Stout Halflings
Stouts are a culture of halflings that live in isolation in the wilderness. They are hardy folk who dwell in wetlands and by riverbanks, farming and fishing while keeping watch for the dark things that lurk around them.
Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Agatha, Cherryblossom, Esmerelda, Miranda, Mulberry, Myrtle, Primula, Willow, Yolanda, Zelda
Masculine names
Berilas, Calimac, Cormac, Deagol, Gorhendad, Lividoc, Marmaduc, Merimas, Orgulas, Teradoc
Family names
Broadbelt, Brookbank, Drinkwater, Goldfather, Hayward, Maggot, Oldbuck, Proudneck, Puddifoot, Scattergold, Ufgood
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Stouts speak an odd dialect of Halfling. Their speech can be understood by other halflings, but due to their isolation, stoutish Halfling has developed many strange words and phrases. Stouts are also taught Common, but they rarely use it.
Shared customary codes and values
Stouts are more guarded and standoffish than other halflings. They value their privacy and often turn away visitors to their villages. Stouts keep their thoughts to themselves and their noses out of other people's business, and they expect the same of others. Stouts are not as easy-going or naïve as lightfoots due to the often-perilous nature of their surroundings.
Stouts love water. Children are taught to swim at an early age, and older stouts enjoy spending hours fishing. Stouts favor small boats for one or two people.
Like any halfling, stouts appreciate good food. While stoutish cooks are not as skilled as lightfoots, their food is nonetheless hearty and delicious. Stouts are noted for their particular love of certain marsh-dwelling edible mushrooms, which they have learned to cultivate in farms and make into a thick, heavily-seasoned stew, usually with rabbit. They also eat a great deal of fish and other food harvested from rivers and lakes, such as clams and crayfish.
Stouts don't like to mix with other races, though they have little against them. They find humans decent people, if a bit big and stupid. Dwarves of all kinds are respected for their skill with crafts and their strong ale. Stouts have little to do with rock gnomes, but they occasionally deal with the elusive forest gnomes, whom they find pleasant (if a bit backward and river gnomes (Dragon Magazine #291), who share many of their interests and are their closest allies. They don't have much to do with high elves or gray elves, but due to their aversion to fey and other creatures of the forest, they distrust wood elves and fear wild elves.
Lightfoots halflings are a bit too naïve and complacent for stouts. Stouts find the company of tallfellows, who share the woodlands with them, more pleasant.
The stouts live in fear of the forest's lurking dangers and have a strong dislike for most fey, even those of the Seelie Court, and stoutish rangers often stock up on cold iron implements to keep them at bay. They also despise goblins, who also stalk the woodlands.
Common Dress code
Stouts prefer clothing that is practical: simple shirts, waistcoats, belts, trousers, and sturdy leather boots.
Art & Architecture
Stoots live in villages in out-of-the-way parts of the land, in woods or marshlands (which has given them the less than flattering nickname of "marsh halflings"). They always build near water, usually a small stream or lake where they can fish for sustenance.
Because of their fear of the wild, stouts frequently protect their villages by growing a tall hedge or "high hay" around their settlements and placing wooden gates over streams to keep hostile creatures out. One family in each village is chosen to maintain the hedge, passing the duty on through the generations.
Every village has a "master," a hereditary leader who rules the village with the aid of a council of elders. The master's family is usually the one that first founded the village.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Stouts are broader and taller than hairfoots or lightfoots. Their hands and feet are proportionately larger than those of their kin. Stoutish males commonly grow rough stubble on their chins, and both sexes show their age sooner than other halflings do, although their life expectancy is about the same. Stouts look more like small humans than other halflings. Stouts grow curly hair of brown or black on both their heads and their feet, although they usually wear boots due to their muddy environs.
Castles and Crusades Rules
Related Organizations
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