Halfling

Halflings are known for two things: bouyant personalities and supernatural luck. They're generally peaceful folk who are more inclined to lead unremarkable lives as ordinary farmers and crafters, and perhaps because of that, trouble always seems to slide right past them unless they actively go looking for it. And even when they do find themselves in trouble, they frequently manage to just slip away with their hides intact. The greater conflicts of the universe leave halfling villages nearly untouched.
Halflings are generally around three feet tall, colored in earthy tones. There are three main types of halflings. Stronghearts are sturdier in build and more inclined to stay home than go out adventuring, so they make up the bulk of halfling farming communities. Lightfoots are a bit taller, skinnier, and mostly nomadic; in Vesperia, they can often be seen traveling in caravans of colorful pony-drawn wagons, or flotillas of houseboats that ply the rivers and bays. If you meet a halfling adventurer, they're most likely to be a lightfoot. The third and rarest type are the ghostwise, who lead a reclusive existence as semi-nomadic forest tribes. They're notable for having the gift of telepathy.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

A halfling has a given name, a family name, and possibly a nickname. Family names are often nicknames that stuck so tenaciously they have been passed down through the generations.

Major Organizations

As they prefer to integrate into other nations rather than make waves by forming their own, there is no halfling state in Vesperia, but they make up for that with a multitude of small farming communities and traveling caravans throughout the continent. The rolling hills of Parthenia are particularly known as a popular place for stronghearts to settle with their modest herds of goats and fields of grain. Many lightfoots travel the north-south trade roads along the east coast and the [Veritas River(location)], as well as the major rivers and dwarven caravan roads of the west. The ghostwise tribes, meanwhile, keep to themselves in the deep forests of the north.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

One of the halflings' more notable customs is their love of storytelling. The world, to them, is full of stories; every random patch of ground was once witness to some interesting event or another, and every person is a living history. Every halfling grows up learning their race's rich oral tradition. The elders of their family teach them all about the origin of their clan name, the deeds of their ancestors, and the history of the land they live on from the time they're born. (Much of the oldest history is recorded in poetry and song to make recollection easier.) Story circles are a regular event in which the whole clan gathers to tell stories, spanning from family history to personal anecdotes. If they ever get a visitor from outside, or if a relative who's been out adventuring has just returned home, that person can expect to talk themselves hoarse all night long.
Halfling folklore is also replete with practical knowledge disguised as fable, which most villagers will know by heart. There are poems describing when to plant different crops, tales of how villages have defended themselves from raids in the past, and rhymes that teach children how to do their chores.

Common Myths and Legends

Halflings believe that they were made by Terra herself, who grew them from a plant. The first halflings came tumbling out of its flowers when they bloomed. She made them to be "just the right size", small enough to see eye to eye with most animals, but big enough to not be afraid of them, and blessed them with their supernatural luck.

Lifespan

250 years

Average Height

3'

Average Weight

40 lbs