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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 9183896" data-attributes="member: 907"><p>The original version of the setting allowed halflings to be illusionists, but only preservers. This was definitely not a misprint, as the lore also talks about how halfling villages are usually ruled by a powerful preserver, like a miniature (in several regards) sorcerer-king. However, at some point the Powers That Be decided that because of the setting's backstory, it didn't make sense for halflings to be able to be wizards, so in the revised version they could not. The backstory reason was pretty dumb as well:</p><p>[SPOILER="Dark Sun history"]</p><p>Originally, Athas was covered mostly in water, and the only proper sapient species around were halflings. These halflings knew nothing of arcane magic or psionics, only some clerical/elemental magic and the art of life shaping: essentially bio-engineering. At some point, some of them made an experiment to increase the ocean's yield which drastically failed and risked killing the whole ocean, until the halflings used the Pristine Tower to draw upon the power of the sun and destroy the experiment. This had numerous other side effects: the oceans (mostly) retreated (leaving a "normal" world), and many halflings mutated into other forms: elves, dwarves, lizardfolk, giants, orcs, humans, etc. Among these new races were one called the pyreen, who had elements of many other races in them. They were quite rare and reclusive, and one will become important later.</p><p></p><p>In the Green Age, the different races settled the land, and in addition to the clerical/elemental magic of the halflings many developed psionic powers, and built mighty wonders with those. But one of the pyreen, a disfigured sad figure named Rajaat, looked on the world and decided it was abominable. The world had to be returned to its pristine state, and all non-halfling sapients exterminated. But that's not something he could do himself. So he went into seclusion and developed arcane magic, both in its preserving and defiling forms. He then taught preserving magic to many different races, and the lore of magic flourished – at this point, Athas was similar to a "normal" fantasy world but with more psionics. But as the various races studied magic, Rajaat studied them right back, and determined that the only ones able to use magic to its fullest potential was humans.</p><p></p><p>So he started teaching some humans the secrets of defiling magic, and out of those eventually selected fifteen to be his Champions to carry out his master plan. Each Champion was already a master both of defiling magic and psionics, and Rajaat used the magic of the Pristine Tower to turn them into proto-dragons, and gave each of them a quest of genocide, to kill one of the races. This set off a period known as the Cleansing Wars, which is a large reason why Athas looks the way it does – the Champions and their servants used defiling magic indiscriminately, and many of the other races took to using the same method in defense. Some of the Champions succeeded in their efforts, which is why Athas doesn't have orcs or gnomes. Others came close, but before they could finish the job the Champions learned that the next stage of Rajaat's plans would be to make one of them the Slayer of Humans, and they'd have none of that. So they turned on Rajaat, and even if they didn't manage to kill him they did manage to bind him to another plane, and after that they each took over one of the remaining city-states.</p><p></p><p>So the reason Rajaat used humans instead of halflings to carry out his plan was that he needed powerful defilers, and halflings couldn't use arcane magic. But that reason would have worked just as well if, say, halflings just couldn't use <strong>defiling</strong> magic, or (like elves) couldn't be strong enough for his purposes (aka had level limits). So the whole thing was an unnecessary retcon.</p><p>[/SPOILER]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 9183896, member: 907"] The original version of the setting allowed halflings to be illusionists, but only preservers. This was definitely not a misprint, as the lore also talks about how halfling villages are usually ruled by a powerful preserver, like a miniature (in several regards) sorcerer-king. However, at some point the Powers That Be decided that because of the setting's backstory, it didn't make sense for halflings to be able to be wizards, so in the revised version they could not. The backstory reason was pretty dumb as well: [SPOILER="Dark Sun history"] Originally, Athas was covered mostly in water, and the only proper sapient species around were halflings. These halflings knew nothing of arcane magic or psionics, only some clerical/elemental magic and the art of life shaping: essentially bio-engineering. At some point, some of them made an experiment to increase the ocean's yield which drastically failed and risked killing the whole ocean, until the halflings used the Pristine Tower to draw upon the power of the sun and destroy the experiment. This had numerous other side effects: the oceans (mostly) retreated (leaving a "normal" world), and many halflings mutated into other forms: elves, dwarves, lizardfolk, giants, orcs, humans, etc. Among these new races were one called the pyreen, who had elements of many other races in them. They were quite rare and reclusive, and one will become important later. In the Green Age, the different races settled the land, and in addition to the clerical/elemental magic of the halflings many developed psionic powers, and built mighty wonders with those. But one of the pyreen, a disfigured sad figure named Rajaat, looked on the world and decided it was abominable. The world had to be returned to its pristine state, and all non-halfling sapients exterminated. But that's not something he could do himself. So he went into seclusion and developed arcane magic, both in its preserving and defiling forms. He then taught preserving magic to many different races, and the lore of magic flourished – at this point, Athas was similar to a "normal" fantasy world but with more psionics. But as the various races studied magic, Rajaat studied them right back, and determined that the only ones able to use magic to its fullest potential was humans. So he started teaching some humans the secrets of defiling magic, and out of those eventually selected fifteen to be his Champions to carry out his master plan. Each Champion was already a master both of defiling magic and psionics, and Rajaat used the magic of the Pristine Tower to turn them into proto-dragons, and gave each of them a quest of genocide, to kill one of the races. This set off a period known as the Cleansing Wars, which is a large reason why Athas looks the way it does – the Champions and their servants used defiling magic indiscriminately, and many of the other races took to using the same method in defense. Some of the Champions succeeded in their efforts, which is why Athas doesn't have orcs or gnomes. Others came close, but before they could finish the job the Champions learned that the next stage of Rajaat's plans would be to make one of them the Slayer of Humans, and they'd have none of that. So they turned on Rajaat, and even if they didn't manage to kill him they did manage to bind him to another plane, and after that they each took over one of the remaining city-states. So the reason Rajaat used humans instead of halflings to carry out his plan was that he needed powerful defilers, and halflings couldn't use arcane magic. But that reason would have worked just as well if, say, halflings just couldn't use [B]defiling[/B] magic, or (like elves) couldn't be strong enough for his purposes (aka had level limits). So the whole thing was an unnecessary retcon. [/SPOILER] [/QUOTE]
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