Kembal is a thriving city full of a strong cultural center that celebrates both the history and ancestral culture of halflings while also hosting a thriving variety of modern halfling culture. Visitors to Kembal often remark on the colors, friendly locals, and near constant carnival. However, outside the city-proper stretches rows of industrial buildings, slums, farmland, and junkyards. Even though Udeluppa has designated this land for halfling refugees to grow their own vassal nation, they live in resentment of their overlords.
The Grassfolk Cultural Institute is a privately owned school for the study of halfling history, culture, architecture, and technology.
Among its most prominent scholars is the anthropologist Dr. Clarity Fallowell. Fallowell's work has largely been in practical recreations of halfling society. Her most ambitious project was a 10-year experiment in which a group of experts isolated themselves in a remote area of Travisepp to construct a homestead and survive using only historical methods. While Dr. Fallowell's published journal of the project is extremely popular, being a financial success and driving public interest in halfling history, her methodology has been criticized by other historians for being unscientific.
More recently, the Grassfolk Cultural Institute, in collaboration with Sparklekk University, has funded an expedition to Ferrymellow to establish a permanent research outpost for studying the island and its history.