The Great Convergence: Setting Details

Introduction:
    The Great Convergence is the largest region of Tero with an average elevation below sea level, making it the ultimate destination for several of the most important rivers in the southern half of the continent. This convergence of rivers allows traders and merchants to easily get to and from many of the wealthiest nations of Tero. With the addition of access to maritime trade routes through several natural ports, the people of the Great Convergence are some of the wealthiest in the world, with access to goods from almost anywhere on Tero.

Geographic History:
    The Great Convergence is but the lowest portion of a massive rift valley being slowly formed as the continent rips itself apart. Earthquakes are a common occurrence in the region, as are sinkholes and the formation of deep crevasses in the bedrock of the area. Being generally low in elevation, much of the water that falls on the southern half of the continent finds itself heading towards the Great Convergence. Because of this, many large rivers with high discharges flow to the region before meeting the ocean. Being generally flat and getting a lot of water flowing through the area means that the Great Convergence is highly prone to flooding. Almost every spring during the annual snowmelt, the banks of all of the rivers overflow at the same time and the entire region seems to become one massive river. Although it is very wet for part of the year and there is a fair amount of rainfall year-round, most of the Great Convergence is made up of scrublands and meadows. These plants are well-adapted to the thin soils and wild differences in water availability through the year, although the rivers of the region are surrounded by trees. Swamps and other wetlands are fairly common as well, particularly on the insides of bends in the rivers where water can pool up and stay after the annual floods. Native wildlife includes jousting crocodiles, armored water buffalo, and many subspecies of ducks. At the top of this food chain, however, is the apex predator, the pack hunting raccoon-wolves.

The Gnomes:
    The inhabitants of Gnome Country have inhabited their lands for thousands of years. While they were originally normal humans with a hedonistic and mischievous streak, the event known as the Shrinking of the Gnomes resulted in all the residents of Gnome Country at the time being shrunk down to half the size of normal humans. Since then they have embraced their smaller sizes and developed a culture which venerates the traits that gave the gnomes their small size. A large portion of the downstream and delta regions of the Great Convergence is considered part of Gnome Country, with several important ports being controlled by the gnomes. The gnomes have used this, as well as easy access to trade with the First Empire through the Tradestream river, to gain tremendous wealth, which mostly gets divvied up between the nobles in exchange for a stable government. Gnome culture values theft and non-violent crime as a source of chaos, so gnomish locks and protective magics are highly valued as being some of the hardest to get past in the world. Any property that someone wants to hold on to needs to be well-protected in Gnome Country. Recently, Gnome Country has become something of a tourist destination as people realize that many things which are illegal in the rest of the world, such as glitter and rabbit pageants, are legal in Gnome Country.

Convergent Wanderers:
    The humans who became the ancestors of the gnomes were themselves the descendants of a nomadic hunter-gatherer society which still exists in the Great Convergence. They call themselves the Convergent Wanderers. They get this name because they travel the landscapes of the Great Convergence in small tribes for most of the year, gathering wild fruits and vegetables and hunting armored water buffalo. The Wanderers call themselves convergent because once every year, on the Winter Solstice, all of the tribes meet for a massive festival at the southernmost point of the Great Convergence. Generally, the tribes follow a shamanistic religion, making sacrifices to the local spirits in every place they camp, hunt, or gather. The Convergent Wanderers do not usually interact with the more settled peoples of the Great Convergence, preferring to keep to themselves and only rarely coming into settlements to trade for metal tools and the few manufactured goods they tend to use. For the most part, the tribes live off of the land.

Independent City States of the Snallygaster Snake People:
    Hundreds of years ago, the snake people of the Snallygaster Culture came into the Great Convergence and set up several city states along the various rivers. Not wanting to start wars while in a vulnerable position, they kept their new settlements away from Gnome Country. Snallygaster Snake People live openly as snake people in these cities, a somewhat abnormal state of affairs made possible by the fact that the city states have majority snake person populations. Like all snake people, they have an innate ability to change their appearance to that of almost any other humanoid species, but the Snallygaster Culture tends to see this as a form of self-expression and artistic beauty. Public displays of imaginative and aesthetically pleasing transformations are seen as an important part of Snallygaster culture. Pageants are regularly held all over the cities to give individuals plenty of opportunities to show off their best disguises. The city states are not unified, each one being led by a different family. The leader of each city, usually the oldest living member of the leading family, is known as the archon of the city and has absolute rule of their domain. Each city state maintains its own trade relationships and produces different goods, making some wealthier than others. Snallygaster religion values free expression and artistry, with worship centered on the good god Snallygastrus. The church encourages its followers to be open and honest in all things, especially guests to the cities. Despite this religious mandate, some of the city state leaders seem to think they have enough power to conquer and unify the other city states, and maybe even some of the neighboring nations as well.

Rough Timeline

• 6,000 year ago- The Convergent Wanderers first enter the area
• 2,500 years ago- Gnome City is Founded
• 2,000 years ago- The Shrinking of the Gnomes happens
• 800 years ago- The Snallygaster Snake People enter the area and establish their city states
• 700 years ago- The First Empire establishes trade and diplomatic ties with the region
• 500 years ago- Feeling restricted by the settled folk and concepts of private land, the Convergent Wanderers begin to occasionally trade with settlements
• 20 years ago- The Convergent Wanderers are attacked during their winter solstice convergence by a group of gnome religious extremists, resulting in the deaths of hundreds

Major Factions
    There are several factions associated with each of the groups in the region, each with their own goals and needs. Most of them are somewhat limited in their geographic influence, but each of these major players in the area holds some influence that people may have to contend with at times. Most of these groups have something that they can offer to people for the right price, but dealing with them is not always a requirement for those willing to do things themselves.

Gnome Nobility
    The nobility of Gnome Country is heavily entrenched in the wealth of the country, maintaining collective ownership of almost all businesses and industries. The monarchs and other nobles are primarily interested in maintaining the status quo and continuing to make obscene amounts of money off the labor of the peasants. Shaken by an increase in the rate of peasant uprisings in the past decades, the nobles are even more focused on stability and power than ever before.

Reformed Church of Gnomishness
    The Reformed Church of Gnomishness is the newer, more progressive branch of the gnomish faith. They believe that the peasants of Gnome Country are oppressed by the nobility and do everything they can to bring about change short of open rebellion. The members of this church can frequently be found in conflict with devotees of the Orthodox Gnomish Temple, either verbal or physical. Often seen as the aggressors in these conflicts, the church can sometimes struggle to maintain a positive image with more stability-minded gnomes.

Orthodox Gnomish Temple
    The Orthodox Gnomish Temple is the original gnome religious organization. They believe that the monarchy and greater nobility are a natural consequence of a society which follows gnomish values. Despite the blatant support of the oppressive monarchy, much of the peasantry sees the charity work done by the Gnomish Temple as a show of good faith that they truly care for the poor as well. How much truth this view has is up for debate, but enough gnomes consider themselves Orthodox to result in great brawls in the streets of cities when members of the Reformed Church of Gnomishness refuse to take back something they’ve said which is heretical to the orthodox gnomes only. For the most part, however, followers of orthodoxy value stability and fear any change to the status quo in case it ends up being a change for the worse.

Gnome Mafia
    Gnomish culture values certain activities which would be considered crimes in other cultures. In general, gnomes only consider something to be a crime or morally wrong if it results in physical harm to someone else. Under this moral philosophy, theft, vandalism, and various other things are perfectly legal in gnome society. What sets the Gnome Mafia apart from the rest of gnome society is that they are perfectly happy to use physical violence to achieve their goals. While able to operate somewhat in the open in Gnome Country, their glitter factories and pageant rabbit farms being perfectly legal in their homeland, the assassination, intimidation, and blackmail side of the operation is still off the books. The mafia have gotten around this to some degree by earning enough money to pay off anyone who might be trouble, and so the Gnome Mafia has corrupted their home government just as much as it does in any place it sets up.

Gnome Peasantry
    Gnome peasants, lacking noble titles or noble relatives to support them, have no access to the vast sums of money their labor becomes. In the towns, this is usually acceptable because towns are supplied on a regular basis with everything they need. This is contingent on profitability, but that is not frequently an issue. In the cities, however, where trade is much more common and heavily taxed, gnomes do not have a town industry to fall back on and must do whatever they can to earn enough money to survive. While a meager middle class has formed under this system, most gnomes live in poverty. This has resulted in several uprisings over the centuries, but they rarely seem to end well for the peasants.

First Empire Diplomats
    The First Empire, which maintains an embassy in Gnome City and several of the Snallygaster City States. Generally, their orders from the First Emperor are to try to maintain stability in the region, since the gnomes and snake people are valuable trading partners for the empire and they control access to important shipping lanes and trade routes. As a secondary goal, the diplomatic corps is also expected to try to maintain a positive image of the First Empire in foreign lands to hopefully make conquest easier in the distant future. The second goal is a secret outside of the First Empire Diplomatic Corps, for obvious reasons.

First Empire Merchants
    Many traders have come down the Tradestream and through the maritime trade routes from the First Empire to buy, sell, and trade exotic goods. Offering all sorts of products from all over the empire, the merchants tend to buy up gnomish locks and snallygaster preserved meats to sell back home. These traders, unlike gnomes, are not taxed on nearly all their profits like the native gnomes, so they are able to make quite a bit of money with a few shrewd trades. It is also fairly common for these merchants to hire out crews and teams of gnomes to run their trade ships and caravans since a low wage for merchants is often better than any pay the gnomes could find at home without joining the clergy or mafia. The merchants are more than happy to take advantage of gnomish desperation since it helps them make obscene amounts of money.

Convergent Wanderers
    The Convergent Wanderers are generally just interested in minding their own business and continuing their way of life. These hunter-gatherers are masters of the swamps and scrubs of the Great Convergence, so they are generally able to achieve their goals without dealing with the settled folk. The snake people and gnomes have historically oppressed the wanderers and restricted their ability to travel, so Convergent Wanderers are rightfully wary of outsiders, especially on the rare occasions they enter settlements to trade for a few essentials. Today, there are a few wild places that have never interested the settled folk, and the Convergent Wanderers thrive in those places. Currently, the monarchy of Gnome Country grants the southern portion of the Wanderer’s Peninsula as a reserve for Convergent Wanderers to continue their way of life and allows free passage to the southernmost point for all Convergent Wanderers for their annual convergence on the winter solstice.

Snallygaster Snake People Archons and Upper Classes
    The leaders of the Snallygaster Snake People, their families, and their wealthy supporters rule their city states however they wish. Although their society values honesty and openness, there is an understanding among the rulers that some things must be kept from the public for the greater good. As such, there is often a drastic difference between the public personas that leaders and members of the upper classes display and how they are in private. Maintaining this facade is often a source of great stress and even intrigue in the courts of the archons as they try to publicly show the virtues and values of their culture while secretly preparing for the conquest of their neighboring cities and eventually the rest of the Great Convergence. All of the archons seem to think they will be successful if they attack, but no one seems to think they will be ready to make their move for some time.

Priests of Snallygastrus
    The priests of the god Snallygastrus see themselves as the keepers of snallygaster snake person culture and good morals. They maintain elegantly-carved stone temples in each of the city states as well as in the hinterlands where they perform rituals and preach the message of their god. They believe that honesty and openness are the root of all virtue and that those who are honest in all things will find that being kind, generous, and so on will naturally follow. Short sermons are held every day at sunset in their temples and followers are encouraged to come at least twice each week. The priesthood also performs large amounts of charity to support the poor and frequently find themselves imprisoned for being openly critical of the ruling class. Overall, the priests and their religion are fairly popular with the peasantry of the Snallygaster City States.

Snallygaster Snake People Peasantry
    The peasants of the Snallygaster Culture have a better life than their gnome counterparts in Gnome County, but they still experience a great deal of inequality with the rulers and upper classes of the city states. The archons do not generally tax trade as much as the gnome monarchs and they do not maintain state monopolies on farming and industry, so it is much easier for the average Snallygaster citizen to earn money and buy the things they need. An uprising has never occurred, although the peasantry generally wishes for more equity and equality in their societies.

Shiverstrewn Islander Merchants
    Merchants from the Shiverstrewn Islands, directly south of the Great Convergence, are a common sight in the coastal ports of the region. These brash, independent merchants are less interested in luxury goods and are more interested in buying the necessities they cannot always get on their relatively small islands. Despite an independent nature and goals of self-sufficiency, most of the islands are short on several important resources. In exchange for these necessary supplies, the merchants bring unique pieces of art, strange magical ingredients, and the odd enchanted item. These goods usually sell for a high price, allowing the merchants to get everything they need, but there are some concerns that if it ever comes to it, these merchants will become pirates and steal whatever supplies they can’t afford to buy. Given how common piracy is in the Shiverstrewn Islands, this may not be an unfounded fear.

Shiverstrewn Island Confederation Diplomats
    The Shiverstrewn Island Confederation, the somewhat unified government which represents all of the inhabited islands of the eponymous archipelago, maintains a single foreign embassy in Gnome City. The diplomats here are mostly tasked with trying to convince the monarchy to do something about the large amounts of pageant rabbits being shipped to the islands. Due to the geographic proximity of the two countries, many rabbits from Gnome Country make their way to the Shiverstrewn Islands for pageants, and many escape these pageants to then lay waste to the natural environments of the islands. Rabbits are not native to any of the Shiverstrewn Islands and most of them lack predators of any kind that will go after rabbits. Now, several islands are overrun with rabbits which are eating all of the vegetation in sight and outcompeting native birds and reptiles. These requests have mostly fallen on deaf ears.

Gnome Country: Cultural Profile

Introduction:
    Much of the downstream and estuarine regions of the Great Convergence are controlled by the gnomes, resulting in the name Gnome Country being given to the monarchist state they have created in their lands. Despite the curse placed upon their people over 2,000 years ago, the gnomes have taken advantage of their proximity to the Tradestream and several deep water ports to create a prosperous and stable state. As a wealthy trading kingdom, most citizens in Gnome Country enjoy a relatively high quality of life.
    Gnomes value many things, but above all else they have a cultural veneration for thieves and tricksters. Gnome culture and religion venerates these figures to the point that particularly infamous gnomish thieves become saints, with the most important of all gnomish saints being St. Gnelson, the ancient king who caused the gods of chaos to curse the gnomish people with their small statures by stealing powerful magic items from them. It is even said that these items are still held deep in the vaults of the Gnome Monarch’s Palace.
    Gnome City is at the center of the government and culture of Gnome Country, but that does not mean that the rest of the country is empty. There are many small towns which farm food and produce trade goods along the rivers and plains of the small state. Towns are administered by mayors, who are themselves appointed by the reigning monarch of Gnome Country. It is the job of each mayor to ensure their town is producing a high volume of goods and generating a net profit for the state-owned trading companies. In exchange for this, townsfolk are provided with the food and supplies they need free of charge. Ports are centers of trade where the mayors, also appointed by the reigning monarch, are responsible for maintaining peace and collecting taxes on all imports and exports that pass through their docks. As long as the money keeps flowing, mayors are given much leeway to rule as they want.
    Overall, the gnomes of Gnome Country are good-humored and welcoming, but they see locked doors and clutched purses as a challenge. Spending time with them can be quite enjoyable, provided one keeps their wits and stays wary of scams and cons. Gnomish locksmiths are renowned for their ability to make nearly unpickable locks, thanks in part to the high number of people testing their designs in Gnome Country.

Magic and Technology:
    Due to their wealth and connection to other wealthy trading nations, gnomes have access to the best magical products and enchantments that money can buy. Provided they have the money, people in Gnome Country are able to live life in a level of comfort equivalent to that of wealthy people in the real world. Gnomes in particular have a cultural interest in magic that assists in stealth and criminal activities, so pretty much all of the magical universities in the country specialize in such spells and enchantments, among several related schools of magic. At these institutions, one can learn potent spells of invisibility, or how to make shoes that make the wearer impossible to hear. Gnomes also seem to have a talent for protective magic and illusions, born from necessity as magical thieves would otherwise make a joke of any concept of personal property in Gnome Country.
    Those without much money are not able to gain the benefits of imported magic items and expensive home enchantments, so they live life much more like people of late medieval Europe. What magic and enchanted items people can get their hands on are coveted and often shared for the good of their community. This is more or less tolerated by the nobility, who technically possess the sole right to use and own enchanted items by a near-obsolete law which has almost been repealed several times. With over 2,000 years of the cultural veneration of theft and trickery, gnomish lock, key, safe, and protective booby trap technology surpasses that of any other nation. The gnomes have leveraged this skill to trade for the best raw materials and luxury goods from around the world, allowing many noble gnomes to create enchanted safes and locks that are virtually impossible to get into without the correct key or combination. While enchanted locks are the stars of the trade, they cannot be made as quickly as mundane locks and safes. Mundane gnomish locks and safes of high quality still command a high price and maintain an adamantine reputation. It is said that a good gnomish lock will take even the best lock pickers hours to open up, or at least as long as it takes for security to find them.

Society:
    Gnome Country is a plutocratic monarchy where all industries and companies are either owned or heavily taxed by the reigning monarch, known as a king, queen, or simply monarch as individual identity dictates. To maintain a class of loyal nobility, the monarch grants nobles shares in companies, monopolies on industries, land holdings, and responsibilities according to noble title. Noble titles and holdings pass to the oldest living child of the noble in question upon their death unless the reigning monarch intervenes and grants them to someone else. Younger siblings inherit nothing and it is up to the titled nobles to decide how much to support their untitled relatives. Some families of particularly high influence may have more than one titled member, sometimes even dozens. It is also traditional for the monarch to grant important titles and holdings to their immediate family members, although it is not a requirement.
    Untitled individuals without a titled relative to support them must find some other way to afford food and shelter. Jobs in Gnome City and the ports pay in Gnomoleons, the minted currency of Gnome Country which can be used to buy goods at markets and stores. In smaller towns, mayors are shipped goods and supplies according to how productive their town has been. These goods and supplies are then distributed as the mayor sees fit, although they are usually distributed equally or by lottery (depending on how much of a given good there is) to avoid bureaucratic headaches. Surviving as a peasant can be difficult and stressful with very little social mobility, but the gnome mafia and gnomish religious orders offer some relief.
    Gnomish society values a lot of behaviors that are illegal in other places such as theft, extortion, and racketeering, so the gnome mafia operates more or less in the open. While they do not officially perform hits or anything else which is against the laws of Gnome Country, the mafia is able to openly manufacture and export glitter and breed rabbits for illegal pageant rings. Other nations, even those with good diplomatic relations, find this open support of industries they banned long ago to be a source of tension. The mafia in Gnome City is seen as the progenitor of all other gnome mafia groups and its leader is considered the honorary leader of all gnome mafia groups around the world. Any gnome is able to join the gnome mafia, and members of other species are able to join with the permission of the leader of their local gnome mafia cell. Members are entitled to food and shelter no matter their ability to work, although they must do things for the mafia when they are able to.

Religion:

    Gnome religion is split into two main sects with a long history of conflict between the two. Both sects are heavily involved in the daily lives of gnomes and have polarized gnome society. The two sects are the Reformed Church of Gnomishness and the Orthodox Gnomish Temple, with the latter being the older and more conservative branch of the faith. Both sects agree that the religion began with the Shrinking of the Gnomes by fey lords in retaliation for the actions of the ancient king and first true gnome, St. Gnelson. St. Gnelson is said to have stolen something valuable from the gods of chaos, the curse upon his people being evidence of his success. The gnomes, however, found their new size to be more of a boon than a curse, building their religion and cultural values around the chaotic and selfish actions which brought about their condition. Although there are many differences in philosophy and specific beliefs between the two sects, the biggest difference is that the the orthodox gnomes believe the shrinking of the gnomes was always meant to be a blessing while the reformed gnomes believe it was meant to be a curse and that gnomes have defied the expectations of the fey lords by embracing it.
    Although gnomes generally see their stature as a boon, they do not actually worship the beings responsible, or any gods for that matter. Instead, gnome religion venerates the various saints who they’ve canonized and the personality traits associated with proper gnomes. This focus on values, historical figures, and practices over worship and belief has kept it as an important part of gnome culture for hundreds of years, even in gnome enclaves far away from Gnome Country. Although they tend to value certain parts of gnome religion differently, practices do not vary much between the two main religious sects. While the average person only really goes to the temple or church when they need advice or specific services, members of the clergy fill their days with performing rituals and rites in accordance with the secret holy calendars of each group. On various days of each month, each sect holds various religious festivals and go on processions to promote various qualities of the ideal gnome. Although the schism between the groups happened hundreds of years ago, they still share many saints and stories with each other. Both sects are also adamant that their saints and values exemplify theft and other criminal activity as forms of chaos and mischief. These sects are aligned with cosmic chaos and decry any selfish and evil motivations that gnomes may have when thieving. In reality, theft and mischief in the name of chaos is more of an ideal than the thing that actually happens.
    The Orthodox Gnomish Temple is the older of the two institutions and tends to embody a more conservative and traditionalist worldview. The Orthodox High priest is a good friend of the royal family and generally tries to interpret religious issues in the nobility’s favor. To avoid seeming too invested in the ruling class, the Orthodox gnomes also sponsor some of the largest homeless shelters and soup kitchens in Gnome Country. While not all of the commoners are swayed by these shows of good faith, many still follow orthodoxy out of a sense of tradition and duty. Members of the temple tend to view members of the Reformed Church as misguided apostates who ought to return to the fold of Orthodoxy.
    The Reformed Church of Gnomishness, however, sees orthodoxy as an outdated and regressive philosophy which upholds a somewhat harmful status quo. Reform gnomes tend to be political progressives and reformists as well as religious ones, seeing the problems caused by the nobility and the monarchist system and wanting to enact some form of change. The head preacher of the church sees the organization as a vehicle to assist the poor and concentrate their power into something that the nobility is unable to ignore. As a result, nobles and monarchists in Gnome Country tend to see the Reformed Church as a thorn in their collective side. The institution is popular enough that not much can be done about them, but not so powerful that they get a lot of the things they actually want. Lately, the Church of Gnomishness has become a breeding ground for more radical and revolutionary ideas, leading to increased tensions with the rest of gnome society.

The Gnomish Values:

• Thievery
• Mischievousness
• Shrewdness
• Thriftiness
• Gumption
• Pacifism
• Wit

Gnome City:
    Gnome City is seen as the center of not only Gnome Country, but all of gnome culture as well. All gnomes, by virtue of the well-known reason for their existence, see Gnome City as their ancestral home. Even gnomes from far-flung and disparate diaspora groups will try to visit the city at least once in their lives, seeing the trip as an important cultural and religious experience. While not seen as a pilgrimage in any real sense, these trips reaffirm the heritage and connection that all gnomes share and helps to maintain a strong identity among the gnomes of the entire world. The city is also a huge trading hub, sitting along the waters of the Tradestream, a massive river that begins far to the east on the farthest edges of the First Empire. Because of this high volume of trade, it is easy to find outsiders and non-gnomes in Gnome City, although they are mostly restricted to approved areas which have been built with the tall folk in mind. Parts of the city are reserved for gnomes, with these rules being enforced by both the royal guards and the city police.
    People who live in the capital of Gnome Country certainly see themselves as being part of something important. Many of them even seem to look down on those who live outside of the city. This attitude has become something of a stereotype that gnomes in the towns and port cities apply to gnomes from Gnome City. The royal family and important noble families of Gnome City, while already wealthy from their control of local trade and industry, are made even more wealthy by their domination of trade and industries in the towns and port cities. Residents of these outlying areas have been known to feel resentment over this, leading to several revolts in the past.
    As the capital city and diplomatic center of Gnome Country, Gnome City is also home to the embassies and ambassadors of various countries that maintain positive relationships with Gnome Country. These embassies are another reason why non-gnomes come to the city, often with the goal of limiting the amount of glitter and pageant rabbits being exported by the country. Often being met with limited success, the stories of what is and is not legal in Gnome Country that these diplomats brought home have also created a fledgling tourism industry in Gnome City as people come to enjoy things which are taboo back at home. The gnomes of the city are generally overjoyed at the influx of rubes and marks they can make money off of.

Ports:
    The port cities of Gnome Country are important centers of commerce and access to maritime trade routes. Most ships docked in these cities are heading to or from the Shiverstrewn Islands which lie directly south of Gnome Country. Despite doing more trade than Gnome City, the Monarchy heavily taxes all trade and owns most companies and industries, funneling most of the wealth generated in the ports to Gnome City. The mayors and nobles in charge of the ports are granted a percentage of this wealth, so while they live lives of luxury, the local commoners and laborers live in generally worse conditions than the gnomes of the capital. Cultural influence from the less centralized Shiverstrewn Island Confederation and the general inequality of Gnome Country have led to a bit more of a rebellious streak and several historical uprisings centered on the port cities.

Towns:
    Less independent and less wealthy than the port cities are the many towns of Gnome Country. Towns are usually focused on one or two industries which make money for Gnome Country and receive regular shipments of food and supplies in return. The mayors of these towns and their families are usually the only nobles around and are thus granted free reign to govern as they please. The only real caveat to this is that the towns must remain stable and profitable. Methods of distributing the supply shipments are usually fast and cheap, so lots of people fall through the cracks or eke out special exceptions for themselves. Townsfolk are generally aware of the injustices and suffering they live under but do not have as many opportunities as the residents of port cities to revolt and try to make changes. This is because townsfolk usually have basic survival to worry about, but they are often willing to join whatever movements start in the ports.

Rough Timeline

• 2,500 years ago- The human ancestors of the gnomes found Gnome City and name it after their king, Gnomulus.
• 2,300 years ago- Gnome Country takes on its current boundaries, more or less
• 2,250 years ago- The gnome mafia declares its first leader, Biggus Antonius
• 2,000 years ago- St. Gnelson travels to Pandemonium and steals powerful magics from the chaos gods and the fey lords, resulting in the Shrinking of the Gnomes
• 1,800 years ago- The Great Rebuild is completed, making all structures in Gnome Country the appropriate size for their occupants; Gnome culture has embraced their new size and the behaviors that led to having it
• 1,750 years ago- Gnaomi’s Floodwall is completed and named after the queen who oversaw the first half of its construction
• 1,500 years ago- The first peasant revolt is subdued
• 1,375 years ago- The upstream and downstream locks are completed, along with the canal of many docks, forming Gnorbert’s island, named after the king who oversaw its entire construction
• 1,300 years ago- The second peasant revolt is subdued
• 700 years ago- Merchants and emissaries from the First Empire make their way down the Tradestream and establish relations with the monarchs of Gnome Country
• 650 years ago- The third peasant revolt is subdued
• 500 years ago- The Reformed Church of Gnomishness splits from the Orthodox Gnomish Temple due to a disagreement over the nature of the magic cast upon their species by the fey lords: was it intended to be a blessing or a curse at the time of casting?
• 200 years ago- The Shiverstrewn Island Confederation establishes diplomatic ties with the monarchs of Gnome Country
• 175 years ago- The fourth peasant revolt is subdued
• 50 years ago- The fifth peasant revolt is subdued
• 8 years ago- The current king, Gnorbert 5, is coronated, much to the displeasure of the rest of the nobility
• 5 years ago- The sixth peasant revolt is subdued