Editing Tinker Gnome (section)

==History==
The minoi claim to be the the chosen children of [[Reorx]], Krynn's God of Creation, who were specially chosen by him in the mythical dawn of the world to embody all of his virtues and skills.

Mind you, tinker gnomes also claim to be responsible for forging the Dragonlances, that they did battle against [[dragon]]s with armadas of flying warships, and that they singlehandedly were responsible for the defeat of [[Takhisis]] and her legions during the War of the Lance, with at most minimalistic help towards the end from the Companions of the Lance. Since all of these are probably false facts, most ignore the minoi's claims as to their origins.

Between external disaster and internal incompetence, the gnomish history is pretty much a mystery. Well, technically it's not, as gnomish culture dictates the preservation of every individual gnome's life in a detailed diary - but wading through such material is the most incredibly boring task one can envision, with even intrepid scholars balking at the monumental process of wading through incalcuable tirades of trivial nonsense to find the few gleaming nuggets of significance.

Still, what almost every race agrees upon is that the minoi were once humans who were taken in as students by [[Reorx]] during the Age of Dreams, only to anger him when they began using what they had learned for their own agendas. He inflicted a great curse upon these failed students, transforming them into the first tinker gnomes, and cast them out into the world. But, he never entirely turned away from them.

And, in time, he found a use for them; inspiring them to reach to Lunitari and pluck forth the Greygem (or Greystone, depending on the version), a magical crystal he had created which he believed would anchor neutrality itself to Krynn and ensure it could never be fully swayed by good or evil. One heroic minoi succeeded, with a little help from Reorx, but when the Greygem returned to Krynn, it suddenly flew away from the gnomes, shedding raw, primordial Chaos energies in its wake. Most of the race pursued it, following  it far to the west, where it had been captured by a wizard-king of Ansalon named Gargath.

Here, the tinker gnomes laid seige to Gargath, taking heavy casualties from repeat failures at entering the castle with their dubiously useful seige engines before one finally fell over and broke through. As the gnomes poured into the castle's interior, the Greygem's chaos washed over them; two thirds of the gnomes began to fight over what they should do with the Greygem, to the bemusement of their remaining kindred. Those fighting gnomes were transformed into the first [[dwarves]] and [[kender]], depending on whether they had been consumed by greed or curiosity. The no-longer-gnomes scattered across Ansalon, whilst the remaining minoi pursued the Greygem. Most of them ultimately gave up the chase and settled on the Isle of Sancrist, where they colonized the extinct volcano that has come to be known as "Mount Nevermind".

Since that day, the minoi have had little impact on the world of Krynn. Only three things have happened on Sancrist that other races have bothered to take note of:

The first was the establishing of an alliance between minoi and the humans of Solamnia. Initially, the gnomes panicked at the approach of strange, war-like humans, and came up with a typically minoi-ish plan: to make their mountain home disappear! Instead, they just flooded its depths with noxious, mildly poisonous and incredibly foul-smelling fumes, forcing them to flee their home and stagger onto the beach, where the bemused humans were waiting for them, having fled the fumes before them. Fortunately for the minoi, the Solamnians were a kindly and peaceful people, and they were quick to help the gnomes recover. Thus, the bond between the peoples was born, and the Day of Rotten Eggs has never been forgotten in Solamnia.

Secondly, the Cataclysm itself - which actually benefited the minoi, as it forced the land up and increased both the isle of Sancrist itself and the stature of the mountains in its northern half.

Finally, during the War of Souls, Sancrist was technically conquered by a Red Dragon on behalf of [[Takhisis]]. Unfortunately for the dragon, he found the gnomes so fearlessly stupid in their obsession with learning about him, and so annoying, that he ultimately secluded himself away from them and left them to just continue as they pleased.

Note that some assert a slightly different origin, claiming that gnomes evolved or were transformed from dwarves instead of the other way around, most likely a result of the Greygem. This argument is rather stymied by the minoi's lack of visual acuity in deep darkness compared to the dwarves.

And, of course, the [[dwarves]] themselves assert that ''they'' are Reorx's favored children, and gnomes were just one of the more flawed prototype races he made before he finally created perfection, as embodied by themselves.

Their distant origin as cursed humans explains why the tinker gnomes of Krynn are able to interbreed with humans, creating the poor souls known as Krynnish [[Half-Gnome]]s.