TSR 2411 DSR3 The Veiled Alliance.pdf

Veiled Alliance

A DARK SUN

Sourcebook

by Allen Varney

TSR, Inc.

POB 756

Lake Geneva

WI 53147

U.S.A.

TSR Ltd.

120 Church End

Cherry Hinton

Cambridge, CB1 3LB

United Kingdom

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Veiled Alliance

by Allen Varney

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 1: The AllianceAn Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 2: Inside The Alliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 3: The Alliance in the Seven Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Tyr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Balic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Draj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 9

Gulg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 8

Nibenay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Raam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Urik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Villages and Oases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 88

Chapter 4: The Veiled Alliance Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Credits

Edited by Doug Stewart

Project Coordination by Timothy B. Brown

Cartography by Diesel

Typesetting by Tracey Zamagne

Graphic Production by Sarah Feggestad

Cover Art by Brom

Interior Art by Tom Baxa

Special Thanks to Warren Spector Rick Swan Don Webb

In my seventh year my family visited the elven

marketplace, amid Tyrs slave warrens. Through a

mob of haughty merchants and greedy tradesmen I

saw a squad of King Kalaks soldiers moving from

booth to booth. People crowded into the bazaar as

tight as kanks in harness, yet they gave the patrol

plenty of room.

A soldier spotted a thin old woman in Raamian

silks. He cried out and the leader, a big mul,

grabbed her. He demanded, Where is he?

Whats the contact word?

The crowd around me fell silent. I could feel their

tension and their hostility to the patrol. One of

these days. . . one man whispered. A compan-

ion hushed him.

The woman spoke, in what I took for a foreign

language. Her words echoed strangely. The air in

the marketplace, still and charged with energy, as a

calm before a storm. Then she hobbled away. The

soldiers stood stock-still, but they trembled. I no-

ticed a plant sellers booth behind the patrol; the

green plants trembled in the same way.

The old woman spoke again as she walked, mut-

tering, yet every word carried perfectly. Waves of air

rippled about her, the way the air waves on the hori-

zon. The blur vanished in the crowd.

I saw a heavy fist rise into view, then another, then

vanish again. She cried out. Others attacked her.

A round me, people shouted, urging them on.

Witch! they chanted. Kill the witch! By the

time the soldiers woke, the crowd had finished her

off, and worse. The mages death did not satisfy the

mob; her body suffered much more. When the mul

leader shouted, Well take her and burn her!

they cheered.

For the only time in my life I saw a crowd cheer

Kalaks guards. For the first time I saw wizards

magic. For the first time I understood its peril.

and preservers alike-and not only blame, but de-

spise them. For protection from nearly universal ha-

tred, the good wizards of Athas and their allies have

formed secret societies, collectively known as the

Veiled Alliance.

campaign: its secrets, notable

members, activities, and its role in adventures. Indi-

vidual entries describe the seven city-states Alli-

ances in detail, and they also give further

information about the city-states themselves, adding

to that in the DARK SUN boxed campaign set.

This background helps flesh out any adventure set

in a city-state, even scenarios that dont involve the

Veiled Alliance.

rule books, the boxed

campaign set, and The Complete Psionics Hand-

book to use this supplement. The Dragon Kings

hardcover rules supplement should prove useful as

well.

Everything that follows is for the DMs eyes only!

Players should stop reading here!

Key Concepts

In reading this book, keep the following ideas in

mind. They help in understanding the Alliances

purpose, both on the world of Athas and in role-

playing adventures.

1. Each city-state holds a different Alliance.

The seven do not belong to one united group,

they do not cooperate, and they share no leaders.

Members of one Alliance do not automatically be-

come members of another. At best, the different

groups respect each other, and may offer courtesy

assistance to a foreign member who arrives in town.

For that matter, an individual Alliance usually

numbers its members in the dozens. Because many

of its members command powerful magic, an Alli-

ance can marshal far greater power than its size may

indicate.

About This Supplement

Magic has left the world of Athas a deadly desert.

Its people blame all magicians for its ruin, defilers

This sourcebook describes the Alliance in a

DARK SUN

You need the AD&D

2. The Alliance does not hold lofty ideals.

components, magical items, and the like. It ma es

The organization primarily exists to help its pre-

server members to survive. individual Alliances in

the Tyr Region fight the sorcerer-kings and destroy

defilers but only to survive. Alliance members have

their own goals, but rarely espouse causes to better

the Athasian condition. Like most people on Athas,

its wizards find brute survival challenging enough

without creating new goals and potential new ene-

mies.

rescues, springs prisoners from captivity, and inter-

rupts dangerous ceremonies. Who does it enlist to

do all this? Thats right: the player characters.

Any good or neutral character, not just a pre-

server, can join an Alliance. These organizations

need everyone who can help them. They treat non-

wizard auxiliary members well, though not as

well as preservers. Also, most Alliance missions re-

quire stealth, and small groupsabout the size of a

group of player characters.

3. The Alliance offers an excellent premise for any

city-based Athasian campaign.

Note a less obvious advantage for the overworked

DM: the Alliance operates in strict secrecy. Not

even its members know all its operations. If you have

no plot-related reason for the heroes to embark on

an adventure, dont wait. The Alliance offers every

excuse to keep its reasons mysterious!

Though not in itself heroic, the Alliances goals

often match those of heroic player characters.

The society fights evil defilers. templars, and

sorcerer-kings. It sends members on quests for spell

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