Gnomes

Gnomes are a small race of humanoids found in many lands that have, or at least had, settlements throughout Celtic lands. They speak Gnomish, and it seems to be linguistically related to Sylvan, albeit loosely. There is debate with some scholars that they were originally a form of Fey, but have lived in the Material Plane too long, and lost this connection.
The average Gnome is only 3 to 4 ft tall, with pointy ears, an inquisitive nature and the males regularly grow beards. Most live in settlements with others of their kind, while quite a few will live in settlements belonging to others. When living in the latter, they sometimes are classed as a nuisance for they have a love of playing pranks on others. Most of them make a living as artisans, book keepers for businesses, and merchants. They are not natural fighters, but expert tricksters and tinkerers, and quite a few will have contacts with thieves guilds and similar organisations.
They do have dark period of history. According to Gnome, and Kobold, history, they were enslaved by the Kobolds. Railing against this they prayed to the gods for help, and one responded with help. The god Lugh (or in some under the name of Llew Llaw Gyffes, and at times Lugus), answered and taught them how to use illusions, and how to trick others. They rose up and trapped the unnamed Kobold god in a maze on another plane of existence & proceeded to escape the confused Kobolds. Ever since, there has been enmity between both races, and both will happily kill each other on sight.
The Gnomes are split into three types, the Rock Gnomes, the Forest Gnomes, and the Deep Gnomes (also known as the Svirfneblin). The former make up the greater amount of encountered Gnomes, and are generally the more outgoing. They are natural inclined to building anything & everything, while trying to improve upon it. They are tougher than most Gnomes, and are renowned for building small clockwork devices, that are much more mechanical than magical in nature. They prefer large settlements, and are usually well defended since they have good stout wood & stone walls, with the odd illusion and mechanical trap built in. This has helped many other races settlements too, when a number of these Gnomes take up residence. Although saying that, there is the odd accident involving the traps taking a turn for the worse, especially when a Gnome tinkers with it trying to 'improve' it.
Forest Gnomes are probably the most secretive of them. They prefer to live in deep forests, away from others, except with animals, and maybe the odd Fey, or Wood Elf settlement nearby for friendship. Their simple dwellings are generally spread out over a wide part of the forest, and well hidden with overgrowth and illusions to hide them. The Forest Gnomes are the experts in Gnomish society for their grasp of Illusion magic, though they generally don't like sharing this knowledge, not even with other Gnomes. This is in case the knowledge falls into the wrong hands. They are some of the longer lived Gnomes, and generally have small animal companions instead of other humanoid companions.
Deep Gnomes (the Svirfneblin), are probably the rarest of Gnomes. The males are generally bald, and the females black hair. They all have skin resembling stone in colour and live their lives in the Underdark. Only a rare few are ever encountered above ground, and usually for business purposes only. They are quite dour for Gnomes, and survival and mining is more important to them than tinkering with small devices (or 'toys' in their eyes), or illusions. This is not to say they can appreciate these to a degree, or use them when there is a purpose. They are experts at hiding in the gloom of the Underdark due to their skin colouring. Most of the time they will trade with other Gnomes and use them as go-betweens. They have settlements similar to Dwarven strongholds, and will trade with a few trusted Dwarf clans as well.

Genetic Descendants

• Kender

Related Organizations

• The Fishy Fingers