Revision 1

Gnomes are the most inventive and creative race on the continent of Aêthoril. They are playable at Early Access launch and can take nine of the eighteen classes.

Lore and character

The lore credits gnomes with a ceaseless pursuit of truth and with extraordinary epiphanies, a combination the official text says makes them unrivalled in genius. The stereotype attached to them is the distracted specialist: chaotic workspaces, curt and inattentive manners, and a habit of answering a question three steps ahead of the one that was asked.

Behind that, the material is unusually warm about them. It calls gnomes kind and gentle souls, and perhaps the most benign as well as the most brilliant and charming of the races of Eth-ur. That is about as close to an endorsement as the race catalogue gets for anyone.

The same passage carries a warning that is easy to skip. Some gnomes have fallen to the allure of dark gods and turn their brilliance to vile purposes. This is the in-lore reason a race described as benign has both the Necromancer and the Enchanter on its class list, and it is worth noting that the material names dark gods only as a category. No deity is named anywhere.

Appearance

The race catalogue gives gnomes no physical description. Male and female portraits exist for character creation, and a later art update recorded work on eye technology for their deep-dwelling cousins, but the written lore describes temperament and intellect rather than build or colouring.

Homeland and starting city

No gnomish homeland, city or region is named in the official material as of September 2026. Gnomes are not among the races given an explicit starting city, so their start follows the general rule that race, faith and class together decide the city. See Starting Cities.

Classes

Nine classes are open to gnomes, and the weighting is obvious: six of the nine are casters or hybrids, and the list includes both the arcane specialists and the two divine classes. Gnomes cannot take any of the wilderness or beast classes, which fits a people whose relationship with the world runs through the workshop rather than the forest.

Relationship to the Deep Gnome

Deep Gnomes are descendants of gnomes who emerged changed after the great cataclysm, and their class lists overlap only partly. Both can take the Elementalist, Enchanter, Necromancer, Rogue and Wizard. Only the surface gnome can take the Cleric, Fighter, Paladin and Spellblade.

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.