The Suttree Council
The formation of social organizations by the elves nearly 2,000 years ago made waves in gnomish society, where the love of community and progress joined with the idea of interest-focused groups, and gnomish society was soon dominated by guilds, social clubs, and other organizations. Since 3948 (almost 800 years ago), gnomish organizations called for the election of a council to govern those organizations, largely in the name of providing fair treatment to members of groups. That council, named for the Suttree Inn where they were first organized, has overseen all non-familial groups of gnomes outside the realm of politics since its creation. Different administrations conduct business differently, but most Suttree Councils have only sparingly stepped in to protect the rights of discriminated-against people, though others have created new rules governing groups in Vestry and gnomish lands beyond. The Council operates like a court more than anything, hearing issues and complaints, deliberating, and offering rulings when necessary. The Suttree Council consists of five members, and it is generally held that the five members are meant to represent the five main types of groups governed: professional guilds, interest and hobby groups, social clubs, religious groups, and social causes. Often, the Council reflects members from each of these categories, but there is no rule guaranteeing that composition. Elections for the Suttree Council happen annually, with any person affiliated with a group able to vote. The Suttree Council currently consists of Plink Danko, Chair for the Science Hobbyist Organization; Neeli Wilininery, Speaker for the Believers of Garl Glittergold; Narftet Silnth, leader of Gnomes for Homes for Gnomes; Wing Spark, Chief of the Inventor's Guild; and Moony Whisperings, teacher and President of Literate Vestry. On average, members of the Council serve for about seven years before being voted out or retiring, though there are extremes on either side of that average.
The original Suttree Council began in order to adjudicate a dispute between the established Smithing Guild of Vestry and the newly formed Gnomish Alliance for Freedom of Faith; the Smithing Guild was occupying a public space that the quickly growing gnomish alliance needed for its new members, and the two groups disagreed over who had rights to the space. The Smithing Guild argued for precedence and the popularity of their group, while the Gnomish Alliance said the Smithing Guild's four weekly meetings were excessive and that freedom of expression, a gnomish value, required they get some claim to a space to meet. When the issue couldn't be decided between the Smithing Guild and the Gnomish Alliance, the Suttree Council was formed of colleagues from other guilds with a small election. The Council ruled unanimously in the Gnomish Alliance's favor, both granting the Gnomish Alliance one day's use of the space as well as another public space that had recently become available. The Council disbanded but was called back together when, a few months later, a case involving the rights of artisans in the professional guilds necessitated the reconvening of the Council, which was voted to remain in effect indefinitely. In the following years, the current more refined system for elections and governance of groups was developed.
Of all groups, gnomes have the least cohesion on matters of opinion--individuality and even outright unique strangeness are praised in gnomish society, so difference from a perceived norm is actually very commonplace. Nevertheless, the Suttree Council is a fairly widely respected group. Gnomes believe deeply in meritocracy, and the gnomes at the top of their guilds are almost always end up heading their guilds; being on the Suttree Council is a way of validating that a Council member is the most talented person in their field, and that recognition drives many gnomes to respect the Council. Some gnomes disapprove of the Suttree Council on the grounds that it gives power to people to control things that should be up to the public; others dissent based on the popularity of the Council. Outside of gnomish society, a full understanding of the Suttree Council is hard to find. Other societies do not emphasize group organization like the gnomes, nor do they believe that hierarchy and rules are the way to run groups of people in all cases as the gnomes believe. So for most non-gnomes, the need for a Suttree Council is as confusing as the status of the Council. That said, elves and dwarves think fairly highly of the Council, seeing it as a creative measure to create justice for groups. Faninites, halflings, and half-elves tend to embrace more radical freedom and don't see the point of another layer of hierarchy. Orcs' traditions are entirely incongruent to gnomes, and orcs tend to express that they truly don't grasp what's being discussed. Daltoners take umbrage with the Council for the same racist reasons they would dismiss any gnome, but they have actually begun to adapt a similarly structured hierarchy on public groups, save for the fact that Daltoners use appointment rather than voting to select council members.
The Keepers of the Code
Gnomish society is almost entirely intellectual--the sciences are the most prized pursuit, academics are mandatory for gnomes well into adolescence, and it is believed that any problem can be reasoned out if one thinks carefully. No place in gnomish society exemplifies this commitment to reason, morality, and structured thinking than the Code of Right and Good Action, colloquially called the Right Good Code, the RGC, or simply the Code. The core tenets of the Code hold that life exists in order to make the world better; that it is an obligation of the living to use the gift of their minds; that order is more reliable than chaos; and that seeking knowledge for the cause of good is one's highest calling. The Code of Right and Good Action was written some time shortly after the invention of written language, which suggests that it existed in a spoken form prior to that. The author or authors of the code remain unknown despite millennia of investigation. What is known is that the Code is a written document, reproduced and circulated heavily, which outlines proper intellectual and philosophical rigor, methods of considering contextual issues, moral reasoning and definitions, and how to reason one's way to a conclusion that supports these ideas. The Code is fairly long--when printed as a common book, it takes up 126 pages. Copies of the Code are assigned reading in all Vestry schools, and it is expected that any gnomish student can answer any question about the Code and exhibit true understanding of it in order to graduate. It is exceedingly common in gnomish society to reference the Code in conversation, to explain a choice, or to simply discuss as a philosophical concept. Adherence to the Code in gnomish life is more extreme than religious belief in Garl Glittergold, and it is largely true that gnomes follow the Code more than religious rules. The Keepers of the Code, maintainers, restorers, and interpreters of the Code, oversee keeping the original Code pristine, but their main duties consist of explaining new ways to interpret the Code as well as new defenses of old interpretations. Adding to or altering the text of the Code is an unspeakable crime. The identities of the Keepers of the Code are kept secret, as is the number of Keepers. In reality, there are three Keepers of the Code, all career academics: Horinyl Dinker, a philosophy professor; Caxaxax Tenite, a logic professor; and Guynil Silenez, a rhetoric professor. Only gnomes have ever held positions as Keepers.
For as long as there has been a Code of Right and Good Action among the gnomes, which is to say for all of recorded history, there have been Keepers of the Code. Gnomish legend says that the first group of Keepers of the Code included its chief architect, though that gnome's identity is lost to time. It seems from records that the earliest iteration of the Keepers were primarily protectors of the physical code itself, and there is reason to believe that early Keepers were often soldiers. But it appears that some time around the year 1500, as kingdoms stabilized and solidified, that the role of the Keepers began to change to a more interpretive position. By 2000, all of the Keepers were intellectuals of one stripe or another, and the form of the contemporary Keepers of the Code was set. The lack of clear information about the Keepers over time is strange in gnomish society--to gnomes, a secret is simply knowledge waiting to be discovered, so a widely known mystery would and in fact does attract many sleuths into searching for the identities of Keepers over time. Interestingly, though, the curiosity stems from a devotion to the Code, not out of simple curiosity; most gnomes respect the Code enough to leave hidden things be, highlighting the special place the Code has in gnomish culture.
Keepers of the Code are perhaps the loftiest position that any gnome could hope for. And yet, so little is known about the Keepers that it is nearly impossible to plan one's life around seeking a position as a Keeper. So instead, gnomes who wish to become Keepers live their lives according to the Code as closely as possible. The pervasiveness of the Code in gnomish society, though, means that most all gnomes are living by the Code; therefore, the Keepers of the Code are the guiding light (or at least, stewards of it) of most gnomes, and opinion of the Keepers is remarkably high in gnomish society, perhaps moreso than any other clan in any other group. Dissent against the Code from gnomes is incredibly rare, but occasionally, a gnome will contest the Code itself, arguing that it is a static document in changing world, but their dissatisfaction is more with the Code than the Keepers. Beyond gnomish society, opinions of the Code and the Keepers varies, but no response is as passionate as the gnomes. Faninites in particular as well as half-elves have a good impression of the Code and believe the Keepers to hold important places in society. Elves, orcs, and halflings regard the Code and its Keepers as esoteric and strange but ultimately nonharmful and rather intriguing. Dwarves like the idea of a Code, but they disagree with the contents of the Code of Right and Good Action on the grounds that it ignores and even replaces religious faith. Daltoners dismiss the Code and its Keepers as blasphemy.
The Raagehdi Group
Within circles of scientists in Evanoch, there is frequent discussion of the Raagehdi Group, a private organization of scientists in gnomish lands. This group regards itself as a humanitarian group, with their primary goal being to develop scientific solutions to problems across the continent. While many of the Raagehdi Group's projects have been focused on assisting people in Vestry and the gnomish lands beyond. Within Vestry, the Group's achievements include inventing pocket dimensions in public spaces to increase possible use, a trebuchet-like invention which spreads fertilizer (a previous Raagehdi Group development) evenly across fields with the pull of a lever, and advances in medical science that have increased gnomish lifespans considerably. Outside of Vestry, the Raagehdi Group has assisted Torga with the construction of a loch system in the city's harbor, Talon Gorge with a scaffolding system allowing trade from the Empira Sea, and Ringsdale with mining tools that can more easily deal with the city's mighty terrain. For humanitarian scientists (and there are many Code-following gnomish scientists who fit the bill), the Raagehdi Group represents an opportunity to not only do good for the world and indulge their love of science while also getting to share research and ideas with likeminded, brilliant scientists. The Raagehdi Group uses a dedicated space in Vestry's university, the Gnomish Institute of Academics, where they meet and work. The Raagehdi Group currently employ on average four scientists each per field of study; the current group's makeup has an especially strong chemistry team and a well-respected physics department, led by Chefe Goranthi, a chemistry professor at the university and current head of the Raagehdi Group, and Teeni Bolini, inventor and physicist. While it is uncommon but not unheard of, non-gnomes do sometimes work with the Raagehdis.
The Raagehdi Group was form 546 years ago by Raagehdi Aann, a talented but professionally unconnected biologist and inventor with big plans to help the world. In her frustration with the limitations of being a lone researcher, Raagehdi reached out to several academic, inventors, and hobbyist scientists. Only three responded, and only one joined Raagehdi, a bright and similarly unconnected mathematician named Arginn Willesont. Willesont and Raagehdi worked together for a few years before finding a solution to the wastewater problem that Vestry was facing; they developed a filtration system that allowed dirty water to be cleaned enough for use again, a vital thing given Vestry's distance from major bodies of water. The success and popularity of the filtration system attracted more scientists to Raagehdi. These scientists found that Raagehdi wanted them to have agency to experiment at their will, and without the social games that exist in many guilds for scientists. Within fifteen years, the Raagehdi Group had become the foremost voice of scientific progress in Evanoch and attracted some of the best minds in science. As she aged, Raagehdi made efforts to sustain the Group, developing a loose leadership structure for a successor, and the group's legacy has continued to give it an important role in the world today.
For gnomes, the Raagehdis are like saints--they take their respectable and important minds, they apply them to practical problems, and they meaningfully help people. These are essentially the core values of gnomish society, so the Raagehdis are highly respected, and a common aspiration for gnomish scientists is to join the group one day. The only real complaint about the Raagehdis amongst gnomes is that the group tends to be insular until they have a solution to a problem, and detractors say more progress could be made if the Group's research was more public. Outside of gnomes, sentiment is still very positive. For people who have only heard of the Raagehdis, the very concept of their existence seems positive--advancing learning and helping people are valuable things to most people. For those who have been helped by the Raagehdis, the Group's reputation is more akin to a guardian angel than anything. For a small group of Evanines, mostly Daltoners (who have repeatedly rejected offers of help on various problems), the Raagehdis are meddlers who are too eccentric to trust. That said, the Raagehdis are held as genuinely good people by most, and their work continues to improve that legacy.
The Stroud Clan
Gnomish government consists largely of a complex bureaucratic network that reaches from civil servants at the base to the executive government at the top. These executive positions, one duke for each of 16 districts, one baron for each of the four quadrants (each composed of four districts), and one lord for all of Vestry. These leaders are chosen based on a merit-based test to qualify and those with the highest scores allowed to be voted on. Historically, it is exceedingly rare for gnomes from the same family to consistently score well enough and be well enough liked to achieve government leadership. It is even more remarkable, then, that the Stroud Clan has had so many family members achieve positions in executive government over the history of Vestry. Over the last hundred years, the period of the Stroud Clan's most eminent place in Vestry politics, there have been on average two members of the Stroud Clan at any given time. Part of this stems from the family breaking gnomish tradition on two counts: first, having considerably more children than gnomish tradition suggests, and two, strongly encouraging their children to pursue the family business, which is quite taboo for gnomes, who prefer children to forge their own paths. Currently, the Baron of the Qilsark Quadrant (the prestigious northeast quadrant, where government buildings are location, is Corsare Stroud, and the Lord of Vestry is his brother, Tessedor Wink, a political nom de plume for Tarinar Stroud. Wink and Tarinar Stroud being the same person is an open secret in gnomish politics, and such creation of additional names is commonplace for gnomes.
The first Stroud to rise to prominence was Agatina Stroud, whose merit exam scores were the first perfect entry to gnomish politics; her time in school was cut short by personal tragedy when her father died from an infectious disease, leaving her alone, but she committed to private studies. Her commitment to study and to living according to the Code of Right and Good Action made an impression in her campaign for governance, and she was elected in a landslide by Vestry standard to the position of Lord. Recognizing how radically her life had improved upon entrance to the government, she was committed to making sure that her access to that improvement was secure. She married and convinced her partner to have an unconventionally large family, then used her newfound power and finances to ensure her children the best possible educations as well as her professional insight. The plan worked, and before Agatina Stroud retired, she had the pleasure of serving in government with her eldest son, Lidar Stroud, and her second daughter, Zeema Stroud, both of whom served as Dukes of northeastern districts. Over time, the Strouds have stuck to their matriarch's design, making it a family business to remain in power.
While this calculated effort to remain in power could be unsettling to many, the Strouds and the changes they have made in Vestry have been widely beloved by gnomes everywhere. The progressive agenda they have pushed socially has made Vestry one of the most attractive cities in the world to people facing discrimination where they are, and the public resources the city has made available under the Strouds had helped to increase quality of life drastically. Meanwhile, university and basic school funding is higher than ever, and medical science advances have made life much more enjoyable for those in gnomish lands. This has meant that the Stroud Clan has effectively given Vestry its modern face, and some calculation behind the scenes does not tarnish that for gnomes. Outside of gnomish society, opinion of the Strouds largely has to do with the individual's political beliefs. Progressives of all groups tend to endorse the Strouds as trailblazers for a better world, and more conservative groups see the Strouds as naive risk-takers who don't understand what they're doing. That said, Faninites, half-elves, and halflings are the most vocal Stroud supporters; elves and orcs tend to be somewhat neutral or ambivalent; dwarves and Daltoners usually disapprove.
The Svaen Clinic
No society has as advanced of science as the gnomes, and recent years have seen a concentration in caring for one's wellbeing. This has translated into medical research, development of infrastructure, and forays into new directions, leading to the founding of new fields. One such new field is psychiatric health. When the concepts of psychiatric medication and psychotherapy were first introduced by the experts at the first administration of the Svaen Clinic, the public generally felt that such ideas were revolutionary if practical, but many felt the possibility of practicality was dubious. For twenty-nine years, the Svaen Clinic has worked under Ramiea Svaen, Head of Research, and last year, they were pleased to open their doors to the public with fully formulated treatments. Chemists at the Clinic have synthesized serums and tonics to treat impairments like dementia, persistent anxiety, and depression. Meanwhile, psychologists, a mixture of social scientists and formally educated interrogators, have mapped a network of positive and negative mental health markers and developed a rudimentary system for increasing positive stimuli and reducing the impact of negative stimuli in addition to a philosophy of interview that allows patients to find solutions and solace by discussing problems. While the public remained hesitant at first, glowing reviews spread through Vestry, leading to enough demand that the Clinic is currently expanding to nearly twice its size.
Ramiea Svaen, founder and leader of the Svaen Clinic, was educated in Vestry's Medical Institute of Learning, the premier medical education body in Evanoch. She became obsessed during her studies with the way that her teachers described many impairments as untreatable with a kind of apologetic distancing, as though to look away from those cases. Svaen refused to look away, and while completing her normal coursework, began volunteering at homes where "untreatable" people lived. Upon graduation, Svaen managed to convince a chemist colleague, Regin Askatare, and a social scientist friend, Duggy Vivery, to join her in imagining a new field of science. With Svaen's vision and breadth of knowledge, her work with "untreatable" people, and Askatare and Vivery's depth of knowledge in their fields, it was only a matter of time until they made enough progress to attract more scientists. Svaen opened the Svaen Clinic twenty-nine years ago after thirteen years of fighting to get there, and in her late middle age, Svaen has become heralded as a visionary by many, though some still remain skeptical of psychiatry and especially psychotherapy, which is not a surprise given how little gnomes tend to discuss emotional issues with one another. That said, the Svaen Clinic is always busy, and Ramiea Svaen has announced publicly to be on the lookout for new services soon which will offer aid to people whose personal relationships are in trouble.
Socially, the Svaen Clinic is seen very warmly by customers and with inquisitiveness by many; those who dismiss the Svaen Clinic tend to be older gnomes who prize the more interior way of life they were raised with, and this is an ever-shrinking group. In the science community, the Svaen Clinic is the height of what scientists dream of: branching off, founding your own field of study, and revolutionizing the way people treat problems. Many gnomish scientists clamor to join the Svaen Clinic, but Ramiea Svaen administers exacting interviews to make sure ideal align. Outside of gnomish culture, opinion of the Svaen Clinic, which is only moderately well-known outside of Vestry, tends to depend on the social customs of the groups in question. Very open societies, like Faninites, half-elves, halflings, and orcs look on these new treatments are valuable and not at all invasive. More interior-minded groups, like the elves, dwarves, and Daltoners, usually regard the Svaen Clinic as making a mountain out of a molehill, viewing mental health problems as a personal burden (Daltoners even regard mental health issues as a punishment from Pelor).
There you have it--a guide to five of the most important groups in gnomish society. When I came into this profile, I knew my gnomes' values pretty well. But how those values expressed themselves--and where they came from--were surprises. The borrowing from my friend I did? My Code of Right and Good Action is adapted from his Zanlen's Promise, which makes a notable appearance in one of my D&D novels. For years, my gnomes have been progressive, scientific powerhouses, but I just said it was some naturally developed culture. Now I have a source for it: the Code. And now there are also Keepers of the Code, which is a fun shadowy detail to throw into games. And as far as expressions of those values, having people aspire to topping their fields, mounting hierarchies, and helping people is precisely what the Code preaches. What this really helped me to do was stop and develop some lore about what my gnomes have actually done with their science. Practical inventions made in a think tank, humanitarian efforts, and health advocacy were not things I had decided my gnomes were working on, but now any of those can be points of interest in sessions or at least characterizations of what my gnomes are like. It's very satisfying to put these details down and have a more complete picture of my world.
That's all for now. Coming soon: a clan guide to the halflings, crime and punishment in my homebrew setting, and marriage ceremonies and customs in my homebrew setting. Until next time, happy gaming!
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