Smallfolk

Smallfolk is a race best known for their hard work and for their ability to adapt to just about any situation and condition. Their ability to work hard and focused across a wide variety of tasks makes Smallfolk valuable and necessary across most lands of Natura.

Physical Traits
Smallfolk are small humanlike creatures, with pointy ears and sharp smiles. These creatures don’t stray too far from humans, their most defining difference being their height. Smallfolk range between the height of 2’ and 4’5, the highest known Smallfolk being 5’. Gender has no impact on height.

Their ears are longer and pointier and their teeth are sharper than humans’, though still well suited for their shared omnivorous diet.

On their forehead are two horn-like bumps, which can range from barely visible bumps to extending a little past the top of their head. These horns are dull at the top, but their shape varies and can be anywhere between small bumps to small ram horns.

The colour of their skin and hair also closely resemble those of humans, though theirs range in exclusively warm tones. Known Smallfolk hair colours include blond, brown, red as well as black and grey. Their eyes can take on any shade as long as it is a warm tone, though green is sometimes seen as an exception to this.

Smallfolk are known to carry more muscle than fat on their body, but it is not rare for Smallfolk (especially older Smallfolk) to have more weight on their bones. Gender has no impact on how fat is distributed on their bodies.

Age
Smallfolk live to be between 200 and 250, with the oldest known Smallfolk passing away at the age of 312. They are considered adult at the age of 75, and most Smallfolk are considered "old" by the age of 180.

History
Not a lot is known about the history of Smallfolk or where they come from, though it is rumoured that they might've come from the Riverlands a long time ago.

Religious views
Smallfolk as a people value community and hard work more than religion. Some Smallfolk have been known to worship harvest gods, such as Cynhaeaf, the universal Harvest deity, or Gwûned, the lesser known deity of wheat (commonly tied to the action of harvesting wheat). Smallfolk, if religious, will gravitate towards gods relating to crafts or nature. While many different Smallfolk worship many different gods, the nature of their usual living environment and their work makes them more inclined to focus on the gods relating to nature and their specific jobs.

Habitat
There is a variety of different Smallfolk settlements across the different lands of Natura. Though they do not inhabit all lands of Natura, there are enough across the lands for them to be noticed.

They adapt how they live and how they go about their work to the area they’ve settled down in, and will commonly mingle with people in existing communities or create communities of their own centred on a central work purpose. This could be work like farming, mining and craft related work like sewing, pottery and painting.

Traditions and customs
Due to the widespread nature of Smallfolk, different settlements don't have one specific set of traditions. While some Smallfolk settlements share many traditions, others share none at all

Naming
Because of how different the different settlements of Smallfolk function, their naming customs also vary greatly between regions. Just as their religions, many Smallfolk tend to have name revolving around nature or their specific crafts, but a lot of Smallfolk will name their young to fit in with the culture and people of the places they've settled down in.

Below are examples of stereotypical Smallfolk names.

Feminine coded Smallfolk names: Fern, Hazel, Holly, Petal, Poppy, Prim, Rose.

Masculine coded Smallfolk names: Birch, Birk, Field, Leaf, Oak, Rock, Wood.

Androgynous coded Smallfolk names: Ash, Basil, Bay, Cedar, Clay, Rain, Sage, Storm, Tree.