The Machinations of the Gnomes

The Gnomes remain the most tragic and least understood of the peoples of our continent. Today they inhabit the depths of our most populous cities, or live on the margins of civilization, in deep wild places.
This was not always the case. At one time, the Gnomes were among the most advanced of peoples, inhabiting the hills that now make up the border between Frewoldt and Bulvirk. They built observatories to study both space and time, their workshops hummed with clockwork and artifice, and in their subterranean halls, joyous dance and music was unrivaled.
These were observations of privileged outsiders, observers who were granted a rare gift of beholding the secret lives of the gnomes. By nature secretive, they ever disguised and hid themselves when they could. Still, border disputes arose, both with the Elves of old Hithilium and later with Humans from the young nation of Bulvirk. In the records of both nations one thing is clear, the Gnomes were both diplomatic and generous, gifting clocks to both nations as a sign of good faith and proving the benefit of keeping the peace. Even today one such clock still exists in the Archons palace, ticking long after the Gnome people have been destroyed.
As inquisitive as they were shy, the Gnomes pushed the boundaries of their known knowledge. They looked deeper into the sky, tested and even mastered the chaotic energy known as electricity. Remarkably, however, their next breakthrough was not a mater of quantifiable observation of phenomena, but rather an insight into the nature of their reality. While Druidic traditions had begun in human lands some two thousand years before, it had not influenced Gnomic society in the least. Then in 950 GA their entire society shifted to the religion. In deep halls, Circles of ornate beauty were crafted over places of obscure power. A common motif in these places was four trees, intertwined but never touching, Ash, Oak, Birch and Yew. Though they were not worshiped, they were revered as Keepers. Whatever they had found in their religion, they kept secret; The gnomes kept an oral history, nothing written for prying eyes to read. Indeed, the Gnomes withdrew deeper and further from their neighbors, going to great length to hide themselves. Whether or not that delayed what came is open to interpretation now.
1188GA is the year it all ended. The overwhelming majority of the gnomes were decimated by the blight now known as the Darkness. According to Elvish literature on this topic, the consumption resulted in the birth of the Goblin races, the twisted remnant of the gnomes. Two years later it reached the land of the Elves, and so the Dark Age began. Almost 200 years later, when the Darkness was defeated, the true devastation of their culture was laid bare. The hills that the Gnomes raised were gone, their deep places buried. The remnant of pure Gnomes had forgotten their golden age, and man now tills their sacred Earth.
Consider this reader: The Heart of the Darkness was within a Troll tree which was found near Gnomic ruins. Perhaps the revered trees of the Gnomes were more than symbols of ideals. Perhaps the Gnomes lost more than their lives the day the Darkness rose. Perhaps they lost their gods as well.