Keltarnay Gnomes

The gnomes of Keltarnay are not quite like the standard Player's Handbook gnomes. They are both more colorful and more dangerous, and many kingdoms bear strong mistrust for the antics and escapades of these lively folk. Gnomes are inventors, engineers, and perfectionists. If a gnome doesn’t come up with an original idea, he will refine it and make it work better. If he doesn’t invent or refine, he will find ways to work the inventions of others into a solution for whatever problem he may think needs solving.

Gnomes are inveterate tinkers, in the sense that they simply do not believe that there is anything they are not meant to know. They hold science as the pinnacle of knowledge, and though they have healthy respect for the power of the gods, they do not let that get in the way of their experiments and theories.

Boccob is a friend to gnomes, for his thirst for knowledge is matched by their endless curiosity. Ehlonna and her followers tend to watch gnomes very narrowly, for many of their favorite “projects” involve large amounts of metals which must be mined. Some gnomes favor the druid’s path, and these unusual individuals try to direct their kin’s efforts in a direction that causes the least damage possible, ecology wise.

Gnomes love explosions, bright colors, and distilled liquors. A few of them have found ways to combine two out of the three, such as Dram Grixby and his very potent liquor known as Grixby’s Green. They also love efficiency, and are always looking for ways to take the drudgery out of life – the better to have more time for experiments!

The main problem (for other races) with gnomes and their endless ingenuity is that they don’t always plan things through as thoroughly as they could – and occasionally they tinker with forces more powerful than they anticipate. Such blunders have caused some of the worst and most infamous “gnomish debacles” which have so alarmed other races and cultures. Among these blunders are such catastrophes as the Great Fire of 256, which claimed the lives of a thousand humans and 14 gnomes, after a prototype “express distillery” exploded and burned down the entire port district of Zara’s capital city.

Gnomes Around the World

In Tarnaclese, gnomes all hail from one place – Gilderhall, an independent city-state currently situated on the shores of the Star Sea in the southeastern regions of the continent. Gilderhall is a fantastic and strange place, being one of only two “mobile settlements” in Tarnaclese. The entire city rests on a massive plate of specially forged metal (the gnomes refuse to specify what sort of metal it is). Even more astounding, the plate sports roughly ten million articulated, crab like legs, and the entire city walks in a seventeen mile long “circuit” which delineates the land claimed by the gnomes. Should enemies attack, the city can erect automatic defenses, and gnomes can man these defenses to make them even more devastating. If the enemy is not dissuaded by large cannons and magically augmented catapults, the city can actually flee.

In Narrudan, gnomes have long been the favored prey of the slave trade; their physical limitations tend to make them easy prey, and in some lands techniques have been developed that essentially “brainwash” the gnomish slaves into accepting their lot without resistance. Those gnomes who are free are very often heavily involved in efforts to rescue or liberate their captive kin. Gnomes in Narrudan are often much less garrulous and much more suspicious of humans and other “big races” due to their generations-long fight to remain free. There are no gnomish strongholds in Narrudan.

In Iskadar, the gnomes enjoy great prestige and hold a sovereignty of their very own, a trade empire of sorts – these gnomes have perfected the art of powered flight. Their air ships ply the sky ways, enabling trade and travel across the vast empires of Iskadar, and their other inventions are just as popular and efficient. Their science has improved the lives of many of the people, and gnomes are usually treated as charmingly eccentric rather than dangerously inventive.

Gnome Crunch (by which I mean the rules, not a breakfast cereal for ogres)

All gnomes receive prestidigitation (twice a day) as a spell like ability (note that this is a change from the standard). They frequently make use of the minor effects of this spell – the most obvious use being their hair color. Gnomes are born with colorful hair, but they tend to magically or physically dye their hair in eye-searing shades or even truly shocking combinations of colors. They favor bright clothes, and don’t always favor practical or tasteful fashion.

Every gnome has a “specialty” or a particular field of interest. They get either one craft or one profession skill, as a class skill, and to that one “specialty” they may add a +2 bonus. Some gnomes take more than one craft or profession, but they are still only specialists in one.