Gnomes
Short, inventive and fearless, Gnomes are one of the races on Tellus that thrive underground, in dens of incomprehensible complexity and various usage.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Gnomish is, except for some pretty drastic accent changes, the same everywhere.
Shared customary codes and values
Gnomes are as different in personality as the leaves on the trees on the surface above.
Common Etiquette rules
Do not interrupt someone who is concentrating. If you can help, do so. Eat food messily and with gusto, and belch loudly whilst doing so; it is a compliment to the cook. Hold doors open for other people, and say 'gesundheit' when someone sneezes. Offer prayers and offerings for a neighbor you have noticed suffering. It is rude not to accept help. Cultivate cannabis. Grow your hair in dreadlocks, or shorn close. Or both.
Common Dress code
They all have a pair of overalls stashed somewhere, even if they don't admit it.
Art & Architecture
Gnomish architecture, though lesser known, is on a par or greater than the Dwarves's famed building styles.
The gnomish style of building is very utilitarian, but fits in almost perfectly with whatever is around them in nature. Complementary, in the case of their most famous architectural artist, F. Floyd Night
The gnomish style of building is very utilitarian, but fits in almost perfectly with whatever is around them in nature. Complementary, in the case of their most famous architectural artist, F. Floyd Night
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
Gnomes have a nearly fanatical love for holidays. Specifically, the ones that include the word 'feast'; either in the title, or in the execution of its observance. All Gnomes's holidays that include the word 'feast' are observed with feasts.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
When a gnome is born, their parents, being as busy as everybody else, will leave the child with a large cadre of caring adults that rotate in and out at some incomprehensible rotation.
Coming of Age Rites
A gnome is considered 'of age' when they finish building themselves a set of tools for their chosen profession. There are massive parties when this happens, involving casks of mead and lager, honey cakes with a cross made of frosting on top of them. Countless candies, cookies, pops, firecrackers, sparklers, and pies are made available and consumed.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Gnomes burn the bodies of their dead, and the ashes become fertilizer for underground gardens. There is usually an acid etching, or a small sculpture, of the deceased created to remember them by.
Common Taboos
Cannibalism.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Gnomes feel true beauty is in the fruition of spectacular ideas. There is a constant competition between gnomes to come up with the next greatest thing, and the results have been spectacular.
Gender Ideals
Gnomes form relationships around rearing children, as opposed to having children. There is no need for any of the 1 in 10 gnomes that fancy the same gender.
Courtship Ideals
Gnomes are inimitably inventive, and original. And their courtships show it.
Relationship Ideals
Gnomes pair up for life. Very often one dies before the other (oh baby, it's a wild world), and sometimes the survivor remarries. But most often, when a gnome finds a partner, its forever.
Diverged ethnicities
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