I could find information only on the Campaign Setting and TW&TW, but only minimal stuff...
I need to know about population, habits, etc...
Has anyone tried to expand existing information about the largest halfling village?
Thanks in advance
I need more official info about Ogo...
I could find information only on the Campaign Setting and TW&TW, but only minimal stuff...
As far as official info goes, you already have it. That's all that was ever released on Ogo (the info in the Wanderer's Journal/Chronicle, and the Will and the Way).
I guess Urga wouldn't rent 200 soldiers to Hamanu if the village were any smaller than that. Pretty much all his soldiers would be out of town when he needed.
Thoughts?
I have it in my game that the halflings of the forest ridge are a society of losely interconnected tribes (I think that is prettyu close to cannon). For the most part the only permanent structures that are utilized by the halflings are their religeous and other communal structures. Most of the halflings of the forest ridge are nomadic hunters and gatherers living in semi permanent villages that move throughout the year. Some tribes have their own places of worship and gathering that they don't share withother tribes, but most tribes share these locations with a number of other tribes that live in the same general area. Essentially the tribes have large overlapping territories and regularly come into contact with eachother to trade, arrange marriages, share information, are observe sacred tradtions (religeous festivals/rites). Each tribe might have its own customs unique to its history, but all the local tribes would share a great deal in common and even halflings on the opposite side of the forest ridge would be able to uinderstand eachother and share a great deal in common culturally. Of course there might be a few rouge tribes that are more isolationist then others and other that are actually trading/messager tribes who travel the length or breadth of the forest ridge trading and spreading news.
Getting back to Ogo. I see Ogo as the public face of the whole forest ridge society. They are responscible for dealing most directly with the outside world. Surely their are some elements with halfling society that don't approve of Ogo's methods and openess to the outside world, but it serves a very usefull function for the forest ridge as a whole. Those halflings which wish to learn about the outside world or to seek there fortunes in it can come to Ogo and see the traders and envoys firsthand, they can learn about what exsists outside of their society without having step into the alien landscapes of the forest ridge unprepared for what they will find. And it acts as kind of a stop gauge allowing young wanderstriken halflings to possibly satisfy the curiousity without actually leaving the forest ridge. The village serves much the same function in reverse for the peoples of the tablelands who come to visit.
Of course Ogo serves as a trading outpost as well, so that the halfling of the forrest ridge can trade their valuable herbs, animal skins, etc. with the outside world in exchange for things they couldn't produce or find themselves.
For those halflings dead set on seein the tablelands for themselves, there is of course the option of joining up with the group of 200 expert hunters and trackers, that serve Hammanu each year. Or, simply follwing a caravan as it leaves the forest ridge.
I think Sage's analysis and speculations are right on target.
Thank you Penn :D
So, what about population-wise?
For my own purposes, I assumed that the village of Ogo was indeed a village with a relatively small permanent population, say a few hundred or maybe as many as a thousand at most, but that seems to be pushing it. But, what accounts for their ability to represent the Halfling people and their ability to send two hundred halflings to serve Hammanu every year, is the number and size of the tribes that gather in Ogo to trade and observe religeous festivals. I figure that it is the local nexus, so to speak, of a great number of tribes; so that in affect it has a transcient population of somewhere in the range of a small city-state (10-20 thousand) that visit the village at least once a year.I see the village of Ogo itself as being made up of the following features:
A series of temples to the elements (one for each element and possibly one for each of the paraelements of rain and sun, but not silt or magma).
A great market and festival area with enough room for several thousand people to gather and many fire pits for bonfires.
A series of houses for the elders and wisemen of the local tribes who act as a local council for the tribes of the area abribtrating disputes and arranging intertribal agreements.
A series of houses for the priests of Ogo that serve the temples and their students.
An area designated for the encampments of visiting traders.
A series of secret lookout spots and archery platforms for the defense of the village.
A few warehouses for the storage of tradegoods until they can be traded or used.
In my version of the halfling culture many of the young priests in training are orphans, who are given to the elders and priest that live in permanent settlements to raise when their parents die. The most common cause of death for the halflings is at the jaws of some beast that lurks in the forest, such as the dreaded Kirre, or from falling off of a cliff. Of course disease would also be a lot more common in the humid jungle environs, and their are many poisonous plants and animals in the forest as well.
I have it that none of the truely important people in halfling society reside in Ogo, as it would make them easy visiable targets for their enemies. Most of the popualtion of the village are warriors and traders, and the clerics and elders of the village are only of local importance. Of course, their position of contact with the outside world lends them improtance beyond what they otherwise might have, but the real movers and shakers of Forest Ridge society lurk deep within the forest in their hidden groves and anicient blue age ruins.
It might be appropriate for their to be a school of sorts in Ogo, to teach halflings about the outside world.
I have it that none of the truely important people in halfling society reside in Ogo, as it would make them easy visiable targets for their enemies.
but in TW&TW and the Age of Heroes says there is Urga (17th level), the psionicist Teranya (also 17th level) and Xaxachtel (who is a member of the Order and therefore epic), so maybe could be more high-level characters in the village...
Thanks for all the input, man
but in TW&TW and the Age of Heroes says there is Urga (17th level), the psionicist Teranya (also 17th level) and Xaxachtel (who is a member of the Order and therefore epic), so maybe could be more high-level characters in the village...
Thanks for all the input, man
Yah, there could be, just telling you my take.
Since we're discussing ideas on the halflings, through Ogo, I might add this:
Me and Seker have been developping ideas on Nok.
We thought, considering The Verdant Passage, that there is a special position within the Forest Ridge, a position recognized by all or nearly all tribes throughout.
This position is one taken over in each generation by a different halfing, in this generation its Nok.
The position is that of a preserver "teacher", no better word for it: this halfing has an encampment where he receives halfings that have strayed from the Good and the Green, sent from all over the forest.
Tribes send their wizard undesirables to this encampment where they are taught by Nok in how to integrate their unfortunate choice of a life path - magic - into the philosophy of the the Good and the Green. Halfings are taught a secondary life path - either a manifesting class or a nature-related class such as ranger or druid - so as to balance their magic.
In that context, all wizard/rangers or wizard/psions or whatever class combos we've seen in products that give us stats for halfings, have been trained at the encampment.
Those wizards that do not go to the encampment are disposed of as enemies of the forest.
Also, Nok is supervised by an ancient druid that chooses the halfing preserver teacher in each generation.
Sage i like the way you are seeing things for Ogo.
You should submit your ideas to athas.org and work on cannonizing it.
You should submit your ideas to athas.org and work on cannonizing it.
YesYesYesYesYes
, ok. I need to finish my elemental cleric project first, but I guess I can make this my next project.You should submit your ideas to athas.org and work on cannonizing it.
My thoughts exactly. Nice work Sage. Oh, and also diggin' Pennarin and Seker's ideas as well. Real good stuff, all of it.
Also, Immediate contest!!!
What should it be called?
"What's the prize?" you ask, well you get to name it, and a whole mess o'
The Good and the Green.
The Forest People.
IF anyone has any ideas for the Halflings of the forest ridge, specific places, tribes, NPCs, rituals, etc. I would much appreciate you posting them in this thread. That'll give me some extra material to work with when I start working on the Halfings of the Ridge book.
The Good and the Green.
Ahh, flab dabbit! You guys beat me to it.
I was coming on here to mention my idea for this very same thing (wondering if it shouldn't be called Halflings of Athas - just to keep in line with Elves/Thri-kreens of Athas).
But anyhoo, really interested to see how this comes out. Also curious to see some halfling specific PrCs besides those in Vol. 1.
As for names:
Hunters of the Forest Ridge or,
Guardians of the Forest Ridge or,
Masters of the Forest Ridge
(as a counterpoint to Windriders of the Jagged Cliffs)
Although your "Halflings of the Forest Ridge" title sounds good too Sage
there's some infos about one halfling community in The Ivory Triangle. These halflings came from Ogo. Maybe there's some interesting informations about halfling culture...
And check the DSNetbook:
http://usuarios.lycos.es/raincleric/dsnetbook.htm
Ding! Ding! Ding! we have a winner!Guardians of the Forest Ridge
as promised here are your cookies khaine
Hi,
there's some infos about one halfling community in The Ivory Triangle. These halflings came from Ogo. Maybe there's some interesting informations about halfling culture...
And check the DSNetbook:
http://usuarios.lycos.es/raincleric/dsnetbook.htm
Thanks for the link, anyones know of any reasources like this, with information on halflings?
Guardians of the Forest Ridge
as promised here are your cookies khaine
:evillaugh Thanks Sage, you know how I love cookies! 
:D
Soon a new war will rage in the Forest Ridge and the short runts will be wiped from the face of Athas!!!
Alexis
Sage- I think that you should let the Flayer come into Ogo and play with the little people :evillaugh
Soon a new war will rage in the Forest Ridge and the short runts will be wiped from the face of Athas!!!
:hoppingma :headexplo NO!Today I will be conglomerating the info in this thread and posting here again with a tentative city info entry, nothing fancy or large since it seems Sage is about to write a book about it lol. More or less just going to solidify the accepted info contained in this thread so I can print it out, and in the process post it so others can as well. Look for it this afternoon.
Alexis
Sounds good, Ogo is only going to be one chapter of the book
.Hey! I didn't notice before that you were a woman, its good to have some of those around. My gaming group is actually very unusual in that I have three female player (used to be four, but she moved away
to go to college near chicago) and only one male player, plus the me the DM of course.Yea sage female gamer here, been a game nut since I was 8 years old and I am 26 now. My wife (yes I am a lesbian and happily married to the best woman in the world) is also a gamer but only since she was 18 and I introduced her to it.
Sorry for the delay, but I am working on it. (and sage that means dont jump the gun and do it for me lol)
Alexis
Again sorry for the delay on the Ogo info. Its all already in the thread, just gonna make into a single and legible post.
Oh and Sage, sorry for our initial head butting when I first started posting (in case you forgot it was my curt and somewhat rude reply to your reply to my Villichi thread)
Alexis
Joint Contribution (with Lyric, Kalthandrix, Khaine, and Methvezem) : Crystalite PrC
Really? I didn't know that...
Meth, what did you contribute?
/me curious :D
All information is cut, pasted and edited from posts in this thread, with some text added by myself to make it more concise to be used later by Ruhl-than Sage and his team, if one is made, in designing the web book of the aforementioned name. Thanks go out to anyone whose posts were used, including myself, Pennarin, Ruhl-Than Sage, Khaine and to all of you for making the enthusiasm for this possible by your responses to the query put forth by Brun01. To Brun thank you for stimulating this.
Overview-
The halflings of the forest ridge are a society of loosely interconnected tribes For the most part the only permanent structures that are utilized by the halflings are their religious and other communal structures. Most of the halflings of the forest ridge are nomadic hunters and gatherers living in semi permanent villages that move throughout the year. Some tribes have their own places of worship and gathering that they don't share with other tribes, but most tribes share these locations with a number of other tribes that live in the same general area. Essentially the tribes have large overlapping territories and regularly come into contact with each other to trade, arrange marriages, share information, are observe sacred traditions (religious festivals/rites). Each tribe might have its own customs unique to its history, but all the local tribes would share a great deal in common and even halflings on the opposite side of the forest ridge would be able to understand each other and share a great deal in common culturally. Of course there might be a few rouge tribes that are more isolationist then others and other that are actually trading/messenger tribes who travel the length or breadth of the forest ridge trading and spreading news.
Ogo is the public face of the whole forest ridge society. They are responsible for dealing most directly with the outside world. Surely there are some elements with halfling society that don't approve of Ogo's methods and open attitude to the outside world, but it serves a very useful function for the forest ridge as a whole. Those halflings which wish to learn about the outside world or to seek there fortunes in it can come to Ogo and see the traders and envoys firsthand, they can learn about what exists outside of their society without having step into the alien landscapes of the forest ridge unprepared for what they will find. And it acts as kind of a stop gauge allowing young wanderlust stricken halflings to possibly satisfy the curiosity without actually leaving the forest ridge. The village serves much the same function in reverse for the peoples of the tablelands who come to visit.
Of course Ogo serves as a trading outpost as well, so that the halfling of the forest ridge can trade their valuable herbs, animal skins, etc. with the outside world in exchange for things they couldn't produce or find themselves.
The village of Ogo is indeed a village with a relatively small permanent population, say a few hundred or maybe as many as a thousand at most, but that seems to be pushing it. But, what accounts for their ability to represent the Halfling people and their ability to send two hundred halflings to serve Hammanu every year, is the number and size of the tribes that gather in Ogo to trade and observe religious festivals. It is the local nexus, so to speak, of a great number of tribes; so that in affect it has a transient population of somewhere in the range of a small city-state (10-20 thousand) that visit the village at least once a year.
In halfling culture of Ogo many of the young priests in training are orphans, who are given to the elders and priest that live in permanent settlements to raise when their parents die. The most common cause of death for the halflings is at the jaws of some beast that lurks in the forest, such as the dreaded Kirre, or from falling off of a cliff. Of course disease would also be a lot more common in the humid jungle environs, and there are many poisonous plants and animals in the forest as well.
None of the truly important people in halfling society reside in Ogo, as it would make them easy visible targets for their enemies. Most of the population of the village are warriors and traders, and the clerics and elders of the village are only of local importance. Of course, their position of contact with the outside world lends them importance beyond what they otherwise might have, but the real movers and shakers of Forest Ridge society lurk deep within the forest in their hidden groves and ancient blue age ruins.
Ogo-
Population- 500-950 Permanent resisdents call the Halfling Village of Ogo home at any given time, the fluctuations in this number are attributed to Halflings returning to their home tribes and/or leaving the Forest Ridge to follow wanderlust of one form or another.
Transient Population- Due to its closeness to the outside world, Ogo sees a large amount of transient Halfling fluctuations and so during the course of a year could have between 10 and 20 thousand people in and around the village visiting or passing through. Part of this number also includes outsiders who by one means or another have found themselves in Ogo and been accepted or allowed to remain for a period of time. These outsiders to the forest ridge could include merchant caravans, envoys from Hamanu, and possibly adventurers seeking to explore the Forest Ridge Region.
People of Note- Urga (17th level) ; Teranya (17th level Psionicist), Xaxachtel (who is a member of the Order and therefore epic. At any time other people of note from the various Halfling tribes could and might be found residing for a smsall time in Ogo on business or for other reasons.
There is a special position within the Forest Ridge, a position recognized by all or nearly all tribes throughout. This position is one taken over in each generation by a different halfing, in this generation its Nok.
The position is that of a preserver "teacher", no better word for it: this halfing has an encampment where he receives halfings that have strayed from the Good and the Green, sent from all over the forest. Tribes send their wizard undesirables to this encampment where they are taught by Nok in how to integrate their unfortunate choice of a life path - magic - into the philosophy of the the Good and the Green. Halfings are taught a secondary life path - either a manifesting class or a nature-related class such as ranger or druid - so as to balance their magic.
In that context, all wizard/rangers or wizard/psions or whatever class combos we've seen in products that give us stats for halfings, have been trained at the encampment.
Those wizards that do not go to the encampment are disposed of as enemies of the forest.
Also, Nok, and his predecessors, and future “teachers” are supervised by an ancient druid that chooses the halfing preserver teacher in each generation.
Layout- The village of Ogo itself is made up of the following features:
A series of temples to the elements (one for each element and possibly one for each of the paraelements of rain and sun, but not silt or magma).
A great market and festival area with enough room for several thousand people to gather, and many fire pits for bonfires.
A series of houses for the elders and wisemen of the local tribes who act as a local council for the tribes of the area arbitrating disputes and arranging intertribal agreements.
A series of houses for the priests of Ogo that serve the temples and their students.
An area designated for the encampments of visiting traders.
A series of secret look out spots and archery platforms for the defense of the village.
A few warehouses for the storage of trade goods until they can be traded or used.
A school dedicated to teaching curious and inquisitive Halflings about the outside world.
That’s all I have for now folks I will be revising it and adding to it as more info is found and possibly added to by the good folks here on the boards I would like to thank you all for this opportunity, oh and Sage should you need a hand with this or any other projects, you can reach me here on the boards or at [email]Rat_Queen088@yahoo.com[/email] the same goes to anyone else who would like an enthusiastic hand.
Thank you,
Alexis
Thank you.
. I know our conversions were being mailed to him, but I got kind of confused as to who was saying what and which real names matched up with which screen names 
I am neither claiming creation of this, your work, nor am I saying that this is what will be put into anything official. I am merely reitterating everything thus far discussed in this thread.
Your concerns are duly noted and in future versions I will leave it out until such a time that you put out an actual post about it. But as it was included in this thread. And I said I was conglomerating this thread into a single entry, it found its way into it.
Either way Nok deserves mentioning and its not too far a stretch to come up with the concept you developed. Obviously Nok isn't immortal, and obviously he holds a position akin to a teacher or revered elder. So obviously someone came before in that position and will come after, anyway, I am sorry if it is offensive, but as I said no more than is currently in the current entry will be used until such a time that you release your concept in greater detail.
It seemed to fit, hell in a handbasket, it fits perfectly to be honest.
Again thank you all for the input.
Alexis
None can stand before the might of my Champion!
Besides, he's gotta have something to do before the space halflings get here. ;)
So write fast Sage, or you might not have anything to write about!
Hmm.. maybe I accidentally gave Meth undeserved credit
You and me both!
None can stand before the might of my Champion!
Besides, he's gotta have something to do before the space halflings get here. ;)
So write fast Sage, or you might not have anything to write about!
Do not threaten me child, for you know not the full extent of my powers. I could kill you with but a thought, even though we have never met, and you would be unmade so that no one even remembered you had ever exsisted.
Do not threaten me child, for you know not the full extent of my powers. I could kill you with but a thought, even though we have never met, and you would be unmade so that no one even remembered you had ever exsisted.
:P :D
Do not threaten me child, for you know not the full extent of my powers. I could kill you with but a thought, even though we have never met, and you would be unmade so that no one even remembered you had ever exsisted.
Hey Sage here is a little paradox for you- if he is unmade and no one will know it, how would you know that you unmade him?
Anywhooo- I like this Ogo project- it is great to see another part of Athas being carved out and defined better. I would really like to see more- like stats and stuff- I love stats
BTW Khaine- check your PM box.
Its not an Ogo project. Its a forest ridge project. Ogo is just going to be one chapter. ;)
O I C
. I'll probably enlist some help from the community on that end, you interested ? :DStats aren't my area, they bore me
Sure- as long as you do not have a very specific time frame- pretty swapmed with work but I hope that will let up in a few weeks- damn working thing, always getting in the way of having fun! I got a lot of work dropped on me because someone in my firm quit- I think I will be more free in the middle or so of September- so I would love to hash out some stats sometime.
The Sage and Flayer unite!!!
Alexis
Really? I didn't know that...
Meth, what did you contribute?
/me curious :D
My contribution: I sent the original crystalite kit to Lyric and Kalthandrix IIRC. :P
Really, the PrC they came up with is their own baby.
I did get all the mails they sent my way, but as I was on vacation when they did it, I came back when the PrC was nearly finished, so I didn't have time to add anything to it. Anyways the did a great conversion.
So no harm's done. :D
And keeping with the present thread, Darkenstarr, you did a great job putting all the info of the previous posts together. Also, the title chosen for the project is very good sounding since it keeps the spirit of the second generation of DS supplements.
Sage, I too would like to aid you in the NPCs feel free to include me in the work if you so desire, I have no pressing projects at hand save my flaws for DnD revamp and my Spellpoint rework, and those don't take up a huge amount of my time. Anywho if you still need help, it would be an honor and a privelage to help you with this.
Alexis
Sure, I'd love to have your help. I should be able to start working on the project soon. I just need to finish up my magma spell list, and then I can get things rolling. If you want to take the initiative and come up with some locations, tribes, whatever fell free ;)
Should I email tentaitives to you hear on the boards via PM, or to you via another means, just give the word and I am off and running.
By the way I would like to thank my fellow Dark Sun enthusiasts for 2 things, 1- Thank you all for getting my creative juices once again flowing, lack of good groups, ones willing to try new things had stifled me a bit.
2- Thank you for your infinite patience as I know I did now come off the best in the earliest of my postings.
You guys are the greatest, and the DS forum is the only gaming board I currently visit.
Cookies for the best damn game fans I have had the pleasure of conversing with!Alexis
Although it's beam about 2 years since I mentionned my project of writing a fictionnal story about Jihun-nish (a Rhul-Thaun) It is still in the making. I have a lot written down on paper like:
Fleshing out Jihun-nish as a character. Who will eventually compose the heros's group.The Athilid race (half-lizard, half-illithids) which lives in the Keno swamp. and much more.
Now why will your project help me?? Because at least one of the heros will come from the Forest ridge: How they will get there is part of the story
Speaking of the Forest Ridge halflings. In my opinion I dont think they would live inside ancient Rhulisti ruins. for just the simple fact that it would remind them of what they use to be and most of all, they have surrely fought against mutated life-shaped creatures during the centuries past that made the halflings reluctant to establish any semi-permanent village in nor near Rhulisti ruins. That said, I think that some individuals curious enough and bold enough to do so, created (with time) an organization which are devoties to the research of their own history and archeology since a lot of digging is required. Lets call them The Diggers for now. Athas being... Athas, nothing good came up from the ruins in the past centuries for the ''today'' halflings. So I dont have to tell you how they are considered in the halfling's community. They are not hunted down for they are individual halfling and thus have the right to live but they are not trusted and are even a bit feared for what they have decided to devote their life to.
One of the heros will be a ''digger'' who will find an artifact which will lead Her to the jagged Cliffs. More in a near future (probably in its own thread.
As a side note... I thought Nok had been killed trying to recover its staff that sadira had burrowed??
IIRC, Nok was turned into a tree in his confrontation with Sadira. And although, as I'm remembering it, part of him (in tree form) was defiled, I also seem to remember him surviving.
Actually Nok, was blasted pretty massively by the equivelent of a retributive strike from a Staff of the Magi in the 3rd novel of the pentad. His remains were in a crater so we did not see what actually became of him. All we saw was the thorny vine like tendrils that came out of the crater and tried to draw Sadira back in to him, as she heard his voice. Sadira then dropped a fireball in the crater and when the life energy was released from Nok's "death" it appeared as a multi hued tree like structure before it disipated.
Note while this indicates that he is dead, it was done in such a way that there was no body...... and it had been hinted that Nok had possibly already started a transformation of some type at the end of the battle, so his final fate has some leeway for those DM's that want it too.
Pennarin and myself have been working on some things detailing Nok, and there are a few interesting ideas in there about the spear, Nok, and his final fate.
Speaking of the Forest Ridge halflings. In my opinion I dont think they would live inside ancient Rhulisti ruins. for just the simple fact that it would remind them of what they use to be and most of all, they have surrely fought against mutated life-shaped creatures during the centuries past that made the halflings reluctant to establish any semi-permanent village in nor near Rhulisti ruins. That said, I think that some individuals curious enough and bold enough to do so, created (with time) an organization which are devoties to the research of their own history and archeology since a lot of digging is required. Lets call them The Diggers for now. Athas being... Athas, nothing good came up from the ruins in the past centuries for the ''today'' halflings. So I dont have to tell you how they are considered in the halfling's community. They are not hunted down for they are individual halfling and thus have the right to live but they are not trusted and are even a bit feared for what they have decided to devote their life to.
One of the heros will be a ''digger'' who will find an artifact which will lead Her to the jagged Cliffs. More in a near future (probably in its own thread.
Thanks for your thoughts, I can see where you are coming from, but I have slightly different ideas about how things work. In my opinion different ruins would have different significance to the halflings. I fully agree that there are many ruins that are considered tainted and avioded by the present day halflings, but not all ruins would have such stigma attached to them, some in fact might not even by ruins at all, but still preserved ;)