Kender (Dragonlance)

The Kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot on the right

Kender are a fictional race unique to the Dragonlance world, a setting of the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game, comparable to Hobbits in Lord of the Rings and Halflings in Dungeons & Dragons. They were created by Harold Johnson during a series of role-playing adventures, that were employed by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis to create the Dragonlance world forTSR Inc.. The Dragonlance shared world novels did much to popularize the race, largely (although not exclusively) through the character of Tasslehoff Burrfoot. As with Hobbits and Halflings, physically they are depicted as being quite short (rarely over 4 feet tall) and nimble. However, they were originally distinguished from the Dungeons & Dragons halflings by being "thinner, more wiry, and more cunning and streetwise."

Conception and development

Kender were first created by Harold Johnson. Prior to creating the Dragonlance shared world, Tracy Hickman rand a series of Dungeons & Dragons adventures. Johnson was one of those involved in these games, and he chose to play a halfing thief character whom he called "Almar Tann". When Hickman, Johnson and others moved to the Dragonlance settings for the games, the character of Almar Tann went with them. However, it became clear to those involved that halflings were unsuitable to the Dragonlance world. Indeed, as Johnson described it, this was especially the case given that Almar Tan possessing an ring of invisibility, and thus "it all sounded too much like another story". So halflings were dropped, and Johnson came up with both the basic concept of the Kender and the first representative of the fantasy race, Tasslehoff Burrfoot.

Roger Moore introduced the kender (and Tasslehoff Burrfoot) to the wider community through his short story A Stone's Throw Away, published in 1984 in Dragon Magazine #85. While Tracy Hickman was involved in some of the development, he has stated that is is Roger Moore who did the most to define Kender as they are depicted today.

Origins of the name

Orignally, kender were to be called "kinder", in reference to "kinderkin", but Hickman has reported that readers tended to read the name as "kind-er" rather than "kin-der" in print, leading to the decision to alter the spelling.

Characteristics

When first designed, it was intended that the kender would be "savage, warrior children, ever curious, ever alert". This plan fell by the wayside, though, when Janet Pack became involved in dramatic readings of the works. As Jeff Grubb describes the situation:

[Janet Pack], and as a result all kender since her, was cute. Extremely cute. Sweetly, lovably, frustratingly cute.

— Jeff Grubb, page 26

Thus while Kender continued to be brave, fearless and taunting, after the dramatic readings they became "cute" as well. Two of the other key characteristics of Kender - their curiosity and kleptomania - were introduced by Tracy Hickman. Hickman was uncomfortable with the notion of a "race of thieves" in his games, but still wanted the skills typically associated with thieves, so he added their "innocent tendency to 'borrow' things for indeterminate periods of time".

Origin

According to the Irda, the Kender descend from the Gnomes. When the Greygem of Gargath was released, the Gnomes who wanted the gem for greed were turned into Dwarves, and those who wanted it for curiosity were turned into Kender.

However, according to the Scion loremaster of the dwarves, (whose origin is linked to the Dwarves,and a rather long story itself), when the Greygem came to Krynn, its chaotic magic transformed an elven army into the first Kender (along with a dwarven army into the first Gnomes).

Physiology

Kender are small, 3 to 4 foot tall creatures which are often compared to human children. Like elves, kender have pointed ears and slightly slanted, almond-shaped eyes. Their eye color ranges from green, blue and brown to any combination of those colors. Kenders grow wrinkles at a very young age, and these are seen as attractive by many kender (some kendermaids try to grow them through various methods, much like humans and other races try to remove them).

Kender hair color is usually brown or black, with occasional kenders bearing red/orange and blond hair. Their hair is usually a lighter shade than other races because of all the time they spend outside. A generic kender hairstyle is the topknot, where the hair is grown long and then tied up in a knot on the top of the head. A kender's topknot is usually a source of pride for them. Temple braids are a sign of noble descent among kender.

Kender tend to have high pitched voices, but their body allows them to make a wide range of noises, making them apt ventriloquists, animal imitators, and many other roles. When kender are excited, their voice tends to revert to a normal high pitch, and they speak very quickly.

Life Cycle

All kender go through the life cycle, a never ending circle of life and death (some kender may argue that the circle is in fact a pentagon for the sheer reason that they like pentagons better).

Birth

Kender have a typical birth — the mother has a 9 month pregnancy and usually has one child at a time. An average kender mother will have three to five children in her lifetime. Kender names are chosen from a wide range of sources. Corruptions of other words, like Cassel from Castle, or from recent events or items in pouches, like Bearchase, Lockpick, Fruitthrow, etc.

Kender drink their mother's milk until around six months of age, where they can start on solids. At one year, they start to walk, talk and explore. Many kender children of that age enjoy wandering, and cannot be locked up, however they do not wander far from their parents. They come to rely on family and friends for needs, and the main contributors to a young kender's growth are often called their grandparents, uncles and cousins, regardless of actual family ties.

Young Childhood

At around 4 or 5, kenderkids take part in their community. But their most important role as kenderkids begins — the asking of questions. Why, how, what, when, where, who, are all the most common words heard. While others may feel this stage in a child's life is the most annoying, this is seen by kender parents to be a beautiful stage in life. Some do not give proper answers — not for the reason human parents might not give them, but because this way it will further encourage the child's curiosity.

It is at this age kenderkids go to school — but not school as we know it. Kenderkids often learn because they want to, or because it is interesting. For example, when their uncle comes back from traveling and tells them about a dragon's treasure horde, and how many coins there were, they will want to learn to count. When told about the ruins of Kith-Kanan's ancient elven stronghold, they will want to learn history. But this doesn't just mean they will learn "standard" education. If a craze for catching pet frogs comes up, kenderkids will learn how to swim. When it becomes fashionable to wear ribbons, they will learn to sew.

They will also play imaginary games of adventure, where they may have to steal a dragon's horde, defeat the Gnoll King, or find a magical scroll. These will usually teach them skills like stealthy movement and "handling". Kender learn to handle items at this age, but of course they never realize it. They also learn that visitors may be offended when they return "found" items, so they decide to leave returning off for the time being, eventually developing into master handlers.

Some kender volunteer themselves to keep the kenderkids amused (these people are referred to as Kender Wranglers). These people have fences and locks on their house - not for security, but so that the kenderkids can climb and pick them if they want. The Wranglers tell stories and teach bits and pieces for the twin purposes of keeping the kenderkids amused and their parents free, and teaching the kenderkids.

Childhood

At the age of seven, kenderkids start to wander about the city. There aren't many strangers there, as they will have invariably known all of them as "cousins" or such. They start to drift from one mentor to the next and develop close friends. They learn skills like fishing, reading and writing, very basic math and life skills.

They also begin to develop roles and jobs of assisting elder kender in this part of their life. The skills and lessons they learn in this part of their life usually reflect what kind of person they will be when they grow up, and that is also reflected by the people in the town. For example, a kender who grew up when the famous Kender Hero, Elderberry Thistledown lived would probably end up becoming a fighter because Thistledown was a fighter, and as such most people would have developed a fighting skill fad.

Teenage Years

During this time, kender start to shirk away from their duties and seek out experienced adventurers in their town to teach them skills with weapons, stealth, and other adventuring skills. This is often done in the form of games that involve physical activity. For this reason, the next levels of "Kender Wranglers" are known as "Game Masters". They teach kender the aforementioned skills.

As kender reach this phase (13-19) not only do they seek out these Game Masters, but they also become more active participants in Kender Moots - social gatherings where adolescent kender can show off their newly found skills in games and demonstrations.

Kender also start to experience love in these years. They begin to flirt with other kenderkids of the opposite gender. They may coyly take a pouch off the other kender or sneak up and put something they found in an attractive kender's pouch.

Eventually, Kender leave for Wanderlust — going wherever the wind whispers to them. Adolescent kender are often the most annoying ones — adult wanderlusters have outgrown most of their childish habits. They don't experience puberty as other races would — mood swings and such are uncommon with kender. They do, however, grow more rebellious, and sometimes downright rude.

Adulthood

These kender are on Wanderlust and spend their entire adult life wandering around the world. Be it on a boat, by foot, or dragon to an ocean, friend's house, or headquarters of the Dragon Highlords, the kender have been there and done it.

Most of the population of Krynn has been exposed to the adult variety of kender, and as such have adapted the word kender to mean thief, rogue, or cutpurse. Though offended by others, kender take great offense to the last, and, if called a cutpurse, the situation can get out of hand quickly.

Kender often build up good friendships during this stage of their life, at least with people that can understand and cope with them. They try to build up networks of friends to stay with if times get bad.

Settling Down

Most kender settle down between the age of 30 and 50 years old. This is a gradual process, however. It often involves the kender wondering what's happening back home, and deciding to go there, or unconsciously wandering back. They may stay for a bit and then go back wanderlusting. Eventually the traveling will get shorter and the visits home longer until they return to their city.

Kender may build a house, but this is hard because of the rarity of a good kender carpenter. They may hire a carpenter of another race to do this. But if they do find a kender carpenter, the carpenter usually gets paid in non-financial form. It is said that the kender who tell the tallest tales have the tallest houses, because the builders enjoy working on it and with the family so much.

The kender may move in with relatives, which is considered more polite than moving in with a friend. While kender are generally generous, moving in with any kender or just another friend is considered bad form and may be unsuccessful.

Most kender find a mate during this stage and live together. Kender also start to informally choose a profession like tailoring, soldiering, baking, fishing, and all the other roles towns need. They also pass on their talents to the next generation, possibly becoming "Game Masters" or "Kender Wranglers".

Kender age slowly, but they don't realize it. They just start thinking that "My back gets a bit worse after playing King of the Hill," or "That mud isn't doing good things to my back" and slowly settle down compared to other kender, but can still be seen running through the streets with glee and are much more youthful than other members of a race of their age.

Death

When kender die they have a funeral in which the people who knew them express their grief. Even though kender view death as the next great adventure, it doesn't come without a price. However, kender are quick to understand that for every death there is a new life, and don't linger too long on it. It is traditional to give something meaningful to the spirit of a dead kender — a quill, parchment and pouch, for example — so that the deceased can record his next journey and so that he has a spare pouch to start off with.

There aren't many kender graveyards — many kender cities have different traditions. In Hylo, for example, the kender's body is set sail on a burning raft. With most kender cities, however, the deceased is buried somewhere that was meaningful to them in life or as they died, or a particularly nice spot.

Traits

Handling

Kender have an odd trait that is rather like Kleptomania, where they unwillingly or unconsciously pick up objects. Kender see this as the uncanny habit of finding things that have dropped into their pouches by accident, picking things up in the streets, finding "junk", and generally getting things that belong to other people. This art is known as "Handling" for them, and is one of the reasons they are very unpopular among the other races of Krynn.

Kender don't seem to think there is anything wrong with this, and get genuinely surprised when they see the things that have fallen into their pouches. Kender oppose thieving vehemently, and thus consider being called a thief or cutpurse a great insult to their dignity, ironic given that Kender are inborn with every natural skill that is ideal for a thief.

The small race, however, do not tend to "find" things like money, gems, etc. A really interesting shaped leaf will hold more value than a steel coin, because steel coins are everywhere, whereas that interesting shaped leaf hasn't been seen before.

Kender Handling is known to get Kender in to deep trouble. Usually, the owner of the item angrily tries to reclaim the item, which can be deadly if the owner in question is a Minotaur or Draconian. On rare occasions, Kender find cursed artifacts such as a ring that forcibly teleports them from place to place, wands with powerful spells inside, and on one occasion, a statue that can Polymorph the owner into an adolescent Bronze Dragon.

Another aspect of Kender Handling, is their enormous natural curiosity. It's said that the worst thing you can do to a Kender, is isolate it. Trained and otherwise brave warriors have degenerated into a state of sheer panic when hearing a nearby Kender say, "I'm bored".

Kender also have uncanny lockpicking skills, which is a favorite pastime of theirs, and almost every Kender carries a lock picking kit with them. Much like everything else, this is like a game to Kender, and if, for instance, one were arrested, he would likely unlock his shackles or prison door, then go complain to the guard that it was too easy and they should think of upping security. The only reason a lock is ever on the door to a Kender home is to amuse any guests who might stop by.

Taunting

Kender have a very sharp wit and tongue, and as such, are masters at the art of insulting people. Kender see great flaws with most of the insults directed at them ("Thief" and "Cutpurse" aside) and take delight in showing people what a real insult is like. Kender seem to have a wide repertoire of insults for any race and any occasion, and have no clue when is the right time to stop insulting someone.

Tracy Hickman explained that this characteristic in kenders was created by the game group which was creating the original saga. Although they thought it was a simple feature, including it in the kenders in subsequent books proved to be a long-term challenge.

Fearlessness

Many speculate that the two above traits are byproducts of the kender's odd fearlessness. This is a physical trait of kender — they cannot feel fear. There have been incidences where kender have stood near huge monsters and wondered if they could say hello.

Kender rarely feel fear, and most only feel it through magical means. For example, one of the most famous kender, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, has felt fear through magical means — at Shoikan Grove, after being subject to dragonfear. This fearlessness results in an almost permanent optimistic attitude and smile. Because literally feeling no fear means not being restricted very much, kender are always willing to try new things, whether that means traveling to a different place, playing a new game, learning to ride a dragon, or even dying an interesting way.

The kender mentioned above, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, is one of the few kender to ever experience real, non-magical fear. However, as Tas described it, this was not because of fear for himself, but for those he loved.

Curiosity

Kender are known for their extreme curiosity, a trait which carries the potential to get them into trouble. Possessing an inborn obsession with new or interesting objects or areas, kender often find themselves driven by impulse to "handle" something or explore unfamiliar terrain. Because of this, kender enjoy maps greatly, even making their own (with great enthusiasm) to add to their collections. They also have a tendency to involve themselves in issues or procedures they should stay out of due to this trait, often causing chaos to ensue. It has been said that the most dangerous word a kender can ever utter is "Oops."

Weapons

All kender weapons can double as instruments. There are two kinds of kender weapons ones that end in "-pak" or "-ak" are heavier weapons and are usually used by the males. the ones that end in "-pik" or "-ik" are lighter and usually used by the female kender.

Hoopak

A kender weapon, the hoopak resembles a cross between a slingshot and a spear. The hoopak is a long wooden staff with two prongs and elastic at one end and a sharp metal point at the other. The point at the end is not a spearpoint. The hoopak can be used as aspear, quarterstaff, or sling. It produces a distinctive whirring, buzzing noise when whirled, which can be helpful in a dark forest.

Chapak

Another kender weapon, the chapak is akin to an axe. The head may be taken off and swung, making it a long-ranged weapon. When the head is removed the Chapak may be used as a flte.

Whippik

Another kender weapon, primarily used by the females. Like a hoopak, it can be used as a staff, sling, or noisemaker. In Tales of Uncle Trapspringer it is shown that this weapon is capable of firing small arrows. It may be strung for use as an instrument.

Battak

The Battak is a hollowed out club made of a hard wood that is wider at one end than the other the larger end has a plug in it, the inside of the club may be stored rocks, pellets or any form of bullet. the projectile is taken out and the club is then used a a bat to swat the bullets at what ever target. may also be used as a kind of rattle.

Sithak

This weapon was originally used as a yoke to carry water buckets. It has now been fitted with a blade on both ends to be used as a double scythe. There is a curved hook on both ends where a string may be fastened to fire arrows or to act as a string instrument.

Hachak

This is the largest of all kender weapons primarily used by wood cutters. It is a pole arm six feet in length and can be separated into three two foot sectiones. one end has a hammer spike and peircing beak. the other end is an axe backed by a hammer head and saw blade. the middle is hollow and wraped in sheep skin that can hold up to six darts. metal rings scircle the pole at one foot intervals. the rings may be played as chimes by hammering on them.

Polpak

This is an eight foot pole normally used for spear fishing or pruning trees. one end of the pool has a short blade attached to it. the blade may be removed and used as a normal short sword. the pole also holds up to a dozen caltrops.

Bollik

This weapon is a bolla / belt. The metal balls hang from a quick series of quick release hoops. It can be used as a bolla or flail. It can be spun to create a highpitched tone.

Famous kender

• Tasslehoff Burrfoot, one of the members of the Heroes of the Lance.
• Uncle Trapspringer, a famous kender hero to whom every kender claims he or she is related.
• Kronin Thistleknot, who defeated the White Dragonarmy Highlord during the War of the Lance.
• Sindri Suncatcher, the only known kender wizard.
• Nightshade, follower of Majere and a companion to a Majere Monk called Rhys.
• Earwig Lockpicker from the novel Brothers Majere, cousin to Tasslehoff Burrfoot and companion to Raistlin and Caramon Majere. Lockpicker's curiosity and innocent view of the world helps him help the brothers protect Krynn from a second Cataclysm.
• Koi Fearbreaker, She is one of the few female kender actually mentioned. All of the above kender have been male. She, on top of that is the only kender known to kenderkind that doesn't like not being afraid... that is a most un-kenderlike quality. She is from the book series, Dragonlance the new adventures to be more specific The Elements trilogy by Ree Soesbee

Subraces

Over the years, a few kender subraces have been introduced.

• Half-Kender a human/kender crossbreed.
• Afflicted Kender are those who witnessed the destruction of Kendermore perpetrated by the dragon Malystryx, and lost much of their spiritedness, partially due to Malys's dragonfear, as happened to Tasslehoff under the influence of Beryllinthranox.
• Marak Kender are from Krynn's more northerly continent, Taladas, and as a result of a great god-sent Cataclysm their natural curiosity has turned to constant suspicion and paranoia.
• Kendar dwell in a great system of caverns near Krynn's south pole, along with several human tribes and the Theiwar dwarves. They are as friendly as normal Kender, but are more martially-inclined, and sell their services as mercenaries. Kendar are not as curious, however, and believe that anything they haven't seen with their own eyes simply does not exist.
• Vampire Kender can be found in Ravenloft, the results of Lord Soth's twisted experimentation. Since Ravenloft and Dragonlance are now each produced by companies other than TSR/Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro, the kender of Ravenloft have been retconned into a race of halflings.
• Forlorn Kender are a new kind of undead creature introduced in Key of Destiny and detailed in Key of Destiny Errata.

Classes

• Nightstalkers are a class of kender introduced in the Dark Disciple Trilogy. Nightstalkers have the ability to speak with the dead, something that happened during the War of Souls when the dead were held in thrall. Some kender began to find they could talk to the dead. One such kender is Nightshade Pricklypear, who aids Rhys, the monk of Majere turned monk of Zeboim, in his travels in Amber and Ashes, Amber and Iron, and Amber and Blood.

See also

• Greygem of Gargath

External links

• The Kencyclopedia - Unofficial information and embellishments about kender prior to 3.5 rules.