Molten Gnomes

• Bipedal with typical gnome proportions: large eyes, nimble hands, big expressive ears.
• Thickened soles on feet resistant to heat — often walk barefoot on warm stone.
• Tiny gland clusters in cheeks and palms allow them to secrete a heat-dispersing oil, protecting them from minor burns.

• Gender differences subtle, with females tending slightly smaller but sharper eartips.
• Both genders can produce small “heat-purrs” — vibrations in the throat that resonate with nearby stone, often used in family affection or to calm lava sprites.

• Reproduce similarly to other gnomes — small litters of 1–2, gestation ~7 months.
• Babies born nearly bald and dark-skinned; pigmentation and glow patterns emerge after about a year.

• Prefer subterranean magma tunnels, often building layered homes in cooled lava bubbles.
• Control temperature by ingenious vents and tiny rune systems, turning molten chambers into warm, glowing hives.

• Omnivores with love for roasted fungi, seared insects, and spiced meats.
• Have special mineral-laced teas that strengthen teeth and claws — an acquired taste for outsiders.

• During heavy volcanic activity, their internal glow intensifies, often making them hyperactive or prone to bursts of tinkering.
• In calmer periods, become contemplative, spending long hours sketching new rune circuits.

• Playful, intensely social, with bursts of passionate focus on projects.
• Enjoy pranks (like harmless steam traps) but quickly apologize with small gifts.

• Live in extended burrow-clans, each family overseeing certain experimental or mining chambers.
• Elders form Glow Councils, resolving disputes often by seeing who can propose the most ingenious compromise.

• Broad smiles, bright eyes, ears with curled points. Older molten gnomes may have faint gemstone growths along jawlines.

Concentrated in Embergarde’s volcano belts, especially around the Basalt Lace — a massive cooled flow riddled with gnome tunnels.

• Brilliant, especially in areas of rune-scribing, volatile alchemy, and creative geothermal engineering.
• Slightly scatterbrained from chasing too many ideas at once.

• Excellent night vision and a “stone sense” — can feel tremors, temperature shifts, even faint ley line hums through their feet.
• Use tiny stones on their tongue to taste trace metals in rock.

• Long, playful, often descriptive names that shorten among family.
• Examples: Fizzhatch Moltenwhistle, Dabra Runeglance, Thimble Ignipepper.
• Family names tied to a notable experiment or lava features

Partnerships celebrated by crafting joint rune lanterns that burn uniquely when near both partners.

• Masters of small-scale lava channeling, runic automata, and volatile magical experiments.
• Less interested in heavy weaponry — favor clever traps and elemental constructs.

Speak Gnomic Embercant, a fast, chattery language full of sizzling consonants and bubbling vowels. Also fluent in local Draconic dialects for trade.

• Small formal bow accompanied by a flick of glowing fingers.
• When excited, tend to crowd close, tug on sleeves, or flash quick rune illusions.

Bright, sturdy vests with many pockets for tools and trinkets. Often wear enchanted goggles even indoors.

• Believe each molten gnome carries a “Spark Mark”, a spiritual rune only visible in intense moments of joy or creativity.
• Families keep detailed journals of each member’s great inventions and amusing failures.

• Glow Fairs: nightly festivals when magma pools crest, showing off new inventions, juggling burning coals, dancing on ember tiles.
• Fizzdays: small weekly competitions to create the most bizarre (but harmless) new device.

• Dragonborn: Intrigued by their serious pride, often tease them gently.
• Molten dwarves: Friendly rivals — dwarves make grand weapons, gnomes make clever mechanisms that may explode.
• Salamanders: Respect mutual love of lava, often collaborate on maintaining stable flows.
• Surface folk: View molten gnomes as delightful, slightly reckless curiosities.