Dark Sun: ​D&D’s Most Controversial Setting

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​Welcome back to Acceptable Losses. Today, DK and Kirioth are venturing into the most brutal, unforgiving, and controversial campaign setting in D&D history: Dark Sun. ​Set on the tormented, sun-scorched world of Athas, this setting is what happens when pulpy Sword & Sorcery collides with the grim entropy of the Dying Earth genre. We're talking about a desolate wasteland completely devastated by uncontrolled magic, where gods are unable to see the world, and the very sands want to kill you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:16

Welcome everyone to another episode of the Acceptable Losses podcast, where Kyrioth sends us crying, screaming, and begging for mercy into some crazy grim dark world. And it's just Kyriath today. So before we get into that, if you want to get some really dope merch, head over to Orchidate.com. I'm sure there is a link in the description. It's all on the screen. There is the you like sci-fi shirt. There's the weeb for Lincoln. We're all weebs for Lincoln. I think there's still some commemorative coins, some wall scrolls, some stuff like that. OrchidAke.com, check it out. Link in the description. Kirioth, how's the Patreon looking?

SPEAKER_01 0:53

It's looking good. If you want to uh support us, you can head over to patreon.com slash acceptable losses. And if you go for one of the monetary tiers, then you get episodes early and you get Patreon exclusive episodes. Uh we did we've done a couple of ones this month. We've done the Goose Girl and we've done Threads, which if you just follow the page, you get that as a free gift. And there's another one on the way shortly as well. The the amount of Patreon only content, it's racking up. It's getting up there now. So you should head over and check it out. Patreon.com slash acceptable losses.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

Man, if only that spin-off of uh threads terraces really took off, huh? Oh if only. If only if only if only it happened. It seemed like such a good grimdark series that we could really sink into, but alas, it never made it past that pilot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Yeah, it's uh people just have to people just have to tune in for that one. I mean there's there's a lot to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

We'll have to ignore that bit, Patriots. Sure.

SPEAKER_05 1:56

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

So what are we what are we doing today, Kirioth? Today we are going to do a bit of Dungeons and Dragons, specifically the setting Dark Sun, which is boy, boy, there's a lot to get into. It is quite the um awful place full of awful things, which is exactly, you know, exactly what we want round here, but you you're gonna have to you're gonna have to strap in because it's it's rough in the in the universe of Dark Sun.

SPEAKER_03 2:27

Yeah, I've I've definitely heard the name Dark Sun before. And I know it is I wanna say beloved, uh, but me, having never done anything really DD related other than like a couple of one-shots here and there, um know nothing about it. So I'm I'm pretty pumped.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

It's uh yeah, it's beloved, but uh not by Wizards of the Coast. They don't have anything to do with it currently, which the reasons for which uh will shortly become clear, I think.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

So Right. Because it's on acceptable losses. Yeah. Yeah, gotcha. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Questionable things that show up later, which we will get to eventually. But for now, throughout the history of Dungeons and Dragons, campaign settings have been ways to expand the core mechanics of the game into a different environment or a whole different world to allow for something a bit more unique. Of these, Forgotten Realms, which was released in 1987, is easily the most successful, but in the late 80s and early 90s, there was a boom of different campaign settings that turn the game on its head. Just to name a few, there was Hollow World, which expanded the already established Mistara setting by going into the hollow planet inhabited with ancient life. Then you got Spelljammer, Spelljammer very popular, which allows players to explore the stars in spelljamming helms, and of course Planescape, which is a possum's absolute love and absolutely just loves Planescape Torment. The greatest CRPG ever, according to Puzzle. That's pretty high praise.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

I don't know, spelljammer sounded kind of dope to me.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Spelljammer's very fun. Yes, you you literally take sailing ships into space. It's great. It's very, very fun. Um nice.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

That feels like um God, I get there's uh there's definitely a sci-fi movie or a fantasy movie I've seen where there are literal like pirate ships going through space, and not one specific example pops into my head, but love that aesthetic.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yes, it's it's very cool. Um apparently Apossum has insisted, by the way, that we will talk about Planescape Torment at some point. So got that to look forward to as well. All right. Cool. I mean, look, if possum loves it, it's gotta be good, right? That's how that works.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Well, also, I was gonna say if possum loves it, it's gotta be an episode at some point, right? He writes these damn things. It's true. Oh yeah, treasure planet! Yeah, the animated Yes, yes, that might be the one. There was some live action one too, I was thinking about. Um, but anyway, it's it's it's unimportant. Great vibes, great aesthetic.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Go on, Karyoth. So, of all those like major campaign settings, one released in 1991 for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition, which is a notoriously chunky edition of DD, would merge two genres that were equal parts retro whilst also becoming sort of in vogue again, and that is Sword and Sorcery and Dying Earth. So, Sword and Sorcery is a genre that was wildly popular in the sort of pulp fiction weird tales era of the 30s. You got characters like Conan the Barbarian, sort of serving as figureheads for this genre, which, unlike some of the more popular, elegant, and high fantasy, featured more downtrodden barbarism facing personal conflicts instead of something more grandiose. Then in like the 60s, you had Michael Moorcock's legendary stories of Elric of Melnebone, and that would continue to carry the torch well into the modern era. He's still writing those, by the way. The most recent one was uh released in 2023, so there's some longevity there. Jesus. Wow, wait, he started when?

SPEAKER_03 6:09

You say he started in the sixties? And he's still and he's still pushing these books out?

SPEAKER_01 6:13

God damn. Good for you. Dude knows what he likes and has committed to it in a big way.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

Um he's got an audience for it too, if he's been writing it since the sixties and he's still doing it, still publishing them. You do what you love, you never work a day in your life.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Yeah. Dying Earth, compared to all that, is uh considerably more dark. It tells of a world that's on the verge of the end, an end that cannot be delayed and cannot be avoided. A world that is essentially going to burn out and fade. So yeah, considerably darker than a bit of terrorism.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

I just love the transition of dying Earth, a little darker. Yeah, nope, yep. I I gathered that.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Yep, yep, sure, sure, sure, sure. Sometimes this kind of seeps into science fiction and tells of something akin to the heat death of the universe, but the most popular variants tell of a world that has flung so far into the future that it's reverted back to something steeped in fantasy, justifying things like magic as a side effect of the physics of the world collapsing inwards. A notable example would be the Jack Vance Dying Earth series, but Possum heartily recommends the book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe. The first book is apparently a masterpiece. It's called The Shadow of the Torturer. Go and check it out.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

I'm going to now that Possum said that, so Yik, Shadow of the Torturer, huh? Yeah, we are, we are going all in on Grimdark.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

It's on the nose, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 7:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

These two genres have combined together quite frequently in the past. Sometimes in a fun and silly sense, like the 80s cartoon Thundar the Barbarian, but oftentimes something darker and more pulpy like Conan. The DD setting campaign, or campaign setting, that was released in 1991 called Dark Sun is a perfect example of this. It's on the tormented world of Athos, the once vibrant concepts around the TTRPG were replaced with the grim violence of a sword and sorcery setting while being bleached in the horrors of a dying earth hellscape. The familiar archetypes of like elves and humans have been reduced to scavengers fighting with corroded weapons in an endless desert desert under a blood red sun. Hardcore description.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

Is is well, I d I don't know if this is specifically on the epic is is the sun always blood red?

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Oh yeah, that's that's uh that's a mainstay. It wasn't always like that though, which we will get into.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

But yeah, it's a weird place to live where like it's just like blood red all the time. Well, during the daytime, I guess. I guess at nighttime, it's just kind of normal, but oh man. Yeah, I I I could imagine that planet is just barbarism, berserkers, constant fighting, constant death, constant ritual by combat. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

I mean, you you're pretty you pretty much nailed it. The uh this there's also the added issue of the sands themselves, uh, they're the result of magic that saps the energy out of living things. Oh that's fun. Um that sucks, dude. That sucks. Oh man. And uh something that makes this worse is gods are unable to see this world due to the fact that it's nestled in a plane of existence that even prevents the poor, unfortunate souls of the dead from finding rest in the afterlife. Life on Athos is brutal.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

It's God's blind spot, too. So when you die, you don't even get to go to heaven or hell, you're just kind of stuck in limbo, I guess. Oh this is truly an acceptable losses episode.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Yes, I like that I like that. Uh dungeon master tips for deityes on Athus, gods never existed, gods are dead, gods are forgotten. Right. Pretty much nails it down.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Okay, great, cool, cool. Love love that sort of.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Um it does have its controversies, and that's sort of due to two of the things that were set up in the baseline version of the setting in quite a harsh manner, and it quite deeply baked into it as far as Athus is concerned. There's genocide, slavery, instances of forced breeding slash eugenics, and cannibalism. So you're dealing with a lot there.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

Um at that time, it's that's so but like that's that's not unheard of in like fantasy genres, though, right? Like those are controversial things to throw in, but um, like I hate to boss baby this, but like learning about Warhammer Fantasy, you you find a lot of stuff like that with like Skaven, Chaos. It it's it's Grimdark. That sort of stuff you expect to kind of find. Definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

There's uh that some of the implementation for for this setting is you can kind of see why it's perhaps not been kept up or not been rebooted quite yet. Um, which, you know, we we we will get into. But like over time the more dark aspects have been softened, but they remained fairly intertwined with the setting, and it kind of makes it difficult for a new edition of the setting, because you would have to do a full reboot of it. Like it was last officially released for DD 4th edition in 2010, but other than that, it is just being lovingly maintained on Athers.org as they are the uh official presence of Darksun on the internet, like recognized by Wizards of the Coast, which is cool, and they release updates as well as other documents so the setting works with older editions of the game, but Wizards themselves have not touched it since 2010 in fourth edition.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Oh shit, I said they almost canonically erased it, almost, but backed off. Yeah, even though it's like it's grimdark, and it's like, come on, that's you kind of expect that in like fantasy settings with orcs, with goblins. Even Lord of the Rings touched on some of that stuff with like crazy forced breeding orcs and stuff, but it is still like controversial stuff, and it's still not exactly something you want to put at the forefront of your marketing. So I guess I kind of I get it.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Yeah. Well, with all this in mind, we're going to go on to Athos and explore the dark and dying planet in full, from its early history and society to the various races and powers that one can use while exploring the endless sands. This is not a fully comprehensive list of everything in this setting, because that would take uh a long time. That would be quite the undertaking, um, but it is just like a kind of brief journey to get the feel of the world and see some properly dark stuff. Mostly we're going to be discussing content from the first and second box sets from the uh initial releases in 91 and 95, with a bit of stuff from the Athus.org 3.5 edition of the game. There's again, a lot we can't cover today, including monsters. Possum does want to shout out the cloud rays though. Absolutely loves those dudes.

SPEAKER_03 13:18

The cloud is is that like a manta ray that flies through the clouds and like does nonsense?

SPEAKER_01 13:25

I I'll I'll be honest, I meant to uh have a quick have a quick look at those before we started, and I didn't have time. But if it's not that, I am going to be disappointed.

SPEAKER_03 13:35

Let's heat and stuff, big like uh big manta ray tail that just like sinks ships and stuff that are flying around. Yeah. So that's what the planet looks like? It's rough. It is rough. Yikes. Is that just barren death or wasteland in in white? Is that just like d nothing scape? Pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Just awful, awful, endless sands. It's it's it's not it's not a good it's not a great holiday destination, you know? There we go. We absolutely nailed it with the cloud ray.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

Oh yeah. It's it is what it says on the tin. I also love that there are hunters on the back of it with like spears, and they're just like, yeah, I'm riding this. I mean, hey, if you can, you're gonna do it, surely. I think they're trying to kill it, and the mantra is like, no, you're not. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Now Possum has played a bunch of Darksun games and has like run Darksun games and stuff, but you know there there is there is some there is some dated stuff in here, and it's always, you know, DM discretion as to what is or isn't included or home brewed. But uh even going into that, it would be really nice to go into it more, but this is already gonna be a monster of an episode. So instead, we're just gonna treat the world as is and come out of it feeling depressed. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

You keep mentioning how long this episode is gonna be, and even Possum even talked to me and was like, brother, you gotta pack two lunches because it's gonna be a humdinger of an episode. His exact words. There's so much history to this world. It's confusing.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

So I am so cool. Strapped in, ready for action. Well, we're going to start with uh with the the wanderer. So the world of Athus is scorched. The sands cover a world that was devastated by uncontrolled magic, and no gods look down from the clouds. Though the world is a desert, this doesn't mean it's barren, and in order to properly traverse a world you need a guide, and there exists no guide better than the wanderer. The wanderer is a figure who everyone on Athus knows but few have ever met. Some think he's a human cleric that's always moving, but despite not much being known of him, there is one thing distinct about him. His left arm is covered in scales and pointed with talons instead of fingers. No one knows how he came to possess such a cursed limb, but it's one of the many stories told of him around the campfire. There is an old blessing that circulates among travellers of Athus that simply says All you need on your journey is a sharp boned sword, a full water skin, and the wanderer to guide you. And I'm gonna give you a chunky, chunky quote for the wander.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

Are we sure the wanderer's human, by the way? Oh that might come up later. You can you can tell me later if it ever does. Anyway, big chunky quote I live in a world of fire and sand. The crimson sun scorches the life from anything that crawls or flies, and storms of sand scour the foliage from the barren ground. Lightning strikes from the cloudless sky and peals of thunder roll unexplained across the vast tablelands. Even the wind, dry and steering as a kiln, can kill a man with thirst. This is a land of blood and dust, where tribes of pharaoh elves sweep out of the salt plains to plunder lonely caravans. Mysterious singing winds call me to slow suffocation in a sea of silt, and legions of slaves clash over a few bushels of mouldering grain. The dragon despoils entire cities while selfish kings squander their armies, raising gaudy palaces and garish tombs. This is my home, Athist. 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 savaged land beset by political strife and monstrous abominations, where life is grim and short. Oh man, that listen, the uh Athens Tourism Board needs to do a much better job on their flyers. That's Ain't nobody gonna want to visit that place. That's very difficult to find an Airbnb.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

There's just just no demand for it.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

There's just nothing. Blood and brawl is what that stands for in on Athens. You find plenty of takers on that one.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Athus then is a scun saw scorched and wind scoured planet. The horizon seems endless and the surface is parched. The sun that orbits the world burns like a puddle of blood in the olive colored sky. The air is dry thanks to the climate, allowing the sun to shine down unreflected on the ground. On a normal day, the surface is seared with temperatures as high as 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

That is rough. That is not going for a jog weather. That's No, that is that is that is you know, die in a puddle of your own sweat and piss weather. Um I think the hottest weather I've ever been in is like a hundred and maybe like in the range of 111 to 115. And that was miserable. I can't imagine it being like upwards of 40 degrees hotter than that.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Yeah, I mean I'd I I'd actually I thought it was about 55 degrees Celsius, but my my uh conversion was incorrect. It's 65 degrees Celsius, and I think the hottest weather I've ever been in was like 39 and I actively wanted to die. I was just the job, I was just like, just take me out. Take me out.

SPEAKER_03 19:33

Man, when when I was in the 111 to 115, it was an outdoor wedding in Palm Springs. It sucked. It was awful. That is atrocious.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

The wedding was great. It was my cousin, love her to death, but whew. Could you not have picked winter? What the why palm springs in the middle of summer?

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Well, unfortunately, uh the wind provides no relief, and it's less of a gust and more like the breath of a forge. It can kick up sandstorms that can last for months, drying out the sand even more, and even sucking the moisture out of skin. These storms can also darken the sky so badly that you can only see a step in front of you, and even the lightest of breezes feels like the end of a whip, and the dust kicked up by the winds can spoil food and fill one's eyes with clay.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

I was gonna say with how fast the winds are blowing, you get you get the right amount of sand particles in there, and it's essential just like razor wind. I I bet that shit would just cut you to ribbons. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yep. Oh, sounds atrocious. The uh thing is it's not even the worst thing. It's not even the greatest danger. The greatest danger is the lack of water. Like the lucky places will experience a rainstorm once a year, while others might have to wait for generations. The only available water is in brackish oasis that are as valuable as they are rare. There's no oceans, there's no rivers, the closest of these things are streams that trickle less than fifty miles before dissolving into the sands. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

I mean, to be fair, just looking at like every piece of art of Athis and just looking at the um the picture of the planet that Chai posted, yeah, not a lot of blue. Nope.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Nope. There's a oh, there's there is a distinct lack of blue, which uh you are you are gonna be not happy about how that happened, but uh yeah, we'll we'll get the lack of blue for sure. Um Okay, cool, great. Thing is, as the as the sun sort of pulls into the horizon, the darkness brings out the opposite effect of the low humidity. The heat escapes the sands rapidly and pours into the sky and takes all the warmth with it. The twin moons rallying good. Ulfae provide no warmth, and those 150 degree temperatures plummet to thirty or less. In the mountains, the temperatures can reach zero.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

So your typical your typical desert, absolutely scorching during the day, and then just plummets to freezing temperatures at night. Yep. Yep. Yeah, that's not great.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Between like the burning sun, the absence of water and the chill of the night, I like th those are the three consistencies. But different regions do have different features that impact or cover the surface. However, these descriptions come with a grain of salt from The Wanderer. He's compiled testimonies as best he can to paint a more accurate picture of regions he's not seen, but admits there are omissions at best and errors at worst. He has no doubt that some of the travellers and merchants that have been spoken to have effectively been misleading people out of their own sort of best interest. They don't want to answer too many questions, you see. Yeah. I imagine that happens a lot. It's not a world that sort of screams trust people, is it?

SPEAKER_03 23:07

Yeah. Kindness, understanding, and trust are probably not in high stock on Athus. That's it's probably as rare as the water. That's such a good picture to impact that point. Yeah. Holy shit.

unknown 23:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:24

God damn. I mean, that goes hard as hell. Like every other I I think I like the art so much because all of it has that crazy like red-orange hue to it, and it's all like barbarians, and it just it goes so hard.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Yeah, it's it's it's very consistent, but it paints like a very clear picture with like oh, it's good. Very vivid, fiery pictures of like sand barbarians and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yep. So with that in mind, it's his belief that the most explored portion of the planet is somewhere in the vicinity of a million square miles of desert. The centre of this is a 120,000 square mile dust-filled basin that he calls the Sea of Silt, which is almost entirely unexplored. Around this basin are pushed up portions of the mantle known as tablands that can range from almost 500 miles wide at their maximum to 50 miles wide at their smallest. Tablands have many types of terrain. There's stone barrens, dust sinks, salt flats, and scrub brush plains. This is where civilization tends to exist, and scattered across them are tiny oases where life can sustain for a few acres. These fertile lands can sometimes even host a forest, but clinging onto these pockets of life like parasites are buildings and cities, each one reflecting the distinct personality of the king that rules it, all with a careful balancing act of keeping those loyal alive while starving out those who dissent. Oh God.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

Oh man, what a depressing looking city, too. I mean, I guess what else is a city gonna look like in Athens, the barren wasteland, but gosh. Looks like it's centered around a volcano.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Yeah. Yeah. It's a cool design, though, I like that. So it's circling these tablelands of various parts of the ringing mountains, which run north and south. To the eastern and western sides of the Sea of Silt, the mountains form walls that separate the tablands from the locations beyond, whereas at the northern and southern side they form parallel ribs with peaks and valleys. Beyond the mountains lie the hinterlands, of which there is little knowledge. Many have ventured out, but the wanderer has never met anyone who has come back. He once went to the edge of the hinterlands when an invisible Braxit, which is a monolithic lizard beast, dragged his party away, while halflings hungry for flesh tried to eat him. It's a wonder he returned, he said. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Also, I'm I'm kind of curious with with how much well, you're probably gonna get to this. Uh people people tend to drink blood in this place because there's so little water.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

There might be a healthy uh amount of cannibalism going on.

SPEAKER_03 26:06

I'm sure you did mention cannibalism at the beginning. I totally forgot that that was one of the oh, this has con Okay, gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Flash is, you know, it's it's wet if you eat it quick enough in this place.

SPEAKER_03 26:20

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

The thing is, there is like there is signs of something else, because littering all of this place is evidence that there was a past that was actually quite lush. There's bridges that likely served as gateways over incredible rivers that now just stand as mockeries in the dunes, and the ruins of a life that none will ever know becomes more and more buried under grains of sand. So according to the Wanderer, what passes as history is nothing more than a jumble of folklore or propaganda. The world is more concerned about the problems of the modern era than they are the tales of the past, as the histories of Athers have no lessons left to teach. He's searched and questioned those who are wise, and he's of the belief that he's made sense of the jumble while cutting past the folklore and found at least a portion of the true history of the world, starting with the Blue Age, which by itself conjures a very nice image of a planet that was not, in fact, just an endless hate desert, but might have been a bit nicer.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

I mean, it it conjures images of like Earth. And with what you've told me so far, I'm like, there's no way this planet ever saw peace and prosperity, or ever had water, or was ever lushed. This has always just been a death world. Well, I'm what you see.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

That's this is where you're wrong, because the Blue Age was an era of endless azure that was barely broken up by any land masses under a beautiful blue sun. Those landmasses that existed were swamps and marshes, while the tallest ones were merely the peaks of gigantic mountains that breached the surface under beautiful waves, with tips covered in snow. During this time, the only known civilizations were halflings and the more primitive ancestors of the modern day Thrykin. The halflings didn't dabble in magical psionics, and despite this, they were able to create a society with sophistication that has never been rivaled since. Their cities would dot the endless seas, and their influence would spread while maintaining their connection to the greatest city, Tiragi, which I think is probably not how I've I pronounced it, but it's probably close enough. Good enough.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

Yep, uh Tiraggi, yep, uh or maybe Tiragi, maybe. But like yeah, that's you're yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Good luck. This city was not constructed as much as it was grown, with gentle curved spires and floating islands that reached the sky, all made from a porous stone that radiated any colour imaginable. The roads in the city were waterways, and the boats that crossed them were living. The halflings wore living creatures on their bodies that served functions that are, in the modern era, incomprehensible. They were effectively the masters of this world, and the Blue Age lasted for untold generations. But with longevity comes ambition, and with ambition comes greed. The halflings who are masters at natural manipulation would push the boundaries of their own abilities, and these nature benders would become susceptible to corruption. The end of the Blue Age would not be from war or through malice, it would be because of an accident, which in some ways is almost worse, because it just means someone got careless and ruined literally everything.

SPEAKER_03 29:33

Oh man, that's a that's a big mistake. Oh man. Also, though I was like, man, that's one big but it's like, oh, endless prosperity, endless water, endless technology, and I'm like, yeah, but you told me how Athis is now, and I'm like, boy, that's a that's a big butt to segue with.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Yeah, yep, yep. I mean, look, they tried to do something that is is sort of like nice. They tried to increase the sea's capacity for the sustaining of life so that they could double the number of plants and animals. Instead of increasing, however, the sea would start to die. The tides would turn brown and fetid, and the choppy nature of the waves would kill anything they crashed into. The halflings would panic, some would seek refuge in the mountains and forests, while others would dig downward and construct construct strongholds. Some of them would remain in Tiragi to see if they could reverse the tide, but reality would sink it. The Blue Age could not be salvaged, and a new era would have to be forged in these murky waters. Now, this is the thing. They did try to fix it. They figured out a way to channel their mastery of bending nature in the pristine tower and perfect the art of manipulating the building blocks of life itself. They would change the sun so the energy of it could be focused through the tower. The sun would turn from brilliant blue to a more bright and radiant yellow, and the rays of the newly transformed sun would cause the brown tide to dissipate. That would cause the water to lower, revealing something new. Not the marshes or forests of before, but dry land, and this would be the beginning of the rebirth.

SPEAKER_03 31:10

Also, it is so they they tried to make they tried to like double the oceans. Is that what I'm that's why all this nonsense happened is because they wanted to double up the oceans and everything went catastrophically wrong?

SPEAKER_01 31:25

They tried to make the oceans capable of sustaining more life. I don't know that it was necessarily a like doubling the amount of water. Oh just doubling the even just down to like the nutrients and the kind of life-sustaining parts of it. Um but they uh I I believe the technical term is they fucked it.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

Yeah, well, I was just gonna say, like, when you have a planet that's that blue and has that much water where it's like it's basically just a water planet that's dotted with islands. Why would you try and fuck with it? You got a good thing going. You don't really need to mess with anything, right? I was like, there's no reason to do this. Yeah, but they got they got and they got a bit of ambition.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

They got ambitious, yeah. They got a bit greedy. They wanted more. They were they're not content with what sounded like, frankly, a pretty perfect environment. They just had to meddle with it.

SPEAKER_03 32:15

Popular, popular thing to happen in real life, fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Yeah, yeah. So during the rebirth, new creatures would begin to appear in these pockets of dry land at an incredible rate. Some would vanish immediately whilst others remained. The new lands were generous and fertile, and vast forests would begin to grow across them, allowing for more life and shelter for the monsters and of the new world. The civilization of the halflings would officially come to an end during this time. Those that fled to the mountains or deep underground would forget how to manipulate nature, and the last of the benders would give the world one final gift. They would transform into various other humanoids so that the world could be repopulated and societies could form. Though it wouldn't be easy, a new paradise would be born, and the Green Age would begin seventy-four thousand years before our modern era.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Oh, well, I d uh Green Age is is you know, it's not blue, but it's that that sounds nice. They've salvaged it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

They've salvaged something here. Um if only things wouldn't go horribly wrong yet again. So the Green Age, you have um you've got humans, elves, dwarves, and gnomes. They would prosper while the remnant halflings would dissolve further and further into savagery and remove themselves from the new borders of society. Towns would turn into cities, cities would turn into nations, and the ancient city of Tiragi would become known as Tyr, either by coincidence or to honour a memory that had been forgotten. There were no masters of nature during this time. Instead there were clerics who were able to master some elements, but their numbers were few. The vacuum of the nature benders would be filled with dedication to new gods that provided comfort to the newly created races. They were worshipped with opulence, but not with true clerics, because these gods aren't actually real. They didn't exist. The only beings that came remotely close to divinity on Athus had already sacrificed themselves for the creation of the modern era, and the shadow of their former selves became feral, looking like that halfling right there.

SPEAKER_03 34:25

Yeah, the one holding a decapitated head. Yeah. Yeah, I I was gonna say, like, oh wow, why would that well I I th I thought this place was uh unseen by gods, and gods couldn't see this, and this was like God's blind spot, and then you were like, Oh yeah, okay. Alright, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Love it, love it, love it.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

Oh, there were gods. There are nice oh no. Yeah, no, yeah, everything went wrong. Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

The true power of this era came in the form of psionics. Every living thing has some potential when it comes to psionics, and the study of the way reached incredible heights, setting a high standard of living for those in the cities. They could provide instant travel across distances and other incredible conveniences that have since been lost to time. During the rebirth, a race would appear known as the Pyrene that felt a bit different than the others. They had all the traits and characteristics of the other races on the planet, but they also held great powers that the others didn't. It's not known if this was an accidental byproduct of those who manipulated life itself, or it was intentionally done for reasons that we will get into later. The Pyrene were exceptionally long lived, and they hid from the other races on the planet. All of them hid, that is, except for one, a pyrene by the name of Rajat, had much in common with the others, but he was different because he was by all accounts horrific and hideous. So here's what the wanderer had to say about Rajat. Right.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

He had a huge head with a fiat, grossly elongated face, his eyes were half covered by flaps of skin, his long nose lacking a bridge, ended in three flaring nostrils, his small slit-like mouth was marked with tiny teeth and a drooping chin. His body was contorted and weak, with humped shoulders and gangling arms. Even so, Rajat was blessed with certain advantages. He had a supreme intellect and great command of the way. Yeah, the way he described him, I immediately um I immediately uh uh thought of that hunchback from like 300.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

Yeah that uh that betrays the Spartans. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Although three nostrils is a uh an odd detail. I don't know why, but that really stands out as being extra weird.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

There's just too many holes. Yeah. Oh, what what did he look like? His face had too many holes. I don't know how too many holes. Three nostrils, droopy eyes, this is too many holes.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

I'm now hearing that to too many cooks, which is not ideal for trying to concentrate on. But you know, um and now everyone else is too, so enjoy that. You're welcome. The way being a tone to describe the studio of psionics, like we'll we'll discuss that a bit later, but Rajat would explore the world at the start of the Green Age and would take in everything of the various races, and you know, it had a way to reconcile his appearance with a humane spirit. He would make a discovery in the midst of all this adventuring, one that would actually change the shape of the world itself. About eight thousand years ago, Rajat would discover magic. At first he was only able to do small things with this new art, but eventually he'd become proficient enough to practice in secret in a glen at the base of the jagged cliffs. He'd be safe and hidden from his fellow Pyrene, and he would learn to draw power and energy from life itself. In doing so, the meadow he would study in would become a foul swamp. Are the alarm bells starting to ring at this point?

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Yeah. Yeah, just a little bit, you know. Yeah Yeah, I um yeah, I'm I'm starting to see how this became a uh fetid, desert, barren, wasteland hellscape. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

What's a little bit more manipulation of a planet that's already been royally screwed over once? Let's just keep going with it.

SPEAKER_03 38:36

Yeah, yeah, but we can get infinite power from it. We'll just doom the planet and everybody on it. Big deal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

That's reminded me of a book that I read a while ago. We don't have time to go into it, but it might be worth a Patreon episode. Because it's awful. Like it's it was a good read, but oh god, it was dark. Um anyway, so it's awful. Let's do an episode on it. That's I mean that's true. That's how we find stuff now. Well, that was depressing. Let's get writing. Um The manipulation and absorption of life for his magic gains would result in him becoming the first sorcerer. First and sorcerer, you know, having uh it been a proper title there. He would continue his practices regardless and experiment further. He'd also be unable to truly control such raw power. The swamp would be so corrupted that it would almost kill him. He'd have to recover, but as he did, he would be haunted with feverish visions and a desire to search for something. The last creation of the halflings, the pristine tower.

SPEAKER_03 39:43

Also, Shy said, uh, I don't know if that's the correct assumption, but in DD, magic usually comes from gods, and since there are no gods, I assume that's why magic works by consuming life.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

That's something that's sort of shifted over the years. So, like previously, if you're a paladin, you had your oath, but you were sort of had to get your power from a god. That's sort of shifted so that the source of a paladin's power is more like their their self more than anything else. Like if you want to go that route, it's how it become more of an optional thing. But yeah, generally speaking, when you're looking at things like clerics, um, it's it is magic that is coming from a deity. Uh, with things like druids, depending on the flavour that the person wants to go for, it might be more of like using the like the the power of the land, but you can also have druids that like worship the wild mother or whatever, and so they would be they would be gaining power from the wild mother as a god as opposed to like an innate magic. But yeah, generally speaking, for most worlds, I think it's fair to say that especially the standard settings, you've got a fairly standard fantasy or like tropey thing of you have the gods, there are various gods of very specific things, and a character using magic if they are using like divine magic, it's coming from a god of some description. Um and then you've got things like sorcerers that are more bloodline based, and then you've got wizards who learn magic as opposed to drawing it from a specific god. But yeah, it's for for there to be a world with absolutely no gods is relatively relatively uncommon. Even when it comes down to homebrew, I feel like I see more worlds that have got gods, and that's where the power comes from than ones that have none at all.

SPEAKER_03 41:28

But this one, no gods, and they are just consuming life to get magic. Thanks, thanks, Rajat, you doofus.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

You idiot. Um So he would find the pristine tower and manipulate it to fit his own means, and his obsession would result in him having a dedicated group of halflings working with him at all times. He'd use the power innate within it to help him hone in and control it better and would form two forms of magic preserving and defiling. Oh man. If you're coming up with the word defiling as a thing to describe your magic, you that should be a key for you to stop developing your magic.

SPEAKER_03 42:11

Yeah, though I I kind of get it, like, because if you are suddenly becoming a very ambitious, like wizard, sorcerer, you've got all this power, chances are you're not a nice person, and chances are you are going to want a means to punish people and punish their surroundings, and hooray! Defile magic. Yep, yep. They just can't help themselves, can they? It always goes wrong. Tyrants, eh?

SPEAKER_01 42:41

So a sorcerer as powerful and corrupted as him, however, can't hold on to such knowledge alone, and his desire to pass it on became strong. Many would come to learn his secrets, but he'd be very selective on who he'd teach, specifically only teaching humans. Red flag. Uh, he would also be teaching these humans separately. Um and I again the questionable decision continue. On the surface, he'd teach a group preserving magic, while in secret he'd teach another group defiling magic.

SPEAKER_03 43:12

Alright, that's that's that. Don't love that. That is Yeah. I mean, and that's like the you know, when when the when the plane's landing, you got the person that's got all the the the glow sticks, it's just that person with just red flag, just waving them everywhere. Just this red flag here, there, everywhere. Love it. Please stop. Sir, please.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Stop teaching people defile magic. Shouldn't even be called that, surely. You have awareness here. Um so he kept watch over those who were mindbenders with the ability to combine psionics and defiling magic to create something new, terrible, and dark. He would send all but fifteen of his students away, and he'd turn these students into champions of his with the assistance. the persistence of the natural magic of the pristine tower and the reflection of the yellow sun. He'd give them immortality and the ability to siphon magic energy from living beings with the usage of orbs made of obsidian. At this point they were already nearly invincible, but he would go further and tempt them with something unobtainable. He'd tell them that through sorcery and psionics they could become gods and they believed him. The energy used would drain the sun further and its brilliant golden shimmer would darken, becoming like a bloodstain in the sky, marking the beginning of the cleansing wars.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

Oh no boy I cool. So we have nigh invincible sorcerers that are immortal uh use magic that draws power from the fing sun and you you're transitioning us into the cleansing war.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

Great yeah I am what could possibly happen here it it f it feels it feels like you can probably guess what's gonna happen next but let's let's go in and see if we're and see if we're correct. The shadowing is a literary dude the hatred that Rajat poured onto himself for centuries would be twisted and weaponized in an outward manner by him now that he was overimbued with power. He'd claimed the rebirth to be a mistake and would call all the species spawn from it a mistake that needed to be corrected. His champions would interpret this as him trying to make a world for humans and humans alone but this was not true. He wanted to return the world of Athus to the halflings. That is a breakdown in communication right there. You gotta make sure that your goals are clear and that your team understand the job at hand of you sitting there going I want the halflings to have all this and then going Humans shall inherit the world got it chief let's go like that's bad that's bad organization on your part.

SPEAKER_03 46:09

Also I don't know if I missed it but did Rajat become corrupted by just how much magic he was able to accrue or because he was like freakish looking and kind of outcast and he was like you know you're typical like oh nobody loves me so I'm going to destroy everything after making my death cult.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

I I think I might have missed that. He'd done the classic drunk on power thing.

SPEAKER_03 46:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

He's just he just got power too much magic. It's just twisted him as a as a being and the uh the whole looking not to society to society's norms has definitely had a big impact there with him as well unfortunately.

SPEAKER_03 46:49

So it was just his knack for magic and all the magic that he accrued that made him just warped, twisted and corrupt. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_01 46:55

Yeah yeah see he was able to turn humans into his champions but he was unable to do it to the halflings. Halflings existed before the birth of magic and the birth of the Pyrenees they were beings out of time and most of them wanted nothing to do with Rajat who would now be known as the Warbringer. Three and a half thousand years ago horrific massacres would occur at the hands of his champions who took up names like Ravager of Giants and Pixie Blight.

SPEAKER_03 47:22

Oh alright sure Pix Pixie Blight like is this a pixie that is a blight or a blight to pixies?

SPEAKER_01 47:32

Yep this is this is uh one of the human champions who seemingly so good at killing pixies that uh call themselves the Pixie Blight right uh are these your typical fantasy pixies little fairy like creatures that are just full of magic I assume okay yeah adorable butterfly winged little scamps um getting put to death en masse so that's nice cool cool yeah I because I wasn't familiar with like DD stuff. I wasn't sure if they're like oh they're like human-sized uh fairy wings very magical okay cool cool cool cool for the most part you're looking at like fairly traditional fantasy tropes like uh leaning heavily on the more Tolkien side of things but there is also like there's a lot of like animal people as well so you've got like Tabaxi and Aracocra and like so like cat people and bird people and Sure okay there's there's there's all sorts at this point. But uh yeah the Rajat's followers would bring forth an eradication that was almost unstoppable. The other Pyrene who remained hidden would try and stop the madness but they would fall before the champions and the warbringer. The gnomes would cease to exist and the pixies would vanish. During this death march the champions would draw so much natural energy from the world around them that the forests would wither and die and the attacks that they'd unleash would become indiscriminate, including attacking humans. And all while this is going on, Rajat would wait at the top of the pristine tower for victory. Days would become weeks, weeks to years, years to centuries the warbringer would grow old and grey, and one of his champions would return and he would ask the champion if any abominations remained so that the Blue Age could finally start. The answer was no Verbatim from the Wanderer, the champions had almost achieved victory when they realized Rajat was mad. In retrospect the champions had always known that what they learned was that it was not the humans who would inherit the newborn Athos it was the halflings.

SPEAKER_03 49:29

Centuries centuries have gone by Yeah I mean I oh boy that's that's a lot centuries before the humans were like well yeah and how did the humans not at some point kind of gather that like oh yeah he this guy's clearly going for halfling uh supremacy you've been with the man for centuries I know it's I f I I feel uh they heard what they wanted to hear and then were like yeah well now we've got to deal with this.

SPEAKER_01 50:03

And they're probably pretty drunk on the power that he literally gave them so oh oh a hundred percent I mean you saying that and then this next sentence is hilarious. The thirteenth the thirteenth champion Boris of Ebe also known as the butcher of dwarves what's his special brag but um he would I don't like to brag but uh butcher of dwarves brother Christ oh my god he would lead the revolt against Rajat and almost all the other champions would side with him they'd imprison Rajat with an artifact known as the dark lens and they would imprison him in a dimension of shadow known as the black in a place of absolute nothingness called the hollow it's so it's so brutal.

SPEAKER_03 51:00

On the nose jeez the black the hollow the dark like alright and uh that's it he was no more and you would think that things couldn't get worse but uh the age of the sorcerer kings would now begin um oh boy so that wait that's it for Rajad he doesn't he doesn't really put up a fight they just I mean he's locked away yeah he's he's old he's grey he's withered but like I he doesn't it sounds like he didn't even put up a fight. He seems to be a legit skeleton according to that art. Yeah that art makes him look like a skeleton also is is that the Butcher of Dwarves in the the other one?

SPEAKER_01 51:44

No no no butcher of dwarves is called Boris I mean Boris guy Boris can get it if that's who Boris is that's all I'm saying like Jesus anyway go on so we move to 2000 years before the modern day uh Boris would offer the other champions benefits. For starters he'd allow each champion to claim a city state in the tier region as their own domain and claim the title of sorcerer king. He'd then teach them how to become something beyond this a dragon king. He would have the sorcerer kings focus their magic and psionic energy with the dark lens and this would create a storm of energy that would connect them all to the elemental planes, making conduits, resulting in the free usage of any magic difficult, rare and punishable. Though they could not cast this elemental magic, it could be imbued by them onto loyal servants known as the Templars who aided them during the cleansing wars. Now Boris did not stop here Parson mentioned before that the bonds of the Dark Lens were temporary and this is because it needed something strong to hold it permanently in place and few powers exceed that of a dragon. Initially he held Raja in place with his own raw magic abilities and he needed a yearly tithe of one thousand sacrifices so that he could muster the energy to do so but this you don't say I'm not gonna say it just go on we're just gonna I'm just gonna let it go.

SPEAKER_03 53:12

Just I'm just gonna let that we're just gonna move swiftly right along there's no boss there's no baby go on Kirioth Well Boris would say that one of them needed would need to commit to becoming a dragon in order to preserve their control over the Darklens and to assure power.

SPEAKER_01 53:30

But uh obviously Boris would be the warden. He would become the dragon and this would be the first that this world had likely ever seen and a horrific representation of the vile power of said beasts. Now we do need to talk quickly about the dragon that Boris became because this isn't just a normal dragon. Boris is the most powerful entity on the planet and it's not even close. A horrific creature with scales that glow like magma and with wings so large that clouds gather below it like a firestorm. When Boris was transformed he would visit the realm of Chemelok, a dwarven stronghold that he once attempted to sack when he was mortal with a beating of his wings and a horrific outward breath he sapped the life of every dwarf in Kemeloc with one fell swoop, reducing the entire kingdom to dust glad to see the uh butcher of dwarfs still has his priorities in place.

SPEAKER_03 54:28

Even after becoming the most powerful dragon that has ever existed glad to see his priorities are still well in tow gosh Boris the generational hater he becomes he becomes like this crazy super like fire dragon and his first thought is there's still some dwarves left really an asshole I've become the most powerful being on this entire world you know what it's time to fuck up some dwarves.

SPEAKER_01 55:01

Isn't that what you were doing before yes but the efficiency has gone through the goddamn roof watch this I'm gonna get the rest of them just by wings bam each gets wars crazy.

SPEAKER_03 55:15

Also that first picture Shy posted of the dragon is so cool.

SPEAKER_01 55:19

Yeah the the all red one for this gorgeous amazing goddamn Boris you've I hate that you look really awesome god damn this is the first thing he does too now we might talk a separate time about what happened to Boris as not all things are permanent on Athus but one thing to note about dragons on the planet is that there are others but they're different. Now Possum is going full boss baby for the sake of simplicity here. Athacian dragons are akin to the dragons that you find in Elden Ring where they are creatures that are created by sorcerers that are transforming and modifying themselves into dragonhood. There are others as well including the Dre but I'm I feel like there's going to be another episode on this at some point because dear lord there's so much and it's really cool. So we'll we'll get to that in the future The Age of Sorcerer Kings started off with a betrayal at the height of a genocide and what followed was an era of tyranny, brutality and slavery. The land that the sorcerer kings divided between themselves was a wasteland that was created in their wake. The defiling magic ripped the life from Athus leaving it in the nightmarish state that exists to this day. That is all precursor. Now we're getting on to what Athers is now Okay cool. So did all of the sorcerer kings become dragons or is it just uh Boris that became a dragon there are currently just normal sorcerer kings but there are also other dragons as well so it's it's not a they didn't all go down the path I don't believe um so as we mentioned before despite the fact that Athos is a wasteland it's not barren of life life crawls on the surface and clings under the heat of the blood red sun and oh my god that first bit of art of that oh what?

SPEAKER_03 57:18

Yeah that that that kind of like if he had one more nostra I'm like oh hey it's uh it's Rajat's Rajat again yeah yeah that is such a that's a really cool piece of art but that's properly unsettling. Yeah there's something just the the elongated face is just so unsettling.

SPEAKER_01 57:37

Yeah oh dragoth of Gurstnal formerly the third champion of Rajat known as the Ravat well that's the amateur giant I wonder what he does in his free time these fucking psychopaths bunch of nutters. Yeah so there are of course city states and somewhere around seven remain. These cities on the planet are surrounded by golden fields and even forests due to the fact that they're almost all located around the oases on the planet. Enclaves of life that reek of garbage and are begging for scrap even if it's rotten. The walls of the buildings are thick and are meant to not only keep things out but keep things under lock and key. In a fortress at the centre of every city sits a sorcerer king and each city is a state unto itself with the sorcerer king having absolute authority. There are villages as well but these are nothing more than clustered mud brick shelters from the sands around minor oases and in mostly inaccessible places. The rule of law can vary sometimes there can be a little tyrant in charge there might be a council there might even be a bit of a democracy but they are at best semi permanent. Sooner or later there will be dust just like everything else just a little tyrant yep put that on a shirt just a little tyrant to be fair they they could uh they could suffer an attack by the dragon rearing its terrible head the oasis might run out of water or bandits might come and kill 'em all these villages will at some point become nothing more than a dune that sits on top the ruins of countless other attempts to survive in the heat.

SPEAKER_03 59:17

That map of uh the city of Urdraxa that is not a lot of water considering uh that there's probably a lot of people living in this city. There's like just a couple little patches of it. Like there's that one big patch and they're like kind of some scattered small like fucking ponds but gosh farming is not easy. We will uh farming but it's it's not it's not great. No on the desert death world yeah I would imagine I would imagine farming is a bit of a pain in the butt.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

Yeah like all of this again reinforces the fact that the basic necessities for life are scarce on Athos. Due to a distinct lack of grain outside of the fortified cities cultures on the planet have reverted to an almost fully carnivorous diet and every society regardless of size must be devoted to gathering food and protecting the water they have. Tribes of hunters will spend almost all their time just looking for something to hunt and this is also due to the fact that they can't stray too far from where their water is. Like they could go out into the sands and hunt some choice beasts but they will need water to digest their heavy carnivore diet so they've either got to choose to pursue and potentially die, or stay by the water and starve.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:41

Oh man. Love that um I mean I'm sure they could take a couple pouches of water with them, you know, for survival sake.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:50

I think assuming that there's even enough water to fill a pouch of course that's that's that's true with the size of those uh the word lakes is doing heavy lifting on that yeah on that honestly that that's true they probably need all that water just for um what little agriculture they have yeah yep I mean some of them live a more kind of agrarian life and tend to flocks of herdless which are gigantic ostrich like creatures that are more draconic than bird. These herds need to graze and of course need water. There's a degree of vulnerability tending to such beasts as everything is hungry in the sands and the herders must be ready at all times to defend the flocks from monsters, raiders or even each other. Those who live in cities though, they have a guaranteed life but this life may well be the hardest of all. The fields attended to under the watchful eye of slavers as captured enemy soldiers and individuals who can't afford to live are reduced to this at the behest of the sorcerer king, raising only a few meagre crops per cycle and guaranteeing their position for life. At night the guards will kill anything interfering with these crops without any regard. The distances between classes can be the length of a desert and riots are commonplace. Those who control the food and the water tend to be considered elites and so because of that even the herders have influence in politics due to the nature of their profession.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:22

Yeah makes sense the few crops you can grow are gonna be the center of your culture. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:28

We're right back to shreds again. You've got to get as much wheat out of them bastards as possible because there's there's nothing it's not going to look better next year, you know? It's gonna be the same all over again.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:40

It's probably going to be worse as time goes on because as you plow and um uh farm the same plot of land it's not gonna get any more fertile the more and more you take from it and there's only so much of it and there's only so much water so you better get everything you can out of it when you harvest yep yep you gotta really eek it out it's not gonna be fun no matter what you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:06

Thing is food and water not the only things that are scarce. Metal might be the rarest thing of all like all the people who survive on the planet knows the benefits of metal but you know whether it's for weapons, armour, shoes for the urdless herds, currency the thing is metals are just rare, really rare. There are limited iron mines that are heavily fortified by the sorcerer kings and even the dullest of metals are held with the regard of like diamonds or gems in our world and the Sorcerer King of Tier where one of the only metal mines exists likely has the most power on the planet. Like when it comes to currency metal can be a standard of wealth but the rarity of it means that Atha Society is mostly based on bartering. There's not a lot of coin swapping hands because why would you use the metal to make coins when there isn't any of it it's just a waste. Also did you say metal shoes?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:04

Yeah for the herds so they don't mangle their their their feet on the burning sands oh okay because I was gonna say like well I guess it depends on the metal I was like wrong metal that's a heat conductor and you just melt your fucking feet off right lovely lovely char grilled feet by the time you get to midday. What a sentence to hear this early in the morning about that char grilled feet oh man acceptable losses just became popular with a whole different subset of the internet for the wrong reason I don't like that all of this is uh is compounded with the fact that industry and development is heavily restricted.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:50

Resources are incredibly scarce and those locations with abundances of one type don't want to share the slaves that toil in the mines of Tyr are equipped with metal tools meaning that they can do double or triple the work you'd find in another city state but they are starving compared to the more well fed and less well equipped ones in cities like Balik. This also means that certain city states are more prepared for combat. Like Tear's armies are armed with steel weapons allowing them to easily tear through units only equipped with bone or obsidian. The regions impact each city differently and their skills are refined to like reinforce this so Balik is raided quite frequently by giants so all the citizens are trained as warriors. Golg is full of some of the wisest people on the planet and they don't have normal walls. They've got a thick thorny hedge with poisonous vines that looks vulnerable but is actually more fortified than anyone can really imagine.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:46

Huh also uh shy posted a picture of like some of the armor designs, they look so sick. Uh I kinda like that the uh the whole aesthetic of like at least the one shy posted it's very clearly like oh look we We're like we have dragon scale. Like the metal looks like scales and that's so cool. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:07

Yeah. Yeah. It's uh just the whole design of this of this setting is really, really good. Mm-hmm. Works super well. Now, in the eyes of the Wanderer, Athus would be a completely different place if metals and mines were more common. Commerce would be easier, the balance of power would be more assured, work would be more efficient. In his studies he's confident that these mines were abundant across the surface, and that they may still exist under the sands. Now though there's just scraps. Treasure hunters tend to scour the sands looking for the ruins of past civilizations or past war, and those who are brave enough to do it can be wildly successful. The most powerful of treasure hunters can be seen adorned in rare and unusual metals that can exceed the potency of steel and even earn the direct favour of a sorcerer king. It's like proper post-apocalyptic fantasy, which I really like.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:02

So I said, Do you think the writers made metal rare just so all the characters can look like Conan the barbarian book cover art? I mean, I'm sure that's that's that's probably not exactly why they did it, but it was probably a happy little coincidence that you can have half-naked female barbarians on the cover of your book to help, you know, sell them. I mean, who's gonna complain about that?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:24

Let's be honest. Not me. Also, the tattoo work there is insane. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:32

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:40

And you're likely to starve to death or die of dehydration at any time.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:47

My god. Yeah, you even got something for the ladies on that last one, right? You mean a little eye candy for the well, or the fellas, depending on you know what you're into, right? So there's something for everybody. Oh, the creepy hands, though. Not a family. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, those those are a little weird, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:08

It's got confidence, that's the important thing. Yeah. Um as we talked about earlier, a sorcerer king, which by the way, gender neutral term on this world, uh, is an absolute dictator of their respective city. Also, I've just realised that in my first D ⁇ D setting that I made for my first campaign, there's uh there's a big flying city, it's it's very like sort of sort of like Magitech sort of world. And I did exactly the same thing, where it's ruled over by sorcerer kings, and it's a gender neutral term there. And I should have known that that is in no way original because someone would have come up with that before, but I had not heard about Dark Sun until recently, and it's just struck me that it doesn't matter what your idea is, someone's already done it. Someone has already done that. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:55

Yep. Also, love, love, love that you specifically said Magitech.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:00

Love it.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:01

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:02

I think that's the right phrase, right? It's like it's it's technology, but just powered by magic as opposed to like diesel generators or whatever. I I've never known whether that's the right term.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:11

I I don't know the specific term, but every time I hear Magitech, my brain is just like Final Fantasy VI, let's fucking go. Oh yeah. So I'm I'm sure it's been a term long before that, but that's immediately where my brain goes, and that's a that's a damn fine place to go.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:29

Yeah. A hundred percent. That's uh that is quite the sorcerer king right there. The headdress is incredible. Love that.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:36

Yes. Lot of other things incredible about about that, but uh yeah, the headdress is very awesome as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:44

Um speaking of though, speaking of sorcerer kings with incredible headdresses, uh they tend to live at the centre of the city, in a fortress, obviously, and they tend to exist in solitude. If they do leave, the pomp and preparation is unfathomable, and magic makes it impossible to get near them. If extreme measures of protection can't be mustered, then they will just stay secluded. They guard the usage of magic with tyrannical force and use it to prolong their own lives. Many of them have lived for thousands of years, and some of the same ones that existed back in the time before the revolt. Some like cities consider these kings to be the closest thing to a god on Athus, and though they're meant to rule the city, they are bloated with power. They're self-serving and like protecting others below them over anything else. The thing they take seriously over anything is like external threats. The armies of the sorcerer kings are the most well equipped and violent members of society, as any external threat poses a direct threat to their absolute power.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:50

I mean that that sounds right. Yeah, that's I have nothing to add, Your Honor. That all sounds accurate.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:59

There are few more devoted to the Sorcerer Kings than the Templars. Their undying service to the kings is repaid in kind. They are given the usage of spells, but only by using the king as a conduit. That puts a strain on the sorcerer king, so spells aren't asked for frequently, and frankly, they don't have to use the spells much because of the power they wield. They're the ones who enact the edicts of the king and they're willing to turn a blind eye if the price is right. Complaints of corruption don't matter, and they fall silently amidst the yelling of their oppressors. They will ensure that those who use magic outside of the will of the king are stamped out mercilessly, and even those who try to learn the art of reading and writing are sentenced to hard labour due to it being a luxury in the eyes of these awful leaders. Oh. That's uh that's not that Yeah, that sounds awful. But um just flat out sucks. Can't even learn to read. You can't even enjoy a book after a long day in the fields. No. That's luxury and you don't get it.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:00

Like, I don't want to say that's like ancient, ancient uh Egypt, but like that That sounds familiar.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:09

I have to say some arsehole somewhere has done that in the real world.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:14

Like a really corrupt tyrant king somewhere in yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:19

A hundred percent. It's it it's gotta be. Each of the major cities has a hub that's home to representatives of the various merchant houses around the planet as well. And these hubs are more or less trading bazaars within each city wall. A careful person can find everything the planet has to offer in just one of these bazaars without ever having to leave the city itself. The merchants aren't citizens, and their ability to remain in the city is based off of the licence they have. And as a British person, I thoroughly approve. Uh the longer the license, the more expensive the upkeep. I've I figure someone's gonna make that joke in the comments. So I thought I'd get it. Might as well get on top of it. Yeah, yeah. Uh none of this is permanent, so the merchants will eventually leave and move to the next city, either by riding alone on spider-like steeds known as canks, or in the luxury of a large caravan being pulled by six-ton salamanders known as mechalots. I don't know why, but six ton salamander just feels like a great name for a pat. I'm not really sure why that is, but I mean it it does.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:22

It does sound either that or a great name for like a diner.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:26

Oh, the the six-ton salamander burger grill. I mean, I can absolutely see that being a real thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:32

Yeah, and that can be like literally their uh their burger challenge to drive people in and get like influencers in there. Yeah, the six-ton salamander burger challenge. Cost you a thousand dollars to enter because that's six tons of beef, but go for it, brother.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:50

Six tons of beef.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:51

Yeah, it's a six-ton salamander burger. You can't do like, oh yeah, we just did half a pound burger. No, it's a six-ton burger, brother. That's a damn car.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:01

You've got two weeks to eat it. No, you still only got an hour.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:06

You know. If you get far enough in, we will allow you to sleep in it. Yeah, just as a reward.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:15

No, look at them go. Look at them go. Oh man, here are all the vehicles in Dark Side. Although I will say that uh lizard thing at the front that the guy's riding, that's so cool. Being able to be like a rider on one of those things, oh hell yeah. Oh hell yeah. Not so much that weird spider fly thing in the back, though.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:39

That yeah, I'll take that over the over the over the spider hand. Whatever the f yeah, I don't know. I'll take that I'll take the dinosaur for sure. Yeah, definitely, for sure. I again I love how every piece of it's like every other piece of art has got a horrific, dark, burning sun. Oh like really clearly rendered right.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:01

I I love in that picture that like the clouds make it look like it is just smoke billowing off the sun. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:09

So good. So good. Unlike uh other classes, uh, the bureaucratic lot do not harass merchants, uh, as a merchant will remember a slight and will reflect it in their prices. Through a legal loophole, their ability to read and write is referred to as keeping accounts, maintaining a full language in the form of an incomprehensible shorthand that's only understood by other merchants, uh, that looks like nonsense to an outsider. So basically d doctor's handwriting then, but but formalized. Um Templars have spent incredible resources trying to prove that this is in fact a written language, but have failed. I think that's the first bit of full on full-on humor this settings displayed, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 1:15:53

You know, now now that you said the doctor's handwriting thing, I was like, you know, there are probably gonna be people that are like, I don't know what you're talking about. Doctor's handwriting, all of my prescriptions get sent to the pharmacy digitally. I don't even know what you're talking about. I've never seen my doctor's handwriting, and that made me feel so old.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:12

Yeah. Yeah, no, I I uh I didn't even think about that, and I now am also turning to sand, so that's nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:20

My bones creaked a little, and I was like, huh, doctors don't need to write anymore.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:24

And I was like, oh, why did I say it?

SPEAKER_03 1:16:27

Oh no. Oh, geez. All right, continue.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:32

Well, we've got one last lot of uh of citizens before we get to the awful bit. So we'll we'll talk about Freemen briefly.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:39

We haven't got to the awful bit. Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:42

Oh yeah, no, it it it get it gets worse, don't worry. Of course it does. Yeah, yeah. We've got we've got the freemen. So these are people that live there permanently, that are not under ownership by the kings, Templars, or the nobility. They're allowed to live by the rights of their birth within the walls of the cities without the fear of subjugation, so long as they don't, you know, default on their debts, read a book, learn to write, practice magic, or focus a study on something the king decides one day is heresy. Aside from that, they're all good. Um they are they are the craftsmen and artisans within these cities, and they face heavy taxes and harassment from the Templars, and though they put on a brave face, they are deeply intimidated and fearful of the rulers, but they sort of have no choice but to just take it.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:24

What do you how are you gonna fight the Templars and the Sorcerer Kings? You're not. Nope. No, no. So this is free men, not Fremen. This isn't like a hey Dune put they we pulled from Dune type thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:38

This is just No, this is this is uh this is free men. Okay, cool. Although it is all one word. So I suppose you could you could maybe.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:47

I don't know if Dune precedes this, but like I wouldn't I wouldn't blame anyone, because like goddamn every sci-fi franchise is pulled from fucking Dune.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:54

So like it's true, it's like the found it's like the foundation stuff. Yeah. Along with uh along with the is it the culture as well? There's the other one. There's there's there's a few that are just like, and from these building blocks, a thousand IPs shall reach this task.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:10

So I'm not not blaming, I'm just making sure this is free men, not yes red. Although anyway, that's fine. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:20

Now, um, unfortunately, we we sort of have to talk about the classes of slaves in uh Athesian society. Um it makes up a major part of it. Like you you become a slave if you're born into it, you become one if you're captured as a as an enemy soldier, uh, and you become one if you commit a crime in the eyes of the Templars. Freedom is something that can be bought, but seldom can anyone afford it, and there's no rhyme or reason as to who is susceptible to it. Even the highest of Templars can become a slave. In fact, Templars make up a surprising number of the slave populations of most cities due to infighting, power grabs, or sometimes just trying to force a family to pay a handsome fee to revitalize the economy. They also serve as an easy target for those who were forced into this life by them prior to their fall. Templars who have become slaves tend to die of accidents all the time.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:19

Not surprising when the Templar gets put into the slave camp with a bunch of people he literally made a slave. Uh it's very much cop going to prison uh territory in it. Uh, I put 90% of the guys in here. What do you think they're gonna do to me? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:39

Quite often these accidents, by the way, are uh significantly painful, which is truly unfortunate for the Templars that have found themselves on the like receiving end. What a strange coinky dink. Really weird. Uh there are several classes of slaves you'll find on Athers. You've got gladiators, soldiers, labourers, farmers, and artists. Now you can probably guess, but gladiators are gladiators. They fight in the pits, they're good at it. That's pretty much what you'd expect from that. Um and they they don't really do well on the field of battle, so they stay in the entertainment industry, so to speak. The that is reserved for soldiers. Uh those are generally like strong individuals trained in the art of fighting, and they tend to be compliments to the dedicated soldiers of any sorcerer king army. Most elite soldiers are individuals taken as infants and forcibly moulded into killing machines. So these soldiers here are meant to bolster the lines and serve as fodder under the watchful eye of a Templar officer. Because of course you've got to get a bit of take 'em as infants and brainwash them in there as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:46

Yeah, yeah. That I mean, kind of sounds like uh um kind of sounds like what would happen in like Sparta, in ancient Sparta, where it's like, oh yeah, this baby looks like it'd be, you know, it'd grow up to be a good soldier, and it's like, oh, there's something wrong with this baby. Yeet you know. The most enthusiastic yeet I've ever heard. Also kind of strange that the gladiators don't have any aren't really great in war. I mean, obviously gladiatorial combat, little different from actual warfare, but you'd think you could have some use for these like um arena battle hardened warriors, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:28

Like you'd think there'd be something they could use them for. I mean, they're they're using them as the entertainment. Keep people satisfied and satiated for for bloodlust by watching two people hacking at each other. True. It's horrible, but it historically, you know, did pretty well.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:44

Yeah, but you'd think you'd like maybe maybe you like take a champion of the arena and just like, you know, I'm sure you you do something with them in like war, right? WWE Wrestler versus MMA fighter. Well, I I guess the CM Punk scenario. Boy. Sorry, Phil. Um Hey, that he even got in the octagon is is incredible, but uh it didn't go well.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:13

I think it's fair to say. I'm not saying I would do better, I would also, you know, shit kicked out of me.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:19

I think you do about the same, honestly. Well, I know CM Punk, but it's a little longer.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:27

Yeah, yeah. Anyway. Now we we do have the labourers and farmers, which, you know, again, you you you get the picture for those. It is what it says on the tin, sure. Yep, definitely. Uh those who work with the population at large or with the freemen are treated as well as possible because ultimately those who are not at the highest tier of society understand that the cities would collapse without them. But those who work with the nobility are treated brutally. The artists are, as you imagine, like they serve as entertainment for those who are at the top tiers because few below them can afford such luxuries. They also earn the rare opportunity to learn the art of reading and writing, but like the shifting sands, artists can fall out of popularity, leaving an individual who is no longer favoured that knows a forbidden art, which of course is a is a a crime punishable by slavery. So uh enjoy that endless cycle in this hellscape sort of world of Athens.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:28

Hooray. We love it here. What a what a wonderful place. What an absolute gem of a place. Also, it just dawned on me, because I I'm still seeing the WWE Wrestler versus MMA fighter. Brock Lesnar was like king of the UFC for a while.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:46

Oh, that's true. Yeah, he absolutely he really he did well. Like I was that man's like a genetic freak, though.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:54

Yeah. He's the size of a a a literal wall. I don't know what's happened. It's just mad. And he's still gigantic, even though he's like what, nearly fifty or something. It's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:05

Yeah, it's silly. Anyway, sorry, it just it literally just like beamed into my brain, and I was like, oh yeah, anyway. Rock Lesnar, neither artist, teacher, harvester, or any of that stuff. But scary guy. Very scary individual.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:21

Anyway, go ahead. So the the this following statement, after all of what we just discussed, is gonna feel fairly bonkers. So, like brace for impact. The concept of species and gender doesn't actually matter very much in the world of Athus. And although many of the species tend to stick together, that's not due to bigotry in the classic sense. In the harshness of this world, any member of any species can serve well in any position, and according to The Wanderer, prejudices are a waste of resources and time. Some of the species on the planet are more drawn to some positions than others, and representation can be a bit obtuse, but ultimately efficiency and might make right, and accomplishments are just that regardless of who does it. Like if you've achieved something, if you've got that accomplishment, you've got it. Who you are is irrelevant, which is crazy based on everything else.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:15

Yeah, you you would think that nobody would absolutely would would give a shit. It's like, oh yeah, you accomplished something great. Yeah, well, you're a peasant, so who cares? Um So yeah, that that actually is kind of surprising. Something not horrible in this world, just the one, we'll take it. Well, I mean, yeah, but you're surrounded by, you know, corrupted tyrannical people. So if you were a peasant, they'd be like, Wow, that is great, you did do that thing. Now let me present you with your spleen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:50

Evil knows no bias. Everyone's hands are rated E for everyone. That's how that world works. So we are going to now uh go through the major races that exist on the planet and what they've become on Athus in about two sentences or less. So we're gonna properly blast through these, okay? Okay. So we've got humans. They tend to be the most populous, despite not being the strongest or the most remarkable. They vary in physical features and their perceptions of other species as well as their general personality is more mouldable, being a direct product of their social standing or education. So a lot of them pretty tolerant.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:28

Not a bad start. Yep, humans being human. Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:32

Then we've got the Aracochra, and they are avian humanoids that tend to live in tribes near the mountains, sailing the harsh wind currents and moving more freely than other species due to, you know, the other species don't have actual wings. Wings they they've got a they've got a hack right there. They tend to be tall with huge wingspans and tend to resemble vultures, sometimes lacking empathy for the land bound species, and they are very difficult to restrain. They just want to be free. And who can blame them when you can fly?

SPEAKER_03 1:27:02

Unfortunately, they look like vultures, though. Of all the birds you could look like vulture, probably not high on the tier list.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:10

No. I mean a fitting for the world, but you know, your vulture is not traditionally thought of as a a a beautiful bird. They've got presents, though. They've got Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:20

I mean, they they're the scavenger birds. Also, Shy says she loves vultures. Do you love the way they look or just like the way they act, or the whole schmear? Oh, bearded vulture does look great though.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:33

Okay, no, that that is class. That is a dope-looking bird. And they said that's a vulture I can get behind, but I don't know what that means. Also, their eyes are crazy looking. Yeah. That is such a cool looking bird. I've never seen one of those before, but now now I also love vultures.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:49

Yeah, I was I was thinking of the stereotypical vulture shy. You know, like the sort of like bold like like like the one you posted um with the with the with the weird mane. And the big scrawny beak thing and the bald head.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:03

I was thinking your traditionally ugly bastard, like as what you can see in The Lion King. That that one.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:09

Is there a vulture in The Lion King?

SPEAKER_01 1:28:11

I think there is, isn't there? Or is it a jungle book?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:13

It's one of the two. Jungle Book is probably what it is. Probably Jungle Book. I was like, mmm, only annoying bird in Lion King is Zazu, and Zazu's just funny. Because that's Mr. Bean.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:25

Yeah, I was going to say voiced by Mr. Bean. Yeah. Rowan Atkinson.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:29

I think that's his name.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:31

Now, someone that isn't uh I don't know how to segue out of that. So we're going to talk about dwarves. Uh they are strong and stubborn. I was going to say Rowan Atkinson isn't a fantasy dwarf, but that I just what even is it? Look, play a good one though, to be fair. If you cast him as one, perfect. 100%. So the interesting thing about dwarves in this world, they like they focus on their crafts. They don't really care about anything else. They are also hairless, and they're one of the more long-lived species, and they abore the idea of long hair, beards, or tattoos. They tend to keep the company yeah, uh crazy. Uh the beardless dwarves, what is going on?

SPEAKER_03 1:29:10

Don't care about hair length, don't care about beard length. We actually shave that shit off. What is this heresy? I like actively don't like it. Inquisitor those dwarves right there. God, no wonder the uh no wonder Boris. The writer screaming, it's not talking, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:30

Look, it's not No wonder Boris hated these guys. Crazy. Yeah. Oh yeah, that's being genocided by the ultra-haters. Poor dwarfs. Fair. Fair might be a contributing factor.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:47

The butcher of dwarves. They were sick of having their beards and hair set on fire by dragons, so they just evolved off. Oh my god. Elves are an ancient species whose nimble nature has allowed them to exist well outside of the comfort of the oppressive city states. They can sprint for days across the sand without complaint, and would never stoop as low as using a transport or an animal to cut across the dunes. They live in the now and remain curious about everything around them. They are fierce about unity, and gaining the trust of an elf gains you a truly devoted friend for life. Who, you know, uh you'll probably find that they will outlive you significantly. It's nice that they'll be there until the bitter end.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:31

Also, that picture Shy posted, I was like, man, hearing about how, like, oh yeah, they always want to run, they run across the desert really fast, they hate transport. I was like, they're just roadrunners. These fuckers are just meet meeping all over the damn death planet. All over Eric. They're just me, me, me, meet, me, meep. Where who's the wily coyote faction that's trying to drop acne anvils on them?

SPEAKER_01 1:30:56

That might be the halflings. Let's go! You know, that they're they're murderers. You know what? We're gonna we're gonna s we're gonna switch the order so that we can just go straight into halflings. Because uh halflings, halflings are are wild. They're not dissimilar to what they were before, but the halflings that exist in the modern era are split. Some are disgusted by the state of the world but have no idea why, and try desperately to cling together and form tribes with other halflings. Uh the other half of the halflings have gone fully feral, losing any semblance of the great power they once had, resorting to flesh eating and living in a deeply disorganized, vaguely tribal structure that over time has become less and less stable. Lovely stuff. Just complete savages.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:39

Yep. Also, so are are are the halflings the only one that are because you said they they they resort to cannibalism. Uh are they the only ones?

SPEAKER_01 1:31:49

You know what? I'm not 100% sure, but they are definitely the ones who who are like known for being a bit flesh eaters. A bit off. Flesh eaters. I mean, the thing is, it's it's not just flesh eating their own people, it's anyone they can get their hands on, really. Oh, yeah, yeah. They're not like they're not picky about it. If you've got meat, then the really feral ones, they want that meat, and that's really the end of it.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:13

Well, it's just the only reason I'm surprised about it is because like meat, food, crops are so hard to come by that you'd figure with all the war and battles there are, it's like, well, that's meat. Pick it up. Yeah, that's fair. Eat it.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:27

That's fair. Maybe there's just a lingering sense of this is wrong that a lot of the others have still got. Maybe they haven't gone completely savage. Yeah. Yeah. Given that they used to be in charge of this world, that is awful. That's a long fall, yeah. Yeah. Now we're gonna go opposite of halfling, because we're gonna move on to half giants. They've got no independent culture of their own, but they do have a great kindness in their heart and a deep willingness to learn, while also being the most formidable warriors on the planet. This of course comes at a cost. Their great size requires double the amount of sustenance that a human would need in order to survive. It's believed they were created by a sorcerer king as a means of creating a perfect warrior, and they may have actually succeeded on that front. Yeah. They sound lovely though.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:19

I was gonna say, looking at the picture Shy just posted of a half giant, can you imagine not only the amount of food to like sustain, but the amount of protein someone would need to keep that amount of muscle mass going?

SPEAKER_01 1:33:35

That guy's eating uh an infinite number of chicken breasts a day.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:39

This man is taking the six-ton salamander burger challenge and winning. Easily. That's his hack to getting a free meal is I'll just go take the six-ton salamander burger challenge.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:55

I love your half-chaired voice.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:00

It's just an offshoot of the orc voice, really. It's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:06

Alright, we're gonna we're gonna uh we're gonna blast through this bit because it sucks, and uh Possum is sorry, and I'm sorry in advance as well. Um we're gonna talk about mules. Not like you know, t the donkey. Oh type animal. Um Yeah. Oh boy. Tell me about the mules. The product of a human and a dwarf is known as a mule. They have the height of a human and the incredible rock solid desire to work that a dwarf has. Their capacity to do work is inexhaustible. But now we get to the bad bit. Their name is derived from a dwarven word pertaining to strength, but it also obviously evokes the word mule, which is in itself something of a problematic term for a myriad of reasons, but the usage here is more of a literal take on a pack mule, and like a real world mule, the mules are sterile, and their work resiliency and strength makes them ideal workers. In fact, mules tend to be bred for that reason, and since they're sterile, this means one thing. Humans and dwarves are in some locations forced to breed to make up a quota. Uh not great.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:21

Yeah. Yeah, that's not that's not great. Uh yeah, yeah, it's it's it's grimdark fantasy, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:29

Sometimes you uh you get these weird Sometimes you get sentences like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:35

Yeah, yeah. It's uh like I said, when when I was learning about the Skaven, it's like, oh yeah, are there any female Skaven? Not technically, and it's like, oh bother.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:46

Yeah, yeah. So the end result uh for the mules is a sterile workforce that cannot falter. They've got no lands of their own, but you know, people know their strength and importance in some of the more terrible city-states, and they're able to bend the favour of the Templars to their needs. Mules that manage to escape tend to stick together and work to form their own culture and existence on Athus, but ultimately, and unfortunately, it can be said that almost all remaining Athasian society is built off of the back of mules, and without them the city-states would be nothing more than a speck in the wasteland. Then even if they do form their own society, of course, they can't self-perpetuate. So yeah. It's not even going to last long because there's no next generation. They can't breed.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:42

Yeah, and and they're like, and apparently they're like the best workers and the strongest workers, and oh yeah. And the only way to make more is oh. Yeah. Here we are at acceptable losses, hating life. What an episode.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:02

Should we uh should we move on to dinosaur people?

SPEAKER_03 1:37:05

A hundred percent. Also, Shai said if you roleplay mute and tabletop, you are always ex-slave, she thinks.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:12

Oh god, you need to sleep six hours in a 72-hour period instead of 24 hours. That's I mean, that's a solid ability.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:19

Yeah, because they probably they're probably trained to work long enough to be like minimal sleep.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:26

Mechanically, that's great. The implications, however, I hate. No, yeah. The implications awful. Awful. Let's talk about the Terrans. The Peterrans, the Terrans. Uh rarely seen in the tablelands, Terrans are unaccustomed to the horrors that have gripped the society of other species. They view the other species with great contempt, thinking that they know nothing of living and only consume before dying. They wish to understand the world around them as they feel at one with the Earth Mother, but they have no respect for those who continue its destruction. They are also masters of telepathy. Oh, that's a random throw in at the end.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:05

Yeah, of course, the the dinosaur people are the masters of telepathy. Alright, sure. I guess cool. I quite like 'em.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:13

They sound sort of chill, other than you know, hating everyone else.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:16

But is that what they look like? Yeah, they are pretty shanky looking.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:21

Good lord. That's a science experiment going wrong. I thought they would be like more humanoid. Those are more dinosaur. Those are freaky fuckers. It is, it's a dinosaur hobbit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:37

Oh god. Oh god, kill it with fire. Don't be mean to him.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:42

He's got to let the world where's Boris the the Terran butcher when you need him.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:48

God damn.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:51

Today we're learning that DK would have found his place amongst Manchat's disciples pretty easily. Butcher of Terrans.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:00

I mean, that that thing is that's a freaky looking thing. That that looks like the plot of the next Jurassic Park movie. It does actually, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:08

It's freaky.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:10

I hate it.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:11

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:11

That thing freaks me out. Alright, okay, all right. Let's let's move on to a a species that you'll really like then and talk about the thrikene. Okay. These are insectoid creatures that act differently to anything else on the planet. Uh they roam in packs endlessly as they do not sleep. They are agile fighters and they have a sharp mind. They view the rest of the species as an example of laziness, and they live for the thrill of the hunt. They think they are superior to everything else on the planet due to this, and if one joins a hunting pack of another species, they'll immediately attempt to dominate and assume control. They will work with others, but they view other humanoids as food, essentially. They may not act on their impulses, but the feelings are there, and they know that elves are particularly tasty, but sometimes they can't resist the taste of someone who is truly brilliant, because the smarter the person, the nicer the flesh. Love boy.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:07

Also, uh that the book cover one of these guys is oh boy, this is just some oh man. These things not a fan of the Thrykane. Not really. I wonder why. They're they are I mean, well, they're they're just giant insects that want to eat you. Oh boy. Boy, uh yeah, Athus Athus is a Athus is a dangerous place, alright.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:36

Holy. It really is. Really is.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:41

Oh dear. Okay, let's uh let's move over to magic. So as we've discussed before, magic is considered to be horrific because of the nature of magic on Athus. There are no gods, and arcane magic requires the pull of a life force in order to be used. It was the abuse of magic that scarred the world thousands of years prior, and it's almost universally hated because of this. Wizards are essentially outlaws that are killed by Templars without hesitation. The way that magic is drawn determines the methods of channelling that a wizard is proficient in. Those who have the ability to show self-control and gather energy without destroying the source are known as preservers, and those who pull the energy and leave the ash and destruction behind, well, they're the defilers, funnily enough. You do have clerics, druids and rangers that are able to cast spells, but there are no paladins on Athers. Instead of a god, clerics forge a pact with an element and draw the energy from the elemental plane it comes from. Rangers learn to manipulate power gain from spirits, and druids gain powers from the spirits of the land. All these tend to be much weaker than the Templars, which, you know, they get spells from the sorcerer kings that act like conduits. There are other means that are more twisted and more draconic, courtesy of the Dread King Dregoth, but that is for another time.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:02

Of course, the Dread King.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:05

Oh man. You've got to say it proper. You've got to do it. The DreadKing. You can't just be like, yes, it's Dread King Dregoth. It's gotta be the Dread King. The Dread King Dregoth. It sounds hardcore, I don't know. But that's a story for another time. It's like Now we've also got psionics on Athus, and these are an accepted part of daily life. They are not feared. In fact, those who are masters of psionics are viewed as vital to the community they're in. They tend to be the difference maker when it comes to survival. Psionics are of course utilizing the innate psionic energy after balancing their mind, soul, and body in harmony. Due to it not being magic, it has no impact on the world around them, and everyone on Athus has some degree of latent psionic ability. So you're not you're not dealing with the with the whole whoops, I've accidentally destroyed this forest nonsense. Instead, there's a bit of nice balance in inner peace going on.

SPEAKER_05 1:43:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:02

If if only if only Rajat had had that all those years ago, all those centuries ago, still be a blue planet.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:10

Might not be in this mess now. It could have been lovely, lovely grasses and forests and all sorts of nice things, but no, he had to he had to start poking around, didn't he? He just had too many holes on his face. Yeah, he did. Too many, too many holes in that face. Um now, as we've mentioned a few times, Athos is a world in isolation, and the nature of the cosmology for this realm is no exception. Like all realms in DD, there are connections to other planes. Um so effectively you've got your material plane, which is where most like if when you're talking about starting like a DD campaign, most of the time, if you are a new player or you're starting a new one, the material plane is the focus, and the material plane can be really any one of any number of worlds. But then you've also got like the elemental plane, so you've got like the plane of fire or the plane of water, there's also the abyss, there's the nine hells. Effectively, you've got a bunch of these different planes of existence, and Athos has a mild issue where for most other settings you can easily traverse from one plane to another, like there's a spell called plane shift, which does exactly what it says on the tin. It shun you from whatever plane you're on to a different plane. Likewise, there's also the spell banishment. So if something from another plane is attacking you and you cast banishment, you will send them back to the plane that they are from. So, say a demon's attacking you, it'll send it back to hell, that sort of thing. The thing is, Athus is uh is is not the same. So instead of saying Athus is already hell, so there's nowhere for the demon to go back to. There's no point. It's right there. Um instead of properly existing with coherent connections to other planes, Athus is trapped surrounded by unique planes to the setting that make access to the outer planes almost impossible, meaning that the souls of the dead can't escape and the light of the gods cannot shine in. Athus is surrounded by a plane known as the grey that serves as a block on the material plane of Athus that prevents it from reaching the astral sea. It's an endless ashen plane where souls hang in melancholic limbo as they wander. Those who attempt to enter it on either side run a risk of being lost in the grey forever, and those who successfully return are never the same. And don't worry, it also gets worse because below all things is the second unique plane, the black, an immense void space that sits as a dark, imperfect mirror of the entirety of Athus itself, an eerie dark realm with shadow inhabitants where those powerful enough can draw power from, but at a dangerous cost.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:52

Is the black also where uh Rajat is uh sealed in? In the hollow in the black, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:46:00

Yes. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:03

I mean, that is that is it's it's fun. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:07

Yeah. I like it.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:08

I like the fact it's separated off. Mm-hmm. The Shadowfell here.

SPEAKER_03 1:46:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:17

You know what? The Shadowfell is like a it's like a a mirror of the material plane, but I don't know if it's specifically Yeah, it's a shadow mirror of like the real world. I don't know if I think the black is technically its own thing. I think it's it's not like it's not the same as the as the Shadowfell that you'd find in other settings. I think it's its own sort of version of it. It's all horrible though. I'd like and to me, it's I just I really like the basis of this entire world. It being separated out from the rest of like the cosmology is is really neat because it it restricts what you can do in fun ways. Oh, love it. Also I'm like, I want to do darksome now.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:04

This is who who did the uh so should I posted the image of the black and the grey? Who did that image? Like, is that canonically from like the wanderer or something? Because I I kind of love the little um uh notes on it. Like, where's Athys? Some wizards miss the obvious, close, but no Pharaoh leaf. You know what? I'm just snarky terms in there.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:27

Yeah, it's like a like in world map.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:30

Yeah, right. And I just imagine, like, there's some Templar or some sorcerer king out there that was just swarmy and being like, oh, this is what normal idiots think of the black and the gray is like it's some ring around Athys. It's a ring at you, close but no fairies. Obviously wrong, maps by the interesting ideas, and it's just I don't know. I I was really hoping that was like a canon page out of like a book or something, and it's like, oh yeah, this was this was transcribed by Templar Blarfendarf or whatever Templar Blomdarf, did you just say? Yep, Blarfendarf, yes. Blarf oh sorry. So yeah, come on. Oh he's a Pateran. He's gotta be a Pateran.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:26

Now, despite the horrors of Athus, the wanderer makes one thing painfully clear. This may be horrible, but the fact that there's any life at all means that there's something worth surviving for. He believes that more recent years constitute a new era. To him he calls it the decade of heroism, while Bards call it the time of fools, as heroism is synonymous with futility. The vanity of the sorcerer kings and those who wish to overthrow them have resulted in more dangerous revolutions and fluctuations, causing geographic and environmental changes, ranging from a constant rainstorm known as the Cerulean storm, to thunderous earthquakes that rock the city-states already facing a power vacuum. He hopes the age will continue. Athus needs heroes. The world is fighting back in some respects, and though the world in question is a desolate, endless sandscape under a horrific blood red sun, hanging as a reminder of the terror of what was done, the wanderer can't help but see the beauty in the wastes. And uh I have one final quote for you to end us on here, DK. Alright.

SPEAKER_03 1:49:31

Though the picture I have painted so far is of a stark and rugged land, I do not mean to say that Athens is dreary or monotonous. To the contrary, it has a majestic and stark beauty. When first light casts its emerald hues over the sea of silt, or when sunset spreads its bloody stain over the ringing mountains, there is a certain pharaoh beauty that stirs the untamed heart in all of us. It is a call to take up spear and net, to flee. Leave the city to go and see what lurks out in the barrenness. Still sounds pretty fucking awful, brother. I'm not doing a good job. Oh no. I've killed Kiri.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:20

Oh man. Poor Kiri.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:22

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:23

I really got you. That really got me. I was just finishing like a sip of water as soon as you finish.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:31

Oh no. Oh my god. We've we've proper lost Kiri. A wander looks great though. That's not the wander, is it? Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:44

Oh that hurt. That really, that's like I won't stop. He won't stop.

SPEAKER_03 1:50:52

Well, I mean, he really did not make it sound that much better.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:57

Like I will I will concede that uh it was very poetic, but you know, the world's still garbage.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:06

Guys, I know I've painted this as stark and rugged land and dreary and monotonous, but hey, look. It is actually all those things. Yeah. It sure is, dude. Oh, there's no exact art of the wonder. Yeah, because he's supposed to have like one scaled arm and stuff, right? And and that artwork doesn't have him with like a scaly arm.

SPEAKER_01 1:51:28

Yeah, he's he's too m so he's too mysterious for like proper art. That's fair. You gotta keep some mystery in there. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 1:51:35

Fair enough. Fair enough. So so that's that's Dark Sun for now. Obviously, that wasn't everything, but that was as much as we could fill a almost two-hour slot with.

SPEAKER_01 1:51:53

And there's there's still so much more. Like there's oh Possum Possum, I think, would relish going uh going for round two on Darksun. So you may well see more about it later on, and also Planescape Tournament. I think that's what we now know is the absolute favorite.

SPEAKER_03 1:52:10

So yeah, regardless, the world of Darksun looks so cool. It is it is all of the things that the Wanderer tried to tell you it was not, but it is a very dope setting. Love it. Yeah, very, very cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:25

Very awful, very cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:52:28

Very nice, very evil.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:30

I was just take Take us home, Housing Kerry.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:35

Take us home, Housing Kiriok. Let's go. Right. This is gonna be short and sweet because I genuinely cannot stop coughing now. Um that's that's worrying. Dark Sun has even has even hurt me through being fictionally terrible. But in a cool way. Thank you very much for listening, everyone, uh, or watching, depending on whichever you did. We will be back next time for something else possibly just as horrific, but we'll just have to wait and see. All we know is that at the end of it, at some point we'll be able to say to ourselves, it actually did get worse. And that's what we're here for every single week.

SPEAKER_03 1:53:14

Hooray. See you next time. Bye.