Zombies? Minotaurs? They don’t scare me a bit. But a howling halfling warrior charging in on a clawfoot raptor? Most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.
— Sir Danton ir’Lain, Brelish knight
The halflings of Eberron originate from eastern
Khorvaire, and many nomadic tribes of halflings still travel the
Talenta Plains. The appearance of dragonmarks among the halflings spurred their slow migration across Khorvaire, spreading their services of healing and hospitality along with the migration of the earliest humans across the continent. Now they are found in every part of Khorvaire, putting their distinctive talents to use.
Lightfoot halflings are the more widespread halfling subrace, especially in the Talenta Plains, but stout halflings are found within nearly every halfling community.
Talenta Halflings
The halflings who migrated across Khorvaire in the company of humans ended up looking very human in dress, manners, and customs. Their cousins who remain in the Talenta Plains could hardly appear more different. In their homeland, halflings are nomads who ride domesticated dinosaurs across the wide plains. Those few Talenta halflings who journey across Khorvaire are visibly out of place, both attracting curious stares and expressing plenty of curiosity of their own about the strange ways of Khorvaire’s cities and towns.
Halflings of the Five Nations
Quick and charming, many halflings put their natural talents to use as bards, barristers, merchants, and politicians throughout Khorvaire. Of course, these same talents prove equally useful for burglars, grifters, and other criminals.
Of particular note is the halfling-run criminal enterprise of the
Boromar Crime Family, the most powerful crime syndicate in Breland. The Boromars are based in
Sharn, but their influence reaches across the nation and even to the distant city of Stormreach.
Halflings and Dragonmarks
Two dragonmarks appear among the halflings of Khorvaire, the Mark of Healing in
House Jorasco and
House Ghallanda’s Mark of Hospitality. Both marks are ancient, first manifesting among the halflings about the same time that the elves of Aerenal received their first marks — centuries before the arrival of humans on Khorvaire. Sometimes halflings of House Ghallanda joke that their mark prepared them for the arrival of humans by allowing them to make their new guests comfortable in Khorvaire. There’s actually some truth in the humor: the services provided by both halfling houses helped enable the spread of humanity across the continent.
With its powers related to food and shelter, the Mark of Hospitality was a boon to the early halfling nomads, but now it allows House Ghallanda to run the best inns, hostels, and taverns in the land. Similarly, the Mark of Healing has always been a boon to both nomads and settlers facing dangerous wilds, and House Jorasco still employs both magical and mundane healing techniques to tend to the well-being of patients across Khorvaire.
