Gnome

## Talents

**Distracted**

You are constantly distracted by the great ideas and innovations that are trapped in your mind just waiting to be built or at least written down. You are very easily distracted by new ideas and experiences and will drift off into your own mind occasionally. This does not tend to occur when there is danger present, but much more often when you are bored or complacent or working on something you are not passionate about. This distraction can be a beneficial thing, as your constant state of distraction can lead to you noticing things that more attentive or concentrated people would have missed.

**Tinker**

You are constantly working on new projects and experimenting on whatever you find during your travels. You tend to have the right device for any job, but these devices also tend to break down or outright explode after a single use. You thrive in situations that force thinking outside of the normal and encourage creative solutions to complex problems.

**Subterranean**

You are used to life underground; your race has always lived underground and over time has evolved biologically and technically in order to be better suited to life underground. Your eyes have adjusted to life in the darkness, and as a result you can see nearly perfectly in all but complete darkness, even if it has cost you some of your visual acuity in brightly lit places. You have also learned to build devices that emit light, amplify sounds, and other tricks that can help you survive in the dark, cramped spaces underground.

**Illusion**

Your race has little use for the Myst due to your highly advanced technology, but the one skill they do tend to dip into the Myst for is the ability to create illusions. This skill set has a great deal of utility, making it ideal for the resourceful and free-thinking members of your race.

**Humility**

While the majority of technological inventions are created by members of your race, you are also very humble about these inventions and do not boast in your personal achievements. This is due in part to the smaller relative stature of members of your race when compared to other races, and partially a relative lack of pride in your race as a whole. Whatever the reason, the result of members of your race not boasting in their accomplishments is the same.

**Ingenuity**

Newer is better, especially for you and others of your race. You are highly driven by a desire to always have and create the newest things, whether art, technology, clothing, weapons, or anything else. You even seek out the newest forms of communication, thought, and philosophies for fear that your ideas and knowledge base may become outdated.

## Notable Members

Lorehunter Mish Tanarand of Taligath (Whisperstalkers Guild)

## Little Details

Great intellectuals that love designing and prototyping new mechanical devices and scientific methodologies. They are willing to share these discoveries and creations with members of other races, for the right price. They do sometimes get so caught up in their pursuits of technological advancement that they risk malnutrition, dehydration, and forgetting about more important duties that they have obligated themselves to.

Very humble in general, Gnomes rarely boast about their work when they encounter it in practice. They like seeing their creations being put to use, but they don’t feel a need to point that fact out to others. As long as they were paid for the device in question, they just see it as someone else's property now. They don’t care how it is used or if it is allowed to go into disrepair, and if they aren't maintained and break down, the Gnome gets more work repairing the device they already sold once before.

They build their settlements underground in sprawling systems of caves and caverns that they discover or in other locations with very little or no natural light because of their extreme sensitivity to bright light sources. Some Gnomes that have a strong desire to adventure can train themselves to tolerate sunlight and other moderately strong light sources, but this does take a great deal of time and patience as their eyes adjust to the brighter conditions. They have been known to build their settlements directly under already established settlements by other races and trade their technological breakthroughs for protection by those living above them.

The vast majority of scientific and technological breakthroughs are lead and accomplished by Gnome scientists. They invented the metal frames, mechanical devices, alchemical power sources, and artificial intelligence enchantments used in the Empyrean race. Most Gnomes prefer alchemy and engineering over other crafting pursuits, and especially over development of new Arts or mystical advancements which are deemed too unpredictable to the scientifically minded Gnomes.

They develop mechanical versions of the animals that live in their environments and intentionally hunt down the natural versions to replace them with their mechanical duplicates instead. They are meddlesome with the laws of nature, idealizing that they could create a new form of sentient life by mechanical or, if otherwise impossible, mystical means. They will utilize steam, alchemy, gears, electricity, gravity, and anything else short of mystical forces that can generate a form of power to bring their mechanical contraptions to life.

The only Arts that Gnomes do prefer are those based on creating and manipulating illusions for all five senses. Gnomes have a unique level of artistry that they bring into the practicing of these types of Arts, due to the flexible nature of illusions and the Gnomes being able to put their vast intellects to their advantage. They also alloy the Gnome to hide their physical disadvantages from a stronger opponent, at least until they call the Gnome's bluff.

Gnomes are very short physically, but make up for this with their larger than life personalities and eccentric mannerisms. The eccentricities of Gnomes widely vary between one Gnome and another, but every Gnome has at least a couple of these strange behavioral quirks. These strange behaviors make life very interesting for those that spend time with and around them. Their egos are very easily injured and take a long time to heal, so much so that most members of this race are harboring a half-dozen grudges or more at any time. Gnomes have a maximum lifespan of 100 years and an average lifespan of around 70 years.