Races of Wild

CHAPTER 2HALFLINGS54to tell how long a given tradition has been in force. If thehalflings know of such information, they do not tell.No one knows exactly when the first halflings appeared,but legend holds that they were the last race created—evenafter humans. Whether or not their creation story andother legends handed down from parent to child are true,they explain much about why halflings feel the need to beconstantly on the move, and how a touch of larceny came tobe deeply rooted in the halfling soul.Roleplaying Application: Halflings are inordinatelyfond of stories, and most know enough to entertain theirfellows for years on end. What is your character’s favoritelegend? Is there a legendary character that inspires him?Does he plan to create new legends of his own, based onhis personal exploits?MYTHIC ORIGINSIn the days when the world was still young, after the FirstWar that spilled the blood of so many divine beings, the godsbegan to create mortal races in their own images. First camethe elves, who laid claim to the forests and seas, and then thedwarves, who took the hills, mountains, and underground.(Perhaps it was the other way around; the elves and dwarveshave never agreed about who was first.) Next came the bestialorcs, and then the humans. Still, Yondalla had created nopeople of her own. Instead, she traveled the world over andwatched the creatures the other gods had created, determinedthat hers would be the best.She saw the fey folk—satyrs, sprites, dryads, and otherdwellers in the woodlands. These creatures displayed azest for life and a curiosity about new things that charmedthe goddess entirely. Many of them also had the benefit ofa compact size that made them seem innocuous to largercreatures and helped them to avoid danger. However, theywere frivolous creatures who feared larger beings. Therefore,with some regret, Yondalla left them and traveled on.Next she visited the elves, who were frail and beautiful,but oh so haughty. They had a freedom of spirit that Yondallamuch admired, and a grace and agility that put other creaturesto shame. To top it all off, their beauty was near to that ofCorellon Larethian himself. Still, they took too long to doanything; Yondalla itched for action, and there was little tobe had in their towns. So on she traveled.Next she visited the dwarves in their cities below themountains. Such pride in family and home she had neverseen before, and it pleased her; for what would a mortal bewithout a family? Who would remember him when he wasgone? Still, the dwarves were sour folk, given to drudgery.Who could really be happy toiling away in the bowels of theearth, confined by rock and stone, never knowing the joy ofthe open air and the beautiful land? So she took up her shieldand continued on her way.Next she found the orcs, and oh how dreadful they seemed.So brutal and fierce they were, filling their short lives withrage and combat. Still, she was fascinated by their boldness.These creatures showed almost no fear of their enemies, ofdeath, or of any hardship. However, no good could come ofsuch brutality, and Yondalla did not tarry in their realms.Next she came to the humans, and here she found muchto admire. These creatures were strong and clever, brave andquick, and flexible enough to adapt to any circumstance.Indeed, they were so flexible that no two of their settlementswere alike. Such diversity was surely a fine thing,but they seemed oddly given to warring with each otherover the very differences that made them able to survive indifferent places. They spread so fast—why, they had nearlytaken over the plains she had chosen for her people, not tomention shares of the forests, seas, and mountains that theother gods claimed.After her journey, Yondalla returned to her home andthought about what she had seen. Each of the mortal raceshad a quality she wanted for her race, but each also had manyfaults. With this realization came a decision: She wouldtake a bit of each race’s essence and mold them into a newbeing—one that had all the qualities she admired in each ofthe other races.The following night, she crept through the forest and seizeda pixie to use as the vessel for her new creation. Silencing thecreature with magic, she crept on to the settlement of the elves,where she drained a bit of their agility and infused the pixiewith it. The creature grew several inches, and Yondalla had tobind it to keep it from dancing away. Moving belowground tothe city of the dwarves, Yondalla drained off a small amount oftheir devotion to family and clan and infused the pixie withthat. The pixie grew still more, and its wings shriveled as itsfeatures became less delicate. Its frantic movements slowed,and it clung to her as though to a mother. Then she moved onto the orc encampment, where she drew off some of the orcs’boldness and infused the pixie with that. The pixie grew yetagain and began to look about for some trouble to get into.Before it could find any, the goddess hurried off to the nearesthuman city and drained the essence of these highly adaptablebeings. A dose of this draught caused the pixie to grow a bitmore and release its hold on Yondalla.The goddess surveyed her handiwork and was pleased.The creature that stood before her was about 3 feet tall andperfectly proportioned. His wide, blue eyes shone with curiosityand an utter lack of fear. His slim, agile form radiatedvitality and grace. When he picked up some wood and sharprocks and began to fashion a wheel, Yondalla knew that shehad created the perfect mortal creature.The other gods, however, were not so pleased when theydiscovered that Yondalla had tapped their creations anddrained portions of their essence. The elves were now not asagile as they had been, the orcs showed a bit of fear at times,and the dwarves sometimes left their clan homes. As for thehumans, they slowed their technological advances and theirspread into different lands.Yondalla flattered the other gods and praised their creations.“Why should I try to duplicate perfection itself?” shecried. “I only took a bit of each, after all. There was more thanenough of each virtue for the other races and mine as well.”