Where did the halflings originate? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Where did the halflings originate?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
terminus_vortexa
Jan 26, 2009 21:26:35 Ok, I know this is kind of off-the-wall, but I think it is within the realm of possibility that the forerunners of the Rhulisti were originally brought to Athas by the Githyanki. The Githyanki have ties to Athas going way back to primordial times, and apparently were so well entrenched 'millennia ago'(Black Spine) that the Githzerai thought it necessary to set off the Psionic Devastator. The Githyanki bases were built by drilling into mountains, and setting up entire ecosystems. There would be no point doing that on a world with large land masses, but it would be almost a necessity for creatures of normal size, in order to have space to live comfortably during the Blue Age. They could have brought the Halflings along as breeder stock for future slaves( a specific tribe of Halflings with no skill in magic or psionics, maybe. Rhulisti could have been the name of their tribe or village before transplant), or any of numerous foul Githyanki purposes.They watched with great interest as the ornery little Halflings developed lifeshaping(waiting to copy their secrets and send them back to Vlaakith), and great anticipation as the Halflings were forced inot actions making their world more suitable for larger, terrestrial beings(Maybe the Lifebenders, Brown Tide, ands pristine Tower were all secretly instigated by the Githyanki, to make Athas more suited for a huge colony/base). Fast forward to just before the Rebirth - the Githzerai Psionic Devastator reduces the Githyanki on Athas to gimpy mega-tards,the Gith(incapable of conquering the whole of Athas, if they even remembered that as the plan), and all of the psionic parasites that normally deter the development of psionics are wiped out(Black Spine, p. 4). Then, almost at the same time- the Rebirth. Almost every product of the Rebirth develops psionic ability, because the parasites that usually cull Psionic mutations were killed off. Githyanki plots and Githzerai military might could have been primary factors in the development of indigenous cultures on Athas.

Anyway, just thought i'd try to put that thought out there in semi-coherent form.
#2
phoenix_m
Jan 27, 2009 7:16:57 So, what your saying is that the Thri-Kreen are the only truely native species to the planet of Athas - Bug prapaganda, I love it.
#3
terminus_vortexa
Jan 27, 2009 9:06:17 Yep. The Kreen are the only species in Dark Sun (or maybe all of D&D) to have their natural evolution from a lesser form described in a sourcebook. Halflings in DS just drop on the scene in basically the same form they had in Brown Age DS,and started building stuff and developing lifeshaped tech.
#4
Sysane
Jan 27, 2009 11:11:16 Interesting theory. I attributed the Githyanki presence on Athas to hunting for Illithid.

I subscribe that the early rhulisti discovered the basics of life-shaping from captured Illithid tadpoles and other mindflayer tech (which is similar to life-shaped items).

I have no real basis for this theory other than I like that idea of mind flayers warring with Blue Age halflings. :coolcthul
#5
terminus_vortexa
Jan 27, 2009 11:43:24 Maybe the Githyanki, who would NEVER directly use or study something made or designed by Illithids, started covertly dropping off plundered illithid grafts and such where the Rhulisti would find them. This could have been instigated by the Rhulisti discovery and manipulation of Pith(the living rock they like to build with). The Githyanki saw their future slaves (and unwitting lab-rats) developing things that could be potentially be useful to the Githyanki, and their early developments had a vague resemblance to the functional, useful grafts of the hated Illithids. So they drop off a few captured Illithid grafts where the Rhulisti would find them. The Rhulisti promptly reverse-engineer the general principles of Lifeshaped objects from them, and proceed to develop their own tech and methods, no longer reliant on the materials of Illithid origin. Therefore, Rhulisti lifeshaped tech could be used by the Githyanki with no 'moral' conflicts. Then the Githzerai set off the Devastator..........and all those carefully laid secret plans turned to Silt.
#6
squidyak
Jan 27, 2009 23:56:57 I prefer to think of halflings as ****** off midgets that just picked up and left all the full sized jerks behind. Every once in a while they pick off a bigling just to get even.
#7
redking
Jan 28, 2009 0:20:57 Do the Githyanki even keep slaves? I don't remember any references to that. I kind of figured the Githyanki would have an aversion to slavery considering their experience as Illithid thralls.

I wouldn't want the Githyanki to have more of a presence than is described in Black Spine, though. Personally I think that the Athasians would beat down the Githyanki if they really tried to invade Athas. It is hard to imagine that any Githyanki commanders would survive direct assassinations by the sorcerer-kings themselves. In fact, it is fair to say that a Githyanki invasion would just supply the city states with a whole new lot of slaves.
#8
terminus_vortexa
Jan 28, 2009 10:17:43 hmmm, I'll have to research if Githyanki keep slaves or not..... At the very least, the Halflings could have been intended as food, amusement, or they could even have been introduced to Athas to do just what they did - make the surface more hospitible than a planetwide ocean. Or perhaps..... The halfling forerunners escaped from imprisonment in a Githyanki city, found their way to the surface, and just kind of went unnoticed by the Githyanki for a while, who had sealed the entrances to their cities and not bothered with the surface at all for millennia before the Devastator detonated. The Githyanki see how clever and capable they are, and covertly manipulate them into studying living technology and reshaping the planet.

I guess the reason I'm driving at a Githyanki origin for the Halflings on Athas is because it really makes sense to me, and is in line with my current mode of thinking, i.e. that Athas is the one world whose entire history has been directly shaped by the hands of powerful forces who are exclusively non-deities. I have an idea that the history of Athas has for Epochs, aside from the Ages. Epoch of the Inner Planes(the Primordial Epoch), the Astral Epoch(Githyanki Epoch), the epoch of the Prime (Age of the SKs), and the future Epoch of the Outer Planes(When Asmodeus stops Bel's invasion, and demands the 'Terrible Price'), followed eventually by the Ethereal Epoch(Ehen all of Athas has been so tapped and destroyed by the previous Epochs that no life exists anymore, just the nascent grey surrounding Athas, pumping its spiritual power back into the local Athasian Inner Planes, where the Elementals wait to someday restore life to Athas, and begin the Primordial Epoch once again.
#9
Zardnaar
Jan 30, 2009 4:58:18 In retconnin DS into 4th ed I had some primridal who survived the war against the gos establish Athas as an out of the way refuge and he erected barriers to keep the gods out. He brought a few Halflings with him and they turned into the Nature benders eventually.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 terminus_vortexa Jan 26, 2009 21:26:35	Ok, I know this is kind of off-the-wall, but I think it is within the realm of possibility that the forerunners of the Rhulisti were originally brought to Athas by the Githyanki. The Githyanki have ties to Athas going way back to primordial times, and apparently were so well entrenched 'millennia ago'(Black Spine) that the Githzerai thought it necessary to set off the Psionic Devastator. The Githyanki bases were built by drilling into mountains, and setting up entire ecosystems. There would be no point doing that on a world with large land masses, but it would be almost a necessity for creatures of normal size, in order to have space to live comfortably during the Blue Age. They could have brought the Halflings along as breeder stock for future slaves( a specific tribe of Halflings with no skill in magic or psionics, maybe. Rhulisti could have been the name of their tribe or village before transplant), or any of numerous foul Githyanki purposes.They watched with great interest as the ornery little Halflings developed lifeshaping(waiting to copy their secrets and send them back to Vlaakith), and great anticipation as the Halflings were forced inot actions making their world more suitable for larger, terrestrial beings(Maybe the Lifebenders, Brown Tide, ands pristine Tower were all secretly instigated by the Githyanki, to make Athas more suited for a huge colony/base). Fast forward to just before the Rebirth - the Githzerai Psionic Devastator reduces the Githyanki on Athas to gimpy mega-tards,the Gith(incapable of conquering the whole of Athas, if they even remembered that as the plan), and all of the psionic parasites that normally deter the development of psionics are wiped out(Black Spine, p. 4). Then, almost at the same time- the Rebirth. Almost every product of the Rebirth develops psionic ability, because the parasites that usually cull Psionic mutations were killed off. Githyanki plots and Githzerai military might could have been primary factors in the development of indigenous cultures on Athas. Anyway, just thought i'd try to put that thought out there in semi-coherent form.
#2 phoenix_m Jan 27, 2009 7:16:57	So, what your saying is that the Thri-Kreen are the only truely native species to the planet of Athas - Bug prapaganda, I love it.
#3 terminus_vortexa Jan 27, 2009 9:06:17	Yep. The Kreen are the only species in Dark Sun (or maybe all of D&D) to have their natural evolution from a lesser form described in a sourcebook. Halflings in DS just drop on the scene in basically the same form they had in Brown Age DS,and started building stuff and developing lifeshaped tech.
#4 Sysane Jan 27, 2009 11:11:16	Interesting theory. I attributed the Githyanki presence on Athas to hunting for Illithid. I subscribe that the early rhulisti discovered the basics of life-shaping from captured Illithid tadpoles and other mindflayer tech (which is similar to life-shaped items). I have no real basis for this theory other than I like that idea of mind flayers warring with Blue Age halflings. :coolcthul
#5 terminus_vortexa Jan 27, 2009 11:43:24	Maybe the Githyanki, who would NEVER directly use or study something made or designed by Illithids, started covertly dropping off plundered illithid grafts and such where the Rhulisti would find them. This could have been instigated by the Rhulisti discovery and manipulation of Pith(the living rock they like to build with). The Githyanki saw their future slaves (and unwitting lab-rats) developing things that could be potentially be useful to the Githyanki, and their early developments had a vague resemblance to the functional, useful grafts of the hated Illithids. So they drop off a few captured Illithid grafts where the Rhulisti would find them. The Rhulisti promptly reverse-engineer the general principles of Lifeshaped objects from them, and proceed to develop their own tech and methods, no longer reliant on the materials of Illithid origin. Therefore, Rhulisti lifeshaped tech could be used by the Githyanki with no 'moral' conflicts. Then the Githzerai set off the Devastator..........and all those carefully laid secret plans turned to Silt.
#6 squidyak Jan 27, 2009 23:56:57	I prefer to think of halflings as ****** off midgets that just picked up and left all the full sized jerks behind. Every once in a while they pick off a bigling just to get even.
#7 redking Jan 28, 2009 0:20:57	Do the Githyanki even keep slaves? I don't remember any references to that. I kind of figured the Githyanki would have an aversion to slavery considering their experience as Illithid thralls. I wouldn't want the Githyanki to have more of a presence than is described in Black Spine, though. Personally I think that the Athasians would beat down the Githyanki if they really tried to invade Athas. It is hard to imagine that any Githyanki commanders would survive direct assassinations by the sorcerer-kings themselves. In fact, it is fair to say that a Githyanki invasion would just supply the city states with a whole new lot of slaves.
#8 terminus_vortexa Jan 28, 2009 10:17:43	hmmm, I'll have to research if Githyanki keep slaves or not..... At the very least, the Halflings could have been intended as food, amusement, or they could even have been introduced to Athas to do just what they did - make the surface more hospitible than a planetwide ocean. Or perhaps..... The halfling forerunners escaped from imprisonment in a Githyanki city, found their way to the surface, and just kind of went unnoticed by the Githyanki for a while, who had sealed the entrances to their cities and not bothered with the surface at all for millennia before the Devastator detonated. The Githyanki see how clever and capable they are, and covertly manipulate them into studying living technology and reshaping the planet. I guess the reason I'm driving at a Githyanki origin for the Halflings on Athas is because it really makes sense to me, and is in line with my current mode of thinking, i.e. that Athas is the one world whose entire history has been directly shaped by the hands of powerful forces who are exclusively non-deities. I have an idea that the history of Athas has for Epochs, aside from the Ages. Epoch of the Inner Planes(the Primordial Epoch), the Astral Epoch(Githyanki Epoch), the epoch of the Prime (Age of the SKs), and the future Epoch of the Outer Planes(When Asmodeus stops Bel's invasion, and demands the 'Terrible Price'), followed eventually by the Ethereal Epoch(Ehen all of Athas has been so tapped and destroyed by the previous Epochs that no life exists anymore, just the nascent grey surrounding Athas, pumping its spiritual power back into the local Athasian Inner Planes, where the Elementals wait to someday restore life to Athas, and begin the Primordial Epoch once again.
#9 Zardnaar Jan 30, 2009 4:58:18	In retconnin DS into 4th ed I had some primridal who survived the war against the gos establish Athas as an out of the way refuge and he erected barriers to keep the gods out. He brought a few Halflings with him and they turned into the Nature benders eventually.