EPT
The Age Wondrous was a time of expansion, growth, conflict, and innovation upon Iris.
The High Gods were exhausted from their toils, so most chose to enjoy the fruits of the labors upon Iris itself. For Vernaya and Harell, this meant watching civilization spread and observing how the Animata, the mortals, interacted with their creations: the forces of Nature. Carth devoted the era of tranquility he established to fashioning his next great work, an endeavor that brought the Dwarven race to Iris. Khranos and Rogash bided their time. Khranos waited for the Moment, while Rogash fumed and schemed, plotting his revenge upon those who ended his ambition to corrupt and defile the Anima. For Xa and Dys, the end of their toils meant the opportunity to visit their miraculous creation and bask in the warmth of the Anima, their greatest achievement. The two cavorted with the creatures of Iris, and their dalliances yielded myriad offspring, both mortal and divine, who were left to meet their fates on Iris.
The mortal races of Iris built towering cities, ventured into unexplored lands, battled with treacherous enemies and future allies, and developed civilizations and cultures, some of which last to this very day. The whole of Iris was a frontier of mystery, beauty, wonder, and power, and those who held the Shards of Anima wished to see it all. There are countless tomes which describe those bygone days, the days when the oldest songs were newly sung, when the great cities were merely dust and thought, and when the ancient grudges were still blood-soaked battlefields. Needless to say, the mortals of Iris were what made the age Wondrous. They attracted the wayward gods to our lands.
Many gods crossed the planes to reach Iris, the single place in the multiverse where gods could mingle with the strange creatures who were seemingly untouched by the laws that governed their kind. Of the great host that journeyed to Iris, two would stand out above the rest: Alenna and Morkul, the Twins. The inseparable pair traveled together, yet no two gods were more disparate than the Sisters. Alenna was joy, curiosity, music, love, and family, while Morkul was rage, jealousy, screams, hatred, and blood. Both found Iris captivating, for they’d never before discovered a fold of the multiverse where they could live both together and in harmony. On Iris, the sensuous and the savage alike were welcomed with open arms. The Twins discovered sanctuary among the Animata, and in Iris’ welcoming warmth they built their home.
The gods of Iris share some notable tendencies with the Greek gods, particularly in how they interact with the mortal world. To put it more bluntly, if the gods of Iris had a list of “begats,” it’d be incredibly long. After all, the world doesn’t only contain Elves, Tieflings, and Dwarves, and the rest of the creatures of the D&D world had to come from somewhere. The PC races of Iris differentiate themselves from other mortals because most are favored children of the High Gods, making them unique even among the multitudinous life on the planet. That said, they are not the only creations of the High Gods, nor are the High Gods the only divine beings with the power to sire the Animata. As far as games within the setting go, this implies that any race that you want to use for a player likely has as deep and complex a spiritual lineage as any currently in the 5E PHB. Did the god who created them come from another plane, or were they too born on Iris? How did that creation take place and why? Balancing them for play is an entirely different question, but there’s plenty of space on Iris for other legends about the births of species.
Also, while we’re on the topic of begetting, it’s worth mentioning that most of the gods on Iris don’t have a sex (read: the physical features and reproductive behaviors that distinguish “male” from “female”) as we know it. Some do, but such gods are typically conceived by mortal will, and mortals are notoriously constrained by their own observations and experiences.* Many gods choose to manifest with mortal appearances that are familiar to those who worship them, but those manifestations are mostly convenient, entirely within the gods’ control, and heavily subject to change based on their whims. For example, Xa, the Radiant Zenith, is portrayed as male by a great majority of “his” worshippers, but there are sects that honor Xa’s female aspect and others that simply pay fealty to the celestial body that is assumed to be Xa’s true form. Because divine sexuality is so fluid, the dalliances of the gods often span the spectrum of mortal sexual possibility, and the concept of gods “giving birth” or “having children” is similarly metaphorical. A god might choose to give birth as human females on Iris do, but they could also elect to give birth as a human male, lay an egg like a swan or dragon, or force their offspring to emerge, fully-formed, from their head (and thus do we circle back to Olympus). Similarly, the descendants of gods are not their “children” in the strictest sense, as they are not really blood-relations, but ideas that are manifested, expelled, or discarded. If anything, the progeny of the gods have more in common with finely-curated works of art or severed limbs that move of their own accord than they do with babies.
Alenna adored Iris’ abundant life and sought to share her love with it by bringing peace and joy to all who walked the world’s surface. No mortal on Iris could resist Alenna’s charms, for her spirit was the embodiment of happiness and comfort. She brought peace and tranquility to all who gazed upon her, even if they lived for bloodshed and conquest. Alenna came to understand the Animata through the eyes adn hearts of her countless lovers. She discovered their innumerable flaws and weaknesses and identified their unique strengths and abilities. Yet for all the compassion and delight heaped upon her by her admirers, Alenna feared for the future of Iris. She found Elves to be unwavering and serious as often as they were beautiful and creative. Tieflings, she learned, could be cruel with even their affections and were typically close-minded to the boundless possibilities of Iris. The Dragons, though intelligent and powerful, were arrogant and jealous and saw all of Iris as their possessions, including Alenna and Iris. Though she saw the Animata at their most joyful and gracious, no mortal race convinced the Divine Paramour that Iris would reach peace and happiness through their efforts. To do so, she created one: the Halflings.
Many Halflings follow in their maker’s footsteps: they are kind, carefree, accepting, and honorable. For some Halflings, there exists no greater ambition than to care for a large family while basking in the sedate pleasures of home and hearth, tilling the familiar and comforting earth, and making merry with their neighbors. Yet there are those who see beyond small townships and idyllic farms and glimpse a greater goods, those who actively pursue the dream of peace instilled in them by their creator. Such Halflings become legendary orators and diplomats, paladins of noble orders dedicated to everlasting peace, or bards who create harmony and happiness with music, an medium that is part of every Halfling’s soul to some degree. Halfling linguists wrote the Common tongue with the intent of bringing the myriad races of Iris closer together. Halfling architects designed and built cities to facilitate trade, politics, and companionship among all the peoples of Iris. Of course, as with all of the Animata, some Halflings stray from the intentions of the god that made them, while others dismiss them entirely. Halflings’ stature and natural grace make them excellent thieves, and while some rob the rich and tyrannical, there are plenty whose love only extends to coin and who choose to exclusively enrich themselves or their guilds. Darker villains still warp Alenna’s desire for peace and freedom to horrifying and twisted ends, and others defiantly spurn her will, electing to champion hatred, grief, and fear.
Halflings have no central government, nor kingdoms of any kind. Each Halfling settlement is governed by a respected elder, a trusted warden, or a council elect, none of whom report to a single political entity. Every hamlet, town, and metropolis determines how their community should be run, and that plan is enacted until change is necessary. Halfling villages stretch across the whole of Iris, especially where arable land can be found. Only rare locations, such as the Blood Empire and Ulbelochan Wastes, are devoid of a Halfling population, typically because of the hostility of the land or its inhabitants. While many Halfling settlements are small and humble, the two largest cities on Iris were also born of Halfling dedication and ingenuity. Both Northhaven and Southreach are sprawling cities with thousands of citizens and countless visitors. They cover miles in every direction and welcome any new denizen or traveler who abides by their respective Councils’ laws. Between the two grand metropolises spans the Carnoran Highway (named for Iris’ central continent, Carnora), which most travelers call the Everroad. This Halfling-built thoroughfare is the largest of its kind, and it connects all major cities on the continent. While it was constructed in the spirit of collaboration and kinship, some sections are in better repair than others and no amount of good intentions manages to dissuade bandits.
Even as I was writing this post, I remained subconsciously determined to undermine the potential awesomeness of the Halfling race. In my original concept, Alenna made the Halflings using Elves as a template. She wished to preserve their commitments to life, peace, and beauty, but replace their uncompromising ethics and rigid culture with a carefree, fickle, and easygoing view of virtue. The problem with this is obvious: if Halflings are an “offshoot,” “adaptation,” or “reboot” of Elves, then they don’t have their own identities or traits. Defining Halflings in this way would be a creative cop-out to avoid imagining the divine intentions behind a new “good-aligned” race and the ways they differ from those already described. I finally discovered a unique character for Halflings when I expanded upon the personality of their maker, Alenna. I’d known from the beginning that the Chaotic Good god was Iris’ avatar of love, but it wasn’t until further exploring the intentions behind that identity that I found the aspects of her temperament which led her to give life to the Halfling race. Alenna loves because Alenna desires peace and happiness above all things. To align with this fact, Halflings stopped being chaos-altered Elves and became Alenna’s attempt to bestow upon Iris the gift of tranquility and joy in the form of a mortal race who pursued such lofty goals. Whether or not Alenna is satisfied with her creation is hard to say. They are not the paragons of peace she intended, but no race possessing the Animata can be restrained to one way of living or another. Perhaps she is content with their tendencies toward kindness and altruism even though there are some who reject those precepts. Either way, I’m quite happy with this take on Halflings, for it gives the Halfling race an important legacy that did not exist in the fantasy worlds I enjoy.
As far as character and personality archetypes go, I find that Halflings generally fall into one of two major categories: Hobbits and Kender. As anyone who’s seen a Lord of the Rings or Hobbit movie might guess, Hobbits represent the “lawful” faction of Halflings on Iris.** This includes those Halflings who’d be more than happy to never leave the Shire, those who rely upon long-held customs and traditions, and those who prefer simple, straightforward lives to ones weighed down with adventure and danger. On Iris, however, there are far more of your Frodos, Sams, Merrys, and Pippins, though it would be more accurate to say that there are far more Bullroarer Tooks. Such Halflings sit before kings, senators, and heads of state, negotiating disputes and signing treaties. They lead monastic and knightly orders, organizing Monk and Paladin comrades in quests to help the less fortunate and to smite those who would cause them harm. There is also the chaotic side of the Halfling equation, those who I imagine to be much like Tasslehoff Burrfoot, at least in their wanderlust and constant amazement at their surroundings; feel free to take or leave the kleptomania. As Alenna is a Chaotic Good god, I believe more of Iris’ large population of Halflings tend to love finding adventure, searching for new and wonderful things, and making friends wherever they go to share the joys they experience. These are the charming knaves whose light fingers undermine the wealth and power of corrupt clerics and demonic despots. They are also the legendary musicians who bring joy to weary travelers with ribald limericks with as much ease as they search ancient tombs for the lost hymns of forgotten civilizations. Of course, the categories I discuss above are vastly different, but they both describe “good” Halflings. The background and personality of a “typical” evil Halfling is impossible to describe, as few of the race wander down that dark road, and fewer still have paths that intersect. The dark ambitions that compel them are for their players to decide.
The accepting and welcoming race that they are, Halflings have no cultural stigmas or restrictions regarding the class choices of their peers. Unlike the Dwarves, the Halflings readily see the subtleties and nuances of most situations, and they realize that it is one what does that informs their character, not the weapons they wield or the spells they whisper. That said, Halflings do favor certain classes that come to them more naturally than others. There are a great deal of Halfling Bards because Alenna adored music, so lyrical and melodic aptitude runs deep within the Halfling spirit. The sounds of a Halfling village include a great deal of humming and whistling, and acoustically talented individuals appear regularly in such fertile environments. Rogues are also common among the Halflings, both because of their size and dexterity and their curiosity in all things. Many virtuous Halflings focus that compelling curiosity towards a noble goal, but their inborn inquisitiveness originates in Alenna’s constant wonder for everything on Iris. Apart from those two, Halfling adventurers are spread relatively evenly among the various classes, but, unsurprisingly, few have the builds or raw strength for those vocations that require a lot of brute force.
On the next installment of Building Iris, we will (finally) encounter the second children of Alenna: the Gnomes.
* There are also transgender, pangender, and nongender creatures on Iris. There are also those with sexes other than male and female. Explore the possibilities to your heart’s content.
** There aren’t really organized factions in this way. Unless you’re GM’ing and you want there to be.
You can read this worldbuilding excerpt and a bunch of thoughts, articles, and reviews at the N3rd Dimension.
