Editing Tinker Gnome (section)

==Culture==
Minoi culture is dominated by their unquenchable obsession with technology and "progress". Infant tinker gnomes start experimenting with simple tools and devices from their earliest days, grow up to attend a well-developed scholastic system focused on broad education, and then join any of the countless guilds that focus on studying various aspects of the sciences.

Mind you, just because every tinker gnome is obsessed with "science" doesn't mean they all agree on ''why'' or ''what for''. Some believe that they are supposed to solve the mysteries of the world. Others argue that  their purpose is to deconstruct and rebuild the world. Others take a more cosmological approach and look to influence the world on a grand scale. And these are just the tip of the iceberg; there are thousands of different philosophies as to what the grand purpose of the minoi and their science is supposed to be.

The most integral part of minoi culture is the concept of the Life Quest, a personal goal of mastering a single scientific concept or principle, in the aims of  studying it so thoroughly that all that could possibly be known about the subject is now known. Life Quests are typically handed down through families, and rarely if ever are completed; still, completing a Life Quest is believed to be essential if a tinker gnome and their ancestors is to enter paradise.

On the greater level, minoi culture is an awkward thing indeed. The vast and sprawling array of guilds, committees, sub-committees and so forth leads to an enormous bureaucracy - one often paralyzed by its own weight. Whilst the laidback and unambitious tinker gnomes are normally content to just grind along under this slow-moving and often incompetent legalistic juggernaut for guidance in their day to day lives, when things require more immediate action, they just do whatever the hell they feel like, adding an extra dose of anarchy.

Minoi dress is based upon their natural disinterest in wasting time, the demands of their fevered contemplations, and the practicalities of working with machinery. As such, they have absolutely none of what other races consider fashion sense, gravitating towards many-pocketed workman's gear and just throwing on whatever's closest to hand when they need to dress themselves.

Likewise, their social skills are atrocious. Though some of the finer details have changed a little across the editions, minoi are bluntly spoken, brusque, and often come across as somewhat condescending to other races - especially those incapable of keeping up with their distinctive "hyper-common", a breathless diatribe of information that stems from their unique ability to talk and listen at the same time.

According to the ''Complete Book of Gnomes & Halflings'', unlike rock and deep gnomes, Krynnish tinker gnomes are said to have little interest in gems and to instead revere coal for its uses in steam engines. This information has never been referred to since.

Religion-wise, whilst minoi feel a deep love for their creator, [[Reorx]], they are not a conventionally religious people, and so few priests are found amongst them; most of their reverence is expressed through their daily focus on creating inventions rather than through prayer. [[Shinare]], Goddess of Industry, is another deity with some presence amongst the minoi, invoked when they activate their machines. ''Races of Krynn'' also claims the presence of similar minor faith in [[Sirrion]], God of Flame, and [[Gilean]], God of Knowledge.

For obvious reasons, minoi don't like [[arcanist]]s much. They view magic as "cheating" and, perhaps deep down, resent that magic is more effective than their technological efforts. Whilst some tinker gnomes do turn to magic, they always justify it as either attempting to use magic as a power-source for their beloved machinery, or as a way to understand and reverse-engineer it so they can create technological duplication of magical effects.