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"Never heard of the place. It's part of the Empire? Really? A place with Halflings in charge? Well whose stupid idea was that, then?"

Wissenland innkeeper[1a]

The Mootland, formally the Grand County of the Mootland, and often referred to simply as "The Moot," is a minor Electoral Province of the Empire that was formed in the early 11th century IC within the fertile farmlands of the south-central Old World. Located in the junction between the rivers of Blue Reach and the Aver, the province possesses a rich and highly fertile soil, which always brings in bountiful harvests year after year. For this reason, most of its inhabitants are farmers, and the Moot is one of the main providers of food for The Empire.[1a]

The Moot is predominantly inhabited by a race of short humanoids called Halflings. Roughly half the size of a fully grown man, Halflings are a peaceful and rustic folk, more interested in the comforts of home than adventures and warfare.[1a]

Geography[]

"If all the world were like this, it would be like a Shallyan's dream come true."

—Rolf Eckhardt, Jade Wizard.[1a]
Warhammer The Mootland

The peaceful lands of the Moot, the home of the Halflings

Sitting on perhaps the most fertile farmland in the central Empire, the Mootland comprises portions of Averland and Stirland that were torn from their rule in a fit of pique by Emperor Ludwig in the early 11th century IC and made into its own Electoral Province -- ruled by Halflings. The Moot is a land of gently rolling hills and grasslands that slopes upward gradually until the land rises in the Greenleaf Hills of the southeast, where farmers raise many famous varieties of tobacco, such as Fogmaker Red, Aver Prime Blend, and the notoriously strong Fumigator. Most of the country is open, with scattered copses of oak, beech, elm, and willow along the riverbanks. The only two forests of note are the Sleepy Wood and the mysterious Alter Forest.[1a]

While the province is watered in its southern half by the Aver Reach, Blue Reach, and Aver rivers, sufficient rainfall waters the land to guarantee regular and good crops throughout the Moot. Mootland is divided into three major regions, four if you listen to some Halflings. Southwest of the River Aver is Aver March, once a prosperous barony of Averland. According to old tales, the Humans of Aver March were forced to leave the area at the point of spear by the emperor's troops when Ludwig gave it to the Halflings. To this day, visitors can see the ruined foundations of old castles, their stones mostly carted off for new construction that the local Halflings claimed were once Human settlements. While, it is true that some minor families of Averland claim lordship over areas of the Aver March, few take them seriously. They occasionally petition the Emperor to have their rights restored, but so far their requests have been all filed and forgotten.[1a]   

Mootland map

A map of the Mootland

Three towns dominate Aver March; Sauerapfel on the west, Einsamholz in the centre, and Dreiflussen at the southeast. Closer in culture to Averland than other regions, large herds of sheep and goats are common here, while the western march is famous for its apples. North of the rivers lies "Auld Styrlande," an area of Mootland which was once part of the Grand County of Stirland. It is an area in which farming districts alternate with copses of wood and small fens, and is Mootland's fertile breadbasket. Two roads access it, but neither traverses the whole of the region. The Moot Road leaves Eicheschatten and heads west, where it joins the Old Dwarf Road in Stirland at the town of Wördern. The other is a short road that runs from the settlements of Einsamholz to the town of Pfungzig in Averland. Neither could be mistaken for a major road, and, indeed, most of the traffic is from farmers, herdsmen, and traders going to sell their wares in one or another market. Inside the Mootland, traffic travels on age-worn cart paths or cross-country.[1a]

The south-eastern region bounded by the loop of the Aver Reach to the north and the border with Averland to the south is formally named "The Duchy of the Fallow Hills", a title given to it by an Averlander lord of the 11th century who could never get anything worthwhile to grow there. Disgusted, he sold the region to the Halflings soon after Ludwig created the Moot, reportedly muttering "and good riddance" at the signing. The Halflings, however, knew good soil when they saw it and more importantly, knew how to properly use it. Using seedlings from tobacco plants they loved, but which grew poorly elsewhere, they planted fields of the crop along the river and in the valleys, so much so that the area is simply known as "Greenleafs" today, and provides a major cash crop for the Moot. The Mootland government is so anxious to increase their share of the market that they sent traders on long trips around the Empire to give out free samples, in the hope that happy customers will want and pay for more.[1a]

Roads and Rivers[]

"The land is beautiful and verdant, and the people are warm and welcoming. That’s very suspicious, wouldn’t you say?"

— Andulla Sorgewarze, Averland Witch Hunter.[2a]
Warhammer Mootland Roads and Rivers

The roads and rivers of the Mootland

The state of Mootland's roads is a running joke in the Empire, and in the south its rivers grow ever more narrow and turbulent. As such, many wagoners, messengers, coachmen, and river folk will stop at the border and refuse to go further without a "Moot Road tax." Meanwhile, the Halflings who ply those roads and rivers have a wide reputation of being masters in their field. In particular, the need for rapid communication between vast clans have created the swiftest, most agile messengers in the Old World, whether on foot, driving a team, or riding the stout Halfling ponies. ‘Took off like a Mootland message’ is a common southern phrase for something rushing from sight.[2a]

The rivers split the land into three areas: Aver Reach (Averland), Auld Styrland (Stirland), and Greenleafs. Aver Reach in the southeast is named after that bustling river that also lends its name to their neighbours the Averlanders. Generally, Averlanders and Mootlanders get along, although the competition between them is fierce when it comes to who produces the best sheep and finest wool garments. More than one county fair has ended in bloodshed — for Averlanders seem to have no sense of humour whatsoever. Auld Styrland is to the north, and named for the province whose ancient land it occupies. Relations on this border are stonier, with Stirland never able to forgive the wrong done to them by Emperor Ludwig. To this day, they call it ‘The Great Wrong’, and grumble about setting it right again.[2a]

The rough hills known as the Greenleafs are to the west. This land was not part of the Imperial decree. It was bought from an Averlander lord, who declared the land absolutely worthless for turning any kind of profit. The Greenleaf clan had spotted that the dry hills were perfect for growing olives, grapes, and especially tobacco. At that time the Empire’s only source of the soporific weed was Bretonnia: a wet, insipid product that had failed to excite the market. Within a century, Halfling pipeweed was the first choice of smokers across the Empire, and the Greenleafs became the richest part of the Moot. To the east of the Mootland lies a very different neighbour: the benighted land of Sylvania. That land’s evil seeps out of it like water through cloth. Stirland and Averland must deal with its dark intrusions. Each county has its own solutions. The Halfling traits of diligence and courage have proven arguably the most effective.[2a]

Culture[]

"The symbol of the Moot is the cockerel, and so to thank you for your generosity we have drawn on your tavern walls a proud, upstanding pink one, thrusting forward with all its might."

—Hillary Talltree, Halfling Street Artist.[2a]
Warhammer Halfling adventurer

A Halfling of the Mootland setting out to see the sights of the wider world.

The Mootland is much more densely populated than most provinces of the Empire. With few forests and mountains, vast areas for farming, and a fast-breeding population, folks live just about anywhere, in towns large and small that sprawl across the countryside and almost overlap. Only the capital — Eicheshatten — could really be called a city, but it’s humble and small compared to other of the Empire’s cities. Most Halfling settlements would really only qualify as villages. Mootish roads are so poorly tended because Halflings typically have what they need close at hand; they view the Reikland’s wide paved roads as evidence that everyone there is too busy to talk to anyone or stop awhile along the way.[2a]

There are many reasons to head to the Moot. For those preparing an excursion into the fearsome land of Sylvania, it makes an excellent stopping point, and passing through it to reach the Border Princes allows one to avoid Sylvania entirely. Trade with the tiny county is constant and fervent; tobacco is a perennial, with each new season offering new flavours, and the ale and wine are the same. In spring and summer, the fruit trade is busier than the wool trade from Averland. Finally, there is tourism: as Halfling delicacies and hallmarks ever rise in popularity, a growing market has risen in wealthy northerners keen to try the ‘real thing’. Of course, the Moot is often quite different than they expect, but for many that’s part of the appeal: everyone knows only real Mootlanders provide a true Halfling experience. That ‘real’ experience can be shocking.[2a]

The Moot is the one place in the Empire where Halflings don’t have to live by human standards — they take this as a matter of pride. Large cities and tourist havens like Eicheschatten and Saurpafel make accommodations for taller visitors but many places aggressively do not. All ceilings are five feet high and furnished with toddlersized furniture; beds are impossible to sleep on without buying a double room and pushing them together. (And of course, beds pushed together by staff costs extra, like everything Humans might need.) Humans will also find that the common Empire outhouse or longdrop is replaced with a communal all-gender bench system. Bathing rooms are the same.[2a]

Lodgings are often public; privacy is not something Halflings care to provide. This means Human thieves love to haunt the Moot tourist trade, and Halflings only care if it starts to damage their income. Some places will even have special things set aside for the big folks, to emphasise that they are unwelcome. Drinks come in thin vases a foot tall; crockery is twice as long as it should. After all, Halflings don’t know what humans need and thus can ‘innocently’ make mistakes. If the humans don’t like it, of course, they can be pointed to the Ogre lodgings most Moot towns have, but staying with Ogres is far, far worse. The smell alone can prove fatal.[2a]

Politics[]

"Don’t you oppress me! I’m an Imperial citizen, I am! Why, if you tried that in the Moot, you’d be hung, drawn, and quartered!"

—Sir Bullywick Applebag, Halfling Politician.[2b]

Almost all Halfling politics is settled by a council of Elders, a startlingly informal and unofficial process to Empire eyes. Every village has a collection of Halflings who make judgements on law and policy, with larger issues or appeals handled in the bigger towns or at the Grand Council in the capital, Eicheschatten. Councils are usually composed of odd numbers so they have no ties in votes. Once appointed, typically membership lasts for life. Despite the name there is no age — nor gender — requirement to join the councils. But they do tend to be composed of older Halflings as the appointment is for life. Ambitious halflings must be nominated to join by an established member of the Council. Elder Councils are held at most once a month, but sometimes only once a year, for most of the time Mootlander society believes in a live-and-let-live approach, leaving folks to settle their differences primarily on their own. Since families are large (with a single household being up to 50 folk) and interconnected, and word travels fast, it is hard to do anything without your own mother hearing all the salacious details. This means compromise and discussion are the tools of the day, and those tools are always at work. The whole place bubbles with chatter. Almost nothing is done without a long discussion beforehand to make sure everyone agrees. This can take a while and stoic types — Dwarfs especially — may find organising anything in the Moot an ordeal because everyone has to weigh in. Of course, it’s not all as harmonious as the Mootlanders like to pretend. Clans and councils intersect and the decisions and affiliations of their members can come into conflict. Halflings do not live and breathe grudges like Dwarfs, but families are living memories. Halflings are affable folk because they often have to be, passing the day despite great arguments and long-held anger.[2a]

Moot Elders[]

Although Halflings have a casual approach to life, often that is because they must yield to the dominant cultures around them. Visitors to the Moot will discover that every now and then, Halflings do have a drop of pomp and circumstance, and can take things almost seriously, and this happens most of all in the Moot. For example, unlike most of the Elector Counts, the Moot representative must be elected by the Grand Council of Elders. Grand Elder is the title they prefer. The election is held every three years in Eicheschatten. It lacks the lavish ceremony that taller species prefer, but it’s central to Moot politics. It’s treated with its own kind of formality and respect. Families are more likely to gather for a picnic than for soldiers to march the streets, but that is how Halflings show respect: gathering with food. Mootlander society works because every Halfling sees themselves as part of it, and has a stake in protecting it. Indeed, visitors may find towns shut down if a council is going on. Not that council days are quiet, nor are Halfling ‘holy days’ either, for that matter. Even the highest courts of the Moot are loud, bawdy affairs, with frequent jokes, appeals to the audience, and audience ‘participation’ (constant interruptions). Hisme loves to begin official matters with a big raspberry to get everyone’s attention. The longest ever Grand Council is said to have been delayed by persistent outbreaks of folk singing, complete with deafening armpit noises by the famous Elder Obvaluta Crumleywort.[2a]

The Fieldwardens[]

Just as Halflings have politics, albeit in a strikingly informal way, the same is true of their armed forces. The Fieldwardens are one of the most lethal fighting forces in the Old World (see page 89). The Fieldwardens have no named regiments, no uniforms, and few leaders. They are fiercely loyal, cunning and dogged, and are all volunteers. Much of their success comes from the fact that they are guarding their homes. They not only know every twig and brush like the back of their hands, they know the people intimately and are usually related to them. This allows them to use snipers and commando tactics: long-handled staff-slings can make a stone travel as fast and far as an arrow. The Fieldwardens also remain vigilant by having a tight focus: they don’t care for any lives that aren’t Mootlander Halflings. Ogres can take care of themselves, Stirlanders and Averlanders are probably up to no good, and any Human coming from the east is more than likely Undead (or worse). Visitors who expect help from local authorities will be laughed at. The Fieldwardens protect their own — no more, no less.[2a]

Halfling Law[]

There’s a popular saying in Stirland that goes: ‘There’s no law for halflings’. In its broadest sense, it means that in the general scheme of things, small sins and small sufferings are soon forgotten by sinner and sufferer alike. Others choose to take a more literal interpretation - that the diminutive Mootlanders pay little heed to laws at all. For some Stirlanders — and increasingly, Averlanders as well — this meaning has become truth. After all, Stirland territory itself was stolen by Halflings to create the Moot. Therefore, they must be a lawless folk with no concern for others. Thus, there can be no harm in stealing from them in return. So it is that Stirland shepherds will graze their flock on lands across the Mootland. Stirland foresters will wander into Moot forests for wood and game. Muleskinners will run their lines across the Moot without paying border tolls. Bailiffs and wardens might slide borders ever inwards, encroaching into the Moot. For who is there to stop them?

Road Wardens and Riverwardens are charged to defend all the Empire, ‘Unto All Its Farthermost Climes’, but more often than not stop their patrols at the Mootland borders. No Empire coffers are spent on troops to defend against Greenskins or Undead invasions. No excisemen come to make sure that Mootish taxes are not undue or unfair. The popular myth is that the Mootland is insular, and acts as if the rest of the Empire is forgotten. The truth is the opposite: the Empire wishes the Mootland did not exist. The Moot is a place where Halflings look to Halfling things — for no one else will care for them. And they often extend this policy outwards. Visitors who come from the ‘big folk’ (Humans, Dwarfs, and Elves) may find that if they seek justice for any crimes committed against them that local Mooters will shrug their shoulders and say, ‘there’s no law for Halflings’. However, Halflings do have a legal system, albeit one much more simplistic and far more liberal than the rest of the Empire’s. ‘human justice’ is a Halfling phrase meaning something cruel and cold. Halflings find executions barbaric, imprisoning people a waste of good labour, and the stocks a waste of good vegetables. Punishments for Halfling crimes are meted out by Elder Councils. They are almost always financial, paid in either coin, work, or goods in trade. The most extreme Halfling sentence is exile, which is quite severe in a culture centred entirely around community. In some rural areas, Halflings will brand exiled folk if they feel the rumour mill won’t keep up with the news, but this is rare. The unfortunate consequence of this system, however, is that perpetrator and victim remain in close proximity: you may live and work with your cousin’s killer for the rest of your days. Halflings sometimes wait until a dark night and deliver some ‘human justice’ to those they feel deserve it.[2a]

Inhabitants[]

"All the Big Folk think we're either cooks or thieves. It's wrong, I tell you! Do we not have rights as Imperial citizens? Aren't Halflings whole people?"

—Eric Greensmoke, Halfling.[1a]
Halflings

An illustration of the halflings of the Moot.

The people of the Mootland are the Halflings — not "people" at all in the Human sense, but a race roughly half the size of normal men that have always seemed to be wherever man has gone. The Dwarfs record that a tribe of "beardless manlings we first thought to be children" travelled with the Human tribes as they passed through the Worlds Edge Mountains. On the other hand, some Imperial scholars think the Halflings are a race of man experimented on by the Classical goddess Verena to find a way to resist Chaos, while a few others argue the trickster god Ranald created them as a bizarre joke.[1a]

Regardless of what others say, the Halflings simply say they are as they have always been. The Moot is seldom visited by folk of the other provinces, for few can put up with the Halflings for long. Those that do go there tell of the sly, secretive undertone to the Halfling character. Theft, mockery, and clannishness are rife. Halflings returning home to the Moot find they are welcomed, to an extent. The fertile lands of the Moot have made life easy for the Halflings that live there, and they seem unwilling to be reminded of an outside world.[1a]

Halflings in the Moot and elsewhere have never been known as a martial people, and the idea of Halfling warriors is the butt of several jokes amongst Humans. The truth, however, is somewhat different. In defence of their homeland, or districts within a Human town during a riot, the normally placid Halflings can be aggressive and brave. During the reign of Karl Franz, as part of the war effort, Elder Hisme sent a large contingent of Halflings to act as scouts and skirmishers for the Imperial Army. Several were mentioned in despatches by their commanders for their bravery and resourcefulness, though these were often accompanied by complaints from the quartermasters.[1a]

Places of Importance[]

Gazeteer of Mootland

Gazeteer of the Grand County of the Mootland.

  • Aver March - To the east of the Blue River is the area known as the Aver March. Here the land is best for grazing sheep, goats, and occasionally deer, and breeding the small-legged dogs that herd them. Orchards grow the famed fruits, apples, pears, plums, which end up in so many pies. Along the eastern border lie half a dozen ruined castles, said to date from when Averlanders had to be driven out of the Moot at swordspoint. The Halflings leave the castles alone. They are now overgrown and could hide any manner of danger — or treasure. To the south lies the Wailing Woods, which is said to hold an angry banshee. Beyond, is the town of Zel, which is famed as the strangest place in all the Moot, although that may just be a lie to attract tourists.[2b]
  • Auld Styrland - The area to the north of the Aver was once Stirlander territory. This land grows most of the Mootland’s grain and similar staples, and the main road to Eicheschatten means the region is filled with taverns and inns. Folk here are used to seeing Human and Dwarf traders and many visitors from Stirland to the north, although not all the latter are friendly. Here the Mootland border is disputed and often violently fought over. This and the intrusions from Sylvania make the northerners more dour and serious types, and they look down on the softer folks of Aver Reach.[2aìb]
  • Greenleafs - Due to a cartographical error in the creation of the Moot, there was one tiny part of the Empire owned by no county. The Duchy of the Fallow Hills was the smallest province of all. When the noble who owned it eventually sold it to the adjoining Moot, the new owners instantly turned it to great profit in tobacco. Although they have no problem growing rich on the foreign demand for their product, the Greenleafers are the Mootlanders most likely to have no time for visitors of the wrong height. They also do a roaring trade with the Dwarfs in the mountains and folks of the Border Princes. As their wealth increases so too does the area become less rural and more urban compared to the rest of the Moot. There are some in the Greenleafs that talk of not needing the rest of the Moot or even the Empire, as Altdorf is a long way away and the south know how to deal with Halflings properly.[2b]
  • Eicheschatten - The county’s capital, is the centre of all three regions, near the river fork, and owes no great allegiance to any part. It’s primarily an administrative town, designed to host the Grand Councils and hold the residence of the Elector Count in its fine ‘palace’ (a modest two-storey town house). Hisme Stoutheart declines living there, preferring her own farm on the outskirts, so the building is as empty as the council hall is most of the time. Many of the Mootland State Army’s training houses and various other Imperial outposts of financial, political, and military function remain empty for most of the year. The locals enjoy sending visiting officials to these buildings, assuring them that the staff ‘must be around somewhere’, if only they look hard enough. Eicheshatten has plenty of non-official business, and bustles in its own quiet way. Smithies, leather workers, and horse traders do a roaring trade. Anyone can get work as a messenger running things back and forth from embassies and outposts, and to the Halfling official in question, who is most likely dozing in their backyard. Despite having the most cobbled streets in the Moot, there’s little traffic and the streets are narrow and winding, bumping into crossroads and squares and diving around great spreading oak trees or gorgeous floral gardens. ‘Straight as an Eicheshatten road’ is a popular turn of phrase among Halflings and bigfooters alike, and can also refer to the suspicion that every human visitor is being thoroughly fleeced and conned.[1a][2b]
  • Sauerapfel - Near where the Aver enters Averland sits the village of Sauerapfel, so named for its famous apple groves, which stretch for miles and miles around the village on both sides of the river.[1a]
  • Gipfef - A small village in the heart of the Greenleaf Hills, Gipfel is the centre of tobacco production in the Mootland.[1a]

Sources[]

  • 1:Warhammer fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Sigmar's Heirs (RPG)
    • 1a: pp. 59-63
  • 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Archives of the Empire Vol. I (RPG)
    • 2a: pp. 36-41
    • 2b: pp. 42-47
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