Athas located in the Feywild? In the Abyss? or in the Nine Hells?

[Wednesday Boy]

Never post when drunk or when you have a sick 2 year-old crawling all over you!

But you're probably okay to post if you're drunk and you have a sick 2 year-old crawling all over you.

 

[Drammattex]

Originally, I thought Athas might be in the Abyss, but now, I am not so sure. Maybe the Feywild or the Nine Hells could work equally well. But, at the moment, I am a bit at a loss, and 10th level is approaching quickly.

So, if anyone has any ideas on how this could work, then I am looking for:
1) Location - on which plane is Athas?
2) BBEG - who was the person(s) behind the act?
3) Reason - why was it "sent" there?

This may seem a pretty simplistic answer, but it's something I wanted to do with Dark Sun, just haven't had time. Take it with a grain of salt, though; I'm biased.

If you use the Abyss:
1) Layer 100: The Barrens.
2) Oublivae, Demon Queen of Desolation
3) It's where the ruined places go

The best thing would be to go back and look again at the Barrens and Oublivae in Demonomicon. I sort of think the argument presents itself there better than I could do in this thread (but I think it's a strong argument, imo).

 

[Mr. Teapot]

A few facts:

-The Dragon of Tyr was central in slaughtering the previous big bad guy (whose name I cannot recall) and to making Athas the blasted wasteland it is today.

-Athas is inimical to life.

-the other planes cannot be accessed from Athas except by passing through The Grey, a plane of the dead equated in 4e with the Shadowfell.

-divine power is inaccessible in Athas.

-the detailed area of Dark Sun is surprisingly small. Only a few days journey across.


Add these facts together and you get "Athas is a Domain of Dread, deep in the Shadowfell, created to punish the Dragon and the sorcerer-kings for the betrayal and murder of their leader and the destruction of their world."

 

[Mirtek]

Add these facts together and you get "Athas is a Domain of Dread, deep in the Shadowfell, created to punish the Dragon and the sorcerer-kings for the betrayal and murder of their leader and the destruction of their world."

Just what I wanted to suggest

 

[DracoSuave]

A few facts:

-The Dragon of Tyr was central in slaughtering the previous big bad guy (whose name I cannot recall) and to making Athas the blasted wasteland it is today.

Rajaat was a powerful creature who had discovered arcane sorcery (read: defiling) and gave it to his Champions of Rajaat, human psionic wizards who were each charged with the destruction of an entire race of demihumans. Each mutated into more draconic forms, and willingly carried out the largely successful genocide (notice: no gnomes, pixies, sprites...) until they discovered that Rajaat wasn't human but a crazed halfling, and Step 3: ?????? of his plan was 'Humans die last' with "Halflings rule alone forever!" instead of "Profit!!" This genocide was the source of Athas's desolation. South of the Tyr Region is uninhabitable wastes, where the defiling made the sand turn to ashen obsidian, miles and miles and miles of glass plains where nothing but the dead can thrive.

The Champions then rebelled against Rajaat and banished him to another plane of existance. The leader of the betrayal, Borys of Elb, Dwarf Slayer, ascended to full Dragon form, so that he could attain the amount of magical and psionic might necessary to keep the source of all sorcery locked away.

The remaining Champions then gave up on genocide (what with the plan being a lie) and instead established kingdoms in their own image.

To be sure, Borys is a horrific creature. Every so often he goes from city to city, and instantly snuffs out thousands of lives just to fuel eldritch powers best left unmentioned. The thing to remember tho... he's the lesser of two evils... the thing he usurped is not dead, but merely biding his time....

-Athas is inimical to life.

-the other planes cannot be accessed from Athas except by passing through The Grey, a plane of the dead equated in 4e with the Shadowfell.

-divine power is inaccessible in Athas.

-the detailed area of Dark Sun is surprisingly small. Only a few days journey across.


Add these facts together and you get "Athas is a Domain of Dread, deep in the Shadowfell, created to punish the Dragon and the sorcerer-kings for the betrayal and murder of their leader and the destruction of their world."

The world isn't actually small... it's just civilization on the planet is mostly dead, gone, or unreachable. Rajaat's plan was so successful it destroyed the sun. The world is large, there's just nothing left of it.

 

[Jack99]

This may seem a pretty simplistic answer, but it's something I wanted to do with Dark Sun, just haven't had time. Take it with a grain of salt, though; I'm biased.

If you use the Abyss:
1) Layer 100: The Barrens.
2) Oublivae, Demon Queen of Desolation
3) It's where the ruined places go

The best thing would be to go back and look again at the Barrens and Oublivae in Demonomicon. I sort of think the argument presents itself there better than I could do in this thread (but I think it's a strong argument, imo).

I read about this before, was there something official or was it a suggestion on these boards? I can't for the life of me remember, but this idea was what gave the original idea for the campaign. It's definitely interesting though.

A few facts:

-The Dragon of Tyr was central in slaughtering the previous big bad guy (whose name I cannot recall) and to making Athas the blasted wasteland it is today.

-Athas is inimical to life.

-the other planes cannot be accessed from Athas except by passing through The Grey, a plane of the dead equated in 4e with the Shadowfell.

-divine power is inaccessible in Athas.

-the detailed area of Dark Sun is surprisingly small. Only a few days journey across.


Add these facts together and you get "Athas is a Domain of Dread, deep in the Shadowfell, created to punish the Dragon and the sorcerer-kings for the betrayal and murder of their leader and the destruction of their world."

Another idea that I like a lot, perhaps even more than my own.. Oh what to do..

Rajaat was a powerful creature who had discovered arcane sorcery (read: defiling) and gave it to his Champions of Rajaat, human psionic wizards who were each charged with the destruction of an entire race of demihumans. Each mutated into more draconic forms, and willingly carried out the largely successful genocide (notice: no gnomes, pixies, sprites...) until they discovered that Rajaat wasn't human but a crazed halfling, and Step 3: ?????? of his plan was 'Humans die last' with "Halflings rule alone forever!" instead of "Profit!!" This genocide was the source of Athas's desolation. South of the Tyr Region is uninhabitable wastes, where the defiling made the sand turn to ashen obsidian, miles and miles and miles of glass plains where nothing but the dead can thrive.

The Champions then rebelled against Rajaat and banished him to another plane of existance. The leader of the betrayal, Borys of Elb, Dwarf Slayer, ascended to full Dragon form, so that he could attain the amount of magical and psionic might necessary to keep the source of all sorcery locked away.

The remaining Champions then gave up on genocide (what with the plan being a lie) and instead established kingdoms in their own image.

To be sure, Borys is a horrific creature. Every so often he goes from city to city, and instantly snuffs out thousands of lives just to fuel eldritch powers best left unmentioned. The thing to remember tho... he's the lesser of two evils... the thing he usurped is not dead, but merely biding his time....



The world isn't actually small... it's just civilization on the planet is mostly dead, gone, or unreachable. Rajaat's plan was so successful it destroyed the sun. The world is large, there's just nothing left of it.

While I can't speak for Mr. Teapot, I think he was merely taking a look on how you could perceive Athas and fitting it into the context that I need, without adhering 100% to everything written about the world.

 

[Drammattex]

I read about this before, was there something official or was it a suggestion on these boards? I can't for the life of me remember, but this idea was what gave the original idea for the campaign. It's definitely interesting though.

Yeah, it was from these boards. You were part of the thread, as I recall; it was about a year and a half ago.

 

[Jack99]

Yeah, it was from these boards. You were part of the thread, as I recall; it was about a year and a half ago.

Found it - was this thread, based on this article.

 

[Mr. Teapot]

I recognize that making Athas might require reworking or retconning some of the established canon, but it would not take much. The high level backstory with Rajaat and Borys just needs nudged slightly.

It would also probably mean that anyone who went outside the Ringing Mountains or Sea of Silt would encounter the mists of Ravenloft.

 

[shamsael]

In my Dark Sun campaign, my players have, after unwillingly helping install a new sorcerer-king in Tyr, stumbled over clues that Athas is maybe not what they thought it was.

They are currently investigating this, and the plan is that by the end of level 10, they figure out that Athas is in reality not a world on it's own, but instead a part of a once healthy and verdant world that was pulled into another plane. Maybe as an evil experiment, maybe a curse, maybe something entirely different. Either way, my hope is that my players will want to rectify things, to "liberate" Athas and return it home.

This might feel a bit "gotcha!", but the idea is to turn the campaign completely on it's head, into something different. TBH I used to love Dark Sun, but have found that traditional D&D might suit me better as a DM.

Originally, I thought Athas might be in the Abyss, but now, I am not so sure. Maybe the Feywild or the Nine Hells could work equally well. But, at the moment, I am a bit at a loss, and 10th level is approaching quickly.

So, if anyone has any ideas on how this could work, then I am looking for:
1) Location - on which plane is Athas?
2) BBEG - who was the person(s) behind the act?
3) Reason - why was it "sent" there?

Also, if you feel this is the stupidest idea ever, please feel free to point out why. I realize that I should have planned and decided on this before the campaign even began, but lack of prep-time and no breaks between campaigns have made it impossible for me to get things done as I wish.

Cheers,

I had a similar idea, mainly inspired buy Nasajim on YouTube.

The idea is that Athas never did exist. Rather, the supposed inhabitants of Athas are gestating fetuses carried by a massive colony ship to a new home, escaping their former world which suffered a fate similar to the Athas we know. What is perceived as the Dark Sun campaign is, in reality, a shared dram, a personality assessment designed to identify and terminate the souls of those who would abuse the next planet and prioritize the souls of those who would best defend the next world.

It was to get WIERDER from there.