Eft

The efts are fairies who resemble large, bipedal newts and salamanders. "Large" means adult ranging from about 2.5 to 10+ feet in height/length (tail not included), because as anyone will tell you almost immediately the most important thing about efts is that they never stop growing. Since this is also a characteristic of some dragons, this raises interesting questions about the genealogy of the efts.
The other thing to know about the efts is that there are three major types, none of which entirely trusts the others. The nomadic efts travel up and down the river doing trade. The settled efts live in villages of round mud houses whose painted walls are justly considered one of the artistic marvels of Chinkapin. The swamp efts have an only partially deserved reputation for insularity.
The rest of Chinkapin knows the efts for two things, primarily: fishing and trade. All efts, no matter where or how they live, harvest the water’s flora and fauna. They are especially adept at catching some of the river’s more elusive fish, which are delicacies prized by several creatures (but especially the hobs).
The nomadic efts, on the other hand, are the major agents of trade and exchange along the river--which is to say up and down the length of Chinkapin County. Getting things from here to there is something they’re good at, and proud of, and the economy of the county would be much poorer without eft merchants plying their trade.
Some efts are also known as skilled tanners and artists--the tanners, especially, are said to be able to tan even the most delicate and magical of hides. The swamp efts also do some minor rice cultivation, but this is primarily for their own use and occasionally for trade with other efts. Few others in Chinkapin like rice.

Basic Information

Ecology and Habitats

This varies depending on the type of eft! Nomadic efts have their boats, of course. These vary considerably in type, but are usually manually powered in some fashion (one enterprising family uses steam technology with the aid of the bones, but most other efts regard this as disrespectful). Usually someone’s great-granddad is rowing, running the wheel, or hauling.
Settled efts live in round mud houses with thatched roofs, traditionally (and efts take their traditions seriously--not much else, but definitely their traditions). The walls of these houses are usually painted with elaborate murals, and are considered one of the great sights of Chinkapin.
Swamp efts live mostly in treehouses, but each homestead usually also has a partially-submerged burrow for gatherings. The secret of building such sturdy underground structures in a wetlands is one they refuse to divulge to outsiders.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Eft cooking tends to be extremely spicy; other villagers claim that this is because their sense of taste isn’t as discriminating. It’s true that they seem willing to eat things others won’t. Soups and stews are a major part of their diet, usually involving some kind of invertebrates. They are also huge fans of sausage, which they get from the hobs, and black-eyed peas, which they get from the hives.
Nomadic efts eat simpler food, and much of their diet depends on fishing and foraging. The only villagers who know more about edible plants than the eft nomads are the part-plant sprouts.
Settled efts have a more varied diet, including some agriculture. Tomatoes, onions, and corn play a large role in their cooking, but they’re famous for their melon varieties. Some of these melons are rumored to have magical properties.
Swamp efts, on the other hand, base a lot of their diet around rice, which they grow, as well as a wider variety of meat. They are hunters as much as they are fishers, and some folks say that they’ll even eat tadpoles from other villages. Nomadic efts, in particular, warn their children to keep away from the swamp.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The nomadic efts live, of course, in boats that travel the river, so their homes could be said to be all along the length of the county. They also winter on land--but each family’s berth is a well-kept secret.
The settled efts live in three villages on the banks of the river. The southernmost, Etso, sits on the shores of the lake. The second, Qut, sits at the fork in the river that marks the northernmost tip of the Hivelands. The third village, Wal, sits at another fork in the river to the north. There are a few eft homesteads along the banks of the river outside the villages, but most settled efts stick close to their hometowns.
The swamp efts live in settlements throughout the wetlands south of the lake. They don’t have highly organized villages, but a loose network of homesteads.
There’s also a cult of moon-worshiping efts living somewhere in the woods to the north, but nobody knows much about that.

Civilization and Culture

Culture and Cultural Heritage

That’s a complicated question, and if you ask three efts you’ll get five answers. Some efts would consider themselves Christians, but others don’t see it that way at all. Their spiritual values include reverence for elders and tradition, as well as a wary regard for magical and spiritual entities more powerful than themselves. They don’t have a religious institution like, say, the bunces, but they’re also not as laissez-faire as the bones--the villages all have their own healer and spiritual advisor, who can fix you up if you’re in trouble and figures out when it’s a good idea to have a dance or festival.
They do believe in a creator god, simply called the Old Man, and as noted some of them identify this as the Christian one while others connect to other religious traditions.
Degrees of religious devotion vary widely from family to family and eft to eft, but just about all of them respect tradition. Despite their reputation as a somewhat rakish and flighty people, efts take their traditions seriously.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Efts are actually relatively uninterested in domestication, as a rule. There have been some attempts to domesticate crayfish, but it turns out that crayfish aren’t much into that sort of thing. Every village has someone keeping a goat or chicken or two, but that’s not really seen as traditional even if everyone does end up trading for the goat’s milk.
There’s one major exception to this, and that’s the swamp efts and their leviathans. The leviathans are not exactly domesticated, but they’re also not wild. They hatch from massive, leathery eggs buried deep in the wetlands, and each family has one. Upon the current patriarch or matriarch’s death it is traditional to kill the leviathan, as letting a leviathan outlive its family head is considered both dangerous and unlucky. They serve various purposes, depending on the family. It’s… an odd tradition. Some folks think there’s more going on here than meets the eye, but these are swamp efts. They’re not telling.