The Cliffs of Tinker

Rock gnomes inhabit this stretch of cliffs which are actually named for an early gnomish settler of the area, Thimbletooth Tinker. Regardless, the gnomes here live up to the expectation of their locale and create fine mechanical creations.

This industrious community has enjoyed remarkable peace since its inception (1), due to the strategic advantage of the cliffs and near-imperviousness of their ingenious defenses. (1)

Tinker fosters a community of scientific open-mindedness(1), and is at the forefront of arcano-mechanical research(1)

While the town is renowned in the towns it trades with for their mechanical weapons (1), the gnomes of the Cliffs of Tinker take personal pride in the grand instruments that they create (1). Their concerts can be heard for hundreds of miles (1) and are mixtures of winsome elegance and trepidatious melodies (1). Rarely, for the baleful tones of it are distressing even to allies and enemies alike, the instruments are used to sound warnings of major attacks to the surrounding areas.(1).

The progenitors of House Orin were originally from Tinker (1). However, they were ultimately shamed for valuing commercial interests more highly that pure scientific inquisitiveness (1). Thus, they parted ways with Tinker (1).

Cyrus, Head Tinker (1)

Families and social clubs will often hold friendly musical competitions with each other to show off new instrument designs and riffs on musical styles (1). The Bottled Thunder Brigade marching band, for example, has a predilection for building fireworks into their instruments (2). Local healers are always on standby whenever they have a show (1).

Bah! Those low-down cheatin' Blundering Thumper Bastards came right at us with their tubombards and powderized trumpitzers! They're a menace to classical musical sensibilities if you ask me! They're just a-turnin to this fancy new showmanship because they lack the fun-dee-mentals of a PROPER gnomish hullabaloo, like us in the Clatterpparatus! (4)

Seek not the rudimentary tintinnabulations of our hinterland kin. They know not that their tumultuous ensemble could in a word be phrased cacophony. Worry not, you with sophisticated ears, for the next concert of the Puissant Chorale Dynamo will be at 4, 8, and 17 Heavy Click today.

No matter how different the bands and styles are of gnomish instruments and arrangements, all gnomes are taught the Ten Songs. These ten songs are used to communicate mass messages to all the other villages. While they are still called the Ten Songs, everyone still knows about the Eleventh.

A large clock built onto the face of the cliff has a series of artificial caves carved behind it to act as amplifiers, causing the clock's low, reverberating tick to be heard for some miles and felt for even more. Gnomish settlements use this background tick to synchronize their own timepieces and generally measure out the day. Many gnomish musical pieces use this beat or multiples of it.

House Orin has bought into the economics of Javedan Society while the Gnomes of the Cliffs of Tinker are still subject to Cid's Historical Hand of Fate.

Music is magic.

The Eleventh Song has been forgotten on purpose. All remember the Discordance it caused.

It is unknown if House Orin has kept this knowledge or held themselves to a similar eradication.

The 10 songs are similar to bugle calls in the sense that they are played at specific times to evoke a specific feeling. Only three of the songs are used to tell times of the day and three more for specific weekly events (scheduled calls). The remaining four are unscheduled such as To Arms.

One of the challenges of the tinkers and musicians of Tinker Cliffs is to create the best automauralia, an instrument/machine that can play many different parts of a particular piece. The only caveats are that it must be able to play at least one song and involve some gnomish element. It can range from complex suits with a dance routine to something much more precisely engineered.

Additional Example