In the Dragon of Tyr entry in the Creature Catalog, it's described as "at the center of the valley of dust and fire in the Sea of Silt", but as far as I can tell the exact location of that is completely unmarked anywhere.
Which, I suppose, means that as a GM I get to place it wherever I find convenient, but if there was a set place in 2e, or if I'm just having a blond moment, it'd be nice to know the "real" location.
Thanks!
This retcon makes the entire last section of the book the Cerulean Storm completely erroneous. It 100% contradicts the entire series of events in the last few chapters.
So the question of 'What is Ur-Draxa' has 2 very distinct answers now.
The 2E version made much more sense IMO and was way more flavorful and fitting. The Dragon extorted a huge tithe from the city states, often receiving tribute other than slaves as well. Ur-Draxa was the largest and richest city state. Bigger than all the others combined, IIRC. 700' tall walls circling a city that was like 20 miles in diamater or thereabouts. The place was so vast that huge sections were verdant wild jungles and such. If one was a native Draxan, one would never know the rest of the world existed, except for the sea of lava outside the walls. And they don't care about that, because Ur-Draxa was a freaking paradise. They flipped it on its head for 4e.
I kind of like the idea that it is impossible for living creatures and verdant civilization to exist at the feet of the Dragon.
Agreed.
The old Ur-Draxa sort of came out of the blue. Valley of Dust and Fire is one of my favourite 2nd edition books, but I had to reflavour much of it (incidentally, making it an undead city) because they idea that in the middle of the Sea of Silt lied a city ruled by the Dragon and it was the closest thing to paradise on Athas felt... odd. Yes, Ur Draxa was menacing for all trespassers but even the artwork for the city's interior felt out of place for the seat of the Dragon.
it basically is an epic level setting for PCs... 75% of the book is about how hard it would be to actually get to Ur Draxa, how once there the PCs would be outsiders and immediately dealt with, and how even if they did find their way into the Dragon's inner sanctum he has been planning his defenses for over a millenia and has caches of epic weapons hidden all throughout his sanctum to use in his defense...
it just seemed very flavorful, but not practical at all, and since I figure they really didn't want PCs killing the Dragon right off the bat in their campaign, it did make sense.
Reflavoring the city to be undead or just a slave state and experimental lab for the Dragon is pretty cool, fits a lot more with what I would have envisioned, and makes it a bit more black and white if the PCs decide to try to take on Borys... I mean, in the old version, if they take him out, does that mean the entire city will be destroyed? not a very heroic thing to do...
I just got the sense the Valley of Dust and Fire was a really cool idea, gave the PCs hope that there could be another green age on Athas, made the Dragon more human than most people would think, but it was a bit of a stretch so I'm not surprised they toned it down.. of course, that doesn't mean you have to do that in your campaign (assuming your PCs end up tracking Borys all the way out into the Valley...)
Josh
The old Ur-Draxa strikes me as the perfect kind of myth that people would spread around.
"What happens to those slaves the Dragon takes?"
"Is there any place on this world that doesn't suck?"
"What sort of place would the Dragon live in?"
All these have the same answer: Ur-Draxa, a nice little slice of heaven.
The new Ur-Draxa would be the reality behind the myth: No, it's a hellhole and you really don't want to be there. Just like every other place on Athas, come to think of it. There is no paradise in Dark Sun. There is only wishful thinking.
What I'd say happened is that in becoming the dragon, Borys did drain the life out of everyone, killing everyone in Ebe, and becoming a rampaging monster.
After a century, when he regained his senses, he returned to the ruins of Ebe, finding it being inhabited by the original Kaishargas (or Dead Lords) who had "survived" the mass defiling. They ceded to his rule, but the dragon desired living people, so started his first tithe of slaves, to repopulate his city.
These slaves eventually became the Draxans, the people of Doom. (Or tieflings)
By all this I mean to point out other options to protect the city's existence, besides misinformation.
2nd edition was very deliberate and somewhat uncaring for consistency. Descriptions would indulge in how the Dragon could have specific spells and contingencies in action to survive - IIRC, it mentioned him teleporting a fixed number of yards away and eating magic fruits to heal and so on, something so absolutely game-ish that it would hardly make it in books now. It was a time when you had dungeons that hosted goblins in one room and rust monsters in the next, and bebiliths living on the other side of the corridor, and in the end a dragon that couldn't even pass by the doorway of the room he was protecting. The idea of the Dragon having rocs for protection didn't bother me back then, but right now, I don't know if I would use it. There's really nothing that can threaten him in the setting (aside from an optimized pc group), unlike in 2nd edition when he was sensibly more vulnerable (hard to say weaker when magic was so insanely overpowered).
A paradise city with mortals and elementals and melee-oriented liches living together inside a ring of fire with rocks flying over was absolutely fitting in 2nd edition. In think D&D today has a slightly more simplified and somewhat more consistent approach, and while I agree that the 2nd edition interpretation of Ur Draxa gave some dept to Borys, I think most 4e users would perceive it as confusing. Heck, I did too at the time (that was why I retooled it as an undead place). You had the cover and the book and inside... paradise. It was hard to swallow, at least for me. Definitely not what I wanted, even if the book was awesome.
The new version does leave us with a pretty important question, though. If 'new' Ur-Draxa is devoid of life, how does the Dragon actually do any magic at all while he's there? I think somebody at WotC didn't think this through. The other SKs all have carefully-tended gardens specifically so that they have plenty of vegetation they can defile to fuel their sorcery. The Dragon living in a verdant 'Paradise' made perfect sense in view of the fact that he's a powerful defiler, because he'd need to live in such a place in order to actually be a powerful defiler. For the Dragon to make his lair in a place devoid of life seems suicidally stupid.
Or you can see that as a brilliant justification for the levy, no? He needs living creatures.
Besiodes, nobody says there's no possible life there; a brilliant idea brought up on the forums have been making Ur Draxa the tiefling's home. They are fire creatures (so they would survive the place) and alive.
The existence of the city also showed that if needed, Borys could field a much vaster and better equipped army than any other SK in the region.
I sort of like the new version better; he can field a much vaster and better equipped army than other SK in the region, and each soldier is an undead badass with potentially centuries of field practice
.At least, it fits the "City of Doom" better than the old "like Tyr, just nicer" version. Besides, an undead city wouldn't require grain and food and thus allow for a larger use of the cultivated ground for defiling purpose. Nobody says there's no gardens in the current Ur Draxa; actually, not having a living population to sustain allows the Dragon to use ALL the vegetation to defile.
Or you can see that as a brilliant justification for the levy, no? He needs living creatures.
Sure, but I strongly dislike the Levy as it is traditionally portrayed.
a brilliant idea brought up on the forums have been making Ur Draxa the tiefling's home.
I am not a fan of that idea. In fact, I've taken the tieflings in the exact opposite direction in my version and made them bitter enemies of the Dragon.
(EDIT: I'm not saying it's a bad idea. It just doesn't appeal to me.)
not having a living population to sustain allows the Dragon to use ALL the vegetation to defile.
That's a good point, actually. In fact, the idea of Ur-Draxa as a 'Paradise' of lush vegetation, but with absolutely no animal life at all, appeals to me. A garden as silent as a tomb, the still air lacking even the buzz of insects, with all the plants tended (and hand-pollinated) by withered undead servitors.
Like Laputa the Flying Island, but without the birds. And with the robots replaced by zombies. And it's not flying. And the annoyingly cute kids end up getting turned into fertilizer...
The city is supposed to be encircled by a ring of fire, a lava pool of sort. If it is still the case, a giant magic gate would be used by all those that cannot fly to cross over. No silt skimmer, dromond, or ritual could help others. The Dragon had a citadel of roc riders to defend against those that could take to the air.
By all this I mean to point out other options to protect the city's existence, besides misinformation.
No doubt, but all that would still allow people to think "well dang, there must be something here worth protecting," and misinformation would make people more likely to think "nope, screw this, I like Tyr."
There is no "overkill" with the Dragon, just "almost enough."
I was never a fan of the old Ur-Draxa. The entire city came off as "OVER NINE-THOUSAAAAAAAAAND!" I rather like the new flavor.
This.