Libertad
Legend
Hourglass in the Sky: Apocalyptic Dark Fantasy
The River of Time is not a linear point running from a single beginning to end. It splits and forks, creating countless possible realities of unrealized futures. The Dragonlance Legends trilogy brought time travel as a storytelling device to the setting, where Caramon Majere sought to save Krynn by averting the dead world of the future created by his brother Raistlin's mad pursuit for godhood.
The 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons was a fruitful time for Dragonlance, with Sovereign Press/Margaret Weis Productions publishing a score of sourcebooks over 5 years. The Legends of the Twins sourcebook expanded upon the themes introduced to us from the above trilogy, with the innovative Alternate Krynns chapter positing six variant timelines both wholly original and previously hinted at in the novels. They included timelines where the Kingpriest enslaved the gods and became Ansalon's sole divinity; where the Wizards of High Sorcery became the chief governing power of the post-Cataclysm continent; where the Heroes of the Lance had failed and the Dragonarmies won; where an unnatural winter takes hold of Ansalon as the Dark Queen's forces conquer the land with corrupted Darklances; and one where Ansalon's powers settle into a tense cold war after the primordial entity known as Chaos is defeated.
But one timeline in particular stood out to me, the Hourglass in the Sky. Not only does it bring back the focus to Raistlin's quest of pride and vengeance, it shows the terrible price that the world of Krynn pays for his folly. Its explicit focus on world-ending dark fantasy was one of the most unconventional takes on a setting that built itself on traditional high fantasy, which might explain its popularity in a poll I did back in late 2019. For that reason, I decided to write this rather innovative homebrew project. While I have the most material for Hourglass in the Sky, I do plan on giving the other timelines their own treatment should I get around to them.
Chapter 1: Overview of Fallen Ansalon
Broken Moon, by Ella Walker
Ansalon is no stranger to hardship. People survived the Cataclysm and the departure of the gods. They survived the Dragonarmies by its disparate peoples coming together to overthrow tyranny. But sorrow is most greatest when hope is taken away, for what should have been a brighter future after the Battle of Palanthas instead became Krynn's doom. Raistlin, one of the Heroes of the Lance, embarks on a mission of revenge against the gods. Their cosmic battles fray at the world's foundations, bringing terrible magestorms and falling fragments of the moon. Divine spellcasters lose access to their spells, Raistlin-worshiping cults arise in hopes of being reborn after the end of the world, and even the mightiest kingdoms fail to keep order. Not only that, but the Final Volume, a tome penned by Astinus of Palanthas detailing the rest of Krynn's history, was stolen from that city's renowned library by a desperate scholar eager to bring knowledge of the world's end to Ansalon's people. He succeeded in its popularization, but one doesn't need to have read it to know that the heavens are changing: merely looking up at the fading constellations of the gods, gradually replaced by a growing Hourglass in the Sky, one star for each slain deity.
Three years ago, the Heroes of the Lance saved Krynn from an age of darkness under Takhisis' thrall. Now, Krynn is in need of new heroes, the Player Characters, to save it from one of its former saviors!
Major Themes
Dwindling Time: While most campaigns are unlikely to track every day of Krynn's final years, long-term goals and plans become unattainable, or force its advocates to devote every waking moment to expedited, risky ventures. Complicating matters is that many are eager to look towards the short-term, seeking to survive the next day. Those who strive for loftier goals, such as defeating the Magegod or saving who they can from a dying world, stand out and shine all the brighter in the darkness.
Hope Wrought of Hardship: Most apocalyptic media focuses on social disintegration, of people giving in to their worst impulses and doing more damage to each other than any inhuman horrors could achieve. Such stories have a place under the Hourglass in the Sky, but inescapable misanthropy runs the risk of making the world appear not worth saving. While Ansalon is in a time of unparalleled darkness, its people recently came together to defeat the forces of Evil and mended old grudges. Dwarves who were sworn enemies generations ago put aside their differences in order to avenge their slain god and protect Ansalon's people against Raistlin's cultists. The long-suffering Nerakan commoners, who long knew only a life of survival underneath cruel gods, fought a bloody war against the Dragonarmy Remnants to live on their own terms, even if only for a short time. The Knights of Solamnia saw many of their brethren slain during the Blue Lady's War and death of Takhisis, but lived long enough to see the revival of their order and a cause worth fighting for.
Scouring of the Land: From the fathomless oceans to the soaring Khalkist Mountains, terrestrial features long thought unchanging will fall prey to the consequences of Raistlin's celestial fallout. Magestorm lightning bolts spawn, warp, and disintegrate in equal measure. The lunar shards of the three moons come undone and rain upon Krynn, bringing with them ancient dangers imprisoned long ago by the Gods of Magic. Even should the Player Characters find a reliable, placid locale that they can fend off from all comers, there's always the risk of twisted nature coming in to tear down the gates and let new horrors inside.
Twilight of the Gods: Long a cosmic inevitability, the gods and their influence have long shaped Krynn's destiny. In the Hourglass in the Sky timeline, this assured reality is disproven in the most violent and fundamental way. Raistlin Majere becomes not only the most powerful mortal on Krynn, but is able to challenge Takhisis and attain godhood. Unsatisfied with this victory, he soon will go on to challenge the other gods of Krynn.
In many ways, this is a far worse apocalypse than the Cataclysm. Beyond just robbing mortals of divine magic yet again, the shattered portfolios of various divinities cause reality itself to unravel, most obviously in the form of magestorms and eventually the exploding moons which rain down upon Krynn in pieces. Many ask what will be left of the world once the war in the heavens ends?
But even with this dire timeline, there is yet hope: Raistlin proved that the impossible could be accomplished. By attaining godhood through deicide, he showed that nothing in the universe is truly invincible. So if a mortal can grow to such voluminous heights, why can't another do the same and stop the Magegod, like he stopped Takhisis for good during the Blue Lady's War?
Chapter 2: People of Fallen Ansalon
Image taken from Tasslehoff's Pouches of Everything Revised
Humans: Much of humanity's history on Ansalonian was written with the biased, binary split between "civilized" agricultural societies and the "barbaric" nomadic societies. Both categories were spoken of in the broadest of brush-strokes, presuming that an Abanasinian laborer in Haven shared more in common with a Dark Pilgrim of Takhisis in far-off Neraka, than with the nomadic Plainsfolk the Abanasinians lived alongside for centuries.
The one thing all humans share in this era is one of suffering and upheaval, for no realm is left untouched by the light of the Hourglass in the Sky. Forced displacement of refugees forced many out of the cities and onto the roads, while magestorms disrupted long-maintained migration routes of herd animals. To speak of humanity in Fallen Ansalon is to speak of its many cultures and kingdoms: urban and rural, sedentary and nomadic, secular and religious.
The collapse of the Dragonarmies left a power vacuum in central and eastern Ansalon. While a welcome change by many who suffered under their yoke, the devastation of war combined with power vacuums saw them ill-equipped to form a united alliance against widespread threats. Compounding this was the underlying racial tensions of Dragonarmy military structures coming to a boiling point. Draconians were long regarded as expendable soldiers; goblinoids and ogres were paid less and sent to the front lines more often than their human counterparts; and humans found it easier to ascend the ranks, being put in positions of authority over the more "monstrous" races. The death of Takhisis and collapse of her Empire was the perfect firestarter for an uprising against human leaders.
The comparatively stable lands of Western Ansalon didn't fare much better. The destruction of Palanthas in the Blue Lady's War robbed the region of a crucial deep water port, while the disruption of the conservative yet safe lifestyle of Northern Ergoth caused many to doubt the capabilities of their rulers and helped give rise to the Raistlinite cult. Long a haven for pioneers and those seeking new lives, Abanasinia found its resources stretched to their limits as Solace, Haven, and other towns were crowded with refugees. Although having regained much of their standing in the public eye after their role in the War of the Lance, the Knights of Solamnia took heavy losses in keeping the peace. While many Solamnics wish for their people to be united again, necessity forces most provinces to look after their own first and foremost.
Draconians: The youngest race of Ansalon, the draconians were created for war by devotees of Takhisis. The collapse of the Dragonarmies and death of the goddess during the Blue Lady's War left them without a strong leadership beyond the reign of local warlords. Their race's reaction is quite mixed: some draconians fall into hopeless despair and feel without purpose, while others relish this newfound freedom and view the twilight of the gods as the perfect excuse to live for themselves. Between these two extremes is a common resignation of "business as usual." To these draconians, the death and disaster brought on by Raistlin's ascent to godhood is not much different than the horrors of war, and is just one more obstacle for them to overcome in order to survive another day.
But the draconian subrace the most likely to adopt extreme attitudes are bozak draconians, who were taught by the Dragonarmies that their innate sorcerous powers came from Takhisis. When their powers still worked despite their goddess' death, bozaks fell into one of two camps: the Deniers, who believe that their goddess survived and is gathering strength in hiding to return and conquer Krynn; and the Atoners, who felt anger and betrayal at this lie. Without a Dark Queen to take vengeance upon, the Atoners do everything in their power to undo the legacy of the Dragonarmies. Some for noble reasons, some just for spite.
Having known only the life of a soldier, most draconians still heavily prefer martial occupations in this new apocalypse. The rapid expanding of power vacuums across Ansalon caused draconians to adopt unexpected alliances with groups they once warred against during the War of the Lance. With destroyed cities, slain gods, and Moonfallen monstrosities appearing across the planet, able bodies to defend communities are at an all-time high, even those of former adversaries. Now, draconians are as likely to be defenders of civilization as they are to be raiders and despoilers.
Dragons: Once believed to be mythical in the Age of Despair, Takhisis' plot for world domination reminded the people of Ansalon that the tales of their pre-Cataclysm ancestors were not fanciful myths. Every land touched by the War of the Lance remembers skies alight with dragonbreath and masses of draconians tearing down walls and armies. Although the metallic clans joined the War and helped liberate the continent, all too many still fear the presence of all dragonkind.
Currently, dragons are an accepted commodity in Fallen Ansalon's political structure. The defeat of Kitiara's Blue Dragonarmy in the Battle of Palanthas, combined with the death of Takhisis, reduced the Dragonarmies to individual remnants of warlords holding onto plots of land, with chromatic dragons serving in elevated positions. The metallic dragons seek to make up for their long absence from continental affairs, and work both individually and with larger organizations *such as the Knights of Solamnia) in safeguarding the smaller races.
But the publishing of the Final Volume, and the multiple fulfilled prophecies within, resulted in a dreadful confrontation. No longer could dragons rely on long-term, generation-spanning plans or assuredness in their legacy outliving them. Two years can be a decent amount of time to a human or goblin, a mere season to a dwarf or elf. To a dragon, it may as well be tomorrow!
The dragon clans' responses to the twilight of the gods varies greatly. Some dragons succumb to resignation, faced with the rare feeling of powerlessness. Others seek to travel to the outer planes and aid the gods in fighting Raistlin directly. For those who remain active on Ansalon, the altruistic metallic dragons tend to focus on helping who they can either locally or regionally, understanding that even if they cannot avert the end of the world, they can ensure that its peoples' last moments are as free of suffering as possible. Many chromatic dragons become destructively fatalistic, deciding to focus on taking what they can as soon as possible as the world around them burns (in some cases, quite literally).
But I want to play as a dragon, not ride a dragon! The 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons has many third party sourcebooks with rules for playable true dragons, and for Dragonlance they couldn't be a more appropriate option! Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons provides a new dragon race and class with 45 unique ancestries, designed to be balanced in line with non-draconic characters. Dragonflight is similar but fully embraces their powerful status, with the balance of power being suited either for all-dragon parties or 1-on-1 play.
Dwarves: The return of Reorx was a momentous occasion in dwarven culture. With archived libraries of preserved pre-Cataclysm traditions, it was trivial for their people to start producing clerics. While many would view it as a major shift, the dwarven viewpoint is that they were merely restoring what already existed.
When Raistlin killed Reorx, dwarvenkind was robbed of something irreplaceable. It's one thing to have only known a life without the gods during the Age of Despair. It's another thing to have them return and see the potential for their miracles, only to have them taken away. Raistlin's actions spurred organized resistance against him and his followers among the dwarves moreso than any other group, leading to the formation of the Armies of Reorx. This international band of military units drew much of their number from the Whitestone forces during the War of the Lance.
The non-military aspects of dwarven culture have been just as active. The exodus of volunteer warriors from Thorbardin caused a population crisis, spurring the Council of Thanes to open the gates to the exiled Neidar dwarves in order to replace lost members. As the hill dwarves possessed extensive knowledge of the surface world and lowland regions, their expertise was sought out by the mountain dwarves in the Armies of Reorx. What was once unthinkable in prior times became acceptable in the face of the apocalypse.
Another significant dwarven project is the expansion of underground networks of "apocalypse shelters" across Ansalon, a cooperative venture between the kingdoms of Thorbardin and Kayolin. Having read about two deadly magestorms in the Final Volume that would encompass all of Ansalon and then Krynn, the dwarves hope to store valuable tools for revitalizing civilization deep beneath the earth out of reach of the magestorms should the worst happen and Raistlin ends up victorious. This has met opposition from the Armies of Reorx, viewing it as nihilistic defeatism, so at the moment the project is limited to a few ambitious reclamations of old ruins and dungeons to ensure long-term habitation of civilians.
Elves: For much of history, survival of the elven civilizations was viewed as an inevitability. The kingdoms of Qualinesti and Silvanesti were the longest-lived and most stable dynasties in Ansalon, and even after the Cataclysm they retained many innovations both magical and mundane that filled their neighbors with envy. The Dragonarmy invasions of said kingdoms and subsequent exodus of their people was a tragedy, but there was hope that their people would outlast their enemies.
This belief is sorely tested during Krynn's final years. The leadership among the Qualinesti and Silvanesti elves encourages their populace to "remain logical," pointing out their peoples' survival after many prior existential threats in their history. Even the Cataclysm is recent enough in elf years that many of their elders lived through it. The Silvanesti's sealing of their ancestral lands from the outside is one such form of optimistic determination, prioritizing struggle against Lorac's Nightmare in isolation by trusting a few elite soldiers and wizards to drive back the darkness without the chaotic effects of outside influences.
As for the Qualinesti, most still live in refugee colonies in Southern Ergoth, but a minority began returning to their ruined homeland in hopes of finding sealed artifacts and knowledge untouched by the Red Dragonarmy invaders. Confident in their ancestors' ability to weather the worst the world throws at them, these revanchists search for signs of anything that can save their people and their gods.
With the Raistlinites forming in Northern Ergoth, it didn't take long for them to establish bases of operations in the less-overseen wilds of Southern Ergoth. The Kagonesti, as well as the Qualinesti and Silvanesti refugees, engaged in bloody skirmishes with these fanatical cultists. While the Kagonesti have a home field advantage, the Raistlinites have the aid of grand and terrible magic as well as numbers from adherents across western and southern Ansalon. Already decimated from their enslavement at the hands of their elvish cousins, the Kagonesti have their hands full just trying to survive. Some tribal elders seek to petition Emperor Mercadior Redic V of Northern Ergoth for aid, but they cannot so easily leave their people on a diplomatic mission without risking their own safety.
The Sea Elves of the Dargonesti and Dimernesti remain isolated from the continental mainland, but even they are affected by the rise of the Magegod. Earthquakes, fallen shards of the moon, and magical upheaval from the deaths of deities bring new horrors to the ocean as well as awakening old ones. Sea Elven communities fight a losing battle against chthonic beasts whose names have been forgotten even by dragons.
Gnomes: The Final Volume was at first denied and banned in many lands, but the gnomes of Mount Nevermind had no such bias and were among the first to publish copies in their city. Initially it was treated as a curiosity, relegated to obscure Guilds specializing in "Speculative Eschatological Fiction of the Common Tongue." But the death of Takhisis during the Battle of Palanthas was the major turning point: expeditions to the ruined city were funded; survivors interviewed; treatises peer-reviewed, published, updated, and peer-reviewed again. And the process repeated after Raistlin killed another god, Sirrion. After much bureaucracy and interdepartment exchanges, research on the Final Volume was transferred to the Guild of Probability Futurists, who use various scientific disciplines to predict the future. By this point, the consensus among the gnomes was that the world was destined to end. And nine months before that, Mount Nevermind and Sancrist will be destroyed in a volcanic eruption.
While many panicked, evidence of oblivion gave most gnomes a newfound focus and motivation: to study as much about the Final Volume's predictions as possible, combined with field work and allocation of resources and personnel to "at-risk crisis points" across Mount Nevermind. Vehicles capable of aerial travel were built to explore the fragments of Krynn's moons upon their destruction, while the famed tinkerers built an artificial intelligence known as the All-Encompassing Future Thinker, or AEFT for short. The construct's purpose is to study and formulate the Final Volume beyond what any individual person could hope to accomplish.
Many gnomes hope that their research can find a way to avert the end of the world. Others do it to find purpose in what will be their very short rest of their lives, akin to a new Life Quest. Whatever the reason, one thing's for certain: Ansalon's gnomes aren't content to sit back and wait for the apocalypse to come to them.
Picture taken from the Races of Ansalon sourcebook.
Goblins: The goblinoid peoples of Ansalon have long been dismissed as unwashed savages fit only for servitude or destruction. While the Dragonarmies' propaganda made it seem that their kind had elevated status among their ranks, they were treated as expendable infantry and laborers for tasks "unfit" for humans and draconians. The chaos wrought from the Final Volume's prophecies are seen by many goblins as a form of cosmic justice against a world that oppressed and exterminated them. For this reason, many joined the Raistlinites, believing that their resurrection after the world's destruction will let them take their rightful place as Ansalon's uncontested rulers. Their adaptability towards living underground has provided some protection against magestorms, but even that isn't enough to shield them from shards of falling moons or desperate survivors and monsters rushing into their territory for contested resources.
There are two notable exceptions to the above in the form of a pair of goblinoid nations. The Sikk'et Hul are goblins in Northern Ergoth who long lived in peace with their human and kender neighbors, and beyond some prominent shamans reacted with overall skepticism towards the promises of a returned Takhisis. Ill-prepared for the ensuing disasters, they are just as likely to be Raistlinites, but just as often out of a sense of fatalistic survival and disillusionment with the island-nation's long-held stability as generational vengeance. The hobgoblins of Throtl, by contrast, view Raistlin and his devotees in a much more negative light: they fought hard against Solamnia to gain a kingdom of their own during the War of the Lance, and view the Magegod as a short-sighted upstart whose murder of Takhisis will ruin all of their accomplishments.
Kender: The kender do not fear the end of the world. They mourn for it. They mourn for the deaths of the gods who just returned to Krynn, wishing that they had more time to get to know each other and swap tales of what they were getting up to in the three and a half centuries since the Cataclysm. They grieve the destruction of settlements and peoples' livelihoods, who no longer have a safe home to return to once their journeys are over.
Kender do not worry about the "what ifs" and when tragedy will befall them, even should they know of and believe in the contents of the Final Volume. To hear some of them rationalize it, death and loss are an inevitable part of life, and what matters is making one's life as fun and joyful as possible. Because soon enough, it will end faster than you think.
Other peoples' reactions to kender were mixed before Raistlin's ascension, and current times have only exacerbated divisions. Many folk, grief-stricken with trauma, resent the kenders' optimistic attitudes and inability to understand what makes others afraid, and lash out at them. The kender penchant for "borrowing" is more dangerous than ever in communities that lost so much and can spare so little, leading to acts of violence and scapegoating against kender whenever supplies go missing.
But many kender are also welcomed, with their optimism helping maintain morale in communities. Their fearlessness encourages them to risk life and limb to save others and make snap judgments when other folk would falter due to indecision. Their wanderlust makes them suited to travel, and many older and more experienced kender are all too happy to share tips with refugees and travelers who find themselves in unknown lands.
Minotaurs: Minotaur society proved surprisingly stable in Fallen Ansalon. Their Empire's system was designed to handle a rapid succession of leaders via ritual combat and challenges in the Great Circus. During the War of the Lance, Emperor Chot Es-Kalin sent many of his political enemies off to aid the Dragonarmies while building up the navy. With Raistlin's rise, the Emperor came upon a new plan: the sponsorship of Glory Voyages. These government-supported quests encourage minotaurs to travel across Ansalon, conquer its newfound immeasurable challenges, and bring back evidence of their deeds to the Islands of Mithas and Kothas for prestige.
This strategy is twofold: not only would it help strengthen minotaurs in gathering those most able to survive in the new world, it also encourages greater political standing beyond the Blood Sea Isles. Minotaurs who attained fame by vanquishing Moonfallen abominations and Raistlinite marauders earn goodwill from local communities, while those who conquered territories via the more heavy-handed approach effectively colonize portions of mainland Ansalon for the minotaurs to occupy.
Glory Voyages are sold on a mixture of realpolitik along with nobler ideals in minotaur society. One particularly popular reason is standing against Raistlin for daring to challenge their deity Sargas, by helping create a champion strong enough to challenge the Magegod. And once Sargas' death occurs, vengeance is a powerful motivator all its own. While Chot Es-Kalin is too selfish and opportunistic to support a potential hero strong enough to be his rival, it's entirely possible that the manufactured story of "finding a champion among the minotaurs" might very well come true.
Ogres: Most prominent in central Ansalon but now found across the continent in appreciable numbers, ogre culture hasn't changed all that much during the apocalypse. Their worship of Takhisis and the Gods of Darkness have been opportunistic, and while most worshipped the Queen of Darkness they rapidly converted to other deities after her death during the Blue Lady's War. Most ogres outside of Blöde and Kern live in nomadic bands, surviving as raiders, independent mercenaries, Dragonarmy remnants, and as laborers for the rare times they are at peace and/or unable to conquer others through martial might.
In Blöde, the ogres had a more settled feudal system with cities paying tribute to the chieftain of the capital city of Blöten. The defeat of the Dragonarmies caused significant political upheaval, as priests of the Dark Queen found themselves robbed of their magic. Combined with the populace increasingly discontent from the stopped flow of war spoils and the disasters spelled out in the Final Volume, was enough to collapse Blöde into civil war. The ogres of Kern fared little better, with its mostly-nomadic population forced into more distant lands once their cities and arid plains became unlivable. Some Kernish ogres joke that Raistlin has served them better than the Dragonarmies when it comes to expanding their borders.
The Irda, or High Ogres, live much the same as they always had: in magically-hidden communities on one of the Dragon Isles. Individual Irda visiting the continent of Ansalon in disguise found themselves cut off from returning home, the seas north of Nordmaar becoming too dangerous to travel due to raging magestorms. Some Irda grew increasingly desperate to find a way back to their homeland, resorting to dangerous magic. Others, meanwhile, became motivated to act for Good, hoping to use their powers and knowledge as a light in the dark to the continent's desperate civilizations.
Other Races: No race has been left unaffected under the Hourglass in the Sky, even the more rare and obscure ones. For the Bakali races (lizardfolk, jarak-sinn, and troglodytes), the deaths of Sirrion and Chislev came quickly, depriving these people of their most beloved deities. The kobolds and slugs compete with goblinoids and dwarves over underground territory in the lightless depths. The centaurs wage a bitter war against the Raistlinites in Abanasinia and the Plains of Dust, making alliances with the Armies of Reorx in helping soldiers travel across the vast plains and wastelands. The reclusive kyrie, phaethon, tayfolk, and ursoi are at great risk of eradication due to their low numbers. The thanoi and ursoi have started moving north out of Chorane and the Icereach, those polar regions nearly running out of resources. The shadowpeople, once living in the tunnels below Sanction, have been forced onto the surface due to collapsing tunnels and overflowing lava. Many played a key role in the uprising against the Dragonarmy Remnants in the region, joining Pelani Two-Axe's rebels.
As the kyrie and ursoi are also devout worshipers of Chislev, they along with the Bakalai races found vaunted positions in the Preservers. With disparate cultures uniting around common religious beliefs and the science of natural philosophy, these more remote peoples of Ansalon proved ideal guides and guardians for agents on the search for rare specimens and resources. Offering protection and shelter to these at-risk populations in exchange was more than a fair trade.
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