Halflings in E'ahna

Halflings are the natural gardeners of E'ahna. According to their mythology they were placed in the world by the creator of all, Fion, to tend and till the world and appreciate its many bounties. Halflings have always traditionally lived in small, rural townships governed by small councils of family heads. They have never been the ambitious type to conquer or war like humans or orcs do and they are natural pacifists. It is not their way to covet the riches in the earth like the dwarves, to seek the power of the arcane like the elves, to try and poke and prod at every little thing until it is understood like the gnomes. Halfling culture is the culture of enjoying life, spreading happiness and music and food, and accepting what is for what it is. Of course, not all Halflings are traditional.

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Not all halflings fled north when the humans turned their eyes eastward. Many somehow held their ground or assimilated into the new human kingdom. To this day, there is a huge population of them who live in the rural towns of the Marasen Empire. They tend to shy away from the larger cities, but those of Wyngybi and Alderstone which started as halfling towns, have become halfling cities in their own right. When Kardath won its independence from Marasen, many halflings moved there to be out from under the thumb of the empire. They did not, however move much further south than that. Many of them hold the same cultural grudges against Belstrad that the humans of Marasen do. Others chose not to simply because there is so little farmable land and a great number of dangers in the ruined south.
Though many might call Hywela a paradise, with its peaceful green hills and farm filled valleys, many halflings would instead call it a prison. Over the centuries a number of halflings grew bored of the stagnant and unchanging world of Hywela. They longed to meet new people and cultures, experience new music and food and hear more tales that weren't the same iterations of old halfling myths over and over. These folks, called the Lightfoot halflings, trickled out of the homeland and spread to near every corner of Arna in their journeys. Those who have chosen to remain in Hywela with no interest in the outside world and the dangers out there, are called the Stout folk. Some also call the halflings that refused to leave their homes when humans came the Stout folk- any halfling who lets their roots grow deep. The vast majority of the Lightfoot halflings landed in the west- in Namiza. After Namiza won it's independence back from Marasen, that area attracted a great number of halfling immigrants and there are some majority-halfling towns to be found, like Bendbee and Mullybrack. Only the most adventurous of the Lightfoots have made their way to the other continent of desert and jungle. They are an uncommon sight, but can be found in small numbers within the large, safe cities of Luxumu, Jacho, and Va'Sehir.