Gnomes – global population: 2%

The entire population of both surface gnomes (Wurtzi) and deep gnomes (Svirfneblin) mysteriously vanished during the Convergence.  Not one gnome was originally thought to have survived the horrible cataclysm, and for 23 years after the Convergence there was no evidence of their whereabouts.  Arcanists and other scholars dubbed this phenomenon the Vanishing, and research into the disappearance of the gnomes continued until the mystery was solved in early 23CR, when the race suddenly reappeared all across Gaia. 

The gnomes had been trapped in a dimension of the Far Realm known as Chaal-Nathra, the Writhing Sorrow.  An aberrant realm filled with impossibly  huge elder worm beings and other monstrosities, Chaal-Nathra itself seemed to have taken Merin Jewelshine, god of the gnomes, hostage and trapped his body within itself somehow.  Experiments with planar sailing by gnomish alienist and scholar Pindlebent Fourtoes led to the intial contact with Chaal-Nathra before and during the Convergence, but it remains unclear what gambit Merin was involved with that may have led to his imprisonment there.

The reappearance of the gnomes caused more than a few legal entanglements and other awkward situations regarding living space and personal property, but the race's population was primarily centered around the split aboveground-underground Imperial City in the hills of the Ver-Shaon to begin with.  As such, the gnomes quickly moved to reclaim their homeland and start the long process of reintegration into Gaian society post-Convergence.  Gnomes from outlying areas used their inventive natures and resourcefulness to start their lives anew, or sometimes to pick up where they left off before.

       The gnomes are considered one of the most inventive and industrious of the surface races.  Their talent for arcane artifice and magic of all kinds is well respected, and they have strong alliances with the humans of Falgenor, Hathorae and Jarta as well as the Kagan dwarves.  The gnomish predilection for prankish humor and curiosity is one of the race’s defining traits, and most gnomes held up the ideals of extended family, compassion and invention as the highest calling. 

      Since their return from Chaal-Nathra, the gnomes have demonstrated odd fey characteristics and a predilection for scrying, plane-gazing and alienist magic.  Their entrapment in the Writhing Sorrow seems to have awakened an even deeper weirdness in the gnomes, and their sense of humor has run to the dark and sometimes twisted.  The race's good nature still shines through, but memories of their imprisonment still haunt them and they speak obtusely of some great prank to be played at the expense of Kyuss and Chaal-Nathra.

Races of Gaia