Athasspace

Athasspace is an otherwise unnamed crystal sphere that is home to the DARK SUN Campaign Setting and the world of Athas.

Overview

The crystal sphere of Athas is located in an isolated and distant part of the Phlogiston, far from the spacelanes of the Known Spheres. As far as is known, the current inhabitants of Athas have little knowledge of spelljamming, although it is possible that some closely guarded library maintained by one of the sorcerer-kings conceals some ancient tome that details the basic concepts of wildspace.

What is known is that the crystal sphere surrounding Athas is impenetrable. It is either impervious to magic or it does not feature any natural portals: either way, spelljammers are unable to travel through the crystal shell, either into the Flow or from the Flow into the wildspace of Athas.

Celestial Bodies

Although the celestial bodies within the crystal sphere of Athas are not covered in any detail, the Orrery of Nibenay does at least indicate that there are a great many celestial bodies within the sphere.

The Orrery is a large, spherical clockwork mechanism kept hidden within the palace of the Shadow King of Nibenay. The device contains thousands of delicate looking gears, wheels, and springs, and a dozen slender rods extend from the massive central sphere, each ending in an assembly of spheres that appear to move in circles, about each other and then (as a group) about the mechanism itself.

The Crimson Sun

The Sun of Athas, also known as the Crimson Sun, is a dark crimson firebody. Originally a blazing ball of blue energy, the Sun was transformed thousands of years ago through the actions of the nature-masters of the rhulisti, a halfling race native to Athas. The power of the Sun was harnessed to destroy a toxic Brown Tide that threatened the ocean-borne civilization of the halflings. In the process the Sun was transformed into a blazing yellow sun.

Millennia later, a pyreen named Rajaat, also known as the First Sorcerer and the Warbringer, harnessed the power of the yellow sun to empower 15 of his greatest students, transforming them into his Champions. Yet again the Sun underwent a great change, becoming crimson and dark, signalling a time of blood and death.

Athas

Athas is an arid and bleak desert-world, a wasteland with a handful of scorched cities clinging precariously to a few scattered oases. It is a brutal and savage land, beset by political strife and monstrous abominations, where life is grim and short. The crimson sun scorches the land from the first hints of dawn until the last twinkling of dusk, appearing in the olive-tinged sky like a fiery puddle of blood.

Athas is a land of unending earthquakes, scouring sand squalls, and swift, violent rainstorms that deliver lightning and death from the sky. Water is more precious than gold in this resource-depleted world, and metals of all sort are in short supply. Except for heat and sun, blood and dust, few things can be found in abundance.

The world's savage and primal landscape is the result of long centuries of ecological and magical abuse. The world is dying: it breathes its last gasps as water turns to silt, grasslands become sandy wastes, and jungles decay into stony barrens. Still, life finds ways to endure even in these hellish conditions.

Constellations

The Merchants’ Calender of the Tablelands region of Athas divides the year into 12 months, each of which is associated with a particular constellation. These include Balimarash the Caravan, Fiddle the Beetle, Hesper the Kenku, Saurus the Lizard, Hortle the Spider, Sylk the Wyrm, Tasker the Scorpion, Pyrus the Wheel, The Dragon, Tyrospur the Lion, Scratch the Basilisk and Krawler the Kank.

Additional Astronomicals

The Messenger

The Messenger is a bright comet that visits the skies of Athas every 45 years. It can be clearly seen in full daylight, and is so bright that at night, texts can be read by the light of the comet.

Appendix

External Links

• Athas article at the Dark Sun Wiki, a wiki for the Dark Sun campaign setting.
• Athas article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
• The Burnt World of Athas the official Dark Sun website

References