The Homestead
The Homestead is the homeland of Virtaeus's halflings. While halflings can be found in every culture around the world, the Homestead is a rich land for growing plants and raising livestock that is perfectly suited to classic halfling dreams and aspirations. The plants and animals of the Homestead are without rival in Virtaeus, and bring in a tidy profit wherever they are sold. Because of this, the major cities in the Homestead are centers of trade, and the people of the Homestead are quite comfortable.
Twelve halfling clans live in the Homestead, each run by a chieftain that shares the name of the clan. For instance, "The FilWallys" is the chieftain of the FilWallys clan. Homestead halflings tend to be sensible, down-to-earth, and not easily provoked, but when they are, their feuds can go on for generations.
The Upper Marches
The Upper Marches that make up the northern third of the Homestead are a windswept, rugged plain that makes ideal ranch-land. Four clans of Halflings live here:- Clan FylMouat (blue/yellow tartan): live northwest. They focus on breeding horses and ponies. Breed all kinds, but focus on small ones.
- Clan FylCrygg (black/blue tartan): live northeast. They breed sheep & goats. (Different sub-clan groups have sheep and/or goats.) Some breed giant goats that dwarves, halflings, and gnomes can use as mounts. They also work the wool and sell finished wool products.
- Clan FylLomant (silver/yellow tartan): live south of Clan FylCrygg. They are cow ranchers, but mostly focus on tanning and leather-work. They buy hides from other Marches clans and sell the hides and finished goods to others.
- Clan FylRollo (black/red tartan): live south of Clan FylMout. They focus on dairy products – everyone agrees it's the best dairy on the continent. They also raise miniature cows, from which this dairy comes. They sell the hides and horns of the cows to Clan FylLomant primarily: their miniature cows' hides have very fluffy hair that makes for excellent rugs.
The Gardens
Six clans of Halflings live in the fertile central growing area of the Homestead, a land of emerald hills, mild weather, and countless farms. Three of these six clans hold most of the power in the area: Clans FilWallys, FilDurie, and FilArnott. Each of these three clans runs one of the three real cities in the Homestead: Wheatsea, Strongscythe, and Fullberry.- Clan FilWallys (blue/silver tartan) lives in and around Wheatsea and on the north side of the Golden River. They are comfortable around the water; they make and sail boats up and down the river and fish in the harbor. They farm/breed water-based fish and plants, and also grow hardy plants and healthy animals. Wheatsea was the first of the Halfling settlements, so it is comfortable, well-established, and respected. They are also a recipient of Dwarvish and Elvish goods, and trade to Elves & Dwarves.
- Clan FilDurie (blue/green tartan) lives in and around Strongscythe. They are good at trade and merchanting, are responsible for acquiring much of the new material that comes in from elsewhere to try to be domesticated. They are always looking for new plants and strains, and run a lot of expensive experimental gardens, which tend to lead to a lot of breakthrough discoveries.
- Clan FilArnott (green/yellow tartan) lives in and around Fullberry. They are master farmer-gardeners of staple crops, always fine-tuning and working to increase yield and quality of their crops.
- Clan FilBlyth (green/silver tartan) lives between clans FilArnott and FilLennan, with the Golden River as their northern border. They grow exquisite herbs and spices (magical as well as non-magical), as well as high quality produce and grain.
- Clan FilLennan (red/yellow tartan) lives to the south of Clan FilDurie. They have the best orchards in the continent, and develop new strains of fruits/vegetables. Their orchards are higher yield as well as higher quality than in other locations.
- Clan FilDarroch (red/blue tartan) lives between clans FilWallys and FilDurie. They specialize in growing things that are hard to grow – making exotic plants take root and bloom. This includes flowers, trees, plants for food, clothing, weapons, etc. One of their crowning achievements (and guarded secret) is the silk-plant that they grow and manufacture.
The Lower Marches
The Lower Marches, located to the south of the Gardens, houses two rival clans that both raise and care for exotic creatures. Due to the rugged, wild nature of the lives of these halflings, the Lower Marches tend to be avoided by the more respectable halflings that live farther north. Lower Marches halflings are viewed as only half-civilized, and not the sort of person you really want to be around.- Clan F’Chattan (green/black tartan): this clan raises exotic herbivores for travel (camels, zebras, elephants/mammoths, and others that are magical). They roam the eastern Lower Marches. Their clan subfamilies each travel on the back of a mammoth, which hosts their entire camp. They live nomadic lifestyles to follow and care for their herds.
- Clan F’Stirling (red/silver tartan): this clan raises exotic non-herbivores in the thick forests of the western Lower Marches. They’re known for being reckless, danger-seeking, and eager to fight. They have, to name a few, griffons/hippogriffs, giant birds of different varieties (giant eagles, etc.), dire wolves, some aquatic creatures, and a great number of venomous creatures (used to create medicines and potions). Some animals get domesticated, while others just get controlled and bred carefully then released and hunted for parts. If an animal exists anywhere in Virtaeus and is considered rare or dangerous, there is likely a specimen or two in the F'Stirling Forest, cared for by one of the many subclans.
Structure
The twelve clan chieftains of the Homestead (the Council of Chiefs) meet annually in Wheatsea for a month to take care of clan business. If there are matters that affect the whole of the Homestead, the chieftains have to obtain a 9/12 majority to decide what to do. (However, tradition says that unanimity is to be aimed for.) This is also the time for airing of grievances, treaties between clans to be drawn up, etc. The Big Chief is selected from among the clan chieftains to be the Homestead's voice to the outside world, to decide when to hold votes, to help negotiate disputes between other chieftains, and so forth. The chieftains can replace the Big Chief by casting a vote of no confidence in the previous chief, then voting to select a new Big Chief.
Within each clan's territory, the chieftain's word is law - on paper. In reality, each family minds its own business and follows the chieftain's directions when they think he makes good sense. Each village has its own mayor and sheriff, who (respectively) deal with making decisions over disputes and the law, and dealing with unsavory sorts in town.
Comments