So, something I’ve thought about off and on:
Why are halflings always refugees from the Ringing Mountains? Like, don’t any of them grow up in a city, maybe being a bit weird compared to other Tyrians but still NOT a forest cannibal? Like, children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Bilbo and Bilba from the Forest Ridge?
Yeah, I like the idea of desert tribes as well. There was a renegade halfling monstrous compendium. In my 5e24 conversion I have forest tribes and desert tribes to choose from when you pick halfling.
There are probably some, but I don’t think it’s common. IIRC halflings are generally not kept as slaves, except occasionally as gladiators I think, so that’s one major way of introducing outsiders to a city’s population that mostly isn’t happening. And they probably don’t often move in voluntarily; the Forest Ridge is a way nicer environment. Halflings go to the cities for specific purposes (like chasing Sadira in the Prism Pentad, and presumably for trade and stuff) but they don’t have much reason to live there. Especially since people see them as dangerous cannibals.
Veiled Alliance has population breakdowns for the cities, and all of them have halflings as “a few” except Raam and Urik which are 1%. Urik’s halflings are basically mercenaries, so they may not be raising families in Urik?
As for desert tribes … that’s a perfectly reasonable addition to the setting, but I don’t think the lack of any in canon is weird. Halflings aren’t going to want to settle a much less habitable environment, and those forced out of the Forest Ridge probably don’t have the right skills for a desert environment. They’d probably have trouble competing with the already established tribes.
