About Athas

*"Jeg lever i en verden av flammer og sand. Den stekende solen brenner bort livet til alt som går, kryper eller flyr, mens sandstormene river vekk alt som måtte røve å gro på den livløse bakken. Dette er et land av blod og støv, hvor alvestammer strømmer ut fra saltslettene for å plyndre enslige karavaner, mystiske syngende vinder kaller til seg vandrere til en sakte drukningsdød i The Sea of Silt, og hvor egoistiske konger skalter og valter med innbyggernes liv mens de selv bygger seg enorme palasser og uendelige katakomber. Dette bleke og trøstesløse ødelandet er Athas, og det er mitt hjem."*

                                                                                               ~Vandrerens berettning~

Under en blodrød sol ligger et ødeland preget av majestestisk ødeleggelse og byer av ond prakt, her finner du sandalkledde helter som kjemper mot elgammel magi og grusomme monstre. Dette er Athas, en døende planet fylt med villskap og ødeleggelse. Alt live henger i en tynn tråd i dette ufruktbare landet, og nå er det opp til deg å skrive din egen historie her, en historie i blod og ære.

Åtte karakteristiske trekk ved Athas

Dark Sun skiller seg fra andre D&D spill på mange måter.  Athas er ikke en verden fylt med riddere i skinnende rustning, magikere i lange flagrende kapper og hvitt skjegg, eller dype skoger hvor alvene gjemmer seg blant trærne.

### 1.      THE WORLD is A DESERT

   Athas is a hot, arid planet covered with endless seas of dunes, lifeless salt flats, stony wastes, rocky bad lands, thorny scrublands, and worse. From the first moments of dawn, the crimson sun beats down from an olive tinged sky. Temperatures routinely exceed 38 C  by midmorning and can reach 50 degrees or more by late afternoon. The wind is like the blast of a furnace, offering no relief from the oppressive heat. Dust and sand borne on the breeze coat everything with yellow-orange silt. In this forbidding world, cities and villages exist only in a few oases or verdant plains. Some places don’t see rain for years at a time, and even in fertile regions, rain is little more than a humid mistthat falls during a few weeks each year before giving way to long months of heat and drought. The world beyond these islands of civilization is a wasteland roamed by nomads, raiders,and hungry monsters. Athas was not always a desert, and the parched landscape is dotted with the crumbling ruins of a planet that once was rich with rivers and seas. Ancient bridges over dry watercourse sand empty stone quays that face seas of sand tell the tale ofa world that is no more.

### 2.      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. The institution of slavery is widespread on Athas, and many unfortunates spend their lives in chains, toiling for brutal taskmasters. Every year hundreds of slaves, perhaps thousands, are sent to their deaths in bloody arena spectacles. Charity, compassion, kindness— these qualities exist, but they are rare andprecious. Only a fool hopes for such riches.

### 3.      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 ofthe sorcerer-kings. Steel blades are almost priceless, weapons that many heroes never see during their lifetimes.

### 4.      ARCANE MAGIC DEFiLES THE WORLD

    The reckless use of arcane magic during ancient wars reduced Athas to a wasteland. To cast an arcanespell, 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. It is possible to cast spells with care, preserving the world and avoiding any more damage to it, but defiling offers more power than preserving. As a result, sorcerers, wizards, and other wielders of arcane magic are reviled and persecuted across Athas regardless of whether they preserve or defile. Only the most powerful spellcasters can wield arcane might without fear of reprisal.

### 5.      SORCERER-KINGS RULE THE CiTY-STATES

    Terrible defilers of immense power rule all but one ofthe city-states. These mighty spellcasters have held their thrones for centuries; no one alive remembers a time before the sorcerer-kings. Some claim to be gods, and some claim to serve gods. Some are brutal oppressors, where others are more subtle in their tyranny. The sorcerer-kings govern through priesthoods or bureaucracies of greedy, ambitious templars, lesser defilers who can call upon the kings’ powers. Only in the city-state ofTyr does a glimmer of freedom beckon, and powerful forces already conspire to extinguish it.

### 6.      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. Nothing is heard now but the sighing ofthe desert wind. In the absence of divine influence, other powers have come to prominence in the world. Psionic power is well known and widely practiced on Athas; even unintelligent desert monsters can have deadly psionic abilities. Shamans and druids call upon the primal powers ofthe world, which are often sculpted by the influence of elemental power.

### 7.      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 mixes and mekillots. Wild creatures such as lions, bears, and wolves are non existent. In their placeare terrors such as the id fiend, the baazrag, and the tembo. Perhaps the harsh environment of Athas breeds creatures tough and vicious enough to survive it, or maybe the touch of ancient sorcery poisoned the wellsprings of life and inflicted monster after monster on the dying world. Either way, the deserts are peril ous, and only a fool or a lunatic travels them alone.

### 8.      FAMILiAR RACES AREN’T WHAT You EXPECT

    Typical fantasy stereotypes don’t apply to Athasian heroes. In many DUNGEONS & DRAGONS settings, elves are wise, benevolent forest dwellers who guard their homelands from intrusions of evil.On Athas, elves are a nomadic race of herders, raiders,peddlers, and thieves. Halflings aren’t amiable riverfolk; they’rexenophobic headhunters and cannibals who hunt and kill trespassers in their mountain forests. Goliaths or half-giants, as they are commonly known are brutal mercenaries who serve as elite guards andenforcers for the sorcerer kings and their templars in many city-states.