Are the Little Men of Piconye Fat?

[Ara Ara ufufu~]

I noticed the Little Men of Piconye have the rare base encumbrance 4, which I can only find elsewhere on reptiles like C'tis and Naga, or winged Caelians. It was suggested this was because they were halflings and halflings are fat.

Is that the case? They don't look chubby to me, and I assumed the inspiration drew much more heavily from the prester john letter than the shire, but is there some shire in there too?

I love the nation, by the way! I can't wait to play with them!

[Sombre]

I can't see anything in the descriptive text that indicates why they have higher encumbrance, but I suspect it might be because they struggle to do things because of their size. As in, running and fighting and so on is simply more of a physical effort for the little men.

They don't seem to have the idle/creature-comfort-loving theme of say, a shire hobbit.

[Lord Adorable]

Dunno if there's any correlation between Conquest of Elysium and Dominions, but the CoE Hoburgs-who are very similar to the Little Men of Piconye- are noted to be slow-not because they're small or fat- but because of their habit of stopping to grab a snack.

Wonder if there's something similar going on in Dominions, but I'm most likely wrong.

[Mormacil]

CoE is a little less serious, especially the ingame writing. They're also lorewise incompatible with each other.

[♔ Affable 7th Wave Teaboo ♔]

The answer, if one exists, is probably found in the texts describing Prestor John's kingdom. Might be some quirky part of the mythos.

[freek_o_nature]

I dunno if it's relevant or not, but standard Hoburgs seem to have the same Encumbrance as the Piconye, and the flavour text on Hoburg Militia says, "Since they are both unskilled and physically weak, they are not very useful in battle." Maybe this is a more wide-sweeping statement than just their being militia: it could be an unintentionally vague statement that Hoburgs in general—and thus, maybe, Piconye by extension—just struggle at combat because of their size, like Sombre suggests.

It's worth noting that many different kinds of militia have an Encumbrance of 4, although human Heavy Infantry get theirs reduced from 4 to 3 (then modified by equipment)—which suggests that training matters—whereas Hoburg and Piconye soldiers retain their Encumbrance 4 (and still get modified by equipment). Maybe just the "fighting" Hoburgs/Piconye (Champions, Heroes, Defenders, etc., and Soldiers, Spearmen, Castellans, etc.) could use a -1 bonus from their training (so base Encumbrance from 4 to 3 + gear)?

[Ara Ara ufufu~]

Given that it appears they are all gluttonous, shire seems increasingly more likely, so maybe enc 4 is the price of bucolic luxury.

As I like the nation very much, I was disappointed to see their unit descriptions being so brief. Immersing myself in the rich world of dominions is perhaps its main pleasure, and I wish there was more to latch onto with such a loveable nation.

To compare Vaetti and Piconye Crossbowmen, for example:

Vaetti-
"The Vaettir are a people of small forest-dwelling goblins that once served the Jotun Gygjas of the Iron Wood. With the treason of the Jotun Jarls and the rebellion of the Gygjas the Vaettir abandoned Jotunheim and formed a Jarldom of their own, guided by the Gygjas. With the forming of the Vaetti Jarldom the Vaettir have adopted not only Jotun, but also human armaments. Vaettir are small and are unable to draw a long bow. A crossbow on the other hand is both easy to use and can deliver a devastating shot even if used by a small Vaetti. The Vaetti crossbowmen use light chain mail armors, but rarely use melee weapons other than simple daggers. All Vaettir are small and stealthy and can hide in enemy territories. They are somewhat resistant to cold, but their small stature makes it difficult for them to travel in snowy lands."

Piconye-
"The little men of Piconye have problems using bows due to their size. Instead, they use crossbows to great effect."


I tried to conceive of what it would look like if Piconye got the same amount of care in its description as Vaetti, and using Vaetti as a base I came up with this-

"The little men of Piconye are a small and menacing-looking race of little horned men who once served the Prester King of Magnificent Ind. With the death of the Prester King the little men of Piconye formed their own kingdom based on the traditions and institutions of Magnificent Ind. Their military is patterned on the armies of the former kingdom, but the little men of Piconye have problems using bows due to their size. Instead, they use crossbows to great effect. Piconye crossbowmen are well protected with plate armour, but not equipped for melee combat. The horned men of Piconye are small and weak, but brave for their size, and are more resistant to magic than ordinary men."


Of course, I do not have Illwinter's talent for lore or world-building. It is a long shot, but it would be nice to see a bit more of a window into Piconye from the descriptions of their units in the future!

[Sombre]

The little men of piconye aren't really that gluttonous, they only eat as much as a normal, innocent man. Would we call a child gluttonous for eating an adult meal? Perhaps we would, but would we if they had horns and a sword?