Although a diminutive people, gnomes think big, often producing designs far too complex to ever be realized. Gnomes are innovative thinkers and are responsible for a vast variety of inventions, including more than a few that are commonly attributed to dwarves. Thus, many gnomish designs feature a high degree of complexity and a low chance of failure, the exceptions being those that dabble with chaos energy - but even then, they take steps to ensure the worst that could happen is a brief, non-fatal failure. If he/she meets with success, he/she as often as not continues to tinker with and improve the design, often for years afterward. If the design fails, he/she tries to learn why, and fixes it if he/she can. Gnomes are in many ways commensurate organizers: a gnome can spend as much time (or more) organizing and planning a project as he/she does actually working on it. Gnomes tend to design fairly complicated devices that are relatively safe. Thus, gnomish items have very low failure rates compared to goblin items. If a project fails to work correctly the first time, a gnome will continue to tinker with it, while a goblin would usually give up and move to something else. While a goblin would scream and flee at the mere thought of a cost overrun, a gnome simply shrugs and presses on. While this cautious attitude results in higher quality products and a greater success rate, it often takes so long that cost overruns creep in. In contrast, gnomes overplan new projects, producing blueprints and schematics that can take longer to make than the device itself. Luckily goblins have little discipline for research and development unless it produces wealth, and most if not all of the grander experiments they begin are aborted due to sudden interest in another branch of technological development. The goblin race’s independence makes them a reckless force, with little restraint as to what they are willing to build or create. Notorious for malfunctioning in catastrophic displays of explosive power, goblin technology is better left to those who need a big payoff with substantial risk. A goblin inventor is more likely to die using one of his own devices than he is to be killed on the field of war. Goblins revel in the destructive power of their devices, and their lack of discipline often manifests in unreliability in the field. Goblins share the gift of technology with gnomes, yet they have a much more sinister and devious method of putting technology to use.
While this attitude gives them more time to work on new and promising creations, who knows how many potentially valuable projects have been left gathering dust in some back corner? Goblin workshops are littered with half-finished projects and the scavenged remnants of inventions that didn’t pan out. Goblins have short attention spans as a rule, so if they can’t get something to work right away, they either give up or move on to something else that attracts their attention. Goblin technology tends to be radical and dangerous, always pushing the ragged edge of feasibility. Most goblin items look suicidal to use, and rarely work correctly. Thus, when a goblin creates, the process might appear to be one part ingenuity and five parts desperate improvisation. They now rely on improvisations and jury-rigs that work only haphazardly. They try desperately to maintain their amazing devices, but they’re no longer clever enough to carry out the maintenance properly. This doesn't stop the race from playing with technology, however, and goblins run the market in destructive weaponry. They once were the definitive name in technology long ago, but now their machines barely run. Goblins were once brilliant inventors, but no longer. Some of the most well-known devices in the world came from the trash heaps of goblin inventors who didn’t know they had something anybody would have wanted. A goblin often creates things just to see what happens, then discards his creation when he can't think of a way to make money with it. Many goblin inventions are bizarre, or have no apparent use. While not one hundred percent accurate, there is truth to this adage. It’s said that there are old goblins and there are goblin tinkers, but there are no old goblin tinkers. Goblins don't have a tremendous number of truly skilled engineers, primarily because they tend to blow themselves up.
0 kommentar(er)
