The Tinkery Guild

The Tinkery Guild is a society of tinkerers, inventors and craftsmen in Illium. They don't technically have a headquarters, but congregate as needed in different regional human towns nearby to gnome villages. The Tinkery Guild is made up of both humans and gnomes, some established artisans with shops and others wandering inventors.

History

The Tinkery Guild was established less than a century ago by humans and gnomes, though tinking has been practiced by the native gnomes of Illium for centuries. Gnomes have a heritage steeped in "the smaller crafts" - the creation of contraptions, tools, oddities and other mystical inventions. Gnomish tinking is steeped in ancient fey magics, as was described by one of humankind's first engineers in Illium.

One thing is for certain, their skill at invention is beyond anything I've seen. Machines to tell time with clinks and chimes, looking glasses that would make even the most well-equipped astronomer green with envy. It is remarkable.
I am reminded of the forges of the dwarves in the far west, how their very technique of extracting, smelting and bending metal was otherworldly in its perfection. These gnomes draw on ingenuity, personality and compulsion with their tinkering... but the magic of the Fey is in their work.

When the city of Marmella began to grow, more specialist folk settled in the districts. Artists, charlatans and curious craftsmen peddled their wares and talents, and many set up shop. They inevitably came across the gnomes, either when the gnomes visited the city or the humans went exploring the wilderness.
Inventors of both races began to find common cause around their trade. Whilst the gnomes had never a need of a formal guild to establish common laws around trading they soon realised their secrets and traditions needed protecting in the hands of a few trusted humans. By this time humans and gnomes often worked alongside each other in their smoky workshops. Gnomes would settle in Marmella for decades at a time, renting space behind a town smithy or from the home of a wealthy patron. Human inventors would always seek out the gnomes to learn more of their skills, and gnomes would often be happy to share. Their existed a mutual bond over their passion, and a need for both sides to find common ground in protecting their network and trade secrets.

Relationships

Whether human or gnome, tinkerers tend to keep to themselves. The Guild is a fairly quiet organisation, and has certainly not attracted the same sort of scrutiny from Imperial authorities as the Wandcutters. A rather loud explosion from a tinker's shop, or a haze of unnatural smoke may attract a slap on the wrist from the city watch, but the Tinkery is not considered a rebel operation. Guild membership aside, tinkerers are often businesspeople, and guild members may be competitors, rivals or even enemies.

The Burning of Glenfiddle

There has been one occasion when Imperial Inquisitors were called to root out "heresy". Twenty years ago a small village in the Illium countryside reported sheep and cattle missing. The disappearances continued and hunters were finding no signs of wolves, wildcats or other predators - until a little girl went missing. The girl's parents claimed they'd seen a small pointy-eared man stealing away with their child and the village became a mob.
The mob spent three nights trecking through the forests until they came across the well-camouflaged gnome village of Glenfiddle, ten leagues east of Stonekeep. Reports differ as to what happened next, but all witnesses claim there was an explosive battle and many casualties. It was a rare act of aggression between gnomes and humans, and it stirred the Legion to action. Under the command of Inquisitor Zenophyn a group of legionnaires set out for Glenfiddle and burnt the village to a shell. It is believed most of the gnomes had evacuated by this point, but the surrounding woods were set ablaze and the waterways poisoned to deter the gnomes from returning.
The Tinkery Guild stayed silent on the issue, however ambassadors were sent by gnome elders across Illium to meet privately with the Duke to settle their grievances. Whilst there's been no aggression since then the Imperial Legion have cracked down on journeymen tinkerers practicing their trades in open or common areas.

Type

Guild, Craftsmen