Halfling Hand

The Hand are a connected group of cross-tribal-and-national societies among Halflings

History

Five of the six Hands date back to the breaking of the Wolfen-Khan after the Ubrekt conquest of the Halfling plains and the destruction of much of early Halfling culture. The youngest Hand, the White, dates to the founding of the Alexandrian faith in the first century FI. These societies transcended the old blood and clan lines and have helped to enforce and preserve a broad cross-cultural unity to the scattered Halfling tribes as they have spread across the length and breadth of the continent in the centuries since.

Hands

• Golden Hand: Diplomats and the negotiators/adjudicators of both cross-Hand and Halfling vs non-Halfling disputes. They mostly include top merchants and most prosperous heads of the carnival circuit runners as well the top customs inspectors, messengers, record-keepers and many accountants. A common refrain is that The Concord of the Highways was written in ink but is enforced by Gold as they are responsible for negotiating those city and National payments and obligations of that treaty and settling any conflicts that arise from it.
• Green Hand: Druids and the Druid-Adjacent. Many Halflings view them as the primary religious and magical authority. Few non-Halflings are ever aware of them beyond Druids/Rangers/non-Alexandrian types. Some claim they are the only group that pre-date the Concord.
• Black Hand: "Scorpion Clan" types, killers for hire or spies and enforcers of last resort depending on perspective. The very existence of this Hand is usually explicitly denied or downplayed if mentioned by non-Halflings. Some claim they are the only group that pre-date the Concord.
• Red Hand: Captains of River barges/ferries, leaders of teams of dog-riders/harriers or the head shepherds of large migratory herds. Members of this Hand are the most likely to be well-known among local non-Halflings as the actual negotiators of contracts and leaders and standard above the board traders.
• Blue Hand: Going below the board, smugglers, war profiteers, hospitallers and traders of last resort. Any traders or transports who publicize membership in this Hand are implicitly saying they can get anything to anywhere as long as the requestor is willing to pay for carriage and required fees/bribes. Some claim they are the only group that pre-date the Concord.
• White Hand: The followers of the "new" religion. The White Hand was formed in the first century of the Alexandrian Church by early Halfling missionaries. It is comprised of Alexandrian clerics, evangelists, healers, acolytes, theologians, etc. While remaining dedicated to the Alexandrian faith membership in the White Hand is usually contingent on a focus of using those resources for the good of Halfling-kind and others. As such it has survived the collapse of the singular united central church post-War of Schism period and has in fact prospered as a cross-national and cross-sectarian network focused on magical aid and "humanitarian" assistance even when members might pledge loyalty to different leadership.

Organization

Membership is a great honor recognized across cultural and national lines and are explicitly non-inheritable. All Hands have varying procedures to suggest new members as well as to remove or censure members who violate norms or prove to be unworthy. Many members will change their title/name/dba after they accept membership such as dropping their family name to just a rank and the color of their Hand (EXAMPLE: Syren Flatfoot switched to signing all his contracts as Captain S. Redhand after he was offered a "Hand up" and inducted as a Red Hand following his inheritance of the captainship of his family's 3-ship ferry service along the Grenrhusk River)

Tribal Leadership Roles

A Halfling tribe - River and Road both - is almost always run by a member of one hand or the other. Usually the demeanor of that leader's hand will determine the nature of the tribe's operations. Obviously Golden, Red, Blue, or White Hands are the most represented among leadership positions. Tribes run by the other Hands are not unheard of, but are usually situational. The Black Hand do not operate openly, and are not even spoken of openly by the superstitious. Even in the rare cases where a Black Hand leads a band they usually do so under a cover identity or through a false-front cutout leader of a different Hand. The Green Hand almost always prefer to operate as advisors, though in a crisis they might be looked to as a steady hand to see a tribe through difficult times. The Green Hand are also usually the go-to for placeholder or closely-contested leadership bids as any group of Halflings large enough to have a leadership crisis almost certainly has druids who are widely respected.