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Hala, The Heroic Domain of Ysgard

Profile by Jay Watamaniuk

"In the days of the four cities, Hala was a vast green island with massive lakes, rolling hills, and no berg bridges attaching broken parts. The great split changed all of that."
- Early Halatian lore, Unknown Author

I would hazard to guess that fans of Dungeons & Dragons have a soft spot for the ancient beauty of Norse culture and mythology. The official Neverwinter Nights campaign was set in the Forgotten Realms, but with the freedom inherent in creating your own worlds with the Toolset, fans soon tailored their game to their own taste. We spoke with Head DM Arkon who is thick in the machinery of running a persistent world set in a Norse theme.

Official Hala forums:

http://www.ysgardhala.org

How big is your team and who would you like to mention as significant contributors?

Arkon: Currently, we have 6 Active DMs, and about 3 currently inactive DMs. We also have several subcontractors who help us out with scripting and building issues from time to time. We also have the wealth of knowledge that is the greater CoPaP Team for those tough issues that we need extra help in figuring out.

Our World Leader is Nob. He's been the financial backbone of the server for quite a while. He's a good guy with a good head on his shoulders. My second in command of the DM staff is NWDuneAuron. Nob and NWDuneAuron help keep me in line and help me take care of the day to day operations of making sure that things run smoothly.

Your world is part of the CoPaP. Can you give us a quick breakdown of what that is?

Arkon: CoPaP stands for the Confederation of Planes and Planets.

CoPaP is a conglomerate of persistent worlds that have joined together with a common goal to create a full Neverwinter multiverse. It is comprised of a mix of Primes and Planes from various D&D Campaign Settings, from the standard Forgotten Realms setting to individually made campaigns. Using NWNX and a plug-in known as VaultSTER, we have been able to link the worlds together to allow the players of CoPaP to enjoy a different setting if they should so choose to.

Each world in CoPaP offers its own advantages. Custom races, custom playing styles, different world views, and so on. Players can make a custom race character on one world, and then throughout the life of their character, they can become a planar traveller or stake a claim in a given world and mold a life there. CoPaP is a roleplaying community. Roleplay is not only encouraged, it is enforced. Each person is expected to roleplay according to their character's alignment and beliefs.

How would you describe your world in terms of theme and atmosphere?

Arkon: In terms of theme and atmosphere. Hala is based on Norse Mythology with a mixture of D&D thrown into the mix. We are an Outer Plane. A plane of epic battle. There are always rival factions to go after, enemies around the corner. New scripts are put in every day to convey that. We are currently working on scripting that will cause the people of the different towns to react differently based on the race a person chooses to play. The Primary gods are those of Ysgard or the Aesir of Norse Mythology. We have our share of good and evil, law versus chaos conflicts. Much of the world is based on the actions of our players though. We allow our players (within reason) to directly impact the world, and we build the world to show that impact.

Currently, we have two servers dedicated to our world. The first, Hala, is based on an island of refugees who wanted to escape the heavy hand of the gods. They rejected the gods and moved to the far reaches of the plane. A great war broke up the island that they chose to live on, the one they named Hala. Hala has been ravaged by war. Wars of the factions. Wars of the races. Even a war with a mighty dragon known only as the Lord of the Night. All this has left Hala as a group of joined bergs, floating in the endless sky that is Ysgard. Now though, they have drifted once again, and are close to the mainland. A great bridge was built by those on the mainland to span the distance to Hala and to aid in locking it in place. Now the people of Hala must suffer the intrusion of the people of the gods, making a whole new set of problems for them.

The second is Ysgard. The Mainland. Those living on the mainland tend to be fiercely religious and devoted to the Aesir. As such, this breeds internal conflicts, and the people of Ysgard know the Bergs of Hala have been rejoined to the mainland via a great bridge. Also, on the mainland, archaeologists have discovered a split in the fabric of the multiverse--a place known as the Infinite Staircase. This staircase winds endlessly through the blackness of the tear. Throughout it are portals that randomly appear and disappear. Some go nowhere, some connect to other planes and Primes throughout the multiverse. It is through this staircase we join to other worlds of CoPaP, as well as mini worlds that we have put in to represent some of the various realms of the multiverse.

What was the central catalyst to this whole process of running a PW?

Arkon: By the time I joined the Hala staff, Hala was already a fairly well established world within CoPaP. It had its flaws though. Many things didn't seem to make sense. As members came and went, people would add in their own things. At one point, discussion came up between some of the elder members of the team to turn Hala into a Prime world. When I was asked to take over as the Head DM, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to add to the world, to make it something that would draw in players and give people a place they could create and roleplay a character to become whatever they wanted. Hala, for me, is a place people can go to and escape the tedium of life and delve into a world where they can do and be anything they want. So, I took what others had put in before and worked to mold it into the place it is now. We have a fairly tight community of regular players. Our current base is not huge, but it is continually growing. That is why I do this. Not for the recognition, but for the players.

How has the world changed since you started helping out?

Arkon: I think the biggest change in Hala since I came to the team and subsequently became the Head DM is the increased focus. As I stated before, talk had come up about the future of the world. Some wanted to move away from the idea of an Outer plane server and move to a Prime. I rejected that idea and began a series of events to change the current face of Hala. We removed some of the old factions and brought in some new ones. By doing this, we were able to reestablish Hala as the Chaotic Good Outer Plane of Ysgard. It was a great challenge, undoing some of the things that had been done by past team members in their efforts to convert Hala to a Prime. Thankfully, I've had a great staff that has backed me in this. I believe we've been able to pull it off. The world has grown considerably from being a single module of about 40 mbs and 200 areas, to having over 400 individual areas, several persistent and static quests with more going in on a regular basis, and requiring two servers. I'm pleased with the direction Hala has taken over the past two years. As one of the earlier members of CoPaP, I set us up to a high standard. I believe I've been able, with the help of a great team, to meet those standards I set for myself, and for the world.

Related Links

• The Confederation of Planes & Planets
• The Builders Project - help for module builders
• Norse Mythology
• Places that are darn cold - Edmonton, Pluto

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