Gnomes

From Tearsofblood

Revision as of 15:52, 3 July 2007

Gnomes are viewed with fear and suspicion by those unlucky few who have encountered them. Most surface-dwellers know of them only through fireside tales of plundered graveyards and ancient cities deep underground. Nearly everyone has a talkative friend or an eccentric uncle who claims to have seen a gnomish skyship belching smoke as it cut through the clouds, but few can honestly claim to have seen or spoken to them. Few besides the most potent of wizards try to seek them out, and what dealings they might have with these secretive masters of arcane lore is unknown.

Storytellers say that forty centuries ago, a flotilla of Halfling ships were caught in a terrible storm. Desperate to find refuge, they steered their ships into a massive cave by the sea. Inside, they discovered no end to the flooded caverns. Exploring deeper and deeper into that labyrinthine, sunless world, they decided to stay. Some say they were pirates, seeking to escape from justice. *Others say they were adventurers, seeking ancient treasures long forgotten. Still others say that the cave entrance collapsed behind them, condemning them forever to life in the pitiless Beneath.

Whatever the truth may be, the bards agree on what the Halflings found next. Buried beyond sight or living memory was a ruined city, built in unknown epochs by a nameless race. Its silent halls and galleries were filled with arcane lore and forbidden knowledge long lost. A malevolent Wyrm ten centuries old had made that city her lair, and had spent countless years studying the terrible legacy of its extinct builders. For reasons known only to them, the wayward Halflings became her pupils in the lost art. Through millennia of magical manipulation, they became a race entirely distinct from Halflings.

Like their Halfling ancestors, gnomes are said to travel in ships. But in the silent caverns beneath the ground, there is no wind to fill their sails. Instead they have found a way to create ships that fly. Scholars have noted, however, that the ships reported flying through the sky are quite unlike the ships that navigate the tunnels Beneath. They theorize that the different ship designs indicate a schism in the gnomish ranks, in which one faction tired of life below ground and made their way to the surface. A handful of reputable wizards have hinted that the dispute is over some obscure point of religious doctrine. The real nature of this divide, as with so much else about the gnomes, may never be understood by outsiders.

Personality

Gnomes are wily and cunning, and enjoy outwitting others and arranging elaborate practical jokes. They consider riddles a high art and practice convoluted word-games from a young age. Outsiders report that their speech is laced with double meanings and subtle insults. Gnomes are also very curious, and share an equal passion for adventurous exploration and quiet study. They are fascinated by machines and delight in experimentation and invention.

Physical Description

Gnomes are about waist-high to a human and weigh around 50 pounds. They have fine, silky hair and prefer simple but elegant hairstyles. They have piercing eyes, ranging in color from ice-blue to fiery yellow. When encountered on one of their ships or in their factories, Gnomes are often seen wearing bulky protective clothing and gas masks to protect themselves from the hazardous smoke and chemicals they work with. On the rare occasions they venture into the surface world, they disguise themselves as Halflings, who they resemble closely.

Relations

Gnomes are extremely isolationist, and have few dealings with outside races. They get along well with Halflings, who they see as fun-loving cousins. They also like Dwarves, who they found to be stout and reliable allies in the caves Beneath. They feel comfortable meeting with Elves openly, since they are often fellow students of the arcane arts and have a well-developed sense of discretion. Gnomes tend to be wary around the other races, and prefer to deal with them in the guise of Halflings.

Gnomes bear no personal malice toward Plaguetouched, but view them as a possible source of new infections and would rather not deal with them, except as research subjects in Plague-related experiments. Most Gnomes who became Plaguetouched left to become solitary wanderers, or joined the tribes of savage Gnomes rumored to lurk in the furthest recesses Beneath.

Alignment

Gnomes are most often neutral, preferring their intellectual pursuits to issues of morality. Some become so obsessed with their own interests that they tend toward evil alignments.

Lands

The Gnomish homeland, if indeed it can be called such, lies deep below the surface in an ancient city. Although it had fallen into ruin when the Gnomes first arrived, they have spent the last forty centuries rebuilding it. Few outsiders have ever seen this city, and some say that even the Gnomes have not yet fully explored its ancient secrets.

Culture

Although the city is the capital of Gnomish culture and religion, most Gnomes live on their flying ships. The two major Gnomish factions are easiest for outsiders to distinguish by their different ship designs. *The Nether Gnomes fly bulky, ironclad vessels through the cavernous reaches Beneath, while the Aether Gnomes fly lighter wooden skyships high above the surface. These two groups avoid open hostility with one another, and put aside their differences (mostly) when returning to the city for religious reasons or to study.

The Gnomes have no central government as such. A religious council based in the ancient city claims dominion over all Gnomes, although in practice the wizards and clerics on that council have little to do with the functioning of Gnome society. Like the Halflings they descended from, Gnomish captains are the highest authorities on their ships. A handful of dark tales suggest that the ancient city is ruled by a dracolich of unspeakable power, the undead revenant of the ancient Wyrm who originally tutored the Gnomes in arcane lore. But it is difficult to give these stories credence, as few surface-dwellers who have traveled to the city ever returned alive, and the Gnomes themselves refuse to speak of it to the other races.

Religion

Gnomes worship Curuiindor, the Lord of Magic. Every Gnomish ship has at least one of his clerics aboard to minister to the crew and pray for safe passage. His clerics teach young Gnomes that their highest goal in life should be to study magic and learn how to manipulate the outside world with it. Gnomes believe the dragon who tutored their ancestors was an avatar of Curuiindor, and their religious symbol is a dragon skull to honor him. Most Gnomish clerics carry a dragon skull symbol crafted from silver.

As the highest representative of their god on board ship, Gnomish clerics often act as judges in disputes between Gnomes. However, since there is no central church structure, Gnomes of other ships who disagree with a cleric’s ruling may simply ignore it. Stories abound of feuds between Gnomish ships in which the clerics of each issue proscriptions against each other. Some suspect that the hostility between Aether Gnomes and Nether Gnomes began with a doctrinal dispute over a minor religious matter that escalated as different ships declared judgments against one another.

The oldest and wisest Gnome clerics eventually train a replacement to take over their duties aboard ship, and retire to the hidden city. There, along with the most accomplished Gnomish wizards, they study arcane lore, record their knowledge in the libraries, and sit on a supreme religious council.

Plague Casualties

Of all the susceptible races, the Gnomes suffered least from the Plague. Their natural reclusive ness and distrust of outsiders prevented many ships from being infected. Ships that got infected were shunned by other Gnomes and were prevented from returning to the hidden city. Some say that eventually every Gnome these blighted ships died or became Plaguetouched, and the ships themselves either floated away on the wind or crashed to the ground. A handful of the hardiest treasure hunters have even reported finding the remains of these crashed ships in remote corners of the world.

Language

Gnomes speak a very simple and logical language. Wizards who have studied it claim it is entirely unlike Halfling, and it seems likely that it is an artificial language, constructed by the early Gnomes to organize their thoughts more efficiently when tapping into arcane energies. They also have a unique ideographic script whose origins remain a mystery. Aside from the Gnomes themselves, few indeed have ever learned Gnomish, and those who have are usually interested in studying Gnomish magic. Some believe that in addition to their constructed language, the most learned Gnomes speak another tongue, one derived from the primeval creators of the ancient city and taught to them by the Wyrm. What purpose such a long-dead language might serve is unclear, and may be nothing more than the ramblings of overly imaginative storytellers.

Names

Gnomes have complex names that identify them individually, by profession and by ship. Personal names can be anything a Gnomish parent can dream up, and can be anything from the name of a landmark to something heard in a dream. Profession names describe what their specialty is aboard ship. Finally, they attach the name of their ship when dealing with others. Whenever a Gnome switches ships, either because of marriage, shipwreck, banishment, or any other reason, they take on the name of the new ship as their own. For example, a shipboard cleric’s name might be Snixon Cleric Fleetwind. A captain’s name could be Naria Master Cavestar.

<Names to be replaced with Babylonian type names.> Male Names: Argot, Alban, Boonswipe, Cargill, Feldsnatch, Garmeson, Norlim, Ringot, Snixon.

Female Names: Alarra, Elsmere, Isalore, Lali, Moonflower, Naria, Ravena, Solea, Tulura.

Professional Names: Acater, Actuary, Aeronaut, Alchemist, Alewife, Bard, Boardwright, Boatswain, Cleric, Scribe, Shipwright, Supercargo, etc.

Ship Names (Aether): Cloudcore, Fleetwind, Glittersky, Moonfollower, Starseeker, Stormwind, Swiftwing.

Ship Names (Nether): Arcanus, Cavestar, Darkrunner, Lightkiller, Nightstalker, Ironmast, Truthfinder.

Adventurers

Gnomes love exploration and discovery, but know full well how dangerous it would be to travel openly in human or Feldarin lands. Some Gnomes are driven to wandering when banished from their ship for committing a crime against another Gnome. Others may simply have let their curiosity get the better of them. More often, young Gnomish wizards set out to find truly obscure spell components, uncover long-forgotten arcane secrets, add exotic spells to their books, or to simply gain experience being a spellcaster. Evil Gnomes may adventure in order to learn tricks and skills their Gnomish rivals aren’t aware of.

Racial Traits

• +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength
• Small
• Gnome base land speed is 20ft
• 90' Darkvision
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws vs illusions
• +2 racial bonus to Listen, Alchemy and Spellcraft Checks
• Knowledge (Arcana) is a Class Skill regardless of Class
• Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - dancing lights, ghost sound, prestigitation)
• Automatical Languages: Common and Gnomish
• Favoured Class: Wizard

Mostly Harmless: I also think, after further reflection, that we need to give Gnomes a +4 bonus to disguise when trying to disguise themselves as Halflings, or some other way to reflect that because I think a lot of Gnome adventures are going to have to do that.

Also, we need names for the following - the ancient city, the wyrm/dracolich, and the magic god aspect they worship.

Finally, I don't know if anyone will like the naming scheme I came up with here, that is certainly up for discussion so if you have a better idea let's discuss it.