Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ayanel Aug 24, 2010 13:51:23	I've never likes the official back story for Athas so I'm trying to come up with something different to feature in my campaign. So far I have a very, very rough outline of what I'm thinking of going with and I thought I'd throw it out and see what people think. I have always thought of Dark Sun as post-apocalyptic D&D and I though I'd run with that idea. Athas is what it is as the result of going through literally the end times. I also like the playing with people expectations. Yes the Sorcerer Kings are evil but what if some of what they do is out of necessity? What if the fall of Kalak is not the beginning of an age of freedom but instead endangers the world? Day Of Judgment: The gods leave, the saved are take from Athas and the door to the Abyss opened. Vast waves of demons pore out to destroy the world and drag the souls of those left behind the back into hell. The Last War: The legions of the Abyss are met by the armies those left behind, calling themselves the Free, lead by the Champions who would one day become the Sorcerer Kings. In this the final war defiling magic is used with abandon as there is nothing left to lose. However the Armies of the Free are forced back by the endless legions of the abyss. Salvation At Any Price: Finally down to their last stronghold the Free use their most terrible weapon; an artifact that draws its power by defiling all of Athas. The sun darkens and the sky burns, mountains fall, great oceans turn to silt and ash. In the maelstrom the endless legions of the abyss are destroyed or driven back from where they came. A Brave New World: The surviving Champions seal the Mouth of the Abyss with a great ritual, one that requires the sacrifice of thousands. They elect the most powerful of their number, the Dragon of Tyr, to guard and maintain the door. Every year he collects a tribute of doomed slaves to strengthen and maintain the wards.
#2 Sarlax Aug 24, 2010 18:52:30	In the Green Age, mastery of both primal and psionic powers led to unprecedented improvements in standards of living for all intelligent beings, but it did not create peace. Various nations warred with another and used the mystical powers of primal magic and esoteric science of psionics to create new weapons. One experiment led to disaster. A primal spirit endowed with psionic might began propagating through intelligent beings. The spirit controlled their actions, leading them to slaughter and consume the uninfected. The pyreen Rajah discovered the nature of the being but realized it was too powerful to stop easily. His plan was two-fold. First, he selected his Champions and tasked them each to race: Their orders, to destroy every last infected individual. In some cases, the infection was so pervasive that extermination was required. Second, Rajaat realized that the spirit could never be truly defeated so long as it could call on its primal energies. By creating defiling magic, spirits could be permanently destroyed. Rajaat taught the magic to his Champions and, with the Dark Lens, imbued within them stolen power from the sun. By defiling the star of Athas, the spirit was weakened tremendously, making victory possible. Centuries later, the Champions discovered that Rajaat had become infected and locked him away. Despite his loss, the Champions managed to eradicate the psychic spirit, or at least suppress it sufficiently that it was no longer a threat. Today the sorcerer-kings are still responsible for holding back the spirit plague. They are all evil, indelibly stained from the Cleansing Wars, but they are necessary, for without them, primal magic will surge back into the world and possibly reawaken the plague. Even now, with Kalak dead, those who remain worry about its return - and especially about the now-unprotected city of Tyr's proximity to the Forest Ridge, which is occupied by halflings whose cannibalism might yet be evidence of the lingering disease...
#3 smeej Aug 24, 2010 18:59:39	No real solid ideas, but I like the idea of making Rajaat a good guy in the end with the SK's imprisoning him unjustly. Big fan of the sentient moons idea.