The United Halfling Communes of Callang

Family, Community, Democracy

The Halfling Communes represent a unique innovation of the Halfling people. Thanks to their tight social bonds, peaceful and content cultural nature, and their mixture of unshakeable work ethic and love of relaxation and leisure, their society naturally evolved into one where one's needs are given by right, and their abilities provide those in need as a chief social responsibility. Their decentralized government puts trust in the settlements across the island to use what they must, ask for what they need, and give that which they do not. Corruption is all but unheard of when you cannot trust anyone you try and onboard into your scheme to be interested in wealth over their community. Truly, the Communes have found a humble utopia, content with what they have rather than striving to seize more. But just because they are content does not immunize them to ambition - if anything, it makes them vulnerable to the ambition of others.
The Grain Feud is technically an ongoing conflict between the Communes and the Karaz Taruhm Shogunate, and their colony upon the southern peninsula or Callang, Mar Taruhm. The lightning campaign of the dwarven samurai left the Defense Unions of the island unbalanced and unprepared. But before the island could fall, the Canate Princes intervened and demanded a ceasefire - fearing a war with them, the Shogunate acquiesced, allowing for the Bonewight Wall to be built to prevent future aggression. Some communards now advocate a counter-attack - if the Communes do not make it clear that they will fight for their land and people, what's to stop someone else from attacking? And others believe that their ideals call for them to stand back and secure what they still have. Only time will tell how this cold war will resolve...

Geography

Callang is almost entirely grassland with sparse trees and is generally temperate in climate. There are a few small forests, but this has encouraged the locals to dig their homes into the ground and to farm trees in certain communities. They retain the right to mine in the southern ranges despite them being actively guarded by the sovereign military installation of the Bonewight Wall - the Canate Princes could easily seize these mountains. The land is amazingly fertile and seems to recover quite well from agricultural use. Horses, ponies, bison, riding dogs, and elks roam these plains, and much of the pollination niche is occupied by the local breed of giant bees. In terms of magical creatures, Ankhegs are an endemic issue but diminished from their past population, and one can also find Blink Dogs, and the dreaded yet revered Blodeuwedds, the fae guardians of the sanctity of the plains, and who are given offerings by farmers every season in return for the continued vitality of their fields.

Government and Geopolitics

The Halfing Communes are a strictly decentralized collective of settlement-scale communes. Each village, town, and the few cities in the Communes each have an autonomous, democratic, government built on a social contract devised through the consensus of the inhabitants. While some settlements have slightly to significantly different structures, the standard template for a Commune's government is centered around every workplace having a union of workers. These unions make decisions for the functioning of their workplace and elect one of their own to be their representative in the local council meetings for a term set by the local government. These councils select a member of their community outside of their council through their own democratic election, and this individual - if they accept - will represent the settlement in the National Union for the next 5 years, in the political capital of Zlapol. Each settlement also sends their excess resources to the capital, and place their requests for resources with their rationale for why they are needed. The National Union will then pass non-binding resolutions establishing goals and procedures that the communes should put into effect, and distribute the available resources according to their need. Three elected positions exist within the National Union: the Speaker of the National Union that serves as head of state, the Secretary of Distribution who organizes the shipment of supplies from the national stockpile to the settlements, and the Secretary of the Militia responsible for supplying recommendations to Defense Unions in settlements and organizing said Unions into a coherent force in times of war.
There is no system of formal taxation in the Communes, in no small part because individuals within do not practice a monetary economy. Rather, when the National Union has need of resources, they will put out a call for donations, which the local councils will fulfill if they are able to. They may also donate goods of value to be sold or exchanged for what is needed. There is no reward for doing so besides prestige, helping the Communes as a whole, and looking good on the ballot to the typical communard. This is important, as a third of the population of a settlement can call for the impeachment of a member of the local council by offering a petition to the council and thus begin a debate on their fitness for office. Similarly, any settlement may level a complaint against a National Union member, and their complaint will be spread to the rest of the Communes - fact-checked, of course - and if a quarter of settlements offer the same or substantially similar complaint afterward, the complaint advances to an impeachment vote by the National Union. The National Council works off a simple majority vote system - the Speaker of the National Union has one vote, as do the Secretary of Distribution and Secretary of the Militia. There are no vetos in the council, but the Speaker and the Secretaries are given permission to speak first and respond to all comments if they wish. Any councilman can step forward to speak as well but are supposed to ask for permission, and speaking without being told to by the Speaker is seen as uncouth.
There is no state religion in the Halfling Communes, though the majority of settlements and the National Union make offerings to the heroes of Halfling myth and history, the former typically on a weekly basis, and both during a council meeting. The heroes are given humble offerings, normally the nicest portion of food from a batch - such as the most appealing loaf of bread a baker has made that day - or ceremonial necklaces made of shells or whatever metal is available. Effort and generosity are the most important part of the offering. There is absolute religious freedom in the Communes, though religious freedom is not a defense for any crimes committed against a settlement's laws or the few national-scale laws that exist.
The Communes are not interested in warfare or conquest. Thus, they have never had an incentive to form alliances and no one has ever cared to form an alliance with their defensive, domestic militia army. However, in recent years, the Canate Princes stepped in during their time of need, forming an informal alliance with the Communes, essentially guaranteeing their independence. This is the reason for the existence of the Bonewight Wall, meant to contain Taruhm aggression. While many are suspicious of Canate's intentions, they have thus far proven to be steadfast and dedicated allies, leaving the Communes to their own devices and simply offering to step if they are attacked once more. Most nations otherwise have tepid relations with the Communes, seeing them as a curiosity and breadbasket.
Much like the rest of Beacepheron, they hold deep contempt for the Starflame Kingdom, knowing that they support the continued work to enslave their people by private actors, but are unable to prove a link. The more pressing issue, however, is the Karaz Taruhm Shogunate, a state that made a play as imperialism to seize the fertile Callang island to supplement their own weak growing capability. Merely seizing the southern peninsula as they have has cut their foreign food imports in half. However, this has been on the back of a serfdom system that made the local halflings that did not or could not flee north work the land for their new feudal masters. This is seen as an outrage by communards, and many of them are calling for attacking and liberating the peninsula alongside Canate, though such a campaign is highly controversial.

Economy

The Communes primarily depend on their massive and incredibly bountiful agricultural system, which comes from their rich and fertile soil. Hectare per hectare, Callang is the most bountiful land in Beacepheron and is rivaled by few places, one of which was the Casa-Nelax Fertile Cresent which has since turned into the blasted hellscape of Aarvatyle. Wheat, potatoes, sugar beets, maize, rye, lentils, squash, beans, and many other species of plants, many of which were imported and selectively bred to suit the Callang climate, are grown in amazingly high numbers. Agriculture is organized to ensure that fields have varied use by plants that use the soil differently through a process of crop rotation, in an attempt to maintain soil fertility, and fields are regularly fertilized and, in the case of overworked fields, left fallow. Meat is more common among the Communes than in other countries, as most villages retain their own large herds of cattle, sheep, and almost every household has poultry and pigs. Most families eat meat just as much as another in a year. While they are still hesitant to kill an animal that still provides unless the situation is desperate, animals who no longer give resources or cease to provide a service are butchered and preserved. Most farms are linked with four to eight neighbors who form a single 'workplace' while each operating their own farm.
Skilled labor, unlike most countries, is more decentralized, and those jobs that aren't needed in every settlement will often find many of their practitioners in the smaller village, frequently as many or more than in the cities in total. Most cities have their formation organized by the National Union, typically carved out of unproductive farmlands and excess pasture space. They are generally given a clear purpose, which the local council has a charter to accomplish. This is typically to produce a manufactured good on a larger scale to accommodate new needs. As long as this is accomplished, the economic development of the city or town is free to continue organically. These cities are normally still surrounded by farms, and at a high density, with only the minimum road space needed for efficient functioning. Cities are typically built upon a small matching undercity of underground abodes. Making slings and sling bullets is a very common industry in these cities, as these are used to hunt, as part of herding to fend off predators, and in warfare, creating a surrounding industry of textile manufacture and lead mining or pottery.
Lead is a very common mineral resource across all of Callang, and one of the few that's still available in abundance since the loss of the mountain range on the southern peninsula. They also have access to modest iron, tin, and copper reserves and small coal reserves. They also have access to some diamond mines, though these are underdeveloped. The southern peninsula has most of these in much larger quantities, besides lead and diamonds - the former are mostly found north of the mountains, and the latter exclusively so. The diamond mines are small because they are generally considered only important for magic, and the kind of high-level magic that requires diamond dust is not particularly common anywhere, let alone here. Diamond exports are relatively few, but not unheard of, generally indicative of friendship and trust between the Communes and the recipient - diamonds are an important strategic asset thanks to their magical applications.
Almost every member of Callang's society receives trinkets, magically tuned to protect against workplace accidents. Most villages produce these trinkets domestically, though a few import from one another, either in totality or to satisfy demand above local capabilities. Otherwise, Magical Items are property of the settlement to which they belong, and are used when applicable by any citizen of good standing if their proposal is approved by their council. Magical Items that come into the possession of an individual remain theirs, though almost all settlements require them to register these items and turn them in for a reward if they fall onto a blacklist.
The Communes export massive amounts of agricultural products, including the sickly-sweet and sugar-dense giant bee honey that must be cooked, diluted, or served with a mellowing element to be palatable, but has medicinal and disinfecting applications and is vital to certain high-class dishes in foreign countries. The Communes import wood from Stormakt and the Canate Princedom, some manufactured goods from the Moonlight Kingdom, and the mineral resources they lack from whoever can provide when needed.

Military

The Communes do not have a formal standing army and have no system of drafting, levy, or forced militia system. Rather, a large proportion of the population voluntarily joins the Defense Union of their village. Membership in these Defense Unions includes a non-binding commitment that the volunteer joins the war effort in the event that the Communes are attacked or invaded. Failing to join the defense without a good reason, to be evaluated by the local Defense Union Organizer, will cause one to be removed from the Defense Union and be ineligible to rejoin for 10 years. The Defense Unions train and drill on weekends, though the members are encouraged to practice on their own time, and between friends. Defense Unions provide weapons and armor to their members, typically a spear, a wooden shield, a sling-staff, and a gambeson or leather armor. While they are able to hold a line against bandits, brigands, and slavers, they are expected to fight a guerilla war against a larger, more focused enemy, only forming ranks when a decisive battle presents itself, preferably against an enemy that has been worn down. Defense Unions that live in villages that raise Riding Dogs will often retain a force of light cavalry, and the Zlalpol Defense Union has organized a heavier shock cavalry force under the pseudo-Chivalric Order of the Paw, which has extended into certain metalworking cities.
The only siege weapon commonly employed by the Communes are the Groznyy Slings - a giant leather sling-cup on ropes is affixed to a mechanism with a ratchet for cranking. When released, the ratchet spins from the tension in the ropes, spinning the sling cup a set number of times depending on the desired range, and then released, firing the shot. These are typically only used to defend the coast, as part of defensive installations, or as ship-board weapons, though they can be made for siege purposes. For their size, they have incredible firepower, though a slow rate of fire due to the cranking and the spinning before release.
The Communes employ clerics and battlemages, as most nations do - all casters are trained in apprenticeships, typically in cities with either a major shrine to the Halfling heroes or the office of a senior mage. These positions are not held in particularly high esteem compared to the other members of the army - they are seen as a necessary and valued contribution to society, just like every job in the Communes. Communard doctrine employs battlemages in misdirection, communication, and decisive strikes involving high-power evocation spells such as Fireballs. Clerics are used as force multipliers and healers.
The Halfling navy is made entirely of light patrol ships meant to police the waterways - in wartime, they are more likely to wait in the harbor as stationary shore batteries rather than fighting on the open sea. They almost all carry at least one Groznyy Sling, often more, which are on spinning platforms, allowing for 360-degree firing. Most coastal settlements have a battery of Groznyy Slings for shore defense. The Communes are not dependant on trade and will survive a blockade in relative comfort.

Demographics

As expected of their name, the majority of the Halfling population is composed of Halflings. Their system of government is strongly associated with their species and cultural identity, and most people who are not willing to abide by traditional monarchist systems of government prefer to join the all-welcoming Fiuthnollan Commonwealth. There remains a small population of trade middlemen and immigrants - who are welcome into any village that will take them so long as they work, or come with family that will work if they are not able to do so. Most humans who come to Callang are Stormaki, Canate, or Iskar people, though there are very small populations of other humans. A small but vocal group of Otha and Moonlight elves have also joined the Communes, seeing their society as the romantic ideal of the simple and virtuous life.
The majority of Communards follow the traditional hero-worship of the Halfling people. This is not species exclusive, and many immigrants have started to embrace this idea towards the heroes of their own culture, often adapting their idea of what a 'hero' is closer to the halfling ideal - that of a figure who achieve great things of any kind through diligence, dedication, effort, and stubbornness. Most cultures include a major martial component to what makes a hero, but this is but one possibility within the halfling idea of a hero, and a distinctly rare and nonessential one. Many halfling heroes include the entire population of villages that, on the cusp of starving, managed to pull back the disaster and save their people, and the one to which one gives their worship depends on familial relation, connections as friends between families, or simply a feeling of similarity with that person or group.
The vast majority of Communards live in agrarian villages. The vast majority of them are literate and have a basic education, as provided by schools mandated by the National Union, as it has been for 300 years. Even those Communards that do not directly partake in agriculture are more likely than not to be involved in refining the results of that work. Mining is undertaken with an apparatus known as the Samurai Beard, a dense bandana-like strip of fabric that is worn to block out detritus and residue from mining operations while allowing air to pass, as long as it's cleaned regularly in supplied buckets of water - especially important when mining lead and coal. Those few manufacturing jobs that can't take place efficiently on a local scale take place in the few Communard cities. As expected, there is no nobility or upper class in the Communes. Each gives according to their ability and takes according to their need.

Culture

Halflings practice absolute gender equality - as long as one is competent in the work they wish to do, their gender is irrelevant to this. Most halflings have a household that, despite its small size, contains as many as four generations of the same family. The decisions of the household are centred around the consensus of every adult present, with children being consulted for their point of view as a regular matter of course as well. While small decisions are made spontaneously, the decision-maker will discuss the matters of the day with the other adults, and their fellows are free to voice their approval or objection of how they made the decision and, if needed and possible, reverse the decision. Because of the distribution of homes, most other species that come to live in the Communes tend to live in similar circumstances - though humans tend to be three generations per household, and elves and dwarves can be many more, and typically receive bigger homes as a result, and even then might have to split up the family into separate houses next door to one another.
Technologically, the Communes are behind in some respects and ahead in others. Their mechanical engineering of the Groznyy Slings and various farming machines, such as animal-powered threshing machines, wagons that sow seeds in passing, and advances in fertilizer and agricultural practices, are quite impressive. However, they have no gunpowder nor firearms production, and nothing close to Fiuthnollan or Yalenvan high-tech industries.
Halflings value hard work, diligence, honesty, integrity, and stubbornness as vital cultural values. However, they also take care to make sure that their people are not self-destructive in their work tendencies - put your nose to the grindstone, but make sure you have a nose left by the time your day off comes around! In a strange cultural turn, the average halfling considers it normal and, in fact, healthy to openly and directly address any frustration without reservation, as long as it's quick and one gives the other person a chance to respond and defend themselves. Once things have been aired out, they are either resolved or then taken to a quiet, private discussion, to find the source of the problem and how best to achieve a mutually satisfying outcome. Drinking on the job is also considered normal in moderation, and normally only when partaking in mind-numbing or tedious work. Halflings tend to find slightly-to-moderately heavy-set bodies attractive, considering a slight paunch to be part of the ideal body on both men and women.
Communards tend to wear dark-coloured clothes that aren't easily ruined by a stain or two. They make their clothes comfortable but rugged as well, typically layering a soft inner layer with a rugged outer layer. Sturdy boots are typical footwear, and most people have a pair of sturdy gloves, typically made of leather. Most people wear their hair short-to-medium length, man and woman, to make sure it doesn't get into one's eyes during work. Red and green, in brighter shades, are also common additions to one's clothes to beautify them, though typically just a well-placed patch or two - often around the knees or the chest, and these patches getting dirty is meant to show one's hard work.
Communards enjoy cheerful, fast-paced music, perfect for dancing as a community. Fiddles, clapping, and vocals are all almost universal in their folk songs, and different songs from different villages use different instruments. Most families hand-craft their own board games, often based on templates provided by the National Union, with rules, though making a whole new board game is not only normal but encouraged. If one makes a new board game that proves to be popular, the National Union will offer to produce a rulebook and a board template to add it to the National Entertainment Archive - this comes with a feast in their honour brought to their village, an Achievement in Culture Medal, and credit permanently embedded into the manual. Novels are also common, and every village has a public library, and one can receive a similar reward for writing a new novel that takes off. Vodka is the favoured drink, in no small part because it encourages self-regulation with its intense alcohol taste. Wheat beer and mead are also common, though halfling mead has a unique flavour from the giant bee honey that most mead-drinkers find strange.

Information

Type: Nation, Republic, Federal, Democratic
Continent: Beacepheron
Population: 13,000,000
Standing: Minor Power, Stagnant
Allies: The Canate Princedom (Informal)
Rivals: None
Enemies: The Karaz Taruhm Shogunate, the Starflame Kingdom