Gnomish Hunger (nowm-ish huhng-er)

Overview of the Malady

It was like they all just went crazy. Gnomes everywhere, biting, gnawing, and chewing.....It was like a tide of little devils devouring all creatures in their path!

Mad Peralmen

During times of extreme stress and famine or other forms of starvation the Gnomes of Elath may lose their civilized dispostion, attacking and eating all creatures in their immediet vacinity. The illness can effect great numbers at a time but there seems to be a minimum of seven gnomes to trigger the psychosis

Psychodynamic and Cultural Factors of Gnomish Canniblistic Pyschosis

Although the origins of condition is a source if much speculation it is widely known that in ancient times the Gnomes were savage headhunters. Before a big hunt tribe would get itself whipped into a frenzy then pass over their terrritory like a tsumani. No creature was safe from their hunger but the prefered kills of old were in fact other tribes of Gnomes. Whether it was an issue of domince or simply territorial will most likely remain a mystery. This would have surely caused their extention had the elvish spell jammers not rediscovered Elath. The arrival of culture and the concepts of moral choices changed the Gnomes as it did with other races. The general consensus became that there was no need for the savage hunting styes of their past.

However the possiblity of onset of the psychosis remains. Indeed in times of stress groups of gnomes with turn feral and revert back to consuming the flesh of all creatures near them. It does seem to require the gnomes to not have eaten in eight days. At this point the Gnomes will not recognize most words spoken to them and with revert to grunts and growls to communicate. This feral state comes with a massive wellspring of strenght and a ravonus hunger. If the group is comprised of more than six gnomes then it will trigger the psycosis which will persist until the gnomes have devoured half their body weights in flesh

In Game Mechanics

Elath Gmones after eight days without a full meal must make a consitution save DC15. Every day past 8 adds +1 to the DC. If a solitary Gnome fails this roll their Strength is incresed +4 and their wisdom is reduced to 3. They must attempt to eat and are unable to communicate vebally with those around them. If a single gnome in a group of 7 or more fails this roll all gnomes in the group increase Strenght +4 and decrease wisdom to 3 as well as gain immunities to being Charmed, Fear effects, and Sleep by magical means. All gnomes of the group must attack any living creatures near them until they have consumed half their weight in food or are rendered incapcitated by other means.

Type

Neurological

Parent

Gnomish Hunger

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Chronic, Congenital

Rarity

Unique

Affected Species

• Elath Gnome

Possible Origins

The very spell jammers responsable for civilizing the Gnomes may also have been the ones that brought them here in the first place. There are some older texts that state the Elath Gnomes were a slave race brought here to help establish the planet for spell jammers to use. The city of O'Kor does seem to show the gnomish mind at work in the Elven arcitecture. Is Gnomish hunger a product of genetic tinckering to help control slaves or was it developed over time from being forgotten here during the spell jammer absence. Since no scholar has survived close study of the gnomes when they become afflicted the answers may be lost to the fog of history.