World Building #4: Great Balls of Fire!

Today, let's look at the little guys, Fire race, the Smallfolk. Yes, I'm going with the name "Smallfolk". I couldn't decide if I wanted to go with hobbits, halflings, gnomes, gremlins, kobolds, whatever, so I decided to call them Smallfolk. Because they're folk... that are small. See?

The Smallfolk are marked by their blazing passion and creativity, manifesting itself positively in the arts, the sciences, and their general lust for life. On the other hands, the way they always run hot means that the Smallfolk get into brawls, fights, and feuds more often.

I see their civilization as being very much like Renaissance Italy, with a little classical Greece splashed in for extra spicy-hot flavor. They're separated into various city-states, or what were city-states before being integrated into the Selkie Empire. Pride in one's city still runs high, however, and ongoing feuds between various cities still smolder under the rule of an outsider. In fact, let's even say that city-based nationalism is what allowed the Selkie Empire to roll over the Smallfolk in the first place, preying on the divisions.

In addition to the political units of the cities, you also have powerful clans that are spread out amongst the cities. These are parallel to the powerful mercant noble families of Renaissance Italy, like the infamous Medicis. As with the cities, familial pride is paramount and feuds sprout between clans. Conflict between duty to city and duty to clan should be a source of drama.

Note how this is unlike the Water factions. The Water factions are more malleable, where a member of one faction can easily switch to another and many are just drifting around whoever is more powerful at the moment. Pride in one's city and one's clan is different. It is not the mercurial allegiance of water, but a passionate fire that burns throughout the lifetime of a smallfolk. To turn one's back on either once one has dedicated oneself is a big event.

Also, the conflict need not be violent. Cities and clans also compete over artists, inventors, trade, population, and everything else. Perhaps there should be an Olympics expy here, just to play up a small parallel to classical Greece.

As passionate as they are about the sciences, the Fire people should be at the forefront of technology and magical research. If I want airships in the game or suits of armor powered by the POWER OF FIERY FIGHTING SPIRIT, I should explain it away as a smallfolk advancement. Generally, they should be at a Renaissance level of technology, minus perhaps gunpowder, while the rest of the world is high Medieval-ish.

Looking at the picture, I wonder if they should have red hair. Would that be too obvious for a fire themed race?