Longwalk Gnomes

The gnomes of Longwalk differ from their rock gnome cousins in many ways. The influence of the crater has affected the inhabitants just as much as it has their surroundings. Gnomes of Longwalk are said to be touched by the fey, and because of this are more magical in nature than their rock gnome cousins. Interestingly, this has also caused the mind of gnomes in Longwalk to wander as well. Consequently the gnomes of Longwalk are an eclectic group, prone to speaking quickly, being very fidgety, having little patience, and constantly reinventing the wheel. Longwalkers are very open minded about new ideas and therefore their interests and talents range from the mundane to the absurd. A short list of gnome interests that is by no means exhaustive includes: alchemy, invention, illusion (magical and non), astronomy, optics, aerial navigation (in air balloons), engineering, gem crafting, spelunking, art (mostly sculpture), etymology, philosophy, animal husbandry, as well and more mundane professions.

Personality: Longwalk Gnomes are outgoing and open. They tend to think of everyone, even non-gnomes as part of the family, and as such extend a welcome arm to strangers. While merchants may still be shrewd and politicians conning, they will more than likely still have a smile on their face (especially if they are getting the upper hand). Like their bretherin gnomes of Longwalk adore animals and beautiful gems, but their love of jokes has been replaced by a fondness for creation and magic. Though still humorous, a gnome of longwalk is much less impressed by a practical joke as they are a new invention, alchemical substance, or enchanting magic. Longwalk Gnomes are inquisitive. They love to find things out by personal experience. At times they’re even reckless. Their curiosity makes them skilled engineers, since they are always trying new ways to build things.

Physical Description: Gnomes stand about 3 to 3-1/2 feet tall and weigh 40 to 45 pounds. Their skin ranges from dark tan to woody brown, their hair is fair, and their eyes can be any shade of blue. Gnome males prefer short, carefully trimmed beards. Gnomes generally wear leather or earth tones, and they decorate their clothes with intricate stitching or fine jewelry. Gnomes reach adulthood at about age 40, and they live about 350 years, though some can live almost 500 years.

Relations: Gnomes get along well with dwarves, who share their love of precious objects, their curiosity about mechanical devices, and their tie to the earth. Halflings, though geographically closer to Longwalk than some races, are totally foreign to natives of Longwalk. Although not rejected entirely, halflings are generally labeled"outlander", which is a polite way of saying, someone who we don't know anything about. Longwalk Gnomes are generally familiar with humans, half elves and elves. That is to say they have seen them in books or heard about them in stories. When such giants enter Longwalk, they are received welcomely, though with some good natured beleaguerment. The taller races are officially known as Brobdingnagians, which just means giant in Longwalk dialect, but the are often jokingly referred to as Bunyanesque bipeds, Mastodonic mammals or Antaean Anomalies. Of all the races in the players handbook, half-orc are the only one that are met with open hostility. To the residents of Longwalk, a half-orc is close enough to an ork to be killed on sight in most cases. Very rarely do half-orcs travel though the civilized regions of Longwalk, and even then they do so carefully. In surprising contrast to their still fierce hatred of orks, the gnomes of Longwalk have come to a kind of truce with goblins. Goblins are permitted to live in Longwalk, so long as they are peaceful and do not allow their numbers to get too large. This strange relationship was the product of hundreds of years of warring with Goblins over the Lands of longwalk and a final truce, sealed with the blood of twelve kings.

Alignment: Longwalk gnomes are most often good. Those who tend toward law are sages, engineers, researchers, scholars, investigators, or consultants. Those who tend toward chaos are minstrels, tricksters, wanderers, or fanciful jewelers. Gnomes are good-hearted, and even the tricksters among them are more playful than vicious. Evil gnomes are as rare as they are frightening.

Religion: The Gnomes of Longwalk are not very inclined towards religion. Their natural magic and ties to earth, give them a sense of place in the world without needing the Olindo to give them order, or the many varying gods of Chaos to give them freedom. When gnomes do worship a deity, it is most often Endool, as they feel, much like elves do, that they are Endool's children. Thus gnome clerics are far more rare than gnome druids.

Language: The Gnome language, which uses the Dwarven script, is renowned for its technical treatises and its catalogs of knowledge about the natural world. Human herbalists, naturalists, and engineers commonly learn Gnome in order to read the best books on their topics of study.

Names: Gnomes of Longwalk are not nearly as fond of language or names as their rock gnome cousins. They do, however, have a specific naming convention, that almost all gnomes follow. The exceptions to the rule are usually orphan (with no real family name), or outlaws (who have given up their family ties). The gnome name convention is as follows, family name, then the short and middle name concatenated together. The family name is passed down paternally, while the short and middle names are the gnome's given name, but they too have particular rules. The middle name is usually a common name used in a gnome's community, while the short name is a single syllable prefix (in the case of men) or suffice (in the case of women) attached to the middle name, and the two names must start with the consonant. For example: Beren WayWocket. Beren is the family name, Wocket is the given or middle name and Way is his short name. Strangers would generally know him as WayWocket or just Wocket, while close friends would call him Way. Officials would refer to him by his full name. A female example is Foremore ClaraCan. Family name: Foremore, Middle name: Clara. Short name: Can. Short names in general, unlike family names or middle names are thought up individually by parents when their child is born.

Common last names: Beren, Youba, Grawly, Uktai, Foremore, Rizzit, Wigil, Nackle, Folkor and Hondrey.

Common male middle names: Wocket, Honnet, Skeebo, Jebdo, Dimble, Gilm, Noik, Kikero, Radoc, Dromoc, Drubo, Cart, Sogo, Patter, Monsum, Vacan, Torkel, and Frodoc.

Common female middle names: Syrka, Ficla, Pica, Polly, Branna, Nanka, Harrow, Holly, Pora, Danna, Jessa, Frea, Clara, Shula, Donna, Mara, Jeska, Hanna, Meca and Mernda.

Common Life: Most gnome families have at least five to nine children and families usually stick together in nuclear clusters. Often an uncle, aunt, grandfather or grandmother will take a young gnome as an apprentice in their trade if the parents are too busy or the youth shows little aptitude for their parents profession. This tends to keep gnomes in the family.

Gnomes enjoy leisure time quite a bit. Though they know how to work like dwarves (or so they say) they never allow their lives to become consumed with labor. Consequently gnomes have quite a few different pastimes.

Gnomes have a rich music tradition. Gnomish folk songs often speak of ancient times as though they were just yesterday. They also tend to mix in local people and events into their songs to make them more personable. Gnomes play many instruments but show a preference for the following: harmonica (which they claim to have invented), banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle, pan pipes, and the hautbois.

Whittling and Carving. Most gnomes worth their salt know how to whittle at least simple figurines, while masters could create who chess sets in no time at all.

Longwalk Gnome Racial Traits

• +2 Charisma, –2 Strength: Longwalk gomes are good natured and persuasive, but they are small and therefore not as strong as larger humanoids. Also their ties to natural magic, make them more powerful bards and sorcerers.
• Small: As a Small creature, a gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
• Gnome base land speed is 20 feet.
• Low-light Vision: A gnome can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Weapon Familiarity: Gnomes may treat gnome hooked hammers (see PHB page 118 ) as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions: Gnomes are innately familiar with illusions of all kinds.
• Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against illusion spells cast by gnomes. Their innate familiarity with these effects make their illusions more difficult to see through. This adjustment stacks with those from similar effects, such as the Spell Focus feat.
• +2 racial bonus on Listen checks: Gnomes have keen ears.
• +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks: A gnome’s sensitive nose allows him to monitor alchemical processes by smell.
• Automatic Languages: Gnome. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Goblin, and Sylvan. In addition, a gnome can use speak with a burrowing mammal (a badger, fox, rabbit, or the like, see below). This ability is innate to gnomes. See the speak with animals spell description, page 281 of the Player's Handbook.
• Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day—speak with animals (burrowing mammal only, duration 1 minute). A gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10 also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation and mending. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + gnome’s Cha modifier + spell level. See the spell descriptions on pages 216, 235, 264 and 253 of the Player's Handbook, respectively.
• Once he or she reaches 3rd level, a gnome with a charisma of 11 or higher also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day - Ventriloquism or Calm Animal. Caster level equals one half the gnome's character level; save DC 10 + gnome’s Cha modifier + spell level.
• Once he or she reaches 5th level, a gnome with a charisma of 12 or higher also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day - Animal Messenger or Soften Earth and Stone. Caster level equals one half the gnome's character level; save DC 10 + gnome’s Cha modifier + spell level.
• Unlike their rock gnome cousins, the gnome of longwalk have no special traing in battling kobolds, goblinoids or giants and do not receive any bonuses when fighting these creatures.
• Favored Class: Recalcitrant or Bard (choice made during character creation). A multiclass gnome’s bard or recalcitrant class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty (see XP for Multiclass Characters, page 60 of the Player's Handbook).