Tonkor

PostedJuly 24, 2025

UpdatedDecember 8, 2025

BySuraia Silverbell

The Scarred Home of the Farmer-Gnomes

Overview

Tonkor is a small island lying south of Tanea, once known as the peaceful, pastoral home of the Xaverion gnomes. For generations, its people lived a simple life of farming, herding, and small-scale tinkering, far removed from the great courts and cities of the larger islands.

That changed with the disaster now remembered simply as “the Last Gnome Settlement.” Since then, Tonkor has become mostly uninhabitable, its lands scarred by Ghor’s corruption. Most of its gnomes fled—many joining their Estonian cousins on New Tinkeron—while a stubborn few remained behind to reclaim a small portion of their ancestral home.

Location & Geography

Position: South of Tanea, on the southern fringe of the main Xaverion cluster.
Original character:
- A small, gentle island with villages, fields, and modest woodland.
- Several lakes, one of which would become the source of Tonkor’s downfall.

Before the catastrophe, Tonkor was described as “a small island mostly inhabited by gnomes,” where the “smaller race lived in peace and was happily tinkering away working on their inventions” amid their settlements.

Today, much of the island is:

Broken by old earthquake scars,
Overrun by warped wildlife and plant growth,
And still marked by the lingering taint around the central corrupted lake.

Only one region—around the saved last settlement—has been truly reclaimed and made safe again.

The Gnomes of Tonkor

The Tonkor gnomes are sometimes called the “farmer-gnomes” of the Xaverion Islands:

They “prefer to live a simple life of growing crops and herding livestock despite their small size.”
Compared to their Estonian cousins, who are famous as engineers and gadgeteers, Tonkor gnomes have always leaned toward soil, animals, and steady routines rather than constant invention.

Even so, “happily tinkering away working on their inventions” was part of daily life—just on a smaller, homely scale: tools for farming, clever storage devices, mechanical mills and presses rather than giant engines or war machines.

The Last Gnome Settlement

The catastrophe that reshaped Tonkor began with a large earthquake, which devastated the island and its settlements.

In the days that followed:

The island’s wildlife began to grow out of control, attacking gnome villages and farms.
One by one, the settlements were destroyed, and many gnomes fled the island in desperation.

A young gnome warrior named Milimi refused to abandon her home:

With a small group of adventurers, she returned to Tonkor to investigate the cause of the attacks.
They discovered that the largest lake on the island was corrupted by Ghor; animals drinking from it either died or were twisted into monstrous forms.
The surrounding plant life was also corrupted, coming to life and turning violently against the gnomes.

A young druid in Milimi’s party had the rare ability to cleanse the soil of Ghor’s taint. Together they devised a plan:

The druid would slowly cleanse patches of land near the lake.
The rest of the group would hunt down and destroy every corrupted animal and plant they could find, to stop the corruption spreading further.

It was a slow, grueling process, and the corruption fought back every step of the way.

Milimi’s Last Stand

As the work progressed, news came that the last remaining gnome settlement on Tonkor was under attack by something very large.

Milimi left the others to continue cleansing and hunting, and marched to the settlement alone.
When she arrived, a massive corrupted treant had already breached the walls, tearing buildings apart.

The battle that followed destroyed nearly half the settlement:

Milimi climbed the treant’s towering, corrupted branches piece by piece, under constant assault.
She fought her way to its heart and, wielding a large axe, began hacking at it relentlessly.
She refused to stop until the treant’s heart was completely shattered.

With her final blow, the treant collapsed, its fall crushing Milimi beneath its weight.

The last gnome settlement was saved, but its hero did not survive.

From that day, the entire episode—earthquake, corruption, battles, and Milimi’s sacrifice—came to be known simply as “the Last Gnome Settlement.”

Aftermath & Migration

Although the final settlement survived, Tonkor as a whole did not escape unscarred:

Much of the island remained dangerous, with pockets of corrupted land and creatures still lurking beyond the cleansed area.
Many gnomes who had fled chose not to return, fearing another disaster.

Most of these refugees eventually:

Joined the Estonian gnomes on New Tinkeron, the burned-out volcano that would become the great gnome city.
Helped turn that harsh rock into a thriving hub of gnome life and invention.

Those who stayed on Tonkor:

Rebuilt only a small part of the island around the saved settlement.
Focused on farms, livestock, and everyday survival, rather than large-scale tinkering or expansion.

In effect, the Tonkor gnomes split into two branches:

The city-and-steam gnomes of New Tinkeron.
The field-and-lantern gnomes of Tonkor, quietly tending what is left of their land.

Tonkor in the Present Day (Year 22, Fifth Era)

By Year 22 of the Fifth Era, Tonkor is:

Still officially recognised as a gnome-held island, but with a much smaller population than in earlier eras.
Considered “mostly uninhabitable”: travellers are warned away from the deeper interior, especially near the corrupted lake.
Quietly sustained by a handful of villages and farms in the reclaimed region, where the soil has been cleansed and the worst of the corruption destroyed.

Most ships sailing south of Tanea do not bother stopping at Tonkor unless they have specific business with its remaining gnomes. When they do, they find:

A people marked by loss and stubborn resilience,
Fields and herds clinging to cleansed land,
And stories told by lamplight of Milimi, the young warrior who gave her life so that at least one gnome settlement—and with it, a fragment of Tonkor’s soul—could endure.

If you want, we can also write a tiny sidebar snippet for race pages like:

“Tonkor Gnomes: farmer-gnomes from a scarred island south of Tanea, survivors of the Last Gnome Settlement.”