Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Aug 30, 2004 21:40:28	This post is only loosely related to Dark Sun but I shall post it anyway. I have been thinking about how Athas fits in the planes and it has me thinking about Spelljammer. In 2E, all of TSR's worlds were surrounded by crystal Spheres that are in some sort of fluid-like medium. To travel from Oerth to Toril all one has to do is take a spelljamming ship into this medium and enter the appropriate sphere. Athas also has a crystal sphere but, as everything else, is difficult to breach. Here-in lies the problem. All of TSR's worlds are in the same material plane. No alternate planes exist. The crystal spheres are not the boundaries of a material plane, but are what seperates empty space from the fluid-like space. Any thoughts?
#2 zombiegleemax Aug 31, 2004 8:29:10	I always thought that was a neat idea; if you had no access to a Gate spell, hop on a spelljammer and go to Toril or wherever. Maybe there are alternate material planes, but they're like different worlds or doppel-planes, twisted alternates to the standard AD&D worlds. I doubt there would be an alternate of Athas, but one where Rajaat was never able to develop magic would be an interesting place to visit. :D
#3 zombiegleemax Aug 31, 2004 9:40:35	There was a discussion on what exactly the Crystal Sphere where. They where actually the limit of a Prime some said, so there IS a change when going outside a Sphere. Most of the information can be found on this thread.
#4 kalindren Aug 31, 2004 10:51:46	IIRC TSR always maintained that Athas was located in a Sealed Crystal Sphere - no way in or out using conventional spelljamming portals. Then of course they introduced the Grey to separate Athas from the Planes, albeit imperfectly. Doesn't anyone find it odd (from a RP perspective) that Athas, of virtually all the known crystal spheres, was the only one inaccessible? It got me thinking that the Rhulisti used the Pristine Tower to effect global changes (ie: stopping the Brown Tide) whereas Rajaat 'merely' used it to alter some lifeforms into more powerful ones. Both altered the Sun, draining it of it's energy. What if Rajaat or the Rhulisti sealed the Crystal Sphere throught their use of the Tower and Dark Lens? Maybe intentionally in Rajaat's case (wouldn't do to have the Imperial Elven Navy take offence at Rajaat going after their Athasian brethren) or accidentally and in ignorance in the case of the Rhulisti. Sealing a crystal sphere *would* take a vast amount of energy - moreso than you would have thought the creation of the 15 Champions would have used. Just a thought
#5 the_peacebringer Aug 31, 2004 13:14:20	Going with my universal destiny theory... Athas could be a testing ground for something (I don't know what yet). On other worlds, Gods created elves, gnomes, dwarves etc. or they came by spelljamming, planar gates, etc. On Athas, they are cut off from everything (or pretty much), yet they have the tools to create the same (somewhat) races on other worlds without the help from gods. Couldn't that life-shaping tool have been given (or is there already a history behind life-shaping at the beginning?). PB