The Talenta Plains is a nation unlike any other in Khorvaire, with no central government and nothing in the way of real cities or towns. The halflings of the Talenta Plains are known as shrewd negotiators and capable tacticians. They live in nomadic tribes, traversing the territory on their dinosaur mounts.
Though the halflings live at a distance from the events of greater Khorvaire, they are fully cognizant of those events, and of the world beyond their pastoral homeland. They live in tribes of up to several dozen extended families. However, significant numbers of halflings have chosen to leave the Plains for lives elsewhere in Khorvaire, demonstrating their ability to not only survive but to thrive in modern society.
The Talenta halflings had no aspirations to nationhood before the Last War. Despite their desire to remain uninvolved in that conflict, the halflings found themselves caught up in the struggles of other nations when those struggles spilled out into the Plains. Extensive campaigns between Karrnath and Cyre—both of which had laid claim to parts of the Plains in the past—ruined grazing land and destroyed countless herds of cattle and dinosaurs.
With the start of the Last War, however, it became nearly impossible for the halfling tribes to avoid the politics of the Five Nations. The Talenta Plains offered perfect battlefields—wide open and flat, without any settlements or civilian towns to get in the way. Of course, these battles had a severe impact on the herds of dinosaurs and cattle that roamed and grazed on the plains. Because those animals were central to the halflings’ way oflife, the tribes found themselves drawn into the conflict.
Different tribes aligned with different sides, giving some the sense that the halflings did not honor treaties and were not to be trusted. Eventually, for their own protection (and that of their beloved plains), the tribes began to work more closely together, and when the other nations gathered at Thronehold to negotiate a lasting peace, the halflings sent a single representative to look out for their interests.
Today, the Talenta Plains are considered a single nation, but halfling society still revolves around the tribe. The only permanent community in the territory is Gatherhold, which all tribes visit from time to time but none occupy permanently. The settlement is maintained by the members of House Ghallanda, one of the two halfling dragonmarked houses. The other dragonmarked houses maintain a few way stations in the plains, and the halflings have allowed Karrnath to construct a number of military outposts and maintain a standing garrison in the south, along the Valenar border. For the most part, though, the plains remain as they have been for thousands of years.
ECG
The Talenta Plains is a nation unlike any other in Khorvaire, with no central government and nothing in the way of real cities or towns. The halflings of the Talenta Plains are known as shrewd negotiators and capable tacticians. They live in nomadic tribes, traversing the territory on their dinosaur mounts.
Though the halflings live at a distance from the events of greater Khorvaire, they are fully cognizant of those events, and of the world beyond their pastoral homeland. They live in tribes of up to several dozen extended families. However, significant numbers of halflings have chosen to leave the Plains for lives elsewhere in Khorvaire, demonstrating their ability to not only survive but to thrive in modern society.
The Talenta halflings had no aspirations to nationhood before the Last War. Despite their desire to remain uninvolved in that conflict, the halflings found themselves caught up in the struggles of other nations when those struggles spilled out into the Plains. Extensive campaigns between Karrnath and Cyre—both of which had laid claim to parts of the Plains in the past—ruined grazing land and destroyed countless herds of cattle and dinosaurs.
Forgetting old feuds, the halflings chose to speak with a unified voice, with elders from every tribe meeting in council to decide a course for their people. For the remainder of the Last War, they defended their lands as a unified force. When Khorvaire’s new borders were drawn at Thronehold, the halflings sued for and won recognition as a sovereign nation.
Halfling culture treats every member of a tribe as an equal. A halfling tribe is ruled by an elected leader known as a lath, whose authority depends on retaining the confidence and respect of the tribe as a whole. Every few generations, a truly great leader arises, inspiring not just his or her tribe but other tribes and their laths. Such a halfling is given the title oflathon and is granted the power to render decisions for the halfling nation as a whole.
Lathon Halpum organized the tribes during the Last War and represented them in the negotiations at Thronehold. He is considered the father of this land, and without his example, the halfling nation would likely never have come to pass. Although he has since stepped down from his position, Halpum has the respect of nearly every living halfling.
The halflings lived, hunted, and wandered Khorvaire for thousands of years before the arrival of humans. Their nomadic tribes once journeyed across the entire central continent, sometimes not returning to the Talenta Plains for a generation or more. As humans and other races expanded into what would eventually become the Five Nations, the halflings found themselves slowly forced back until only the Plains remained open to them.
Within the kingdom of Galifar, Talenta was considered part of Cyre, though that made little difference to the tribes. To a halfling claiming ownership over the land makes little more sense than claiming ownership of the wind or rain. Although a tribal council nominally rules the halfling nation, its primary task is simply maintaining the appearance that the Talenta Plains are a unified land—thereby preventing other nations from encroaching on the halflings’ territory
ECS
The Talenta Plains spread out to the east from Karrnath and the Mournland, reaching for the mountains of Ironroot and Endworld. This flat tableau of rugged grassland gives way to the punishing heat and sand of the Blade Desert before rising into the forlorn peaks and crumbling cliffsides of the Endworld Mountains. Across this vast expanse, herds of buffalo-sized dinosaurs run wild, and halflings wander in nomadic tribes. The halflings control a territory bordered by Karrnath, the Mror Holds, Q’barra, Valenar, and the Mournland. Every year, the Blade Desert seems to creep farther into the grasslands, but as long as life can be squeezed from the Plains, the Talenta halfling tribes will survive.
The halfling tribes of the Talenta Plains struggle to keep their ancient traditions and heritage alive despite the lure of the comforts and advances of the Five Nations. Many people of central Khorvaire have a certain picture in mind when they think of the Talenta Plains—halfling barbarians riding dinosaurs, performing heathen rituals, engaging in strange customs, and wearing strange clothing. All of these images ring true, but it is a partial truth. The culture and rituals of the halfling tribes are simpler, more archaic than the customs and practices of those living in the more “civilized” nations. These rituals can be cruel, harsh, and primitive by some standards, but they also possess a beauty, sophistication, and wonder all their own. Where part of each tribe embraces tradition, part also feels the pull of modern thoughts and ideas. So far, the tribes have balanced these two competing forces, but a day may come when tradition must bend to modernization or be twisted and broken by its unrelenting weight.
Karrnath and Cyre both claimed parts of the Talenta Plains during the Last War. Prior to the fall of the kingdom of Galifar, the halfling tribes were permitted to wander their ancestral lands as long as they paid tribute to the Galifar king. With the coming of war, the halfling tribes began to cooperate in unprecedented ways to protect the Plains that all the tribes revered. Warriors of different tribes banded together, repelling invaders from Karrnath and Cyre by using their knowledge of the ways of the Plains to confuse and confound the invaders. Later, when the Plains became the place for various combatant nations to clash, the halfling tribes tried to stay out of the way.
As the war progressed, the halfling tribes settled more and more of their ancient grievances, creating a “nation of nations” that stretched across the Talenta Plains. War councils, tribal meetings, and gatherings celebrating victories and festivals important to the halfling tribes replaced the minor skirmishes that once punctuated tribal interaction. When the time came for the powers involved in the Last War to meet and discuss forging a lasting peace, the halfling tribes sent agents representing their tribal council. With the signing of the Treaty of Thronehold, the territory of the Talenta Plains was recognized as a sovereign nation composed of loosely aligned halfling tribes.
The halflings have wandered the Talenta Plains since before the first humans reached Khorvaire’s shores. Once, these nomads ranged far and wide, traveling across the open land that is now the Mournland, Karrnath, Valenar, and the Talenta Plains. With the coming of the humans and the rise of the Five Nations, the halflings found their territory shrinking as human settlements encroached on the wide-open plains. At times, the halflings attempted to hold their position and drive the humans away, and a number of bloody battles punctuate the shared history of the two races. In the end, the two races found common ground and eventually discovered a way to peacefully coexist (the Last War not withstanding).
Halflings of the Plains continue to live in tribal units as they have for thousands of years. These tent-dwelling nomads spend a great deal of their lives on the backs of the small dinosaurs that share the Plains with them. (Small is a relative term; the dinosaurs of the Plains are certainly smaller than the great creatures that roam Xen’drik and the swamps of Q’barra, and some grow as large as elephants, though most range from the size of a small dog to the size of a cow.)
Driving cattle, tribex, and herbivorous dinosaur herds that provide them with the essentials of life (food, drink, and material for clothing and shelter), the halflings show consummate skill in the capture, training, and riding of dinosaurs. Using fast runners such as clawfoot and fastieth dinosaurs as mounts, the halflings are accomplished riders trained from the earliest age to not only control the beasts but fight from them with bows, blades, and boomerangs.
To the halflings of the Plains, the dinosaurs they bond with are more than mounts. They are partners, providing the means to herd, hunt, travel, and protect the tribe.
They respect and even revere these special creatures, demonstrating this respect through the artistic and frightening hunt-masks they craft. Each hunt-mask, tied to a halfling’s mount and crafted with exacting care by each rider, represents the power and feral nature of the bonded dinosaur. When a halfling dons his hunt-mask, he proudly proclaims his connection to his dinosaur and takes on the feral personality of the hunt. Indeed, a halfling believes that his spirit combines with his bonded dinosaur when he dons his hunt-mask.
PGtE
From the eastern shores of Lake Cyre, the Talenta Plains stretch away in a sea of grass that goes on as far as the eye can see. The majority of this territory is covered with grasslands teeming with a surprising array of wildlife, including dinosaurs that range in size from as small as dogs to as large as elephants.
While not the most fertile land, the Talenta Plains supply everything the halfling tribes need to live and thrive. To the south, the grass thins and gives way to the barren, sandy Blade Desert (named for its sharp, elongated shape) that runs to the Ironroot and Endworld Mountains in the east.
Nomadic tribes of halflings have lived, hunted, and wandered these plains since before humans first set foot on Khorvaire. Then, halflings and dinosaurs alike roamed as far north as the Iceflow River and Lake Dark in modern-day Karrnath, and west as far as the Seawall Mountains and Lake Brey. As humans expanded across Khorvaire, the halflings’ range diminished to its current extent. Nevertheless, the halflings continued to roam the plains as they had before, doing their best to avoid the encroaching cities and towns. Certainly, occasional confrontations erupted—the halflings were hunters by nature, and would not allow the longer-limbed races to bully them or push them off their land. But for the most part, the tribes were happy to peacefully coexist with their tall neighbors. Even when Galifar united the other nations of Khorvaire into one kingdom, it had little impact on this situation.
With the start of the Last War, however, it became nearly impossible for the halfling tribes to avoid the politics of the Five Nations. The Talenta Plains offered perfect battlefields—wide open and flat, without any settlements or civilian towns to get in the way. Of course, these battles had a severe impact on the herds of dinosaurs and cattle that roamed and grazed on the plains. Because those animals were central to the halflings’ way of life, the tribes found themselves drawn into the conflict.
Different tribes aligned with different sides, giving some the sense that the halflings did not honor treaties and were not to be trusted. Eventually, for their own protection (and that of their beloved plains), the tribes began to work more closely together, and when the other nations gathered at Thronehold to negotiate a lasting peace, the halflings sent a single representative to look out for their interests.
Today, the Talenta Plains are considered a single nation, but halfling society still revolves around the tribe. The only permanent community in the territory is Gatherhold, which all tribes visit from time to time but none occupy permanently. The settlement is maintained by the members of House Ghallanda, one of the two halfling dragonmarked houses. The other dragonmarked houses maintain a few way stations in the plains, and the halflings have allowed Karrnath to construct a number of military outposts and maintain a standing garrison in the south, along the Valenar border. For the most part, though, the plains remain as they have been for thousands of years.
Halfling tribes range in size from fifty to a thousand or more individuals. They maintain their nomadic traditions and eschew material possessions, keeping only what they need for their survival and that of the creatures they herd and ride. Even the largest tribes can strike camp, load up their mounts, and move out in no more than 10 minutes, driving their herds of cattle, tribex, and herbivorous dinosaurs ahead of them.
The tribes have an egalitarian structure. In theory, every individual in the tribe is equal, and the tribe as a whole elects a leader (called a lath) who guides the tribe for as long as he or she retains the tribe’s confidence. Only occasionally do tribes join together under the leadership of a lathon (a leader of multiple tribes). Lathon Halpum is the only halfling to currently hold that title, though he carries it only as an honorific, commemorating his role at Thronehold negotiating for the halfling nation. His own tribe is one of the largest in the plains, but he no longer commands any other. Still, he is well respected by the Talenta halflings, and could probably unite many or all of the tribes again if the need arose.