Ansalon & Krynn

Krynn, the planet of Dragonlance, is a (very small) planet where one continent has been (not enough) explored in the novels: Ansalon.

Krynn has also a very defined cosmology, with constellations, and planets, and moons, tied to the gods of that universe.

And yet, few things are clearly known about Krynn.

And that can actually be harnessed to both offer a drastically different experience to the players, while tying to an (even more) apocalyptic vision of the universe of Dragonlance.

The State of the Art

Order! Order! Order!

The first thing to recognize is that Krynn is a very ordered system: Months are strictly 28 days long, moons have respectively a strict orbit of 8, 28 and 36 days, and years are composed of 12 months (in total, 336 days):

• Which means the Solar month is exactly the same as the Lunar (Lunitari) month.
  
• Which also means that in one year, Nuitari makes exactly 42 orbits around Krynn, Lunitari makes exactly 12 orbits.
• Which also means that in three years, Solinari makes exactly 28 orbits (i.e. 9+1⁄3 orbits per year).
• In other words, each and every years, at the same day, the sun and Nuitari and Lunitari are exactly at the same position in the skies.
• and, each and every 3 years, at the same day, the sun and Nuitari, Lunitari and Solinari are exactly at the same position in the skies.

(i.e. most numbers here are integers, there's at most one smallish rational number, and no real number.)

Where's the leap year? Where's the slow divergence between the calendar years and the real years we experience in the real world? Where's the slow divergence between the moon months and the real months, and at the same time, where are the months with seemingly random length?

One might argue that Krynn's cycles are "round" because, worldbuilding-wise, it's much simpler than create a fully-fledged calendar with all its quirks (e.g. the Antique Egyptian calendar, and its 5 additional days). And that one is most probably right (this is why D&D's Mystara has exactly the same calendar).

But I'd like to take an inverted approach: Our real world cycles are not perfectly rounded down because this is the real universe, which is very complex, is full or irrational numbers, and which works as-is. In contrast, Krynn is governed by gods who are mostly of lawful alignment, i.e., who are obsessed with Order (as opposed to Chaos).

In that case, it would make sense to have a Krynn whose perfect cycles are actually enforced by the gods themselves. This might even be considered as another proof that Krynn's gods exist in the universe of Krynn (in the case the existence of cleric's divine magic wasn't enough for you) (see P.S.).

So, the conclusion here is that the gods of Krynn, again, cannot be ignored, and that in case we find a correlation between two observations in the Krynn's universe, there's a greater chance this correlation is, instead, causation.

The Continent(s)

“We have seen the lands beyond the seas, haven’t we, apprentice. When we look into the flaming water, we can see them and those who dwell there. To control them would be simplicity itself—”

— Raistlin, to Dalamar
Legend of the Twins

Despite all the fan-made content like Adlatum, and even the official expansions like Taladas, the core novels and rulebooks focus only on one continent: Ansalon.

I can't find the source right now, but I seem to remember that, for Tracy Hickman, like Middle Earth, Ansalon was still full of unexplored zones that could lead to new adventures, and that we did not need more continents, which were published more for monetary reasons than real creative need.

Don't get me wrong: While I don't know Adlatum, so I won't speak about it, I respect the work done on Taladas, even if I only really care for the Minotaur League (which, in retrospect, seems like Mithas and Kothas had a child).

But in the end, the gods of Krynn seem awfully focused on Ansalon, with the Queen of Darkness trying to conquer it for eons.

One could argue that this fight of Good vs. Evil also happens elsewhere, but if that it's the case, then doesn't it seem like some kind of copy-paste? So, I'll pass on that idea.

The Constellations

The constellations of Krynn are awesome... I mean, no other D&D universe has this kind of map:

Even if the rest of Dragonlance's specifics were not already awesome, that map alone would have sold that universe, to me.

And yet, there's something missing, isn't it?

Don't you see it?

Are you sure?

Let me help you with a similar constellation map, for our Earth:

Yeah, there's something different: There's a whole hemisphere missing in the Dragonlance constellation map!

And that's not surprising, because as a universe so focused on Ansalon, what was the need for the northern sky hemisphere?

Also, if ALL the gods have constellations on the southern atmosphere... can we extrapolate the northern atmosphere's content? Not really.

The cheap solution would be to say the northern hemisphere to be a mirror image, or a symmetric image, of the southern hemisphere.

But we've seen that even the position of the constellation in the sky was important, with the major gods nearest to the pole, unless they have been vanquished by Raistlin in an alternate timeline and their constellations was drifting towards the equatorial plane. So the mirror/symmetric image doesn't really fit.

Please not that I'm aware there are probably more stars than just the ones forming constellations. In fact, stars are supposed to be the souls of Krynn's mortals. I'm just discussing the constellations, assuming the stars that compose them somehow stand out (like in the real world).

One way to make all these peculiarities count

Instead of just assuming the missing continents (in the core sources), or missing sky hemisphere, is explained by an unwillingness to describe them, for creative or simply economic reasons, let's assume that there is an in-universe reason for that.

What if Ansalon was the last interesting continent on Krynn?

One could assume the other continents (for there are others) are so uninteresting there's no point in making the effort to explore them, or even visit them: For the gods, the important bits of history happens on Ansalon, and for the mortals, with their current maritime science, the continents are so far away travel by sea is doomed from the start.

So, about these extra continents...?

Let's start from a clean state: all previous continents, fanmade and canon (including the blue-painted celts barbarians) do not exist. Then, let's see what we can have in their stead, that obey our premise of "they cannot be more interesting than Ansalon".

Brainstorming out of my head:

• A continent of large beasts, Skull-Island style, with dinosaurs, giants, possibly dragons (whose life there is much, much more dangerous), and possibly dragonborn! It might be the original continent where the first dragon war happened.
  
• A continent devastated by a cataclysm. Building crumbling, barely any life, and ground actually hostile to life (i.e. something like irradiated matter contamination, everywhere), rampant with mindless undead. It might be the original continent of the Irda, and Ansalon might be the continent where refugees fleeing that settled on? What secrets about the past could be discovered by exploring the ruins of this continent?
• A continent devastated by a chaos magic. Aberrations like beholders, or even demon-style creatures, might thrive, there. Of course, all this chaos magic irradiating anyone visiting this continent cannot be good for their health.
• A continent with a lava sea in its middle (like the lava sea on Taladas), but actually situated on the exact opposite side of Ansalon. The explanation would be that the mountain of fire that fell on Istar actually went through Krynn, and emerged from the other side. Imagine like a bullet going through a body, with a tiny hole on the entrance, and a large one on exit. This continent would be new, having emerged during the cataclysm, and its volcanic ash would have helped worsen the conditions of life on Krynn during the first decades after the Cataclysm (as any volcanic cataclysm would do). This continent would be very very fertile on its borders, colonized by birds, fish, and plants, and, of course, in the middle, the sea of lava, inhabited by alien creatures adapted to the extreme conditions. As the maelstrom of the Blood Sea is supposed to lead to the Abyss, the center of the lava see might be the exit of some other plane (the elemental plane of fire? a plane of chaos?)
  

All these examples seem designed with the Star Wars Universe design notes in mind (i.e. a planet of ice, a planet of desert, a planet of jungle, etc.).

But in the current case, this is acceptable, because, again, Ansalon must remain the central continent of Krynn, and to be interesting, these other continents must be extreme in one way or another.

And what about the constellations?

Whatever what people would discover if moving well into the northern hemisphere, which would be more than 2000 km up the northern edge of Ansalon, would change everything:

• If there are no constellations, then that might mean the gods are really focused on the southern hemisphere, and thus, probably Ansalon
• If there are constellations, and these are not of the known gods, then there might be other gods, which would be really bonkers
• Perhaps there is a patch of sky that is fully dark, with no constellations, nor even stars. What could this mean?
  

One should remember that, unlike the constellations, which are in the southern hemisphere, the moons kinda see both hemispheres of the planet, only one half at a time, with a period of around 24 hours. The same could be said about the planets, who probably are on the same orbital plane as the sun of Krynn, and Krynn itself. So it might be said the most of the gods of neutrality and the gods of magic always have a direct sight on both hemispheres of Krynn, unlike Gilean, and the gods of Good and Evil.

<to be continued...>

P.S.: What about... π ?

Krynn numerologists would certainly agree with my assertions that all these integer (and one rational) numbers have a significance, and in fact, even more advanced Krynn scientists would. And they would all see in this kind of ordered perfection a sign of the gods' influence on Krynn's universe.

But then, take a look at π.

This is an unavoidable geometric constant, the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter. And π is an... irrational number (no matter what some U.S. general assembly congress might legislate).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pi-unrolled-720.gif

The mere existence of π in Krynn might be interpreted as: "No matter how much order the gods might try to impose, chaos will always be part of it." And this view might seem heretic to some...

This might be a way to enrich a D&D campaign conflict with a fundamental discrepancy that any player who went to high school could understand and appreciate.

Food for thoughts.

The Drakeling/Dragon-touched, Krynn's Aasimar/Tiefling

Preamble: This is an expansion of a comment I wrote on the Dragonlance Nexus' article on Aasimars on Krynn you can find here: https://dragonlancenexus.com/aasimar-the-light-bearers. This post will serve as a public expansion on the subject.

Drakeling: The Dragon-touched

Touched by a Dragon
by Illy Kostova

The Dragons of Krynn are much more than simple fire-breathing lizards found in other fantasy worlds. Dragons are powerful, primordial, magical creatures, the first children of the gods, the living embodiment of Krynn, and its primordial and elemental power.

And legends and stories tell of the physical union of such dragons with mere humanoids: The sacrifice of Huma and Heart, as well as the tragedy of Gilthanas and Silvara's love. But if history has told the physical union of dragons and humanoids (humans, elves, ogres, etc.) is possible (the dragon taking the physical form of their humanoid lover), it has also told this union is sterile.

Or is it?

Sometimes, a "miracle" happens.

To the surprise of everyone, no matter the parents, the resulting baby seems like a normal humanoid (i.e. of its humanoid parent's race), but has within them the "magic" of dragons, even if it remains dormant. This person can then grow, and have children of their own, this subtle magic remaining dormant, generation after generation, until, something, be it chance, randomness, tragedy, will cause this "magic" to awaken.

Sometimes, this results in innate magical abilities (see the Draconic Bloodline of the Sorcerer class). Sometimes, this results in physical traits, the signs of this person being "dragon-touched", or, as sometimes known in academic circles, a "drakeling".

Appearance

A drakeling can originate from any race, but its draconic traits will somehow override the traits inherited from their parents.

Most commonly, a drakeling will show a random set of draconic traits and behaviors, which varies from subject to subject. Among them, a peculiar color of hair, of eyes, or even skin, or also having vertical pupils, vestigial horns, a few scales, vestigial wings or tails, claws instead of nails, pointed teeth, unusual blood color, etc..

More subtly, as they bear the power of the dragons, they usually show some kind of strange charisma, as well as an unexpected resistance to extreme elements, like fire, or cold.

Freaks of nature?

The drakeling are so rare, generations could pass without one appearing, which explains both the lack of folk knowledge about them, as well as the poor academic writings on their subject. And the initial appearance of one does a lot to cement a perception of that person in the eyes of onlookers.

During the time of the Kingpriest of Istar, or after the capaclysm, during the rise of false religions here and there, as dragons had become a legend, the birth of a baby with such signs would probably condemn them to a horrible life as a freak, if not outright death (and the same for their parents) by superstitious mobs, who would consider them the spawn of evil, or the result of a horrible sin by their parents.

Few would see them as a sign of luck, or even divine favor (and most of them would have happened before the Third Dragon War).

Dragons themselves, no matter their alignment, might find such "dragon-touched" concept strange, alien, or even abhorrent, to be pitied or vilified.

Unless they hide their physical alterations, drakeling will, at the very best, provoke suspicion around them, explaining a life of adventure and/or loneliness.

D&D5 Traits

Drakeling share certain racial traits as a result of their draconic ancestry.

Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma score increases by 2.

Age: Drakelings mature at the same rate as humans but live a few years longer.

Size: Drakelings are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.

Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet/9 metres.

Darkvision: Thanks to your draconic heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet/18 metres of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Draconic Legacy: You know the thaumaturgy cantrip.

Draconic Aura: Starting at 3rd level, you can use your action to unleash the draconic energy within yourself, causing your eyes to turn into pools of color related to your dragon ancestry, and two incorporeal wings to sprout from your back.

The instant you transform, other creatures within 10 feet/3 metres of you that can see you must each succeed on a Charisma saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) or become frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

These incorporeal wings can enable you to control your fall: Using your movement provides you with the equivalent of a Feather Fall.

At the 10th level, the wings can actually enable you to fly, as per the Fly spell.

Once you use this Draconic Aura trait, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Draconic.

Subraces: Dragon Ancestry

While the dragon ancestry can be considered a subrace of the drakeling, in rule terms, they are all the same, providing the same kind of powers, templated after the dragon ancestry.

Ability Score Increase: Depending on your ancestry, and how it altered you, another Ability is increased by 1 (by default, Intelligence).

Draconic Resistance: You have resistance to one damage type depending on your draconic ancestry (e.g. a red drakeling would resist fire, a silver drakeling would resist cold, etc.).

Alignment: The alignement of the dragon ancestry also seems to color the morals and ethics of the drakeling, even if this effect is far from being dominant.

Appearance: The physical alterations of the drakeling are usually tied to the specifics of their dragon ancestry.

Conclusion

While I'm not sure aasimars and tieflings are adapted to the Dragonlance setting, them missing as a player option is problematic.

The drakeling is similar enough in concept with these races, and can integrate easily within the Dragonlance universe without stretching its credibility and coherence.

And with their origin, which is probably a tragic story (impossible/forbidden love, or something much darker), their existence is so exceptional it would have a potential for grandeur and tragedy.

P.S.: Design Notes

As a Dragonlance dungeon master, I try to keep only the subset of rules and options that is Dragonlance-friendly. For example, as orcs do not exist in Dragonlance, half-orcs are not an option. And yet, the concept is still available to players with half-ogres.

Two races are, in my humble opinion, really problematic: the aasimar and the tiefling, because these taste too much of angels and demons (see The role of Fiends in Dragonlance, and Why reworking the "afterlife" for my campaign? for more details on that).

And yet, the concept is intriguing, and D&D5 players might feel cheated if they wanted to play one, and found no Krynn native equivalent to these races.

So, let's assume aasimar and tiefling do not exist in Krynn, as angels and demons do not (again, this is a personal take on Krynn), and that we need a similar concept to still keep the players' options open.

So, if we look up for mythical and powerful creatures in Dragonlance, the best we can find are... Dragons.

As proper to the setting, dragons are the apex creatures of the world, and can easily fill the role of angels and demons. And the canon already have stories of  tragic love affairs between dragons and humanois (see Huma/Heart, as well as Gilthanas/Silvara). The fact such love is supposed to be sterile is an invitation to exceptions.

So, let's ask the rethorical question: "What if Huma and Heart had a baby?

So, an aasimar/tiefling-style race originating from a forbidden union between a dragon and a humanoid is not only possible, but adapted to the setting.

In rule terms, the drakeling race is obviously based on the aasimar and tiefling races, which share the same D&D5e stats, so it was natural to reuse these stats, mostly unmodified.

Also, the way aasimars and tiefling traits appear, out of nowhere, from seemingly normal parents, is conserved with the drakeling.

In the end the only change is the original union: Instead of one angel or devil ascendant, we have a dragon ascendant, which obviously is much more dragonlance-y.

The last thing is to keep their number extra-low: There are no mention of such phenomena anywhere in the books (of course), so we can't just retcon everything. Few, if any, would suspect the "dragon gene" to be passed through generations, and most, if not all, would suspect something more like a spontaneous mutation.

Drakeling vs. Dragonborn vs. Draconians

The three races remain different.

A drakeling is obviously an humanoid, despite so traits. A dragonborn is a "walking lizard" with physical dragon powers, including dragon breath (also, there are no dragonborns in my campaign, obviously). Also, dragonborns mating would result in a dragonborn baby. A draekelin's offspring would be of its humanoid's race (perhaps with the "magic of the dragon" hidden gene)

The difference with the draconian similar, but with the following specifics: The draconian is a corruption of the parent dragon, and are sterile (if we except those having found a way to reproduce).

Appearance?

As said before, like the aasimar (and, to a less extent, the tiefling), there would be little difference between the drakeling and their humanoid parents, if we except random draconic traits.

One major difference with the aasimar is the the feathered-style wings we see in D&D5e aasimars are instead draconic-style wings for the drakeling. Instead of the devil-like deformities of tieflings, these might be draconic, too (not that this would change a lot).

Draconic traits vary from subject to subject, and could be peculiar colors of hair, eyes, or even skin, slit pupils, blood color, vestigial horns, a few scales, vestigial wings or tail, nails, pointed teeth, etc..

Sources

This drakeling/dragon-touched was inspired by Dragonlance' mythology, and reusing the standard D&D5 tiefling race stats, while giving a look to the aasimar found in the Volo's.

But, for what is worth, here's a playable race, available on the Dungeon Masters Guild. I didn't read it, but it might be interesting.