Halflings
The world may be a big place, but that does not mean in needs to feel like it. Halflings are a people who rejoice in the comforts of life and those around them. Halflings are the smallest of the races standing at three feet, but tend to have the biggest hearts (though some say this is to make up for the fact that it is hard to provide physical accommodations for people who are twice as big as yourself). Halflings tend to be sleight of form but that does not prevent many of them from gaining a pudgy belly after years of overindulgence. Halflings tend to have twice the lifespan of humans. Whether a Clansman or of the Mountain Men, the hearth is considered a revered place and honored guests or entertainers are generally given the closest seat.
Although they focus on comfort, these peoples are not foreign to conflict. They are actually known to produce some of the fiercest and most skilled warriors of history even if they are in more inconsistent numbers when compared to other peoples.
Clansmen
Clansmen are the more stereotypical of Halflings. They enjoy the physical comforts of life. Good food and regular celebrations are looked forward to in the times of plenty. Crafted goods are used as gifts, luxuries, and trade goods when their own lands are less fruitful than those of neighboring peoples. Living in highlands and hills, clansmen identify themselves based on their families. There is no concept of “extended family”. If you are family, you are family no matter how distant.
Clansmen pastoralists favor sheep over other livestock. They take pride in tracking their lineages and have been known to occasionally breed in dire rams to create mounts for their highest honored martial champions.
Mountain Men
Mountain Men believe that comfort is a state of mind and that comfort comes from within. The cliff-side and valley communities are established in balanced yet organic arrangements. Knowledge and meditation are valued by these people and they believe that a well prioritized life can prevent stress that would detract from its pleasures.
Mountain Men identify themselves based off of the community from which they come. They firmly believe that it takes a village to raise a child and they view every member of an establishment as having a role and a purpose to fulfill. It is common to find bachelors and bachelorettes looking outside of their own communities for a spouse because every option within the community may feel too close. This exogamy allows for connections to remain strong between communities no matter the isolation that surrounds them.
They are a goat people which allows them to travel between settlements via shortcuts though more accessible and established routes exist. These routes are used for more extensive trading. However, if a single traveler or a duo is traveling between villages for a short time, their reduced focus on physical belongings allow for them to access these shortcuts on their goats.
The Fracture of Peoples
The halflings of the Storm Broken Lands were not always divided in such distinct cultures. Before the Age of Heroism, they used to keep territories scattered across the lands North and South of the Nerm Warren Channel. These ancient halflings did not claim ownership of these lands and existed in minor communities interspersed among the taller folk. Like so many peoples, their lives changed with the growth of the Alocian Empire through the early Age of Heroism. As the Alocian Empire spread through the same regions home to the halflings, the individuals responded to the changes in three different ways.
First, there were the halflings that welcomed the changes of that the unity the empire brought. These halflings joined the empire and either spread with it or were integrated into the human culture to slowly breed them selves into the populace over the coming centuries. The disparate halfling communities found among most cultures of the Storm Broken Lands likely trace their lineage back to this emigration if a set history is not known in the family.
Next were those halflings that wanted nothing to do with the Alocian Empire. The halflings that felt little need to claim possession of the lands about them knew that the humans who did so would not stop with a plain or a valley. Apathy cannot oppose desire. To preserve their peace and way of life, a subset of the halfling community fled the lands entirely. Seeking a new region to make their lives in, the deserters traveled far from the hands of desired spread. They found their to the region of the Ulgoine Valley. The kingdoms there had more-or-less found a stable balance. Not taking any chances, the halflings then continued up and into the dangerous Immreth Mountains to place their homes in lands no kingdom would want or be able to encroach upon. These halflings would develop into the Mountain Men. Finally were those halflings that met the spread of the Alcian Empire with reservations that grew into disdain. The remaining pastoralists of the communities felt little ties to the actual lands and were willing move to maintain peace rather than stand firm and cause conflict. Abandoning the lands south of the Nerm Warren Channel, they consolidated themselves to the north. Not wanting to spark war with the growing empire, they continued to pull back over the years. In the end, they would leave the northern shores of the Nerm Warren to the empire as well. As they did so though, they continued to consolidate into a singular community. Pulled back into the hillands and highlands that separated the Ocean of Aber from the Zin Zareth regions, the halflings finally stood their ground. More than one troop of unfortunate soldiers would be ground into the ground by ram riding warriors who had had enough. While the Alocian Empire was intrusive in it's claiming of land, it was not stupid enough to start a war with the more mobile halflings in the highlands. Especially not when they had already integrated a third of the community into it's civil structures and the world had watched the halflings give way many times in the past. The Clansmen had formed an identity and established a claim they would fight for.
First, there were the halflings that welcomed the changes of that the unity the empire brought. These halflings joined the empire and either spread with it or were integrated into the human culture to slowly breed them selves into the populace over the coming centuries. The disparate halfling communities found among most cultures of the Storm Broken Lands likely trace their lineage back to this emigration if a set history is not known in the family.
Next were those halflings that wanted nothing to do with the Alocian Empire. The halflings that felt little need to claim possession of the lands about them knew that the humans who did so would not stop with a plain or a valley. Apathy cannot oppose desire. To preserve their peace and way of life, a subset of the halfling community fled the lands entirely. Seeking a new region to make their lives in, the deserters traveled far from the hands of desired spread. They found their to the region of the Ulgoine Valley. The kingdoms there had more-or-less found a stable balance. Not taking any chances, the halflings then continued up and into the dangerous Immreth Mountains to place their homes in lands no kingdom would want or be able to encroach upon. These halflings would develop into the Mountain Men. Finally were those halflings that met the spread of the Alcian Empire with reservations that grew into disdain. The remaining pastoralists of the communities felt little ties to the actual lands and were willing move to maintain peace rather than stand firm and cause conflict. Abandoning the lands south of the Nerm Warren Channel, they consolidated themselves to the north. Not wanting to spark war with the growing empire, they continued to pull back over the years. In the end, they would leave the northern shores of the Nerm Warren to the empire as well. As they did so though, they continued to consolidate into a singular community. Pulled back into the hillands and highlands that separated the Ocean of Aber from the Zin Zareth regions, the halflings finally stood their ground. More than one troop of unfortunate soldiers would be ground into the ground by ram riding warriors who had had enough. While the Alocian Empire was intrusive in it's claiming of land, it was not stupid enough to start a war with the more mobile halflings in the highlands. Especially not when they had already integrated a third of the community into it's civil structures and the world had watched the halflings give way many times in the past. The Clansmen had formed an identity and established a claim they would fight for.
Player Attribution: The development of the cultural schism between the Clansmen and Mountain Men halflings was inspired by Valen Sheepmender of the Silver Wardens. During gameplay, Valen (a Clansman) continued to show a vehemence for a Mountain Man NPC that otherwise would have been a strong party ally. He established a cultural clashing of the two groups previously unknown to me. In developing out the deeper political history of the Storm Broken Lands, Valen's RP meshed well with the history of the Alocian Empire and how the two sub-groups would react to it.
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