I've toyed around with the idea of the Sorcerer Kings and the Dragons being the ones that are holding back the Primordials.
Something I found odd, in Manual of the Planes, and the DMG, it states that the Primordials fought the Gods over the right to destroy and remake the world. But in Dark Sun, the campaign guide says that the Primordials actually won; thus the gods are dead, thus no divine power source. So if the Primordials won, why didn't they totally annihilate Athas?
The Primordials defeated the Gods, but not the Primal Spirits. It's plenty possible that the Spirits simply stopped them.
Considering the world wasn't turned into a desert by the Primordials (it was pretty much a paradise before the Brown Tide), it's quite natural to assume the Primal Spirits simply spanked the Primordials and went dormant. Or maybe the Primordial were defeated but they corrupted the Spirits in the process and now the Primal Spirits are the ones unwillingly destroying the world, and they caused the Brown Tide.
Another (totally non-cannon) possibility is that the powers that be in Athas are preventing them.
I've toyed around with the idea of the Sorcerer Kings and the Dragons being the ones that are holding back the Primordials.
It is suggested in Marauders that the Dragon was the one who defeated Ul'Athra the primordial.
I do like the other suggestions, though. We don't know the sort of time scale on which a plane is created or destroyed. Maybe the process takes millennia and is happening right on-schedule by an elemental's reckoning. Maybe the arcane magic is the means by which they actually do just that. Maybe specifically defiling. And et cetera.
Also, if demons and primordials can be worshipped, what are their worshippers up to?
An entire campaign could be centered around this. Maybe the PCs are trying to find a way to keep the primordials from finishing the job?
Maybe Rajaat was actually trying to assist divine forces in the past and Borys wasn't having that so he betrayed him and imprisoned him. I know this ignores the Revised edition's stuff and I'm quite alright with that. It presents an interesting situation with the Dragon of Tyr as a sort of herald for the primordials' wave of destruction
It's to be noted that the official lore has the Dragon fighting and killing one of the most prominent Primordials of Athas; given his stat block and the currently statted Primordials, he would have a decent shot at leading them if he were to side with them.
Maybe Rajaat was actually trying to assist divine forces in the past and Borys wasn't having that so he betrayed him and imprisoned him. I know this ignores the Revised edition's stuff and I'm quite alright with that. It presents an interesting situation with the Dragon of Tyr as a sort of herald for the primordials' wave of destruction
It's to be noted that the official lore has the Dragon fighting and killing one of the most prominent Primordials of Athas; given his stat block and the currently statted Primordials, he would have a decent shot at leading them if he were to side with them.
I'd flip that around. Rajaat was on the side of the Primordials and the Cleansing War was waged to kill off the followers of the gods; weakening them so his masters could win the Dawn War.
The Champions were evil and selfish men and women who he promised the world to after the gods were cast down and when they found out the truth, that his goal was the unmaking the world not conquering it, they turned on him.
I'd flip that around. Rajaat was on the side of the Primordials and the Cleansing War was waged to kill off the followers of the gods; weakening them so his masters could win the Dawn War.
The Champions were evil and selfish men and women who he promised the world to after the gods were cast down and when they found out the truth, that his goal was the unmaking the world not conquering it, they turned on him.
I like the idea of the Cleansing Wars actually being some sacreligious crusade against divine forces, but I wonder if this would pit the Champions as being on the side of the gods? Unless they were all unholy men and women themselves who were just upset that they were duped into unmaking all of creation rather than taking down various churches. I suppose there's a difference between aiding primordials, like Rajaat, and not caring who wins as long as they get to rule the world, as the Champions would think
Rajaat was on the side of the Primordials and the Cleansing War was waged to kill off the followers of the gods; weakening them so his masters could win the Dawn War.
No, in the campaign guide it says that the death of the gods is what allowed for arcane magic, the primordials had already won by the time Rajaat invented sorcery. This was back in the Green Age, why not totally destroy Athas?
This was back in the Green Age, why not totally destroy Athas?
For any of the several dozen reasons we've produced in this thread?
No, in the campaign guide it says that the death of the gods is what allowed for arcane magic, the primordials had already won by the time Rajaat invented sorcery. This was back in the Green Age, why not totally destroy Athas?
That's the question and no one has the answer. Just speculation. I doubt we will ever get an official answer either, unless someone submits their opinion of "why" to dungeon and it's accepted, making it canon.
Brief idea I'm playing with.
Show
The primordials won the war, but suffered great losses, with the most powerful primordials being killed off or imprisoned. At the climax of the war, the remaining gods sacrificed themselves to turn the shattered astral sea into a poisonous ocean that killed the conquering primordial legions. Attempts to free imprisoned primordial heroes have met with failure. Without freeing the greatest of the imprisoned heroes, world crafting is currently moot as none of the free primordials have the required skill to achieve the innovations desired, making world crafting unsatisfying.
Finding a way to free their imprisoned kin isn't the priority at this time, though. During the war's earliest age, a god infected the elemental chaos with a diseased seed. This seed grew and consumed more and more of the elemental chaos. Corrupting and trapping primordial beings as it expanded. This abyss never stopped expanding and it threatens to consume the entire elemental chaos if left unchecked.
With the dawn war over, the primordial survivors and their elemental servitors wage a new war against the abyssal hordes as the primordials try and find a way to stop the abyss from consuming not only the elemental chaos, but all of existence.
Destroying athas isn't a current concern and some cowardly primordials hide within the world believing it will act as a sanctuary, keeping them safe from the spreading abyss. Some primordials have actually begun using powerful mortal worshippers to aid in the war against the abyss as those few mortals learn that not only is their world dying, but so is the entire universe.
The primordials won the war, but suffered great losses, with the most powerful primordials being killed off or imprisoned. At the climax of the war, the remaining gods sacrificed themselves to turn the shattered astral sea into a poisonous ocean that killed the conquering primordial legions. Attempts to free imprisoned primordial heroes have met with failure. Without freeing the greatest of the imprisoned heroes, world crafting is currently moot as none of the free primordials have the required skill to achieve the innovations desired, making world crafting unsatisfying.
Finding a way to free their imprisoned kin isn't the priority at this time, though. During the war's earliest age, a god infected the elemental chaos with a diseased seed. This seed grew and consumed more and more of the elemental chaos. Corrupting and trapping primordial beings as it expanded. This abyss never stopped expanding and it threatens to consume the entire elemental chaos if left unchecked.
With the dawn war over, the primordial survivors and their elemental servitors wage a new war against the abyssal hordes as the primordials try and find a way to stop the abyss from consuming not only the elemental chaos, but all of existence.
Destroying athas isn't a current concern and some cowardly primordials hide within the world believing it will act as a sanctuary, keeping them safe from the spreading abyss. Some primordials have actually begun using powerful mortal worshippers to aid in the war against the abyss as those few mortals learn that not only is their world dying, but so is the entire universe.
Brief idea I'm playing with.Show
The primordials won the war, but suffered great losses, with the most powerful primordials being killed off or imprisoned. At the climax of the war, the remaining gods sacrificed themselves to turn the shattered astral sea into a poisonous ocean that killed the conquering primordial legions. Attempts to free imprisoned primordial heroes have met with failure. Without freeing the greatest of the imprisoned heroes, world crafting is currently moot as none of the free primordials have the required skill to achieve the innovations desired, making world crafting unsatisfying.
Finding a way to free their imprisoned kin isn't the priority at this time, though. During the war's earliest age, a god infected the elemental chaos with a diseased seed. This seed grew and consumed more and more of the elemental chaos. Corrupting and trapping primordial beings as it expanded. This abyss never stopped expanding and it threatens to consume the entire elemental chaos if left unchecked.
With the dawn war over, the primordial survivors and their elemental servitors wage a new war against the abyssal hordes as the primordials try and find a way to stop the abyss from consuming not only the elemental chaos, but all of existence.
Destroying athas isn't a current concern and some cowardly primordials hide within the world believing it will act as a sanctuary, keeping them safe from the spreading abyss. Some primordials have actually begun using powerful mortal worshippers to aid in the war against the abyss as those few mortals learn that not only is their world dying, but so is the entire universe.
The way I see it, the Blue Age was the original state of the world, covered in oceans, and then due to the misuse of lifeshaping, the brown tide spread and began to kill everything. The Pristine tower was constructed and used to fight the brown plague, drawing on the massive power of the sun to eradicate the lethal contagion. The unleashed power of the sun eradicated the brown tide, and a good portion of the world-girding ocean in the process, revealing the many valleys and plains that would become verdant in the Green Age. This massive surge of power across Athas had another unexpected effect, it reverberated in the Elemental Chaos, and empowered the Primordials, who, with this newfound power, struck out at the Gods who once had been able to keep them in check. In the ensuing war, the Gods fell, using the last of their power to create a ward protecting Athas from complete destruction at the hands of the Primordials. The void produced by the utter absence of divine power, however, introduced the fault in the world that allowed for the siphoning of life energy that creates Arcane Magic. Insert Rajaat and his shenanigans here.