Gnomes

Civilization and Culture

History

Gnomes are a curious race. They are the only sentient race that claims to have been created not by an elder god, but by a younger god: Baervan Wildwanderer. One story is that he stole the secret from the Elder gods, or tricked it out of one of them. Another story is that he didn't create them but rather tricked a group of dwarves and elves into becoming gnomes. Some scholars claim that gnomes were created from a group of willing halfling followers of Baervan who wanted to act as emissaries to the other races. The gnomes either don't know or don't care. If asked, a gnome is as likely to tell one story as the other, and might tell a different story when asked by different people.
The truth might be a mixture of more than one of the stories or something entirely different. What is known is that the first contact with gnomes happened several hundred years after the Grand Ascension. First a group of tunneling dwarves in the Ice Cap mountains found a rock gnome colony. A few years later a forest gnome colony revealed themselves to a wood elf town.

Subraces

Two subraces of gnome exist, rock gnomes and forest gnomes. Physically they are almost identical with only minor differences in common hair and eye color separating the two. The big difference in in the culture of the two subraces.

Rock Gnomes

Rock gnomes live in mountainous regions, mostly in hidden caves, but sometimes in secluded villages on the surface. Many of the rock gnomes communities have formed alliances with nearby dwarf settlements, and a few have actually moved in order to become part of a dwarf city.
Like the dwarves, whom they are said to have been made to resemble, rock gnomes are industrious and take delight in crafting things. They show a great inventiveness, always trying to come up with new things or improve on existing inventions. Many times the things they create fail or even explode, but this never deters the gnomes who take as much pleasure in the work as in the results. Rock gnomes are also great pranksters, devising elaborate mechanical tricks and curious alchemical mixtures.

Forest Gnomes

Hidden deep in forests large and small lie secret forest gnome communities. Some stay hidden from all, while others have formed alliances with neighboring elven towns. In these communities the forest gnomes live in cosy burrows, befriending all manner of forest creatures and generally enjoying life to a degree that make even elves, who storys claim they were copied from, slightly envious.
All forest gnomes have a knack for illusions that they use both to protect their community and for more mischievous pursuits, playing pranks on both friends and strangers.

Lifespan

350 - 500 years

Average Height

90 - 115 cm

Average Weight

16 - 20 kg