Halfling

Halflings are a humanoid race living all over the known world. Their populations are most concentrated along the Caldar River in Cobal and Imesse. They are a hardy, hard-working people who love working with living things. They excel at growing crops and raising livestock. Most Halfling communities are agrarian in nature, but finding Halflings working a forge or carving stone is not uncommon. They stand about 4’6" high on average and live to about 120 years. They love to eat and drink and do so as often as they can. They tend to have large families, with couples producing as many as a dozen children almost the norm. This makes them a growing population wherever they settle.
The Halfling culture is typically found to center around communities that are called shires or counties. Each community is led by a Sherriff (“Shire-Reeve”) who is chosen by the community as a whole with terms of office and required skills varying by locale. These counties or shires are sometimes mingled with other human settlements and villages, but more often they are stand-alone communities of Halflings. Typically, the Sheriff swears fealty to a local noble or king and is never considered “nobility” himself. Most sheriffs fill the same role as landed knight in a briary, acting as a local judge, keeper of the peace, and tax collector for the county.
Halfling society is very much centered on agriculture. The traditional methods employed by Halflings to farm, raise livestock, cultivate forests and wild animals are the most successful of all the races in the world. For millennia, Halflings have worked the land to the benefit of all. Their farm yields are higher, their fruit, timber and fuel production is greater and their ability to raise, harvest and train animals is more productive than any other culture.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Halflings are humanoids that are shorter and smaller than Humans and Elves, but otherwise very similar.

Genetics and Reproduction

Halflings reproduce sexually, as do all humanoids.

Growth Rate & Stages

Halflings have similar maturity rates and stages as Humans, with adulthood starting at 17 and the reproductive years ending around 50.

Ecology and Habitats

Halflings live wherever other humanoids can.  They prefer pastoral regions near water but can be found in hilly and mountainous regions as well.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Halflings eat the same foods and drink that other humanoids do.  They have a faster metabolism than Humans and will burn calories faster than their taller neighbors.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Halfling societies tend to follow a meritocratic formula.  Those best suited to a job are the ones that do it the most.  Sex is rarely a factor.  Thus, purely leadership roles can be found to be filled by either males or females, while roles requiring routine use of physical strength such as a mason or a blacksmith will typically be filled by males.

Facial characteristics

Dark-colored curly hair, bright eyes, some facial hair, particularly hairy feet and arms.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Halflings live wherever other humanoids live.

Average Intelligence

Highly intelligent.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Halflings have a greater ability to see in the dark than Humans, and a far greater ability to move silently in any environment than other races.  Nimble, fast and silent is how to best describe their locomotion.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Halflings have large and well-documented family trees with many branches.  Thus, surnames often overlap regions and even national borders.  Surnames tend to be placenames or occupational in origin, and given names are varied and tend to follow local custom rather than a racial one.

Relationship Ideals

Halflings hold to a traditional family structure.  While they do not necessarily pair for life, a marriage is considered a lifetime commitment ending only in the death of one member of the couple.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Halflings utilize the language of the region they live in.  If there ever was an "original" Halfling tongue, it has been lost to time.  Only a few scattered words and phrases seem to remain that are exclusive to the Halflings.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Halflings have an innate distrust of Elves.  Enslaved and persecuted by the Elves for many centuries (alongside the Gnomes), Halflings have a societal memory of this mistreatment and shun Elven culture because of it.  Individual exceptions are found, but in general Halflings want nothing to do with Elves or their realm.

Scientific Name

Homo Hobbitus

Lifespan

120 years

Average Height

3'10" to 4'6"

Average Weight

90 to 120 lbs

Average Physique

Shorter than Humans (on average) halflings are generally capable of the same strength, speed and agility that Humans would demonstrate.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Similar to Humans.