((IC and therefore probably terribly wrong as lore goes, but I dug my journal out of my bag and thought I would post it here))
Spoken of in Gnomish circles as being from the journal of the Faendryl wizard Konitallikus
The story of the cave gnome is an unfortunate tale of envy and greed. For once there was a sylvan ranger of great fame among his kin, for whatever that is worth. However, as it happens, one day he found himself being tracked and for the life of him could not find the tracker. Returning home he asked the local elder who could possibly be so much better than him in the woods, the elder did not know. So he asked the local cleric of Imaera, who promptly answered "Forest Gnomes". This enraged the sylvan who begged Imaera to change his form so that he would also be a master of the woods, Imaera was angry of course, as she had made birds to be birds and sylvans to by sylvans and neither should question her judgement.
So it was she gestured at the sylvan turning him into a most despicable mix of gnome and elf, bald and gangly and the worst part was he found the forest to be frightening instead forever living in caves.
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The page, written in Common, reads as follows:
From the Journal of the mad Halfling Mage Pladanook
The invasion was falling apart, we had taken out the magical support and only a few trolls remains. It was at this moment however they released their secret weapon, a terrible creature from another plane of existence which set fire to the forest around the city in its birth cry.
We were prepared for the worst when several arrows shot out of the smoldering trees, many of them bursting into flames as they connected with the creatures head. The trolls ran at the fall of their champion, a few people on the wall claim to have seen gnomes running back into the woods laughing.
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From the Willowthen tales
The elvish chronicles, which are generally a load of hogwash, most often attempt to diminish the existence and importance of which is not elven...often with humorous results.
One fine example is their attempts to suppress the gnomish existence during the time of the drakes Just because a group of plodding over-sized elves did not see Gnomes does not mean Gnomes were not around.
This is easily shown by the history of the Wendwillows and Zelia, Zelia took her first Matron from a Wendwillow Matriarch after the Drake wars, fully thousands of years before the elves would have first contact with Gnomes. Before there was even a house Faendryl. While it is true the great affliction drove us out of hiding five thousand years ago and combined the gnomes into the two major groups of Basingstok and Withcombe, this hardly account for the creation of Gnomish kind it just demonstrates elves inability to find anything in the forest.
The affliction however did lead to the gathering and schism....
The Great Affliction! The time when we were driven from the ancient home of cave and stone led to many changes in the Gnomish way of life, the affliction spread throughout the known Gnomish world at the time and all were affected, it was found that a few of those gnomes who lived above ground were not affected so the entire race moved in one of the largest migrations of a people in the history of the world
The population was decimated and so we were drawn into one large group, old Blood Lines dissolved, after the great debate only two viable blood lines remained the Basingstoke and the Withycombe....However the Blood Lines would reform as old ways die hard, still after moving out into the woods we thrived...
Around this time the first Cave Gnomes appeared, the true story behind the cave gnomes may never be known, as many of the old songs from before that time were lost in the Affliction. Some say they were a group of Gnomes seeking power, some say they have no relation to gnomes at all......the Wendwillows speak in hushed whispers of a group of Gnomes who would not travel out of the caves, that the Cave Gnomes are what remains of a stubborn group too set in their ways...the affliction killed most of them but some survived deformed and deranged, considering the timing of their arrival this story seems possible.
It is possible Cave Gnomes were the first afflicted or had something to do with the great plague, whatever there origins they are not Gnomes any longer, if they ever were....
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The Great Coming Together, The Great Falling Apart
With the great race's population so severely depleted by the affliction, we came together as one group, perhaps the only known Gnome Nation of its kind, it was not long before an insane group of Gnomes however would break the group up before its true potential could be known, The Withycombe wished to enter into human towns and abandon the great forest, The Glorious Doneagil Basingstoke rose up and defended the ancient tradtions, reminding all present what it means to be a Gnome, however some would not listen...
The Great Falling Apart occurred then the elders of the much reduced old blood lines merged into two groups, those who remained to challenge themselves against the wilds and those who ran. At this point the old Wendwillow Blood line fell apart as some went to the cities out of curiosity and most stayed with the Basingstoke's, Wendwilow became a large family within the new Blood Line. Basingstoke.
Basingstoke
For almost two thousand years the newly merged Forest Gnomes thrived, smaller clans broke off but remained part of the larger whole. However one group, The Greengairs, decide to stop wondering and behave like elves....this infuriates the Basingstoke elders of the time who have become too adverse to change, they clamp down on the remaining Gnomes and the elders pass resolution after resolution banning all sorts of behavior
However, Mircea Adhiambo rises up to challenge these new stifling rules, reminding everyone who will hear that it was stagnation that led to the first great Affliction, she reinstates the old Wendwillow Blood Line and removes those who would come to wander the forest unhindered by the stagnation of the Basingstoke rules.
Wendwillow
After the Basingstoke's clamping down on gnomish habitats, and there attempt to repress century old traditions, most of the oldest Wendwillow families joined with Mircea Adhiambo in migrating away from the Basingstoke camps. The oldest matrons remembered well the old tales of wandering and Zelia and it was easy to fall back into traditions not yet lost to time
From the Wendwillow Blood Line others would spin off from time to time but the core remained led by an unbroken line of matriarchs that some say extend all the way back to the age of Drakes. The Wendwillows would spread out beyond the old borders of the Basingstoke line and began making contact with the various races of the world as well as the far flung Burghal lines.
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On Halflings
The "True folk" as they are sometimes called are potentially the people Gnomes can relate the best with, they both share many of the same qualities. However many Gnomes find halflings to be a lazy group of humans, albeit of the proper height. For while almost every Gnome's life is dedicated to testing his or herself against the world halflings seem content to shut out everything and spend their life eating overly sugared tarts.
Many Burghal Gnomes therefor end up thinking of the halflings as rural bumpkins and many Forest Gnomes end up viewing them as lazy and boring.
This is not always the case however Wendwillows have long traded with the halfling communities as they provide a chance to talk and trade without going into human cities.
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From the Journal of Dendum
Krolvins
The gnomish world has avoided dealing with the krolvins for the most part, the only ones who live near the water do so deep in the Elven controlled lands. The Wendwillows walk the shore but do not feel a need to hold it from invaders and generally make a habit of going unnoticed. As such they lack the outright bias towards the half breeds.
Some Burghals however still sing songs of their humans being destroyed while they went underground, or even of being forced out of towns entirely due to destruction. To the best of my knowledge no Burghal has ever worked in a Krovlin run city. However Burghals retain the gnomish gift of pragmatic outlook on life, even if its to a lesser degree and for the most part are more cautious than hateful towards Half-Krolvins. It is hard not to pity the oversized half-krolvin.
