Gnomes are famous for designing grand machines for every imaginable task. Distant cousins of the dwarves, they often live for 350years. They also invent things, but rather than making a simple machine, a gnome will add hundreds of ropes, pulleys, levers, gadgets, and a steam engine or two before declaring it complete. In addition, the gnome will install several redundancies and fail-safe measures.

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All this innovation does not co me without cost. Rarely does a gnome invention work without mishap. Gnomes have 34 different ways to say “Look out!”, each detailing the direction and the level of peril when an invention goes awry. For example, when the gnomes invented a device to destroy a Dragon Overlord, it blew the top off of Mt. Nevermind.

A gnome whose inventions tend to work as intended is typically regarded as mad. Gnomes are notoriously fast talkers, usually running their words together like this. If you ask a gnome their name, they will proceed to recite the entire history of their family and their greatest achievements. They typically use a much shorter name when dealing with humans.

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Gnomes of Ansalon have evolved into two distinct groups. The tinker gnomes of Mount Nevermind and the wild gnomes that populate the southern region of Nordmaar known as the Great Moors. Additionally, some gnomes leave their clan and develop different traits while living among other people groups.

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TINKERS

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The gnomes of Mount Nevermind are known as tinker gnomes due to their cultural focus on building grand machines for nearly every imaginable purpose. Their society is politically complex with layer after layer of committees, subcommittees and sub-subcommittees.

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At the time of their birth, a tinker gnome inherits a Life Quest from their ancestors which must be completed before the gnome (and their forebears) can rest. Overseen by the guild subcommittee to which their family belongs, the gnome might spend their entire life working on this quest. Seldom does the guild declare a quest complete —that would mean that all that can be learned about a subject has been.

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MAD GNOMES (THINKER GNOMES)

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Occasionally, a gnome will become unhappy with life in Mount Nevermind. They will abandon their Life Quest and seek out new possibilities in the larger world. Considered mad by their fellows, these gnomes feel more at home with the slower paced lives of the bigger folk. While many still find success as inventors and engineers whose designs tend to be far more practical and efficiently designed, some pursue other interests and become warriors or mages.

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WILD GNOMES

 

Long ago, a group of gnomes set out from Mount Nevermind and settled in the Great Moors of Southeastern Nordmaar to study the flora and fauna of the region. Over the course of many generations, these gnomes developed traits that distinguish them fro their tinker cousins. Living closer to nature and forced to adapt to their harsh environment, wild gnomes are far more comfortable with magic and incorporate it in to their daily lives.

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Due to the inherent dangers of their home, wild gnomes tend to be stealthy and have developed an aptitude for illusion magic in order to mask their presence. They are often far more personable than their tinker cousins and enjoy the company of others. Many wild gnomes are fond of playing tricks on their friends. In fact, being the victim of a wild gnome’s pranks is intended as a sign of the gnome’s affection.