Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Oesaria: The Hardfoot Halflings

In the province of Melloria live two peculiar races of smallfolk. They are distant cousins to their neighboring Hill Dwarfs, though their cultures are not that similar. In Melloria, there are two kinds of Halflings: Hardfoots and Softhairs.

Hardfoot Halflings


The Hardfoot ancestry traces their origins to the very foundations of the mountains they live on today. When Emperor Heritus Septin, Fourth of His Name claimed Melloria a province of the Empire, his soldiers were surprised to see the mountains populated with jovial smallfolk instead of stubborn dwarfs. The Halflings welcomed their new guests with open arms and trays of cheese and bread. Upon being told that the Emperor has claimed dominion over Melloria, the Hardfoots chuckled. "He may claim dominion wherever he like. Fat bellies, smoked pipes, cheery tunes - that is all we claim dominion over!"
A Hardfoot adventurer enjoying a break. Art by Tony DiTerlizzi
Hardfoot Halfings take pride in their carefree nature, and believe it to be why all of their meals and weeds are beyond satisfying. When life gives you lemons, the lemonade tastes much better if you never worry about why life didn't give you apples instead. What a Hardfoot gets, a Hardfoot appreciates - even the worst of crops in the coldest of winters doesn't hinder their spirits too harshly. Hardfoots understand that life, in its multitude of ups and downs, is what you make of it. And for every passing of a close friend, there's a blooming of a new flower that bears that friend's smile.

Hardfoots usually spend all of their long lives in the Splinter Clay Mountains on the border of Melloria and Sainne. Their capital, Cabbagedirt, hosts most of the Hardfoots that still live in those mountains and is surrounded by clusters of smaller village-like communities. The Hardfoot culture is one of sharing, looking out for one's neighbor, and living to the fullest as best you can. Because outsiders don't climb the mountains often for neither trade nor travel, Hardfoots don't get many visitors and thus regard outsiders with an excited curiosity and misguided well-intentions. They may welcome a Catfolk visitor from Sainne with a bowl of warm milk and a plate of raw ram, completely blind to their ignorance until corrected. This has earned them a reputation as fools and bigots in some circles of the Kingdom, usually from those that met this blissful ignorance first-hand.

A Hardfoot may adventure for the thrill of a great tale to tell, or the chance to try new foods, pipes, and beds. It is rare, but possible, for a Hardfoot to leave for adventure out of a need to look for another community they fit in better.

Playing a Hardfoot Halfling


Like with all character creation, the race's lore is not a straitjacket for your creativity.

FOR KNAVE, Reroll either your lowest CON score or your lowest DEX score and choose the higher result.

FOR MAZE RATS, add a +1 to EITHER your health OR Dexterity

Most Hardfoots have agricultural jobs that pay nothing. In the communal living of Cabbagedirt, coin is only for dealing with outsiders. Everyone pulls their own weight as best as they can to help the rest of the village. Roll a d8 to determine what weight you pulled around when you still lived in the mountains.
  1. You were a Fertilizer. You practiced in the art of proper fertilization for all of the crops in your village, or for a sub-community in Cabbagedirt. You can accurately predict how long it will take for a crop to grow based on the surrounding soil, what crop it is, and how often it rains in the local area. You have a bag of mountain goat manure and 4 prize-winning tasty cabbages.
  2. You were a Weaver. You spun the sheep wool into sturdy clothes, and weaved the twigs and dry grass of the mountain into even sturdier baskets. You can quickly repair any small tears and other damage to commoner-level clothing, and can find work easy in any village that needs a weaver. You have a sturdy wicker basket with 3 turnips.
  3. You were a Woodsworker. You helped design patterns on doors, tables, and chairs, but most of your work was crafting pipes for the smoking of tobacco and pipesweed. You can better appraise the price of any pipe and any object that is mostly wood. You have a expensive, carved wooden pipe worth 1 gold/XP.
  4. You were a Scarecrow. You fought off the Giant Ravens of the mountain that would try to steal the freshly grown crops. You can accurately mimic the sounds of bird-hunting predators, and have a better understanding of how a scavenging bird may 'think'. You have a hand-drum and mallet.
  5. You were a Harvester. You harvested all of the crops when they fully grew, pulling roots and hacking away at wheat. You can find work easily in most villages that have plenty of farms to harvest from. You have a sickle and backpack-sized wheelbarrow.
  6. You were a Repairman. You fixed the housings, furniture, and tools of the community to keep them in tip-top shape. You have an easier time noticing weaknesses in a structure's foundation, so long as that structure is mostly comprised of clay, metal, stone, or wood. You have a hammer, mallet, stake, and sticky adhesive.
  7. You were a Weatherman. You would climb the tallest spires in Cabbagedirt to judge the coming week's rainfall, and kept a vigilant eye out for odd patterns in the clouds that could indicate natural disasters. You can accurately predict whether it will rain today or tomorrow so long as you spend at least an hour outside somewhere you can see several miles of the sky. You have a weather stick.
  8. You were a Spice Master. You were one of the many cooks in the kitchen, your role mostly tasting and spicing the various meals that were prepared around the clock. You can make a decent living with your culinary skills. You have a bag of spices and well-seasoned wild turkey.
In addition, you can roll a d8 to determine what you brought with you from home.
  1. A small bag of pipeweed whose smoke depicts a story of a Halfling playing riddles with a cave goblin. The bag holds enough pipeweed to see the whole story twice.
  2. A small wooden statue of a cabbage. Bounces like a bouncy ball, weighs half a pound.
  3. A small bag of seasonings, enough to spice a week's worth of meals (or two week's worth of not-Halfling portioned meals).
  4. A cart that is big enough to fit you and your mountain goat companion. The goat pulls the cart and is loyal to you, but is not trained for combat.
  5. A bundle of catfolk bread that was traded for your services. One serving is enough for two days, though it is rather bland without extra seasoning.
  6. A small clay model of a nondescript figure. Acts like a tiny sponge, can store enough water to feed a small to medium beast.
  7. A mountain songbird that is trained to collect small seeds and berries for you.
  8. A lock of hair from someone that fancied you back home. Still smells of mountain berries.

Names

Like their towns and songs, Hardfoot names tend to include some sort of food grown in their community or a past-time that keeps spirits up. Their family names are usually two to four syllables long, and usually state where their initial home in the mountains is. When interacting with outsiders, Hardfoots may use various nicknames picked up throughout their life. You can roll 2d6 to determine your Hardfoot name if you wish. The first d6 is for the first name, while the second is for the surname.

First Names

  1. Rootsmell
  2. Weedpuff
  3. Singsong
  4. Cabbagehair
  5. Picklesip
  6. Gigglefart
Surnames
  1. Left-Of-Bricks
  2. Undercabbage
  3. By-The-Weeds
  4. Next-To-Stream
  5. Overhang
  6. By-The-Piles

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