Anadian halfling

Anadian Halfling
Basic Statistics
Origin	Groundling
Sphere	Realmspace
Size	Small
Type	Humanoid
Subtype	Halfling
Alignment	Any
General Information
Vision	No darkvision, struggle to see under normal light
Activity cycle	Any, but mostly day
Diet	Omnivore
Homeland(s)	Polar regions of Anadia
Intelligence	High
Language(s)	Dialect of common
Favored climate	Warm
Favored terrain	Temperate
Appearance
Average height	3.5 feet tall
Skin color(s)	Dark, almost jet black
Hair color(s)	Dark
Eye color(s)	Dark

Anadian halflings are native to the planet Anadia in the crystal sphere known as Realmspace in the Spelljammer campaign setting.

Overview

The Anadian halflings thrive in the warm and humid northern and southern polar regions of Anadia. The sun's proximity provides an overabundance of light, which has resulted in the native halflings losing the ability to see in the dark. Because their eyes have adjusted to the brighter light of Anadia, when a halfling leaves their homeworld and travels to another planet, they find that they have a hard time seeing in what for them is perpetual twilight. They find this somewhat unnerving as they prefer the brightness of a full sun.

Description

Anadian halflings average 3.5 feet in height. They have adapted to the over-abundance of sunlight at the poles by developing dark, almost jet black skin, and very dark hair and eyes. Their ears and eyes are also unusually small. Their clothing is usually white or any light color that helps reflect the sun's intense light away from their skin.

The Anadian halflings speak their own tongue which resembles common in many ways, allowing communication between the Anadians and visiting spelljamming crews, albeit frustratingly slowly.

Personality

Anadian halflings tend to extremes: if they like something, they love it; but if they don't like something, they absolutely loathe it. This extremism influences everything Anadian halflings do or say. The southern halflings hate anything that is not part of the family, while the northern halflings hate anything that does not foster law and order in their communities.

Combat

Anadian halflings fight with great ferocity in defence of their homes, and are especially skilled with the bow and the sling. When equipped for battle, Anadian halflings typically wear non-metallic armor due to the scarcity of metals on Anadia. What metal is available is usually used in the construction of defensive structures or in the production of heavy weapons, such as ballistae. When fighting hand to hand, Anadian halflings rely on hand axes, short words and daggers. Anadian halflings are very resilient in the face of magic and poison, and are extremely stealthy in the wild.

Society

There are two distinct and separate halfling communities on Anadia, located in the northern and the southern polar regions.

Northern Polarate

The Northern Polarate is loosely governed by a centralized constitutional Polarate government. The Polarate is divided into thirteen Counties, which make the laws that govern their people. Each County has around 10 to 30 villages, each with a population of between 50 and 500 halflings. The central Polarate government is made up of 39 men and women who ensure that the Counties do not pass laws that limit the divine rights of their citizens (granted, it is believed, by the gods).

The northern halflings are somewhat bigoted and paternalistic toward any non-halflings. They believe humans and other humanoids are stupid and easily manipulated, and in order to prevent industrious Anadian's from taking advantage of these poor, benighted, "sub-halflings," the Polarate government forces them to live in small reservations bordering the equatorial wastelands of Anadia. As everyone knows, halflings are the most intelligence of all races, and as such are the premier race on Anadia, Are they not the finest race on every planet?

Southern Polarate

The Southern Polarate does not have an organized government per se. Instead, various families contend and feud with each other for dominance. In many areas this results in complete anarchy as no family is strong enough to claim absolute control for any length of time. This constant power struggle between the largest and strongest families trickles down into southern halfling society. This results in lesser families feuding over land rights; the position, height or material of construction boundary fences, or who owns a small, stagnant stream. Blood is shed over the seemingly insignificant, but to these halflings, anything worth fighting over, is worth dying over.

This also means that the life expectancy of southern halflings is very short indeed (about 25 years). The most important asset a southern family can possess is a fertile woman, or two, or three. To compensate for the incredible population losses due to the constant fighting, women are expected to produce as many children as they can. Life isn't great among the Southern halflings, but no one is willing to stop fighting because no one can trust anyone else.

Notable Anadian halflings

• Fjord Deepskull is currently the Governor of the Northern Polarate on Anadia.
• Dral Hammerhead is the Director of Powderpuff County and the main contact for spelljammer crews looking for ship repairs.
• Harrison Looseleaf is the Director of Crispyleaf County and the main contact for spelljammer crews looking for a little "R&R".
• Beckner Ironjaw is clan leader of the Cleftfoot family and the current Lawmaker (governer) of the Southern Polarate on Anadia.

Signature Spelljammers

None. About 200 years ago, nearly 30 percent of the Southern Polarate's population died from a plague. This has resulted in rampant paranoia among Anadian halflings, who believe the plague was introduced by off worlders. Spelljammers may not land on any rivers or lakes, as both communities strictly control access to water. In the Northern Polarate, spelljamming ships may only land in dry docks in designated Counties (currently four out of thirteen), and are destroyed out of hand if they stray. In the Southern Polarate, spelljammers are status symbols and weapons of war, and are considered the ultimate symbol of power. Should any spelljamming ship be foolish enough to land in the Southern Polarate, it will be attacked by every able-bodied halfling warrior within running distance.

Appendix

External Links

• Anadian halfling article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
• Anadian halfling article at the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Wiki, a wiki for official Dungeons & Dragons content from 2nd edition AD&D.