Fumayan gnomes

History of Fumayan Gnomes

-Beslyfle, matriarch of the Fumayan Tenders

 

At the dawn of the Third Age, the surviving gnomes left their hidey holes and spread out to every corner of Scarterra fairly quickly and gnomes got to work repopulating our race by having a lot of babies. Our ancestors shared their wisdom with the emerging humans and relations were amiable for a time

  This fell apart as all too many human tribes and chiefdoms found themselves dominated by the most brutal warlords imaginable. The Red Era was a rough time for gnomes as many gnomes were dominated by humans and other bigger races, often cruelly enslaved.   Fumaya of course got it's name from the legendary warrior Fumaya the Half-Human. Fumaya had many flaws, but at the very least he was staunchly opposed to slavery and rape. While he focused on stopping human slavery, he did liberate many gnomes.   As the Men of the Lakes began calling themselves "the Tribe of Fumaya", they were far from perfect, but they adopted Fumaya's anti-slavery stance. As a result, a lot of gnomes fleeing slavery opted to enter Fumayan territory. Most of them travelled north out of what is now Swynfaredia though it was still many centuries the Numaness and the three other Pig Dragons plagued the world with their half-breed spawn.   The early Fumayan humans were not exactly happy to see an influx of gnomes in their lands. The ancient Fumayas viewed strength and might as the means to status, so they often they were often condescending to our ancestors, but at least they weren't beating and raping them.   The first Fumayan gnomes eventually made a niche for themselves among the various priesthoods, especially the Tenders, Stewards, and Cult of the Compact. To get our foot in the door as advisors, our ancestors had to find ways to present everyday Gnomish common sense as wisdom from the Nine.   The Fumayan humans were split into many competing chiefdoms, and they squabbled among each other. No one was able to unify the Fumayan people for many centuries until. Our ancestors did the best they could to keep the humans from killing each other too much.   One notable success our ancestors had was being able to convince the Fumayan chiefs to do is to settle with disputes with one-on-one combat between champions rather than having small armies hack at each other. Sometimes, the loser of the duel was even allowed to live.   When the Fumayan chiefdoms all fell to Vladimir the Conqueror, there was little that little people could do, but our ancestors helped coordinate the Fumayan humans resistance efforts against Vlad's minions.   After Vladimir fell, the Fumayan people fractured in competing chiefdoms and squabbled for another thousand years but thanks to level headed gnomes among them, they gradually learned to get along better until King Ziven the First and his heroic companions managed to create the first unifed Fumayan kingdom...with a little quiet assistance from the little people among them.

Where they are

Ragani portrait by Eron12 using Hero Forge

-Ragani the gnome Guardian

"Most of the Fumayan gnomes ancestors migrated here in the Red Era as Matron Beslyfle said, but it wasn't the only gnomish migration.   During the Great Meckelorn Exile, most of the Meckelorn gnomes stayed with their dwarf allies but a few of them chose to leave the mountains entirely and followed the main river into Fumayan lands.

  This was still a few centuries before King Ziven the First, but things were calming down a bit between the petty Fumayan kings. The Meckelorn gnomes married into the Fumayan gnome families and we got a much influx of new blood. These new gnome families created a line of gnomes that were a bit more proactive and hardier. Some went on to become courageous and quick witted Guardians...   Most of the Meckelorner migrants settled in Fumaya's "ankle" which is why the ankle has about twice as many gnomes Fumaya's "foot" has, even today.   A lot of Fumayan gnomes are city boys and girls. Gnomes make up about 10% of the population of King's Lake and almost 20% of the population of Ivanna City. I was born in Ivanna City, but my family relocated to King's Lake when I was little...well young, I'm still pretty little.   Most rural Fumayan gnomes live in all-gnome villages though a lot of these villages have a sister human village attached to them. All the ducal provinces in Fumaya have at least one gnomish village, but the Duchy of Linijka and the Duchy of Zimoz have three or four, and Frymar has seven or eight. A couple of the barons in the ankle provinces happen to be gnomes.