Deep Gnomes

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The **Deep Gnomes** encompasses all Gnomes that dwell underground, either in the Underdark or in other cave, tunnel or mining networks.

## History

The Deep Gnomes originally descend from Gnomes that were enslaved by The Elders. Due to their small size and ingenuity, many of these Gnomes were used to mine ores in the Elder quarries. Deeper and deeper the Gnomes dug, their masters' whips driving them on. Deep into the mountains they dug, and eventually, a few stumbled upon passages to the Underdark. As they began to explore these caverns more, they realized it was a means to escape their cruel enslavement.

Slowly, more and more Gnomes filtered into the Underdark. Their Elder masters merely assumed that their slaves were dying, killed by one of the many dangers - trapped in seams, crushed by falling rocks, or eaten by one of the monsters in the deep places of the world. But the Underdark became a refuge for the Gnomes, just as it had been for others before, and would be for others after.

Life in the Underdark can be hard, cruel, and short. But it was a better life than that under the Elder.

## The Legend of Garl Glittergold

According to legend, the Deep Gnomes descend from those gnomes that escaped the slavery of the The Elders. In the dominion of the Aelderi, many gnomes were put to work in the mines of present-day Regio Ost in the Aurelian Empire.

The legend goes that one of their kind, an exceptionally intelligent gnome named Garl Glittergold, found a cave system deep in the mines that led into the Underdark. Keeping it a secret from their Elder slavemasters, he used it to funnel the other slaves out of the mines and into the tunnels. The Elders never ventured into the mines themselves, and Garl convinced them that the mines were simply becoming more and more dangerous the deeper they went. He implored for more gnome slaves to be sent to keep up the production.

The Elders, believing him simply to be a gnome trying to suck up to his masters, sent more and more gnomes into the mines, who Garl would slowly siphon off into the Underdark. Time and again Garl risked his life in going back to the Elder masters to report lies of more cave-ins, ambushes by predators living in the darkness, and the need for ever more gnomes, when he could simply have disappeared into the darkness with his fellows.

By this time the Elders had promoted Garl to the chief slave, responsible for ensuring the gnomes produced their quotas. Garl would always ensure that some gnomes were mining in order to keep up the pretence, while others learned to live in the Underdark. While the Underdark was a dark and dangerous place, it was at least free from the Elders' cruelty, and was a place where everything they dug, foraged or mined, could be kept for themselves and used to build their new lives.

As the Elders began to grow suspicious, Garl eventually masterminded a great ploy - a great cavein, that would enable all of the gnomes in the mines to disappear together. The plan went well, however Garl was betrayed by another gnome, who told the Elders what was happening, seeking to become the new favourite in their eyes. As the slavemasters began to enter the mines, Garl himself went back and one by one, dancing around the Elders, laughing at them from the shadows, he removed the supports for the mine entrances. This had been planned to be done remotely, but the betrayal had caught the gnomes off-guard. Eventually, as planned, the mine collapsed. The entrance to the Underdark was sealed, and the Elders that did not retreat from the mines in time were crushed under the falling rocks. Garl, however, was never seen again, by either the Elders or by the gnomes he saved.

To this day, Garl is worshipped by all gnomes as the God of Freedom. Aurelian scholars generally recognize this as one of the aspects of Pelor.