Unaligned Spirit Folk

Unaligned species based in myths, legends, and folklore.

---

Gnome

Legendary, underground-dwelling devisers of systems.

• Lifespan: 80 - 120 years

• Diet: Aromatic mortal fare

• Habitat: Subterranean

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Gnomes appear to be 3’ to 4’ tall beings with large, hairy noses and ears. Their skin and hair color comes in a wide variety of hues. Their skin is often spotty or piebald, and their hair often sticks out. Their eyes kinda bug out. Their voices are often high-pitched.

Gnomes have an innate understanding of systems. How things interact and interconnect. If they observe patterns for longer than a few hours, they will be able to tell how things connect and correlate.

They can only do this for systems they can observe; therefore, they cannot understand the system of how atoms work without microscopes capable of letting them see them, nor can they understand the whole of the universe without powerful technology or magic.

Gnomes are compelled to put their knowledge of how things come together to use. Therefore, they often create devices or experiments, and these are often pushed to limits that cause disastrous results. They are immune to the consequences of these results if and only if they come to such disasters unintentionally and in the course of seeking understanding of greater systems.

Gez culture is about understanding how the world, as a system, works. In pursuit of this understanding, the gnomes of Shem experiment with machines, which they believe replicate the ways of the world.

Gnomish food is extremely aromatic. They love strong flavors. Spices, herbs, and alliums are very common. Capers are their favorite. Smelly cheeses and yogurts, soups, and fermented foods are very common. They pickle everything. Their music is rhythmic and complicated with time signatures that almost no one can replicate without their mechanical instruments. Their theatricals and radio entertainments are scientific and intricate, and their other art works are avant garde.

There are many gnomes on the moons. Most came there on their own via odd experiments - some by rudimentary or bizarre spaceships, some by excessive catapults, some by teleportation incidents, and so on. Thus, they have a strange place in lunar cultures, mostly seen as curioisities. Among colonists, they are hated and seen as pests. None are native, but they are often welcome among them.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 6 AWA 10 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 9