Gnomes

Stats

+2 Intelligence
+1 Constitution
-2 Wisdom

Low-light vision: A gnome can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination.
Battle Training vs. Goblinoids: +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against goblinoids (including goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears).
Battle Training vs. Reptilians: +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against reptilians (including kobolds).
Skill Affinity (Listen): +2 racial bonus on listen checks.
Skill Affinity (Craft Alchemy): +2 racial bonus on craft alchemy checks.
Small Stature Feat: +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus to attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus to Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.

Favored Class: Wizard

Description

Gnomes are a diminutive race in both height and girth, with large heads and wide eyes, often being described in a comical light by other races. Their faces often sport small yet well groomed facial hair. Gnomish dress ranges from simple to outlandishly complicated, with some garments bearing all sorts of odd little devices, and doo-dads.

The Gnomes

The tinkerers, the inventors, even occassionaly, walking explosions. Gnomes have been called many names over the centuries. A diminutive race, Gnomes are best known for their ingenuity and their love for all things new. It is this love for the unexplored and undiscovered that has pushed the race to places few others have even dreamed of. The Gnomes' inventiveness has brought them both great success and terrible woe, with their inventions often going awry and causing more harm than good. To the Gnomes, however, any progress - even progress that results in disaster - is good for the experience. This view of life has made the other races of Eramere look upon Gnomes as eccentric and in many cases dangerous. The industrious Gnomes had the closest link to the old Haerkglar, another race of craftsman and engineers, but even the Haerkglar were always wary of Gnomish drive. While it is true not all Gnomes feel the need to delve into the odd and uninvented, most share a common love for gears and gadgets and finding a new way to do things.

The Gnomes have always been an inquisitive race, and this fact has been the single most driving factor behind their development and history. The oldest Gnomish records indicate that they originated on Island 21, an island slightly west of the lands of Eramere. Island 21 was home to the Gnomes for many centuries and those who had the privilege of seeing it would have been greeted by machines run by all sorts of cogs and gears and other marvelously complicated moving parts. Trade with the Haerkglar at this time was commonplace, and the Haerkglar adapted several Gnomish concepts to fit their own engineering needs. However, the Gnomes fell into isolation when the Haerkglar home within the Silentfire Peaks was destroyed. When the wayward Haerkglar sent requests for aid, no response came, although the reason for such was mysterious and unclear. This proved to form a resentment even today on the Haerkglaren side, though few Gnomes remember or even know why.

Despite their success, the Gnomes have had their share (and quite likely others' share as well) of mishaps, both disastrous and amusing over the years. Many a gnomish tinker has had his experiments go awry (often explosively) and result in unforeseen reactions and outcomes. It was this penchant for disaster which eventually led to the abandonment of Island 21. Though most of the records from the time have been lost, tales tell of the inventions of the exceptionally ingenious clock-smith Gribble Limberton going mad and driving the Gnomes from their home.

What ever the true reason, the Gnomes settled in their new home some centuries ago. The Incredibly Magnificently Blazing Living Environment, or THIMBLE, has been built into the inner rim of an active volcano on the Island the gnomes have deemed the Terrifically Extravagant Superior Terraform, or TEST. The Gnomes have managed to shield their homes by delving deeply into the stone. Rumors of secret labs deep within the volcano near the molten magma core have been mostly disregarded, as surely no one - not even a Gnome - would be that crazy. The Gnomes of THIMBLE had a more relaxed research department than in years past, some still wary of a repeat of the disaster on Island 21.

Once they heard of events in Atalan, the Gnomes desperately wanted to study the Obelisk. However the leaders of the Ephaesian sect would not allow the Obelisk to be accessed even by the citizens of Atalan, so allowing the Gnomes access would be completely unheard of. Nevertheless it is said that the Obsidian Academy brokered a deal with the Gnomes, in which they exchanged students; the Halmorians going to study the Gnomish technology within THIMBLE, and the Gnomes in return being allowed to participate with full enrollment at the Academy, until the destruction of the Academy years later.

Gnomes excelled in the arcane arts for decades afterwards, and their own university/temple was quite popular for education, particularly for Ephaesean Adeptuses. However, over five hundred years ago all communication with TEST and THIMBLE abruptly stopped. All attempts to reach them have failed.

In recent years, Gnomes on Eramere continue to be known for their inventiveness and skill, even with the sheer amount of knowledge lost from THIMBLE, Atalan, and High Reaches. The largest population of Gnomes are within the cities and town of Devon's Reach, Alestra, and Bad Water; in the latter of which they make up more than 40% of the town.

Further information about THIMBLE, its people, and its history can be found within the Gnome forum.