Halflings

Halflings are a widespread and common folk in Eramon, always underfoot in great human cities and frequently interspersed into rural communities either alongside other races or on their own. They arrived concurrently to the Dwarves and Gnomes; like the other races, they were fleeing the Godsgate Calamity's fallout, but in the case of the Halflings the trauma they endured in their former homeland was so vast that although their cultural memory is similarly fragmented, its scars run deep.
Though they do not remember their lost home, they still mourn it, and seek to recreate its comfort and simple beauty wherever they may be. Traces of this lost culture can be still found in Halfling songs and stories, of which they have a great love and thrill at passing on to eager new listeners, even the saddest ones.
Halflings are a big-hearted folk whose emotions soar far beyond their short stature. The Halfling concept of 'Luodde' cannot be easily translated, though 'belonging' is the closest Common can get; it is a sense of nostalgia and comfort and the warmth of good companionship mixed with a bittersweet ache of loss.
The search for this quality defines life for many Halflings; its loss can drive them to despair, to seeking its fulfilment in petty vices, even to thievery and murder for the sake of survival, whilst its fulfilment can nourish the most powerful and loyal of friendships.
Comfortably tolerant of other races, the most hateful thing to Halfling cultures is bullying and oppression, which they will often oppose with startling ferocity wherever it is found.
The smallfolk can be found in great numbers in Valderia, in remote communities in Sukima and scattered in small caravans and settlements throughout the Midkingdoms. Halflings seeking peace of mind and learning may wind up in Kar Vreld or study in Wulveral and it is rumoured tribes of wild jungle halflings flit through the trees of Ezzuth. Few indeed brave the magic-tossed deserts of Qadoris or fiery Tamuz except in pursuit of the wildest of treasures...