Kalidnay - still living domain

[Vannax]

Despite 3E rulebooks let the ADnD domain of Kalidnay disappear from the demiplane, it still lives in my game and I prepare campaign in this desert domain.
Athough I have some general ideas about the plots and background, I want to ask anyone who prepared some adventure (or have any gaming experience) in this domain to provide me with his/her ideas. Any simple detail is welcome and might be helpful, because this domain is not „mapped“ too good and the only other stuff, than the domain description, is the „Mocellus“ entry in a Book of S.

[Joël of the FoS]

FYI, you also have in MCII Children of the Night: Palik (a Thrax, psionic, NE).

Let us know how that campaign goes!

Joël

[brothersale]

The Thrax is also mentioned in Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead in the Hungry Dead Chapter (Drink fluids). Also one o Van Richten's companions, Arametrius came from Kalinay.

A good while back someone (Michael Gillen) on the ravenloft mailing list toyed with the idea of creating a new Core (the Amber Core), consisting of the Amber Waste Cluster, Al-Kathos, The Maimed City, G'henna, The Isle of Temptation (ruled over by Malistroi, the demon involved in the Circle of Darkness adventure), the Sea of Strangers (ruled by a unknown) Ghul lord of the sea), Kalinay (ruled over not by Thakok-An, but by her beloved Kalid-Ma, who woke finaly from his slumber and almost killed Thakok-An for her treasonous actions), and the Silt Sea (ruled by the exiled Thakok-An). Land of G'henna was placed at the end of the plateau seperating Har'Akir and Sebua, Al-Kathos, and the Mained City placed above Pharazia. the Sea of Strangers to the side of Al-Kathos and G'henna (is coastal side is now cliffs) and above Sebua. the Isle of Tempation was place in the sea of Stranger just within sight of G'henna, so staving inhabitants could see the lush and fertile isle. to the south of all the domains lay the Silt Sea, similar to the same sea in the Dark Sun Campaign, it is barren and difficult to cross without the knowledge of the inhabitants of Kalidnay, make all the more so now that Thakok-An has to perform piracy to survive. in the middle of the Silt Sea lies the city of Kalidnay, ruled by Kalid-Ma. (For those wanting to read the thread see the mailing list archives Nov 5 1998 (subject: new domain) to about 9 Nov 1998 (subject: Clusters and Cores))

If you want some critters to throw at you PC's check out this site, the offical Dark Sun site http://www.athas.org/

[Brandi]

This could be fun for a new netbook, assuming legal issues don't crop up (since Arthaus didn't have the rights to any Dark Sun material, writing up Kalidnay would've been pretty awkward, as all references to the Dark Sun setting would've had to be left out)...

[Band2]

I do not know if this will help, but the only time I used Kalidnay was for a "weekend in hell" adventure from a Dark Sun campaign. The characters were pulled from Athas for the adventure and when it was done they escaped back to Athas.
For the adventure all I did was adapt the adventure Circle of Darkness and run it. Replaced Zhakata and Yagno with Kalid-ma and Thakok-An. (I do not remember who I made male and who female.)

[brothersale]

offically Thakok-An is a female and Kalid-ma is a male, but Thakok-An was listed as a male during the domain's first write up and Kalid-ma as a female. it was corrected because it conflicted with information in the Dark Sun setting

[WolfKook]

I think the DS module "Merchant House of Amketch" depicts the city-state of Kalidnay from an athasian (i.e. ruined) point of view. It is not very RL-like module, and I guess the map may not be very useful, but you might use it as an inspiration, if you have some archaeological vein ("How would a ruined city like this may have looked like when it was still alive?" and such).

As a former DS-only DM, I would recommend you to use the main sources of dread in the setting: Thirst, starvation, heat and desperation outside the city borders, and xenophobia, paranoia, oppresion and claustrophobia inside of them.

Kalid-ma should be a shadowy threat, much like Ankthepot in ToD, and the templars, with their political power and their enless schemes, are a must. Creatures? Thrax, liches (Called Kaishargas by the natives), ghosts, thinking zombies and ancient dead (Don't remember their athasian name...). Perhaps stone or obsidian golems. Maybe psionic creatures. No shapechangers, no hags.

Unlike its 2e predecessor, the DS 3e conversion in http://www.athas.org keeps the same level of power between athasian characters and characters from other settings. However, remember that you're still in RL, so don't overuse.

[Bluebomber4evr]

This could be fun for a new netbook, assuming legal issues don't crop up (since Arthaus didn't have the rights to any Dark Sun material, writing up Kalidnay would've been pretty awkward, as all references to the Dark Sun setting would've had to be left out)...

Since Arthaus doesn't have the rights to even Ravenloft anymore, it's kind of a moot point by now, isn't it? One could could pretty much put whatever in a netbook at this point, as long as the proper copyright lingo is put in place (you'd have to mention Dark Sun along with Ravenloft, for example).

On a side note, I'm not intimately familiar with the Dark Sun setting, but the implication that I got is that Kalid-Ma never left Athas, and the slumbering body in the domain of Kalidnay is a fake constructed by the Dark Powers. This makes Thakok-An more tragic, because she does all that she does in a futile effort; her beloved Kalid-Ma will never awaken, but her lust blinds her to the futility of her efforts. Having it be the real Kalid-Ma and waking him up removes the motivation for the character of Thakok-An as a darklord. It would be giving her what she wants in a way...at least partially.

[brothersale]

You are right Kalid-ma according to the dark sun setting never left but was atomised during his failed attempt to ascend to Dragon status. however the same setting does not mention Thakok-An and places the blame for the failure of the rite solely on Kalid-ma.

On the note of whether or not to have a active Kalid-ma or not, it your choice, but i think have an active Kalid-Ma who now dispises Thakok-An (possibly due to side effects of her tampering with the ritual) trying to extract his revenge on her is more intresting. Considering the fact that she would still be obsessed with him and constantly torn between trying to find ways to apease him and gain his forgiveness or flee from him to preserve he own skin

[WolfKook]

You are right Kalid-ma according to the dark sun setting never left but was atomised during his failed attempt to ascend to Dragon status. however the same setting does not mention Thakok-An and places the blame for the failure of the rite solely on Kalid-ma.

FWIW, the DS setting doesn't mention that explicitly. It just said that Kalid-Ma was trying to ascend to dragon status, and ended up destroying his city. After that, he disappeared, never to be seen again. Everybody -his fellow SKs -believe him dead, but he may really be alive, on the demiplane. I don't like the idea of him being just a fake copy of the real Kalid-Ma.

On the note of whether or not to have a active Kalid-ma or not, it your choice, but i think have an active Kalid-Ma who now dispises Thakok-An (possibly due to side effects of her tampering with the ritual) trying to extract his revenge on her is more intresting. Considering the fact that she would still be obsessed with him and constantly torn between trying to find ways to apease him and gain his forgiveness or flee from him to preserve he own skin

I do prefer this take, somehow like a Smithers-like character despised by Mr. Burns. It's certainly better than prince charming being unable to wake cinderella up.

[Sysane]

FWIW, the DS setting doesn't mention that explicitly. It just said that Kalid-Ma was trying to ascend to dragon status, and ended up destroying his city. After that, he disappeared, never to be seen again. Everybody -his fellow SKs -believe him dead, but he may really be alive, on the demiplane. I don't like the idea of him being just a fake copy of the real Kalid-Ma.

Actually per DS canon, Kalid-Ma succeeded in becoming a fully metamorphosed dragon but was reduced to a bestial state due to the botched process. He was later brought down by three other Sorcerer-Kings (Kalak, Humanu & Nibenay) because of the damage he wrought across the Tyr Region and the danger he posed to thier city-states.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Perhaps the comatose Kalid-Ma in Ravenloft is what happened to the sorcerer-king's spirit, which was swept off to the Land of Mists while his flesh remained behind as an animalistic Dragon?

[Sysane]

Possibly, but there's also an artifact in the DS setting, the Orbs of Kalid-Ma, that explicitly states that his sentience is locked within them.

[Bluebomber4evr]

I figured as much. It makes Thakok-An that much more tragic--the object of her affection isn't even real, and she's so deluded by her obssession that she can't even tell.

[Vannax]

Many thanx to all of your for these details. It really helps me to create a background for adventures I want to run in Kalidnay. (Though it will not fully reflect up-to-date state of things according to DS conception.)