Gnome

"But I tell ye, good youngun', that ye ain't ever had the pleasure of sittin' a-next to a gnome on long ride with naught but me satchel of current ideas!" — Skeskor Heavypen to an unfortunate, unknown passenger

Characterized by their beautiful lives as engineers and tinkerers, gnomes are as fleeting as a breathe of wind, hard to pin down and loathe to be "ensnared" into contracts or other rigid obligations. They see time and schedules outside of work and hobbies as mere suggestions. As such, gnomes are sometimes difficult to correlate community events such as town hall meetings and voting. "I'll get to it when I get to it," seems to be the common saying any gnome will give you.
Don't let yourself be fooled into thinking them self-seeking recluses. Far from it! They can be some of the most sociable mortals. They do, however, require severe assistance in initiating the socializing aside from their current mental focus. Once this mental focus point has been acknowledged and tempered, the gnome may find talking and conversing a easier to initiate. Just don't ask their opinion on deities or religious, for these folk do not much care for things they can't play tinker with.

Origins

The gnomes themselves know much of their history though they are loathe to tell outsiders. They simply prefer the past to stay in the past. "No use bringing up what's been gone a-long time!" they say. From loose lips, though, it has been gathered that gnomes were first grown as mushrooms in the Feywild long, long ago. They sort of just sprang up in a garden and clambered out. They shook each others hands, chose names for themselves and each other, and then went about their way.

Life & Reproduction

Lifespan

Gnomes can live to be over 500 years old. This long life is spent tinkering and configuring, trying to realize their familial invention.

Reproduction

Gnomes rarely are conceived via sex. Gnomes simply occur once the world has a substantial amount of chaos. This chaos can be political upheaval and change, revolution, great war, or divine instigation.
On these chaotic nights, a gnome find a baby gnome on their doorstep or in their village. This is their child. The child is taught the ways and culture through the adoptive parents.

Characteristics

Natural Tinkerers

Gnomes really cannot help themselves from daydreaming. They dream about many things, mostly something to create. Whereas dwarves are pragmatic engineers, gnomes are fantastical engineers. Their philosophy is "coulda" not "shoulda". This has led to some issues and complications, but on the whole, the gnomes built wonderful machines for themselves and sometimes others.

Chaotic Moods

Gnomes are steady in few areas, besides thinking and crafting and creating. Their mood often dictates their day; the zeal for life passed down from their heritage in the feywild. These moods are not sudden switches, but rather short hills and troughs that vacillate every few days. Sometimes the moods can be tangential or not necessarily "up" and "down" to give them a diverse emotional intelligence. All these emotions are tolerated, not at all demonized.

Wondrous Hosts

When they are in the mood for hosting, the gnomes are only second to halflings in their hospitality. Gnomes love to show off their new inventions or latest ideas, and they see dinner, bed, and breakfast as the perfect opportunity to show some miserable traveler their schematics.

Names

Names are very personal in gnome society. Everyone has a name for someone. This extends to those within the society or those that are called friends. For instance, a merchant may receive a name from a gnome, but every gnome has a different name for each other. When introducing themselves and to show their loving and supporting community, gnomes will use a good chunk of their names. These names usually rhyme and have a whimsical cadence such as "Tigtug," "Shimshom," "Kleeklaw," or more.

Inventions and Tinkering

Confounders and Tricksters

"Gnomes always tell the truth, 'cept when they don't." This common gnome phrase tells one all there is to tell about gnomes. They love tricking and playing, mostly, harmless pranks on their fellows and particularly outsiders who don't know any better. Confounding and confusing others is also a favorite pastime. It's one of the few things that break a gnome's tinkering mind from its current project.

Automated Life

They usually have their cooking, cleaning, and other chores done for them by complex and fantastical inventions. These "homeventions", a portmanteau of "home" and "inventions," are protected through gnomish custom and unspoken law. To steal the idea of another gnome, particularly a homevention, is a taboo tantamount to physical harm.

Familial Codex

Ever inventive, the gnomes have some matriarch or patriarch in the past who thought of something fantastic, some grand invention. They drew up plans or partial plans and never accomplished them. Gnomes see completing these codices to be a worthy endeavor. In an attempt to honor the family past and present, gnomes spend free time deciphering these codices.

Environment

Home & Dwelling

Preferential to hills, trees, underground, and othersuch, gnomes rarely live within larger cities. They still retain that love of nature from their fey ancestry and see not a thing wrong with it. As such, they are not dispersed unto the world, but have little pocket communities in some countries.

Dwarven Friendship

Gnomes do share similarities and friendship with dwarves. The gnomes enjoy the shining crystals dwarves usually pass off as nothing special. These crystals and gems form the basis of jewelry and fashion among the many gnomes.

Religion

For most virtually all gnomes, religion is an afterthought. Some may attest adherence to Corellon or Erathis or some other deity, but the terrestrial fascinate more than the spiritual. Gnomes do not even worry about labels for themselves when it comes to spirituality or religion. Hopelessly pragmatic about their tinkerings, they take what influence may come, from deity or otherwise, it matters not to them. Interestingly, this makes them prime vessels of a deity's influence without realizing it.

Revelation

Invention

Origin/Ancestry

Fey (grew)

Geographic Distribution

• Hills of Syrosyrus
• Trillia Hills
• Wyny Downs

Related Technologies

• Warforged