The Great Machine

Shelter From the Storm

Following the disturbing dreams of Nostrilamus the Gnomes of Xurik commissions a special team of their best gnomic scientists and engineers to combine their natural talents for machinery and ilussionary magic to create an engine that would protect the gnomic civilisation from existion by the coming storm.
The result was an extraordinary magical engine with the supposed power to hide the gnomic species from the dark forces of Chaos.

The Great Machine.

The Great Engine was not an entirely new idea. The original magical theories and tachnical schematics had been drafted centuries before soon after the Gnomic Council was first formed.
The goal was for the newly formed Gnomic Council to fulfill it's role in a single grand project so they could all go home and relax. However, as the plans evolved it soon became obvious that The Great Machine was going to be far too radical, much too extreme and way too much hard work to make. And so the idea was shelved and the Gnome Council began thinking of other ways to justify their existence that didn't involve a lot of effort.

Needs Must

This mean't that the whole plan was abandoned until the threat of extinction predicted centuries before by Nostrilamus final became imminent and then in a panic to be seen to be douing something the plans for 'The Great Engine' were rescued from the shelf in the basement dusted off and Gnome engineers and illusionists were summoned, sworn to absolute secrecy and put to work with strict instructions to 'Make It Happen'.

The Great Engine

Surprisingly, 'The Great Engine' was not as expensive as expected because the Council of Xurik had been secretly hording vast vaults full of metal and prescious stones ever since they were formed centuries ago. Just for a rainy day. And the work-force were so enthused by the honour of being chosen to work on the grandiose project that they willing did so as cost-of-living wages.
However, initial test results were dissappointing and the illusion-team were foced to admit that making a machine powerful enough to sustain an illusion of the scale needed to hide the entire Gnome cicilisation was going to be virtually impossible,

The Ulitmate Sacrifice

Then the ancient Nostrilamus came to their aid and offered himself up as a sacrifice to help make the machine work.
He would become a part of the Great Machine and he would literally dream the Gnome civilisation into a recognisable but different world.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

It's a secret

Manufacturing process

Very complicated

History

Very Old

Significance

Hugely

Item type

Survival

Current Location

The Mirror Moors

Creator

Nostrilamus

Related ethnicities

• Gnomes

Owning Organization

The Gnomes of Xurik

Rarity

Very

Weight

Huge

Dimensions

Massive

Base Price

Really Really Expensive

Raw materials & Components

Somebody must have wrote it down somewhere.

Tools

Lots