Alternate Ecology of Dwarves, Gnomes, and Halflings, part 3: Gnomes
In part 1 of this series ( https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/an-alternate-ecology-of-dwarves-gnomes-and-halflings-part-1-dwarves ) we covered making dwarves more interesting and distinct by melding real world science ideas with ancient myth. In part 2, we covered deep and mountain dwarves in more depth, including their relationship with the other creatures of their subterranean realms and how their society developed a fascination with armor.
In this installment, we're going to talk about how the hill dwarves came to be a distinct ethinicity, and then we'll talk about how to make gnomes distinct from dwarves and halflings but still part of a rational continuum of Small Folk.
As the deep and mountain dwarves came more into contact with humanity, and explored the surface above their cavernous homes, the need arose for groups of dwarves to spend greater spans of time in the World Above. New food sources were found, supplementing those of the Lands Below. New resources were discovered: leather, wood, bone; and the dwarves earned to craft with them. Trade was established, and dwarves traveled far and wide across the Lands of Endless Sky to exchange goods with humans, elves, and others. Some dwarves found they preferred this life, living in caverns in the hills, but spending their days on the surface, as they farmed, gathered, hunted, and traded. Over many millenia, they became a distinct grouping, although there is always some exchange between the deep, the mountain, and the hill folk, as all are free to choose the life they prefer, and all are still equally dwarves. So now, the hill dwarves, also called the Red Dwarves or the Daur-Fjar, are perhaps the most common dwarves one will see in the Sunlit Lands, known for their ability to craft nearly anything. Their hills are usually still near the mountain fortresses of their ancestors, and they provide much surface world bounty to their kin. The mountain dwarves are also called the Steel Dwarves, or Daur-Korad, whilst the deep dwarves are called the Daur-Darok. There are no duergar in this model, any ethnicity of dwarf can fall to the Dark.
So, where do the gnomes come from? In short, they are what Dungeons and Dragons might call feytouched or planetouched. In this case, each type of gnome is descended from a particular combination of dwarf and a particular type of fey creature. They don't necessarily actually biologically descend from the fey. Gnomes may be the later generations that were born from dwarves who spent time in Faerie (or the Feywild, as D&D 5e calls it.)
Rock gnomes, for instance, likely come from the combination of dwarves who were particularly interested in mechanics and engineering mixing with crafter or tinker fairies like Tinker Bell from Peter Pan, leprechauns, and clurichauns. Forest gnomes come from more normal fey ancestry, like pixies, dryds, and the like, thus much smaller than their kin, and imbued with sylvan magic. Deep gnomes, what D&D calls svirfneblin, are perhaps the most classic gnomes, born from fey like the pech, fey who embody earth and stone. (Yes, I know they are classed as elementals in 5e, but they were fey in 3e, and the line between fey and elementals in folklore is really blurry.)
Gnomes in folklore and mythology, by the way, are very often just a variety of fey creature, like kobolds and goblins also are. The name actually comes from a name for earth elementals, coined by the alchemist Paracelsus in the 16th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus
So how do we make them distinct? Basically, they represent the mental aspects of dwarvenkind and crafting, the reach for new things, change. Their fey aspects open the door for new kinds, with different fey ancestors. Redcaps, for instance, might produce vicious, bloodthirsty gnomes. Spriggans might produce spiteful gnomes who can grow and shrink as the duergar do. Of course, we don't really need two groups of nasty gnomes.
Thus, I present blood gnomes. Descended from (or imbued with) the blood of the Unseelie fey, blood gnomes are violent and xenophobic, as a rule, though of course exceptions exist. Like quicklings, they are faster than their size would indicate. Like redcaps, they thirst for the blood of living things (though they can, in fact subsist on animals, the flesh of sapient creatures tastes better). Like spriggans or duergar, they can swell to great size. They can likely turn invisible as well. They tend to have pale skin, blood red hair and eyes, sharp teeth. Their society encourages mastery of hunting and killing techniques, and produces many masters of blood magic.
Basically, just open your mind to the possbilities, and you'll see how much more interesting one can make nearly any ancestry.
Next time we'll talk about halflings, or as I call them, Daur-Burin: the Brown Dwarves, or Brownies.
