Building My Dungeons and Dragons World Part 5: Gnomes

 Introduction

    This section was orginally going to be about autognomes, which were next on the alphabetical list of playable races in Dungeons and Dragons. But they, along with a couple of other races, were from the Spelljamer: Adventures in Space book. This is not a game killer, but with the plans I have for the timeline of this world, I felt that these races and lore in general should be incorporated later. Autognomes especially could play a very important role in a major war that I have planned for the future of my world. I apologize to anyone looking forward to those races, but they will be arriving later.

    All that said, by the time I made this decision, I was already waist deep into the lore of the gnomes, who were the creators of the autognomes. Rather then let all that research go to waste just to have to research it again later, I decide to go ahead and do a blog on them now.

Gnomes

    Gnomes are one the "core races" of my D&D world. Core Races refers to races in my world so widespread and incorporated into the established world that they have people in almost every major world government.

Reference Link: https://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/mmg_disp.jsp?med_id=62444&from=

    Through my research, I found that gnomes tend to live in wooded hills with a preference for living underground. The artwork I found tended to reference trees commonly found in temperature and boreal forests. With this specific biome in mind, I found that most gnomish communities would be located in Earth's northern hemisphere, which adds up when you consider that they are laregly based on European myths and fairy tales anyway. This means that in my world, gnomes would most likely be found in North America, Europe, and Northern Asia

    The gnomes in general seemed to have the freindliest relationships with dwarves and halflings. But they tended to be more cautious around "Big Folk," their word for humans, elves, and other larger races.

    But likes many races in D&D, the gnomes have subraces. These subraces are where the more unique elements of their world building come into play.

Rock Gnomes

Reference Link: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Rock_gnome

    Rock gnomes could be descirbed as the most "mainstream" of the gnomish races. They interact the most with the other races of the world and are the most involved with major governments. This has proven to be a benefit and a curse, depending on the region. While gnomes who live under the protection of the Celestial Empire tend to flourish, those that live in the realms of the chromatic dragons often find themselves exposed to raids, wars, and slavery.

    While rock gnomes did live in forests, they tended to live close to the edges of forests. This allowed them to interact with the outside world if the chose to do so and still maintain their privacy when they wanted.

Forest Gnomes

Reference Link: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Forest_gnome

    Forest gnomes are the most private and reclusive of the gnomish races. They like to be intune with nature and tend to restrict their activities to the deepest parts of the forest unless something forces them out.

    While this desire for privacy could be considered their greatest defense, it also their greatest weakness. When their communities are in danger, it often takes them time before they can reach someone who can help them out. This of course assumes that they are able to make it at all. If they cannot reach the outside world, the odds of anyone coming to their rescue shrinks to almost nothing.

Deep Gnomes

Reference Link: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Deep_gnome

    The deep gnomes are the polar opposite of rock gnomes. While rock gnomes are outgoing and friendly, deep gnomes are quiet and distrusting. Rock gnomes enjoyed the surface while deep gnomes enjoyed a realm known as the Underdark.

    The Underdark is the subterranean world beneath the surface. It is full of dangers and threats, much of which will be explored in future blog posts. This has bred a level of independence in the deep gnomes that is not heavily reflected in their surface brothers and sisters. They are hard workers and fighters and tend to take advantage of the tunnels around them to escape danger when they need to.

The Gnomish Artificer Guild

Reference Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/DungeonsAndDragons/comments/hgczc2/the_gnome_artificer_im_currently_playing_artwork/

    Rock gnomes are already famous for tinkering. But those that live under the protection of the Celestial Empire have found that the freedom of security has allowed them to hone that skill into something even more magical than they could imagine. When combined with literal magic, gnomish artificers are born, becoming a force to be reckoned with in almost any field of technological study.

    It is widely believed that gnomes are responsible for the founding of the artificer practice, though historical accounts are unconfirmed and muddled in myths and stories. What is historically accurate is that the Gnomish Artificer Guild was founded within the Celestial Empire and has reached every gnomish community in the empire. Through the guild, the gnomes have managed to pool their knowledge for the betterment of their own communities, advancing their technology well past that of most of their neighbors.

    While only gnomes can join this guild, other races are allowed to visit and exchange knowledge and information. This has further boosted the other communities of the Celestial Empire, making it one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world.

The School of Illusions

Reference Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/9o41wn/gnome_illusionist_oc/

    The School of Illusions is one of twelves wizarding schools across the world. It is located in the northern fringes of the Celestial Empire, hidden deep in the woods of Scandinavia. The forest gnomes originally founded it in an effort to teach forest and deep gnomes how to protect their communities. This original intent is still reflected in many of the school's practices today. For example, to pass their entrance exam, you must first find the school. To do so, you must get past illusions of your greatest fears, teaching you to set aside your fear in order to concentrate on your magic.

    The original audience of the school is also heavily reflected. The main building was originally constructed with gnomes in mind and is somewhat hard for "Big Folk" to egress. Over half the students attending in any given year are from one of the three gnomish races. With this in mind, the main building is largely underground. 

    While "big folk" are allowed to attend the school, they are generally redirected to a secondary building suited to them. This has inadvertently created some strife and inequality in the school, as the secondary building is smaller, less nice, less staffed, and generally looked down upon by other students. While outright fighting is severely punished, "Illusion Wars" are pretty common. The teachers and staff tend to ignore these, reffering to them as practice sessions.

The Arcane Order

Reference Link: https://waynechang.artstation.com/projects/k4qk1x

    The desire for privacy pervades almost every element of gnomish society. As such, rogues in general are common. But even here, magic is not without its place. Whether the gnome is spy tracking Deep Elves or a thief going after travelers in the woods, magic can help them do their jobs even better. So just like in other areas of their society, the gnomish rogue began incorporating magic.

    This practice eventually gave birth to the Arcane Order, an unofficial group of rogues that may or may not exist in gnomish societies of all kind. While the order has affiliates in all three subraces, they are most prevalent among deep and forest gnomes, due their more private nature and the threats they have to face on their own.

    The gnomes prefer to keep the Arcane Order a secret. Some communities are ashamed of it while others believe it to be the secret weapon of their race. Regardless, few people outside of gnomish society have even heard of it. Fewer still know anything solid about it. Neither the order nor the gnomes are keen on changing that.