Halflings
Halflings look like diminutive humans, and just like humans, halflings can be found on every continent other than Naru Daeva. Halflings are an ancient people whose legends claim that they were the first humanoid race to exist in Amalthea, until bigger folk came to be and displaced them from their ancestral territories. Halflings are thus a people without a true nation to call their own, living as perpetual outsiders in communities dominated by larger races. Historically, this had led to the persecution of halflings; many bigger races have enslaved, indentured, or exiled them, and even in places where they were tolerated, halflings were often not allowed to own land. But halflings are nothing if not resourceful and diligent, with an uncanny eye for opportunity that is often attributed to luck by others. Today, most halflings have found comfortable nooks and niches to fill despite difficult circumstances, often rendering themselves indispensible to their host societies. To other races, halflings can appear fickle, detached, and unambitious. Halflings who have settled for generations in a host society rarely develop a strong sense of patriotism, and halflings can work for the same family or organization for many years without feeling attachment to their employer, nor any desire to climb up in ranks. However, halflings are strongly motivated by personal loyalties towards friends and family, halfling and big folk alike; they simply don't put any trust into things that aren't personally connected to them, especially if hierarchical power structures are involved. Instead, they find it much wiser and more satisfying to focus on emotional relationships between equals. A unique trait of halfling culture is that all halflings consider each other to be one people, with no divide in nation or ethnicity. Halflings don't even have regional languages, instead speaking a tongue called Halfling Creole, which has a grammatical structure inherited from some ancient ancestral language, but has now incorporated so many foreign expressions that its origin is practically impossible to determine. Among themselves, halflings group each other by the niches they fill and the philosophies they follow. Each such grouping is traditionally associated with a season. As the seasons change into each other, so are halflings free to move from one group to another with no social stigma. About half of all halflings belong to clans with generational seasonal affinity, while the other half are taken by wanderlust, changing their affinity as they age.
Spring Halflings
Spring halflings are traders and artisans who travel from community to community, selling their services to local people. Some bring goods and news, while others are seasonal workers who help with sowing, harvesting, butchery, food processing, building, repairing, and any odd job that's in need of doing. Spring halflings can also be performers, and some clans join up with circus troupes. Among rural villages that relied on halflings for certain skilled trades, young aspiring artisans often leave home to join spring halfling caravans to learn a trade. This is the origin of the term "journeyman", which today means any skilled worker that accomplished their apprenticeship.Summer Halflings
Summer halflings live in idyllic villages far from the industrialized society of larger folk, serving as rest stop for travellers of every race. Summer halflings originated from hunters and mercenaries, and even today they train in survivalism and combat. Thus, their hospitable nature should never be mistaken for complacency, and they are exceptionally difficult to conquer. Lacking any significant fortification, should they be unable to defeat an invading force, they instead abandon entire settlements to hide in the wilderness, taking advantage of their survival skills and primal magic to conduct sustained and brutal guerilla warfare. Entire battalions have been lost to traps, snares, and beasts called from the Feywild, all in the attempt to capture a few deceptively primitive shires.Autumn Halflings
Autumn halflings have found their niches in cities providing service for elites in their host society. While traditionally seen as servants, autumn halflings are often also financial or legal advisors, secretaries, and teachers of children. Of all halfling affinities, autumn halflings are the most well-integrated and well-accepted in industrial society, frequently being entrusted with extremely important work and large amounts of money. Nevertheless, autumn halflings rarely own large enterprises or control large organizations. They prefer to be in the role of consulting and administration, so that they don't personally suffer punishment if an endeavor fails.Winter Halflings
Not all niches are to the benefit of a host, and winter halflings embody that fact by doing things that are considered taboo or even criminal by their host society. Winter halflings are not all criminals, since they often do work that's considered dirty or unlucky by other races, yet are still essential to society, such as morgue work and pest extermination. Many of them, however, don't believe the law to be the final arbiter on the morality of actions, and extend their activities to theft, smuggling, dark magic, and even assassination. The Shrouded Syndicate of Tisoria is infamously led by winter halflings, although the names and identities of these masterminds continue to elude the law.
Spring Halfling Bard by Aurore Folny
Summer Halfling Warrior by Boa Illustration
Autumn Halfling Inquisitive by Dajamas
Winter Halfling Occultist by Jamie Flack