Gnome
Gnomes have embraced space-travel with such enthusiasm that entire communities were been known to journey into the void during the very first days of space travel. Within the last 1,000 years or so these industrious creatures have spread across Edrazion and can be encountered throughout the entire galaxy.
No other groundling race took to interstellar travel with such enthusiasm, embracing the opportunity to travel between worlds while having few qualms about leaving their homes and friends behind. Gnomes are fascinated with drift drives and everything else involved in the process of flying between planets, moons and asteroids. Gnomes have been known to sell all their worldly possessions once they discover the existence of drifting, all in the hope of booking passage on a ship or, even better, to be taken on as a crew member onboard a vessel. Some have even resorted to stowing away!
A few gnomes have gone so far as to claim that their kind belong among the stars - with their feet firmly planted on the deck of a drift vessel. Space travel has allowed gnomes to establish communities in nearly every inhabited system, which they see as the perfect means of introducing other races to the wonders of technology. In turn, they are able to acquire foreign-made gadgets and devices to add to their own collections.
They speak very rapidly, running their words together in sentences that never seem to end. They are capable of talking and listening at the same time: when two gnomes meet, they babble away, answering questions asked by the other as part of the same continuous sentence. However, they have learned to speak slowly and distinctly to other races. If frightened or depressed, a gnome may speak in much shorter sentences than usual.
Gnomes have a near-obsession with technology and invention. They are a gadget-happy race that will invent a device to solve a problem, then invent a second item to solve the problems caused by the first invention, a third invention to solve the problems of the second, and so forth and so on. It is little wonder that these inventive creatures came across methods to hoist themselves (unwitting or no) beyond the atmosphere of lost Edras and into space.
They are constantly designing, building, and testing devices for a variety of applications, but their innate incompetence is such that anything their technology can do, magic can usually do more quickly and efficiently. Despite their cheerful and industrious natures, gnomes are not well-liked by other spacefaring races: their technological bent makes them quite alien to those accustomed to magic, and their poor understanding of social relations puts off many potential friends and allies. In fact, many sages believe that their indiscriminate promulgation of technology has actually discouraged its development by other races who have encountered them.
A gnome has three distinct names: the first is the gnome’s true name, which is actually an extensive history of the gnome’s entire family tree. Though gnomes can easily remember at least the first few thousand letters of their true names, they use a shorter name for routine interactions with others. This name is a simple listing of the highlights of their ancestry, requiring only half a minute or so to recite. Humans and other races who deal with gnomes often give them nicknames, usually consisting of the first one or two syllables of their true names. Gnomes consider these abbreviated names undignified, but have learned to live with them.
Origin/Ancestry
Heir of Edras
Lifespan
200+3d100 years
Average Height
3 to 3-1/2 ft.
Average Weight
30-50 lbs.
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