I have always liked the revised version of Darksun. This is the version of darksun I was introduced to. Lately I have felt that the old version (which I never played) had a more sinister and gritty feeling to it. Everyone had to submit to the Dragon and it was a large part of the Athasian culture.
Who should be next in line? Could the champions bring back Borys? Will their be a war over who gets the new found power? Will the veiled allience try to promote Oronis to take this position or will he procrastinate?
Dregoth was cool (good work team), but it was also cool the first time, when it was 2nd edition. I am just getting bored and would like to see Athas.org take the reigns and get the world plot moving. It's too bad everyones awnser is; put it in your campaign and let everyone else do their own thing. The other campain worlds have moved on since 2nd edition in rules, story and flavor.
What would you like to see happen to Athas?
Please leave out your own campaign progress, results, and ideas. What would you expect if new Darksun novels were written to your standards? If you could rewrite the old novels what would you change?
Well, enough of that. I can understand your wish for a new "official" timeline. I also dislike answers like "Well, you can do whatever you want in your campaign." That answer most often fails to address the real concern - the wish for a development of the story, a sort of universal background for lots of players. Such as it is, we have a certain point in time (Dregoth Ascending) and endless home-brew campaigns. It would be nice to have some more "official" events happening to evolve the world. No idea if I made myself clear in the last paragraph, whatever.
I do however think that you can expect a greater depth of development and a more internally consistent vision.
There are projects being worked on to develop the setting, but there is a tendency to shy away from Metaplot and focus more on setting and adventures.
Perhaps all is fine and dandy. What if the heroes actually made things worse? I just think it would be a nice plot twist on the development of Athas. I just feel like once the Darksun Setting died with TSR it really died. I feel that the Darksun campaign has grown stagnant and while the setting has been exotic and the 3.5 rules reworked and revised (great job by athas.org) there has not been much work done in the broad scale.
Dregoth was cool (good work team), but it was also cool the first time, when it was 2nd edition. I am just getting bored and would like to see Athas.org take the reigns and get the world plot moving. It's too bad everyones awnser is; put it in your campaign and let everyone else do their own thing. The other campain worlds have moved on since 2nd edition in rules, story and flavor.
What would you like to see happen to Athas?
Please leave out your own campaign progress, results, and ideas. What would you expect if new Darksun novels were written to your standards? If you could rewrite the old novels what would you change?
Lost Cities has a lot of good stuff in it. And eventually Secrets of the Deadlands will have stuff too. Both of these detail new areas that were only touched on and present new areas to play with. I know that people would like more on the Kreen Empire. And I would like to flesh out some of the ruins of Athas.
Remember that Metaplot invovles advancing the story "through" the characters. It will happen.
Aventures are fine but most people already know how to create adventures. What we need are great adventure seeds (fresh and new, with Darksun flavor). We need great places, big stories as a back drop for us to work with.
Here are some examples.
Informal warring between certain city-states.
Merchants lords participating in state politics, breaking the merchants code.
A renewed trade war.
An Elf hero has unified two powerful warring tribes. Some elves believe him to be an incarnaton of the great Elf hero Coraanu.
All magic users are being persecuted because of the defilers dangerous ways (including, psions,clerics,and preservers) this has caused some dangerous new factions to grow. The people are fearing "supernatural power" because of those who abuse their ability. States now "authenticate" what is clerical magic by creating temples and applying a dress code. States also only allow the practice of psionics if they were taught in any State sanctioned school. All wild psionic users that are unschooled are considered dangerous and are treated as any defiler would be treated. All arcane casters are to be untrusted. If any cleric practices his magic without the proper dress and carring the proper identification seal, exiled or death.
Sadira has been acting strange lately. She has been leaving the city of Tyr at night. She has been caught talking to herself when she thinks she is alone. Her shadows seem to flicker.
What if Rajaat becomes released again? If Sadiras spells did not work as expected.This would bring the need for a new Dragon and to reinstate the Dragons levy.
I got a million more.
I don't need any of my ideas to be Official Darksun material. But I would like to see something new in Darksun. Somthing that is Official and creates a fresh world evolving feel.
Psionic invididuals escape Eldaarich, fleeing Daskinor's psionic purges. Some find employment, some resort to banditry to survive.
A powerful Eldaarish thrallherd escapes Daskinor's purges and becomes leader of an Eloy herder clan. Other clans are suspicious as their husbands, brothers, and sons abandon their clans to join with this strange new clan.
Psionic spirits of persons killed by Daskinor's psionic purge begin to take up residence in the bodies of children.
A Kurnan spy in Eldaarich "goes native;" mad with the power that she has over others as a Haleban cult leader, she stops reporting to her Kurnan superiors.
A Drajan merchant house wants to steal the secrets of "mulbirth," a Kurnan medicine that helps women give birth safely to muls.
A psionic Eldaarish spy who holds a position in the Kurnan templarate hears about Daskinor's psionic purge and decides not to go back to Eldaarich. Other Eldaarish spies are sent to fetch her.
A Tyr-Storm uncovers some of the ruins of an ancient coastal city that fell to civil war at the dawn of the cleansing wars.
Scholars in Kurn's Great Library offer rewards for artifacts and documents from the seven ruined goblin cities that are scattered through the southern White Mountains.
Two ancient goblin artifacts resurface, opening a new chapter in the cleansing wars: First, an undead goblin warlord uses the Clanging Gnasher to gather an army. Then, the Shroud of Martyrs falls into the hands of a young Eldaarish fugitive pursued by Eldaarish templars. The Shroud's new owner begins to attract a band of fanatics who wish Daskinor's downfall.
PCs are captured and enslaved at South Guard.
Stubs are easy. Development takes time, organization, and effort.
Technically, Rajaat's in a different sort of prison from the one the original Champions created. This new prison is something akin to a continual light spell that was cast by Rkard thru the Dark Lens which magnified it 100 fold. Sadira later cast permanency and warding spells on both. Its unknown whether it needs life force in order to sustain it or not. I'm assuming it does not.
Actually Rajaat did escape this prison in the book "I Hammanu" (SP) The dragon king sacrificed himself to drag Rajaat's bones into the magma that surrounds Ur Draxa. From there the spirit of the land formed a cyst and trapped him inside it until he was eroded away. Hammanu merged with the spirit of Urik after he died.
Actually Rajaat did escape this prison in the book "I Hammanu" (SP) The dragon king sacrificed himself to drag Rajaat's bones into the magma that surrounds Ur Draxa. From there the spirit of the land formed a cyst and trapped him inside it until he was eroded away. Hammanu merged with the spirit of Urik after he died.
Those involve RaFoaDK's described events in the future of the timeline that we're working in. Maybe that is or isn't going to happen, but in Free Year 12-13, that has not happened.
I thought those events were not that far in the future.
Ahh, well I guess that shows me to type before I read the new setting stuff. :embarrass
I thought those events were not that far in the future.
They don't seem so far in the future in RaFoaDK. But we're still catching up to the present, and we've a ways to go.
LC's the first supplement to go boldly into the far reaches of Free Year 13 Those events take place in what would be free year 15. Whether or not athas.org decides to include them is anyone's guess. you'd have to ask the overcouncil.
As best I can tell, we've decided not to decide.
We've detailed a city, laid out a few adventures, and then set forth one huge Athas-sweeping event in Dregoth Ascending. Dregoth invades Raam, Divine Magic on Athas stops working for a while, etc. The next massive Athas-sweeping event that published material had seemed obviously in the works was the Kreen invasion.
As for what happens in the end of RaFoaDK, I suggest that *some* of the events that you describe are nothing that a player would know.
Read that last chapter closely, and then pretend that you're Bebelek the overseer, driving a bunch of slaves in Makla obsidian mines. What do you reasonably think that you're going to hear about all that?
IF the events in RaFoaDK were to take place, then sure, Bebelek's going to have heard about the armies massing to Urik. And then what happens? The account doesn't say. It jumps forward 1000 years to where Hamanu comes out and faces the King that has ruled in his stead.
What does that King look like?
Hamanu saw his own ostentatious, uncomfortable throne. And sitting on the throne was a figure he remembered well, a half-man, half-lion figure that his laborers had painted on his city walls, a black-maned figure with a naked golden sword at his side.
The Lion-King of Urik, who'd saved Hamanu when he was deeply disguised and blundered too close to the Black.
If these events happen, as RaFoaDK predict they will, who if anyone will realize that Hamanu is gone?
Consider that Manu himself (since that's how he comes out, not really Hamanu anymore, but pre-Champion Manu) refuses to completely distinguish between the new King of Urik and himself.
"without me you'd be the guardian spirit of an underground lake. I gave you my shape, my strength. You are me and Urik is my city."
So what happens then, to Urik? You think the city would still be standing if the spirit of that land tosses out the Templars and creates an order of Druids like in Quraite? Do you think that even Pavek (who is about as Lawful-Good a character as I've seen believably described on Athas) would support such a radical plan? Remember what Pavek thinks of the government of Free Tyr?
Even if the events in RaFoaDK occurred, only the movement of armies would be generally known.
Rajaat ceases to be a threat, but that doesn't change how the world itself operates. Maybe the Tyr Storms stop, or maybe not.
*Well, it looks very similar to the genuine article ;)
Players should know what there DM's want them to know. Slaves generally know very little.
Yes I agree with you on this detail. When I wrote players I ment to say gamers which would include DM's.
My Bad!
Essentialy most of the eventds that happen in the book are "official" in my world. Hamanu thinks he spends 1000 years or so in the center of Athas but gets out after a year or so. His Templars continue to recieve spells because hes either.
1. Not dead.
2. Uriks spirit channels them to them.
In the interim Pavek rules Urik. Once Hamanu is free (either around FY 1015 or 1 year later like I suggest) he is in effect the new Dragon of Tyr/Urik but doesn't require the levy to keep Rajaat imprisoned. Pavek becomes an immortal as he is Hamanus chosen like Dregoths head Templar who has survived the better part of 3500 years give or take. Hamanu continues to rule Urik in effect but also wards Ur Draxa and teleports there should anyone manage to penetrate the Cerulean Storm and try and Free Rajaat again.