True

The weeks following Kalak’s death were extremely difficult for the crafters, merchants, and nobility who had once prospered through slavery and the old balance of power. In the brickyards of the Smiths’ District (ironically, under the shadow of the ziggurat where Kalak was struck down), a handful of business owners found common cause when discussing their grievances. They began to meet in secret and explore the means by which they could return Tyr to its former ways.

Initially, the organization was unsuccessful, doing little more than complaining and lobbying templars and freemen without gain. This situation changed when the group recruited a templar and an influential noble.

Location: The brickyards of the Smiths’ District continue to be important to the True. Several members work here by day as supervisors and equipment suppliers, keeping their ears open for disgruntled merchants, templars, or guards who might be recruited. The True also monitors the workers, identifying those who might become leaders in the cause of freedom and arranging work “accidents” for them.

Plot: The adventurers are approached by Nori, a mul ex-slave who often represents the free slave faction. She suspects foul play in the death of a wellregarded brickyard supervisor and asks the party to investigate the event discreetly. Careful questioning reveals that disappearances are common, but asking too many questions results in an ambush by the True.

Plot: Quaan thirsts for the power he once had, but he disagrees with Murter’s methods. His crisis of conscience increases as the True’s bloodshed escalates. Adventurers who are investigating the brickyards will frequently meet Quaan, who convincingly plays the role of an overworked, oblivious bureaucrat. Altruistic characters might convince him to turn against the True; self-serving characters could instead solidify his dedication to the organization.

Plot: Murter Dyan isn’t satisfied with his family’s interests in Tyr’s iron mine and wants more power. He has been grooming a talented templar psionicist, Azzer Lirin, to assassinate Minister Borger. Azzer has joined the True, but he doesn’t trust Murter entirely. The psionicist senses that the noble might try to eliminate him after the deed is done. To ingratiate himself with Murter, Azzer decides to go through with the assassination but then frames the adventurers for the crime so as to remain in Murter’s good graces. Whether this scheme works as Azzer intended it to is up to the DM.

The True must operate in complete secrecy. Many factions oppose the group or seek its demise, including nobles such as Agis of Asticles, the other deposers of Kalak, the freed slaves, the Veiled Alliance, and templar competitors. Thus, the True uses a cell structure similar to that of the Veiled Alliance. Members employ pass phrases and signs to communicate without being identified by others. Each also carries an emblem hidden on his or her person—a ceramic disc with an image of Kalak on one side and a draconic humanoid on the other.

Each cell has specific objectives based on its strengths. Some engage in political negotiations, pressuring nobles and other members of the council. Others spy on merchants, working to prevent the merchant houses from gaining too much power. Those with arcane capabilities research the ziggurat as well as the Gray.

The True has set the following goals for itself.

• Prepare Tyr for a return to its former ways by destabilizing the free city and the new council.
• Weaken or defeat the Veiled Alliance, and steal the knowledge of what that group saw in the ziggurat.
• Bring back slavery and the power of templars.
• Reinstate Kalak or another sorcerer-king.
• Combine ancient elemental power with other power sources to restore Kalak or create a replacement (see “Recent Developments”).

People: The True includes business owners, craftworkers, and their underlings, all of whom have a proclivity for violence. Several are accomplished psionicists or defiling arcanists.

Location/Plot: The Artisan District has become a workplace for many freed slaves. The dwarf Lumbros, an obsidian weapon crafter and a member of the True, plans a series of intrigues to destabilize Tyr. Jossi the Juggler (Dark Sun® Campaign Setting, page 137) has noticed his efforts, though she does not know his motives. The adventurers can rescue Jossi when the True ambushes her for prying too deeply. She knows that Lumbros’s allies are delving into Under-Tyr and recommends that the heroes visit the store Athas Revealed to procure a map if they want to help her. If the characters ever get in over their heads, Jossi’s network of thieves could come to the rescue.

Plot: Veiled Alliance members were the last to see Kalak and the interior of his ziggurat, and they sealed it with powerful wards. The True initiates raids on key Alliance safe houses to steal the alliance’s knowledge. The Veiled Alliance turns to the adventurers for help recovering the scrolls and tomes from the True. Divinations suggest that some of these items were taken into Under-Tyr and others to Altaruk.

Plot: The village of Altaruk is an important merchant outpost. The True has also learned that it is controlled by the Veiled Alliance. A True cell is preparing to assassinate Altaruk’s leader, control its trade, and investigate an ancient elemental temple in the hills nearby. (The Free RPG Day 2010 adventure Bloodsand Arena is useful for this plot arc.)

Merchant Factions: Since slaves are the primary commodity of House Ianto, its members could become allies of the True. House Stel of Urik might help to destabilize Tyr in preparation for war. House Wavir opposes slavery and could provide the adventurers with support against the True, especially in defense of Altaruk.

Plot: As the characters unravel the True’s hierarchy, they hear the name of Shoshana Beryl (Dark Sun Campaign Setting, page 135). Manipulated by Murter Dyan into acting as a front for him and pressing for a powerful noble senate, Shoshana is unaware of the True. Agis of Asticles is concerned about her and might aid the characters’ investigations.

Claiming to have been sent by the elements themselves, a mul named Obadias recently approached the True. He brings strange knowledge of how primordial elements can be combined with psionic or arcane energy within the ziggurat to raise Kalak. Murter Dyan’s support for Obadias outweighs Quaan’s skepticism. The True now delves into ancient elemental mysteries from a base of operations hidden in the area of Under-Tyr known as the Belly of the Noble. Obadias is obsessed with locating portals to the Gray, as well as discovering a means of entering the ziggurat.

Campaign Sketchbook

Location: Linna, a half-elf True spy, is an assistant to Myrak Vemet, the owner of Athas Revealed (Dark Sun Campaign Guide, page 140). She reports anyone who asks questions about the areas of Under-Tyr where the True operates.

Location: Although dangerous, the Screaming Cellar (Dark Sun Campaign Guide, page 140) is one way to access Under-Tyr and reach the True’s base. Recent rumors claim that the screaming comes from a dwarf banshee, which will grant access to those who help it complete the dwarven focus it had chosen while still living.

Plot: Sartaj, a Veiled Alliance cell leader with links to Altaruk, believes that the True is preparing to enter the ziggurat to conduct a terrible ritual. She seeks heroes to defeat the group. Her efforts are stymied by an influential Veiled Alliance teacher named Marama, who argues that there is no danger. He has been turned to the cause of the True and betrays the characters at an inopportune moment.

The ruthlessness of Murter Dyan and the elemental research of Obadias has made the True into a formidable adversary.

The members of the True detailed below make up the upper echelon of the group. As former bodyguards and gladiators, guardians and weapon mages combine skill in weapons with corrupted arcane energy to harry opponents and protect their cells. Mirage weavers act primarily as spies and negotiators, combining psionics with elemental energy to create powerful illusions. Corruptors, able to drain life from others, are the masterminds responsible for arcane research, often in concert with human defilers.

Members of the True are often human, but other races are represented. The triggered action powers from this article can be added to Dark Sun humanoids (dragonborn/dray, dwarves, elves, goliaths/ half-giants, halflings, humans, and mul) as theme powers to create a consistent feel in a True-based campaign. The defiler monster theme, ravenous powers, and shadowborn monster theme can also help turn mundane creatures into agents of the True.

Lower-status cells in the True are made up of less experienced members. The defiler assassin, dwarf sunpriest, elven assassin, goliath enforcer, and human fire elementalist are great choices for lower-level encounters. The True trains creatures such as baazrags, braxats, and jhakars as guardian pets. When traversing the wilderness, the True favors fast-moving mounts such as crodlus and kanks. Defilers summon silt elementals and magma elementals for important missions.