Gnomes
The Gnome Race in the Flanaess
Gnomes, referred to as "noniz" by the Flan, are among the primary civilized races in the Flanaess. Known for their vibrant communities, keen intellect, and innovative spirit, gnomes play a significant role in the socio-political fabric of the Flanaess. This article delves into their description, history, lore, religion, community life, and political relationships with other races.Ecology and Society
- Lifespan: Gnomes can live up to 750 years, making them one of the longest-lived demihuman races.
- Reproduction: Conceive no more than once every 5-10 years, with a strong familial upbringing for 20 years before schooling.
- Companion Animals: Gnomes bond closely with burrowing animals, learning their languages without caging them.
- Diet and Consumption: Gnomes share the dwarven capacity for alcohol, becoming euphoric and playful when inebriated.
Environment
- Habitat: Prefer shallow cave complexes near the surface, blending their villages with natural surroundings.
- Adaptability: Able to dwell in diverse environments, including undersea bubbles of air and regions with mild volcanic activity.
History and Lore
- Migration and Settlement: Historical movements have often been influenced by external threats, pushing them into human lands or co-existing with elves in woodlands.
Religion
- Deities: The gnome pantheon includes Garl Glittergold, Bleredd, and others, reflecting their diverse spiritual life.
- Evil Gnomes: While generally neutral good, evil gnomes exhibit a darker turn in their humor and intellect, sometimes venerating deities like Urdlen.
Society and Culture
- Trade Relationships: Prefer trading with elves, halflings, and dwarves due to mutual distrust with humans, although friendly human communities exist.
- Enemies: Gnomes harbor a deep hatred for goblins and kobolds, with kobolds being their most despised enemy.Society and Culture.
Earthy Humor and Wisdom
- Festivity and Mirth: Known for their humor, often dark, Gnomes celebrate life with pranks and laughter, especially during festival days and Garl’s Day on the first of every month.
- Deities of Mirth: Their gods, embodying humor and earthy wisdom, are honored in these lighthearted festivities, reflecting the gnome's intrinsic joy and reverence for the divine.
Art and Celebrations
- Artistic Requirement: By the time they come of age, all gnomes are expected to have mastered a form of art—be it music, painting, cooking, or building, celebrating their creative spirit.
- Grand Celebrations: Gnomish festivities are known for their extravagance, reflecting their indulgent nature and deep appreciation for life's joys.
- Courtship and Marriage: Their courtship practices are more liberal than those of the dwarves, sometimes spanning centuries, with weddings celebrated over an entire week.
Community Structure
- Loosely Knit Communities: Gnomish societies thrive on friendly competition and are organized into loosely knit communities where artistic expression and innovation are highly valued.
- Diverse Occupations: Typical gnome jobs span jewelry making, metalworking, toymaking, spellcraft (especially illusions), and more. Many gnomes also excel as merchants, becoming key economic figures.
- Social Classes: Gnome society features merchant lords as its unofficial nobility, supported by a striving middle class, and contrasted by artisans, adventurers, and rebels who often challenge mainstream norms.
Unique Traditions
- Rebels in Society: The presence of a rebel class is a unique aspect of gnome society, tolerated and even accepted as part of their long-standing traditions.
- Philosophical Contributions: Some of the most significant gnomish philosophers emerged from this rebel class, advocating for change and challenging the status quo.
Political Relationships
- Alliances: Their political ties with dwarves, elves, and halflings often stem from shared environmental and economic interests.
- Human Relations: While cautious, gnomes engage in trade with humans, exchanging worked metals and gems for essential supplies.
Trade and Diplomacy
Gnomes in the Greyhawk setting are known for their intricate relationships with other races, blending humor, wisdom, and a fierce sense of independence into their interactions.- Preferred Trade Partners: Gnomes typically engage more frequently in trade with elves, halflings, and dwarves, due to mutual distrust with some human communities. However, friendly human settlements exchange clothing, food, and spices for gnomish crafts.
- Antagonistic Relations: Gnomes harbor a profound enmity towards goblins and kobolds, with kobolds being their most despised adversaries.
Allies and Friends
- Halflings: Share a similar sense of humor and down-to-earth approach, making halflings among the closest allies of Gnomes.
- Humans and Dwarves: In regions like Verbobonc, the Yatils, and Ratik, Gnomes form deep bonds with humans and dwarves, appreciating mutual respect and cooperation.
Rivalries and Resentments
- Paternalism: Some gnomes feel patronized by humans and dwarves, particularly in areas where these races view themselves as superior.
- Elves: While there is no open animosity, Gnomes maintain a respectful distance from elves, possibly due to differing historical paths and lifestyles.
Confederacies and Clans
Unlike dwarven clans that often establish distinct kingdoms, gnomish clans tend to form confederacies, unifying under councils of elders or rulers in times of need, yet maintaining strong individual identities.Environmental Adaptations
- Settlements: Gnomish villages, often camouflaged within natural landscapes, demonstrate their ability to blend artificial structures with nature, ensuring harmony with their surroundings.
- Adaptability: Despite a natural aversion to aquatic environments, gnomes are more versatile than dwarves in their habitats, sometimes even establishing homes in undersea caverns or areas with mild volcanic activity.
Defense and Militarism
- Protective Stance: When their culture or communities are threatened, Gnomes can become formidable, rallying with militaristic fervor against enemies like during the Hateful Wars or against the hordes of Elemental Evil.
- Clan Unity: Despite strong clan rivalries, especially in gem trade and political prestige, Gnomes band together in times of need, forming confederacies led by councils of elders or monarchs.
Gnome Technology and Magic: A Unique Fusion
The Rock Gnomes' approach to magic and technology is seamless, reflecting a distinctive aspect of their culture influenced by their deity, Garl Glittergold, and supported by Flandal Steelskin.Illusion and Innovation
- Illusionist Path: Many gnomes, inspired by Garl Glittergold’s love for trickery, excel as illusionists, integrating their magical prowess with technological advancements.
- Artifice Mastery: Approximately eighty percent of known artificers in the Flanaess are gnomes, showcasing their unmatched skill in this rare branch of magic.
Technological Marvels
- Mining and Mechanics: Gnomes employ sophisticated machinery such as rock drills and elaborate systems for water purification, traps, and mechanics in everyday items, demonstrating their engineering genius.
- Exclusive Technology: Attempts by other races to replicate gnome technology invariably fail, underscoring the unique gnomish proficiency and magical integration in their inventions.
Alignment and Morality
Gnomes in the Flanaess display a complex spectrum of morality and alignment that adds depth to their character within the world.- Typically Neutral Good: Gnomes are most often neutral good, though historical editions of AD&D have categorized them as lawful good, with inclinations towards neutrality.
The Darker Side of Gnomes
- Potential for Evil: While generally good, gnomes who turn evil exhibit a markedly darker nature compared to their kin.
- Deadly Humor: Evil gnomes morph their sense of humor into something deadly, executing pranks with homicidal intent.
- Intellectual Elitism: Their intellect-driven society has little tolerance for stupidity, sometimes leading to envy and murderous hate, especially among those who worship Urdlen.
- Manipulative Tendencies: A significant number of evil gnomes use their intelligence and wit for manipulation, preying on the more gullible or engaging in political machinations from the shadows.
Religious Practices and Beliefs
Secular Viewpoints
Gnomes often perceive their gods more as allegorical figures or mentors rather than omnipotent deities, fostering a culture rich in skepticism and analytical thinking.- Chapels and Temples: Most communities house at least a chapel dedicated to their gods, with larger cities boasting full-fledged temples.
- Clergy's Role: Clerics act as counselors, mediators, and judges, playing a crucial role in non-criminal matters.
Creation Beliefs
- Lack of a Unified Creation Myth: Many gnomes believe in a cosmos without beginning or end, though some tales speak of Garl Glittergold creating gnomes from gems he found in a cave, showcasing the race's diversity in belief and thought.
Language and Communication
Structure and Use
- Simplicity and Fluidity: The gnomish language boasts a straightforward structure complemented by fluid tones, making it versatile for various forms of expression.
- Extensive Vocabulary: Gnomes possess a dauntingly vast vocabulary, allowing for nuanced distinctions in concepts such as emotions and colors.
- Academic and Creative Ideal: Given its precision and range, Gnome serves as a preferred language in academic, artistic, and engineering fields, even among other races.
- Dwarven Alphabet: Gnome utilizes a version of the Dwarven script, enriching its written tradition and literature.
- Naming Conventions: Gnomes adopt first and family names, often adding a tag related to their home, workplace, or what they currently find most significant.
Gnome History
Origins and Migrations
- Northern Forests: The rock gnomes originally hailed from the far northern forests, engaging in trapping and reindeer herding.
- Southern Migration: They migrated southwards centuries before the Twin Cataclysms, escaping various oppressions from nefarious overlords including Keraptis, Vecna-possessed Gnomelord of Blemu, Azalin, and the orc and goblinoid forces of the Bone March.
Settlement and Adaptation
- Integration: Rock gnomish migrants settled among dwarves, elves, and halflings in the Flanaess, assimilating and enhancing local languages, magic, technologies, and cultures.
Svirfneblin and Unknown Races
- Deep Gnomes: The svirfneblin, with a history shrouded in mystery, are said to have created the jermlaines through the svirfneblin priests of Pyremius around -1800 CY.
- Ancient Conflicts: An unspecified gnome race engaged in warfare with the warriors of Caerdiralor between -4358 and -4217 CY, highlighting the gnomes' longstanding martial tradition.
Gnome Cleric by 3orcs
Physical Description
- Skin Color: Ranges from tan to nearly black, not prone to tanning.
- Hair Color: Normally gray or white, with younger gnomes displaying a wider range of colors similar to humans.
- Eyes: Predominantly blue, but green, yellow, or brown can occur.
- Beards: Males can grow beards, females typically do not.
Lifespan
750 years
Average Height
3'5"
Average Weight
80 lbs
Related Organizations
Related Myths
Gnomish Subraces
The diversity among gnomes is reflected in their various subraces, each adapted to their unique living environments and lifestyles.
Rock Gnome Miner by 3orcs
Steinneblin (Rock Gnomes)
- Habitat: Predominantly inhabit burrows beneath wooded hills, maintaining a close bond with nature and burrowing animals.
- Abilities: Possess the unique racial ability to communicate with burrowing animals, highlighting their connection to the natural world.
Svirfneblin (Svirfneblin Deep Gnomes)
- Habitat: Reside in underground cities, presenting a more enigmatic and dangerous demeanor compared to their surface-dwelling kin.
Forstneblin (Forest Gnomes)
- Characteristics: Notably smaller and more reclusive, these gnomes prefer the solitude of deep forests and are inclined towards druidic practices over illusion or alchemy.
Related Species
Gnomes share kinship and historical alliances with several races, underscoring their integrated role in the Flanaess's wider ecological and social ecosystems.Dwarves
- Relationship: Long regarded as cousins, gnomes and dwarves frequently ally, sharing mutual respect and cooperation.
Jermlaines
- Origins: These tiny, malevolent fey are believed to have been created by gnomish spellcasters, showcasing the gnomes' deep-rooted ties to the magical and the fey.
Spriggans
- Characteristics: Evil, gnome-like fey capable of growing to enormous sizes, typically worshipping the malevolent gnomish deity, Urdlen.
Gnome Pantheon
The Lords of the Golden Hills
Garl Glittergold: The head of the gnome pantheon, symbolizing protection, humor, wit, gemcutting, jewelry making, and illusion.Other Principal Deities
- Baervan Wildwanderer: Patron of forests, nature, and travel.
- Baravar Cloakshadow: Represents illusions, protection, and deception, emphasizing the hatred of goblinoids.
- Callarduran Smoothhands: Celebrated for his connection to earth and nature.
- Flandal Steelskin: God of mining, smithing, and fitness.
- Gaerdal Ironhand: Known for protection, vigilance, and combat.
- Gelf Darkhearth: A less commonly worshipped deity, focusing on the darker aspects of gnome culture.
- Nebelun: Celebrates innovation and mechanical ingenuity.
- Segojan Earthcaller: Emphasizes the connection to earth and nature.
- Sheyanna Flaxenstrand: Represents love, beauty, and passion.
- Urdlen: The embodiment of envy and spite, a darker figure in the gnome pantheon.
Other Deities of Reverence
Ehlonna, Fortubo, Jascar, Obad-hai, and Ulaa: Reflect the gnomes' diverse spiritual affiliations beyond their primary pantheon.- Evil Deities: Some gnomes, particularly those who have strayed from traditional values, may worship entities like Pyremius, Erythnul, or Roykyn.
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