Halfling
The halflings are one of the nine playable humanoid races in Erelest. Preferring the peace and quiet life in their corners of the world, they often times prefer tranquility, festivals and good things over adventuring, status, glory or fame. Nearly every halfling enjoys hearing about stories, but would much rather tend to their fields, gardens, and other such simple lives, before ending the day at their local tavern. On rare occasions a few halflings will gain the spirit of wanderlust and dreams of grand adventures, more oftentimes in young halflings, and they will go out and attempt to partake in one. Though most races will rarely choose a halfling adventurer due to their seemingly limited talents. A halfling's dislike of magic has evolved into a resistance against it (+1 every 3 1/2 constitution point bonus against wands, staffs & rods). Their stoutish blood is also resistant to most poisons as well +1 every 3/2 constitution point bonus against poisons). All halflings are surprisingly stealthy (if alone or well in advance (90' or more) or in a party entirely of halflings or elves, surprise 1-4 in 6 if not opening door, 1-2 if door is opened), and can note the following facts: if passage is up/downward grade (75%) and direction underground (50%). Finally halflings have a +1 to dexterity and a -1 to strength.
While halflings are often viewed as the underdogs, they have repeatedly surprised, astonished, and impressed other races in adventuring parties with their cleverness, quiet movement, and resolve in hard situations.
Default starting alignments: (Any) Good, (Any) Neutral.
Rare starting alignments: (Any) Evil.
Sub-races: Stout, Hairfoot, Tallfellow
Basic Information
Biological Traits
Halflings are, in most senses, identical appearance wise to humans in most regards, save for a few. The most prominent is that they are shorter than humans, to the point where they are half the height of them. The exceptions are the tallfellow halflings. The second noticeable feature of theirs is that their feet appear bigger than most would assume. At first glance this isn't as noticeable, however a second look can realize this difference. This is because their feet's skin is more thick than most races, and as such they are tougher. The result is them not requiring any shoes to travel safely. When halflings are seen wearing footwear, it is usually to keep their feet clean as opposed to protecting them.
Growth Rate & Stages
The life span of the haflings are almost identical to the lifespans of dracon, save only for the divine dracon which live up to three hundred years. Halflings are infants for longer periods of time than human infants. This is partially because a halfling infant actually needs less food intake, needing to take a slower and patient growth rate than other races. At the age of eight, halflings will be considered children. The children will start out requiring a human's average meal for a child, however they will quickly begin growing their dietary intake, beginning to eat more and more as they frolic and play, help in the fields and grow. However, a halfling's physical growth will officially end before they have become a young adult.
Once a halfling is twenty two years of age they become a young adult, they will be taken in by a family tutor, or a tutor who is a friend of the families, and begin learning the family business. At this age all halflings are capable of eating great numbers of foods and meals, and often have several designated eating times throughout the day, far more than most other races. Despite this, they are slow to retain fat in their body, thus it takes approximately three times the normal rate of food consumption for any real effect to show, though most halflings eventually do grow more stout and wide at some point in their lives, unless they are especially active such as farming, lumberjacking, or the very rare adventuring. This continues through maturity (age thirty four), and middle age (sixty nine).
Once a halfing reaches one hundred and two, they are considered old in age. Once they become old, they become less active, and even retire and leave the manual labor to the younglings. They still eat just as much, and while they are unable to perform physical labor as often, they still prefer to be active. Thus they often will attempt to run businesses such as taverns, or host parties. Venerable halflings are the same at age one hundred forty nine, but less active.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Halflings can eat just about anything, but they all prefer pristine foods, fine cuisine, and other well made meals. They dislike any food that has not been spiced, or does not have at least two to three ingredients put into it. Thus a salad consisting of lettuce, cabbage and spinach leaves, would be considered 'boring, bland and tasteless', whereas a salad with those leaves, tiny tomatoes, mushrooms, goat cheese, spices, bread crumbs, and other such ingredients is considered the normal. In addition, they expect a large meal consisting of several of these 'fine foods' in their homes, and hope for it in other locations. This is a high expectation, but it's mostly because their homelands, or locations in which the population is mostly halfling, is nearly always chosen as the most fertile land they can find, and thus they are often incredibly prosperous when it comes to crops, cattle and foods.
With the biology they were born with, all halflings consume at a greater amount than any other race. As a result, halflings require double the rations to be fully satisfied. While they can survive with average rations, and even smaller ones, their exhaustion rate can generate more quickly than normal, and they will often complain that they're "starving".
Additional Information
Social Structure
Unlike other races and communities, halflings do not participate much in social rankings. The closest thing the halflings have to a ranking system is that of the age system. Infants and children are of course at the bottom. Adults and middle aged, or those of working and laboring age, are often treated equally and evenly respected, unless their reputation is either greater than average or worse than average, there is no change here. The elderly, or those too old to perform physical labor, are the ones that host businesses and events, and are treated better, but their respect is dependent on their reputation. Otherwise it's the same average as when they were fit for laboring. Depending on the size of the settlement, they may have a mayor, in which he or she is respected a little more than the elderly.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Halflings are the most picky about where they settle down than any other races. Because of this, they have very few settlements of their own, and often times have to mingle with other communities such as gnomes or dwarves if they wish to expand. However given that it is not often for them to try and expand their borders, this isn't as big an issue as outsiders are lead to believe. Halflings prefer to have their settlements be isolated from other races, specifically elves, humans, and all manner of tall folk in general. The exception being good dracon whom they are on good terms with. They usually enjoy vibrant green fields and meadows, oftentimes among green hills. The soil must be fertile, so that their farming and gardening is at it's best. Finally, they require plenty of room. They are willing to suffice with wooded areas so far as they are sparse and not dense, and still contain fertile ground.
Average Intelligence
The intelligence of a halfling is the same as most other races. They are often average across the scale, just as humans are often average save for the special individuals. Despite this however most races often confuse their intelligence by something less than average, due to the level of technology they use. This isn't the case of course, as their reason being is by choice. For the halflings as a race do not have any ambitions other than to live peaceful, filling, prosperous lives in their isolated cozy homes. They do not participate in wars, in building grand cities, in expeditions or adventures, or the gathering of riches. Additionally, they are often very clever in their thinking. Often noticing things that others might miss, coming up with unique ideas or plans, or even just noticing the obvious while others are overthinking things.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Like most races other than human the halflings have the capability of looking into the infrared spectrum, which allows them to locate enemies in the dark, and makes it a little easier on them should they suddenly be plunged into darkness. A pure blooded Stoutish Halfling has infravision up to sixty feet, while those of mixed bloods have only up to thirty feet infravision, and while it is powerful it has weaknesses, as any cold object can block heat sources from view.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
The naming of a halfling is often divided between elven traditions and human traditions. Male offspring are named with traditions similar to humans. Examples are naming their children after phrases, meanings, after their parents, after their family's job, and so forth. When naming them after phrases, it will always be based on pleasant and/or peaceful things, and never anything unpleasant or violent. When they name their female offspring, they will prefer to name their children after flowers, celestial bodies and stars, gemstones, and other beautiful things.
Beauty Ideals
Halflings often view beauty in the same regard as humans. They find individuals with flawless skin, tidy and groomed hair, and no disfigurements pleasant. However they are also slightly more tolerant of beauty in other races than the humans. They will laugh at a gnome's appearance, but never mock them or oppress them for it. They are not afraid of a dracon's appearance, nor are they disgusted by them.
Average Technological Level
Halflings are very often mistaken for having minimal intelligence of most sorts due to their lifestyle and lack of ambition. This is of course, not true at all, for every halfling has in general, the same level of intelligence as most other races. Where and how they use that intelligence often differs greatly from the other races, yes. For you will often see halflings memorizing the entirety of crops, herbs, weeds, flowers, and all manner of vegetation and all that's known about them, but rarely take the time to learn another race's culture, or look into the geography of their country often times. Most of their technology takes the form of farming and gardening tools, or devices used for pleasantries like brewing and cooking. They rarely accept technology from the gnomes because they do not enjoy the loud banging noises that come from those, thus when the gnomes develop something that is much quieter the halflings often accept these gifts graciously.
Additionally, halflings are known for their cleverness and 'outside the box' thinking. While they hold their views on the world stubbornly, they are excellent problem solvers most of the time.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
All halflings speak the language of halfling, dwarvish, elven, gnome, goblin, orcish, and the "common tongue" of mankind. Depending on how high the halfling's intelligence score is, they can learn 1 additional language for every point of intelligence above 16.
History
"You call my race a rather boring bunch. And while I can understand why you would think that, now that I've been out and about, I must heartily disagree with you. Just because it isn't an exciting or overly ambitious life, doesn't make it boring. You haven't grown up tending to the crops in the morning, tending the beautiful gardens in the afternoon, celebrating and partying with your friends and family, and sharing in many meals through the day. A peaceful life isn't a boring life, if I may say so." --Wenace CoppertopThe halflings were, at one point in time, a massive source of slaves for kingdoms who used slavery. Specifically the humans would often prefer picking halflings as slaves over other creatures due to the fact that their small size made it easy to bully them into submission. As the many hundreds of years passed on however, the halflings began to rebel against their rulers, slowly and in small ways. However the dwarves and the gnomes took pity on their fellow small-folk, and planned with the halflings before launching full fledged invasions on the kingdoms and fought for them and beside them, for their freedom. Once they'd won their victory the two races aided them in finding a place suitable to live in. Once they'd succeeded, the races parted ways. After this event, the halflings slowly faded from the writings of history as a race. That isn't to say that no halfling has ever done anything noteworthy in history, for there are individuals who've made the history books. However the halflings as a race are not very ambitious, preferring to stay in their isolated settlements.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Dracon: Goodwill/Antipathy - While the first hundred years of interactions between the halflings and dracon were shaky, for the halflings did not enjoy people who were different, nor trust the tall ones, the two groups quickly became good friends. For both races enjoy peace, happiness, and sometimes celebration together. Some settlements actually share a land together. Should any evil dracon be encountered however, they are immediately pressed to leave by a crowd of halflings, who know that they would bring harm to their people if given the chance.
Dwarves: Goodwill - Despite the dwarves stubbornness, the halflings and dwarves each love celebration, revelries and merriment. In addition to this, both sides when hosting guests are quick to provide many great feasts and drinks. Very often times the dwarves and halflings hold several trade routes open with each other, the dwarves providing halflings rich brews, and the halflings delivering satisfying foods. Overall both races have much in common, save for that dwarves are ambitious while halflings are not.
Elves: Tolerated - The halflings in general are very tense when seeing elves. Should an elf enter their territory, the entire village would grow stressed and tense. If a halfling encounters elves in the wilderness, they would simply be very cautious. While they are entranced by the beauty of elves, and can relate to their love of nature and things that grow, they never forget that they all love the very concept of magic and delve deep into it. Additionally, elves in general carry an aura of mystery about them, and often have something or someone following closely behind them.
Gnomes: Goodwill - Similar to the dwarves, halflings and gnomes have much in common with one another. They love celebrations, merriment, festivities and revelry, eating and drinking, and handle the unnatural humor of gnomes far easier than any other race. In some instances they'll even join in the joke, or help them out with a prank. When the two races are together, they're often considered to be "happy yet mischievous siblings". They may not care for a gnome's chaotic inventions, followed closely by their experiments blowing up or causing disturbing noise, they overlook this most of the time.
Half-Elves: Goodwill - While the halflings tolerate elves, and are neutral towards humans, half-elves they actually get along with very well more often than not. They do not carry the same chaotic, magical and mysterious aura as their elven parent, yet still possess a love of nature as they do. Additionally they carry the traits of mankind, free to have their own interests and personalities, unrestrained by either race's "norm". But even more than this, both halflings and half-elves love peace, and will not hesitate to offer days, weeks, months, even years of peace in their village to half-elves, who have the utmost respect for this treasured gift.
Half-Orcs: Neutral - While the halflings greatly dislike a half-orc's coloration, they are just as neutral with them as they are with humans. For they know that while their body can somewhat resemble that of an orc's, their minds are unaffected by the demi-race's cruelty. It simply depends on where they are born and how they are raised. In fact, if half-orcs don't cause any violence or stir up trouble, they're welcome to stay and help with the laboring chores.
Humans:Neutral - Halflings have mixed feelings regarding humans. Most of their interactions with humans are usually with trading merchants, eating, drinking and celebrating in taverns and inns, or simply encountering visitors to their settlements. If they go out to other settlements, they usually keep to themselves. While they are willing to get to know humans individually, or in small groups, they are suspicious of their race as a whole. Not because they used to enslave their race, but because one never knows what a human is thinking, nor if they can be trusted.
Nephilim: Neutral - The initial response from a halfling upon meeting a nephilim is usually with smiles, however they will quickly want to identify what bloodline they are from. Select few bloodlines they're willing to trust and get to know, while the others they don't trust at all. The bloodlines they can trust they get to know just as they would with most humans. There have been a few nephilim who actually not only got along with the halflings, but even stayed in their villages. Though they still disapprove of magic.
Lifespan
On average Halflings live up to 200 years.
Average Height
Most halflings never grow taller than three feet tall. Tallfellows can grow up to four feet tall.
Average Weight
Stouts and Tallfellows weigh 130 to 150 pounds.
Hairfoots weigh 120 to 130 pounds.
Average Physique
Halflings are always described as short, and they are not stocky like the dwarves, nor are they oddly shaped like the gnomes. If anything they just look like short humans. Some of them can be stout due to their love of eating, but due to their strong digestive system they don't often appear that way. Since most of the halflings perform physical labor, often farming or gardening, they will have a decent amount of muscle, rarely appearing thin.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
All halflings have the same hair, and eye colorations as humans do. They can even have markings and blemishes like freckles and birthmarks. They can have brown hair, black hair, blonde hair, red hair, gray hair, silver hair, and colors in between. Their eye colors can be brown, blue, green, hazel, amber, and gray eyes. Their skin tones are all under white skin tones.
Related Organizations
