Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Sveinn Aug 30, 2011 16:04:40	First of, some spoilers here about Gods, Rajaat, the Dragon and Dregoth. In 2nd ed Dark Sun it was made clear that there never had been gods on Athas and that in fact gods could not rise there either since the conduits that they used to draw power from their believers simply didnt exist. Now in 4th ed there once where gods on Athas, but they where all killed by the primordials, except Tharizdun. When I came over this little tidbit of information some ideas popped into my head. Firstly, I dont intend to add any gods my Dark Sun chronicle. However, I fully intend to let my players ascend to gods if that is the path they want to walk, although right now they dont seem interested in it. Im counting on my players to eventually kill the Dragon, and if they would ascend to godhood then they would realise what his secret function was and most likely have to spend alot of their time and energy (The little they would have as gods without much of a following) to keep Rajaat sealed in his prison or mount a resistance against him after his release. Also, I imagine that the primordials would most likely detect any god who started to make to much noise and awaken, and seeing as how they went through so much trouble to kill them all in the past there would most likely be another war between the elementals and the new god/gods. My big realisation however came when I remembered Dregoths little master plan. Having travelled many other worlds through a portal, he has come to understand divinity quite well for a Athas resident and plans on marching his forces on Raam, sacrificing the entire city in his honor and ascend to full godhood. In the old Dark Sun supplements it was mentioned that he was doomed to fail because there could be no gods on Athas. However now it seems his plan could very much be succesfull. Meaning that there would rise a evil god of dragons and necromancy, hell bent on scourging the world, restoring it to the blue age and populating it with his perfected Dray. Im sure there are several other interesting consequences of that little change to the history and cosmology of Athas. And I think I like the concept of dead gods over no gods, so Im going to run with it in my chronicle atleast and see where it leads.
#2 terminus_vortexa Aug 31, 2011 17:37:19	Dregoth had a "Living Vortex", Tektuctitlay's I believe (after his death) trapped in the unreleased 2E material for Dregoth ascending and the Athas.org version as well. Essentially, his ritual would have altered its function to kind of reverse, allowing him to draw power directly from his worshippers, bypassing the need for an Outer Planar dominion and the appropriate planar connections. Whether it would funtion if he pierced the Grey and went to another world seems beyond question, as IIRC, his templars could still cast spells no matter where he was, so the conduit is capable of maintaining a connection, even when he steps through an artifact like the Planar Gate. Perhaps the Gate would have to remain open in order for this to function, to provide a 'portal' for the tendrils of the Living Vortex. In order to completely move his operations to another realm, he would most likely have to establish followers there, and again, would be able to bypass the need for an Outer Planar dominion. But that is the old, (IMO better) cosmology. Should be much the same with the Astral Planes now housing the dominions of the deities. Should he slay more sorcerer-kings and gain their vortices, he would be able to create a kind of network of Living Vortex conduits to keep his followers empowered and his worshippers tapped across multiple planes. IIRC, Living Conduits can pierce the Grey, at least via the weaker barrier to the Elemental Planes, whence the SKs drew their templar-empowering energies in previous editions. So the Planar Gate being open may or may not matter, and it would be easy for Dregoth to bypass its use to travel to and from Athas simply by going throught he Inner Planes, rather than the Outer. In the 4e cosmology, I suppose this would be the Elemental Chaos. Being rather powerful if successful in his gambit, if he made a home in the Elemental Chaos, or perhaps the Abyss, he would be able to draw and provide power to followers and templars thoughout the cosmos from such a location. Even as just a Ninth Stage  Dragon/Kaisharga, he would have power enough to smack down any Abyssal lords who got in his in his face, and definitely would as a deity.