Forest Gnome
This subrace is not so common as are the others, but its members fill an important niche in their environment. Forest Gnomes are shy and reclusive, and often the mere arrival of human settlers within their wooded domain is enough to send them migrating to a new, unspoiled home. Nevertheless, they have been known to aid adventurers from other races and are particularly friendly with elves.
These are the smallest of the gnomish subraces, averaging from 2' to 2 1/2 ' and peaking out at a few inches under three feet. They share the stocky physique of the Rock and Tinker Gnome and the bulbous nose which is so characteristic of the race in general. They are the only gnomes inclined to wear beards and hair very long, and an older male is likely to have a beard that extends to within a few inches of the ground, and hair that, when unbound, falls all the way to his waist. These beards are a source of great pride to the venerable males, and they often trim them to a fine point or curl them into hornlike spikes that extend to either side.
The skin of a Forest Gnome tends toward a greenish cast of tan rather like bark, although often darkened and ruddy from exposure to weather. Their eyes are generally brown or blue, but green eyes are not unheard of and are considered very attractive and the omen of a good life for their owner. Their hair color is brown or black, often becoming gray or white in old age.
Culture
Culture and cultural heritage
The most hated enemies of the Forest Gnomes are orcs, with troglodytes and lizard-men close behind. These creatures will be ruthlessly attacked and ambushed whenever they are encountered. Despite their shyness, Forest Gnomes have made friends with elves and halflings, though they tend to distrust humans and dwarves, who in their experience all-too-often view trees only as so much firewood. Occasionally, with great courage, one of these smallest of gnomes will venture out of his or her forest domain in a quest to see the world, though he or she will usually try to return after a few years and will never be entirely comfortable in a place that has no trees.
Shared customary codes and values
Shy and timid when it comes to relations with other intelligent races, Forest Gnomes are very determined caretakers of their wooded domains. They are viewed with friendship by the animals of the forest and have developed a limited language of signs and sounds (similar to the Rock Gnome's 'speech' with burrowing mammals) that allows them to communicate with these creatures, though without a great deal of detail. Thus a squirrel might chatter something about an intruder in the forest and even indicate the general direction of the trespasser, but it can provide no information as to the nature, size, or numbers of the possible enemy (as a rule of thumb, consider all such communications to consist of a single word only; i.e. "danger!" "food," "happy," and the like).
Average technological level
These diminutive beings are exceptional woodcarvers, far more skilled than any other subrace at the working of this natural material. They can also be skilled carpenters, and their skills lean heavily toward natural-looking renditions of their structures. A storage shed, for example, might be built to resemble a clump of tightly-clustered pine trees, concealing the fact that there is any kind of structure there at all.
However, this subrace has not totally abandoned the love of gemstones that is so inherent to all gnomes. The emerald is the favored gem of the Forest Gnomes, no doubt because it most accurately reflects the healthy colors of their verdant homelands. While these gnomes can make excellent gemsmiths and jewelers, their work tends to be reverent images of the flowers, leaves, butterflies, and birds that are such a key part of the Forest Gnome's environment.
Common Etiquette rules
Forest Gnomes are also very adept at protecting and caring for the plant life of their woods. They gather the nuts, fruit, and other bounty of the woods for sustenance, taking meat only infrequently--and always with a reverent ceremony to the spirit of the animal slain by the gnomish hunter. They despise the use of traps, never employing snares, pitfalls, or such traps themselves. When they encounter such devices set by humans or others, the Forest Gnomes have been known to rig the traps so that they capture (with a snare) or injure (as with a deadfall or pit trap) the trapper when he or she comes along to check for game. Generally, the trapper receives the same effect that his or her trap would have inflicted upon an animal.
Art & Architecture
The gnomes of this subrace tend to live in smaller communities than do their kin, largely because their numbers are so much fewer. A Forest Gnome village will average less than a hundred residents, and the family homes that make up the "village" may be hundreds of feet apart. They are always located in a dense woods and are virtually invisible to anyone who happens to wander through--even a veteran woodsman might stroll down the main street of a Forest Gnome village without knowing he or she was in anything other than trackless wood. In part, this is because the forest gnomes disdain the use of tracks and trails--they are adept at moving through the underbrush while leaving no sign of their passage. Also, their dwellings tend to be concealed within the trunks of large, hollow trees and, sometimes, into burrows that extend below the surface of the ground.
The preferred house of a Forest Gnome, however, is above the ground and within the comfortable wooden enclosure of a tree trunk. These creatures prefer lairs of many different levels since, even to these small gnomes, most hollow trees don't provide a lot of floor space. Instead, the house will be a network of cylindrical rooms, usually no more than four feet from floor to ceiling, connected to the floors above and below by tiny trapdoors and rope ladders or, sometimes, spiraling stairways carved into the wood of the tree. Each floor will have a few windows opening to the outside, but these will be so cleverly camouflaged on the outside by bark or limbs as to be virtually invisible.
Excavated chambers are used for the commons areas of the Forest Gnomes, so that when a whole community gathers (as they do many times a year, to observe this or that celebration) they can do so in large, earthen caverns concealed underground. These chambers are connected by dirt tunnels and are often quite large, with ceilings reinforced by timber and brace. Forest Gnomes have no interest in excavating through stone, and though they will occupy a natural cave if they find one conveniently located, they will never dig into bedrock to expand or shape their surroundings.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
A village of Forest Gnomes is organized very much like a large family, with the oldest patriarch or matriarch in the community generally revered as the venerable leader. As far as actual societal organization, there is very little--when Forest Gnomes act as a group (for example, to defend their woodland or migrate to a new homeland) they do so because the necessity of action is obvious to every member of the clans.
Priests have a higher status in this society than in any other gnomish culture. Baervan Wildwanderer is the patron deity of most of these clerics and has blessed them with a number of duties and tasks, most of which involved the protection and preservation of the forests and the wild creatures found there.
Coming of Age Rites
The Forest Gnomes are a very long-lived people, with an average life expectancy approaching 500 years. Childhood and adolescence blend together in the growing process. Since these gnomes do not generally embark upon a craft or apprenticeship as a life speciality, there is no need to differentiate a carefree youngster from an equally happy-go-lucky youth. Adulthood is granted upon the hundredth birthday, and this anniversary is a cause for great celebration.
Forest Gnomes, less common than their Rock brethren, tend to commune with animals more than other civilized races.
Encompassed species