Gnomes

Gnomes of Iroe are not your typical tinkerers. They fall much more frequently into the malevolent trickster category, actively causing trouble for others for their own pleasure. They usually stay in their own isolated communities, unwilling to assist outsiders and actively making the lives of any who wander near their village awful through their tricks. Their society is typically built around slavery of other gnomes for menial labor, while the smaller middle and upper class enjoy lives of luxury. There exists another kind of gnome though; gnomes afflicted by the Wanderlust. For all the horrible traits of gnomes, the general populace's view of them is much more charitable; gnomes without the Wanderlust almost never leave their isolationist villages, most of whom are in the gnomelands, which means the typical Iroian's mental picture of a gnome is of one struck with Wanderlust.

Gnomes live an average of 100 years, with the generally accepted lifespan limit at 120. They tend toward the slightly plumper side, with heights ranging from 2.5-4 feet tall.

Wanderlust

The Wanderlust is a mental condition that afflicts gnomes seemingly at random. It causes an urgent need for the unknown and novel, causing them to wander the world. These gnomes, typically nomadic though sometimes grabbing jobs that let them explore or meet people from diverse cultures, create the mental picture most people have of gnomes, due to the excess isolationism normal gnome communities exhibit. Wanderlust-afflicted gnomes, known better as Wandering-Gnomes also tend to exhibit much more compassion than the typical gnome (though this isn't a hard rule, but a noticable generalization); whether this is caused by greater exposure to other cultures and ways of thinking, or if it is a physical effect of the Wanderlust remains unknown.