I have. So many headcanons/thoughts on canon dnd races and I figured it was about time I shared them with more than just the people I know on discord. SO! Starting with gnomes because. I just really love gnomes? And have a Lot to say about them.
More of these coming soon though! I have one on a specific elf headcanon I have also posting today and more actively in the works. Feel free to send requests for different things you want me to talk about, though. I have many thoughts.
The image description got Really long so under the cut (including a transcription of the writing)
[Image ID: Two images presented in a way that mimics field notebook entries. The first is titled “Gnomes” with four associated images. In the top left is a full body drawing of an average-weight gnome with light tan skin and short dirty blond hair. They’re wearing a light green shirt and blue overalls. They have floppy, round ears, cat-like whiskers, four fingered hands with paw pads and small claws, and a tail with a tuft of the same color hair at the end. In the top right of the first image is a zoomed in example of a gnome’s four-fingered hand with dark tan skin, pink paw pads, and small claws. They’re wearing a braided bracelet. In the bottom left is is a series of 3 gnomes from the waist to the knees and facing away to show their tails. The first is thin, has dark skin, and black, tightly curled, natural hair (a patch at the base of the tail and a tuft at the end). She has a scar on her left side and is wearing black underwear tied in a bow over her tail. The second is thin, has pale skin and wavy brown hair that travels in a line from the base of his tail to the end. He’s wearing striped blue boxers that button over the top of his tail. The final gnome is chubby with stretch marks and light tan skin. She has a fully furred, long-haired black tail and is wearing pink underwear with a slot for her tail to slide through. In the bottom right of the image is a bust of a dark-skinned gnome with natural black hair pulled back into a large poof at the crown of her head. She’s wearing a purple cloak with a golden clasp and has some light aging lines.
The image has writing throughout that says: “One of the ‘small races,’ Gnomes, much like Dwarves, are evolved for partially subterranean life. They produce both hair and fur; hair appearing in patches both on the head, like most humanoids, and in varying densities on their tails. The rest of their bodies are covered in a thin, peach-fuzz-like layer of fur as part of their adaption to cold climates. To ensure maintained traction, gnomes have fur-less pads on both their hands and feet. Additionally, gnomes possess claws built for digging through hard-packed soil. Their whiskers, although largely vestigial now, have allowed them to better gauge the width of tunnels in their burrows, especially during expansion processes.” There is also a note at the bottom that reads, “A long-lived people, Gnomes ageing stops at what would be considered middle-age for humans.”
The second image depicts a gnomish town, a series of small hills with doors built into them. The town has many various trees, one with a small treehouse built into it. The doors the enter into the gnomish houses are all individual decorated with different plants and have either stairs or ramps that lead down to the main dirt pathways through the town. The lower part of the image transitions to a look at the gnomish homes under the surface. The one shown is a series of furnished tunnels with flooring and walling. One room is full of furniture and most walls are lined with photos. An additional room is shown full of various, colorful blankets and pillows.
The second images has writing at the bottom that says: “Gnomes traditionally live in large family burrows known as ‘warrens.’ Families consists of multiple generations and single children are rare. Marriages will either merge two small families or prompt one partner to join the other’s warren. Should a warren become too large, it will sometimes split into two seperate families. Towns, referred to as ‘clusters’ consist of multiple family warrens along with communal farming, livestock, and spaces. Community is an important aspect of traditional gnomish culture.” There’s an additional note pointing towards the room full of pillows with the note, “A family all sleeps in a single room of the warren full of pillows, blankets, and other soft things.” : End ID]
One headcanon about gnomes that I’m quite passionate about is that they have a completely different relationship to what privacy means.
The way they traditionally live is in burrows where there may be double-figures of people living in the same room. So I think that with things like nudity and bodily functions and anything that’s just a reality of physical life, they have very few hang ups, especially around their own kind.
Similarly, they have weddings that are a week long, and these have ceremonies for not just the couple but the whole clan to take part in. The wedding and joining is between two (or sometimes more, get me on gnomish poly another time) but the marriage is the introduction of everybody to each other.
So for a gnome to confide a secret? To have a close intimate bond? That is really something special and should be treated as such.
