Gnomes

Description

The ancestry of Gnomes is quite contested. Due to their chaotic nature some believe them to be descended from the Fae, while others believe them to have been created by Gormar from Elemental Air to create a species that would embody his ideal of careless inspiration and invention. One thing is for certain though, Gnomes are innately magical, more so than most other intelligent races and this innate otherworldly energy makes them phenomenally adept at magical engineering by investing this into objects. They are diminutive, lightweight and appear in all kind of earthen tones. They have pointed chins, large eyes, pointed ears and small mouths.
Gnomes are capricious, to say the least. They can have similar feelings and motivations as other races, but are often driven by things that others would see as eccentric, or even outright nonsensical. They are eternally curious and inquisitive beings that always have to know what's around the next corner. Whether that is the corner of an old ruin, or the next step in their research. These traits are common enough that they are often considered impetuous and a little mad by other races.
While their curiosity gives them a strong ability of ingenuity, it also prevents them from remaining focused on a single subject for a long period of time. They often end up being jacks of all trades, but masters of none. So despite being long-lived, they rarely become experts of anything in the way that elves do, but their overall level of knowledge tends to be far higher due to their immense drive.
Gnomes rarely organize themselves in societal structures, and there are no known kingdoms consisting entirely of Gnomes. They do intermingle with others and individual Gnomes can be found in many places, but the vast majority live in the Commonwealth of Furan where they also originate from.

Trans-humanism...or -gnomism

The recent advances in steam-based technology have opened up many different mechanical possibilities, which has excited the Gnomes to no end, being the natural-born tinkerers that they are. In their mad curiosity and inventiveness some saw possibilities to fuse magic and machine not just with each other, but also with their own form. Like many ideas, it started harmlessly with beneficial ideas such as mechanical prosthetics to replace lost limbs. But soon they saw other opportunities (often without malicious intent, but with a total lack of foresight in their gleeful enthusiasm) that included defensive mechanisms which are easily weaponized such as retractable blades or gas expellants that can easily be turned into incendiary devices. The government of the Commonwealth has tried to put somewhat of a lid on it due to potentially dangerous implications, but as everyone knows: there's no stopping a Gnome with an idea in his head.
The attempts by the government were quickly met by a new movement rising through the Gnomish ranks which advocates for the benefits of self-improvement and (magical) manipulation of the form. The movement which calls themselves the 'Future Kin' argue that this is simply the next step in their evolution and should be explored. They will sometimes display their belief in this by modifying their own forms in more and more extreme ways. This movement has steadily been gaining more followers among the Gnomes of the Commonwealth and it is starting to create a rift between them and the Dwarves of the region who are generally more traditionalists and view the idea of self-modification as mad and potentially dangerous. The movement shows no sign of slowing down however, with more Gnomes flocking to the 'Future Kin' every day.
Just spreading their ideas within the Commonwealth of Furan is not enough for the 'Future Kin' either, they believe everyone should hear their message. To this end, they have sent out Gnome emissaries to carry their message all around the world. These can be found in the New Khalag Empire, the Ryvallen Confederacy, Middenland and even the Khuagawa Tetrarchy in Sabara. While they were not cast away or chased out in these places, in many cases they were simply considered oddities and they haven't found as much ground yet among other races. They also found themselves universally unwelcome among the Buyantu and the Magvar Empire. The ones most receptive to their ideas appear to be some of the Urchae survivors in the Lu'qua Tropics who are desperately looking for ways to regain the glory of their former grand kingdom.

Lifespan

Up to 300 years.

Average Height

0.9-1.2 meters.

Average Weight

18-20 kg.