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The elves of Golarion, who just recently came back from an extended stay in another dimension, have their own country. The orcs even have their own nation. (Gnomes just showed up for the first time, and don't necessarily make sense to have a country of their own, yet.)
But the Halflings and Dwarves get pretty short shrift in the Campaign Setting, so I've decided to enlarge their footprint in my own little slice of Golarion.
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Halflings of Golarion
Golarions’ Halfling population is most strongly concentrated in southern Avistan, with Andoran currently being the country that has the highest percentage of Halfling residents (as many as one in four Andorans are Halflings). They have lesser populations, ranging from 10 to 20% of the total citizenry, in the southern Avistani lands of Taldor, Cheliax, Isger, Druma, Galt, Molthune, Nirmathas, Nidal and the River Kingdoms, with Ustalav and southern Varisia being as far north as you’ll generally find settled communities of Halflings.
Before Cheliax’s turn to diabolism, that nation had as many, if not more, Halflings than Andoran, but the rise of the speciest House of Thrune has seem a turn in their favors, and many have fled to more hospitable realms.
While it is easy to generalize, and suggest that Halflings are free-spirited folk filled with wanderlust and a craving for adventure (as is often the case with their populations in Andoran), it is equally true that Halflings can be staunch traditionalists and defenders of the status quo, with no love of ‘trouble-makers,’ which better describes their populations in Taldor and, until recent decades, Cheliax. Indeed, it was their staunchly traditional nature that resulted in their fall from grace, as they resisted the turn to devil-worship and continued following the teachings of Abadar or Aroden, to the annoyance of the new dominant religious authorities. As a result of these very different mindsets, it is not uncommon to find that the loudest and most rabble-rousing of Andoran freedom-fighters are Halflings, while the most stuffy and traditionalist of Taldans are also Halflings.
In Cheliax, the much-reduced Halfling population includes a disproportionate number of slaves (often rounded up on truly dubious pretexts), and the non-slaves include both the outraged rabble-rousers who are one step away from being apprehended themselves, and those who work quietly and keep their heads down, hoping that this too, shall pass.
In Taldor, Halflings represent almost 20% of the population, but less than 5% of the upper class, due to a problem with social equality. And yet those rare few families who do ‘make it all the way to the top,’ tend to throw the most lavish and well-attended affairs, as if their rarity makes them all the more precious, even in the eyes of the human elite who made it so difficult for them to gain recognition.
Druma has a higher-than-average population of Halflings as well, and the Kalistocracy seems to appeal to them in great numbers.
The River Kingdoms are a special case, with a low-average number of landbound Halflings, but a thriving community of rivergoing barge-folk, who have their own culture and traditions, and winter in Lake Encarthan, lashing their rafts and boats together to make a temporary city. Halfling boatsmen are said to be able to traverse tributaries inaccessible to their larger kin, through dint of their various superstitions and traditions. A Halfling bargeman might drop a gold coin overboard in this section of river, and toss a handful of salt upon the water at that pond, and they claim that these observances protect them in their travels. Competitors whisper that the accidents that befall non-Halfling bargefolk are not nearly so supernatural in their origins, but the result of deliberate sabotage by the smaller folk.
Farther north of the River Kingdoms, few if any Halflings are seen, and generally being represented only by wandering folk, with the exception of Ustalav, which contains communities with Halfling populations as high as 1 in 10, and southern Varisia, where a population of Halflings has incorporated seamlessly with the Varisians themselves, adopting their clothing, their customs, their language and even their coloration, it seems.
Despite their presence in the region, Halflings are not common in Razmiran or Lastwall, for different reasons, and represent less than 5% of the local populations.
Farther south, descended from slaves taken from Taldor have become prolific in Qadira, and even more so in Katapesh, where they number over 10% of the local population. The numbers drop precipitously farther into Greater Kel, and in Osirion, only to pick up again in Thuvia, and yet again in Rahadoum, which has a population of over 5% Halflings. Nex has a surprising population of Halflings, recruited at first to work as assistants, laborers, librarians and scribes, only to surprise their masters by eventually equaling their arcane achievements as well. Again, one in ten of the wizards of that nation are Halflings, and they tend to innovate in areas of magical efficiency, industry and commerce, with a lesser interest in pure theory. Geb has only Halfling slaves, with the undead aristocracy of that nation being almost entirely non-Halfling in origin.
Osirion, too, is an exception, as centuries ago, Pharoahs and city-rulers found Halfling slaves to be choice entertainment, trained to tumble and cavort about, playing the part of court fool and clad in demeaning costumes. It was custom to permanently dye the faces of these entertainers in animalistic masks, to represent various archetypal figures for skits and plays performed for the amusement of these noble courts. It has been centuries since this has passed from favor, and Halflings are now regarded as equals by Osirioni law, but memories run long and Halflings generally regard the desert-nation with distaste, making up less than a tenth of a percent of the overall population. Still, for every rule, there are exceptions, and for every void, there are those that will seek opportunity in filling it, so it is not unheard of to see Halfling merchants in the streets of Osirioni cities, Halfling ‘explorers’ raiding the tombs of Osirioni kings (whom their ancestors may once have capered before) and even shameless Halfling entertainers tumbling and mocking on the streets of Sothis, shaming Osirioni passersby into giving them coin out of guilt.
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After all that thought put into Halflings, I decided to slack and take the easy route with Dwarves.
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Dwarves of Golarion
My completely canon-breaking choice here is to simply replace the entire Ulfen culture with Dwarves. They still call themselves Ulfen, they still choose their kings by killing Linnorm, or suffer under the cold rule of Baba Yaga’s daughters in Irrisen, or fight and live alongside Kellish humans as Mammoth Lords, but they are yellow-bearded, blue-eyed, dragon-prowed longship-sailing Dwarven Ulfen, not Humans. Dwarves would be the majority race in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings and in Irrisen, be split with Kellish humans in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords and make up a significant minority (as high as 20%) in Numeria, Lastwall and Mendev, with respectable populations in Brevoy and Ustalav as well. Formerly the dominant peoples of the Hold of Belkzen, the survivors of that nation have since resettled in Numeria, Lastwall, Mendev and the Mammoth Lords lands.
Farther south, dwarves working in human cities are not uncommon, but actual dwarven communities become scarcer and farther apart, until one reaches Garund, where they again become commonplace in Osirion and Katapesh. Entire families of dwarves uprooted themselves from the north to build monuments in distant ages for the God-Kings of Osirion, and were welcomed as citizens. Their descendents still live in that land, preferentially, although they work in neighboring lands of Thuvia, Qadira, Katapesh and Nex, with Katapesh the only nearby nation that has seen dwarvish settlement enough to make up a significant percentage of the population.
Dwarves, regardless of their country of residence, tend to reserve their true loyalty to the rulers they call the Five Kings, centered in the city of Highhelm, in the Five Kings Mountains between Druma, Galt and Taldor. Given their relations with these neighbors, it is hardly a surprise that dwarven populations are less than one would expect in these nations, and the majority of the dwarven race has dispersed to take up residence in the deserts of the southern continent, or so far north as to approach the Crown of the World.
Here's something I put into my games, since Humans breed with Elves and Orks, why not have the little folk enjoy eachothers company.
- Dwarflings
Dwarflings have one Dwarven parent and one Halfling parent. These unions are typically result in an agile and perceptive child with their Dwarven parents determination and hatred of goblinoids. Dwarflings are presumed to be Dwarves or Halflings by Humans, and equally are accepted by Dwarven and Halflings.
Dwarflings are stockier than most humans, usually about a foot shorter. Their skin tends toward tanned or darker tones, and their hair all shades of brown. A Dwarfling's ears are pointed, and their arms and legs have abundant hair.
* +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, –2 Strength
* Medium
* Hatred: Dwarflings receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against humanoid creatures of the orc and goblinoid subtypes due to special training against these hated foes.
* Hardy: Dwarflings receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison, spells, and spell-like abilities.
* Keen Senses: Dwarflings receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks.
* Languages: Dwarflings begin play speaking Common, Dwarven and Halfling.
* Defensive Training: Dwarflings get a +2 dodge bonus to AC against monsters of the giant subtype.
* Darkvision: Dwarflings can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Height : 3ft 8 “ +2d4’. Weight : 140lb + (2d4*5lb).
Age : 30 + 2d6 Bb/Ro/So, +3d6 Bd/Fi/Pa/Ra, +4d6 Cl/Dr/Mk/Wi
Middle age : 70, Old : 110, Venerable : 180, Maximum : 180+3D20.
I like that, all three posts are pure gold !