According to the Character Guide (which I'm hoping is still valid in the remaster), glimmer gnomes are the gnomish "ethnicity" that became attuned to local magic of the divine tradition. They come from the chameleon, vivacious, and divine wellspring heritages, and according to the book, they're supposed to have an affinity for illusion and "reality-warping" forms of magic. Some can also randomly vanish and reappear.
I want to play one of these, preferably using a divine spellcasting class, but I'm unsure of how to bring the lore/flavor to the mechanics/build. There aren't many divine spells with the illusion tag, and I'm unsure what even constitutes "reality-warping" magic. Even if I got that kind of magic from ancestry feats, those have prerequisites of arcane or occult innate spells, not divine (and now that I think about it, I don't think the divine wellspring heritage opens up any feats for gnomes besides Energized Font, but that works with all traditions). Unexpected Shift seems to be exactly what the part about them disappearing was describing, so at least there's that.
If anyone has some advice about how to best represent this at the table, it'd be much appreciated.
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There are several ways to "best represent" from a playful recurring shtick (which you can achieve with impulsive use of those Ancestry abilities) to it being the end-all-be-all of all PC build choices.
Via the simplest route (not having read the aforementioned Animist), you could find one or two illusion spells you'd like to build around then find the deities that provide one (or more if lucky) to their Clerics while looking out for Domains with illusion/trickster abilities too.
Divine Sorcerers can also pick up spells this way, and the Charisma amplifies one's Deception & Performance for further trickery (as well as any innate spells). Unfortunately the Divine Bloodline spells are a bit light on illusions.
Ex. Both deities that give Illusory Object give Creation, both which fit the theme. Unfortunately Illusory Creature has none, and Illusory Scene comes on late (IMO) though Likha also has Illusory Disguise.
(Tons of deities have Creation BTW re: world-shaping).
Also consider Sivanah.
If you need even more emphasis on such spells, you'd need a different list as you've noticed. But that wouldn't prevent your PC from acting as if a divine wellspring (even if mechanically not). I'd recommend Bard, perhaps with a divine Archetype like Blessed. Best of both worlds IMO, with lots of illusion options backed by (and perhaps infused with) some divinity flavor. (And few other players regret bringing a Bard to the table.) And you'd have the Diplomacy & Deception.
Coming from the "reality-warping" side, no class does that better all day long than a Kineticist, likely Wood & Earth to cover the more obvious and impactful materials in nature though Water & Air might have more trickery. Not illusory, but since they're Con-based, you should have the stats to boost Charisma too and get an MCD. Or again, Blessed, albeit w/ fewer feats syncing. If inclined to melee there's MCD Champion (which come to think of it blends well w/ the elements that don't provide cheap armor though it's non-thematic elements might lure you away from the shtick.)