Gnomish History

Gnomish history begins with the race of svirfneblin, the subterranean forebears of the surface gnomish race, which emerged in the early Mesolithic Period. Whatever the ultimate origin of the svirf, their incursions to the surface, together with the effect of sunlight upon their offspring over a period estimated at two thousand years, appear to have produced adaptations that resulted in a keener, though smaller, offshoot. Their first surface habitations arose in the region of the Kjolen mountains, within present-day Finnemar in Ulthua. Encounters between these small communities and the winter elves of Ulthua were friendly and mutually beneficial, as the "gnomes" — no longer identifying themselves with their subterranean svirf ancestors — passed on knowledge of mining and the smelting of mithril to the elves, while receiving in kind a surpassing knowledge of woodcraft, sleds, animal husbandry and an understanding of the fundamental principles of magic.

Circa 10,000 years ago, during the mid-to-late Mesolithic, gnomish populations increased as they began to migrate south into the mountainous ranges of Scandinavia, particularly the Dovrefjell, where they established villages along the higher slopes. Exposure to sunlight, together with a change in diet, brought rapid changes to their physiology, and they became slighter in build and less rough-hewn in appearance. Gnomish habitations arose around the mouths of the Vistula, Nemunas, Daugava and Bug rivers, supported by frozen routes across the Baltic Sea which, though safe for them, remained dangerous to larger folk and permitted constant communication throughout the year. Already well established thousands of years before the coming of the Balt peoples, gnomes built small boats and explored into the interior, leading to the founding of outposts far from the sea and, in turn, to trade as early as 6,000 years before the time of Christ.

Associations with human cultures that the gnomes described as "Maglemosian" again brought about a cultural exchange that influenced both peoples. Adopting clan and tribal associations, the gnomes also experimented with the human practice of organised aggression, particularly against goblins and hobgoblins, as these scattered peoples were encountered in lands stretching from the Tatra Mountains to the Volga basin. From this emerged a pre-Vepsian culture, which in turn inspired gnomish migrations into goblinish lands, south into the Central Highlands of the Sarmatic Plain (Scythian lands) and as far east as the Zhiguli Mountains. Much of this expansion also encouraged a search for natural placer deposits, which became important to gnomish art and religious belief. Despite this wide dispersal, gnomish culture remained remarkably homogeneous in character, suggesting that gnomes are, by nature, a less individualistic people than humans.

Conflict with the Gunda-Gaa culture of the north, a gnollish people, prevented the gnomes from occupying lands beyond the Volga. Nonetheless, with trade routes extending for thousands of miles, a relative alikeness in gnomish perspectives across these distances, and a rapid growth in population, an amalgamation of disparate gnomish centres became inevitable by the Chalcolithic period — the result being the Vepsian Culture.

Vepsian Culture

Often wrongly described as the Vepsian Empire, a more accurate appelation for this joint compact between various gnome peoples would be a "heritage," in which a long-enduring economic sphere bound together widely scattered gnomish populations across northern Europe between 2700 and 1500 BCE. Similar to the present-day Elector College of the Holy Roman Empire, an alliance of "hearths and lineages" permitted occasions where each recognised sphere of gnomish culture would send a ceremonial representative to negotiate on matters of custom, trade, river access, ritual law and mutual defense... but since such moments occurred once in a generation, it was rare that a single individual retained the office long enough to serve twice. These representatives, known in the Vepsian tongue as stonevoices, did not stand as rulers in the human sense, but as acknowledged speakers for the ancestral rights and memory of the communities that sent them. Their authority rested upon the right of each given region to speak it's need within the Vepsian order. In this way, the Vepsian culture maintained a continuity of law, exchange and religious observance across immense distances without requiring any fixed capital, monarch or permanent administrative centre.

Associations with Other Peoples

Because Elvish representatives were often present at these meetings, and due to its relatively central location, both hydrograpically and geographically, the Neva River between Ladoga and the Baltic Sea served as the most common place for these meetings. Along the northern reaches, the most persistent challenges was that of the gnollish Gunda-Gaa peoples above the Arctic Circle, between the White Sea and the Urals. Occasionally, large goblinish incursions from the Magloshkagok culture threatened the far eastern settlements, but this was usually treated as a local matter.

More threatening were the human Indo pastoral groups moving out of the steppelands north of the Black and Caspian seas. These peoples, associated with what would later be understood as the Yamnaya culture and its successors, brought with them horse domestication, wheeled transport and a social structure oriented toward mobility and territorial assertion. Their expansion into the forest-steppe would place pressure on gnomish outposts along the southern reaches of the Sarmatic Plain, particularly where river access overlapped with grazing corridors.

In scattered parts of the Baltic, early human agricultural societies produced a different sort of friction. These were not migratory groups, but established communities that grew steadily in population over the centuries. Again and again the gnomes, faced with these largely passive peoples, who in turn were ready to trade and participate upon the edges of the Vepsian economy, found themselves compelled to redraw boundaries, make treaties and allow a steady interwoven mosaic to form, that continues to exist into the present-day 17th century.

Changing Trade Patterns

The Vepsian compact had always depended upon continuity of movement: winter crossings, river routes, upland passes, seasonal trade and rare interactions with its wider representatives. In the centuries after 1500, these became less and less reliable. A broad movement of warlike Aryan peoples pressing north and west out of the trans-Ural regions and into the steppe compressed the gnomish societies of the east, imposing a more defensive, martial response; the education and practice of "Harn" culture, as it came to be known, transformed from a trading culture into something that more closely resembled the militaristic dwarven entities Hoth and Altslok — led, in fact by dwarven military advisors and artisans.

The appearance of halflings in Scandinavia following the collapse of Doggerland increased the complex fragmentation of that region; Lenglin and Nanbrun were slowly and steadily wrested apart by the peaceful intervention of the Nordic Bronze Age, as increasingly humans began to adapt themselves and compete more effectively along the old gnomish trade routes. The outlying realm of Vasterland turned inward, increasingly investing that local gnomish culture back to the subterranean routes of the ancient svirfneblin kin. Population growth among gnomish peoples slowed in comparison with that of humans, further affecting the importance of gnomish intellectual influence and wares.

The remaining enduring gnomish civilisation, adopting Vepses as its descriptor, would also continue as an entity into the present. However, while once it occupied a realm reaching from the Nemauna to the Volodga rivers, portions have been steadily parcelled since the 2nd century BCE. For a time it became a client-state of Novgorod; escaping the depredation of the Mongols, Vepses renewed its independence in the 1200s. Gnomish warriors participated against the German Teutons at Tannenberg in 1410. Today, a minor buffer state between Sweden, Ulthua and Moskva, it supports an important Illusionist's academy and seminary, as well as the most sacred temple, the Emberhall, within the gnomish culture.

See World History