Halflings

Halflings are a common sight everywhere in Valerna, often as an integral, near-symbiotic part of human cultures. Shorter even than gnomes, halflings are characterised by pointed ears and large eyes, and are almost always entirely hairless. They have little true culture of their own, instead quickly becoming fully integrated into whatever society they adopt. Thus, the púka, or bright halflings of Ysval are lovers of life’s comforts, whose culinary skills and gifts of song are legend; the shev or shadow halflings of Tyveria, by contrast, are sly and cruel, with a predilection for poison-craft; while the qillu, or keen halflings—the smallest of the halfling peoples—are renowned for their organizational skills and calculating minds, making them an administrative class of sorts in many human settlements.

One legend maintains that halflings came about when thousands of orphaned human, dwarven, and gnomish youths across Valerna were touched by the Dreambleed, giving them the wonder of childhood, and its size limitations, forever. Like children, most halflings are curious and playful—even the bleakies behave more like juvenile bullies than rational adults.

What magic halflings possess is used either for entertaining conjuring tricks or guile and subterfuge, as halflings rely on their enemies underestimating them—a mistake usually only made once…