So, what's everyone's take on races during the Green Age? This question is a parallel to my "How warm was Athas during..." thread, as I'm planning on my PCs journying into a magical virtual reality simulation of the Green Age.
--not all worlds' races are alike NB
And judging by the presence of Pixies, Gnomes and what have you on the Champions' hit-list, I'm tempted to say it was... almost standard D&D...
But, outside of the cultures of the green age ... most of the races were physicaly as they areon, say, Greyhawk. It's the last 3,500 years (time since the CW began) that have wrought the most changes upon the races of Athas ...
--that would be interesting, seeing the PCs encounter a temple to a "god" NB
Originally posted by Nero's Boot
Interesting; so you two believe that Green Age dwarves, elves, gnomes, etc., were much the same as on other worlds (with the sole notable exception of the halflings, of course!)?
--that would be interesting, seeing the PCs encounter a temple to a "god" NB
I belive that there were differences ... but the differences were more cultural than anything else though ... Physically, the dwarves didn't lose their hair until the time of the cleansing wars, however ... Elves gained their nomadic and untrusting tendancies after thousands of years of fleeing from Alberon ... that sort of thing.
plenty of temples as well, yes. Difference being, of course, that no god ever answered at an Athasian temple ...
However....
....this does not mean that Green Age races didn't completely misconstrue where clerics got their spells, and invented a pantheon of false gods.
--hence Green Age temples, raaigs, the city of Godshome, etc. NB
Originally posted by Nero's Boot
What were the races of Athas like during the Green Age? It kinda seems likely to me that the races of Athas were similar to the ones on, say, Toril or Krynn, but with some signifigant changes. Dwarves, for instance, probably were never the Underdark dwellers they are on Toril. Elves, from a tiny throw-away line in the Elves of Athas sourcebook, may well have lived in the clouds. Athasian lizardfolk are ocean-dwellers. Giants were almost all island-dwellers (judging from their present-day habitations).
So, what's everyone's take on races during the Green Age? This question is a parallel to my "How warm was Athas during..." thread, as I'm planning on my PCs journying into a magical virtual reality simulation of the Green Age.
--not all worlds' races are alike NB
Since the creators of Athas "made" the world different from the others (Toril, Krynn etc) I guess it would be quite accurate to assume the new races should differ from other worlds.
From the Green Age era, I like to imagine the Dwarves with hair and a beard. ( a least a long mustache and a goaty) Although I agree with you the fact that Athasian Dwarves were not underdark dwellers( which to my opinion is quite deep underground) I wouldn't say they were solely surface dwellers( first because somewhere in the Wonderer'sC. it is mentioned that an underground Dwarven ruin lay unremembered and also because they're still the best appropriate race of Athas -anatomicly speaking- for digging and mining particularely when atempting to flee the C.W.
The Elves: well if you want to make them Cloud dwellers that's find (your the DM after all) but you would have to give the players a darn good reason how they new there were *solid clouds* floating and where are they today!! How without magic(since Rajaat discovered magic much later in the G.A. ) were they able to "fly" to their objective. But most of all, how Andropinis's hole army was was able to wage war against the Cloud Elves??(of course psionic could be your salvation but it wouldn't answer all the questions mentionned above)
Gnomes; personaly I dont like gnomes and i dont think they would be Krynn-like either. You'd have to imagine something else i guess.
Wemics I like to thinkof them as the G.A. wanderers . Maybe herders of a long instict GA mamal.
Tari according to the dsmm2 they were more civilised and even had at least one city of their own.
Goblins and Orcs Although they may have been called goblins I consider Athasian goblins totaly different physicly speaking. Their name came from the annoyant pest they probably were to other races. Orcs on the other hand may have been more civalised thendose we know but maybe more like the indians of old.(nature loving,family ties and not evil)
Trolls To me, the word troll means bizarely different so in my campaign Trolls are unique; From all the new races born out of the prestine tower Trolls are the only humanoid race that has plant/mamal trait(template) this would explain how they can regenerate wounds(not torn offlimbs though) under the sun. they would also need more water then any other race this is why during the GA they built their village/cities in marshes/wet lands with there capital(if any at the time) situated in Troll grave chasm.
Some of them would be master naturalist permiting them to achive great wonders with plant growth and water canal, even bridges which they also used as dwellings.(I intend to use my Troll race idea in a futur Green age fiction
)I would be curious how you "see" the land in the green age (see my own thread on this mater) How vast were the forest, how mutch desert, was the Last Sea connected with the "Silt Sea" etc etc.
Hope this helps you and keep up the good work. Seem your players are in for a great thrill.
As for how I see the Green Age....I don't see it, not yet. That's the whole purpose behind this thread, helping me form a mental "picture."
--so far, the Green Age seemed fairly Tolkien-esque NB
But yea, the Green Age is more of a "normal" fantasty setting, of sorts.
I'm not sure that we ever intended to actually publish it <0> .... was just intended to keep artifacts and ruins cohesive, behind-the-scenes. I've got no idea where to find any of it anymore anyway (I've probably had about three HD crashes in the time between then and now) ...
<0> Some of us happen to really like the idea that the Green Age is mythic and undefined. That'd be what I hate about DS2 ... it wrecked a lot of the mystery. ;)
I thought that when the nature masters used the Pristine Tower to destroy the brown tide it sucked away most of the oceans and left mostly land behind.
I always pictured most of the Green Age Athas as something akin to Arnor/Gondor region of Middle Earth.