The Dark Side of Virgo at Work . Some variant classes central to the previous editions, such as gladiators, templars, and elemental priests, were introduced as themes. He warned that it would take "a skilled DM to handle the subtleties of the setting, not to mention the psionics rules and the fine points of the new races and character classes, but it ís worth the effort. As with previous editions, Athas sits close to the Elemental Chaos and the planet has a special connection to these planes. [24]:5 Slavery is commonplace, gladiatorial duels provide entertainment for the elite, and death permeates the culture. However, any arcane caster may choose to defile at any time. A special feature in Dragon magazine No. The guide outlined some of the important events that had taken place since then, and largely focused on the city-states and the fate of the remaining sorcerer-kings. Halflings ruled Athas during this time, building a powerful civilization. The process of creating the Champions turned the sun from yellow to red. The brutal climate and the oppressive rule of the sorcerer-kings have created a corrupt, bloodthirsty, and desperate culture that leaves little room for chivalric virtues common to fantasy settings (hence why paladins are excluded). Maenad are not native to Athas. Elemental priests became a new Shaman build, the Animist Shaman. For example, the commonplace development of psionic ability, unusual nature of magic, and focus on survival skills have altered the scope and theme of some classes and lead the addition of new classes. This full adventure previewed new material from the campaign setting.[58]. Besides their native psionic powers and defiling magic, they were imbued with immortality and the ability to draw magical energy from living creatures through the use of obsidian orbs. The sun hides not the ocean, which is the dark side of this earth, and which is … Numerous novels have been based in the Dark Sun setting. Effort was made, however, to ensure that these more generic elements stayed true to the unique feel of the setting. Athasian elves are swift-running herders, traders, thieves, and raiders and are considered untrustworthy by most other Athasians for their duplicitous ways. [7], Reviewers of the fourth edition release of the setting were largely favorable. This edition picks up the metaplot two years after the Wanderer's discovery of the Last Sea. All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. Balic has also fallen into chaos after the disappearance and reappearance of their sorcerer-king Andropinis. [7] Only third-party material was produced for the third edition D&D rules,[2] but a new official edition of Dark Sun was released in 2010 for the fourth edition. [23], The most notable fourth edition change expanded character building by introducing themes. Zodiac. Rajaat's ultimate desire was to exterminate all races except the halflings and return Athas to the splendor of the Blue Age. Notable authors writing in the world of Athas are Troy Denning, Simon Hawke, and Lynn Abbey. [24]:16, A side-bar briefly describes the true history of Athas, which differs slightly from the original. [26][48][49]:3 Psionic ability is about as common in Dark Sun as arcane magic is in other D&D campaign settings, and unlike arcane magic, is accepted and revered appearing in every strata of Athasian society. The experiment failed, however, instead choking the sea with a toxic brown tide that spread across the waters, killing everything it touched. The ritual that transformed Borys into a dragon caused him to go mad and embark on a century-long defiling rampage. TSR eventually relented after fan outcry and established a formal fan site dedicated to Dark Sun fan creations. The sun hides not the ocean, which is the, He made no move towards them, but waited patiently on the, ( Advancing.) Contributor. [1] Dark Sun featured an innovative metaplot, influential art work, dark themes, and a genre-bending take on traditional fantasy role-playing. As a result, wizards and other arcane casters are despised and must practice in secret. In previous editions, Athas had a setting specific cosmology that was isolated from the rest of the D&D universe, making it nearly impossible to access via other planes or spacelanes. About 3,500 years before the current age,[31]:13 Rajaat assigned each of his Champions a race to exterminate and the ensuing years of struggle were known as the Cleansing Wars. There is hope in the sun, but there will always be a dark side of the moon, which is a symbolic representation of the banes of humanity. The non-existence of many of the typical D&D races, such as trolls and goblins, is due to these wars. Contained deep within the Elemental Chaos is the Abyss. But the departing Sun left Martin feeling gloomy and lethargic. The ceramic coin, made from clay and glazed in various colors, is the primary medium of exchange, worth about a hundredth of a gold piece. Chapters consisting of three linked adventures each were released at the D&DXP, Origins, and Gen Con gaming conventions. Due to the scarcity of natural resources, few wizards have access to books made of paper pages and hard covers; instead, they record their spells with string patterns and complex knots. In Draj, Azetuk the adopted son of the deceased Sorcerer-King Tectuktitlay was installed largely as a figurehead by Tectuktitlay templars, but manages to learn enough to transform himself into a true sorcerer-king. athas.org published unrelated source materials in 2007 for Dark Sun under the open game license. The tie-in with the Complete Psionics Handbook proved more successful—all characters and creatures were psionic to a greater or lesser degree—but designers regretted the extra time involved in attaching these rules to practically every living thing in the campaign world. dark side of phrase. Pterrans have a shamanistic culture and believe themselves to be the planet's chosen children. Libra is the sign of the Scales, and that's what Libras do—weigh things. During this era TSR began to expand metaplots in other settings, such as Forgotten Realms, but Dark Sun pioneered the matching of fiction and adventure modules to engender and advance metaplots. Dark Sun is an original Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) campaign setting set in the fictional, post-apocalyptic desert world of Athas. Now, in much of the world, evenings are illuminated, and we take our easy access to all those lumens pretty much for granted. Thri-Kreen are a race of predatory, six-limbed, humanoid sized insect people resembling mantises. [44]:3–4 Divine spell casters, such as elemental clerics or druids, are allied to one of these planes from which they draw their specialized spells. The former halfling center of Tyr’agi was renamed Tyr and the other great cities of the Tyr region, such as Ebe, Bodach and Giustenal, were built during this period. Eventually, elves, dwarves, and dragons returned but in warped variations of their standard AD&D counterparts. Athasian dwarves are similar to dwarves in other settings but usually have little to no hair, and are gifted artisans of stone and metal. Pyreen – The pyreen or peace-bringers are an ancient race of nomadic, The Dark Sun adventure entitled Bloodsand Arena was held on June 19 for, The Lost Cistern of Aravek for fourth-level pregenerated PCs was provided on August 21 for the Worldwide, This page was last edited on 29 March 2021, at 19:16. [27] EN World gave the setting a B+ rating saying that the source book was readable, and introduced innovative new mechanics to the game. Dark Sun is an original Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) campaign setting set in the fictional, post-apocalyptic desert world of Athas. There is a lot of bleak lyrics and the concept itself is fairly bleak. In January 2011 at the D&D Experience Convention, Wizards of the Coast and Baldman Games launched an organized play campaign set in Dark Sun. Johnson, Harold; Winter, Steve; Adkinson, Peter; Stark, Ed; and Peter Archer. Subsequent resources introduced more races such as elans, drays, and maenads. [31]:17 There is some contention within the source material as to whether or not there were ever deities in the setting. Athas is a devastated world, the result of magic run amok. These included: Templars are mystic servants of the sorcerer-kings. Game play begins during the Desert Age, similarly to 2nd edition, with the world a barren wasteland and its few remaining habitable places being lorded over by the sorcerer-kings. This produces moments where the film and the album appear to correspond. The campaign setting of Dark Sun is played on the fictional planet Athas. [15], Dark Sun races were distinctly different from those found in other campaign settings as the designers purposefully went against type. Dark Sun differs further in that the game has no deities, arcane magic is reviled for causing the planet's current ecological fragility, and psionics are extremely common. [24]:208 Clerics and druids instead draw power from the Inner Planes/Elemental Chaos. TSR worried about this concept, wondering how to market a product that lacked any familiar elements. Genasi, or half-elementals, are the rare offspring of humans and elementals living in the wastes on the Isle of the Sea of Silt. [40] They are entirely dependent on their patrons for their magical abilities. Over the course of the adventure modules and the novels the metaplot advances radically, changing the Tyr Region with Rikus, Agis, Neeva, Tithian, and Sadira (from the novels), or the player characters at the center of the changes. According to this account the planet progressed through several ages roughly corresponding to the color of the sun and the state of the planet.[24]:16–17[31]:9–14[32]. [35]:65, Tyr remains free from sorcerer-king rule and has managed to defend its walls from multiple assaults from Urik. The unbridled use of defiling magic unleashed by Rajaat and his Champions during the wars desolated the land, turning much of it into a savage, desert wasteland under a burning crimson sun. They also do not organize into churches, collect followers, and are allowed to carry edged weapons. Themes were a third way to define a player character identity through archetypes or careers allowing them to more clearly describe their place or role within the world. The original Dark Sun Boxed Set released in 1991 presented the base setting details wherein the Tyr Region is on the verge of revolution against the sorcerer-kings. (The rules for defiler wizards appear in Dragon #315, and additional monsters in Dungeon #111). Dark Side of the Moon is ultimately a united group of thematic ideas that act as a cautionary tale. Clerics technically still used divine magic mechanics but under the same limited auspices that marked the previous editions of the setting. In previous editions they were a specialized priest class, but in 4th edition they are a character theme that practices some sort of arcane magic. Halflings are the oldest race on Athas with a culture dating back to the distant past. I was very involved in the development process. Athasian clerics, rather than worship a given deity, pact with elementals. A total of seven chapters (21 rounds of four-hour play) were released, providing a single continuous story taking player characters from 3rd through 9th level (11th level at completion). Dark Sun's Inner Planes has different paraelementals based on natural phenomena: rain lay between air and water; sun between air and fire; magma between fire and earth; and silt between earth and water. One of their number, Rajaat, would bring about sweeping changes to Athas. The reviewer was critical of the source book reporting that it felt "incomplete" in both content and art work in comparison to the Forgotten Realms source books released two years prior. Egotistical, isolationist refugees from the dying. A series of articles continued to provide glimpses into the setting prior to the release in August. Specialized warriors who fight for entertainment. [49]:7–9, Given the prevalence of psionics the people of Athas have developed laws to govern their use. The designers credited this reversion as a pivotal change that launched the project in a new direction. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. Little is known in-game about the history of Athas and what is known is largely myth, legend, and/or the propaganda of the sorcerer-kings. [54][55][56] The setting was a "reimagining" of the 2nd edition setting, returning to the time immediately after Tyr became a free state. From dragons to spell-casting, from character classes to gold pieces, this ties familiar AD&D conventions into knots." The AD&D source material seems to suggests that there weren't ever any gods involved with Athas, while the 4th edition setting leaves the option open more explicitly stating that the gods were destroyed or driven away by malevolent elemental spirits. Wizards announced two source books and an adventure for the new campaign setting. [49]:11–21 By and large, crimes committed using psionics are punished as they would be if they were committed normally. "[15], The original Dark Sun product line was one of TSR's most popular releases with an enduring fan following. Intelligent bird-people living in small tribes in the rocky badlands and mountains. Rajaat discovered magic eight thousand years before the current age. Elemental worship is tied to the Primal power source, because the Divine power source (which includes clerics and paladins) is unavailable to player characters by default. [36], The fourth edition setting presents a much abridged and somewhat different backstory that alludes to the original metaplot but doesn't explicitly reference it. Without proper deities, clerics derive their powers from such as the forces of the Inner Planes, or in 4th edition, the Elemental Chaos. Elves in this setting prefer to live in the moment and attempt to avoid hard work or drudgery as much as possible. Aquarius' 'Dark Side' Strictly speaking, Aquarius' dark side isn't really 'dark,' since one of the defining characteristics of the Aquarius-Leo opposition, composed of fixed fire and air, is light, plenty of it.Everything is visible there, so the problems and pitfalls ('dark side') of Aquarius are obvious. The exact landmass configuration of the planet or the existence of other continents is unknown. [31]:11 Desperate to save themselves and Athas from the brown tide, the halflings built the Pristine Tower, a powerful talisman that could harness the energies of the sun. [16], In August 2009, Wizards of the Coast announced at Gen Con Indy that Dark Sun would be the next campaign setting to be released for fourth edition. The team envisioned a post-apocalyptic world full of exotic monsters and no hallmark fantasy creatures whatsoever. His escape would spell doom for all of them, so the former Champions selected Borys as Rajaat's warden. [35] The setting picked three hundred years after the second edition and the events of the Prism Pentad. Dark Sun's second edition metaplot was advanced through its novels and adventure modules. The scale of Athas was reduced slightly but the geography was largely unchanged. [18] Warlocks, sorcerers, and artificers are standard classes available for play in the 4th edition setting. Both rules were official versions approved and sanctioned by Wizards of the Coast that provided two different possible versions of the setting. [2][16] David Noonan created an updated version of the setting for Paizo in 2004 that was published in Dragon magazine and Dungeon magazine that presented rules for 3rd edition. Blue light has a dark side. He taught preserving magic to the public but secretly selected fifteen human students with a potential for both psionics and magic for a darker purpose. He now rules the city-state where the living walk side by side with undead zombies and skeletons. [14], The Dark Sun game line ended abruptly in late 1996. What is blue light? The negative, troubled, or antagonistic part of someone or something that is usually kept concealed. [1][3][4][5] Dark Sun's designers presented a savage, magic-ravaged desert world where resources are scarce and survival is a daily struggle. The first two excerpts covered basic information on the setting, which is similar to that of previous versions. Arcane spell casters are largely reviled, while divine magic is accepted though it sometimes presents an ideological challenge to the sorcerer-king's rule. Psions and psionic classes of various types were always available depending on the edition. [14], Steve Winter suggested the idea of a desert landscape. On August 14 at Gen Con 2009, Wizards of the Coast announced that Dark Sun would be the 2010 campaign setting. [19] The Athas.org version also condensed the metaplot information and presented a much broader view, allowing players an opportunity to create campaigns in virtually any era of Athas, even as far back as the Blue Age. They revere nature and hate sorcerer-kings and defilers. Dune Traders were a new character class specific to the 2nd edition Dark Sun setting, introduced in the separate. Rajaat is ultimately vanquished by Sadira using the Dark Lens as a focus for a spell that burns away Rajaat's shadow, the source of his tremendous power. The 'Peanuts' kids were vulnerable, poetic and ageless. It’s a riot!"[30]. The halflings' civilization came to an end and most of them withdrew from the world and spiraled into savagery. The fourth Penny Arcade/PvP series of Wizards of the Coast's D&D podcast, running for two weeks in May and June 2010, was devoted to a Dark Sun campaign using pre-generated Dark Sun characters. Tithian uses the Dark Lens to free Rajaat, believing he will be transformed into a sorcerer-king as a reward. These were later expanded in the setting-specific sourcebook The Will And The Way. Shadowfell, known as the Gray on Athas, acts as a barrier between Athas and the other planes. The reason for the cosmological isolation is never fully explained. Humans are the most populous race on Athas. [citation needed], In place of the higher dice for ability scores, the abilities of all of the player character races have been improved. I'd do a painting or a sketch, and the designers wrote those characters and ideas into the story. Additionally, the Order is a secret psionic organization composed of supremely powerful psions (21st level and above) that sees itself as the secret monitors of psionic balance on Athas. The wake of the creation of the Cerulean Storm and the earthquake that caused the Great Rift results in powerful storms and destructive aftershocks. The Black is roughly equivalent to the Plane of Shadows and contains a mysterious realm of absolute nothingness called the Hollow that serves as a prison for Rajaat. Similar to the races, Dark Sun's character classes were largely consistent with the classes of the core game rules, but with some changes to bring them in line with the game's unique themes. [40] There are also significant setting distinctions between arcane spellcasters, divine spellcasters, and psionicists that often do not exist in other fantasy worlds. [1][8], Dark Sun has been mentioned by developers, most notably Mike Mearls, and appeared in psionics playtest materials for Dungeons & Dragons for the fifth edition of the game. I had never seen the dark side of Mary before, and I have to tell you that I was horrified when she lost her temper. The Wanderer's Journal begins with the Edenic Blue Age when Athas was once covered with a vast body of life-giving water under a blue sun. [45] Besides their cleric-like abilities templars also have special abilities that allow them to govern and control the population of their city-states. [38]:8–9 [39] While it retains its connections to the Inner Planes, access to the Transitive Planes and Outer Planes is nearly impossible. [14], Contributors to this project at its beginnings included Rich Baker, Gerald Brom, Tim Brown, Troy Denning, Mary Kirchoff, and Steve Winter. Using the power of the Pristine Tower to harness the energy of the yellow sun, he transformed these fifteen into his Champions. No mention is made of the events of the Prism Pentad.[24]:208. ... the sun was the major source of lighting, and people spent their evenings in (relative) darkness. "[6], Game designer Rick Swan described the setting: "Using the desert as a metaphor for struggle and despair, this presents a truly alien setting, bizarre even by AD&D game standards. Game designer Richard Baker said the design team wanted the game to begin when Athas had the most possibilities for adventure[8] and offer a version of the setting where the Prism Pentad storyline would be possible but not mandatory. [2][6] The setting was also the first TSR setting to come with an established metaplot out of the box. [38] The Gray, however, is thinner in regards to the Ethereal Plane bringing access to the Inner Planes with relative ease. [citation needed]. Clerics and other divine spellcasters were particularly affected by the setting; the lack of true gods meant that divine spell casters were radically different from the standard D&D counterparts. Each (including humans) has an additional bonus to one or more ability scores, an innate psionic power, and often other bonuses. These planes are accessible from the World and vice versa. [24]:5[15] Other standard fantasy races such as ogres, kobolds, or trolls, for examples, are all assumed to have been destroyed during the Cleansing Wars or simply passed from the world in previous ages. [31]:7–16, The struggles would have continued to completion had the Champions not discovered that Rajaat's true plans did not include their survival. 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