(Book 1, pp94-95; DWR p.242)

Basic Information

A forest-dwelling people, shy of human contact and not entirely unrelated to the trees they live among. In their own abode they can move almost unseen and command the help of the forest and its denizens.

Appearance

See the gamebooks for the best description - they are like small trees in humanoid form. This gives them a thick woody skin and tough claws like roots. When they speak it is like the wind whistling through branches and the creaking of trunks. Some human woodsmen and especially Elves*, have been known to learn a little of their tongue.

Known or Supposed Origins

Not known. One might expect them to have some relationship to Okemen* (Bk 4 pp120-121) although the canon is silent on this point.

Special Abilities

• Very good at hiding in forests - if they are motionless only an 8th rank normal (or 3rd rank elven) can spot them.
• Can cast the special Embog* spell once per day.

Geographical Distribution

From the gamebooks they seem to very much Elleslandic* but it would seem reasonable that they appear wherever there are deciduous forests - so Mercania*, Chaubrette* and Kurland* would all be likely.

There is some debate amongst learned folk and sorcerers as to whether the Leshy of the northern forests of Krarth and the Gnawing Waste are gnomes by another name or a similar form of fey.

Further notes

From the above it should be clear that Gnomes in DW are not like gnomes in D&D (or similar settings). They live in the forest and the wild, not underground, they are not inventors and in general their way-of-life and mindset is fey and far removed from the human norm. That is why Gnomes may not be PCs in DW.