This alternate timeline was presented in the short story There Is Another Shore, You Know, Upon the Other Side by Roger E. Moore in the third dragons anthology, Dragons of Chaos. It was originally released by Wizards of the Coast on January 1, 1997. You can buy a copy here: https://amzn.to/3WV3ero 

What if the Kingpriest of Istar had never fallen? What if the gods had never turned away from Krynn? And what if the fiery mountain never came—and the Empire of Istar stood unbroken?

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to talk about the alternate timeline Istar Triumphant. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga YouTube members and Patreon patrons, and invite you to consider becoming a member or patron by following the links in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing Roger E. Moore’s short story There Is Another Shore, You Know, Upon the Other Side from the third Dragons anthology, Dragons of Chaos for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!

In this alternate timeline… the Kingpriest succeeded. He conquered not only the world… but the gods themselves.

This timeline begins when the Graygem of Gargath fell into the Kingpriest’s hands, everything changed. He no longer sought to cleanse evil—he sought to own the light. The gem, having trapped Chaos itself, gave him the power to command divinity. He bound the True Gods in mortal form, stripped them of their thrones, and declared himself the Godking of Krynn.

Under his  rule, Istar became the center of all creation… and all who lived upon Krynn bowed to him. The world that followed was not destroyed by fire—it was consumed by order. From the shores of Ergoth to the deserts of Khur, every kingdom became a Dominion of Istar. The banners of the blue eye and golden sun fluttered above every city. Laws of purity replaced laws of freedom.

The Knights of Solamnia rebelled, but were driven down and broken by the magic of the Godking’s priests. They served as paladins of the Godking’s peace—hunting wizards, heretics, and any who defied Istar’s perfection. Everywhere, the Eye gazed down—the symbol of the Godking’s sight and judgment. It was stamped into coins, carved above doorways, branded into slaves. Even the heavens bore his mark.

Where once three moons governed the flow of magic, now there was only one: a massive, blue-tinted orb that filled the night sky. At its center glowed a dark pupil—the living eye of the Godking himself. To the faithful, this world seemed pure and bright. But beneath its light, there was no compassion—only fear.

The Years of Hunting began with the proclamation that the impure must be erased. Kender were the first to fall—called “the children of chaos.” Goblins, ogres, minotaurs, and gnomes followed. Each race was hunted to extinction in the name of divine order. The elves fared only slightly better. Deemed “close to perfection,” they were allowed to live—but only as favored servants of Istar’s priests, their ancient pride chained to the service of tyranny.

Magic itself was broken. When the moons merged, the Orders of High Sorcery lost their gods and their power. The towers were seized, their knowledge burned. The Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas was reclaimed—its blackened stones restored to white marble, its Shoikan Grove made a garden of light. But where wizards once studied in freedom, now priests watched for treason.

The True Gods still existed, but they were broken— stripped of their power, imprisoned in mortal form. Zeboim, once goddess of the sea, was bound to galleys’ hulls, dragged through the oceans until the salt stripped her flesh and drowned for weeks at a time. Gilean was blinded, his libraries burned, his name erased from history. And Paladine—Lord of Light—was silent. Some whispered he had been caged within the Tower of Istar itself, forced to kneel before his high priest, ultimately he was chained to a rock by the sea. Takhiss was abused, and last seen in Kalaman, she was drugged all over Ansalon to perform.

The Godking tolerated no rival divinity. Even faith itself became a form of slavery. The once-proud nations of Ansalon became provinces of the world empire. Solamnia was now a Dominion of Righteousness, its knights serving as inquisitors. Ergoth, now the Dominion of Greater Ergoth, was reduced to bureaucracy and servitude. Every dominion tithed their harvest, their sons, and their faith to Istar.

All the gods have been laid low by the Godking. To worship another deity was to commit blasphemy against perfection. Yet not all bowed willingly. In the shadows of Palanthas, whispers spoke of rebellion—of a dwarf with no hands who remembered the forge of the gods. That dwarf was Dougan Redhammer, once known to the world as Reorx. He was enslaved, with his mighty hands chopped off. Where he once wielded a hammer which forged creation, were now scarred stumps. Even in his humiliation, he carried the spark of creation within him. The Graygem of Gargath—the same gem that once spawned the races of chaos—was hidden beneath the streets of Palanthas, guarded by the mad remains of a forgotten wizard: Fizban the Fabulous.

In this world, even Fizban had been broken, poisoned by the Godking’s will. Yet within his shattered mind remained one last act of rebellion. When Dougan Redhammer begged for the gem, Fizban transformed a paving stone into the Graygem once more… and smiled before collapsing into eternal sleep. With the Graygem in his grasp, Reorx defied the Godking.

The Godking’s eye was constantly scanning all of Krynn–when Dougan Redhammer took to the sea, the Godking followed. Dougan and the two mortals who were pulled into this alternate timeline by Ionthas, chaos himself, traveled to Anaitha, the isle of the Irda but the Godking arrived first. He destroyed every living being on the island and confronted Dougan and the mortals, mocking them. All he wanted was the Gragem of Gargath, and the mortals made a deal with him. Leave them be, and he could have it. The Kingpriest agreed that they could dwell on the Dragon Isles far to the north, and the mortals told him to open the Graygem. 

When the Godking returned to Istar he did just that, releasing Chaos. As lighting filled the skies and wind pulled in massive clouds it could be felt all the way to Anaitha. As Dougan regained some of his divine power, he knew Ionthas was destroying the Godking. Reorx sent the two humans back to their timeline. This pattern is believed to have occurred in multiple timelines, originally started when the Irda released Chaos by breaking open the Graygem as a reaction to the Knights of Takhisis discovering their island in the main timeline.

No one knows if Reorx or his mortal companions survived. Perhaps they escaped into the sea, another time—or perhaps their sacrifice shattered the Godking’s dominion forever. But the message of Istar Triumphant endures. It is not a story of glory. It is a warning—of what happens when light forgets compassion, when righteousness loses humility, and when faith seeks control instead of wisdom. In the world of Istar Triumphant, good triumphed absolutely—and in doing so, destroyed itself.

May it forever remain only a story… a reflection of what might have been, in the long history of Krynn.

And that is all I have to say about alternate timeline Istar Triumphant. Do you enjoy visiting these alternate timelines on Krynn? Have you ever played in an alternate timeline of your own making? And finally, why do you think those close to the Kingpriest didn’t try to stop him? Leave a comment below.

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We called to the blank sky into the cold, dividing gray to the ears of new gods. The sky is calm, silent, unmoving. We have yet to hear their answer.