HALFLINGS

Personality: Halflings are often described as the dark underbelly of all human nations.  Alavyar is the most accepting of halflings, but not really by choice.  In the other human nations, they simply exist where people don’t look too often (much like rats).  .  Some attribute the survival of halflings because humans often mistaken them for children.  Whatever the reason is that compels humans to not kill a Halfling, there seems to be little motivation to provide the means for a Halfling to survive.  Because of this behavior, most halflings make ends meet through theft and other criminal enterprises.  

Halflings usually manage to survive by creating Warrens, or complex subterranean structures with small, easy to miss entrances.  These Warrens are often home to hundreds of Halflings, sharing in their collective acquisitions.  Because of the need for survival that makes these Warrens a necessity, Halflings also tend to have little understanding of personal space or personal property, as most everything in a Warren belongs to the collective and is given to those who need it, rather than those who want it.  Halflings hold on to the belief that one day when they will finally be accepted and can enter into a utopian society they call Elakami.

Halflings have a life expectancy slightly shorter than humans, but it is unknown if this is due to genetic factors or the harsh lifestyle they live.  Halflings love to collect bright colors, but most often wear drab, plain colors that help them blend into a crowd.

Physical Description: Halflings are like any other human, except for being exactly half the size of their identically aged human counterpart and possessing pointed ears.  A full-grown halfling will be around three feet tall and be exactly proportionate to their standard human counterpart.  Many halflings retain a youthful appearance throughout their life, giving them an almost childlike look.

Halflings are commonly described with physical traits similar to middle European lineage.  Skin tones tend to be light, but can darken in the southern areas (though never dark enough to be mistaken for someone from Riniko).  

Biology: Those who have taken the time to study Halflings note the improbability of events that seem to occur around a Halfling.  Whatever the reason, Halflings seem to get into and out of wildly unlikely occurrences.  Some scholars describe the Halflings as ‘the unseen’, due to the other races inability to describe any specific Halfling.  Some conjecture that other races just believe that if you have seen one, you have seen them all.  Whatever the reason, never trust the description of a specific Halfling, since a Halfling with blonde hair might very well be described with red hair and no explanation why it was so readily confused.

Another odd element of the traditional Halfling is how magical forces appear to slide over them.  It is this tendency that creates great prejudice in Elves.  The elves believe the twisting of arcane forces to be a sign of the renunciation of the Kreator’s blessings that still lingers from when they were created by the Dark One.  Whether this is true or not, most just accept the Halflings as harmless and naïve, not devilish minions of the Dark One.

Relations: As mentioned earlier, Halflings have very poor relations with other races, but are generally allowed to survive in the ghettos of the nations.

Names: Halflings tend to adopt names similar to the people in the Ncxon from which they originate.  A Halfling in Net’Alea would select a Net’Alean name.  A Halfling from Alavyar would select an Alavyarian name.