Gnome Facts

10 Facts About the Gnomes of the Topaz Rift

1. Gnomes are often described by members of other races as being "full of sugar". Gnomes display emotion to an extreme that few others can match. There's nothing more bright and bouncy than an excited gnome and nothing sadder than a depressed one. An old gnomish saying is "If you live in every moment, every moment deserves all your life."
2. The typical gnomish diet consists of fungi and lichen. That isn't to say there isn't a variety of flavor. Gnomes use alchemical formulas to duplicate the flavors of foods from all over Krystallos.
3. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to gnomish hair of skin color. The coloring isn't inherited, as a gnome child can have different coloring than either parent. Nor does the coloring seem tied to location, time of year or any other factor. Gnome like to believe the child herself picks her coloring while still in the womb.
4. Gnomish society is ruled by what they call the "Shining Rule". Quite simply, it states: If your action would harm someone else, don't do it. The rule is treated quite seriously by the normally hyperactive gnomes. They understand the need for self-defense and defending others, however. A second rule, called the "Not So Shining Rule" states: You're allowed to stop someone from harming someone else.
5. Gnomish children aren't raised by their parents because gnome don't form family units. To an outsider it might seem that children run wild around a gnomish community, eating what they want and sleeping where they want and doing what they want. Gnomes, however, see it as children learning through constant experience. Children quickly learn the consequence of their actions through deed instead of through words. Gnomish children are also well loved. It is the rare gnome who doesn't enjoy taking time to play a game with a child or spend a moment cuddling them.
6. Gnomish language is complicated. They have a fondness for inventing words. Worse, the rules of the language seem to change from day to day. Add to that the gnomish habit of using their natural illusion capabilities to enhance their speech and the result is few outsiders truly ever get the hang of the language.
7. There are few gnomish wizards. Because of their natural magic capabilities, most gnomes find the idea of studying spellcasting to be bizarre. Sort of like studying to run when you already can run.
8. Most of the illicit substances in the world flow from the Topaz Rift. Gnomes feel no guilt over this. They make the substances, yes, but they feel it is a matter of personal choice to make use of them. An addict is a sad thing but reached that point through their own actions.
9. The gnomish concept of personal property is iffy. They recognize that people own items but believe that most people are perfectly willing to let you borrow an item you truly need without having to be asked. This concept doe not extend to items for sale, however. Gnome believe that an item for sale belongs to no one and, therefore, cannot be borrowed. As an odd side-effect of this philosophy, gnomes find the concept of sale goods being given away to be highly insulting. Until a sale item is paid for it cannot belong to anyone.
10. Many gnomes suffer from agoraphobia, the fear of open spaces. This is because most gnomes spend the majority of their lives inside rooms and chambers carved into the rock of the Topaz Rift. The extreme is this are those gnomes who are convinced that if they spend too much time outside the sky turtle will come crashing down upon them.