勤劳、聪明、善良的侏儒几乎没有敌人。他们不是一个人口众多的种族，几个世纪以来，侏儒一直保持低调的生存和繁荣。为了避免高个民族对侏儒帝国和他们强大的魔法着迷，侏儒们悄悄地在费伦的小定居点和隐蔽的村庄里——某些常常完全不被他们的邻居注意到的地方——传播他们的魔法。
Industrious, intelligent, and good-natured, gnomes have few enemies. They are not a numerous race, and for many centuries, gnomes have survived and thrived by keeping a low profile. Avoiding the notice of larger folk obsessed with empires and mighty magic, the gnomes have quietly spread across Faerun in tiny settlements and hidden villages that often go completely unnoticed by their neighbors.
有三种截然不同的侏儒生活在托瑞尔：地底侏儒，森侏儒和岩侏儒。它们都有很矮小的身材（侏儒只有成年人类的一半大），天生的魔法天赋和对宝石的热爱。鬼鬼祟祟的地底侏儒，也被称为斯涅布力侏儒，在幽暗地域深处安家。即使对于侏儒来说，森侏儒也比斯涅布力侏儒更害羞、更避世。岩侏儒是三个亚种中最外向和人口最为众多的。他们好奇的天性把他们从隐蔽的村庄和家庭中拉出来，探索更广阔的世界。
There are three distinct sorts of gnomes living on Toril: deep gnomes, forest gnomes, and rock gnomes. They all share a slight stature (gnomes are little more than half the size of a grown human), innate magical gifts, and a great love for gems. The furtive deep gnomes, also known as svirfneblin, make their homes in the depths of the Underdark. The diminutive—even for gnomes—forest gnomes are even more shy and retiring than the svirfneblin. Rock gnomes are the most outgoing and numerous of the three kindreds. Their inquisitive nature draws them out of their well-hidden villages and clanholds to explore the wider world.
在整个费伦，侏儒在其他种族或民族之间扮演中间人的角色。很少有人把侏儒算为朋友，但很少有人认为侏儒是他们的敌人。虽然侏儒没有逃脱过去的大灾难和动荡，但很少有侏儒卷入战争，因为在这类事情上他们总是保持中立。有人说这是因为侏儒是懦夫，害怕卷入大个族裔的暴力事件。事实上，侏儒可以表现出让大个族裔蒙羞的勇气和决心，但他们会小心选择他们的战斗。他们保持中立，因为战争通常是围绕着侏儒精不关心的目标而进行的，例如商业和结算的权利，或是在整个大个族裔的世界获得和使用权力。
Throughout Faerun, the gnomes play the role of intermediary between other races or peoples. Few count the gnomes as their friends, but even fewer consider the gnomes their enemies. Although gnomes have not escaped the great cataclysms and upheavals of the past, few gnomes have ever become embroiled in war, remaining neutral in such things. Some say this is because gnomes are cowards, afraid to become involved with the violent affairs of the larger people. In fact, gnomes can show bravery and physical resolve that would put larger folk to shame, but they are careful to pick their fights. They remain neutral because wars are usually fought over goals about which the gnomes care little, such as rights of commerce and settlement, or the drive to achieve and wield power in the world at large.
随着人类的疆域继续其长期以来的扩张，并延伸到偏远地区，在这些偏远地区，一些侏儒开始质疑他们传统的不干涉政策。他们似乎不愿意进入大个族裔的暴力世界，但这个世界已经敲响了他们群体的大门。
As the human realms continue their ages-old expansion and reach the remote areas in which gnomish settlements are hidden, some gnomes have started to question their traditional doctrine of noninterference. It seems that while they may not care to go off to the violent world of the larger races, that world is already knocking on their collective door.
种族历史Racial History
在侏儒神话中，侏儒神系的神是作为宝石或丰富的矿脉诞生于世界的中心，然后因为地下水的自然侵蚀而暴露。从这个意义上说，侏儒神祗和世界本身一样古老，并且一直是它的一部分。侏儒民间传说认为，第一个侏儒是由侏儒神系的首领加尔·闪金（Garl Glittergold）发现的宝石变成的。警惕的保护者（加尔·闪金的称号）发现了一个密封的洞穴，里面有着着无数的宝石镶嵌在珍贵矿石的矿脉中。当加尔打磨宝石并且对着它呼吸时，宝石像花朵一样开放了，并且释放出第一个侏儒。在带领他们进入世界之前，加尔给他新发现的侏儒们讲了一个笑话，带给他们笑声和恶作剧的精神。那些从钻石里出生的侏儒选择住在陆地底下，成为岩侏儒。那些祖母绿中诞生的侏儒选择住在大树中间，成为森侏儒。那些红宝石中出生的侏儒漫游到大地的深处，成为了地底侏儒。
In the gnome myths, the gods of the gnome pantheon were born as gems or rich veins of ore in the very heart of the world, then exposed by the natural erosion of underground waters. In this sense, the gnome gods are as old as the world itself, having always been a part of it. Gnome folklore holds that the first gnomes were born in turn from gems discovered by Garl Glittergold, the leader of the gnome pantheon. The Watchful Protector discovered a sealed cavern studded with countless gems embedded in veins of valuable ore. When Garl polished the gems and breathed on them, the jewels opened like blossoms to release the first gnomes. Before leading them into the world, Garl told his newfound people a joke, bringing them laughter and a spirit of mischief. Those gnomes born of diamonds chose to dwell beneath the land and became the rock gnomes. Those born of emeralds chose to dwell amid the great trees and became the forest gnomes. Those born of rubies wandered deep into the heart of the earth and became the deep gnomes.
不幸的是，除了他们自己的神话之外，人们对侏儒的古代历史知之甚少。像矮人、精灵和人类这样的民族已经建立了庞大的帝国，并利用大批铁甲士兵和可怕的毁城灭国的魔法进行了伟大的战争，但是侏儒从来没有做过类似的事情。侏儒也没有像半身人在鲁伦（Luiren）那样，聚集成一个国家或互相战斗过。侏儒的种族历史不是一幅宏大的、宽广的挂毯，而是在所有费伦人的挂毯上编织的上百条细细的线，没有两条线相互接触。这是一百个隐藏的村庄、宗族和据点的历史，他们中很少有人曾卷入他们所隐藏的土地的重大和悲惨事件中。
Unfortunately, little is known of the ancient history of the gnomes other than their own myths. Peoples such as dwarves, elves, and humans have raised sprawling empires and fought great wars with legions of steel-clad soldiers and terrible, land-devastating magic, but the gnomes have never done anything of the sort. Nor have the gnomes ever collected in one homeland or fought each other, as the halflings did in Luiren. The racial history of the gnomes is not a grand, sweeping tapestry, but instead a hundred subtle threads woven here and there in the tapestry of all Faerun, no two of them touching another. It is the history of a hundred hidden villages, clans, and holds, few of them ever caught up in the great and tragic events of the lands in which they lie concealed.
侏儒有时被称为被遗忘的族裔，这是一个恰当的描述。很少有侏儒有过恩惠（或困扰）强者的忠告和忧虑，甚至侏儒本身对过去几个世纪里他们的人民可能遭遇的事情也没有什么了解。据他们所知，他们一直在费伦，一直生活在秘密和隐藏的地方，他们希望在未来保持不变。
The gnomes are sometimes referred to as the Forgotten Folk, an apt description. Few gnomes have ever graced (or troubled) the counsels and concerns of the mighty, and even the gnomes themselves have little sense of what might have befallen their folk in the past centuries. As far as they know, they have always been in Faerun, and have always lived in secret places and hidden holds—and they expect to remain much the same in the future.