The History of Athas

We'll be throwing back to the original history of Athas, rather than ascribing to the simplified re-imagining presented in the 4e campaign materials. I'll lift some material from the other available wikis if applicable. The history of the world can be broken into several distinct eras:

The Blue Age

The Blue Age was marked by a vast, life-giving sea, and the rise of the halfling rhulisti. The magic of this era was known as Life-Shaping. During the Blue Age, Athas was a water-rich planet covered with vast bodies of water. During this age halflings, known as the rhulisti, built a sophisticated civilization without the aid of arcane magic or psionics. The rhulisti were ruled by the elite nature-masters who were gifted in Life-shaping: the ability to reshape the basic building blocks of life. Nature-masters worked used their lifeshaping powers in harmony with nature to grow cities from plants and create an advanced civilization. Divisions appeared among the nature-masters when others began experimenting with what the nature-masteres viewed as unethical uses of Life-shaping. These rebel "nature-benders", as they were called, caused a schism which escalated into an all out war. Though victorious in the war, the nature-masters were responsible for the end of the Blue Age. They accidentally spawned a poisonous Brown Tide while attempting to increase the power of their empire by doubling the output of the seas. As the Brown Tide spread, the world's great seas began to die, as did all life on Athas.

The Rebirth and The Green Age

The Green Age was marked with the destruction of the Brown Tide, the sun changing from blue to yellow, the seas receding in favor of a plant rich landscape, the fall of the rhulisti civilization, and an abundance of new races on Athas.

The rhulisti, seeking to save Athas and themselves, used their mastery of nature to build an instrument to kill the Brown Tide. They called it the Pristine Tower and they used it to harness the power of the sun to destroy the Brown Tide. Using the Pristine Tower came with a price, however. Though they successfully eradicated the Brown Tide the world had changed significantly. The sun turned from blue to yellow, the waters receded from the great seas revealing a verdant paradise, and a great period of vitality and creation began known as the Rebirth. The surviving rhulisti either transformed into new human and demi-human races, or withdrew into the mountains forgetting their former civilization. This period of a lush, green world was called the Green Age. Civilizations of the various races flourished via the newly discovered power of psionics and the first great cities of the Tyr region, such as Tyr, Bodach and Giustenal, were founded during this age. Other notable events of this period are the discovery of psionics, the migration of the thri-kreen into the Tyr region and their subsequent migration from those cities into the wilderness due to persecution, and the birth of the Mind Lords.

The Time of Magic

The Time of Magic was ushered in by the First Sorcerer Rajaat and his introduction of arcane magic to Athas shifted the balance of world power from psionics to magic. This age was marked by great genocidal wars known as the Cleansing Wars, and the ravaging of the land by a magical technique known as defiling.

During the Rebirth a race known as the pyreens mysteriously appeared. They were long lived, reclusive, and had strange powers unknown to the other races. Among them was one named Rajaat whose body and mind were warped by being born so close to the Pristine Tower. Though he was physically ugly he was extremely gifted intellectually and psionically and it would be his actions that would usher in the Time of Magic. Rajaat could not accept himself as he was and sought a reason or a cure for his self-hatred in the past, but the past only further confirmed his self-loathing. He made contact with the halflings of the Jagged Cliff and drew followers from among them to assist him in the discovery of a novel means of manipulating life energies. After two hundred years, he discovered what would come to be known as arcane magic. Rajaat discovered that there were two means of casting spells; one way which made use of nature but did not destroy it, called preserving; and another way, which was more powerful, but destroyed nature to fuel its spells, called defiling. Rajaat had difficulty mastering his new found powers and his experiments with magic proved dangerous; Rajaat nearly destroyed himself and desolated a portion of the Jagged Cliffs in the process. Seeking a way to harness these new found powers without harming himself, he returned with his halfling followers to the site of his birth: the fabled Pristine Tower. There, he spent the next three thousand years refining the art of arcane magic and altering the tower to become an instrument of his ultimate goal. Rajaat had come to the conclusion that the Rebirth had been a mistake, the new races were abominations, and the only way to save the world was to return it to the purity of the Blue Age. When Rajaat emerged from the Pristine Tower he offered to tutor anyone in magic who showed promise. Psionics were an important source of power during this period but they were tightly controlled by the nobles. Rajaat, knowing what it was like to be rejected by society, agreed to teach anyone including societies and outsiders. He taught preserving magic to anyone capable of learning and observed which races seemed to have the most potential for magic. Schools and colleges for magic sprang up, led by Rajaat's trusted disciples. Outwardly, Rajaat preached a rhetoric of peace and solidarity encouraging mages to work together rather than feud; conflict was forbidden. Secretly, however, Rajaat segregated the students he considered of questionable morality or character and taught them defiling magic. As magic proliferated it became an important source of temporal power, helping people to transform their position in society and to shape the world at large, and eventually surpassing psionics in importance. Mages took on a new found political importance which allowed Rajaat to set the stage for his true intentions. Rajaat had decided that humans had the greatest capacity for defilement and that they would be the vessels for his ultimate purpose. Rajaat called to him his loyal followers and his best students and lied to them by arguing that the now ruling preserver mages were corrupt and were going to use their powers to dominate or destroy. His followers vowed to help him end the growing tyranny of the preservers which began the Preserver Jihad. The Jihad was wildly successful essentially driving preserver magic so far underground that it virtually ceased to exist leaving defilers as the dominant spellcasters on Athas and cleared the way for the next stage of his plans

The Cleansing Wars

Rajaat selected fifteen of his students, all of whom had powerful psionic gifts as well as a talent for arcane magic, and used his powerful talisman, the Dark Lens, to transform them into his Champions. These Champions become the instruments of his master plan to bring about the return of the Blue Age via the extinction of all races save the halflings. In fact, had the halfings not been immune to Rajaat's powers he would have made them his Champions instead. Besides their arcane and psionic gifts, the Champions were gifted with immorality as well as the powerful ability to fuel their magic by drawing life energy from living creatures through obsidian orbs. The Champions were each given titles based on the races they were tasked with destroying. The creation of the Champions exacted a terrible price, however, the sun had changed to a dark crimson color. The Champions of Rajaat were: * Deceased/absent
 * Sacha*, the 1st Champion: Curse of the Kobolds. Was successful in his campaign.
 * Kalak*, the 2nd Champion: Kalak, called Ogre Doom by the Warbringer. He was successful in his campaign.
 * Dregoth*+, the 3rd Champion: Dregoth, the Ravager of Giants
 * Myron*, the 4th Champion: Myron of Yorum, the Troll Scorcher
 * Hamanu+, the 4th Champion: Hamanu was selected to replace Myron. He is successful where Myron failed.
 * Abalach-Re*, the 5th Champion: Originally Uyness of Waverly, Abalach-Re was the Orc Plague. She was successful.
 * Nibenay+, the 6th Champion: This Champion started as Gallard, Bane of Gnomes. Nibenay was successful.
 * Sielba*, the 7th Champion: Sielba, the Destroyer of Pterrans. Failed at her campaign.
 * Andropinis*, the 8th Champion: Once known as Albeorn, Slayer of Elves. Failed at his campaign.
 * Tectuktitlay* the 9th Champion: Tectuktitlay, Wemic Annihilator. Successful at his campaign.
 * Oronis+, the 10th Champion: Lizard Man Executioner. He believed his cleansing to be successful but tribes of lizard men were secretly hidden by the Mind Lords.[5]:224
 * Lalali-Puy+, the 11th Champion: Aarakocra Scourge. Failed at her campaign.
 * Wyan*, the 12th Champion: Wyan of Bodach, Pixie Blight. Successful at his campaign.
 * Borys*, the 13th Champion: Butcher of Dwarves. Borys replaced the Champion Egendo after he was slain attempting to complete his campaign.[5]:278
 * Daskinor+, the 14th Champion: Goblin Death. He was successful in his campaign.
 * Kalid-Ma*, the 15th Champion: Tari Killer. Successful at his campaign.

+ Extant as sorcerer-king.

The Rebellion

The Champions had been kept ignorant of Rajaat's plan to give Athas solely to the halflings but when Hamanu learned of this he informed Borys who enlisted many of the other sorcerer-kings in staging a rebellion against their master. The combined force of thirteen of the fifteen Champions proved enough to defeat Rajaat, but they were unable to destroy his corpse. The two sorcerer-kings who remained loyal to Rajaat, Wyan and Sacha, were beheaded when they and Rajaat's former halfling guards attempted to rescue their vanquished master from the Hollow. Rajaat may have been defeated but that came at a price. Fearing Rajaat may return for retribution, Gallard (Nibenay) separated Rajaat's life essence from his physical form and placed the essence in an enchanted stone known as the Black Sphere. The Black Sphere was then hidden in a sub-dimension of nothingness called the Hollow deep within a shadow dimension known as the Black. Gallard's ritual contained a flaw, however. Without the use of the Dark Lens, which had been stolen during the Cleansing War, they would have had to find some other way to fuel the magics that kept Rajaat imprisoned. The spell to bind Rajaat was no trivial matter- none of the Champions could cast the spell alone. Borys, who had offered himself as Rajaat's warden, was offered a ritual created by Dregoth that would transform him into a  dragon and allow him to cast the spells of imprisonment without aid. In order to perform the ritual all of the Champions had to complete part of the required ten-step process themselves. The Champions empowered themselves with Dregoth's rituals but these first steps towards dragonhood had strange side effects. The ritual unleashed strange elemental energies and connected the Champions to the Elemental Planes. These new sorcerer-kings could not access the power of these planes themselves, but as a result of their connection, could imbue divine spellcasting abilities in others, creating templars out of their most loyal servants. The full, ten-step process proved too much for Borys and he went mad and embarked on a century long defiling rampage, desolating vast tracts to feed his hunger. Shocked by what they had unleashed, the remaining sorcerer-kings fortified their city-states and hid from the dragon's madness. The defiling during the Cleansing War had been substantial, but Borys' defilement during his bedlam was the tipping point that truly turned Athas into a hellish desert. After a century, Borys emerged from his madness. Seeing the Rajaat's prison was about to disintegrate he levied one thousand slaves from each of the sorcerer-kings so he could defile them to fuel the magic that kept Rajaat imprisoned.

The Age of the Sorcerer-Kings

The Age of the Sorcerer-Kings was marked the desolation caused by Borys' madness and the tyranny and slavery engendered by the sorcerer-kings. Reading and writing was forbidden, arcane magic was outlawed, and history was revised to erase the sorcerer-kings misdeeds. Pogroms were lead against the druids in order to prevent them from opposing the sorcerer-kings by disseminating the true history they learned from their connection to the spirits of the land. Muls and half-giants were created as a race of slave soldiers during this period. The period is marked by the machinations of the sorcerer-kings who, rather than caring for their citizens, struggled amongst themselves to increase their own power.

Sielba is killed during a power grab against Hamanu over his obsidian mines. Sielba's death enraged Borys but Hamanu appeases him with the riches looted from Sielba's fallen city-state, Yaramuke. Borys used these riches to build the great city of Ur Draxa and places the Black Sphere at the center where he can better protect it.

Several sorcerer-kings also attempt the ten-step process to become a dragon. Dregoth was slain by Abalach-Re and Hamanu for fear that he would become like Borys after his transformation. The city-state of Kalindney was likewise destroyed by its sorcerer-king, Kalid-Ma, after he went insane in a botched attempt at the process. Borys, Kalak, and Hamanu slay him when he assaults the Tyr region in his madness.

Borys' levies of one thousand slaves proved controversial and two of the sorcerer-kings attempted to resist or fell short. Daskinor was successful at rebuffing Borys, but the conflict drives him insane. Eldaarich became an isolated prison city. Andropinis of Balic fell one hundred short of his one thousand slave levy. In retaliation, Borys takes the rest of the debt from among Andropinis' templars. Balic's slave raids intensified across the Tablelands in order to not fall short again.

Oronis was the only sorcerer-king to truly care for his citizens' well-being and his city-state of Kurn flourishes as a result. Oronis, with the help of the wizard Bestern, develops a preserver version of the metamorphosis spell, becoming Athas' first avangion. The spell is later hidden by Oronis after Borys kills his protege, the second avangion, Nerad. Dregoth is resurrected as an undead sorcerer by his templars. Dregoth deciphers halfling records found beneath his city-state and creates several generations of dray.

The Decade of Heroes

The Age of Heroes was marked by great magic, the death of sorcerer-kings, and revolutionary changes to the Tyr region.

Sorcerer-king Kalak of Tyr is assassinated in a slave rebellion lead by Rikus, Agis, Neeva, Tithian, and Sadira. Tithian becomes the next king of Tyr and outlawed slavery but secretly continued to supply Borys with his levies. Hamanu retaliates against Kalak's assassination and attempted to take Tyr's iron mines. He is defeated by Rikus' Crimson Legion, but the legion is later crushed while assaulting Urik.

The wizard Sadira seeks out the Pristine Tower, and in exchange for pledging to kill Borys, she is transformed into the first and only Sun Wizard by the shadow giants. She possessed the power to draw magical power from the sun which made her nearly an equal to the sorcerer-kings. Borys is killed by Rikus with the his former sword, Scourge, but the dragon's thrashing causes it to break in two. The black ooze that leaked from the sword is used by Sadira to kill both Abalach-Re and Borys.

Tithian, with the aid of Agis of Asticles, discovered the location of the Dark Lens. He killed Agis and then used the Dark Lens to free Rajaat from his prison in the hopes that he would reward him by transforming him into a sorcerer-king (Rajaat refused). Rajaat's escape, and the ensuing battle with his former Champions devastated Ur Daxa. Rajaat imprisons Andropinis' in the Black, and crushes Tectuktitlay's skull with the Dark Lens. The remaining sorcerer-kings retreat and Sadira steals the Dark Lens. Her and the human warrior Neeva's mul son, Rkard, cast a sun spell using the Dark Lens that boils away Rajaat's shadow, which was the key to his tremendous power. His body is finally destroyed and his essence is returned to the Hollow. Tithian, having been in contact with the Dark Lens as Rkard cast his spell, is transformed into the Cerulean Storm. Sadira magically seals the Dark Lens and Scourge in a volcano called the Ring of Fire. The result of the spell to destroy Rajaat caused a tremendous earthquake creating the Great Rift, a passage to the Crimson Savannah, and access to the Kreen Empire.

The result of the Age of Heroes was the destabilization of the Tyr Region by the power vacuum created by the loss of several sorcerer-kings, and the environmental upheaval created in the wake of the Cerulean Storm. Aftershocks from the earthquake that created Rift threaten the region with further destruction.

The Wanderer discovered the lost halflings, the Rhul‐thaun, of the Jagged Cliff, and the Mind Lords of the Last Sea. The dray receive a sign to begin preparations for the supreme rise of Dregoth and the invasion of Raam.