Excerpt from: ''On Humanoids: A Primer on the Humanoid Species of Temar'' by Dr. Pomira.
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The word Gnome comes from the ancient Aldish "Gnoum," which translates to "Tiny" or "Midget," a rather apt description of them. Gnomes are the smallest of the humanoid races, standing at an average height of about 150 cm for men and 140 cm for women. They weigh a minuscule 55 kg for both genders.
They are the closest related to dwarves out of all the humanoids, yet despite their similar size, gnomes and dwarves are easy to differentiate. Gnomes have a leaner, less muscular frame than their dwarven cousins. They tend to be weaker than dwarves but more agile in comparison.
Another factor that makes it easy to differentiate gnomes from their cousins is their features, as they have rather striking characteristics. Gnomes have large noses like dwarves and large mouths with notably pointy canine teeth. They have bearded faces, though they keep their beards short, as well as long, dexterous, deceptively strong fingers, and a darker complexion than dwarves. But the most apparent feature of gnomes is their eyes. Gnomes have the largest eyes of all humanoids, giving them an almost childlike appearance if one discounts the hair and bushy eyebrows.
One of the gnomes’ most iconic features, besides their eyes, is their hair pigmentation. Gnomish hair comes in many different shades, ranging from blue to purple to green and everything in between.
Gnomes have a lifespan very similar to humans, with their mundane folk living for about 70 to 80 years and a respectable 100 to 110 years for their awakened population. This means gnomes and humans are tied for the shortest-lived humanoid species.
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Gnomes are renowned for their extraordinary eyesight among all humanoid species, owing to their uniquely adapted eyes, which are proportionally the largest of any humanoid. These eyes are a unique marvel of biological and biothaumical evolution that sets their vision apart not just from humanoids but from much of the mundane and magical animal kingdom. Their incredible visual capabilities rival and even surpass those of the most keen-eyed predators known to man.
Gnomish eyes are disproportionately large, occupying almost a third of their cranial space. This larger size allows their eyes to capture significantly more light and detail and to be densely packed with rod cells, enabling them to detect even the faintest glimmers of light. This grants gnomes the ability to see in near-total darkness. Additionally, their retinas house a high number of cone cells, granting gnomes an incredible range of color perception. They can distinguish subtle differences in shades and hues that other humanoids cannot, with their vision even extending into the ultraviolet spectrum. This allows gnomes to see details invisible to others, such as fine textures on objects or minute color shifts indicative of chemical or magical changes, and helps them perceive vibrant detail and track faint movements.
Like birds of prey, gnomes have a dual-fovea system, enabling sharp focus at both short and long distances. One fovea is specialized for tracking moving objects, while the other provides unparalleled detail at great distances. Additionally, gnomes, like dwarves and cats, have a tapetum lucidum—a reflective layer behind the retina that enhances their night vision even further by reflecting light back onto the retina, doubling its effectiveness. This gives gnomes' eyes an eerie glow in the dark.
Gnomes have uniquely adapted ocular muscles, which are incredibly strong, allowing them to rapidly adjust focus and track fast-moving objects, such as birds.
Another similarity between avian and gnomish eyes is their sclerotic rings. Gnomish eyes are supported by a ring of small bones that help maintain their shape and prevent distortion, even under rapid movement or pressure.
Their eyes also have lightly curved corneas. This, paired with musculature surrounding their eye sockets, allows for a wider range of movement, ensuring a broader field of focus. This minimizes blind spots and maximizes peripheral awareness. Additionally, gnomish eyes produce a tear film that keeps their eyes moist and clean of irritants like dust or sand.
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Gnomes have also developed a neural structure specialized in visual processing to quickly and efficiently handle the large amount of visual information their eyes allow them to absorb.
Their optic nerves are highly developed, and their brains are specialized for rapid visual processing. They can recognize subtle movements, which helps make them skilled at activities requiring precision, such as crafting, engineering, or hunting.
Their large eyes are positioned for optimal overlap, granting remarkable depth perception. Gnomes can accurately judge distance and track objects in three-dimensional spaces. Though their field of vision is far narrower than a human's, it is far more precise.
But these are just the mundane aspects of the gnomish ocular organ. The gnomish eye has an ability that is extremely rare in nature.
Mana Vision
But how? Well, besides the large number of mundane photo and color receptors, gnomish eyes also feature a special type of thaumic photoreceptor, Thaumopticreceptors, which allow them to perceive thaumic energy (mana) visually. Gnomes can perceive the mana spectrum, which is essentially the different wavelengths of specific types of mana, allowing them to visually distinguish between all seven of the basic elements.
Additionally, their irises contain bio-thaumic pigments that dynamically adjust to ambient light and mana levels. These pigments filter out excess light glare in bright environments, enhancing low-light vision and preventing blinding due to excess light. These pigments also give gnomish eyes their iconic iridescent patterns. Their irises shimmer with faint thaumic patterns that shift between colors based on genetic factors and surrounding mana levels. Combined with their tapetum lucidum, which gives their pupils a glowing effect, gnomish eyes are renowned for their enchanting, almost hypnotizing beauty.
All of these factors combine to make gnomes some of the most prolific craftsmen, alchemists, engineers, and runemasters in Temar.
Though their incredible eyesight, like all things in life, must also come with drawbacks and limitations.
1. Light and Mana Sensitivity
Since their eyes are highly sensitive to light and mana, sudden, bright flashes—such as sunlight reflecting off water or magical bursts—can lead to temporary or, in extreme cases, permanent blindness. Additionally, the thaumopticreceptors in their eyes can become overstimulated in environments with dense or chaotic mana, like mana storms or battles between powerful awakened. This can lead to a phenomenon known as "Mana Blindness," where they temporarily see only bright swirling patterns. It can also cause dizziness, headaches, or even fainting.
2. Narrow Field of View
Gnomes are particularly susceptible to tunnel vision because of their comparatively narrow field of view and strong ocular focusing capabilities.
3. Over-Reliance on Vision
Gnomes tend to rely heavily on their eyesight, sometimes at the expense of other senses. Overuse of their eyes can lead to blurriness, watery eyes, and headaches, requiring them to rest their eyes periodically.
4. Energy Consumption
The bio-thaumic and mundane processes that power their vision are highly energy-intensive. This leads to gnomes requiring as much food as the average human despite their smaller size to support their large energy consumption and already fast metabolism.
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Gnomes are tied with humans for the highest magical potential among the humanoid species. Their enhanced eyesight and mana vision give gnomes a penchant for excelling in fields where precision and fine control are necessary, such as mana shaping, runemastery, and spell formulation, among others.
Curiously, there are no recorded cases of gnomes awakening as Augmenters. This has led to the hypothesis that gnomes are unable to become Augmenters and, as such, Auramancers, though they show tremendous talent as Emitters.
Gnomes have the highest range of possible elemental affinities, excluding humans, being able to have affinities for Fire, Air, Force, Light, and Water, including each of their deviant and compound elements.
Gnomish arcanoception is often deeply tied to their vision.