Welkin Gnomes

The Welkin Gnomes are a civilization of Gnomes that live in cities that float in the skies high above the Goldenweed Wastes, an inhospitable grassland found to the southwest of Chelestra. While most Gnomes tend to prefer to dwell in the comfortable stability of caves, or at the very least with their feet planted firmly on solid ground, many Welkin Gnomes go their whole lives without setting foot on the ground.

Culture

Art & Architecture

Welkin Gnome towns are constructed primarily of the floating wood of the Gossamer Oak, a species of floating tree found over the Goldenweed Wastes. Each structure in their towns floats independently, either raw wood or stained with an oil produced as a byproduct of treating Goldenweed to remove its poison.
Decorative embellishments are usually added based on what the residents of a home do. Crafters decorate their workshops and homes with impressive looking mechanisms, woodcutters use small banches, and so forth.
Independent structures are lashed together to form networks with a tight network of ropes made from Goldenweed fibres, using walkways made up of perimeter boardwalks and bridges. These neighbourhoods are only loosly tethered together, allowing the residents to reposition different districts of the city to suit the needs of the community, with transportation between them being achieved through the use of personal gliders or larger dirigibles.

Coming of Age Rites

Welkin Gnome adolescents have to successfully complete a glider course set up throughout the city, to prove their ability to fly independently, thus gaining the independence of an adult. These courses are typically set up at special events throughout the year, and are often informally a race for the more competitive gnomes, though any gnome who safely makes it through the course passes the course regardless of speed - indeed, the more agressive racers regularly fail despite their quick times due to their hazardous driving.
Courses typically test flight skill in several areas, including navigating through a series of turns, dives and climbs, safely passing through cross-traffic, landing in a crowded area and other such displays of precision. Falling off or crashing one's glider, or causing another to do so (as determined by the judges) is an automatic failure, though with each event a team of volunteers waits below to intercept anyone falling, as it's fairly common for the most competetive gnomes to strip out their glider's safety equipment to improve maneuverability.
In ancient times, the trial was very different, and far less structured. Gnomes taking part in the trial were challenged to catch a quail - quite a challenge for a gnome on a glider. This symbol of completion is kept alive in the Quail Hunt.