Unwritten Legends

Haefdin Gallery

THE HAEFDIN

The Potbelly, Longshadow, and Haertoe

The typical Potbelly Haefdin loves peace and quiet and good tilled earth. They are handy with tools, mistrust outsiders (although they are hospitable) and enjoy a game of anything and a good smoke. They love food, sweets mostly, and show it. Ranging only about three feet high, many are as round as they are tall.

Potbellies are gardeners and bakers, because their lives center on eating. They are nimble and quick, but don't like to hurry and have sharp ears and eyes. Most of all they love to laugh and have wonderful senses of humor (although not exactly a bigguns taste in jokes). They have thick, curly hair on their feet and most do not wear any footwear, except for the occasional sandal for special events. The hair on their heads is very thick as well, and varies from tightly curled to straight and bowl-shaped. Petulant lower lips or thick lips is a trait, as is a round little bulb of a nose, yet some defy the dominant gene and have long wide mouths and broad, regal noses. The eye color ranges from deep brown to the palest blue in all Haefdin, and hair can be from black to straw-like blond, yet the predominant cast is browns and gold that compliment their rosy or ruddy skin. They have no facial hair except eyebrows and eyelashes.

They live in burrows or mounds and are farmers, merchants or service providers. A favored crop is their beloved tobacco, since Potbellies enjoy a good smoke, as well as fruit trees and shrubs used in the making of their tarts. Potbellies love games and toys and they play Maedin and Tendra (a betting game they enjoy greatly) in public places as well as clackers in their homes and pubs. Baking is communal and they gather at large town bakeries to make their tarts, scones, cookies, and breads as well as gossip, which they love almost as much. The baked goods are a bit sweet for the taste of bigguns, but as the little'uns say, who cares.

They have a love of all things mechanical and many tend to become watchmakers, millers, dyers and anything that forces a fun to watch change in anything, since they are so curious. Potbellies fear magic because while mechanical things can be explained, magic cannot. This causes an instinctive distrust in anyone who can perform acts that are unexplainable. Most Potbelly Haefdin who do choose over their family's objection to pursue the magic arts are usually expected to live outside the family group. Haefdin love gardening so flowers and shrubs are in abundance where they live as well as loving furry things smaller than themselves, which is why the oylet run wild in the shire and are sometimes dragged into homes to become pets.

Longshadow Haefdin are much taller than their chubbier cousins the Potbellies. The average Longshadow is over 4 feet tall and slender and fine-boned. Like Potbellies, they have hair on their feet, but it is much finer and softer and some can grow a very sparse beard if they really tried. Their coloring is the same as the Potbelly, running the gamut of dark to light, yet they seem to be fairer for the most part, with hair ranging from light ash blond to golden brown.

They prefer woodland life to living in burrows and are more likely to be found inhabiting a tree than underground. They are excellent carpenters and carvers, using the insides of their scooped-out trees to create all sorts of wonderful things. They delight in riding their small horses and are excellent horsemen. Longshadows are also excellent fishermen, delighting in relaxing with a pole.

They also enjoy the magic arts, which makes them very strange in the eyes of the Potbellies. Longshadow wizards and channelers are not considered unusual and do not have to seek a living outside of the clan structure. Where Potbellies love their little axes and gladii, the Longshadow warrior is a spear thrower and wielder. Their diet is not as sweet oriented as the Potbellies, tending to vegetables, fish and greens with an occasional red meat, but they still would never turn down a fresh tart or cake. Longshadow Haefdin are not as jolly as their cousins and are more into pursuing culture and knowledge, where Potbellies only love a good story with a happy ending. They are of a serious nature and are called the "Thinkers" by their cousins the Haertoes and the Potbellies, a term not meant with respect, yet taken as such.

The average Haertoe Haefdin is the same three-foot height as their Potbelly cousins, but that is where the similarity in builds ends. Where Potbellies are nice and plump, the Haertoe is muscular of build. When Haefdin wrestle, the smart money is on the Haertoe everytime. The same coloring applies for all Haefdin as it does for Haertoes, yet most seem to be swarthier and inherit dark shades of hair and eyes. Unlike the Potbellies, the Haertoes grow some facial hair, which although not beards, can be fine muttonchops or sideburns with an occasional mustache, which makes the owner inordinately proud.