Halflings

Society
Halflings are not builders or settlers. There are no Halfling towns or lands, no lasting monuments or castles. The life of a Halfling is a transitory one, full of aimless wanderings that are not so much a choice, as a biological imperative programmed into them from birth. More than any other race, they are driven to a life on the road, a life of adventure and exploration, to see and do all they can; and so make their mark on the world not in any physical way, but in deeds and memories that will be passed along to their descendants.

To facilitate this wanderlust, Halfling communities are built not around towns and villages, but around caravans. In ancient times they would have been foot nomads or horseback herders, but nowadays, with a few exceptions, they take the form of wagon trains, riverboat convoys or ocean-going fleets. These range in size from a dozen individuals to several hundred, and their routes criss-cross the Empire and beyond.

Exactly why Halflings feel this great need to constantly travel is not known. Kingspire anthropologists maintain that it is a response to their prodigious birth rate – any Halfling settlement would swiftly outgrow its resources within a few generations if they weren’t forced to move on. The more religiously minded, meanwhile, have been known to name the calling ‘Fate’s Footsteps’, in reference to an old story in which a Halfling troubadour was blessed by Smiling Fate with good fortune in return for travelling to the four corners of the world and placing a coin there, so that Fate could see the whole world (as he is reportedly able to see out of coins). This explains their drive to travel, their remarkable good luck and their capacity to spend any coin they have, one way or another.

A small proportion of Halflings choose to abandon the life and live permanently in towns and cities. However, even in these situations there will be some element of their former lives. Halflings gravitate toward the more gregarious and personable professions, commonly merchants and innkeepers, so as to continue to experience new faces and stories every day.

Family Life
Halfling families are large. Each is presided over by a matriarch and a patriarch (though they needn’t necessarily be married to each other), and below them is a seething mass of complexly interrelated pairs and families. Every member of a particular caravan can likely draw a complicated family tree that links them to every other member, and new arrivals are only fully welcomed when they marry into the family structure.

Halflings are something of a contradiction when it comes to their families. On the one hand, there is no one they are more loyal to than their family. A Halfling would never betray his family, and would not think twice about sacrificing his livelihood for the benefit of his kin. On the other hand, family members are often another bargaining chip to bring to the table, with important deals and business partnerships sealed with a promise of marriage or even a wedding right there. Yet for all that, these new arrivals are treated as well as if they’d been a part of the family for years. To an outsider these practises border on the bizarre, with their interminable politics and double-dealing, but it is all a part of the instinctual workings of the Halfling community.

One of the necessities of life on the road, all children are raised collectively by all members of the caravan as necessity dictates. While children never forget their parents, they are considered to be children of the community as a whole rather than any individual. This means they get a rounded education in all parts of caravan life, as well as learning the social skills that are so essential to Halfling society. It also partially isolates them from the harsh truth of living in the caravan: life is dangerous, and often brutal and short. By living this life, Halflings are at far greater risk of disease, natural disasters and attacks from people, animals and monsters. But with the whole community for support, a child can still have a normal life without its parents or siblings.

Race Relations
Reactions to a Halfling caravan can be mixed, depending on the area and the circumstance. After all, a town that can barely support itself cannot to have another hundred hungry mouths descend on them without warning. River barges usually get a free pass, since they provide a service that is unavailable through any other means, but the wagon trains often have nothing of obvious merit to provide, to say nothing of the stereotype of the light-fingered Halfling thief. To counteract the potential for persecution, Halflings are quick to ensure that they have something to offer every town they visit.

There is a long and celebrated tradition of gift-giving within and without the caravans, in both a formal and casual setting. One such tradition is Mathom Day. Mathom Day started as a children’s game, involving sneaking a smelly cheese into a friend’s wagon while preventing him from doing the same. Soon, however, it became a more respected tradition, with offensive smells replaced with fresh meat, vegetables and baked goods. Naturally the practice was extended to the towns the caravan’s visited, as a way of giving thanks in a subtle way. So subtle, in fact, that the practice is still relatively unknown.

In places or times where extravagant gift-giving is not possible, Halflings are just as likely to put on some kind of public display. They value music highly, especially traditional pipe-and-drum folk melodies, and will put on shows to show off the best of their talents and to invite others to demonstrate theirs. Such affairs are raucous, and more often than not will devolve into drunken sing-alongs – such affairs are considered rousing successes by the Halflings themselves.

Better than all of these, though, is storytelling. Halflings pass on all their knowledge orally, and will have one elder solely in charge of cataloguing and retelling all their favourite folk legends. When two caravans meet, they will hold storytelling contests, with the aim of enriching both. So naturally, when they pass through a town they will try and pick up the best stories of the region and pass on their favourites as well.

Leadership
Halfling interests are represented in the capitol by the Elder. As the name suggests, the Elder is a respected older Halfling who gives up the travelling life for a period of six years, to live in White Haven and advise the Emperor at her court. In truth, the Elder’s duties are relatively light, involving at most a gentle pressure to ease off on taxes that would affect the travelling folk. On the rare occasion that such things carry far greater importance, the Emperor will often find the frail old Elder possessed of an iron will and fearsome drive to defend their people. None will ever forget the stare that cowed an Emperor, as delivered by Elder Hamma when suspicion over the mysterious movements of elven commandos fell upon the Halfling caravans during the Elf-Dwarf conflict.

How exactly the Elder keeps in contact with all their many subjects is best known to themselves, but it stems at least in part from the Runners. These Halflings spend their lives honing their bodies to peak condition so that they can run for days without stopping for rest, gaining sustenance on the road and braving all weather to keep the caravans connected and informed of any important events. They have their own secret language of coded pictograms so that, even if the messages are intercepted, only another Runner can read them.

When the term of an Elder comes to an end, a Moot is called. The Runners are sent to all corners of the Empire to call the caravans together for the Moot. Few will bring their full complement of family, but all will at least send someone to vote in their stead. The Moot is a grand affair, with a great deal of grandeur and ceremony, all completely out of sight of any non-Halflings. The case will be made by each candidate, then each family will vote once, by dropping a special freshly-minted golden coin – each worth as much as 20 Empire guilders - into jars representing each candidate. The candidate with the most votes wins, but every candidate gets to keep his share. More often than not the previous holder of the position will win, unless they are too old and infirm to carry on, but fresh blood will always try and make their mark, if only for the money they might win.

Racial Variation
Traditionally, Halflings tend to have a surname that reflects their family profession. Examples include the Jollyferry's (river folk), Halfpenny's (bankers & lenders) and Goldgulch's (traders of the route between the Dwarven gold mines and the capital). This family history is also reflected in the physiology of the Halflings themselves, with distinct differences between families.

In general, Halflings fall into one of two categories. 'Stout' Halflings tend to be shorter and more squat with a natural inclination towards hardiness. Halflings of this type tend to be families who have worked the same trade route for generations - a family of whalers, or ferryfolk. 'Lightfoot' Halflings are more slightly built, and more naturally gregarious. Runners are almost invariably from lightfoot stock, as are the bands of travelling entertainers, troubadours and 'odd-jobs' folk. If a family traditionally has no trade route of its own and instead travels the length and breadth of the Empire, they're probably lightfoots.

Though rare, there is in fact a third subtype of Halfling. Known as the Ghostwise Halflings, this group exists outside of the traditional Halfling hierarchy, such as it is. Their most unusual trait an ability they call 'silent speech', which allows them to talk 'mind to mind' rather than needing to speak out loud. This, coupled with the fact that this mutation seems to be linked to albinism, leads to Ghostwise Halflings being regarded with a mix of admiration and fear. Rather than having a trade route or trying to earn a trade, Ghostwise Halflings live in perpetually travelling caravans, cloaked in grey and never speaking audibly. They dedicate themselves to The Watcher, and travel through the Empire tending the sick and disposing of the dead. Any young Halfling born with the 'silent speech' ability is dutifully handed to the Ghostwise Halflings to become part of their family, usually forgoing their family name to devote themselves solely to their god's purpose. Ghostwise Halflings are also one of the few magical mutations that is stable, meaning their children will be born with the same gifts.

Naming Conventions & Examples
Male First Names: Abel, Art, Casey, Derek, Dwight, Grant, Jerome, Kelsey, Hyram, Seth

Female First Names: Bess, Edie, Greta, Iris, Mabel, Opal, Phyllis, Rose, Vera

Family Names: Barrow, Goldgulch, Halfbuck, Halfpenny, Jollyferry, Landshear, Mossflower, Petalpath, Underfoot, Wearyfoot (outcasts)