Race of small people who once lived on the Hawaiian Islands and are often described as fairies. According to lore they lived there for centuries before the Hawaiian settlers arrived and the places where they lived are thought to be haunted. Historians believe that menehune comes from the Tahitian menahune, or 'commoner', and refers to a race of people who were small in social rather than physical stature.
Whatever their past the menehune have emerged as playful elves—pot bellied, naked, hairy and muscular with bushy eyebrows and hair over large eyes and a short nose with a trace of the mischievousness of their European counterparts. According to lore they are between four inches and two feet high. They enjoy singing, dancing and archery and are strong workers who prefer to work at night to avoid people. Legend has it that they are engineers who build walls, ponds and temples, but they lose interest in a project quickly and if a job is not completed in one night they are unlikely to return to finish it. If the menehune approve of a project they are said to help the construction process at night, but if they disapprove or if offerings of food are not left out for them, they will attempt to disrupt work with mysterious breakdowns and happenings.
Text from The Element Encyclopedia of Ghosts & Hauntings by Theresa Cheung (HarperElement, 2013)
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Some OCs I have planned to make to continue my Hawaiian Touhou fan work mostly from. I’ll first do as much as I can to learn the culture to properly convey it too ☺️. I already have the main character (Palila) and the mermaid girl. Here’s who else I’ve got planned.
A Mo’o (Hawaiian draconic lizard shapeshifter)
An `Ōlohe (Skilled warriors but also seen as a sort of canine-esque lycanthrope with martial arts capabilities)
A Menehune (Noctrunal craftsmen that are good at architecture and fishing)
Niihau Ogre (from a myth about flesh eating winged monsters Niihau)
A Kasha (Japanese youkai, but has been sighted in Oahu back in 1942)
A Paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy/cowgirl)
A Shrine Maiden (goes without saying if you know Touhou)
Also my friend is working on a drawing of my wahine hiʻu iʻa OC. Y’know the mermaid with a jellyfish tail.
Menehune - Legendary dwarves who live in the deep forests of Hawaii
Menehune are a mythological race of dwarf people in tradition who are said to live in the deep forests and hidden valleys of the Hawaiian Islands, hidden and far away from human settlements.
The Menehune are described as superb craftspeople. They built temples (heiau), fishponds, roads, canoes, and houses. Some of these structures that Hawaiian folklore attributed to the Menehune still exist. They are said to have lived in Hawaii before settlers arrived from Polynesia many centuries ago. Their favorite food is the maiʻa (banana), and they also like fish. Legend has it that the Menehune appear only during the night hours to build masterpieces. But if they fail to complete their work in the length of the night, they’ll leave it unoccupied. No one but their children and humans connected to them can see the Menehune.
While archaeologists have never found remains of a distinctively small race of ancient people in Hawaii, many think the Menehune legend may well have a basis in fact. In 2003, a species of dwarf human was discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores. Homo floresiensis was only about 1 meter in height and fully bipedal. The skull has human-like teeth with a receding forehead and no chin.
Fossils have been discovered from 38,000 to 18,000 years ago, though archeological evidence suggests it lived on Flores between at least 95,000 and 13,000 years ago. It used stone tools and fire, and hunted pygmy elephants, Komodo dragons, and the giant rats found on Flores. Its discoverers believe that h. floresiensis is a dwarf form of Homo erectus. It is not uncommon for dwarf forms of large mammals to evolve on islands. Modern humans arrived on Flores between 55,000 and 35,000 years ago, and presumably interacted with h. floresiensis (Refrence: “The Three Menehune of Ainahou (Maui)” by Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr).
Description: In Hawaiian mythology, the Menehune are a race of small craftspeople who build temples, ponds & roads at night. However, they have become subjects of cryptozoological interest, with some believing the Menehune are related to Homo floresiensis, an extinct species of bipeds.
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[This is art from an actual Pathfinder product! These menehune appeared in Razor Coast, a long delayed (and sadly, not very good) 3pp Pathfinder module. The mechanics that game used for menehune was as a variant of gnomes, which makes a certain amount of sense, with fire themed powers, which doesn't. That kind of sums up all of Razor Coast: it was more interested in stereotypes about Pacific Islanders and riffing on vaguely Hawaiian themes (like Pele and volcanoes) than it was about actual Pacific Island cultures.
Interestingly, there's a fair amount of debate about the age and origins of menehune legends. Some folklorists believe that they're syncretic, a combination of Native Hawaiian stories with European fairy lore. Others say that, because "manahune" is Tahitian for "commoner", that the original menehunes were an ethnic minority that was disenfranchised and displaced following Tahitian immigration to Hawaii. I was unable to find a scholarly or semi-scholarly reference to the idea that menehune use arrows, Cupid style, to make people fall in love, but it's commonly reported on Hawaiian tourism websites. Plus, it gives them a unique ability.]
Menehune
CR 4 CN Fey
This little humanoid is stout and heavily muscled, with red hair and a mischievous twinkle in their eyes.
Menehune are especially human-like fey who live on tropical islands. They are expert craftsmen and builders, and their monuments and achievements crop up overnight. Literally—menehune are strangely perfectionist, and if a construction job takes them more than a single night, they will abandon it. Fortunately, they work with supernatural speed, and a team of menehune can create roads, aquifers or ramparts in a matter of hours. Menehune dislike being interrupted or observed in this work. Menehune sleep during the day and work at night, typically in hollow trees, caves or other places that are comfortably dark. They are omnivorous, and feed on a diet of fruit, tubers and fish. Bananas are a particular favorite. Menehune are afraid of owls.
Few menehune relish a fight, but their incredible strength makes them relatively skilled combatants. If interlopers attempt to spy on their work, the menehune will usually flee, although they may fire magical charming arrows as they go. These arrows do not charm the struck creature to the menehune, but instead cause brief, rapturous love towards the first compatible person the victim sees. If the menehune are pursued, or if their constructions are damaged, they may well respond with lethal force.
A menehune stands between two and three feet tall. Most have brown skin and red hair. They may be mistaken for especially burly halflings, especially at a distance.
Menehune CR 4
XP 1,200
CN Small fey
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.,low-light vision, Perception +7
Defense
AC 15, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+1 size, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 natural)
hp 45 (7d6+21)
Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5
DR 5/cold iron; SR 15
Weakness light blindness
Offense
Speed 20 ft.
Melee heavy mace +8 (1d6+6)
Ranged masterwork composite shortbow +8 (1d4+4/x3)
Special Attacks arrow of love
Spell-like Abilities—CL 4th, concentration +6
Constant—ant haul, pass without trace
At will—invisibility
3/day—charm animal (DC 13), charm person (DC 13)
Statistics
Str 18, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 15
Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 19
Feats Dodge, Endurance, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack
Skills Acrobatics +9 (+3 when jumping), Bluff +9,Climb +10,Craft (stonemasonry) +11, Diplomacy +9, Knowledge (engineering) +4, Knowledge (nature) +7, Perception +7, Stealth +13, Survival +7, Swim +10; Racial Modifiers +4 Craft (all)
Languages Common, Sylvan
SQ expert labor
Ecology
Environment warm forests and mountains
Organization solitary, pair, gang (3-8) or crew (9-24)
Treasure standard (Small heavy mace, Small masterwork composite shortbow (+4 pull), 20 arrows, other treasure)
Special Abilities
Arrow of Love (Su) Three times per day, a menehune can infuse an arrow with charming magic as a swift action. A creature struck by this arrow takes no damage and must succeed on a DC 20 Perception check to realize they’ve been shot at all. A creature struck by this arrow must succeed a DC 15 Will save or fall in love with the first acceptable creature it sees (of a species and gender to which it would ordinarily be attracted to). This functions as an elixir of love, except that it can affect humanoids, fey, native outsiders and animals. This is a charm effect, and the save DC is Charisma based.
Expert Labor (Su) A menehune can do as much work in a half hour as a human laborer can accomplish in a day.