Gnome (Nome)
Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of a little gnome...
- Ancient Gnomish Feytale
The gnomish people are recent immigrants to the world of Dyrn, refugees from the Feywild who were brought to fight in the Dusk War. Enslaved and predated by the Fomorians, misshapen subterranean giants from the Feywild, Dyrnish gnomes are descended from the slave-soldiers that were brought here at the behest of the Unseelie Host.
Feywild Origins
The original gnomish race were Fey manifestations. Jolly creatures known as pygmies, they inhabited the rolling green hills of the Fey realm, delving deep in burrows and tunnels beneath the fertile earth. Pygmies were reputed to be able to move through the earth at will and had an innate ability to find gold and other precious metals. It was said that a pygmy would spring to life in the Feywild every time a person within the material world became obsessed with something, and in this nature they, like Redcaps and other creatures borne of strong emotions, are considered to be manifestations. In time the pygmies delved deeper and deeper into the fey realm, sniffing out gold and gems, until one fateful day, they encountered the bane of their race.The Fomorians
Ancient fey giantkin, the Fomorians were remnants of a race of Nephilim which warred with the Eladrin in the Feywild. The Nephilim split into two races, the firbolg, who made peace with the Eladrin and hid their misshapen forms beneath powerful glamours, and the fomorians, who were driven underground. Deep within the Feydark, the fomorians schemed in the hopes they might one day conquer the surface world. When the first pygmies invaded their subterranean lairs, the fomorians responded with hostility. Pygmies were viciously killed and eaten by the Fomorians, who found their flesh palatable. In time, though, the giants came to recognise the innate ability of the pygmies to sense gems and other precious things beneath the earth, and this began a campaign of enslavement as the Fomorians set about to capture every pygmy they could find. What followed was centuries of subjugation at the hands of the Fomorians. Pygmies were held in captivity, and bred as slaves or as food. Deprived of food and sunlight, these captured pygmies became pale, sickly, wan reflections of their former selves. In time they came to call themselves gnome, which meant small or diminished in their language.Leaving the Feywild
Finally, an opportunity for escape came from an unexpected quarter. War had erupted within the material plane as the Celestial Scale had weakened and refugees from the Unseelie Court had escaped into a land known as Dyrn. The Unseelie Host had pursued these fey and as a result sparked a war that would change an entire continent. The Fomorians were lured into the war with the promise of revenge against the Eladrin who had driven them under the ground so long ago. But the Fomorians had grown corpulent and lazy due to gnomish labour, and drafted gnomes from the ranks of their slave farms to serve them in combat. With the assistance of the Unseelie Court, these slave regiments, led by Fomorians overseers, were transported to Dyrn to serve in the war. Due to their affinity for the subterranean world, the Unseelie Host pressed them into service attempting to subdue and lay siege to delver safeholds in northern and central Terrenos. The Dusk War would continue in some fashion or another for centuries but in time the Fomorians grew tired of the sport. Some abandoned their slaves and retreated back to the Feywild; others were killed leaving their slave bands without masters. And in a few cases, the gnomes themselves arose in rebellion against cruel masters, killing their Fomorian captors and turning to the delvers for asylum.A New Beginning
The end of the Dusk War saw a population of gnomes living in and around delver safeholds of almost ten thousand individuals. Exposure to the material world and new sights and sounds led to many gnomes who had been languished, rendered sickly through lack of new experiences, beginning to recover. But in the aftermath of the war, trust was a commodity in short supply, and although there was no doubt that the conditions they had exchanged from the Fomorians mines were far superior, the gnomes still found themselves marginalised within delver society. As their languished stage eased, their fey features became even more apparent, and outlandish colourations and the unmistakably pointed ears that belied their fey ancestry irked a delver populace that had so recently been subjugated by the elves. Gnomes were segregated in delver communities and often treated as second class citizens. While no longer slaves, they were afforded little opportunity to enrich themselves. Able to engage in menial labour at best, the delvers did not permit gnomes to apprentice or learn crafts. Some gnomes managed to find their way to the surface world where they struck out on their own. Others earned a semblance of respect from their Delver neighbours through their unparalleled ability to locate gold and gems beneath the ground, an aptitude which had not been diminished in the material plane. And others struck out from the safeholds, not upwards, but downwards, deeper into the Underdark, ready to take their chances in the dark depths of a new world.The Golden Hills
With the Celestial Scale weakened during the Dusk War, some gnomes who died fighting for the freedom of their people found themselves ascended; the first new demigods in generations. This new pantheon set about establishing a celestial domain within the sphere of Bytopia, which became known as the Golden Hills, and with this done, began appearing to their mortal followers and guiding their people within their newfound world. Gnomes were driven by their religion to value new experiences, and personal curiosity was considered greatly desirable. The gnomish deities sought to stave off languishing for their people in the hopes they would not be weakened and enslaved again. At the same time they continued to foster the strong sense of community the gnomes had relied on to sustain them during their centuries of slavery at the hands of the Fomorians. The Lords of the Golden Hills also prohibited the consumption of flesh, in memory of the centuries where gnomes had been preyed on for food, exhorting their worshippers to eat only of bough and leaf. Emboldened by this newfound religion, for several centuries there was strife between delvers and gnomes as the gnomes began to chafe against the social restrictions imposed by the delvers. A number of small scale conflicts were fought but ultimately gnome and delver relations improved, and gnomes found themselves a more equitable place within delver society. Modern gnomes, much like halflings, tend not to have their own centralised governments. Unlike halflings, they tend to base themselves in a particular place and are less prone to wanderlust, although in particular young gnomes tend to sporadic periods of travel to learn new things or take on new experiences, known as endeavours. Instead, gnomes will work to integrate with local authorities but they have retained an innate intolerance for things they would perceive as socially unjust, such as slavery or discrimination based on race.Gnomish Physiology
Gnomish Physiology has altered considerably since their origins as pygmy manifestations from the Feywild, although their ability to change their outward appearance based on experiences and environment remains evident. Gnomes are diminutive in size. Smaller even than delvers, most gnomes are on average three to four feet in height. This small size often belies a wiry strength, though, and it would be folly to judge a gnome by her size alone. Gnomish appearance can vary greatly. A common feature is their long, pointed ears. Their colouration, in particular their hair, is influenced by a number of factors including mood and emotion and so can change significantly over the course of weeks, or even days. Their appearance also adapts to their environment and interests. A forest gnomes living among beasts, for example, may grow a tail and develop slitted eyes or a snout and whiskers. A gnome living within a delver community who is tinkering may grow a beard, long delicate fingers, and overly large eyes for seeing delicate mechanisms. Their diet also influences their appearance; a gnome who eats lots of a mushroom that glows in the dark, for instance, may develop luminescence himself; a gnomish child who loves carrots may develop orange skin or hair. Food is of great import to gnomes. Their prohibition on eating meat has done little to curb their enthusiasm for good food since escaping slavery. Gnomes are masters of preparing mushrooms, and are known to cultivate many species of cave mushrooms for their cooking. Gnomish food is considered a delicacy by many other cultures, and while most gnomes are more than willing to share the results of their labour within the kitchen, actual recipes are a closely guarded secret, passed down through families and jealously guarded. Despite being descended from fey creatures, gnomes tend not to suffer the same weaknesses as the elves, and in particular are not vulnerable to the effects of cold iron. Rock Gnomes are a particular subset of the gnomish race that found themselves within the Esoteric Wildlands at the end of the Dusk War. Those gnomes who managed to survive in this area of dangerous and unpredictable wild magic developed an innate resistance to the flow of magic. Descendants of these rock gnomes tend towards more mundane and yet no less curious pursuits - tinkering, clockwork, or even lay alchemy. These pursuits often see them at odds with the mages of the Empire, who mistrust lay alchemy, and the Delver safeholds, who for political expediency wish to maintain good relations with the Empire as a whole.
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