Gnome Lore

The Gnomes were not always so small, nor were they always so imbued with magic, they became so when a group of Halflings set up a dwelling place near to where the Conduit was. Every step they took, every breath they breathed, every sip they drank, and every bite they ate filled them with more and more of the Conduit, which transformed the Halflings into something more. The Gnomes being made, they surrounded their home with an illusory barrier that prevented any who didn't know the location of their homes to find it, and they set up a couple other such villages, which didn't need to be very large due to the small size of the Gnomes, as the magic had also made them even smaller than they were as Halflings. The Gnomes don't often interact with the big folk, and when they do, they keep it limited, and don't allow the big folk to follow them back to their home. Gnomes are often smaller than the other races imagined, and something that people outside of the Cinereal Circle don't know is that Gnomes have a 100% survival rate of becoming a mage. To this day, every Gnome must venture to the Conduit at least once in their lives as part of their heritage and enacting their history.

The Gnomish history is among the shortest of the races, and is the once that is most filled with magic. During the latter end of the existence of the Sylvric Empire, Dwarves and Humans mixed their blood to shape the Halflings, which were humans that were about half the size of a normal human, and these Halflings formed their own micro society within the structure of the Sylvric Empire, and like that it stayed until the dawn of the Dark Age of Men. At that time, as the Dragons were attacking all that men had made, many of the Halflings fled into the wilderness, and many made their way onto the floating islands of The Conduit. Those who made their way to the floating islands were left well enough alone by the Dragons, as even the Dragons didn't dare to mess with a construct as powerful as the Conduit, so these Halflings began to have a happy existence, throwing parties, drinking from the lake that filled with water from unknown sources, and eating of the fruit that plentifully grew around their little home, but it was after some time of living in this manner that the Halflings began to see differences in their physiology from that point on. They found themselves growing more slender, and having larger eyes, and their hair tended to stand on end. They also noticed that a good many of them developed almost savant-like understanding of mechanical technology, and others seemed to develop an innate ability for illusions, and others yet seemed able to speak to animals, and would use that to gather information in the surrounding area. These former Halflings came to know that the Conduit had changed them from their former forms, and their former temperments and abilities, but saw no way to reverse the effects, so they instead used some of their fellows ability to disguise the truth to hide their settlements, and to protect their ways of life. They decided to be the guardians of these islands; staying out of sight until needed when they would strike. That isn't to say the newly minted Gnomes were to be hostile to any group of people, and if someone were to mistakenly wander into their home, the traveller would be surprised at their hospitality, as they still maintained the Halfling sense of being a good host. The rest of Gnomish history is simply filled with them watching the Humans eventually settle some of the surrounding islands in very recent years, and the Gnomes are watching, eager to see what affects living near the Conduit will have for Humans.

Genetic Ancestor(s)