The reason for small lore being so varied is due to the setting having to conform to a set of rules, and so small lore often must change to fit them. Dark Sun has plenty of examples of small lore that has changed and caused some strife: half-giants/goliaths, The Gray/Shadowfell, Elemental Clerics/Primal Magic, defiling mechanisms, etc. As is apparent, small lore does not necessarily carry over from one edition to the next and often becomes the subject of setting wars were one group prefers the feel of one iteration of a setting or another. Small lore are those little things like halflings not being able to cast arcane spells. After all, large lore makes Dark Sun the setting that people recognize and want to play. If large lore helps define what the world is, “small lore” guides the game. The City-States and their kings were the same, most landmarks were recognizable, and the general behavior of the world was intact. Still, 2e and 4e had what might be called “large lore”. Extensive lore however is often seen as doing that for players. The reason for 4e Dark Sun’s limited lore was in part so players and DM’s could explore and create the world. For example, 4e has a short section on the Kreen Khanates in the Hinterlands but is a far cry from the depth of the 2e Thri-kreen of Athas. Instead, 4e hinted at people, places, or events covered more extensively in 2e. A consistent lore enables a world to be a common language among fans and a setting where players have a reasonable understanding of what to expect. So voluminous and rich was the 2e Dark Sun lore, the 4e Dark Sun could not match it.
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