The gnomes in my current homebrew, Rhunaria, are a short race of humanoids descended from dwarves who separated millenia ago when the dwarves were excising any pretense of mysticism, superstition, or arcana from their culture. Those who would become the progenitors of gnomes maintained the old ways and developed them further, going from spiritualistic worship and superstition to formulaic arcana as they grew more as a people. They are premier magic-users (favored class is wizard), and skilled in various crafts and professions too, as they have strived to isolate themselves from wars and such, simply reinforcing their home valley. What religion they have now is more like philosophy, and gnomish priests are simply devoted philosophers who draw power from their faith in the concepts they espouse; whether it's a concept such as peace, a force such as the sea, an ethos such as virtue, an ideal such as creation, or a philosophy such as moderation. Here's part of the gnomish description from my notes.....
The gnomes are a very curious and intellectual folk, always seeking to learn new things and devise new tricks or spells. They are dedicated to learning and creating new things, almost obsessive about keeping the world around them new and exciting, so they frequently travel about and look for new devices, spells, phenomena, tricks, pranks, jokes, dances, artwork, and so on. Gnomes often come off as eccentric and childish, in the eyes of other races, because they are constantly joking about and fooling around, goading others to join them on adventures and expeditions with seemingly reckless abandon. However, gnomes are not foolish, and their quick wits allow them to judge the risks of their antics and ensure that they don't go off and make a fatal mistake. Gnomes are not impatient either, and enjoy studying texts for new stories or greater knowledge, as well as spending hours at a time perfecting a single alchemical formula or magic item component. Gnomes do not give up easily when they take up a task, but are willing to temporarily abandon a task until they can come up with a better plan. Gnomes have no particularly strong tendencies towards either law or chaos, but do tend more towards good behavior than evil actions. They prefer to share their discoveries and creations, and prefer to do work that benefits their people in general, while some gnomes even extend this preference to other races as well.
