Typical Tolkien/rpg beings in physical nature.
In the First Age ameya occupied the open, grassy lands and meadows and gentle forests near calm bodies of water and domesticated these lands into farms and orchards. Before the end of the First Age, due to humanity violently stealing their lands (slow-moving genocide, see “The Nightstalker“), a large contingent of ameya made their way to the Demi Plane and now the ameya only make up a small percentage of the various peoples in the mortal world.
Ameya do not have their own settlements out in the open for all the mortal world to see. They have some underground settlements, and some communities in the wilderness – and you would be hard pressed to find either. You will find ameya living with dwarves and elves, some small number of ameya in human cities. Whilst in human-dominated/controlled lands ameya are the professionals – doctors, barristers, architects, engineers, bankers, accountants, high-end merchants, etc. Those ameya that are Gifted tend to practice magic in secret, just in case humanity tries to take from them again. This tendency for Gifted ameya to keep their talents secret while in human lands depends on the particular group of ameya and their history with humans in a specific place. Many centuries have passed since the genocide. Not all of today’s ameya hold today’s humans accountable for what some members of their race did. But some do.
The term “halfling” may be seen as a derogatory term by the ameya depending on their history with humans of a specific area. The ameya in the Demi Plane for sure hate this name, as do many ameya living in the Mortal Plane that remained close to the lands their ancestors had ripped away by humans. The term “halfling” is only from the human point of view, not the ameyan point of view. Why would these people call themselves halflings? Half in compared to whom? If one is going to call ameya halflings then one should call dwarves two-thirdlings or three-quarterlings. No ameya call themselves halflings as this would be showing or meaning they had some inferiority complex. By most sensible beings the term halfling is an insult and most decent humans will not use this term in referring to the ameya. The term halfling to many ameya represents the subjugation, rape, and slaughter of their ancestors at the hands of humans who chose not to see the Gentle Folk as equals and afford them due respect and courtesy. In some quarters, calling an ameya a halfling is an invitation to a fight and maybe your death.
Ameya and religion.
In the Mortal World/Aeris, as was mentioned, there tend not to be outward ameyan settlements, or even large communities/neighborhoods in the cities of humans. Again, this is dependent upon the military actions of the particular human society the ameya are in. There tend to be larger concentrations of ameya in elven and dwarven lands and even fairly large neighborhoods. But the ameya even then try not to congregate all in one area as they know that there is not always strength in number and why make it easy for someone to get them all in one fell swoop.
This leads to something of an odd situation for the ameya – houses of worships to their gods, the Mother of the Meadow and the Father of the Field, are almost always built, maintained, and staffed by humans (sometimes elves or dwarves). And, depending on the history of violence of humans in the area, may not be visited by ameya. The houses of worship to the Mother and Father tend to be modest anyways, no grand cathedrals, and it is still a bit of a loss for the ameya that they do not feel safe worshipping in the houses of their own gods. Most ameya pray in their own homes.
Marriage for Ameya
While in the Mortal World/Aeris marriages are almost always arranged for ameya, and no big celebration usually – unless not in human lands, and even then still modest by most standards. In human lands only the parents of the betrothed and immediate family, possibly grandparents and/or great-grandparents are present, and the ceremony is performed in the home of the bride. In the Sanctuary in the Demi Plane ameya are much more free to marry as they choose – still with the societal expectation that their mate will be another ameyan unless the ameyan can no longer reproduce (for more on this – Inter-Peoples/Species Romantic Relationships ) . This is not a problem as the vast majority of the residents of the Sanctuary are ameya (a very small number of elves, dwarves, and some benevolent native denizens of the Demi Plane also live in the Ameyan Sanctuary). Ameyan parties, of all kinds, are huge and can last for days. So with the amount of ameya that are in the Sanctuary there are always lots of parties. It’s amazing they get anything done. And why shouldn’t their parties be huge and last for days? For what their ancestors went thru let the Gentle Folk have all the joy they can.
