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Deep Gnomes are the descendants of gnomes who emerged after the great cataclysm, changed by something they experienced deep underground. They are playable at Early Access launch and can take eight of the eighteen classes.

Lore and origins

The split from their surface cousins is described as a transformation rather than a migration. Something happened to them below the surface, the official text does not say what, and they came back out different enough to be catalogued as a separate race.

The distinction the lore draws between the two is precise and worth quoting in shape if not in words. Where gnomes are the greatest engineers and researchers of Eth-ur, deep gnomes are the preeminent meta-scientists and explorers of the worlds beyond. Their subject is not this world but what lies past it.

What they are looking for

The official material says deep gnomes seek the truths of the multiverse rather than the universe, and describes them as deep divers of the dreamscapes, explorers of the astral planes, and spelunkers of the Spirals. Three distinct planar domains are named there, and none of them is elaborated anywhere else.

The Spirals are the interesting one. The Spiral Lords launched the first invasions of Eth-ur, and trolls arrived during them, but the official material never says whether the Spirals the deep gnomes explore are the same thing or a coincidence of naming. It is a connection the setting invites and does not confirm, so it should not be asserted.

They are described as fearless, and as mingling with the other races only when it furthers their research. There is one detail that cuts against the caricature of the detached scholar: the more they learn, the more pressing their desire to return to the surface becomes.

Appearance

The race catalogue gives no physical description. A mid-2026 development report recorded finalised deep gnome eye technology and concept work on deep gnome and deep elf hair, which confirms that both races have distinctive enough features to need dedicated art work, but the reports are pipeline notes and do not describe the result. As of September 2026 no written description of deep gnome appearance has been published.

Homeland and starting city

Deep gnomes belong to the Deep, the underworld that spans the entirety of Eth-ur and is covered in Descent into the Deep. No specific deep gnome city or settlement is named, and they are not among the races given an explicit starting city. See Starting Cities.

Classes

Eight classes are open to deep gnomes, and the mix is the strangest of any race. It holds the arcane casters that surface gnomes also get, and then adds the Beastmaster, the Druid and the Shaman, three classes rooted in nature and spirit that no other gnome can take. The Deep in this setting has its own thriving ecosystem, which is the likely reason.

What is not published

As of September 2026, no racial stat block, attribute modifier, resistance value or racial ability list has been published for any race in Monsters & Memories. The official race material is lore plus a class list.

The dreamscapes, the astral planes and the Spirals are named once each, in a single clause, and nothing else in the official material describes them.