Halflings of the Tablelands

Setting
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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?

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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.

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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.

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Yeah, exactly.

There are halflings in Longshanks Scablands in LCotTP, but they’re essentially renegade halflings that migrated north from the Forest Ridge, and while they’re busy pushing the pre-existing tari out of that area, they’re probably not exactly “thriving”.

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Possible answers:

  1. Halflings don’t do well in “captivity.” Actually enslaved, they die quickly (isn’t that canon somewhere?). But “civilized” isn’t much better. They tend to wither away. Halflings as part of raiding groups or adventuring parties do not have this problem.
  2. These refugees are essentially always singular, so finding a mate is nearly impossible.
  3. Forest Ridge halflings don’t want civilized halflings to exist, so they send out raiding parties when such things are heard of (this is weak as stated, but could perhaps be firmed up).
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There are some bakers near the Gladiatorial Gate in Tyr.

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And then you have the co-owner of the Hungry Hungry Halfling, also in Tyr, although she still loves a good elf for dinner.

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Oh, there are definitely some halflings in the cities (a small number). It’s not clear, though, that any of the cities have a persistent, multi-generation halfling community as opposed to individuals or small groups that ended up there, or mercenaries residing there but not really permanently living there (Urik’s halflings are mercenaries, I believe). I am sure there are a few halflings born in cities, but probably not many.

The halflings are probably the least desert-adapted of the major Athasian races (excluding localized things like the Last Sea lizardfolk). There’s a table of ideal temperatures somewhere (Dragon Kings?) that shows them preferring cooler temperatures than any other PC race.

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