This article is about the region of Small Country, for the nation, see Small Country
The Small Country is a region in Western Cannor, surrounded by the regions of Lencenor, Dragon Coast, Damescrown, and West Dameshead. The region, known for its bountiful fields and farmlands, is the homeland of the Cannorian Halfling race, but it has long been ruled by the foreign powers of Western Cannor.
Geography[]
The Small Country is bound to south by the Redglades and the Ruby Mountains, to the west by the Portroy River, and to the north by the Dragonhills. Historically, portions of the Damescrown and West Dameshead—namely Beepeck, Uelaire, and the city of Orston in Exwes—were considered part of the Small Country as well until the formation of the Empire of Anbennar, after which the Small Country's eastern bounds were marked by the Elkwood to the north and the Ruby River to the south.
Multiple rivers run through the region, watering its many farms and orchards. In the northeast, the mighty Widderoy flows southward along the forested Approach, looping eastward to rush through Greymill, cutting through the halfling city of Viswall before meeting the Ruby River and escaping into the Dameshead through the Saltmarshes soon after. In the west, the westward-flowing Burroy divides the lands of Appleton and Pearview before joining the Portroy at Turnwell, from which halfling goods make their way to the gnomish city of Portnamm. All other western trade flows along the more southerly Middanroy, which starts in the hills of Coppertown and lazily meanders until it enters the Redglades and eventually meets the sea at Westport.
History[]
The Small Country was originally inhabited by Proto-Lencori tribes of humans. Around 11000 BA, the ancestors of the Cannorian halflings and gnomes arrived at the Shattered Bay, slowly spreading over the years inland and mingling with their taller neighbors.
In 873 BA the Gnomish Hierarchy began expanding beyond the Dragon Coast, establishing the Small Province over their halfling subjects within the Portroy basin. The province would eventually lend its name to the whole region as Hierarch influence spread eastward, culminating in the foundation of Beepeck as their eastern capital in 625 BA. Though the Gnomish Hierarchy contested its Dameshead frontiers against the Damerian Republic and Castanor during the various Wars of Dominion, the Small Country remained firmly within the Hierarchy's control.
This would change during the Dragonwake in 470 as many leading officials of the Hierarchy and their stationed army fled the region to protect their homelands in the Dragon Coast. While this allowed the Small Country more autonomy, it also left them vulnerable to attack from invading Alenic migrants. Following the foundation of the Gawedi Kingdom, the Gawedi would sack the city of Beepeck in 472 and begin invading the Small Country and Lencenor in earnest in 475. The majority of Lencori tribes such as the Rubenti would flee southward into Lencenor; a Hillfoot warlord would unite the fractured halflings who remained into the Small Kingdom in 478 to organize a defense with mixed success. When the Lorenti king Lorenan the Great united the southern humans into the Kingdom of Lorent, the two nations joined forces and successfully drove back the Gawedi to the Dragonhills in 530. So began a new era began for the Small Country, one in which Lorent and Gawed jockeyed for control over its bountiful farmlands.
During the War of the Sorcerer-King Beepeck was razed by mage-fire under the command of Ettalinde the Wretched. The attack became a precursor to the Invasion of Lorent which continued until its liberation by the recently arrived Elf forces and the remnants of the League of Free Realms. The liberation of Beepeck and subsequent freeing of many Halflings who were once enslaved by Black Castanor spurred the occupied Small Country to rise in rebellion against the occupying forces. After the war, the halfling hero Finnic Shadowhand would be elected king for helping kill the Sorcerer King, he would later become Finnic síl Vis.
During the Anbennar Interregnum the Wars of Dominion over the Small Country raged, and resulted in the final dissolution of the Small Country and its division into its current separate situation.
The region as it stands in 1444 is now divided almost in half between the Kingdom of Lorent and the Kingdom of Gawed and their vassals. The only other nation with holdings in the area apart from the two major powers is the Duchy of Lasean, under the ownership of the Duke of Rubenaire.