Psychology

Illus. by W. O’Connor

back from the face with a ribbon, strip of leather, or other hair ornaments. Male gnomes either go clean-shaven or wear small, carefully trimmed beards. Other types of body ornamentation are rare, such as tattooing, scarifi cation, and piercing. While gnomes regularly use illusions to change their appearance (sometimes in very disconcerting ways), most blanch at the thought of permanently altering their bodies in some way.

A gnome who travels among tall races must quickly become accustomed to being treated as a child, at least upon initial meetings. This is not simply because of a gnome’ s size or body type, however, but recognition of the gnomes’ appetite for life. Their pranks, jests, and insatiable demand for story and song are reminiscent to other races of a child’s short attention span and constant demand for entertainment. Those who make such hasty judgments, however, only show their ignorance of the gnome mind. Gnomes are a long-lived race. Adulthood does not come until forty-five years of age, and gnomes usually live to see at least 350 birthdays. In fact, it is not uncommon for a gnome to celebrate five hundred years of life, though few survive much past that age. This sort of longevity can drive a race to become rigid and unchanging, reluctant to adopt new ideas or technology and having a heavy respect for tradition, sometimes at the expense of needed change. However, while gnome society has its traditional aspects, such as a class-based social structure and the long-cherished milestones of daily life, gnomes are more respectful of tradition than ruled by it. If gnomes possess a common traditional mind-set, it is that of the truth-seeker and artist, not the law-bound sycophant. Rebellion, exploration, and innovation—these concepts as much embody the tradi-

tional gnome way of life as their innate skill with illusions and love of art. Rather than struggling against the tendency for change, the gnomes have embraced it. Gnome society has been consciously crafted to accommodate individual freedoms in a way that few others could. Human society rises and falls by the tide of uprising in its streets, goliaths deal with rebellious tribe members by means of exile, and the elves use diplomacy and social pressure to integrate changes in such a manner as to best preserve harmony. Of them all, A gnome’s artistic expression can also represent a search for the truth behind existence