Athasian Ecology? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Athasian Ecology?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
king_kaboom
May 06, 2006 12:52:03 There are an awful lot of big ugly critters on Athas, stuff that's generally going to be at the top of the food chain. What's at the bottom? Most places will have some plant life, albeit very little at thsi level, but what about the silt sea and other silt basins? I mean there's got to be something living in the silt that the lower life forms feed on. Like some sort of simple photsynthesizing organism. Is there any canonical information on this subject? And what of the other critters in between? ToA seems to go straight from killer cacti to kanks and erdlu with no lesser forms of livestock or game animals.
#2
ruhl-than_sage
May 06, 2006 21:18:58
There are an awful lot of big ugly critters on Athas, stuff that's generally going to be at the top of the food chain. What's at the bottom? Most places will have some plant life, albeit very little at thsi level, but what about the silt sea and other silt basins? I mean there's got to be something living in the silt that the lower life forms feed on. Like some sort of simple photsynthesizing organism. Is there any canonical information on this subject? And what of the other critters in between? ToA seems to go straight from killer cacti to kanks and erdlu with no lesser forms of livestock or game animals.

Small (or smaller) Animals in Monsterous Suppliments:
Hurrum, Critic Lizards, Renk, and Ock'n, Insect Swarms, Rasclinn, Baazrag, Dune Crab, Dust Gull, Kivit, Kip, Mole Boar, Sitak, Skyfish, Zhackel, Z'tal.

I would assume there are also a number of smaller real world animals particularly smaller snakes, lizards, rodents, grubs and insects; or at least very similar animals.
#3
huntercc
May 06, 2006 21:44:24 I remember seeing a document about Atahsian Ecology once, but I forget where. Anybody have a link?
#4
eric_anondson
May 07, 2006 1:52:42 Take a look at Teos Abadia's and Gerald Arthur Lewis's "Net Libram of Athasian Ecology".

It is very hard to find, best bet is to Google "Net libram of Athasian Ecology", and head to Fantaseum and you can get the Word document. For some reason WotC screws up a direct link to the page with it. It is like the second item the Google search. Follow this link and you will directly download someone's conversion into a .pdf file of the document.

It is mostly a treatise on the Athasian ecology and how a DM can bring it to life, with some attempted explanation for how such an environment could come about and sustain itself. A bunch of Dark Sun old timers submitted some new creatures which fit some niches that people may have never thought about... however it was all 2nd ed rules.

In any case, it is something that deserves to be in any Athasian fan's files. It would be cool to get these converted to 3.x rules someday.
#5
zombiegleemax
May 08, 2006 2:48:27
There are an awful lot of big ugly critters on Athas, stuff that's generally going to be at the top of the food chain. What's at the bottom? Most places will have some plant life, albeit very little at thsi level, but what about the silt sea and other silt basins? I mean there's got to be something living in the silt that the lower life forms feed on. Like some sort of simple photsynthesizing organism. Is there any canonical information on this subject? And what of the other critters in between? ToA seems to go straight from killer cacti to kanks and erdlu with no lesser forms of livestock or game animals.

Photosyntehsis isn't the only source for energy: in the bottom of the ocean, where there is no light, there are some biospheres where the source of energy isn't light, but volcan chemicals (hydrogen sulfide to be accurate) which erupt from hydrothermal vents. the whole biosphere is maintained by the production of energy made by small bacteria.
You can also decide that in the bottom of the silt sea, there is some volcanic activity which allow some sort of chemosynthesis.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 king_kaboom May 06, 2006 12:52:03	There are an awful lot of big ugly critters on Athas, stuff that's generally going to be at the top of the food chain. What's at the bottom? Most places will have some plant life, albeit very little at thsi level, but what about the silt sea and other silt basins? I mean there's got to be something living in the silt that the lower life forms feed on. Like some sort of simple photsynthesizing organism. Is there any canonical information on this subject? And what of the other critters in between? ToA seems to go straight from killer cacti to kanks and erdlu with no lesser forms of livestock or game animals.
#2 ruhl-than_sage May 06, 2006 21:18:58	There are an awful lot of big ugly critters on Athas, stuff that's generally going to be at the top of the food chain. What's at the bottom? Most places will have some plant life, albeit very little at thsi level, but what about the silt sea and other silt basins? I mean there's got to be something living in the silt that the lower life forms feed on. Like some sort of simple photsynthesizing organism. Is there any canonical information on this subject? And what of the other critters in between? ToA seems to go straight from killer cacti to kanks and erdlu with no lesser forms of livestock or game animals. Small (or smaller) Animals in Monsterous Suppliments: Hurrum, Critic Lizards, Renk, and Ock'n, Insect Swarms, Rasclinn, Baazrag, Dune Crab, Dust Gull, Kivit, Kip, Mole Boar, Sitak, Skyfish, Zhackel, Z'tal. I would assume there are also a number of smaller real world animals particularly smaller snakes, lizards, rodents, grubs and insects; or at least very similar animals.
#3 huntercc May 06, 2006 21:44:24	I remember seeing a document about Atahsian Ecology once, but I forget where. Anybody have a link?
#4 eric_anondson May 07, 2006 1:52:42	Take a look at Teos Abadia's and Gerald Arthur Lewis's "Net Libram of Athasian Ecology". It is very hard to find, best bet is to Google "Net libram of Athasian Ecology", and head to Fantaseum and you can get the Word document. For some reason WotC screws up a direct link to the page with it. It is like the second item the Google search. Follow this link and you will directly download someone's conversion into a .pdf file of the document. It is mostly a treatise on the Athasian ecology and how a DM can bring it to life, with some attempted explanation for how such an environment could come about and sustain itself. A bunch of Dark Sun old timers submitted some new creatures which fit some niches that people may have never thought about... however it was all 2nd ed rules. In any case, it is something that deserves to be in any Athasian fan's files. It would be cool to get these converted to 3.x rules someday.
#5 zombiegleemax May 08, 2006 2:48:27	There are an awful lot of big ugly critters on Athas, stuff that's generally going to be at the top of the food chain. What's at the bottom? Most places will have some plant life, albeit very little at thsi level, but what about the silt sea and other silt basins? I mean there's got to be something living in the silt that the lower life forms feed on. Like some sort of simple photsynthesizing organism. Is there any canonical information on this subject? And what of the other critters in between? ToA seems to go straight from killer cacti to kanks and erdlu with no lesser forms of livestock or game animals. Photosyntehsis isn't the only source for energy: in the bottom of the ocean, where there is no light, there are some biospheres where the source of energy isn't light, but volcan chemicals (hydrogen sulfide to be accurate) which erupt from hydrothermal vents. the whole biosphere is maintained by the production of energy made by small bacteria. You can also decide that in the bottom of the silt sea, there is some volcanic activity which allow some sort of chemosynthesis.