What do you think Jon- can I stat you out and post you in my world? :D
You know- I think I will but an NPC named Jon there IMC and he will have answers and will be a true oracle- but the PCs will have to deal with huge amount of sarcasm- he will also have two spell-like abilities- lightning bolt and flensing strike- useable at will.
What do you think Jon- can I stat you out and post you in my world? :D
thats What I wanted to do, but I think Jon was offended so I might name him "Noj, not the orrifice of Athas" kidding Jon, Much respect and hope you have a gr8 sense of humor. I wanted to immortalize the "regulars" on here by placing their "characters" in certain places around Athas. I believe this was met with disdain and some level of hostility. I could care less about taking someones "identity" here. I just think your passion for Dark Sun matches my own. I have in my campaign, both my brothers, both my best friends, My son, Nephew, and niece as well as at least a character for my 3 year old daughter. I had previously mentioned in another thread that I wanted to know if I could "use" others characters in my Athasian world. I.E. just to "add flavor" as you all will notice I love this term. I just would like to honor those who have worked so very hard to maintain the best Gaming world in roleplaying
For example- I am running a slightly modified version of Turian Conspiracy- and there is an encounter with two giants- well all rational PC would see this, realize that they were only 7-8th level and get the hell out. Well not the brains that run with me. They actually sat around for several rounds discussng if they should attaks or not. Well, the giants got within rock throwing range (I think they were two range increments out from that) and started throwing some stones- one hit the psion in the party and only then did they decided that it would be a bad idea to tangle with these two creatures and started running their kanks.
Sure, go ahead and stat me.
You know- I think I will but an NPC named Jon there IMC and he will have answers and will be a true oracle- but the PCs will have to deal with huge amount of sarcasm- he will also have two spell-like abilities- lightning bolt and flensing strike- useable at will.
Don't forget his familiar: the silly frog (usually kept in a cage, but he's sly and often escapes)
I have aquestion I can't seem to find the answer to. I found the "Blue Shrine" listed on my maps, but can't seem to find any info on it in my books. Does anyone know anything about this?
Its described either in the Revised Campaign Setting or the original Boxed Set.
Its described either in the Revised Campaign Setting or the original Boxed Set.
According to my Big List of Locations, it isn't described anywhere. It just appears on the maps. All details have been flensed out of existence, probably...
According to my Big List of Locations, it isn't described anywhere. It just appears on the maps. All details have been flensed out of existence, probably...
Ooops, indeed, I just snapped back into reality to realise that Blue Shrine is not the Mud Palace. Too damn hungry
Well.... If TSR never fleshed it out.... anybody got any ideas what to put there? I am thinking maybe a place sacred to clerics of water? Or maybe something from the blue age/Rhustani? (it is located near the southern edge of the Ringing Mtns)
Anybody else got an idea?
1. It's called the blue shrine because it is very depressing, anyone entering the area gets a bad case of the blues and comtemplates suicide. That's why there is no info on the spot, the wanderer decided to leave the area when he started crying for no reason
2. It is actually blue and everything that grows around it is blue as well, blue cacti, blue flowers, blueberries, etc. Even the few animals that live around it are blue in color. The shrine itself is a small domed building that looks as though it was grown rather than built and is surrounded by a crumbling courtyard filled with statues that perpetually weep a sticky sap.
thats What I wanted to do, but I think Jon was offended
No, I was more concerned about my name appearing on more strange Google searches than it already does. So avoid using my full name.
I searched both my original WJ and the pdf of the revised setting... No dice on either. Actually, the reason I asked the question here was I noticed that Jon was from there & I hoped he, or someone that had visited him, could let me in on the myrid secrets of his realm. :P (I figured there must be something in one of the other books)
Well.... If TSR never fleshed it out.... anybody got any ideas what to put there? I am thinking maybe a place sacred to clerics of water? Or maybe something from the blue age/Rhustani? (it is located near the southern edge of the Ringing Mtns)
Anybody else got an idea?
It could be that its an oasis that serves as a temple to either rain or water clerics.
Don't forget his familiar: the silly frog (usually kept in a cage, but he's sly and often escapes)
Let's go all out, let's make it the Crazy Frog!
Let's go all out, let's make it the Crazy Frog!
No, it has to be the Silly Frog. Anything else woudn't make sense
No, it has to be the Silly Frog. Anything else woudn't make sense
Yeah, no kiddin'...pfffft...Crazy Frog
The Silly Frog is Grummore, in case some of the newcomers to the boards didn't know. He needs to remain silly! If you don't know who Grummore is, he is the webmaster of the siltskimmer.net webpage - the HUGIEST collection of Dark Sun links. :P
So.... the circle has now complete. Before, he was just your Familiar, but now, he's the Master.
HISTORY OF THE BLUE SHRINE
4th World’s Age
-Ocean’s Fury: At the height of the nature-masters’ golden age of exploration, the underwater rhulisti vessel Jiun-Ther discovers the Blue Shrine on the floor of the ocean. Before the Halfling explorers can begin to study this alien structure, a mysterious force pulls the crew through a vortex to the Elemental Plane of Water.
-King’s Slumber: Ten years after the disappearance of the Jiun-Ther, the members of the ship’s crew return to the Halfling cities with bizarre tales of alien beings who offer powerful magic in return for their worship. These are the first elemental clerics on Athas.
-Ocean’s Defiance: Employing powerful psionics, the rhulisti create a series of sentient life-shaped vessels to seek out the other elemental planes. First appearance of clerics of Earth, Air, and Fire.
-Enemy’s Agitation: Evil elemental clerics form an alliance with the nature-benders.
5th World’s Age
-Ocean’s Reverence: Following the upheavals in rhulisti society surrounding the discovery of clerical magic, a mystery cult venerating the Blue Shrine and the original crew of the Jiun-Ther spreads from city to city across the blue face of Athas. Even clerics of elements other than Water become members of this cult.
7th World’s Age
-Island’s Agitation: The high priests of the cult of the Blue Shrine, now known as the Azure Brotherhood, declare the nature-benders and their cleric allies to be heretics. A thirty year war ensues, leading to the eventual defeat of the nature-benders.
8th World’s Age
-Ral's Defiance: Nature-masters of Ty'agi attempt to expand the lifeforce of the ocean and accidentally create the Brown Tide-which brings about the end of the Blue Age.
-Friend's Reverence: Surviving nature-masters create the Pristine Tower to destroy the Brown Tide. This action changes the sun from blue to yellow, destroying the halfling civilization and bringing about The Rebirth.
-Island's Agitation: The new races of The Rebirth - humans, gnomes, dwarves, elves, pixies and others - appear across the face of Athas. Great cities such as Tyr, Bodach, and Guistenal are founded to house the new races. Last use of "Island" and "Ocean" on the World's Age Calendar. Beginning of the Green Age.
-Priest’s Defiance: The shock of the destruction of Blue Age civilization sends thousands of Halflings into despair. Priests of the Azure Brotherhood begin to preach openly that the disaster was caused by a lack of reverence for the Blue Shrine, and stress a return to piety and obedience.
-Guthay’s Fury: First use of psionic powers among the races of the Rebirth. Priests of the Blue Shrine Cult begin to refer to such manifesters as “unnatural” and even as “usurpers”, although this does not stop thousands of members of the Rebirth races from converting to the Cult, with their admission conditioned upon the renunciation of psionic powers.
11th King’s Age
-Enemy’s Fury: Birth of Rajaat the War-Bringer.
13th King’s Age
-King’s Reverence: First report from travelers through the vortex of the Blue Shrine that several high-ranking Elemental Lords on the Plane of Water have converted to the Cult. Details as to the nature of their relationship with the High Priests of the Cult remain unclear.
17th King’s Age
-Dragon’s Defiance: Rajaat the War-Bringer converts to the Azure Brotherhood, but keeps his conversion a secret from his fellow pyreen.
19th King’s Age
-Mountain’s Contemplation: The Pixie thief Jan steals the Ghav-Moar from a lifeshaper stronghold.
23rd King’s Age
-Wind’s Slumber: The largest population of pixies on Athas settles in the lush coniferous forest between the Blue Shrine and the gnomish settlement of Small Home. The remainder of the pixies settles on the opposite shores of the Sunrise Sea.
81st King’s Age
-Silt's Agitation: Rajaat arrives at the base of the Jagged Cliffs where he conducts experiments with the powers of life for the next 200 years.
84th King’s Age
-King's Defiance: After nearly two centuries of experiments Rajaat discovers the basics of magic, but is nearly killed in the process. After recovering he leaves the Jagged Cliffs and travels to the Pristine Tower to refine the magic process, creating defiling and preserving magic. The Time of Magic begins.
125th King’s Age
-Guthay's Reverence: After three eons of study, Rajaat emerges from the Pristine Tower to teach magic to the Rebirth races. He teaches preserving magic openly, and defiling magic in secret to those of "questionable" character. For the next 1,500 years Rajaat studies how magic interacts with the Rebirth races, and decides that humans have the most potential of all to suit his needs.
134th King’s Age
-Mountain’s Reverence: Anlas, the Wemic Preserver/Druid and a student of Rajaat, discovers Rajaat secretly teaching defiling magic. In the ensuing confrontation, Anlas is killed, but not before he is able to dispatch an agony beetle bearing the message back to his preserver companions. Rajaat decides to preemptively attack and discredit those preservers he knows will be sympathetic to Anlas. Using his connections with the Brotherhood, the High Priests issue a fabricated proclamation that the Preservers are heretics who are plotting to claim the Blue Shrine for their own.
-King's Agitation: Rajaat begins a jihad against the preservers of Athas for the next thousand years. Preservers across the land go into hiding while fighting a losing battle against the followers of Rajaat. Because of the calumny spread by the Azure Brotherhood, most of the population of Athas is indifferent to the plight of the Preservers, preferring to remain neutral in what they see as an internal conflict to the rhulisti-based religion. Even though Rajaat is ultimately victorious, a millennium of war reduces the members of the cult to a small number compared to its height at the dawn of the Green Age. As their numbers dwindle, their influence wanes. Soon only a handful of the rebirth races have any memory of its existence. Amid the protracted cultural decay of rhulisti society, the once-prominent Brotherhood devolves into a host of splinter groups, cut off from contact with the central priesthood at the Blue Shrine. The Azure Brotherhood, never in the majority even among the Halflings, is swamped by the rise of tribalized, animistic religions across the length of the Forest Ridge. Only a few small rhulisti communities still worship the old, “true” ways.
142nd King’s Age
-Dragon’s Fury: Birth of Wyan of Bodach.
143rd King’s Age
-Guthay’s Reverence: Rajaat converts several of his students, including Sacha Aralya and Wyan of Bodach, to the Cult of the Shrine.
144th King’s Age
-Friend’s Agitation: The Pixie druid Aodhe, one of the few remaining worshippers of the Blue Shrine, begins a religious revival among the Pixies of the surrounding forest. Easily influenced by the new and the mysterious, soon they decide that the Blue Shrine rightfully belongs to them. Taken by surprise, the Halflings at the Shrine are slaughtered, and the entire circle of high priests is murdered. The Pixies declare themselves the Heirs of the Azure Brotherhood, Lords of Athas, Masters of the Inner Planes, and Hierarchs of the Multiverse. This proclamation is met with near-universal bemusement by the other rebirth races, who continue to go about their daily lives.
-Desert’s Fury: Furious at the sacrilege, Rajaat gathers a council of the remaining rhulisti members of the cult, and declares himself High Priest. In return for their allegiance, he promises them a return to the glories of the Blue Age. A faction of high Elemental Lords from the planes of Water and Rain, themselves members of the Brotherhood, pledge their support.
-Priest's Contemplation: Rajaat sends all but a few of his students away. Using the power of the Pristine Tower and the mysterious Dark Lens Rajaat creates his Champions. Each Champion is ordered to eliminate one specific race from the face of Athas in an effort to bring about the return of the Blue Age. The Cleansing Wars begin. Rather than assault the Pixies himself, thereby betraying his secret plans, Rajaat appoints Wyan of Bodach to destroy them.
145th King’s Age
-Enemy’s Fury: Convinced that the other races are plotting to destroy them, the pixies begin to conduct raids on neighboring cities and towns as far north as Kalidnay, kidnapping the children of the other rebirth races. The pixies believe that only through massive blood sacrifice will the Jiun-Ther be appeased and their control over the Blue Shrine protected.
153rd King’s Age
-Dragon’s Agitation: Wyan of Bodach eradicates the pixie settlements on the far side of the Sunrise Sea, capturing their priests and princes. Under torture, they reveal the secret of the Ghav-Moar. Armed with this knowledge, Wyan returns to the tablelands and implements his new strategy of destroying the pixies’ source of life rather than attacking them directly.
154th King’s Age
-Guthay’s Defiance: Wyan begins a century-long siege of the forest surrounding the Blue Shrine, systematically destroying over a thousand square miles of woodland through fire and defiling magic.
155th King’s Age
-Ral’s Slumber: Surrounded, the Last Army of Pixies battle Wyan’s forces as the remaining Ghav-Moar are set ablaze. In desperation, The Pixie Druid Aodhe orders a group of psychoporters to use their psionics to expand the planar rift within the Shrine. Disaster strikes when a massive explosion of water destroys the Blue Shrine, creating a flood which annihilates the two dueling armies and drowns the last of the ghav-moar, covering all the land for hundreds of miles in all directions. The confluence of psionic and elemental energies destroys Aodhe’s physical body and transforms him into a fully metamorphosed Spirit of the Land. In the ensuing chaos, Wyan seeks out the Faerie Queen Tian-tai and defeats her in psionic combat, obliterating the last pixie from the land. However, the destructive energies from the Positive Plane, the Grey, and the Plane of Water radiating from the Rift make the former site of the Blue Shrine unapproachable even by Rajaat and his champions.
159th King’s Age
-Desert’s Contemplation: As the rift slowly begins to close, the last of the stagnant water covering the pixie homelands begins to evaporate even as wind currents blow in massive amounts of sand from the nearby Endless Sand Dunes. The now-petrified forest is covered in desert.
161st King’s Age
-Ral’s Fury: Creation of the Dead Lands. Although the obsidian tide does not reach the former homeland of the pixies, eventually some of the pixies brought back to un-life by the obsidian’s necromantic powers return to the region in search of the forest they knew in life.
164th King’s Age
-Desert’s Vengeance: The champions rebel against Rajaat, although Wyan and Sacha remain loyal to their High Priest. Rajaat is defeated, and his halfling and elemental servants from the Cult’s hierarchy are banished with him.
165th King’s Age
-Friend’s Slumber: An unholy chill emanates from the site of the Blue Shrine as the rift finally repairs itself. The Shrine’s ruins become encased in a mile of solid ice, where they remain to this day.
IIRC though, the Blue Shrine is not currently covered in ice so this part could be changed or cut- IMO it does not really fit.
Interesting- there are some glaring flaws in your story- like psionics being used by the rhulisti, psionics emerged in the Green Age, but for the most part I like it.
Do you have a cite for this?
IIRC though, the Blue Shrine is not currently covered in ice so this part could be changed or cut- IMO it does not really fit.
Again, a cite? I'm a big continuity buff, but IIRC nothing has ever been said about the Blue Shrine one way or the other.
Do you have a cite for this?
Again, a cite? I'm a big continuity buff, but IIRC nothing has ever been said about the Blue Shrine one way or the other.
I believe that it is said in the original timeline that psionics were a develpoment of the Rebirth.
As for the ice thing around the Blue Shrine- well it is located on the map and there is no hint of a mile or more of ice in the drawing- So while I have no direct source information I am just argueing that something like a mile+ of ice would be a noteable landmark that would draw attention to the area- water, ice, ect... and there is noting like that. IMO it jut flys in the face of the fact that it is an area that most people do not know about- which implys a low profile in the landmark feature. I square mile of ice in a desert setting is dirctly opposite this and would draw a huge amount of attention. Just because the material does not say that a mile of ice does not exist does not mean that it should.
Just to be clear because the last part of my post is a bit confusing- I am saying that a mile of ice would be a feature that would attract attention and people would talk about it- whereas there is very little known or written about the Blue Shrine which implys that it is kind of unknown and has no huge feature that would call attention to it.
Do you have a cite for this? [Psionics not being present in the Blue Age]
There's probably another source, but it is definitely mentioned several times in "Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs".
Do you have a cite for this?
...
Again, a cite? I'm a big continuity buff, but IIRC nothing has ever been said about the Blue Shrine one way or the other.
As for the first, I'm thinking I remember it in either Wind Riders of the Jagged Cliffs, the Wanderer's Chronicle or both. This is indeed correct, just can't remember from where exactly.
As for the second, you are correct. There is no mentioning of any detail, however minor, about the Blue Shrine. It is an empty canvas per say. So it is quite conceivable that the structure is indeed covered in ice - I just don't know how conceivable that idea is. Granted, yes, magic could certainly be involved (and most likely is anyway), I just don't think this really fits in to Dark Sun. Plus a structure covered in miles of solid water would certainly be worth mentioning, and we have nothing, despite that region being covered. So I'm feeling this is quite unlikely to be the case. EDIT - KAL BEAT ME TO IT
, SO YEAH, WHAT HE SAIDThis also brings me to another point. With such a widespread influence, even to the point of effecting such power players as Rajaat and his champion, Wyan, it seems unconceivable that the Azure Brotherhood would have escaped mentioning in the history of Athas. As you've created them, it just seems unrealistic to such a degree that I'd reject them utterly.
As Kal mentioned, however, there are some gems in there. In fact, IMO most of the latter half of your write-up is pure gold. Definately some usable stuff here, so keep up the good work.
- Psionics. The living boats used to travel to the plane of water can simply be lifeshaped.
- Evil elementals and their clerics. Actually no such thing is mentionned on Athas, only pararelementals and their clerics.
- The nature-bender war seems awfuly short.
- The rhulisti mostly dissapear after the Brown Tide occurs. Its described in one supplement somewhere. Some go underground in bunkers, some enter stasis (Cleft Rock), some cower in their remote locations (Jagged Cliffs), etc, and a bunch enters the Tower where they succeed at beating off the Tide. Their own bodies turn into the new races, and only a few rhulisti are left intact. They inhabit the early cities of the Rebirth races, but their numbers steadily dwindle until they eventually all retire to far away locales and become modern day halfings.
- The Blue Shrine history is good in its beginnings, but later it becomes silly when the place and its adepts are revealed to somehow be important players in the affairs of Athas. We would know of such a thing if it were so.
- Rajaat starting a preemptive strike against the preservers? Sounds like he's trying to hide to the world that he's teaching defiling by killing those who have been informed of it...only problem is Rajaat overtly used thousands of defilers - not counting the "defiler warlords" like Irikos, Merek, and Myron - in his war against the preservers, so that part would need to be rewritten so that it doesn't hint at Rajaat attempting to hide his secret. I suggest saying that Rajaat steps up his timetable instead, starting earlier a war he always intended to wage.
There's probably another source, but it is definitely mentioned several times in "Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs".
Good call- I could not remember if it was only in the timeline or not- I was sure it was in another book though.
8th World's Age (-14,014)
-Guthay's Fury
First use of psionic powers by the races of The Rebirth.
- Evil elementals and their clerics. Actually no such thing is mentionned on Athas, only pararelementals and their clerics.
:D Actually Pennarin the timeline does in fact say evil clerics, not paraelemental clerics- I do not think that paraelemtals had much of a chance at Athas before the Cleansing Wars.
4th World's Age (-14,322)
-Ocean's Slumber
Discovery of the nature-benders, corrupt nature-masters who experiment with life in immoral ways.
-King's Slumber
First appearance of elemental clerics on Athas.
-Enemy's Agitation
Evil elemental clerics form an alliance with the nature-benders.
Of course it could be implied that this is where the paraelemental clerics first began to appear- trying to gain a foothold within Athas- but who knows.
There's probably another source, but it is definitely mentioned several times in "Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs".
Yep, found it on p.15. I was going by the timeline, which only mentions psionics "among the races of the Rebirth."
I've edited to read:
"-Ocean’s Defiance: Employing advanced shaping technology, as well as information gleaned from the mysterious outsiders on the Plane of Water, the rhulisti create a series of sentient life-shaped vessels to seek out the other elemental planes. First appearance of clerics of Earth, Air, and Fire."
and
"-Guthay’s Fury: First use of psionic powers among the races of the Rebirth. Priests of the Blue Shrine Cult begin to refer to all non-halfling manifesters as “unnatural” and even as “usurpers”, although this does not stop thousands of members of the Rebirth races from converting to the Cult, with their admission conditioned upon the renunciation of psionic powers. Although this doctrine is gradually loosened over the succeeding centuries, a lingering suspicion of psionics remains among the cult’s hierarchy."
Nothing too drastic changes.
As for the ice, I take your point, but 1) a mile is a blip on the box set maps, and 2) there are precious few passersby because a) it's an Epic Region with a CL 50 Spirit of the Land in it and b) the surrounding desert covers the petrified forest, stretches of which are periodically uncovered by the shifting sands, and which which is haunted the ghosts of a million vengeful Fey who lure travellers astray into mazes of stone trees until they are driven mad. In my supplement what few merchant caravans there are in the region know not to get within 75 miles of the place.
Historically there are no evil elemental forces, only opposition to paraelemental forces by the elemental forces. Everything is based on that. The pact of EAFW was created to ensure a balance between the four elements so as to ensure they would predominate in the world and beat off the paraelements.
I think that what the sometimes simple language of the Timeline means in this instance by evil elementals is in fact paralementals. I think that elemental beings don't give a rat's ass about chaos, law, good, or evil. They have elemental agendas, that's it.
I think its obvious what is meant by the Timeline when you've read the rest of the setting info, specifically EAFW.
Historically there are no evil elemental forces, only opposition to paraelemental forces by the elemental forces. Everything is based on that. The pact of EAFW was created to ensure a balance between the four elements so as to ensure they would predominate in the world and beat off the paraelements.
I think that what the sometimes simple language of the Timeline means in this instance by evil elementals is in fact paralementals. I think that elemental beings don't give a rat's ass about chaos, law, good, or evil. They have elemental agendas, that's it.
I was not really arguing with you Pen- I was just quoting the timeline
I totally agree about the whole elemental agenda and the Balance between the Primary Four Elements- I added some additional thoughts to my post after I had posted it- but you may not have seen that part.
Hiero5ant, the story has very good elements, but some flaws like it was mentionned:
- Psionics. The living boats used to travel to the plane of water can simply be lifeshaped.
Done.
- Evil elementals and their clerics. Actually no such thing is mentionned on Athas, only pararelementals and their clerics.
This has been addressed. One of my favorite things about Athasian clerics is that there is no necessary connection between alignment and the source of clerics' powers.
- The nature-bender war seems awfuly short.
That's straight from the timeline.
- The rhulisti mostly dissapear after the Brown Tide occurs. Its described in one supplement somewhere. Some go underground in bunkers, some enter stasis (Cleft Rock), some cower in their remote locations (Jagged Cliffs), etc, and a bunch enters the Tower where they succeed at beating off the Tide. Their own bodies turn into the new races, and only a few rhulisti are left intact. They inhabit the early cities of the Rebirth races, but their numbers steadily dwindle until they eventually all retire to far away locales and become modern day halfings.
Isn't that what I said?
- The Blue Shrine history is good in its beginnings, but later it becomes silly when the place and its adepts are revealed to somehow be important players in the affairs of Athas. We would know of such a thing if it were so.
Here I'm inclined to strongly disagree. At least going from the PP, the vast majority of illiterate Athasians don't even know that there was a Cleansing War, much less who all the other extinct races were and what the war was about.
- Rajaat starting a preemptive strike against the preservers? Sounds like he's trying to hide to the world that he's teaching defiling by killing those who have been informed of it...only problem is Rajaat overtly used thousands of defilers - not counting the "defiler warlords" like Irikos, Merek, and Myron - in his war against the preservers, so that part would need to be rewritten so that it doesn't hint at Rajaat attempting to hide his secret. I suggest saying that Rajaat steps up his timetable instead, starting earlier a war he always intended to wage.
There's an aesthetic gap in the Timeline I'm trying to plug with this. I'm sure I've seen a thread on this before, but the Official Timeline's notion of a "jihad" -- literally a "holy war" -- against preservers seems sociologically ludicrous on its face. How does a politician motivate tens of thousands of people in a "holy war" against people who by definition only seek to defend nature?
The answer, it seems, requires that there be some sort of religious structure in place which people's ignorance and blind devotion would lead them to follow unquestioningly. In my scenario, Rajaat most certainly is not attempting to conceal the fact that he's teaching defiling magic; in fact the whole point is that he knows that his secret is about to be revealed, so he manufactures an issue to distract people from it. It's the slander that's preemptive, not the jihad. (Religious leaders manipulating their followers into holy war over petty doctrinal differences? I wonder what modern events that could have been inspired by...)
Here I'm inclined to strongly disagree. At least going from the PP, the vast majority of illiterate Athasians don't even know that there was a Cleansing War, much less who all the other extinct races were and what the war was about.
Agreed. However, the information we can garner on the history of athas comes, not from "the vast majority of illiterate Athasians", but from the words of two sources:
1) in-character descriptions from the Wanderer, possibly the most learned schollar on Athas.
and
2) material written with no character reference in mind - read: game developers
Within the ancient history of Athas, no other time period is explained in as much depth as those events regarding Rajaat, and in no way, shape, or form, is there any mention, or hint even, of some hugely powerful organization behind it all. Not to mention that, quite frankly, I think even the idea takes away from the setting tremendously.
The Shrine and the "Brotherhood" can have existed in the deep past, and have been major players during the Blue Age and we wouldn't even know it.
But major events and organizations of the Green Age are still documented today. If the Shrine and the "Brotherhood" had had such an influence on things it would have been part of the Timeline or some history in a book like D&P or EAFW.
The Blue Age is pretty much a blank slate, but not so for the Green Age.
For the Shrine to be a success with the DS community it needs to be acceptable, not to step on too many toes, contradict very little information or better yet nothing. The Shrine as a factor of Green Age politics causes problems, but as part of Blue Age politics I think its a good idea.
I would limit the Shrine's influence up to the moment the world stops being covered by water, in the few years right after the sun turns yellow.
Isn't that what I said?
-Priest’s Defiance: The shock of the destruction of Blue Age civilization sends thousands of Halflings into despair. Priests of the Azure Brotherhood begin to preach openly that the disaster was caused by a lack of reverence for the Blue Shrine, and stress a return to piety and obedience.
The text reads as if the halflings go to the Tower, change the world, create the Rebirth races, and then their civilization becomes vulnerable to a feeling of despair. The important part here is "civilization". Your use of the word "thousands" tells me that thousands of halflings - over the entire halfing civilization - fall to despair. Even though you say two paragraphs earlier that halfing civilization is over doesn't mean that halflings are gone, which is what they are. We can imagine that only, say, 10,000 halflings survive out of a 500,000 who are turned into animals, monsters, humanoids, or are locked away in some remote place like massive underground bunkers and the like. I think it needs to say in clear terms that of the few thousands surviving halfings a goodly part of them succomb to despair.
I'd go with something like this:
-Priest’s Defiance: The shock of the destruction of Blue Age civilization sends thousands of the few surviving Halflings into despair. Priests of the Azure Brotherhood begin to preach openly that the disaster was caused by a lack of reverence for the Blue Shrine, and stress a return to piety and obedience.
All pimps must have their hoes :D
Pimp Daddy Grummore?
Seriously this thread is interesting, just found kal's comment funny and had to leak out what initially popped into my head when I read it.
*Runs away*