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| #1EndorekOct 27, 2013 19:20:24 | This is some ramblings I put together as a "metaplot" for a Dark Sun campaign I was running a while ago. I don't know if anyone will find it useful or interesting, it's all fluff and no crunch, but maybe it'll offer some inspiration or thoughts to someone in their own games.
Adjustments to Timeline: Dregoth, presumed dead by the other sorcerer kings, travels the outer planes for 1900 years by way of his planar gate. Kalid-Ma, supported in secret by Dregoth penetrates the barrier to the outer planes where he establishes contact with an unnamed Lord of the Nine, and trades the souls of her entire city for advancement to full dragonhood. Hammanu, Kalak, and Boyrs destroy Kalid-Ma to prevent another dragon roaming the tablelands. Kalak stumbles across a portion of the research that led to the breaking of the barrier, but doesn’t realize what he’s found. Borys seals the laboratory with wards to alert him should anyone tamper with the left over relics and research. Korgunard & Nerad, friends, gifted preservers, as well as students of the Way, rise to prominence within the veiled alliance. In the course of their research, they stumble across documents once in the possession of Oronis, they eventually find their way to Kurn where they are accepted as students and progress through to the early stages of avangion metamorphosis. After many years, they return to the Tyr region where they actively (although in great secrecy) work to thwart the designs of the SK’s Nerad, while exploring the ruins of Kaldinay in hopes of finding out what could have caused the destruction of an entire city-state, triggers Borys’ wards. Borys himself arrives and a tremendous magical battle ensues. Borys emerges the victor, presumes Nerad destroyed and leaves. Nerad, his mind shattered, but somehow alive, recovers enough to wander off to parts unknown. Years pass, Korgunard becomes more and more concerned having heard nothing from his ally, however an unactivated clone entrusted to Korgunards protection indicates Nerad’s continued existence.
Campaign overview: PC’s start in Celick, orphaned brothers that are slaves for a noble family with a child approximately the same age as the younger brother. The child is a royal terror, tormenting the two brothers, very spoiled, etc. As part of the education, the child is being taught magic as his father is a wizard (defiler). While showing off, the child defiles a public garden, a crime punishable by death. The child blames it on one of the two slave children, and as is no surprise, is believed by the authorities. The younger child, set to be executed, reaches far beyond his capabilities to achieve a true mind switch right as the axe falls on his neck, trading bodies with the noble child. The elder brother, guilty of not preventing the defilement, is punished by having his right arm severed at the shoulder. As the elder brother heals and recovers, the younger brother does his best to keep up the ruse of his identity, and a particularly severe sandstorm rages for a full two weeks, uncovering a set of previously undiscovered ruins from the blue age. An exploratory party is sent out, and the elder brother, given his handicap is considered expendable enough to be sent in first to search an abandoned structure, where he discovers the Arm of Radu (Yes, I know this was a horribly contrived way to add this item to the campaign) Returning to the city, a random series of earthquakes is eventually blamed on the elder of the brothers as his arm is rumored to be the cursed cause. The younger brother, still masquerading as the noble youth, overhears a discussion pertaining to making his one armed brother “disappear”. The brothers, knowing that certain death lies to the south, decide to escape and head north to the tyr region to lose themselves in the domains of the sorcerer kings and forge new lives. Staying off of the main routes to avoid pursuit (the assumption in the city is that the elder brother kidnapped or killed the noble boy in his escape), the brothers head north towards the ruins of Kalidnay where they encounter Andrak. In exchange for water, the brothers agree to assist him in clearing of rubble as he searches for traces of what happened to Nerad as well as Kalid-Ma’s laboratory. In the course of their search, the brothers manage to find the laboratory, however they also disturb Borys’s wards in the process. In a rushed search, Andrak, with a greater knowledge of magical things, is able to locate the second portion of the ritual of summoning (the first portion having been taken by Kalak years before). Lucky for the party, Borys himself doesn’t arrive this time, sending instead his champion and agent Gart. A fierce battle ensues with Andrak holding him off as the two brothers escape north, with instructions to find the village of Altaruk make contact with Arisphistaneles with the intention of taking the recovered pages to Korgunard. A difficult journey later, with several challenging battles, a drugging and robbery by a lone elf (I had to teach them the hard way that you can’t trust anyone), and an expedient retreat from a fire drake, they find their way to Tyr where Arisphistaneles had told them they would find Korgunard. Using the contacts given to them, they make contact with the Veiled Alliance and deliver the ritual pages to Korgunard himself. A brief glance is enough to convince Korgunard that the record of the ritual is incomplete, however through his magic, he is able to locate the other portion as being within Kalak’s palace. The PC’s concoct a plan to infiltrate and recover the missing pages, however they are not careful enough in covering their tracks. Korgunard with the complete ritual in front of him realizes that a full understanding is beyond his capability. The only person on Athas with any hope of grasping the ritual (high enough Knowledge: Outer Planes) would be Nerad, who had made more of a study of such matters than either Korgunard or even Oronis. Explaining the situation of the missing avangion to the PC’s, Korgunard reveals the unanimated clone, only for the PC’s to recognize the man as a barely functional, mentally damaged slave, who had wandered onto the family’s holdings in Celick years before. Days later, templars with the PC’s description come searching, pushing them to leave the city, on a mission to return home, and try to bring Nerad back to Tyr where they can somehow help his damaged state. Next Steps: Head to Celick, somehow bring Nerad out, and escort him back to Tyr Find a telepath master powerful enough to effect a cure for Nerad. Come into contact with the Order, who say that while they have the power, they lack the knowledge of the ancient masters in correcting damage of the psyche. They possess early writings of a man known as Thessik from a fabled city known as Saragar, they speculate that perhaps the in that ruins of that city, more advanced research might be discovered, however unfortunately they have no idea where the city might be found. Korgunard recalls a discussion with Oronis years ago about Saragar, but no specific details PC’s embark on a journey to Kurn to learn the location of Saragar from Oronis. Enroute, they wind up captured by a scouting party from Daskinor. Brought before the insane SK himself, he accuses them of being part of the veiled alliance and plotting against him, seeing The Arm of Radu as evidence. Rescued from prison by the veiled alliance, because obviously if Daskinor suspects them they must be on the VA’s side. PC’s find out that the leader of the veiled alliance is... Daskinor himself (think Fight Club). The insane SK leading both his own faction, and the opposition within his city. PC’s eventually make it to Kurn where they find guidance in locating Saragar. Making their way to the Last Sea, they find not the ruins they were expecting but a thriving remnant of the green age. After a series of adventures, the PC’s discover a living Thessik, and gain the knowledge they need to help the modern day Order restore Nerad to mental health. Passing through Kurn on their return to the tyr region, the PC’s inform Oronis of the surviving lizardman community. Overcome with shock, relief, and freedom from some of the guilt of genocide, Oronis offers great assistance, teleporting the PC’s back to Tyr. Pharistes with the healing lore from Thessik is able to heal Nerad. A restored Nerad is able to study and understand the ritual used by Kalid-Ma revealing the infernal menace to be (no clue, haven’t decided yet) However, this understanding comes with a curse, and a follow-up mental scan on Nerad by Pharistes passes an unholy taint, setting up the (modified for my campaign) events of the Dragon Crown adventure boxed set. Future adventure plans include a modified version of the Black Spine adventures, with an alliance of Dregoth with the Githyanki being the big reveal at the end.
Notes: Unlike other settings, being an epic level spellcaster on Athas does not necessarily mean that someone is intimately knowledgeable of the workings of magic or overly concerned with magical research, especially given the cost of defilement. Due to the process by which Rajaat raised his champions, they gained great powers and strengths without having put in the same amount of work and experience. This explains Kalak’s lack of recognition of the significance of the materials recovered from Kald-Ma’s laboratory, as well as his relative indifference towards them thereafter. Anything not directly related to furthering the dragon metamorphosis is probably outside of the scope of study of most of the SK’s. Due to the lack of existing deities, the world of Athas represents a potentially valuable resource for the powers of Hell (as well as other cosmic entities – however to date they remain ignorant of its existence) Uncontested souls, powerful potential allies (slaves) in the bloodwar in the sorcerer kings, not to mention the high power level of the average athasian (high starting stats and wild talents). Key question, to whom did he trade the souls? The pages recovered in Kalidnay are missing this critical piece of information. Campaign Specific Changes: I have always had a love / hate relationship with the whole defiler – preserver system of magic use. I read a quote once that said something to the effect of “to steal a minute of a man’s life, and to steal his whole life, are but the same thing to a different degree”, and it bothered me that preserving could be “ok” but defiling caused such irrevocable damage. My solution was to replace the magic system of traditional D&D with the freeform system from the Black Company campaign setting book from Green Ronin publishing. Rather than get into the specifics here, it’s a system where a caster takes non-lethal damage as part of spell casting. My solution to the defiler / preserver dilemma is to have preservers take that damage themselves, while defilers pass that damage on to the environment around them, and Dragons pass the damage on to living beings. It uses constitution as the base stat for magic use, so magic comes from a source of physical energy, either the caster or plants, with the contrast of psionics coming from a source of mental energy. I feel that traditional vanican spellcasting is a function of deific influence, be it the Mystra's weave, Boccob's whatever, the moon system of Dragonlance, etc. Magic on Athas isn't overseen by a deity, it exists in a raw state (I'm heavily influenced by Steven Erickson with the whole Houses vs Holds evolution of magic), which I think fits the Black Company system perfectly.
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