In the beginning, gnomes and dwarfs were dvergars, tricksters living deep beneath the earth. Some bonded to the stones and earth itself and became dwarfs, or earth elementals, and others took up the crafts and skills of their people and developed an almost obsessive devotion to the rules and systems they created. These became gnomes.

All gnomes have to follow a set of rules, thought those rules might not make sense. A rogue gnome is one that has lost their set of rules. To most people, including most gnomes, any gnomes is just a gnome. Their specific nation is really only relevant to them and the rules they follow.

Gnomes are universally subject to major discrimination around the world for their wild and unstable inventions, which are in part a result of the fact that they do not suffer harm from failed inventions, which pushes them to certain risks.

They once were categorized more speciically, but on Third Shem, they have become classified by the colors they prefer for their hats. Gnomes can change nations by changing their engineering specialty and their hat color (and often do). They all speak the same language, or at least, dialects thereof.

Gnome Template

Black Gnome (science) - used to be chemical gnome - chemical engineers
Blue Gnome (sound) - audio engineers
Brown Gnomes (earth) - used to be spelunker gnome - geotechnical engineers
Green Gnome (wood) - environmental engineers
Grey Gnome (metal) - mining engineers
Pink Gnome (structure) - structural engineers
Purple Gnome (creation) - used to be maker gnome - construction, mechanical, and architectural engineers
Red Gnome (systems) - used to be integral gnome - systems engineers
White Gnome (void) - used to be irritonic gnome - void engineers
Yellow Gnome (storm) - used to be circuit gnome - electrical engineers