Alternate Timeline: War of the Darklance

Let’s examine an alternate timeline that sees the Knights of Takhisis take over, corrupt Dragonlances and raise a flying Citadel from Icewall. Buy Legends of the Twins: https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/3252/legends-of-the-twins-3-5?affiliate_id=50797 https://youtu.be/7ptaSEFzU0A Transcript Cold Open Winter should never come in summer. But in this timeline, the snow never stopped falling… And the dragonlances themselves became weapons of darkness. Intro Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam, and today we’re taking a look at one of the alternate timelines found along the River of Time: the War of the Darklance. I’d like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members and Patreon patrons, and invite you to consider becoming a member or patron–you can even pick up Dragonlance media or get $10 by signing up to StartPlaying.Games using my affiliate links. I’m referencing the Legends of the Twins sourcebook for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below. Discussion The River of Time carries every age, every hero, and every tragedy forward—but it does not flow as a single, unbroken stream. Branching from it are countless tributaries, alternate Krynns shaped by small divergences or catastrophic changes. The War of the Darklance takes place in one such world. Here, the Graygem is never broken. Chaos is never released. Wild Sorcery and Mysticism never emerge. Ambient magic lies dormant, subdued, and tightly controlled. At first glance, this seems like a safer world. But without Chaos to disrupt the fabric of time, the Balance itself becomes rigid—and fragile. When evil learns from its failures and ceases to destroy itself, the result is not equilibrium. It is domination. At the center of this darkness stands Lord Ariakan, son of Ariakas. Unlike the Dragon Highlords of the past, Ariakan does not cling to pride, infighting, or ancient grudges. Instead, he creates something unprecedented: a unified knighthood modeled after the Knights of Solamnia, but devoted wholly to Queen Takhisis. The Knights of Takhisis embrace modern ideals. They wield magic without fear. They integrate warriors, priests, and mages into a single doctrine. And most importantly—evil does not turn against itself. For the first time, the Dark Queen’s forces march with discipline, coordination, and purpose. The turning point of the war comes with an act so profane that it scars the world itself. The Knights of Takhisis cannot create weapons of light—but they can corrupt them. Captured dragonlances are brought before a ritual involving three unholy artifacts: the Altar of Takhisis, the Wand of Corruption, and the Hammer of Darkness. Placed upon the obsidian altar, the dragonlances smoke and weaken. The wand suspends them in a field of pure evil, tearing at their magical essence. Finally, the hammer strikes the blade, sealing the transformation. Thus, the darklance is born. These weapons strip the Whitestone forces of their greatest advantage. And the ritual’s consequences ripple outward—into the sky, the land, and the seasons themselves. In the year 383 AC, Ansalon enters a nightmare remembered as the Summer of Frost. Temperatures steadily fall throughout spring. By summer, the world freezes. Crops fail. Livestock die. Starvation spreads faster than any army. The sky becomes perpetually overcast. Paladine seems powerless. Even Chislev cannot restore nature’s order. Faith begins to crack. And it is in this moment of desperation that the invasion begins. The Knights of Takhisis strike swiftly. Kalaman falls. The Northern Wastes and Nordmaar collapse soon after. At Icewall, the dead Highlord Aren Feal-Thas is reborn as a death knight, cursed and bound to undeath. Icewall Glacier begins moving north—alive, jagged, relentless—guided by Feal-Thas’s thoughts and emotions. Floating above it is Icewall Castle, transformed into a flying citadel. White dragons patrol the skies, wielding darklances, while thanoi, sivak draconians, and barbarian tribes march below. Entire villages vanish beneath the ice. As the Blood Sea freezes solid, the minotaurs see their moment. Led by Chot Es-Kalin, they march across the ice toward Ansalon, beginning a brutal campaign of genocide against the ogres. Though larger and stronger, the ogres lack discipline. Battle after battle, the minotaurs advance—until the thaw comes too late for Chot’s secondary forces, which plunge into the Maelstrom beneath the melting ice. Chot himself remains stranded on the mainland, facing an ogre counteroffensive with no retreat. The war spares no one. The Qualinesti Forest burns, assaulted by dragons and Thorn Knights. Qualinost is destroyed. Elves flee—some to Ergoth, others east toward Silvanesti, where they are met with resentment and fear. The High Clerist’s Tower falls for the first time in history. Tanis Half-Elven and Steel Brightblade die in its defense. Their fallen comrades are ...