gnomes
Gnomes are a race of demihumans in Scarterran known for their small size and great social prowess.
There is a saying that "a gnome's sword and shield is his tongue". Most gnomes believe that the goddess Mera created the first gnomes to broker peace between the other races. She made them small to appear non-threatening and she gave them silver tongues in order to defend themselves and be better peacemakers.
Over their history, gnomes had many great successes and many great failures in brokering peace. By the feudal era, most modern gnomes are just trying to live their best life and are no longer devoting their hearts and souls to the cause brokering peace though a few men and women every generation choose to take up that ancient calling.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Gnome men average around 3’4” with gnome women averaging a mere half inch below gnome men. Gnomes have about a two-inch standard deviation in height.
Proportionally, gnomes have larger and more prominent noses than humans. They have slightly squarish ears noticeably pointier than humans but less pointy than elves.
Most gnomes have elemental ethnicity resembling the non-gnomes around them with a slight bias towards more watery traits, said to be the influence of the goddess Mera.
Genetics and Reproduction
Gnomes reproduce in the same general manner as humans, elves and most other mammalian humanoids.
Gnome women are fertile from their early twenties into their twelfth decade though babies born on the extreme ends of this window often have health issues. Most gnomes view 40 to 70 as the best window to become a parent and raise healthy and psychologically well-adjusted children.
In general gnomes are excellent herbalists or at they least they know a gnome who is a good herbalist. This includes both contraceptives and fertility boosters, so most gnome babies are planned.
Gnomes may live longer and mature slower than humans, but gnome babies develop faster in the womb. Gnome pregnancies typically last 250 days compared to humans' 280 days norm. Twins are proportionally rarer among gnomes than most other humanoids.
Growth Rate & Stages
Gnomes children mature approximately half as fast as human children mature. Gnomes are considered to have reached the age of majority at age thirty-five.
A gnome's social prowess is based largely on their ability to read social cues and nuances and speak what others want to hear. Gnomish children have the same instincts for reading social cues that adult gnomes have because gnomes are born with this.
Gnomes saying what others want to hear and hiding behind a mask of politesse is not something gnomes are born with, it is something they are taught. Thus gnome children have a tendency to blurt out uncomfortable truths.
Gnomeling and Geu-puppy by Zeta Gardner
Ecology and Habitats
Gnomes pay their taxes on time and rarely make waves, so most human, elf, or dwarf rulers are happy to give their gnomes autonomy to run their own affairs with minimal oversight. Our ancestors learned how to use carrots and sticks. The Order of Delas will use their mercantile connections to economically punish any prince or potentate who mistreats gnomes. Those who are especially egregious for their poor treatment of gnomes often experience mysterious 'accidents'."-Carcelli the Arcane PriestessCarcelli, Parchment Background by Zeta Gardner"There are no independent gnome nations, but gnomes live in almost every corner of Scarterra. Gnomes exist as a minority population within the nations of humans, elves, and dwarves usually making up between 3 and 10% of the total nation's population. Many gnomes enjoy living and working among the 'bigger folk', but gnomes frequently self-segregate into all gnome villages or all gnome city quarters. There are no gnomish kings or queens in Scarterra, but rulers generally treat their gnomish citizens well.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Gnomes eat more or less the same food that humans eat, but gnomes only require about half of the caloric intake of humans, but the average gnome spends roughly the same amount of coins on their food as the average human does.
Gnomes have a strong "foodie culture". Once a gnome's basic needs are met, the first place a gnome is likely to spend her discretionary income is towards purchasing fancier food, especially spices and herbs.
Due to their reputation as foodies, a lot of wealthy humans and elves like to hire gnomish cooks for their entourages.
Biological Cycle
Gnome women as young as young 22 or as old as old as 150 can bear offspring. Gnome males are fertile roughly from age 25 to 200. Age gap relationships are certainly possible among gnomes, but anything beyond a 20 year gap will raise some eyebrows.
Gnomish cultural gnorms suggest that the best time to have children is between 45 and 80. This coincides biologically with a female gnome's fertility peak.
A physically active gnome is said to be in his or her prime from about 35 to 60. Gnomes societies tend to make a very large deal out of a gnome's 100th and 200th birthday, but 120 is roughly when most gnomes start slow down noticeably. That is when a gnome is considered an elder and 200 is an especially honored elder.
Validx Illustration, parchment version by Zeta Gardner
Behaviour
The lower you get down the pecking order, the more likely you are to see a gnome actually sitting on the throne instead of standing beside it. Gnomish barons are fairly common in many lands and gnomish dukes are not unheard of. Likewise, a lot of temples and guilds have a gnome acting as the true leader and not simply as an advisor to the leader. Gnome leaders typically discharge their duties well. Even when they are occupying the top position, gnomish leaders are rarely showy or bombastic. 'Little leaders' usually don the mantle as an agent of their organization rather than style themselves as the leader of their own cult of personality. A few gnomes families were even ennobled by human or elf rulers and given full jurisdiction to run fiefdoms with majority gnome populations. It is common knowledge that the Kingdom of Kantoc has a gnome duke, nicknamed the "Duke of Ponies", but most gnome "nobles" are limited to Baronal titles. Just because gnomes tend towards modesty does not mean that all gnomes are all good people. When gnomes are good, they stand in the shadows largely unnoticed. When gnomes are evil, they stand in shadows largely unnoticed. Gnomes adapt to their environment, and some environments are harsh. Gnome advisors don't randomly fall into their position, they seek out organizations and leaders that match their temperaments and drives. It is said that every benevolent human king has a trusted gnome advising him on how to rule wisely and justly and ensure to the safety and prosperity of all his subjects. It is also said that every evil human tyrant has a trusted gnome advising him how to squeeze more tax money out of the filthy peasants and how best to crush those damn rebels."-Ragani the gnome GuardianRagani portrait by Eron12 using Hero Forge"Gnomes are easy to overlook...because we are so short. After centuries of jokes like this, the standard gnome response to another race calling us short is to politely say 'thank you'. Gnomes rarely seek glory or fame. Most gnomes are happy to remain unnoticed among bigger folk and we are more than happy to take a support role to others. A great many human, dwarf, and elf kings and queens have a trusted gnome advisor quietly serving them. Likewise with dukes, counts, barons, guild leaders, high priests, tribal chieftains, ship's captains, and military commanders also have a trusted gnome advisors.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Gnomes are usually very family oriented and usually consider family ties to be far more important than national, ideological, or even religious ties.
Parental and child bonds are considered sacred, as are sibling bonds. Gnome children are commonly called gnomelings. Gnomelings are likely to grow up around many aunts and uncles as well as their parents. Gnomes value blood ties but their definition of "family" is flexible and they can form close bonds with "found families" which may include non-gnomes.
male gnomeling by Zeta Gardner
Facial characteristics
Gnome faces tend to be pretty similar to humans. There are exceptions, but their facial features towards being soft and non-threatening.
A gnomes most noticeable feature relative to humans and demihumans is their proportionally larger noses.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Gnomes live in every corner of Scarterra. In general, gnomes gravitate towards metaphorical or literal centers of civilization. Gnomes are frequently overly represented in towns and cities and underrepresented in wild and frontier areas.
Some gnomes do like to travel, but they normally join civilized nomadic groups such as wandering minstrel troupes or groups of circuit priests.
The Zegedlians just know that peace sometimes needs to be defended with spear and bow.
The reindeer riding Zegdelian gnomes roaming the The Great Colassian Tundra are the only major exception to gnomish cultural gnorms of cleaving to civilized lands. The Zegedlians are only tribe of gnome barbarians that has survived into the Feudal Era.
The Zegelians are more physically active than most other gnomes, and they a well-established warrior culture, a necessity for living in a tundra near orcs and monsters. But they are still gnomes and love peace and are open to trading with almost anyone who approaches them peacefully, even orcs.
by Eron12 with Heroforge
Average Intelligence
Gnomes are not inherently more or less intelligent than most other mortal races, but they place a relatively high cultural value on education, and their long life spans give them lots of time to quietly accumulate much wisdom.
On average, gnomes are more literate than most other races and they are disproportionately represented among sagely professions such as priests, book binders, herbalists, historians, and alchemists among others.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Gnomes have roughly the same vision and hearing that humans enjoy, but we have superior senses of smell. Gnome noses are powerful, but we not on par with dogs or kobolds. Gnomes cannot track people by scent or smell someone's emotions, but we can make a good guess on what spices were or were not used to make a batch of stew. Our noses are one of the reasons why the best cooks in Scarterra are either gnomes or were taught by gnomes.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
I am particularly fond of using this external website, at least for the first names.
Not many Scarterran names have a second name or family surname unless they are ennobled. Rare, but hardly unheard of. One such example is the prestigious Blueduck family of the Kingdom of Fumaya.
Most gnomes are identified by their profession such as Roodnat the chef or Ragani the Guardian.
by me with Midjourney
Major Organizations
Gnomes have no problem joining organizations dominated by non-gnomes and thriving in them, but they do have a few organizations dominated by gnomes. The most famous of which is the Order of Delas.
Despite their small stature, gnomes tend to cast long shadows. They make up disproportionate influence in a great many organizations. It is uncommon for gnomes to be sitting on literal or figurative thrones, but it is very common for gnomes to be standing behind or beside said throne providing valued advise to the bigger person occupying the throne.
Courtship Ideals
Gnomes theoretically are free to choose their romantic partners, but they face a lot of social pressure from their families and extended families.
Gnomes that choose to be celibate are likely to get a lot of pressure to settle down and get married unless they join a priesthood. Even then, there are a fair few married priests and priestesses in Scarterra.
Gnomes are expected to introduce the paramours to the family and extended family fairly early in the courtship process. Gnomes are famously nosy and overbearing for vetting the potential partners of their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
This is less irksome it sounds. Because of their general social prowess and ability to read nuances, gnomes are generally better at picking good long-term partners for themselves rather than getting lost in the fog of short-term lust. More often than not, romantic partners pass the vetting process of their partner's family fairly fast and smoothly.
Relationship Ideals
Married gnome couples fight just like any other married couple, but they have a reputation for having healthy and happy long-term relationships. It is common for humans, elves, dwarves, and even the occasional satyr to ask their gnome friends for relationship advice.
Gnomes love their spouses, but they generally believe that one shouldn't lean on one's spouse for everything. A gnome's spouse is the most important person in his/her social network, but they are not only person they can lean. Married gnomes normally strive maintain solid ties with their parents, siblings, cousins, and friends.
Given that gnomes are good at reading nuances, it's not easy for a gnome to get away with having an affair, or keeping other secrets from their romantic paramour. Married gnomes seldom bat an eye if their spouse wants to go hang out with their friends or go on a trip to visit their mother or aunt or whatever the case may be.
Average Technological Level
Gnomes are very good at assimilating to other cultures in all aspects, especially when it comes to practical skills. That means if a dwarf, elf, or human knows something, a gnome probably knows it too.
Gnomes are disproportionately represented in highly literate "scroll head" occupations.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Gnomes speak their own language called Gnomish. Most gnomes learn Common or whatever the predominant language of their region is. Many gnomes seek to learn many languages, just in case.
When speaking in other languzges, it is common for gnomes to sprinkle in bits of Gnomish, especially terms of endearment or derision.
Common Dress Code
Gnomes might pretend otherwise, but they are status conscious. Just like with most other races, wealthy gnomes will dress fancier than poorer gnomes and you can usually make a decent guess on a gnome's social standing by his or her clothes.
More often than not, gnomes will select clothes that are very similar in style and colorization to the non-gnomes that live closest to them rather than seek to establish a gnomish style. This aids in assimilating into the cultures of big folk and not making waves.
One place where gnomes express their culture via fashion is with Phrygian hats. Some gnomes wear Phyrgian hats every day, and others only wear them on formal occasions. Rich or poor, male or female, most Scarterran gnomes at least own a Phrygian hat.
by me with Midjourney
Common Taboos
Gnomes get along well with many other reasons, but in a platonic sense. They generally dislike interspecies romances. In their ancient history, gnomes were treated much worse and many were subject to sexual exploitation. Half-gnomes were often the result of this.
In modern times, most half-gnomes are the result of consensual liaisons, but mainstream gnomes still pity and shun half-gnome. Some gnomes extend their prejudice to extend this racism to all half-breeds. Gnomes prejudices are rarely overt, but they are real.
History
The First Gnomes
The results were mixed. When the gnomes were not welcome, they would leave peacefully or sometimes flee for their lives or make a fighting retreat. Gnomes like to tell sagas and epic poems about their forebears’ early successes and failures with diplomacy. A lot of these stories are partly or completely made up whole cloth because accurate records before the Unmaking are hard to come by. Their greatest success was with the dwarves. This was helped because largely due to luck. In the Second Age, a gnome adventurer was able to save the life of the crown prince of Meckelorn . Gnomes have been welcome and trusted by dwarves ever since. The gnomes used their position of influence to help keep the Second Age elves and dwarves from making war on each other. The gnomes greatest early failure was trying to broker peace between elves and goblins. Most goblins view gnomes as their enemy as much any other race. Either the goblins don't know about our ancestor's diplomacy, or they simply don't care. Some surprisingly well-informed goblins have made the valid criticism that gnomes have and sometimes still do collaborate peacefully with keepers of goblin slaves. They usually choose to make this criticism with knives instead of words."-Master Blaprur, gnome sageby me with Hero ForgeMera working with some of her siblings, created the first gnomes fairly late in the Second Age. By this point, nearly every one of the Nine created a paragon race to embody their own personal ideals and they fought with each other and the dominant elves. The elves also fought other elves. Mera wanted gnomes to broker peace and cooperation between all the mortal races of Scarterra. The first gnomes followed Mera’s directive and spread out to every continent. They immediately tried to broker cooperation between the various races and nations.
The Second Unmaking
Modern gnomes often claim that without their contributions the armies of the Void would have wiped out all life on Scarterra. They are probably right.Akeem of Magicland, (human) Expert of Second Unmaking Historyby Eron12 with Hero ForgeDuring the Second Unmaking, It quickly became apparent that Void demons were equally hostile to all mortals, so in a sense all mortals were allies. Few gnomes distinguished themselves on the battlefield, but they were nevertheless valuable behind the scenes. Gnomes often acted as indispensable middlemen helping formerly warring groups to put aside their differences and work together in order to fight the demon hordes. The gnomes' collective knowledge of edible and medicinal plants helped many scattered bands of refugees as well.
The Red Era
At the dawn of the Third Age, the majority of gnomes chose to expand and either attached themselves to the new human tribes, or they created their own settlements which were later annexed by emerging human chiefdoms. Initially, relations between little folk and human folk were good. While the period of The Little Unmaking had harsh winters and harsher demons, at least the mortals were getting along. There was a lot of land and not a lot of people, so there wasn't much reason to fight. The Nine gave the humans the basics of all the Gifts, but the mortals with Second Age age roots still had access to more advanced farming, metalwork, seafaring, and writing techniques more advanced than the newly arrived primitive humans. The elves and dwarves were pretty tight-fisted with their precious lore but our ancient gnome ancestors shared their knowledge freely. This meant for a time gnomes were welcome among humans when dwarves and elves were treated with suspicion, envy and fear. Then the era of 'the Little Unmaking' gave way to the 'Era of Warlords' where our souls were in less danger but our bodies were more vulnerable. The Red Era, was rough for everyone, gnomes and non-gnomes alike both before and after the Era of Warlords. I'm not going to pretend that life was easy for the larger folk, but life was especially hard for the little folk. Once the threat of The Void had faded, faith in the Nine and a general community of mortalkind faded as well. After a couple generations, humanity forgot all the lore we gave them and they assumed their ancestors created the lore themselves. To humanity, gnomes transformed from being a race of small benefactors into being a race of silver tongued parasites. Warlords fought with each other and the strong routinely exploited the weak. We do not like to admit it, but there are times being small is a severe disadvantage. Gnomes were commonly enslaved by humans (and though their descendants now deny it) by elves as well. Frequently, because gnomes are fastidious if not strong, gnomes were often "house slaves" rather than "field slaves". Because gnomes are small and unassuming and read nuances better than the larger folk, our enslaved ancestors were able to overhear a lot of juicy secrets and this formed the foundation of our eventual liberation. We are not sure when Delas the Diplomat lived, but the Order of Delas quickly grew and expanded in his name. Using innocuous gnome household slaves as the base for their spy network, the Order of Delas was able to isolate and eliminate the warlords and others who were especially egregious in their abuse of gnomes. The Order of Delas claimed to avenge any and all gnomes suffering injustice, but in truth they were only able to make examples of the worst offenders. Those larger folk who routinely abused little folk found themselves eating poison, suffering mysterious accidents, or finding all the skeletons in their darkest secrets suddenly out in the open for all their peers and rivals to see. Eventually the bigger races took the hint and the rampant enslavement and rape of gnomes largely ceased though gnomes remained well below humans and elves in status as well as stature. Things got better from there but it was a slow process. Fortunately, we gnomes are patient.We little folk are diplomatic by nature, so some gnomes were willing and able to make their temporary alliances permanent, but the larger folk are not always obliging. After the Second Unmaking ended, the numerous temporary alliances our ancestors helped broker began to dissolve. Some gnomes were able to make permanent alliances with dwarves and elves, but these were exceptions, not the rule.
The Feudal Era
Gnome criminals and villains are not above the law, and I support them getting what's coming to them, but it is quite rare to see any public figure prejudiced against gnomes as a whole. Now the Order of Delas can spend more time relaying messages to help distant gnome groups maintain their ties of kinship and less time avenging unjustly persecuted gnomes. Gnome advisors have become a cliché, but that was only after centuries of gnomes always being right. Okay usually being right. After all these generations, we finally managed to convince the larger races to appreciate our salt of the earth wisdom and the intellect of our learned sages. We are disproportionately represented among the universities, mercantile guilds, Nonagons, and royal courts. Because we have access to the halls of power in nearly every nation, gnomes tend to get a lot of benefits. Gnome peasants have slightly better parcels of farmland than human peasants, but no so much better that the humans resent us. Likewise, we tend to have gnome quarters in relatively nice parts of towns and cities...but not too nice. We gnomes know better to overreach. Yes, yes, we gnomes have short arms, so we physically can't actually overreach. Thank you, very clever."-Wenkler, gnome innkeeper and Sedentary Roversby me with Hero Forge"It's been eighteen centuries and some change since Vladimir the Conqueror was slain and Scarterra entered the Feudal Era, and now I can say with confidence that it is a good time to be a gnome. Some gnomes struggle, some gnomes face hard times through no fault of their own, but a race we are better off than most of the big folk. The richest and most powerful mortals in Scarterra are rarely gnomes, but you seldom see many gnomes among the poor and destitute.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Whispered Rumors finished version by Zeta Gardner
If the gnomes had their way, they would get along with ALL other Scarterran races, not just the civilized ones. Sometimes the gnomes got burned trying to reach out to other races. Most infamously, their attempts to befriend goblins have mostly been catastrophic failures. That said, goblins seem to hate gnomes less than they hate most other races.
by me with Midjourney
Genetic Descendants
Lifespan
250
Average Height
Males average 3'4" Females average about a half inch shorter than males. Gnome height has a standard deviation of two inches.
Average Physique
Gnome warriors can be surprisingly strong and robust for their size. Their muscles are fairly, but their muscles a fair bit denser than a humans. They may be roughly half as tall as humans but they are considerably more than half as strong, holding exercise and lifestyle choices constant.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Gnomes are subject to the same metaphysics of elemental ethnicity that most other humanoid mortals are subject to in Scarterra.
Like with most Scarterran mortals, about 40% of a gnome's elemental ethnic traits come from her father, 40% from her mother, and 20% from the elemental energies her parents were exposed to around the time of their conception.
By extension, gnomes that are long established in an area will physically resemble the non-gnomes living near them, but there is a slight but noticeable tendency that gnomes tend to be just a shade more watery than the humans, elves, and dwarves around them. Many believe this is lingering influence from the goddess Mera.
Geographic Distribution
Related Organizations
Related Ethnicities
Related Myths
Related Technologies
Related Materials
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