Races of Wild

CHAPTER 2HALFLINGS46Halfling caravans hold funerals to mourn the loss ofcompanions and also to celebrate their next great journey.Thus, a funeral usually has two parts: a grieving ceremonyfollowed by a party. During the grieving portion of thefuneral, the entire community gives vent to sorrow. Theobject of this portion of the ritual is to cleanse the souls ofthose left behind of their grief so that they can move on, bothliterally and figuratively. After all members of the caravanhave cried as long as they need to, they sleep, then awakenand begin the celebration. Tables are set up with places foreveryone, including an empty spot for the deceased. Theyroast meat, pile baked goods of all sorts on crude woodentables, and tap barrels of wine and ale. Everyone eats, drinks,and dances. From time to time, someone stands up and tellsa story (often humorous) involving the deceased, and tales ofhis life are woven into stories to add to the general tapestry oforal tradition that ties all halflings together. The storytellingand feasting lasts until everyone has fallen asleep, usually afull day and night.After the party ends, the body of the deceased, if present,is brought to a funeral pyre built of branches and twigsand set alight. His ashes are then scattered to the fourwinds, so that he might continue his journey unfettered.The goods of the deceased are distributed to the remainingmembers of his family or, if no immediate family is present,to his clan.If a funeral is held for a halfling who later turns up alive,he must take another name because his original identity hasbeen laid to rest. Even if everyone knows who he is, he mustbegin again as a new member of the caravan and his clan.HALFLING SOCIETYAND CULTUREFor the most part, halflings lay no claim to any land, buildno permanent dwellings, and grow no crops. They functionas permanent guests in the world, moving from onecommunity to another, enjoying the hospitality of anyfriends they find, and moving along when they wear outtheir welcome. They carry with them only what fits in theirwagons, and they live off the land when no other means ofsupport presents itself.Some halflings do purchase land or homes and settle downfor a time, but these individuals rarely live out their lives inone spot. After a year or two the family moves on, taking tothe road again or seeking a new home in a different settlement.Halflings who settle down to stay are rare indeed,usually elderly folk who have seen all they wish to see andwant only a comfortable retirement. Some settled halflingsallow others of their kind to camp on their land and help farmit whenever they pass through. Others settle in cities andprovide safe houses for halflings who are in trouble with thelaw. Whatever their dwellings, settled halflings often serveas fences or “bankers” for other halflings; they provide a safeplace to cache accumulated wealth so the owner doesn’t haveto carry it and risk losing it to brigands.Permanent halfling communities are generally found inthe lands of other races, and their populations turn over withsome regularity. Such communities offer services to travelinghalflings, give them items left behind by others, and providesafe places for them to hide or store wealth, in the same waythat individual settled halflings might. A halfling in such acommunity may at any point trade her shop for a wagon andmove on with a passing caravan, leaving some other halfling(usually from the same clan) in charge of her business for aslong as the newcomer wishes to stay.Some halfling communities, whether caravans or settlements,also include a few outsiders who have been “adopted”by one clan or another. Such individuals are usually foundlingswho were left at a halfling camp by parents who did notwant them, or orphans the halflings found in their travels.Halflings raise such adoptees with all the privileges ofmembership in the clan but still expect them to leave uponreaching maturity. If an adoptee takes poorly to life on theroad, the halflings may try to find her a home in the nextcommunity of her kind that they encounter. Alternatively,adoptees may find their way to a permanent halfling settlement,where an elderly shopkeeper may be happy to have thecheap labor that a child represents.The following sections describe the framework of a halflingcaravan community, the lifestyle of a lone halfling,and the structure of a settled community, as well as someof the details of mundane aspects of daily life in each ofthese settings.Roleplaying Application: The day-to-day aspects ofhalfling society include those elements that are consideredcommon knowledge, the basic assumptions that halflingsmake about the world. Consider how these assumptions affectyour character’s attitude and how the different customs ofothers might spark his innate curiosity.HALFLING CLANSHalfling clans are groups tied together by family relationships.The precise details of how clan membership is decidedvary from one clan to another, but in most cases a halfling istechnically a member of both her mother’s and her father’sclan at birth. Upon reaching maturity, she must formallychoose between the two clans and adopt the family name ofthe chosen clan. Informally, however, she usually remainswelcome with the clan she did not choose and may travelwith either at will.Should a halfling commit so heinous an act that his clanwishes to disassociate itself from him, the clan ruler maychoose to eject him. At that point, he may formally join anyother clan that will have him. If no clan ruler is willing toaccept him, he becomes a clanless loner.Clanless halflings do not suffer from the same degree ofstigma as clanless dwarves do, but they can still expect to betreated with some wariness by others of their kind. Most driftfrom one caravan to another, always claiming membershipin a clan not represented there, or make their own way in thesociety of some other race.