Krynn? Where? Why? So What?
You’d be forgiven for dismissing the Prime world of Krynn as ‘just another prime’, another place where cutters who ask silly questions come from. If the Prime world of Krynn is known for anything at all, it is for producing the most clueless Clueless in the multiverse. By the time they get out here, your average Prime at least has some conception of how the Planes are set up and what Plane is where. Krynnfolk, on the other hand, believe that every plane that isn’t the Prime is the Abyss.
In spite of this, Krynn has been a favoured destination of merchants looking to make some jink. Until recently, that is. Current events on Krynn have made travel to and from the world a gamble in whether or not it will be there when you arrive and when you try to leave. It’s a matter of considerable interest to Sigil’s factions — in fact, of late the Trianym’s been awash with talk of the New Age of Krynn. Here’s some of the chant…
Extract from The Lorebook of the Void, a navigational text found on the Rock of Braal
Krynn
Type D, Spherical Earth Body, 1 Moon
The most populous planet in the system, Krynn is the centre of much of the human activity and godly interference in its shell. At one time the planet sustained a highly advanced, mystically endowed, but morally decadent civilisation. This civilisation was eliminated by the intervention of the Krynnish deities, in the presumed form of a meteor strike on the city of Istar in the continent of Ansalon. The word “presumed” is used since records of the event are very sketchy and conflicting-legends also mention a solar flare at the time, and the intervention of Sirion of the Flowing Flame.
The strike against Istar destroyed most of Krynnish civilisation, both in Ansalon and in the other parts of the planet. Combined with the refusal of the gods to answer their people, the loss of life was enormous, and the nations sank into a warring savagery that they are only recovering from today. The reappearance of dragons in Ansalon, long thought extinct, made matters even worse. After a protracted war between good and evil forces on Ansalon, a balance has been struck, and the world is beginning to recover fully with the return of its deities.
Krynn is primarily a human world, with a large number of elves and dwarves. Curiously, there are no halflings on Krynn; in their place are the childlike Kender. Most importantly for a space traveller, Krynn is the home of the Krynnish gnome, also called the Tinker Gnome, an inventive race that long ago escaped to space and found it to their liking. Tinker gnomes are now found throughout the Known Spheres.
Suggestions that Krynn should suffer another meteor strike to deal with these creatures have been made, but this is rather a case of closing the barn door after the horses have escaped.
Krynn has three moons: Nuitari, Lunitari, and Solitari. All are thought to be uninhabited, and some have been reached by early Krynnish space explorers (primarily gnomes) using a variety of means.
ADDENDUM — WARNING:
Recent events in Krynnspace have resulted in the destruction of all three moons of Krynn, and the appearance of a single moon to replace them. In addition, the whole planet occasionally disappears and reappears. The Elven Imperial Fleet is advising that no attempts at landing be made until the situation resolves itself.
Cmot Divler, a Fated merchant, speaks on the strange state of Krynnish economics
“Krynn used to be a great place to make a pile of jink. See, most places on Krynn use steel for jink, just like Acheron. If you played it right you could rake in an outrageous profits, and you wouldn’t even need to peel anyone. It’s all in how they value things.
“How’d it work? Well, it don’t really matter, so here’s the dark of it: take a regular steel longsword. Costs what, 15 jinx, right? Well, take that sword to Krynn and sell it. You’ll get around 200 of their steel pieces for it, which you take and trade for real jink before you leave. Depending on the location you’ll get around 2000 gold in jinx or merts. Play it right and you could be rolling in jink in one trip.
“I’d be peery about trying it right now, though. They just finished up another Power-started war, only this time they had a chaos-Power running around down there. Smashed everything up right, it did. Now the portals don’t work right. Try going there and you could end up out of town permanent-like. I don’t take risks that can get a body lost.”
Janos Volkrina, Indep spellsword, on the races of Krynn
“Forget what you’ve heard, basher. Don’t worry about the dragons or the Death Knight or the new chant about Chaos Fiends (whatever those are). Watch out for the Kender and the Gnomes. They’re REALLY dangerous.
” ‘Strewth. The kender, they aren’t afraid of you or the bloods backin’ you up or that Balor over there. And they’re all thieves. Every last little one of ’em. They’ll get ya into more trouble than a Hardhead Paladin with an attitude, and when ya get out of it they’ll do it to ya again. Ain’t no reasoning with ’em, either.
“Ya really gotta watch out for the gnomes there. If you’re smart, you’ll kill them on sight. If you’re smarter, you’ll never get near one ever. Whadda they do? They invent things. Useless things. Things that could work, but typically blow up or attack you. Imagine what would happen on Mechanus if the Chaosmen took over. That’s the gnomes.
“I’d rather have a Hardhead Deva watchin’ over my shoulder, than either of those things around.”
Factor Gadmi Rarnva of the Fraternity of Order, on the existence of Krynn
“Following the event known locally on Krynn as the Second Cataclysm, Krynn no longer exists entirely within the Multiversal Structure to which we are accustomed. It is currently in the process of oscillating between the Prime Material Plane and an as yet unidentified Someplace Else. It does not yet have the energy it needs to escape the multiverse entirely. However, each period of disappearance lasts exactly 3.3 minutes longer than the previous interval, a fact which suggests that it is gaining inter-dimensional momentum. It is currently unknown just how much momentum or energy will be required to leave the multiverse permanently, but as Krynn’s movement shows no signs of slowing there is every reason to hypothesise that this will occur.
“The current situation of Krynn is comparable to a reverse of the events that led to the appearance of Mystara in Prime Material Plane. Originally, Mystara was in an entirely different Multiversal Structure which bore a faint but superficial similarity to our own Multiversal Structure. At the time in question, there was no conventional way to reach Mystara. There were no natural or magically-created portals to this other Multiversal Structure (as indeed there could not be, due to the differences in natural laws between the two Structures), and it was unreachable by both Astral and Ethereal transit. Not even a Wish or a True Dweomer was powerful enough to breach the barriers between the two Structures. Only an unusual phenomena known as a Reality Shift, which translated the individual(s) utilising them into a status in which they could survive in the new Structure, could bridge the gap. These Reality Shifts occurred naturally only under very rare circumstances, or could be created by a number of Powers acting in unison.
“For unknown reasons, possibly due to the occurrence of these Reality Shifts, Mystara began to oscillate. It would intermittently appear in our Multiversal Structure and then return to its own. As the duration of the oscillations became longer, Mystara remained for longer periods of time in our Multiversal Structure, until it acquired enough momentum to remain permanently. The same thing is occurring and will occur on Krynn, but in reverse.
“This is the reason that the portals to Krynn are functioning at irregular intervals. When Krynn is in our Multiversal Structure, the conduits ‘ground out’ at their original destinations. When Krynn is in its other Multiversal Structure, the conduits have no place to go and empty into the Astral Plane. As the conduits cannot reach into this other Multiversal Structure, Planewalkers upon Krynn will find themselves stranded until such time as Krynn oscillates back into our multiverse. Each time it oscillates out may be the last, so use caution when travelling to and from Krynn.”
Factol Ambar of The Godsmen on the current difficulties of the Krynnish Powers
“If Factor Rarnva is correct, the Powers of Krynn are in for some hard times. As we all know, a Power is sustained by the faith of his believers. Even though the Krynnish Powers no longer respond to their faithful, the Krynnfolk still believe in them. This provides the Powers with the belief they require to survive.
“However, when Krynn vanishes to this hypothetical ‘Somewhere Else’ it must take the populace with it. During these times, the Krynnish Powers must sustain themselves with their stored power and what they receive from the comparatively small numbers of worshippers they have on other worlds and planes. This may be likened to going from a great feast to short rations of hardtack and water. It will sustain them for a while, but eventually they will begin to starve if Krynn does not return.
“Contrary to Factor Chagr’s emphatic declarations [see SIGIS issue 9], the Krynnish Powers are not dying. Not yet, at any rate. If Krynn does vanish forever before they build a sustainable base of worship elsewhere, however, they will begin to. When (and if) this occurs they will begin to degenerate into ‘lower’ categories of Powers (greater to intermediate to lesser to demi-) until they either ‘starve’, gain worshippers and/or become part of another pantheon, or are destroyed and cannibalised by stronger Powers seeking to increase their Power at the cost of another, or they die and are found one day floating in the Astral.
“There is one more option. They may continue to dwindle, sacrificing power for existence, until they are little more than disembodied voices craving and begging the worship they once commanded. I sincerely hope none of them follow this last option. For beings once so close to the ultimate glory to degenerate in this fashion would be both degrading and heartbreaking. It would be better to choose death and begin anew.”
Source: Rich Gant
The Factions’ Views of Krynn
Athar
“This place just proves what we’ve been saying all along: the ‘Powers’ ain’t gods, just really powerful mortals. After all, they had a mage-Raisen, or some such-who had actually accumulated enough power to kill Takhisis, their ruling Power of Evil. He didn’t, though. Lost his nerve at the last minute. We shoulda gotten hold of him, set him straight. Hey! Ain’t he being held prisoner in the Abyss somewhere? Hmmm…”
Believers of the Source
“The whole world of Krynn is on the verge of ascending from the Multiverse, and yet it returns again and again. It must be that the world as a collective is ready to ascend, and yet there are individuals who are not. Each time Krynn returns, it strives to be free from those individuals who hold it back from it’s ultimate goal. That is why the Powers of Krynn left; not because they chose to, but because they were rejected by the world itself. When this occurred, it began its attempts to ascend. Now each time the world returns, it rejects more who ain’t ready to ascend. Someday, only the prepared will remain and then Krynn will no more return to the Multiverse.
“Krynn must be studied to learn what we must do to ascend, but only from afar. Let no more who are unworthy return to that world, so that it may ascend unhindered by we who are not yet ready.”
Bleak Cabal
“Ya really think there’s a point to anything? Ya really think the Powers CARE?! Well, look at Krynn. Their Powers have all kinds of devoted followers, and what do they do? All the Powers-good, neutral, and evil, get together and decide to drop a mountain on ’em. Yep. Killed millions. Then they just up an’ leave for 300-some years.
“Just when things are settling down, the Powers come back just so they can start a war. They stir things up, kill a lot more people, and leave again after trying to throw the whole sodding planet outta the multiverse. And ya think there’s a POINT to THAT?”
Doomguard
“The whole planet is disappearing? Good. One less thing to decay, and one step closer to total oblivion.
“Krynn’s always been good for entropy anyway. War, intervention by the Powers, famine, all entropy in action. I’m surprised it’s lasted this long.”
Fated
“Clueless or not, you have to admire the Krynnfolk. Disasters, wars, direct intervention of their Powers, no matter what happens to them they keep on trying for their goals. They have a good, self-reliant attitude there.”
Fraternity of Order
“How Clueless can the Krynnfolk truly be? They represent the only Prime world I am aware of which is aware of the existence of the Rule of Threes — evident in the nature and number of their Powers — and, to an extent, the Unity of Rings (a fact which may be demonstrated by the use of their King-Priest’s old temple-which caused the Powers to withdraw from Krynn-as the foundation of the Temple of Takhisis, which marked the return of the Powers to Krynn).
“Their only real failing was to fail to take advantage of this knowledge as a framework to understand Reality. Still, this may not have been their own doing. It is known by those who have studied the subject that the Krynnish Powers invoked the First Cataclysm because this King-Priest of Istar claimed equality with them. It may be that he had uncovered a law of the universe which, when properly applied, would allow a mortal to become a Power. The Powers of Krynn would then have destroyed Istar to prevent a — in their opinion — “mere mortal” from doing so.
“A study of surviving Istaran records dating to just prior to the First Cataclysm would prove enlightening, and would present a method to test this hypothesis. Those interested in participating in this examination should inquire at the Office of Personnel Management in the City Courts.”
Free League
“Heh. Try and get this straight, berk. I don’t even pretend to speak for the entire ‘Free League’, all right? This is just me rattlin’ my box about my opinion. Krynn’s a good place. I’ve been there. The bashers what live there got their own opinions and beliefs, but they respect yours if you think different. Seems like the Factions could learn a thing or two from then, hey?”
Hands of Havoc
“The Revolution has begun, and on a Prime world! They have already cast out their corrupt Powers, and struck off the chains that were put on them in the name of obedience to their ‘betters’! Their rallying cry has become: ‘Power to the people! We don’t need the Powers! Now is the Age of Mortals! WE DON’T NEED YOU!’
“We must take the example of the Revolutionary Heroes of Krynn. Down with the Powers! Down with the ruling elite! POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”
Harmonium
“Krynn needs some enlightenment. They had the right idea at first — the Lawful, orderly peace loving types got together and fought against the forces of Evil. But then, when they were winning, they got some barmy notion about ‘Preserving the Balance’ and stopped. Just STOPPED! If they’d really understood what was important, they could have cleaned up their entire world, and made it safe for decent folks. But they stopped.
“Maybe when we get Oerth cleaned up, we need to go there next. Get people shaped up and straightened out; teach them some discipline, and bring harmony to Krynn. So what if the planet is leaving the multiverse. Wherever it goes, they’ll need us. We know what’s best, after all.”
Heralds of Dust
“Those poor Krynnish sods. If I could, I would pity them. All their pain and misery, and they still cling to the delusion that it is real life. The world itself, though…it’s fading in and out of existence is the final stages of it’s purification, and it will soon achieve True Death.
“What of the Krynnfolk when this occurs? Their stubborn refusal to admit the truth will force them to begin anew the process of understanding Death on some other world, as it is unlikely that any of them truly understand what is happening. They are losing their chance to achieve True Death. I do not pity them.”
Mercykillers
“Chant is, Krynn has the right idea about justice. Justice is always served, and the punishment fits the crime. A barmy emperor tries to lead the entire planet in rebellion against the Powers, and the Powers punish the planet. A Knight betrays his oath and family, and is sentenced to relive his betrayal every night for eternity. I respect that.”
Mind’s Eye
“A wonderful dream, Krynn. Filled with glorious struggles against overwhelming odds, stories of heroes, and containing all the best elements of a great tragedy. Still, all dreams-even the most fascinating-must come to an end. I wonder what I will dream about next?”
Society of Sensation
“I’ve been to Krynn. I’ve experienced some of what it has to offer. I know it is there. But if the Guvners are right, it won’t be there forever. Seems a pity, for it was truly lovely — for a Prime. Still, I’ve experienced it, and as long as I remember those experiences it will still exist for me.”
Transcendent Order
“The people of Krynn obviously think too much. Look: the more you think, the more you overrule your instincts. The more you overrule your instincts, the more you separate yourself from the multiverse. Krynn is disappearing from the multiverse entirely. Sounds like they think too much to me.”
Xaositects
“They had raw Chaos loose there three times: before Krynn was created, when the Greygem was unleashed, and when the Chaos-power was loose just before the Second Cataclysm. All three times, they tried to impose order on it. No wonder they’re having problems-they oppose what’s normal! Sheesh!”
Being an Explanation of the Recent History of the prime World Krynn
Seems We’re the Clueless Ones After All…
Ruin deKaye, a good friend of mine (and frequent drinker in the Pentacle) took issue with me just the other day. There I was, mouthing off about the Krynnish and how clueless they are, making snide comments about their recent troubles, and Ruin tells me that this stuff is all ancient history! “News” that’s thirty years old! Well, I’d never…
‘Course, you can’t just take that for granted, cutters, so I got Ruin to record her little speech in the Mimir for you. And I stand by my word: The primes of Krynn are still the most clueless, but then as a tout I find that an Inspirational Quality — think of all the extra jink I can make explaining all those things to ’em!
Well, I’ll leave you in Ruin’s more than capable hands. Spire’s Calling!
Voilá!
Krynn is Old News, Cutters!
Do all you leatherheads got your faces stuck in a mug of bub, or what? Where have you been? The Summer of Chaos has been and gone for more than thirty years on Krynn! Pick up your jaw and keep on reading:
The Krynnish are more clueless than most planewalkers can even imagine. They’ve been so wrapped up in their own history they’ve had no time to wonder what’s beyond their own back yard. However, there’ve been a few who’ve dared to look beyond — Raistlin Majere, for one — and it seems whenever they do, big things happen…
Now, Raistlin’s a creepy spellslinger, to say the least. Pale golden skin, gold eyes with hour-glass shaped pupils, this Krynnish black-robed mage sought to challenge Krynn’s Queen of Darkness, Takhisis herself. What the Krynnish call the Abyss, we know to be Baator’s second level, where the Dragonqueen, Tiamat, rules.
Yes, Tiamat. That would make Paladine, the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut. And Gilean the Grey Voyager, not a dragon himself, but the god of neutral knowledge, in one of his many manifestations on various primes [Maybe he’s Thoth, cutters — Voilà !]. So be there dragons, good and evil, and knowledge, Krynn’s three higher powers will never die.
They are lesser gods as the Power’s Pantheon goes, but they are gods, none the less. Other gods, like Chislev, Habbakuk, Hiddukel, Zivilyn, Sargonnas, and their children of magic, being Nuitari, Takhisis’ son, Lunitari, Gilean’s daughter, and Solinari, Paladine’s son. At the end of the Summer of Chaos, these gods left their Crystal Sphere to save it from their Father of All and of Nothing, Chaos incarnate. They left willingly, to save their creation, their children, to leave them to fight their own battles from henceforth, and let them survive — if they would — on their own. As the powers’ avatars left Krynn, they left word amongst their few true disciples left, that they were leaving — permanently, for a new place.
So came the Second Cataclysm. The first was heralded by the thirteen days of warning, the Night of Doom, when the true clerics left the land, and finally, the fiery mountain that sundered the continent of Ansalon. The Second Cataclysm brought no fiery mountain, no loss of clerics — but this: Magic, as the Krynnish wizards knew it, was gone. With Solinari, Lunitari, and Nuitari’s disappearance from the Krynnish pantheon, along with the rest of their fellow gods, magic in its form on Krynn ceased to exist. The second came with the loss of the gods themselves — the loss of clerical magic. Healing spells, divinity, everything. It was not that the Krynnish peoples turned their faces from the gods in their spite for the havoc, destruction, and utter chaos the first Cataclysm left behind, but the fact that there truly were no gods any more. For a time until the Fourth Dragon War, mankind on Krynn had, in their centuries of hate and unfaithfulness, forgotten about their gods, and thought they had left Krynn. (There have been a total of five now, the first between the gods and dragons of good [metallic] and the gods and dragons of evil [chromatic]. Unlike some primes, Chromatic and Metallic dragons are the only kind of dragons that exist on Krynn.)
New Magic, New Danger
With the loss of the three Robe’s wizardly magic, a new kind was discovered and developed: Sorcery. Primal magic. Stuff formed of the elements, brought from the creation. Without divine aid, healing was futile. Clerics, still strong in their love and belief of the gods, sought a way to continue aiding the injured, amongst other clerical jobs. Finally, they came across Mysticism, which came from the faith of the heart, love, and hope. Of course, evil mystics and sorcerers, like evil clerics and wizards, still existed, and discovered this magic for themselves, wrapping it about them to suit their purposes as they have always done.
[Make a body wonder if Krynn’s new magic exists on other planes too, of just their world. Is it more, or less powerful than our magic, or is it just different? Could this be to do with the phasing of the prime in and out of our multiverse, or is that screed too? — Voilà !]
The Summer of Chaos is over. It’s been over for some thirty [Prime] years now, and look at us — we’re only starting to catch up on it. Dragons, mostly chromatic, with perhaps two metallic somewhere in the land, rule Ansalon in great, divided territories. The dragons, in turn, bow to the greatest dragon ever seen on Krynn, next to Wyrmfather, who Huma killed during the Third Dragon War involving the people of Krynn. (The fourth in total, as the Krynnish were unaware of the first battle between the gods and their dragons.)
But what a party the Summer of Chaos was! Magma dragons, shadows, the great and powerful Knights of Takhisis storming to take the land.. Ah, the havoc was beautiful. The Lords of Doom around the burg of Sanction smoked and erupted constantly! With Chaos, so angry at being trapped in the Graygem for so long, finally loose — well, it made Hive riots look like Bleaker picnics, if you ask me.
Portals In and Portals Out
And another thing — Krynnish portals never worked right in the first place! See, they had these five Towers of High Sorcery where they did all their wizardly stuff, spread out across Ansalon. They didn’t want to waste their energy on teleportation spells, so the made these five portals to go between the five towers. Now, one black robe, in all his evil curiosity, was haunted in his dreams by a lovely, seductive woman who told him if he’d only open the portal for her, he could have what he wanted — her, in flesh and blood. Well, he opened the bloody thing, and let in the Queen of Darkness, which started the First Dragon War between for the Krynnish. (You can guess that it really was the second.) Anyway, after this, the wizards decided they’d never do that again, so they sealed up the portals, stuck them in the towers, and said ‘Only a cleric, being Paladine’s Chosen and of Infinite Goodness, working willingly in clear mind with a Black Robe Mage of black soul and blacker ambitions of Infinite Evil may together, jointly, open the portals again.’ And whaddaya know? It actually happened. Figures.
Anyway, I don’t recommend going to Baator any time soon to ask the Queen if she’d kindly let you in to Krynn sometime in the next, oh, few hundred thousand millennia. See, Tiamat can hold a grudge, and being a five-headed dragon and all, she’s got five (well, four, since white dragons are so sodding stupid!) times the reason to hold a grudge, what with her defeat and all. She was so close to ruling the continent, but no! Bahamut, her big brother, (Gilean is also her brother), said they’d go! Do you know how long she’s tried to get control of all of Krynn? Five Dragon Wars and all the centuries in between, that’s how long! I’d be pretty steamed, too.
As for getting on to Krynn any other way — well, the Crystal Sphere is closed to all, and damned if even the Spelljammer ships can get in there any more. There are only two Towers of High Sorcery remaining, and, as such, only two stable portals. The rest are nonexistent, being destroyed by the Kingpriest’s idiocy during the Reign of Istar that brought down the First Cataclysm, or by the Cataclysm itself. If you’re curious, one stands in Palanthas, and the other in the mysterious, deadly, magical Forest of Wayreth.
Well, that’s all I can say for Krynn. Wish I’d been there!
Ruin de Kaye
Tiefling priest of Celestian and Planewalker
Source: Keri Rodgers
Being an Explanation of the Recent History of the prime World Krynn
The Debate Goes On…
Ruin’s recording on the Mimir provoked a good deal of speculation and interest. Kiri the Forgotten’s come forward with yet another angle on Krynn’s recent troubles. He argues that the Balance is in the process of being served, and the warning mightn’t be stated but is implied: Don’t Interfere!
“Mimir, tell them what Kiri has to say on the matter…”
Voilá!
Swings and Roundabouts
Ruin deKaye does a nice job of telling things as they are, but there’s another bit of the dark that deKaye failed to mention: Why Krynn is falling away from us. And it ain’t from some Overpower or nothin’ like that. The real answer is much more interesting…
Think about it, berk. The sphere of Mystara entered the same way Krynn’s leaving, through dilations of it’s sphere or whatever the Guvners say it is. The fact is, it’s here now. Now, since that sphere slipped in, it only makes sense that one has to slip out, to maintain the balance of the multiverse. Why was Krynn chosen to slip out? Beats me, berk. I ain’t playing mimir here, just a guess as to what’s going on in that barmy little shell over there.
But why did, all of the sudden, the gods leave and Krynn slipped? Things like that don’t happen without a lot of deliberation. And I’m sure a body could find a zillion reasons why it happened by looking at Krynn, but I wouldn’t other ideas in the dead-book yet, because I heard through the razorvine that one group in particular was involved in the reality shift of Krynn: the Rilmani.
See, in order to maintain the balance of having Mystara slip into our reality, they had to slip one out. The rilmani must’ve figured that Krynn was a major upset to the balance or something, despite rattling their bone-boxes about the Balance and so on, and convinced the pantheon of Krynn to somehow shift Krynn into another place to keep the Balance even.
Don’t ask me how, berk. I told you I’m not playing mimir here. Just telling you what I heard. So what now for Krynn? Well, it leaves, and in a few millennia, it’s forgotten about. That is, until the next sphere slips into our reality.
Then we just have to wonder which one gets hipped next.
Source: Alec Fleschner