So, my question is this: how warm was Athas during it's first and second Ages? One imagines that Athas was never a terribly cold place; I doubt winters here had much bite to them. So: did Athas ever have winters? Did it have arctic terrain, aside from perhaps the extreme north and extreme south poles?
--more questions like this to come NB
Originally posted by xlorepdarkhelm
I think that the Green Age was probably more of a "normal" temperate climate (most common climate found in RPG worlds). The Blue Age might have had a warmer, but humid climate. I keep thinking of Waterworld (the climate, not necessarily the plot/characters/technology) when I think of the Blue Age.
My opinion is that you have missplaced the ages
The BlueAge; the temperture was always comfortable except during high wind, storms and the like. And on the high peek of the snowy montains ( yes there was snow on them at the time-page 9 TWC book)
The GreenAge; To kill the brown tide the Rhulisti used the Pristine Tower to channel the sun's raw energie transforming the azure sun into a yellow one in witch the *new* sun's ray bombarded the BT killing it. I assume the outcome would be a hotter sun and with the prolifiration of the vast vegetation all around the continent made the world moistier and hotter still Specificly in or near tropical like forests witch surely existed at the time.
I also like the idea that the Champions (with their direct tie to the Dark Lens & Pristine Tower) were drawing from the sun some of their power, and possibly not only accelerating it's lifecycle (making it into basically a red supergiant), but also possibly degrading the orbital path of Athas itself, bringing the world closer to the sun, the two effects resulting in heating the surface. Of course, then there's the question as to where all the water has gone to now. Maybe underground somewhere? This idea means, of course, that the continued existence of the Champions (and now Sadira who is the Sun Wizard and draws all her power during the day from it through the Pristine Tower) will spell the doom of Athas - as it's orbit will eventually degrade and cause the planet to crash into it's own sun.
XLoreDarkHelm, you think that the Rebirth caused Athas to tilt, creating seasons? Hmmmm, certainly interesting fodder for thought. That would make the Pristine Tower a source of infinite might, if it can pull off stunts like that.....
--me steals the idea and runs NB
Originally posted by xlorepdarkhelm
I see your point, I was working off the premise that a yellow sun would have similar temperature effects on Athas as it does here on Earth, assuming that Athas is about the same distance from it's sun as Earth is from it's own. I was also possibly there was an axis shift when the Pristine Tower was used that threw the climate off - producing seasons and whatnot. With seasonal changes comes variations in temperature, and makes the world actually cooler everywhere except the equatorial regions. It could also kinda explain where a lot of the water went to - it's in the polar caps, frozen.
I also like the idea that the Champions (with their direct tie to the Dark Lens & Pristine Tower) were drawing from the sun some of their power, and possibly not only accelerating it's lifecycle (making it into basically a red supergiant), but also possibly degrading the orbital path of Athas itself, bringing the world closer to the sun, the two effects resulting in heating the surface. Of course, then there's the question as to where all the water has gone to now. Maybe underground somewhere? This idea means, of course, that the continued existence of the Champions (and now Sadira who is the Sun Wizard and draws all her power during the day from it through the Pristine Tower) will spell the doom of Athas - as it's orbit will eventually degrade and cause the planet to crash into it's own sun.
