Walnut-Underleaf & Sons Express Roving Service
Halfling delivery company
Walnut-Underleaf was founded over a hundred years ago as a small town trading post in the halfling village of Wyehill. Their business expanded as the halfling town grew more prosperous, and eventually they realized they could extend large sums of credit to customers who might want to import luxury items from larger towns and cities. Thus they became the first express delivery company in the Gyrlands. Suddenly finding themselves in need of trained and reliable deliverymen, they began hiring industrious young halfling men and women to their transport division. Eventually, this wing of the company grew far beyond it's original purpose and overtook all operations of Walnut-Underleaf. The company was rebranded as Walnut-Underleaf & Sons Express Roving Service, and their couriers became known as "Rovers" or sometimes "flatcaps", for their distinctive flat-styled headgear.
Today, Express Roving is the dominant messenger and delivery network across the Outer Gyrlands. They transport post, messages, and packages more quickly than even homing pigeons or ravens, and far cheaper than magical messaging or transportation solutions. No one is quite sure how they manage to achieve this feat, although some assume it must be done with the aid of portals. Regardless, the Rovers have safeguarded this secret for over a hundred years, and are unlikely to reveal how they do so anytime soon.
Whereas most halflings prefer a quiet life of comfort and domesticity, the Rovers attract the relatively small percentage of halfling youth that feel the call of wanderlust and adventure. Those halflings that are motivated to become Rovers are far hardier and more industrious than most of their kin. Experienced flatcaps are skilled in the ways of stealth, survival, and occasionally combat. Stealth seems to be their primary tool, and an experienced, well-trained flatcap can move across nearly any landscape, or through any crowd, completely undetected. Whether this is a function of agility, cleverness at not attracting attention, or both is a matter of some speculation. Nonetheless, the expression "quiet as a flatcap" is well known in towns all across Avateyne and Ehrethir. In fact, the flatcaps have even made it a tradition to sneak up on the recipients of their deliveries. There are tales told far and wide of folk who have looked down in shock only to see a Rover holding out a letter or a package with a wide grin on their face.
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