Gnomes

The people from below, the tunnel dwellers, gnomes are short, smart humanoids, naturally gifted for planning and building. They come in myriad colors and countenances, which over generations come to resemble the materials they work with; thus, the original miners and crafters of their kind became Gold Gnomes, while the grand architects of the ancient Altanesi became Jade Gnomes, and the healing masters of the forest turned into the Bone Gnomes.

Gnomes came after elves and before humans, populating the underground tunnels and differing from all other peoples in both their physical form and approach to the world. Small, frisky and focused, gnomes love crafts and invention. Their link to Vaala is weaker than that of elves, but they complement their magic with study and craftsmanship. In fact the birth of gnomes marked the second step of Vaala influence on living peoples, for within them the presence of Protogon inspiration was still stronger than it would be with humans, but more versatile than it had been with elves.

The gnomes were the first sentient people to choose the underground to live in, for they were drawn to the inner workings, the mystery and origin of things. There in the deepest darkness, while seeking answers to their own existence in the world, gnomes ignited the First Spark in the Dark - the spark of curiosity, ingenuity and creativity, bringing light to a world that had never known it.

Godao
The first gnome breed to appear in the world, Godao or Gold Gnomes are known for their creative, active minds, and their knack for networking and engineering.

Golden gnomes have roughly the skin and hair color variation of humans. They are strong in Fai magic, and dream up inventions that only they understand.

It was the Godao which lit the First Spark in the Dark that would become their peoples’ creativity magic. Then, as they would do ever since, they made this idea, this spark, into a real, working artifact, crafting the first underground arcane lanterns that would allow them and their descendants to travel and populate the underground.

Originally the neighbors and allies of the silver elves, the gnomes built a network of underground dwellings, workshops and ateliers below the elven Kingdoms, providing the Ellari with solid craft that rivalled the silver elves’ fabulous dreams. This era was recorded as the Time of Two Treasures, with Silver on the surface and Gold hidden below.

The friendship between silver elves and golden gnomes is the oldest surviving covenant between two Valernian peoples. Even in this latest millennium, in which the Ellari were subjugated by the Dragon Kingdom, the Godao remained near, their innate creativity drawn to the dreams of silver elves, even diminished by the Dreamless Treatment. It was under the auspices of the Dragon Kingdom that the Godao built their Grand Guild, the continent-spanning trade consortium that provides the raw supplies they need to work with from every corner of Valerna, and handles the distribution of their inventions to every realm.

Most Godao live in Allaria, whose civilized environment furthers their entrepreneurial outlook and engineering ventures. They own and run the Grand Guild of Allaria, a continent-wide trading consortium focused on developing, building and selling machines.

Golden Genius
The Godao are very close to the Fai aspect of Vaala, which they call ‘the Spark in the Dark’, or simply ‘Inspiration’. By Inspiration, golden gnomes have developed the art of Golden Genius - a magical engineering ability that allows them to create fantastic contraptions and artifacts without necessarily understanding how they did it. Most Golden Gnomes have some kind of knack for crafts, and those that develop it into Golden Genius may create true magic items. Any artifact created through Golden Genius is known as a Golden Gadget, or Gnomish Gadget; these gadgets are the gnomes’ best-known cultural trait, and the main goods and services provided across Valerna by their Grand Guild.

Common tongue: Godao, Allai

Ikini
Bone Gnomes, or Ikini, are a wild offshoot of gnomes that migrated from the Westerlands underground to the Northern tundra and the Hollowdepths.

Ikini have adapted for survival in cold forests and caves; their skin is pale like bone and whitewood, and their hair can be of all the colors of leaves.

When the Spark in the Dark was first ignited, the Ikini walked away from their cavern home, some digging deeper, some seeking the surface, until they settled in the mounds and grottoes between the Hollowdepths and the Northerlands. They can be found both at the greatest depths below the world, and among the tallest trees of the Tyvajala forest and the Ysvalian Fogwood

Ikini culture is rowdy and roving, with small traveling communities - often just one or two families - bound by camaraderie more than blood. They mate freely, hunt and forage together for mutual protection, and children leave their community fairly quickly to found roving bands of their own.

To move quickly between camps and between seasons, the Ikini have tamed squrls, the giant rodents common to Valerna’s northern forests, and ride them at surprising speeds through the woods and underground.

Most bone gnome bands live by hunting and foraging, or selling their arts & crafts to nearby towns or passing travelers. Failing that, they are not above raiding their neighbors for food, often ‘paying’ for their robbery with impromptu paintings and sculptures in their victims’ walls and fields.

Ikini Painting
Contrary to their reputation for violence and crudeness, Ikini art is wondrous to behold, and imbued with gnomish inspiration magic. Most Ikini can do at least a bit of illusion, making their paintings and models come alive, but the most accomplished masters of the craft can create living things and wondrous objects out of their art.

Common tongue: Godao, Ikoi

Iko’ob
Jade gnomes, or Iko’ob, were the master builders of antiquity, at the height of the Altanesi Empire, and have recently returned to the world to rebuild their lost creations. They are smart and enigmatic, with an oblique, wicked sense of humor that only the Altanesi seem to understand.

A jade gnome has green or blue skin, and bright red or black hair, with eyes that seem to almost glow from the contrast with their skin color..

Like most gnomes that left the Golden Tunnels for the surface, the magic of Iko’ob turned from the Fai to the Source, allowing them a communion with solid and symmetrical things, which they use to measure forces and cut blocks of stone, building the greatest structures in the history of Valerna.

Thought extinct for millennia, Jade Gnomes were known for their architecture and sculpture mastery during the Altanesi Empire. It was them who invented the monumental architecture that today can be seen in Altanesi ruins and relics across the continent.

After the fall of Altan and the Dreambleed that followed, the Iko’ob retreated to the isolated islands that remained in the Southern Seas, disappearing from history and cutting off all contact with mainland peoples for thousands of years. With the rise of Daar Altan and the Ascendancy, the Jade Gnomes abandoned their exile, rejoining the new Altanesi in their effort to restore the grandeur of the Lost Empire.

Iko’ob remain the greatest architects and builders in Valerna, with the ability to erect walls, cities and colossal automatons from one day to the next.

Common tongue: Ikoi, Old and Late Altanesi