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This is a land of blood and dust, where tribes of feral elves sweep out of the salt plains to plunder lonely caravans, mysterious singing winds call men to slow suffocation in a Sea of Silt, and legions of slaves clash over a few bushels of moldering grain. The dragon despoils entire cities, while selfish kings squander their armies raising gaudy palaces and garish tombs.

This is my home, Athas. It is an arid and bleak place, a wasteland with a handful of austere cities clinging precariously to a few scattered oases. It is a brutal and savage land, beset by political strife and monstrous abominations, where life is grim and short.

THE WANDERER’S JOURNAL: DARK SUN BOX SET

Athas is a post-apocalyptic desert world. It is a world where the essential, fundamental nature of things has been twisted through years of unchecked, environmentally-abusive magic. One need only see the ruins of the ancients that litter its shores to realize that Athas was not always the arid waste it is today. Athas is a world without seasons.

To venture over the sands of Athas is to enter a world of savagery and splendor that draws on different traditions of fantasy and storytelling. Simple survival beneath the deep red sun is often its own adventure.

It is a world where magic drains the very essence of life. Ancient wars have left vast swaths of the planet sterile; even now, Druids fight a losing battle to preserve the environment. To practice magic is to tempt death at the hands of the mob, yet the cities themselves are ruled by the most powerful of defilers.

Athas is a world of intrigue and treachery, of shady deals and secretive organizations. It is a world of corruption and power.

The World is savage
The world of Athas is brutal and unforgiving. It is a savage world with frightful challenges beyond every dune. Athas is not a world for the weak or the simple-minded —those who cannot adapt, who cannot meet every challenge with confidence in their skills and abilities simply won't survive. The world of Athas has produced races of beings that are generally superior —of greater strength and endurance, capable of greater intellect and vision— to those who inhabit other campaign worlds.

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 immortal tyrant. The vile 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 and precious blooms. Only a fool hopes for such riches.

Arcane Magic Defiles the World
Athas is a world where the essential, fundamental nature of things has been twisted through years of unchecked, environmentally-abusive magic.

On Athas, magic and the ecosystem are irrevocably bound —no one, not even a wizard, can affect one without affecting the other.

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. It is possible to cast spells with care, avoiding any more damage to the world, but Defiling Magic is more potent than Preserving Magic. As a result, sorcerers, Wizards, and other wielders of arcane magic are generally reviled and persecuted across Athas regardless of whether they Preserve or Defile. Only the most powerful spellcasters can wield arcane might without fear of reprisals.

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. 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 of Tyr does a glimmer of freedom beckon, and powerful forces already conspire to extinguish it.

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 of the 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 of the world, which are often sculpted by the influence of elemental power.