Gnome

Gnomes (Pumilo gnomus) are a short-stocky hominid species with a sparse population scattered across central Eldham. Related to but distinct from the dwarves, they became known for their skill in alchemy and ancient state of Maddrak before its collapse.

Origins
According to legend, gnomes were created by a god that is not mentioned in any holy texts or pantheons: Ag'leyth the Forsaken, in their bid to create what they precieved to be a perfect society. In the demiplane of Leytha the gnomes were formed, moulded with a chisel of god-like power from the primordial amethyst, the Heart of Ag'leyth. As such, Gnomes were made in their image, and with their inate hunger for knowledge imbued in them. Ag'leyth is neither man nor woman, but they divided their creation in their two halves, creating the two biological sexes, needed for reproduction.

And thus the gnomes were born. Man and woman are alike, for sexual dimorphism in gnomes is minimal, both sexes having naturally long facial hair, for example. In the realm of floating amethyst islands, the demiplane Leytha, they were set with unending natural resources, and no natural predators. Ag'leyth's experiment had started.

Modern secular hypotheses indicate that the gnomes' closest modern relatives are dwarves, and as such the two races share the genus Pumilo together. The two likely evolved from a short and robust species of early hominin, possibly Homo erectus, Homo athielensis, or another as-of-yet unknown ancient race. The gnomes, or rather their ancestors, most likely migrated to Eldham during an ice age from Azia or another northern continent, and completed their speciation once separate from the ancestors of the dwarves tens of thousands of years ago.

Empire of Leytha
What others did in thousands of years the gnomes of Leytha did in centuries, and so it was that alchemy, the arts, engineering, astronomy and astrology, phylosophy and sociology all developed in record speeds. Ag'leyth was pleased, but it seemed that the gnomes were not. Their empire came to dominate the entirety of the demiplane, and they needed more space, for there was a growing under class of serfs, nigh slaves really, that were homeless, poor and hungry, and this ubset Ag'leyth. As such, he delivered to them a single piece of technology that allowed them to travel outside of Leytha, passing through a region called The Nether. Purple portals made of a new stone called obsidian, when set afire and in a particular configuration, opened portals to this Nether, and through it they found other portals, already built, to other planes, made by other gods. The eyes of the gnomes tingled with awe and wonder, and the first adventurer souls did not take long to make their way to Eldham.

They arrived in what is now known as Othukhan, central Eldham, and this land they named Maddrak, Forest Land in their tongue, and the overflow of population settled in it. But there were already tribes of natives in there. Granted, this all happened hundreds of years before any true civilization was present in eldham, at least from the point of view of the gnomes, but the land was already owned. Having little simpathy of those not created from the Primordial Amethyst the gnomes of Maddrak mercileslly slaughtered the local tribes of Goblins, and the surviors were set to work until death in terrible conditions as slaves. And thus, gnomish slavery was born, and trolls and ogres, goblins and orcs, and even ice elves were exported from the New World back to Leytha, and life there became an utopia to the gnomes themselves, their every need served by their newly found slaves.

Great wonders were built in the name of progress by the gnomes of Leytha, as the slaves were bred like horses and stuffed into tightly packed barracks, barely even able to be called habitable. Amogst said wondes were the Source Crystal.

Age of the Crystal
The Source Crystal was made in the image of the Primordial Amethyst, the heart of Ag'leyth. Floating several dozen feet in the air, the Crystal was made from pure and solid redstone, indeed a very rare mineral at that age, where the enchantement known as Fortune had not been discovered yet. It was a Mind Engine, simulating the combined computing power of several million brains put together. It was so smat, in fact, that it gained individuality, and was able to predict the future with uncanny precision...

Exodus
The Source Crystal had predicted that the Empire of Leytha and its colonies in Eldham would fall soon to a massive scale slave rebellion, and so the scientists and engineers that built the mind engine organized an expedition to leave to yet another demiplane, outside of Leytha and Eldham. They passed through one of the obsidian portals and found themselves in the Nether, as was expected, but suddenly the portal colapsed behind them, and they were stuck. Nothing was heard from this group for eons to come.

The vast majority of gnomes in Leytha perished, for the army of the formerly enslaved had no mercy for their masters. Not even the children were spared. Soon, the Freed Peoples, as they called themselves, would travel to Eldham, Onthukhan more specifically, to end the gnome population there too. In a desperate bid to preserve their beloved experiment Ag'leyth collapsed all entrances and exits to Leytha, trapping the Free Peoples inside to die to starvation, for they knew not how to operate the vast machines needed to feed the population by themselves.

The Gnomes of Onthukhan were now isolated and doomed to extinction, for a small but elite group of the Free Peoples had passed through the portals before their collapse and had started to hunt them down. One by one were they slaughtered, as they were driven further and further into the deep forests of Onthukhan. They were now known as the Forest Gnomes and had forever forsaken what they used to consider divine right to enforce their will onto others. They were peaceful people and for generations did they manage to hide, until the past came to besiege them. The battle was fierce but the gnomes has no chance, having long forgotten how to craft the powerful weaponry their people had once boasted. Now the gnomes were truly gone, for now, at least.

New Age
Civilizations has come and gone in Eldham and all that was left of the formerly so dominating empire was dust and echoes. Eventually a nation was founded on the ruins of the gnomes, Phoenia, and with it came hope for the gnomes once more, for within the political machinations and histories that developed on said nation arose the Chancellor-King, Skippy "the Gnome" Amethya Blizun, who was, for a time, the leader of said nation, and while doing so he rediscovered what his race had done, rediscovered what had happened to his people and, above all, rediscovered the Source Crystal, and now builds a religion around worshipping it, as well as building a containment facility for it in a bid to make it stop using its incredible intelligence and child-like personality to alter reality itself.