Forest Gnome

Forest Gnome
Forest Gnomes are among the most rare races seen on Éarthrun, far shier than even their deep gnome cousins. Small and reclusive, forest gnomes are so unknown to most non-gnomes that they have repeatedly been discovered by wandering outsiders who happen into their villages. Timid to an extreme, forest gnomes almost never leave their hidden homes.

Description
Compared with other gnomes, Forest Gnomes are even more diminutive than is typical of the stunted race, rarely growing taller 0.4 – 0.8 meters in height and 10 – 16 kg. in weight. Typically, males are slightly larger than females, at the most by three centimeters or 2 kg. Unlike other gnomes, forest gnomes generally grow their hair long and free, feeling neither the need nor desire to shave or trim their hair substantially, though some young males often do take careful care of their beards, trimming them to a fine point or curling them into hornlike spikes to impress the female. Forest gnome skin is an light earthy color and looks, in many ways, like wood, although it is not particularly tough. Forest gnome hair is brown or black, though it grays with age, sometimes to a pure white. Like other gnomes, forest gnomes generally live for centuries, although their life expectancy is a bit longer than is the case for either rock or deep gnomes; 400 is the average life expectancy of a forest gnome.

Psychology
Forest gnomes are painfully shy creatures who neither feel the need nor want to interact with other races. For the most part forest gnomes would simply like to be ignored as they have been for millennia. Unlike deep gnomes this comes less out of a general mistrust of outsiders and more out of an extreme sense of privacy and affinity for the natural world, combined with a general ambivalence about things that are outside of their experience. Among their own kind, forest gnomes are quite friendly, if not particularly lively. Younger males are often given to trickery in their search for action and are well known for pranking Haflings and Humans. Sometimes in a friendly way, but if mistreated they can become a plague that's almost impossible to get rid of.

Like deep gnomes, forest gnomes rarely leave their remote homes. As a general rule, forest gnomes lack the curiosity that is typical of most gnomes and will only leave their homelands under intense pressure, such as a threat that they alone cannot overcome. For the most part, forest gnomes prefer to stick to what they know, caring for the wood around them.

Culture
Forest gnomes live in an extreme state of primitivism, though their lives are generally comfortable and idyllic. Forest gnomes are largely hunter-gatherers, harvesting their food from wild fruits, nuts, and berries, and supplementing their diet with a little meat from squirrels or similiar critters. Forest gnome villages are usually composed of less than a hundred members, who are often all a part of an extended family. Forest gnome homes are generally small, reclusive, and so well-hidden that a human might well walk within a few feet of a gnome and home and not even realize it. Part of this is because of the unique manner in which forest gnomes construct their homes, which are typically located within trees.

Forest gnomes spend the majority of their day tending to the forest and gathering food to feed the rest of the village though a few, like their kin, search underground for gems in a manner unusual for most hunter-gatherers. Forest gnome children who are too young to contribute are generally allowed to do as they like, although they are prevented from wandering far from their protective parents. These children learn how to behave primarily by example, watching their elders, acquiring a reverence for the forest and appreciation for their society gradually. Forest gnomes are generally organized in a loose gerontocracy, with the eldest member of the community serving an advisorial role to the rest of the community, who generally only make decisions by consensus. Outside of their homes, this ethic carries on, though gnomes rarely gather in groups of more than two or three beyond their secluded villages.

Forest gnomes only rarely become adventurers, usually due to some kind of threat to their home or other need that requires them to leave their reclusive hovels. The forest gnome love of music makes many excellent, if somewhat shy, bards. Other forest gnomes become clerics or druids, who often play important roles in forest gnome society upon their returns. Very few forest gnomes would consider themselves proper warriors and forest gnome fighters are next to unheard of. On the other hand, many forest gnomes are well-suited for the life of a rogue, given their small size and stealthy natures. Some forest gnomes also show a propensity for the arcane arts and become, like so many of their kin, illusionists.

Arts and Leisure
Forest gnome society, like that of most hunter-gatherers, is a curious mix of luxury and hard work. Forest gnomes spend most of their days working for the benefit of the community but after returning home from the forest, they are usually treated to a relaxed lifestyle with few causes of stress. During such times, forest gnomes devote themselves to a variety of humble but impressive artistic practices. Among these are gemcutting and jewelry-making, which forest gnomes, have a deep fondness for. Typically, however, these beautiful designs reflect the natural world in a way uncommon to most civilized peoples. Forest gnomes also forge a wide variety of tools but have a notable taboo on axes, due to their common use in woodcutting by other races.

Forest gnome architecture is also unique. Like many of the Tel-quessir, forest gnomes make their homes in such a way as to disturb the local environment as little as possible. However, unlike elves, who often live in the branches of trees, weaving their architecture into the surrounding structures, forest gnomes build their homes within trees, carving them in a careful manner devised by druids that does as little harm to the living plant as possible. Each tree hovel is usually a few hundred feet away from every other one, allowing each family the privacy that forest gnomes as a whole crave. The homes themselves are usually made of several tiny rooms stacked on top of one another, with trapdoors and ladders connecting them. Each room is about 1.20 meter tall and line with windows to let in the sun.

Because of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle forest gnomes neither keep livestock nor pets. However, forest gnomes are fond of wild animals and will sometimes forge bonds with them. Of the forest's wildlife, forest gnomes most prefer the company of creatures close to their own size, such as foxes.

Relations with Other Races
Although forest gnomes are a shy and reclusive people they are not particularly resentful or untrusting of outsiders. Usually, it's more the case that forest gnomes simply don't care about other races and, when they meet outsiders they're often friendly, if painfully timid. When given the chance, forest gnomes can be close and loyal friends.

Of the other humanoid races, forest gnomes are most fond of rock gnomes, elves, and halflings of all types. Forest gnomes get along particularly well with elves, thanks to both races sharing similar homes to the forest gnomes. In regards to other races, forest gnomes usually do not care about them, although an exception is made for orcs, kobolds, and lizardfolk, whose harsh treatment of forests make them natural enemies of the forest gnomes. Forest gnomes have a similar, but more amiable opinion of humans, thanks to loggers, trappers, and hunters of human civilizations.