The decision itself isn't issue. It's going to be a Fey themed campaign, so sure, Gnome is a damned good choice, right? It's Fey after all. So the fact that she wants to be a Gnome has nothing to do with my struggle. It's more the fact that I just... well... do not really like Gnomes.
Mechanically they're fine, but flavor wise they have bored me to tears. No matter what edition/setting it was. I've never played one because they just seemed uninteresting. As a result, I've neglected their flavor in my own world. For all I've done to expand other races and cultures out in my world, I have never once done anything with Gnomes, their history (current or past) or cultures. Not only that, I cannot think of anything either.
With this in mind, I came here for some inspiration. How can I make the Gnome work in a setting where the biggest plot point is an ongoing cosmos spanning war between the Devils and those they have enslaved, and those people of the cosmos who still remain free?
Thanks in advance
Unsure if this will be helpful, but i will give it a shot.
The majority of fluff about gnomes is based on trickery, stealth, and avoiding trouble rather than boldly confronting it. Even the gnome racial power is about getting out of a pickle. It is probably best to build around that, not neccessarily supporting it, but having to deal with that nature.
The majority of gnomes hide away in the depths of thier warrens, despretaly trying to not draw attention to them and become enslaved again in a similar fashion to the fomorians. They have withdrawn from the world, going farther and farther away from eladrin cities and fey crossings to go deeper into the woods, deeper into the ground, and harder to find. In fact, the reason your players have never heard much or know much of gnome culture or of gnomes in general is because of this. These gnomes are suspicious, possibly paranoid, and aloof. They do not make friends easily or often, and can be anything from discouraged to banned from interacting with outsiders. Magic that they study is devoted to defensive illusions or mobility, and history is focused on heroes of shadow and the ghastly wars they avoided by gnome cunning.
Some gnomes believe that if the gnome race is to be truely free and saved, it must be gained by resistance against the devils and alliances. These gnomes go to war or prepare for it, but not by the most conventional methods. They, similar to other gnomes, still prefer stealth and tact, which shows in thier approach. They like ambushes, gorilla tactics, diversions and pointless illusions to discourage and confuse. They still are wary of outsiders and thier curiosity, but more tolerant and willing to aid if need be.
Overall, i would say that the main factor in gnome thinking is fear. Fear of the slavery, fear of outsiders, fear of betrayal, fear of becoming a target, fear of losing a war that cannot afford to.
In one of my own campaigns, I had originally set the gnome nation as a fallen race - they had achieved technological and magical power beyond other races, creating defender golems, patrolling clockwork creatures and powerstones that other nations coveted. But in the recent past, their civilization had fallen into total civil war - the same rusting golems and hideously deformed clockwork creations, their creators and pilots now long gone, are set to autopilot, ruthlessly hunting down and dissecting any living thing that steps foot into the boundaries of the gnome nation. The surviving gnomes (one of my players was one) are either mad scientists intent on unlocking the secrets of their forefathers (for good or evil), brutal, paranoid warlords and their fiefs, who may just control a golem and can hold their territory, or any number of orphans who are basically surviving by scavenging the slums and junkyards of the fallen land. Gnome survivors from the fallen land tend to be extremely cynical, wary of outsiders, and in some cases just emotionally damaged. Their skills of illusion, mobility, and stealth have evolved out of this intense need to survive what is ultimately a very deadly place.
Hmmm... I think I could work with something like this. Not sure if it would fit my Gnomes as a racial history. Probably a more regional history (I have the perfect place in the world for this idea), but if anything it's a lot better than their base flavor.
Any other ideas?