Ingenious and full of energy, gnomes are
considered to be distant cousins of the dwarven
race. Even shorter than the dwarves and
not equally bulky, this small-framed race
compensates for the lack of muscle with everworking brains and a great aptitude for invention.
Even though their inventions have a bad habit
of blowing up, no one can stay mad at a gnome.
Their cheerful attitude, curiosity, and humor puts
the gomes among the most likely to have a good
feast or a carefree dance.
Apart from their joyful side, they have created
some of the most impressive mechanical wonders
of Etharis. Cannons, automatons, flintlocks,
and explosives are all reputed to be results of
gnomish brilliance. If you are looking for a gnome
in a populated city, you just have to wait for the
explosion to guide your steps.
During the Era of Expansion, gnome settlements
outside the shelter of mountains were annihilated
by human warlords, forcing them to seek shelter
in the neighboring dwarven city of Stehlenwald.
There they shared the fate of their dwarven
cousins as countless human armies besieged the
tall stone walls of the city.
The surviving gnomes pushed the dwarven thane
to dig deeper, in a last attempt to find new metals
or an escape route beneath the mountains.
As the dwarves were gazing upon the newfound
adamantine, the gnomes were staring at the other
veins of the mountain, their ingenious minds
hatching a plan to win the war.
The gnomish alchemists worked day and night,
mixing the gifts of the mountain until they
invented a new weapon: explosives. As the
dwarves charged in their impenetrable shining
adamantine armours, they were backed up by
the sound of explosions as the gnomes hurled
cannonballs and dynamite at the enemy. The
humans quickly scattered; the effects of the
explosives had struck fear into their hearts.
The battle was won but the losses for both
gnomes and dwarves were great. The gnomish
race followed the dwarves in the Stehlenwald
kingdom into their centuries-long isolation.
When the dwarven king voluntarily joined the
Bürach empire, the gnomes followed. Today, with
trade reaching all across the empire, the gnomes
can lay hands on even more exotic and volatile
materials, pushing (or blowing) their science to
new heights each passing day.
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