Gnomes¶
The Gnomes are a small fae-touched people of terraced hillside cities and elemental magic. Once they were among the races that "flourished" after the Shattering (S386); in the Fifth Age they are a "Minor Race", "shy, in hiding, sometimes co-mingled with Elves", punished for their kinship with the Fae in the Faewild Wars and reduced to enclaves (S024, S327).
Origins¶
The newest account counts the Gnomes among the peoples "formed during this age by Kalar and the other younger gods" and makes their magic a birthright: "As a descendant of faerie creatures, they exist in symbiance with their terrestrial environment. They can harness and gather Fae energy from their terrestrial surroundings. Gnomes and Goblins are natural descendants of Faerie creatures" (S208). The study of Fae magic calls them Faeborn, "Ethereal beings with a Fae connection" who "have souls and they are not created from elemental intelligences", and who "flourish in their natural demesne, and struggle when outside of it" (S279).
Earlier accounts differ on the mixture. The 2015 lore makes them "a hybrid of Fae and Innus", children of Izhtari on one side (S498); the Compendium repeats it (S384); and the oldest phylogeny places them as a branch of the Lothim with no explanation (S525). See Lineages of the Humanoid Races.
Ethnicities¶
The 2014 and 2015 lore drafts know three kinds of gnome, and never managed to name them: each entry begins with a "?" (S387, S498, S384).
The Fae gnomes build the great gnomish cities. "Settlements of the fae gnomes vary according to terrain, but the largest gnomish cities are usually terraced hillsides. Pathways, arches, and bridges connect the terraces. Unlike similarly organized hill dwarf cities, most of the gnomish cities are kept as natural as possible, with trees and lots of vegetation; they lack unnecessary, ornamental stone. Only the paths and buildings themselves are made of stone. Their 'fae gnome' nickname comes from their connection to magic-- specifically elemental magic" (S387).
The Deep gnomes "live in the dark corners of the underdark. They are extremely stealthy and notoriously vicious" (S387).
Of the Wood gnomes, "not much is known... They are now extinct" (S387).
Gap
The proper names of the three gnomish ethnicities were never filled in. No source gives gnome lifespan, appearance, government or gods.
Magic¶
Gnomes are one of the three peoples with casting in the blood: "Only a handful of races have consistent casting ability (Elves, Gnomes and Draconians), while others rely on genetic bloodlines tied to interbreeding of their race with one of the aforementioned races" (S395). Their art is elemental, and after the Redemption the Gnomes stand with the Elves and the Stonekin as the remaining users of Fae Magic (S112). An older table of arcane tongues names Sylvir "a common language used by Gnomes and Wood Elves"; its revision gives Sylvir to the Wood Elves alone (S303, S304). When the Fae were defeated after the Third Fae Resurgence "Fae-aligned races, such as gnomes and wood elves are also in hiding" (S132).
History¶
After the Shattering the Gnomes were among the races that "seemed better able to manage the transitions" and whose "civilizations grew" (S386); in the north-east, the elves and gnomes "embraced and easily put [Mithis magic] to use" where humans grew to distrust it (S429). Gnomes fought in the alliance "of Men, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Giants (Storm and Mountain) and the few remaining Kalari Dragons" against Pravustiratel in the Second Dragon War, and a gnomish army stood at the Battle for Gor'Turra (S386, S429). In the Dragonspine Wars of 788–809 MA the orc warlord Gorthak turned on the gnomes of Zurat; their king and the dwarven king of Esragol were slain destroying most of his army, and Zurat was briefly occupied (S429). The Draconians of Pherox took gnomes as slaves "for the novelty or for less laborious tasks like cooking and housekeeping" (S384).
The Fifth Age was unkind. "Gnomes and Wood Elves did not fare well during the War of the Faewild. Being associated with Fae meant they were targeted by many civilizations that had been tolerant of them in the past. They were killed or driven from their homes in many cases. There are still a few small enclaves of them in the West, but their presence in the West has been greatly reduced" (S327). In 704 SM the Broken Sea held about 39,000 gnomes, grown from 600 survivors of the Dark Sun: 33,000 in the Riven kingdoms, 6,000 in the wilds, and none left in the Sancturi Imperium, where they are marked extinct (S326). They live in the melting-pot kingdom of Uthein alongside wood elves and halflings (S319). The Proturan-period list of races knows them only as "shy, in hiding, sometimes co-mingled with Elves" (S024).