What You Must Know of Athas
The following are condensed versions of what is found in the Dark Sun Campaign Guide for 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons:
THE WORLD OF ATHAS
The World is a Desert
Athas is a hot, arid planet covered with endless seas of dunes, lifeless salt flats, stony wastes, rocky badlands, thorny scrub lands, and worse. In this forbidding world, cities and villages exist only in a few oases or verdant plains.
The World is Savage
Life on Athas is brutal and short. Bloodthirsty raiders, greedy slavers, and hordes of inhuman savages overrun the deserts and wastelands. The cities are little better; each chokes in the grip of an ageless tyrant.
Metal is Scarce
Most arms and armor are made of bone, stone, wood, and other such materials. Mail or plate armor exists only in the treasuries of the sorcerer-kings. Steel blades are almost priceless and are weapons that many heroes never see during their lifetimes.
Arcane Magic Defiles the World
The reckless use of arcane magic during ancient wars reduced Athas to a wasteland. To cast an arcane spell, one must gather power from the living world nearby. Plants wither to black ash, crippling pain wracks animals and people, and the soil is sterilized; nothing can grow in that spot again.
Sorcerer-Kings Rule the City-States
Terrible defilers of immense power rule all but one of the city-states. These mighty spellcasters have held their thrones for centuries; no one alive remembers a time before the sorcerer-kings.
The Gods are Silent
Long ago, when the planet was green, the brutal might of the primordials overcame the gods. Today, Athas is a world without deities. There are no clerics, no paladins, and no prophets or religious orders. Old shrines and crumbling temples lie amid the ancient ruins, testimony to a time when the gods spoke to the people of Athas.
Fierce Monsters Roam the World
The desert planet has its own deadly ecology. Athas has no cattle, swine, or horses; instead, people tend flocks of erdlus, ride on kanks or crodlus, and draw wagons with inixes and mekillots. Wild creatures such as lions, bears, and wolves are nonexistent*. In their place are terrors such as the id fiend, the baazrag, and the tembo.
Familar Races Aren't What You Expect
Typical fantasy stereotypes don't apply to Athasian heroes. See below for more information on Dark Sun races.
* It is clear that such creatures did exist, at one time. Some city-states and ancient temples even make reference to them.
THE RACES OF ATHAS
The Dark Sun races new to D&D 4th edition are the Mul and the Thri-Kreen.
Mul
Muls are half-dwarves, descended from the union of a human and a dwarf. They have the stature, agility, and mental flexibility of humankind, coupled with the physical resilience and endurance of dwarves - a rare combination of qualities that makes muls more than a simple blend of the two races. Because they are strong, tough, and blessed with fantastic endurance, muls are highly prized as slaves. In fact, most muls are born into slavery.
Ability Scores: +2 to Constitution, choose from +2 to either Strength or Wisdom
Skill Bonuses: +2 bonus to Endurance and Streetwise
Muls have the racial abilities of Born of Two Races, Mul Vitality, and Tireless. Their racial encounter power is Incredible Toughness.
Thri-Kreen
Thri-kreen are mantis-like humanoids that hunt in packs throughout the wastes of Athas. They have adapted to the harsh climate and are experts at surviving with only scarce resources. Thri-kreen are nimble and many also have psionic abilities.
Ability Scores: +2 to Dexterity, choose from +2 to either Strength or Wisdom
Skill Bonuses: +2 bonus to Athletics and Nature
Thri-Kreen have the racial abilities of Multiple Arms, Natural Jumper, and Torpor. Their racial encounter power is Thri-Kreen Claws.
The following standard races are mentioned in the DSCS:
Dragonborn
Created many centuries ago by the sorcerer-king of Guistenal to serve as a race of sorcerous warriors, dragonborn - or dray as they call themselves - are a strong, resilient race of dragonlike humanoids. Most dray were cast out of home by their creator, Dregoth, and a handful of dragonborn survived when Guistenal was destroyed. From those ancient refugees arose a race of mercenaries, sorcerers, and slave traders known for their calculating (and sometimes duplicitous) ways.
Dwarf
The dwarves of Athas have the stature of their kindred in other worlds - short, sturdy, and thickly muscled. Most dwarves have deep tans from lives spent toiling in the hot sun, with wide, calloused hands and feet. They usually have little to no hair; the flowing beards that are the pride of male dwarves on other worlds are never seen on the Athasian variety.
Eladrin
Dune traders spread tales of cities hidden in mirages, oases that vanish with the rising sun, and travelers carried off to noble palaces invisible to the mortal eye. The stories of hidden kingdoms in the desert are true - in part. They describe the Land Within the Wind (also sometimes called the Feywild). Eladrin are almost completely unknown to most Athasians. They are thought to be a perilous race of enchanters who ward their secret towers and unseen palaces with madness and illusion. In truth, the fey realm has all but vanished, and the few eladrin outposts that remain are crumbling into ruin as their land is burned away by defiling magic.
Elf
Elves are tall, long-legged desert rovers whose tribes wander the face of Athas. Traders and herders, elves rarely stay in one place for long. They are also charlatans, entertainers, thieves, and raiders. Each of the great city-states hosts a branch of the Elven Market - a never-ending bazaar where the elves (and others who deal in goods of dubious origin) sell their wares. Many elven goods are cheap baubles of little worth or were stolen from their rightful owners. Still, elves have a knack for being in the right place at the right time to peddle their wares, and even the most officious templar appreciates the selection of goods in an elven market.
Goliath
Centuries ago, sorcerer-kings magically combined giant and human stock to breed powerful minions, creating the hardy race of towering warriors known as goliaths (commonly called half-giants). Most sorcerer-kings have hundreds of goliaths in their armies and shower the mighty warriors with luxuries in exchange for their loyalty. Other half-giants become urban thugs or mercenaries. They adopt the culture and traditions in the cities in which they dwell.
Half-Elf
Born from two worlds but welcome in neither, half-elves struggle to find their place in a hostile land. Humans and elves rarely show trust or affection, but they travel many of the same roads on Athas, and sometimes romance follows. However, the children of unions between elves and humans are rarely happy. Half-elves typically face intolerance and prejudices throughout their lives. A tribe of elves might go so far as to cast out a female elf who bears a half-elf child, letting the desert dispense with the object of their shame. Humans care less about elven ancestry, but most assume that half-elves are every bit as clever and dishonest as their elven forebears.
Halfling
Most halflings hail from the Forest Ridge, a mysterious and legendary jungle said to crown the Ringing Mountains. Halflings live apart from other races, divided by their stature and odd customs, but no one can deny their bravery and cunning. The savagery for which they are feared masks a deep and abiding reverence for the natural world and an uncompromising connection to the land's spirits. Halflings live throughout the Tyr region - some as slaves, others as mercenaries, and still others as raiders. Regardless, all halflings look to the Forest Ridge as their homeland.
Human
A resourceful and hardy race, humans are the most numerous and diverse people in the Tyr Region. They can be found in every social stratum and situation: city dweller and desert villager, nomadic herder and mechant trader, pampered noble and wretched slave. Humans' drive, ambition, and ingenuity help the race survive on the dying world and thrive under the rule of the sorcerer-kings.
Tiefling
The people of the desert settlements have much to fear from the wastes. Predators snatch livestock and children, sandstorms destroy homes, and the punishing heat and scarce water make life miserable. However, all these dangers pale before the merciless desert devils that emerge from the night, bent on murder and mayhem. They are remorseless raiders, taking no slaves and leaving no survivors. They are the tieflings and they are death incarnate.
Other Races
Genasi: Also known as half-elementals, genasi typically reside in the depths of the wastelands and on isles in the Sea of Silt. Their elemental nature gives them the ability to endure environmental conditions that other humanoids find intolerable.
Kalashtar: Psionic study has long been a part of Athasian culture and some humans are living embodiments of the Way. The kalashtar, a race of psionic beings, evolved from masters who trained in remote monasteries long ago.
Minotaurs: Centuries ago, minotaurs were derived from beast-headed giants by the priests of a cult that sought to harness elemental power to use against the sorcerer-kings. The cult was stamped out, but the savage warriors they created survived and eventually spread across Athas.
Drow: Burned the shade of obsidian, the drow are heartless raiders and mercenaries living on the very fringes of the Tyr Region. Some drow pirate the Sea of Silt, attacking city-states and villages on the periphery of that once-great ocean. Drow concern themselves not with the defiling of Athas through the use of arcane magic and often flaunt the facility with which they manipulate the arcane. (Note that the Drow in Athas are my invention and not part of the standard Dark Sun setting)
Races not mentioned above are either absent from Athas or so rare that PCs are unlikely to encounter them in meaningful numbers.
