Editing Overview of the Vale (section)

== The Vale ==
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'''Land of Small Folk'''

The dominant inhabitants of the Vale are small folk - halflings, gnomes, goblins and kobolds. Theirs is a world where the average person is three feet tall, which has a number of consequences. Ponies are the standard means of transportation; full-size horses are powerful and somewhat feared, used for the heaviest of labor. Sheep, goats and pigs are common farm animals, while cattle are rather more rare. Buildings, and by extension communities, have a smaller footprint. Orcs are huge and terrifying, standing twice the height of a full-grown halfling, while ogres are legendary in their size.

'''Small-Town Heroes'''

The Vale is a land of small towns, with only four true cities. Most centers of civilization are villages or small towns with a few hundred inhabitants, but while each town is a semi-independent community, towns will usually aid each other in times of trouble. There is no central authority these days, though the land may be divided into shires or boroughs, often along the lines of old baronies; all the old kings and barons are long dead, leaving only ruined castles and family legends. 

'''Folktales and Folk Magic'''

Like the places that inspired it, the Vale is a land of homespun wisdom and folk magic, with stories and spells handed down from generation to generation. Many of the creatures and circumstances are drawn from such folktales, with simple, down-to-earth magic rather than floating crystal spires, where monsters can be outwitted or even bargained with rather than slaughtered, and where few creatures of any species are entirely good or entirely evil.