Gnome

Basic Information

Anatomy

All gnomes, regardless of their distinct subraces, generally looked the same. They ranged in height at around 3-4 feet, and weighed roughly between 40-50lbs, with some exceptions. Their ears took a fey appearance similar to elves, their hair varying wildly between common colors such as blond and brown, but also including more exotic colours like white, orange, and green.

Genetics and Reproduction

Gnomes had four distinct variations to their race: Vandle Gnomes, Nede Gnomes, Deep Gnomes, and Bygone Gnomes.
Vandle Gnomes are those that were born within the fey wildness within the demiplane of Vandle, or of parents who were born there. These are the most common variety of gnomes, and they trend toward being tinkerers and inventive. When most people thought of a gnome, they thought of a Vandle gnome.
Nede Gnomes, also known as Sylvan Gnomes, were an even more feylike derivative of their immediate kin the Vandle gnomes. They tended to be smaller and weigh less on average, and did not live as long as their Vandle kin. These gnomes are are either those born by parents who lived their lives in the Vandlewood, the feywild, or otherwise away from societal stressors. Nedian Gnomes were very rare, with a more primitive and ecologically minded lifestyle. They live in small communities no more than 100 strong, and almost always in heavily wooded areas. Although Nedian Gnomes who live in the Vandlewood do cooperate with the larger governance of the Vandle Gnomes, their general cultural prerogative is to pursue a more natural lifestyle, which is said to imitate that of the lifestyles of gnomes from Nede and Landfall.
Landfall Gnomes are the shy, mysterious cousins of all gnomes. They were more lean than most other gnomes, and if not bald and beardless, featured white, grey, or purple hair. They also were easily denoted by their grey and dark skin tones, similar to that of Drow or duergar, and generally only lived to 200 years, with these Gnomes reaching adulthood around the age of 20. The reason for the great deviation of Landfall gnomes from their other kin is that most were not born in Vandle, but instead, on the prime material. Similar to Dwarves, many Landfall gnomes had a particular magnetism to the earth to hone crafts, especially gemcrafting and jewelry. But as there was no space to mine in Vandle, the majority of their ancient ancestors left to the underdark of various planets, or off to various asteroids to mine, especially in the orbital remnants of Landfall itself. Some suggest that the drastic evolution of their physiology has made them find a middle-ground between Vandle gnomes and Bygone gnomes.
Bygone gnomes are a very strange form of gnomes. Short and lanky in appearance and slightly deformed in body, Bygone gnomes are said to resemble the type of gnomes that originally populated Landfall. They are the shortest lived of all Gnomes, the eldest living to 60 years, and many more with a substantially shorter lifespan. They were weak in physique, as well as being feeble of mind, but were highly dexterous and single-minded toward given tasks, especially if those tasks were simple and repetitive. Bygone gnomes are believed to be caused by recessive genes among gnomes native to Vandle. Gnomes who live their life away from Vandle and raise several generations of families will quickly begin to give birth to Bygone gnomes. It is believed that the Vandle holds some unique essence unique to Landfall, and going without it will inevitably affect one’s descendants. Bygone gnomes are most common, thus, on the material plane, although they are still very rare. They can usually be found in large cities, or in small communities of hovels. Although very diligent, their lack of intellect makes them crave simpler lives, and unfortunately means they are easily subjugated by other races who see an independent community of Bygone Gnomes as easily captured and enforced.
No matter which subrace of gnomes existed, they all tended to live in communities known as hovels. Artisanship was highly valued in gnomish culture, and all members of a hovel were expected to take up some sort of craft of their choosing. All gnomes found great joy in basically everything, and wer every content to leave simple lives, even if that meant a life as a herder or a craftsman. Most gnomes would not go out of their way to seek out an adventuring way of life, as that was seen as too much fuss. Instead they usually pursued their art to the fullest, which is why especially so many Vandle gnomes became such prolific and proficient inventors.

Growth Rate & Stages

Gnomes age at the same rate as humans, eventually settling down into adulthood around 40 years old. Gnomes began to grow old on average around their 300th year, although 500 years was not unheard of for some of the eldest Gnomes. Gnomes began to show their age around their 100th year, with wrinkles and greying hair, but maintained a youthful vigor until much later in life.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The extreme majority of Gnomes are located on the demiplane of Vandle. On the Prime Material, Gnomes can often be found in large city-centers, especially Dwarvish ones.

Civilization and Culture

History

Gnomes were said to be born of Vandle, a strange pocket dimension ripped away from its original location as the former moon in orbit around the planet Wreath.
Vandle came to be as a result of experimentation and haste. Long ago, Vandle used to orbit around Wreath. This lush and verdant landscape is known primarily as the birthplace of gnomes. This planet resembles the feywild, both in appearance and in practicality. The lands here were lush and verdant, a mixture of plains, forests, and jungles.
The Gnomes arrived on this planet, as best as anyone can tells, via a spelljammer of tremendous size from their homeland known as Nede. Unfortunately, many catastrophic errors had occurred during deep-space travel. The ship had been raided, and fearing the worst, the gnomes fled to the containment vessels within, so they would not be in danger, with the ship only manned by a skeleton crew.
While this did save those who hid within, the damage to the ship was critical. The containment pods released a combination of chemicals that erased everyone’s memories. The skeleton crew perished, setting the ship on an autonomous journey to find the nearest planet habitable for their needs. When it entered the Rakuen system, it eventually made its way to Vandle, where it crash-landed. This relieved the gnomes who hid in their containment pods of their self-chosen prisons, but they had lost all their memories in their journeys, waking up together with no memory of each other or how they got there, and only with the technology of the ruined ship they found themselves in.
But gnomes were inventive. They pooled their intuition together, salvaged what they could from the ship, and made their way out into the wilds of Vandle. The small moon was colonized in their image, and was fortunately expertly habitable. With little in the way of dangerous fauna, Gnomes quickly subsumed other creatures to be the apex species on the moon.
But always curious to them was the ancient ruined spelljammer they left behind, which slowly got lost and confused through the passage of oral history. Gnomes in this time were very short lived, and through several generations, all that was remembered of the ancient spelljammer that it was the source of Gnomish ingenuity. This allowed them to construct their own unique spelljammers, making them one of the earliest races to take to the stars.
It was during the Mindflayer wars that ravaged the solar system where Gnomes first encountered hardship. Their peaceful, pastoral ways were ruined by the onslaught of alien invasions. But ever quick-witted, the Gnomes thought of their own solution. Their extra-terrestrial adventures introduced them to the beautiful lands of Acrisia. As Acrisia was much larger than Vandle, and equally as lush, they decided that if they could somehow transport themselves there, they could escape the Mindflayers, at least for a time. But spelljamming became prohibitive due to constant mindflayer raiders, and accompanying githyanki pirates.
So they instead used the knowledge of their ancients. Their goal was to reverse-engineer the spelljamming equipment of the ancient ship that brought them here, and use it to open a Gate to Acrisia, where they could evacuate as many people as possible. Just a little jerry-rigging and…
Everything went cataclysmically wrong. Although their engineering was sound, they had not taken into account the parallel dimensions of the feywild and shadowfell. As they opened the gateway, instead of channeling the power of the ruined spelljammer, they channeled arcane energy directly from the planet. Among all manner of catastrophes occurred. Most prominently, the gate was opened, letting huge amounts of gasses native to Vandle into Acrisia. Immediately after, the ruined ship’s core could not handle the immense amount of arcane energy. In the same instant, a tremendous area around the spelljammer was first duplicated, and then teleported out of existence, to be resummoned as a pocket dimension, before the rest of the original Vandle exploded in a massive detonation as the spelljammer was destroyed by the arcane forces, immediately closing the gateway to Acrisia.
In a sparkling void of magic, the gnomes that had survived found themselves on Vandle, alone and in a void. Many were lost this day, but gnomes were nothing if adaptable. This large segment of Vandle that was destroyed now occupied a demiplane void. Arcane engineers later concluded that their world had passed through a slipway between dimensions, particularly close the feywild, which already had several portals open on Vandle. It was lush, with all new flora and fauna, and a fertile realm; however, it was only connected to the material plane through various portals.
The portals of Vandle, similar to the feywild, featured links to various different locations on the Material Plane. As such, slowly over time, the Gnomes built a life for themselves in this enchanted fey demiplane, away from the troubles that had once vexed them, content to live in this new realm. They slowly evolved a more feylike manner and appearance, and with very long ages and pointed ears. Although passage into Vandle wasn’t seen as forbidden to other races, it was forbidden of gnomes to direct those who were not trusted to Vandle. Only those who were aware of Vandle or had the permission of a Gnome of some esteem in the community was allowed in willingly.
All other travelers to Vandle could enter from any of the portals open on the prime material. They were usually greeted warmly but with obvious reservation, and were inspected diligently before being let into the Vandlewood or the city proper.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Gnomes had good ties with elves and dwarves. Elves shared a distinct fey connection, and as they both had distinctly long lives, they could relate to one-another much easier than shorter-lived races. Gnomes also felt particularly drawn to the serene beauty of the feywild, and suffered no ill effects while within the plane. Dwarves, meanwhile, were expert miners, and some of the most complex inventions that gnomes could conjure required fine gems and jewels, giving each other a wholesome, symbiotic relationship. But Gnomes could get along with basically anyone they met as long as the terms of the relationship were amicable.

Lifespan

~500

Average Height

3-4 ft.

Average Weight

40-45 lbs.