Halfling (Hahf-lings)
My years spent under the care of Nana Poppyglen were full of delight. Two hot meals a day and other children to play with. The burrow elders singing to us every week and teaching us our letters and numbers. When I look back upon my childhood, so much of it is filled with anguish, but the few short years I spent in the care of the Halflings stands out in stark contrast.
- Phaes, a foundling from Tor Sionis
Halflings are one of the most ancient races upon Dyrn. Not a distinct race of their own but a product of the mixing of other races, the halflings tend to short stature and are generally of an affable nature. Steadfast workers, they will apply themselves to any job they should take up, but the most important part of their culture is family - both family by blood, and by circumstance.
Halfling Origins
The earliest records of creature thought to be halflings come from the songs of the elves, who sailed the oceans around Terrenos in antiquity and sung of a race of small folk thought to the related to humans from the Sunset Isles. In antiquity these halflings were slaves to the humans of the Isles, but in time they arose and rebelled against their masters, taking over the Isles for themselves. Those halflings who did not support this new order within the Isles underwent a diaspora, crossing the sea to the west coast of Terrenos and slowly migrating across the continent. Simultaneous to this disapora, small Halfling communities were springing up in and around the continent as humans, delvers, dragonborn and the various goblinkin and other races native to Dyrn mingled and began to interbreed. Often shunned by larger communities, these halflings were initially nomadic clans, moving around Terrenos to keep themselves safe, not tending to stay in any one place for long lest they draw the ire of the local community. Their mixed origins, though, led to them developing an affable nature and an undeniable ability to blend in with those around them. Early halfling culture was a melting pot of the culture from which they were descended, muddled further by their nomadic ways.Longburrow
In time, the varied paths and circuits that the halfling nomads traveled began to converge, in a region within what is now known as the Sommelunds. Some of the nomadic tribes began to settle, working the land as farmers and trading with local towns and villages that were initially wary but in time came to accept the smallfolk. This original halfling settlement became known as Longburrow, after the enormous burrowed homesteads that nomadic groups initially excavated to house their extended families. Today, halfling families are still known as burrows.Modern Halflings
In modern times, halfling bloodlines have stratified into broad lineages that reflect their heritages, but even within these lineages, there is considerable difference. Halflings with strong gnomish heritage may express the pointed ears of their fey ancestors; halflings with delver blood tend to be hale and hearty, and may even grow a beard. These differences tend to be more pronounced in first generation halflings, although halfling culture is generally very accepting and makes no particular distinction between first generation and later generation halflings. For unclear reasons, this mixed heritage causes halflings to tend towards smaller sizes, although a first generation halfling child born to full-sized parents of different races may approach a typical medium height by adulthood.Halflings do not breed true to elves or orcs. Elves and orcs both produced offspring by non-sexual means prior to the War of the Dawn, where a powerful enchantment known as either the Boon of Eilh or the Bane of Morrigan altered these races forever, granting them the ability to produce biological offspring. As a result, orcs and elves who interbreed with other races do not produce halflings; they produce half-orcs or half-elves, respectively.
