rare. Even worse from Kalaks point of view a new breed of Ogrewas discovered as warriors managed to cross the Sunrise Sea. These new Ogres were dubbed Skullcrusher as they tended to use large maces on their smaller foes. It seems they hailed from across the sea and managed to transport an entire legion to reinforce their dumber cousins. An empire named Nadzak existed over the sea and they had numerous auxillery Orcs that were used as disposable infantry. The Steel Legion advance guard managed to rout Kalaks forces and laid siege to him in his fortress that lay south of Arkhold.
Kalak persoanlly abandoned his stronghold and left his followers to face the music. With orders to stand to the last man and the ogres not in any mood to take prisoners they were wiped out to a man. Nevertheless their sacrifice gained Kalak time to rebuild his army and a new army managed to counter attack the Ogres the following year and temporarily push them back. For the next 500 years or so Kalaks campaign flows back and forth before he wins a decisive battle and manages to shut down a one way portal from the Ogre homeland to the western shores of the Sunrise sea. Kalak manages to wipe out the remaining western Ogre settlements and warbands over the next few decades. Once complete he turns his gaze towards the east beyond the shrinking Sunrise Sea which itself has become a battleground as Borys and Dregoth are bogged down in this area as well.
For the following two decades Kalak builds a massive fleet of transports while he disperses his army to drive back raiders from beyond the sea. In the future Kalak would think up other massive public works but for now his workmen manage to deforest several hillside of trees for lumber. Hugging the coast he fills his transports with supplies, soldiers, camp followers, and even family members of his soldiers and departs. For several weeks the fleet sails the southern regions of the Sunrise Sea before making landfall near an Ogre city. Burning his ships behind him Kalak drives his forces in a rapid strike and overuns the city and puts its population to the sword. Cut off and isolated it seems Kalak underestimated the size of Nadzak as the Ogre empire stretches across miles of the eastern regions. Kalak holds out vs repeated Ogre assaults aimed at driving him back into the sea. Human settlements spring up in captured territory to provide for Kalaks armies over the following centuries.
Vicious battle followed vicious battle and the Ogres are slowly driven back. The Ogre Mages resort to defiling magic to slow Kalaks progress and adopt a scorched earth policy. Unable to drive him back all farms,irrigation ditches, and towns are destroyed to hinder human resettlement while Ogre defilers leave barren ash in their wake. Kalak travels further east over the 500 odd years further than any other champion. Even the destruction of Nadzaks capital fails to decisively beat the Ogre empire as their forces just retreat and regroup in provinces further east. Kalaks campaign moves into its final phase as he splits his army in two assigning several legions to his Warlord Razia with orders to finish of the remaining normal ogres while Kalak personally leads the remainder against the Skullcrushers.
Razia completes her grim task before Kalak who is bogged down in a brutal campaign in the far east. Kalak has gone so far beyond the Tyr region he has discovered a receding ocean on the far side of the continent. The last Ogre province is on a mountainous peninsula and they have fortified it well. There was no final battle against the massed Ogre legions. Just isolated massacre after massacre. Once the Ogres are no more Kalak returns to the Tyr region. Few humans survive the campaign and remaining human settlements are abandoned to the advancing desert. Razia takes command of the survivors in Kalaks absence and loses contact with Kalak after a few decades. Kalak participates in the champions revolt against Rajaat and leads the remnants of Sacha's and Wyan's forces who betray their masters and captures Tyr. Kalak drains whats left of the swamp and starts rebuilding the city over the ruins and creates under Tyr. Kalak is still building right up to his death 2000 years later.
The wars signified the end of the green age, not the blue age. Big difference.
Erm brainfart :D Rough weekend.
The wars signified the end of the green age, not the blue age. Big difference.
Erm brainfart :D Rough weekend.
Erm brainfart :D Rough weekend.
Erm brainfart :D Rough weekend.
Indeed...I can see that.
:P Just messing with ya, go on man, you got good ideas.
:evillaughI can see some of the Campions will initially looked like heroes fighting the most unpopular races (orcs, goblins, giants, ogres, trolls etc.)
Um no offence but dont you think it would have been better to write the final end of the kobolds to sound a little less like the Jews against the Romans at Masada(sp?) story.
I especially like the idea of the Disciples of Rajaat. I could envision them as keepers of lots of lost ritual and knowledge from the Green Age.
It also gives someone as powerful as Rajaat a little bit of continuity into this era (even if it is in the form of a secret society, but that's cool too -ever read the "Davinci Code"?)
Finally it creates an enemy for the Soceror Kings and other high-level defilers besides the Veiled Alliance. I think that this makes for a lot more interesting prospects for PCs. Rather than a clear-cut case of "good vs. evil" the PC's may find themselves allying with one evil to fight against another. (I think that Athas is a place where the PCs should regularly have to deal with various moral dilemnas.)
Any ambitions to flesh this out? If not, I think that I might be able to toss in a few ideas here and there.
itf
I like your overview of the War and your take on the Motivations and relations of the champions to each other and the world but..
Um no offence but dont you think it would have been better to write the final end of the kobolds to sound a little less like the Jews against the Romans at Masada(sp?) story.
Why? Is there something wrong with using stories that are similar to historic events? I don't think he is trying to imply in any way that Jewish people are like kolbolds.
I like your overview of the War and your take on the Motivations and relations of the champions to each other and the world but..
Um no offence but dont you think it would have been better to write the final end of the kobolds to sound a little less like the Jews against the Romans at Masada(sp?) story.
Maybe but I wanted a twist. Otherwise every story will be along the lines of finally the victorious champion eliminated the last....
Good stuff, Zardnaar!
I especially like the idea of the Disciples of Rajaat. I could envision them as keepers of lots of lost ritual and knowledge from the Green Age.
It also gives someone as powerful as Rajaat a little bit of continuity into this era (even if it is in the form of a secret society, but that's cool too -ever read the "Davinci Code"?)
Finally it creates an enemy for the Soceror Kings and other high-level defilers besides the Veiled Alliance. I think that this makes for a lot more interesting prospects for PCs. Rather than a clear-cut case of "good vs. evil" the PC's may find themselves allying with one evil to fight against another. (I think that Athas is a place where the PCs should regularly have to deal with various moral dilemnas.)
Any ambitions to flesh this out? If not, I think that I might be able to toss in a few ideas here and there.
itf
I have ideas to flesh it out. Each champion will hopefully get a write up and sooner or later I'll start a new thread dedicated to the Disciple of Rajaat PrC.
Good stuff, Zardnaar!
I especially like the idea of the Disciples of Rajaat. I could envision them as keepers of lots of lost ritual and knowledge from the Green Age.
It also gives someone as powerful as Rajaat a little bit of continuity into this era (even if it is in the form of a secret society, but that's cool too -ever read the "Davinci Code"?)
Finally it creates an enemy for the Soceror Kings and other high-level defilers besides the Veiled Alliance. I think that this makes for a lot more interesting prospects for PCs. Rather than a clear-cut case of "good vs. evil" the PC's may find themselves allying with one evil to fight against another. (I think that Athas is a place where the PCs should regularly have to deal with various moral dilemnas.)
Any ambitions to flesh this out? If not, I think that I might be able to toss in a few ideas here and there.
itf
I have ideas to flesh it out. Each champion will hopefully get a write up and sooner or later I'll start a new thread dedicated to the Disciple of Rajaat PrC.
Athas is influenced by the real world. The following cities have names and culture simialar to real world cities.
Urik=Babylon
Balic=Rome
Tyr=Greece
Gulg=Zulu
Nibenay=Egypt
Raam=Persia
Draj= Maya/Aztecs
If it really bothers enough people I'm happy to drop the Masada tie in and just have the Koblds massacred instead once Sacha's forces breach the walls.
His remaining Disciples of Rajaat strike at the nearest Sorceror King in the immediate decade following Borys transformation into the Dragon. Kalid- Ma takes a dim view of this and destroys Sacha's ctidel and eliminates most of the Disciples. The few survivors flee to the far corners of Athas although Zeon hides in a secluded vale near the remains of the citidel where the Disciples intered their dead. Zeon becomes an undead defiler and takes on apprentices over the next two millen. The Disciples manage to eliminate several would be Dragons and kill one Dragon in the early stages of the transformation. They also manage to manipulate Kalid-Ma into trying to accelerate the transformation and he is killed by Borys, Kalak and Hamanu. To this day they aim to eliminate all Dragons and Sorceror Kings from Athas although in addition to Zeon hiddden in his lair only one Disciple as active in Athas in Free Year 11.
I would believe that wannabe or fledgling dragons are sometimes the result of manipulations aimed at creating a being whose worldview would match and serve Rajaat's, with the manipulators steering such beings into a direction that would result in the potential liberation of Rajaat from his prison.
The bodyless Sacha and Wyan were such manipulators, steering Tithian to great power and to Rajaat's physical prison, using promesses of infinite power to intice him to free their eternal master.
There could be other such manipulators out there, like Borys' wraith knigths for example. Although they were loyal to Borys, they served a higher master - Rajaat. If they had been more active in the world, I would have seen them babysitting great anti-heroes until they were powerful enough to be sent assaulting the defenses of Rajaat's prison.
Tithian is one of those manipulators, still believing that Rajaat freed would restore him and make him a Champion. And Tithian has a mysterious connection to hundreds of ceruleans all over the Tyr Region...
Who knows who else might still brave the Cerulean Storm to free Rajaat in exchange for their wildest dreams coming true?
Pennarin the Disciplies to me don't trust Dragons and believe them to be abominations and seek to kill them whenever possable. I can't remember did Tithian intend to become a Dragon via the usual means? I knew he wanted to be a Sorceror King and wanted to free Rajaat to help him achieve this. They were basically an idead for a new series of villains in the new era post prism pentad along with Dregoth. IMC Razia in Kalaks history above survived the cleansing wars and discovered on her own the process of becoming a Dragon and spent some point over the next 2000 years completing the transformation on the far side of the Silt Sea. She also cast some epic spell and "stole" a deceased Sorceror Kings elemental vortice(probably Sielba's) so she also has Templars.
Assuming Dregoth's coruscation fails in Dregoth Ascending 3 I wanted some villains the PCs could confront and defeat at level 10-15 or so. The Kreen threat will probaly be taken care of via some bio plague released from Thammasku/Forest Ridge/Rajaats pyramid. My plans for my PCs don't include bug hunting in the hinterlands
Not sure if I want to redeem Athas in my campaign (PCs work with Ordonis, visit the last sea, Thammasku etc) or reintroduce Sorceror Kings in every city apart from Tyr. Even Kalid-Ma could return via his orbs being reassembled.Raam: Dregoth
Draj: Razia
Urik: Hamanu
Tyr:None
Balic: Androponis returns
Gulg: Lalali-Puy
Nibenay: Nibenay
Athas is influenced by the real world. The following cities have names and culture simialar to real world cities.
Urik=Babylon
Balic=Rome
Tyr=Greece
Gulg=Zulu
Nibenay=Egypt
Raam=Persia
Draj= Maya/Aztecs
I'm not so sure about all those connections. Balic, in most of the material, seems more inspired by Greece than Rome. Nibenay, while certainly having some Egyptian links, also seems influenced by ancient Chinese civilizations. And Raam is strongly influenced by North Indian civilizations.
Most of the city-states are a mix of inspirations. Some are more obvious than others (Urik, Draj, Gulg, even Balic), but you have to be careful with directly linking them to real civilizations.
I'm not so sure about all those connections. Balic, in most of the material, seems more inspired by Greece than Rome. Nibenay, while certainly having some Egyptian links, also seems influenced by ancient Chinese civilizations. And Raam is strongly influenced by North Indian civilizations.
Most of the city-states are a mix of inspirations. Some are more obvious than others (Urik, Draj, Gulg, even Balic), but you have to be careful with directly linking them to real civilizations.
OK Balic = Greece/Rome. In culture its more Greek but the TSR art for it depicts it more Roman in style right down to Roman Legionaires. Tyr and Balic seem similar in temrs of names for characters.
What (if any) real world culture influences Kurn/Eldarich (sp?). Daskinors realm seems to be a fantasy realm incorporating the worst aspects of Nazi Germany, Stalins USSR, and North Korea magnified.
Doesn't help that IRL the Romans copied alot of Greek ideas and were influenced by archtecture as will.
Yeah, very true. Most early Roman art and architecture was a direct copy of Greek. In fact, most of the Greek sculptures we still have today are Roman reproductions. There is some architecture and art that is distinctly Roman, such as the arch, which the Greeks didn't have.
Makes me wonder if theres an in game reason why the city states resemble real world cultures. The Tyr region is actually quite small. Perhaps the champions followers came from all over Athas in the Green Age and settled here at the conclusion of the cleansing wars.
The way I explain it in my games is that the Tyr Region is a very cosmopolitan region because the current inhabitants are descendents of the Champions' armies, which were brought from all over during the Cleansing Wars but settled down in the Tyr Region with their leaders. In a way, this is similar to the populations influenced by Alexander the Great's campaigns. There are still villages as far away as Pakistan that are populated by people of Greek descent, tracing their lineage from Alexander's Macedonian and Greek soldiers.
What (if any) real world culture influences Kurn/Eldarich (sp?). Daskinors realm seems to be a fantasy realm incorporating the worst aspects of Nazi Germany, Stalins USSR, and North Korea magnified.
Kurn and Eldaarich, having been developed later in Dark Sun, don't seem to follow the same pattern of inspiration from real world cultures that the original seven city states do.
Makes me wonder if theres an in game reason why the city states resemble real world cultures.
In addition to what JayL mentioned, I think the creators of DS used real-world inspiriations to easier envision what each city could look like/be like, both for themselves and for their prospective audience. Personally, I think it's nice that the cities have strong real-world inspirations. It can be hard enough to communicate Athas' look and feel already (especially to players used to the standard fantasy campaigns like Forgotten Realms, Birthright and so forth), having something concrete for the players to envision (and pics to show them) makes it a bit easier. Visualizing what the architecture and people are like is a big part of making a city come alive imo.
What (if any) real world culture influences Kurn/Eldarich (sp?). Daskinors realm seems to be a fantasy realm incorporating the worst aspects of Nazi Germany, Stalins USSR, and North Korea magnified.
I would also throw some 1950's US Macarthyism, and even some paranoid post 9-11 rhetoric to the mixture (at least that is where I drew some inspiration from in my description of Eldaarich.)
Although many city-states resemble "real-world" cultures, I think that the idea was not to recreate an "Athasian version" of Rome, Greece, India, Zimbabwe, etc. I think that the idea was to draw inspiration from these cultures and then use that as the raw material to craft a new, unique, "Dark Sun" culture.
itf
:hoppingma
The three boys: Master Ivan, Inix Toenail Filth, and Darksoulman, searched the silt coast for the delicious yellow crabs and found a few here and there, but not nearly as many as they wanted to. Then Darksoulman made a suggestion, "Why don't we go over to the caves down that way?" he said pointing off into the distance, "I saw losts of crabs in the caves the last time I went with my dad to collect rocks for the village walls."
"I don't know....," said Master Ivan hesitently, "I've heard there is a bear that lives in those caves," he continued, because he had.
"Oh don't be a sissy!" Inix Toenail Filth said smacking Master Ivan upside the head, "There aren't any bears around here! They live in the mountains far to the west. Everyone knows that."
So rubbing his head Master Ivan gave into the other boy's enthusiasm and mockery, and followed them over to the caves.
When the three boys got to the caves they saw what they were after, just inside the cave entrance was a whole swarm of yellow silt crabs hustling about. Their eyes lit up with delight. Inix Toenail Filth was the first to run into the mouth of the caves after the crabs, but the other two boys quickly followed, not wanting to be seen as cowards. They scooped up the crabs oblivious to their sharp pinchers, as the fest they would have tonight would be well worth it. But in there enthusiasm and focus on the crabs they failed to notice the monster lurking just beyond the threshold of darkness in the cave.
Quickly a black tentacle shot out and grabbed Darksoulman around the leg, he screamed and failed but was drawn back into the darkness of the cave faster then anyone could react. Then another tentacle shoot out and gripped Inix Toenail Filth around the neck, he struggled to cut it with his dagger, but quickly turned blue and was also dragged back into the cave. Master Ivan who had been cautiously staying the furthest away from the cave entrance, eyeing it suspiciously, turned to run when he saw his friends unfortunately fate being enacted. But he tripped in his panic and another tentacle quickly snaked out to grab him.
Master Ivan desperately scraped forward, but the tentacle just barely reached him gripping tenously around his foot. He took his dagger and plunged it into the tentacle hoping desperately to escape the fate that had befallen his two friends. Black ichor sprayed from the wound burning like acid on his flesh and blinding him when it hit his eyes.
Needless to say, none of the three boys returned home, or were ever seen again.
Did the townsfolk find the monster?
WAAAA WAAAA WAAAA I want my mommy *sniff* 'cause *sniff* Ruhl *sniff* scares *sniff* me *sniff* booohooo!!!
*cleans nose*