Jid

Jid is the Halfling homeland. Long ago, it was a land of rolling hills and quiet meadows. All that changed with the Rending. When the continent split in two, a column of mountains erupted along the edge of the continent that is now Thonas. These mountains are now known as the Sunder Spine mountains. In conjunction with the mountains, the eastern coast of Thonas pushed against another tectonic plate and formed a high, rocky cliff face. These two new geographical features created a rainshadow that turned the lush grasslands of Jid into a desert. Most of the Halflings fled the ruins of their old civilization and integrated with other empires that were also struggling to survive post Rending. However, enough Halflings stayed that a new society was born.

The present Halflings of Jid are a largely nomadic people, following what little game exists in the desert. Small settlements congregate around the few water sources there are, including the river, Uundara’s Grace (often just called the Grace river). Most major settlements exist along the river, although there are other small oases scattered across the desert. The Halflings of the desert have a very unique (and some would say hard to deal with) culture that involves scarcity and the allocation of resources. Memory and the dedication of thought to remember something has great significance to the people of Jid. The desert claims many things and losing those close to you is a painful experience, so the Halflings adopt an attitude of vague emotional distance to all but those they care deeply about. Saying that you will remember someone is a very powerful statement to a Jidean. Vice versa, saying that you don’t remember someone’s name or that you won’t remember them after they leave is considered rude/insulting.

Jid is one of the places to have New Gods. The people of Jid worship/pay reverence to the Flawed Twins. One is a man who carries many possessions with him and is rather rotund. The other is a starved man wearing nothing but rags. The first has comfort, but it will hurt more when the desert takes those things from him. The other suffers, but has nothing to lose to the desert, so he will never experience the pain of loss.

There exists an order of monks (like the martial artist punchy kind) in Jid. They have one monastery carved into the side of a mountain and they fashion themselves after the Starving Twin. They have little to no possessions, taking only what is necessary to live or accomplish a task (meaning they wouldn’t shun a magic item if it helped them to survive or fight an enemy or something like that). Their fighting style is very fluid and twisty and they aren’t above using dirty tricks like throwing sand in someone’s eyes.

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