From TactWiki

As NPCs

The Gnomes of Telon hail from the underground city of Mekalia. The basic concept behind the Gnomes is they are innovative and very mechanically inclined, as such the native expression to Gnomes is reason, or green. Expect most Gnomish NPC's you parley to use the cards Infallible Proof and Itemized Comparison. Both are reason assertions. As such, when parleying a gnome it is wise to starve them of reason. This may change in the future, as hinted by Aruspex's forum post on February 21st 2007 regarding NPC's using different decks depending on the situation.

As Players

As a Gnome you will start in the city of Mekalia. Mekalia is in north eastern Qalia under the mountains, it is a very short distance from Khal, the starting city of the Qaliatharian Humans and the Mordebi. Since Khal is a port city and relatively centrally located it isn't uncommon for Gnomes (and neighboring Qalian races as well) to operate out of Khal during the lower levels. The starter diplomacy quests for the Gnomes entail the character joining I-4, the "secret service" of Mekalia. The basic storyline of the quests involve the player being trained to become an Agent, then being sent to investigate kidnappings and murders taking place in the city. The tutorial parleys are themed to match this storyline. Some examples include a hostage negotation excersize, interrogating a prisoner, and investigating kidnappings by questioning citizens of the city.

The Gnomes receive two racial specific cards; Gnomish Brainstorm and Absolution. Though Absolution is actually shared with the High Elves and Goblins.

Gnomish Brainstorm is a 5 point reason assertion which costs 4 reason, Absolution is also flagged as a 5 point reason assertion, however it only costs one reason. (plus one demand and flatter) Gnomish Brainstorm is innately learned as Gnomes start diplomacy, while Absolution is learned at skill 10 from a tutorial quest starting with Commissioner Adnomid Epgar. Absolution was actually added in a post launch patch on February 6th 2007.

As a Gnomish diplomat, you will probably be building your strategy around reason until you fill out your card collection with a better variety, the same can be said for most races and their respective native expressions as well. Naturally gossip type coversations will prove to be the most difficult at first because it is the type which blocks out reason.