Gnomes

Gnomes are an old race native to Alandor, famous for their brilliant devices and machines.

Origin
Gnomes are one of the base races in Alandor, and they have always been present on the Material Plane. They are famous for their incredibly craftsmanship and their fantastical inventions. They are ever so friendly and are always welcome wherever they go.

Gnomes live either in gigantic evolved cities that almost work like machines, in the hills, or on floating cities near the coats and island groups.

Pure
Something in the gnomes' blood repels evil in a way nothing else in Alandor does. Evil magic cannot touch them and they are next to immune to evil temptations.

Names
Gnomes love names, and most have a dozen or so. A gnome's mother, father, clan elder, aunts, uncles etc. can all give the gnome a name, and the rest might give them nicknames that may or may not stick over time. Gnome name are typically variants on the names of ancestors or distant relatives, though some love to come up with new unique names.

Dealing with other races who are "stuffy" about names, gnomes learn to use no more than maybe three names: picking their favourites for a personal name, a clan name, and a nickname.

Male names: Alston, Alvyn, Burgell, Eldon, Fonkin, Glim, Kellen, Orryn, roondar, Warryn

Female names: Breena, Carlin, Dorna, Ella, Mardna, Nissa, Oda, Zanna

Clan names: Beren, Daergel, Folkor, Murnig, Nackle, Raulnor, Turen

Nicknames: Aleslosh, Ashhearth, Doublecloak, Ku, Nim, Oneshoe

Appearance
Gnomes' energy and enthusiasm for living shines through every inch of their tiny bodies. Rarely peaking past a meter in height, their mostly tanned skin are usually adorned with broad smiles under button noses, and their bright eyes shine with excitement. Their hair, which can take on any colour of the spectrum, has a tendency to stick out in every direction, as if expressing their insatiable interest in everything around.

Male gnomes' beards, in contrast to the wild hair, is kept carefully trimmed and usually styled in forks or neat points. Their clothing is elaborately decorated with embroidery, embossing, or gleaming jewels. They also wear their famous tinkerbelts, and it is said that if one wears a tinkerbelt, they never run out of space to keep their belongings in.

Age
Gnomes are small and rarely engage in hard physical work, so their lifespan is longer than most races, at around 200-300 years. They squeeze every ounce of enjoyment out of their two or three centuries of life. Gnomes almost seem to worry that even with all that time, they can't get in enough of the things they want to do and see.

Personality
Gnomes take great delight in life, enjoying every moment of invention, exploration, investigation, creation and play. They speak as if they can't get the thoughts out of their hands fast enough. They are insanely clever in most things that aren't battle. Even as they offer ideas and opinions on a range of subjects, they still manage to listen carefully to others, adding the appropriate exclamations of surprise and appreciation along the way.

Personality differ little between the subtypes as they are all curious and never content with the lives they lead, always looking out for more.

High Gnome
All Gnomes hail from the High Gnomes. Master crafters and tinkers, High Gnome cities are well-known across all of Alandor for their size, liveliness and fantastical trade.

High Gnomes are extremely isolated, and next to no High Gnomes ever leave their home city. They keep an honest trade with the Hillblood Dwarrows for supplies for their crafts, in exchange for machines and devices that can help their daily lives.

High Gnome cities exist near mountain ranges, in valleys and near large roads, where they can freely trade with both Dwarrows and other travellers.

Hill Gnome
Feeling trapped in the large and intense High Gnome cities, Hill Gnomes are gnomes that have taken to the hills instead and leaving the bursting cities behind.

Not really built for the forests or climbing the trees, they instead built homes in the hills, digging into them like the Harber Halflings, and creating underground tunnels that connect the villages. Many villages across the plains are actually Halfling-Gnome villages, where they live together peacefully. The Halflings lean more towards farming the fields, while the Hill Gnomes love the travel and trade.

Hill Gnomes love animals and often keep squirrels, badgers, rabbits, moles, woodpeckers, or other creatures as beloved pets.

Sea Gnome
It is said that a traveling ship filled to the brim with High Gnomes was shipwrecked in the depths as they traveled, and not long after, Sea Gnomes built their homes on the small islands they could find. Used to larger cities, they soon outgrew the islands and instead built magnificent floating cities made out of ships and bridges. Some say that they never take land. In truth, not even the Sea Gnomes remember a time when they weren't waterborn. On giant floating ships more alike houses and roads than boats, the Sea Gnomes worry about little else than the ocean skies and depths.

Trivia

 * The gnomes' pureness comes from an unknown Celestial heritage