As I understand it, gnomes are subject to the Bleaching because their fey ancestors came from the First World where they had First-World-y experiences all the time, and the experience of living on the Material Plane doesn't measure up. It can't nourish their spirits, or something.
But don't all fey in Golarion trace their lineages (if they bothered to keep track) back to the First World? Why are brownies, famous as homebodies, not Bleaching left and right?
Alternatively, if we consider Golarion fey the normal case, what the heck is wrong with gnomes that makes them so... spiritually fragile?
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After the gnomes appeared [from the First World to Golarion], they quickly learned to their horror that they would fall prey to the Bleaching if they didn’t retain the frantic and mischievous lifestyle to which their ancestors had become accustomed. They no longer took life and sustenance from the substance of the world around them and discovered the literal necessity of “making a living.”
This mysterious spiritual deficiency that leds to Bleaching could be like a vitamin deficiency in real-world humans. Vitamins are common in our human diet, so people have no need for internal mechanisms to create those vitamins. Different species have different vitamin requirements, based on their diet.
The gnomes required one spiritual substance from the First World that is lacking on Golarion. On the First World, they probably had an excess of mischief, so generating mischievous spirit internally was not necessary. But they can gain it from mischievous activity, like humans can gain Vitamin D from sunshine.
Other fey species are not as devoted to mischief, so they might not have a spiritual metabolism that depends on a constant supply of mischievous spirit.
Overall, however, a few other mischief-prone fey creatures suffering from Bleaching would round out the culture of those fey. Maybe when Paizo adds more fey to the bestiaries, they can add some with Bleaching.
I always imagined they were banished here by some very powerful fey entity and as part of this exile they were cut off completely from the energies that come from their homelands. This is slowly causing them to become less and less fey-like as the generations go by.
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The gnome's separation from the First World is actually only one possible explanation for the Bleaching; it may or may not be correct. There aren't many people alive on Golarion who would be able to attest to whether or not gnomes experienced the Bleaching before leaving the First World. Bleachlings, gnomes who have survived the Bleaching, also tend to have unusually strong connections to the First World and cease aging; it's actually possible that all the bright color and excitement gnomes are drawn to is actually a result of their transition to the Material Plane and their natural state was as bleachlings. The reason the Bleaching kills them now could be because their mortal bodies can no longer contain the primal power that is their birthright.
Or it's the vitamin D thing. It's been left intentionally vague so that the GM and adventure writers have a broader array of choices in how they approach it for a given adventure, and while many of Golarion's residents know how the Bleaching behaves, it's unlikely that any of them know for certain what it truly is.
So, a little bit of spoilers from the Pathfinder: Kingmaker video game. As this is a video game, your mileage may vary on how accurate this is for the rest of Pathfinder canon.
Basically, the other fey are still actively connected to the first world and (upon death) revert back there without their levels and powers...but with all of their memories. Make an enemy of a fey, and if it can make it to the material plane, will come to get you for eternity. Or, you know, till it gets bored or forgets about you.
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The Fey are still fey. Gnome's, although historically connected to the fey are not fey, so there is no reason that they should be the same.
It is likely that whatever happened to make Gnomes humanoid and not fey also gave them the bleaching.
As for the video game story, one can accept it as 'canon' and still not trust it to be true. The information was gained through the influence of an eldest, and they are not always honest. It isn't a bad explanation though and if it works for you, go with it.
The gnome's separation from the First World is actually only one possible explanation for the Bleaching; it may or may not be correct. There aren't many people alive on Golarion who would be able to attest to whether or not gnomes experienced the Bleaching before leaving the First World. Bleachlings, gnomes who have survived the Bleaching, also tend to have unusually strong connections to the First World and cease aging; it's actually possible that all the bright color and excitement gnomes are drawn to is actually a result of their transition to the Material Plane and their natural state was as bleachlings. The reason the Bleaching kills them now could be because their mortal bodies can no longer contain the primal power that is their birthright.
Or it's the vitamin D thing. It's been left intentionally vague so that the GM and adventure writers have a broader array of choices in how they approach it for a given adventure, and while many of Golarion's residents know how the Bleaching behaves, it's unlikely that any of them know for certain what it truly is.
Then I hope the 2e gnome ancestry description reintroduces some of that uncertainty, because the playtest said
Always hungry for new experiences, gnomes constantly wander both mentally and physically, attempting to stave off a terrible ailment that threatens all of their people. This affliction—the Bleaching—strikes gnomes who fail to dream, innovate, and take in new experiences as their progenitors did every hour of every day in the First World. The Bleaching slowly drains the literal color from gnomes, and it plunges the affected into states of deep depression that eventually claim their lives. Only a very few gnomes survive this scourge, becoming deeply morose and wise survivors known as bleachlings.
Pretty sure I've seen the same stated outright in 1e materials, but at any rate the bit above is fairly clear.
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It's possible that we're actually pivoting the other way and locking things in for the new edition rather than leaving them open. Concrete "this is what causes the Bleaching" has its own uses when you have a setting with 10 years of history to rest on rather than a brand new one where everyone is still figuring things out.
There's always been some unexplained pieces to the Bleaching though. Svirfneblin are supposedly gnomes blessed by Nivi Rhombodazzle with immunity to the Bleaching, and both Nivi and svirfneblin in general are notably gray, much like bleachlings. Nivi herself was a "normal" gnome until her transition into godhood and becoming the first svirfneblin, so there's a few things pointing towards gray being the "natural" state of gnomes. (Gnome god - gray, Bleachling-proof svirfneblin- gray, ageless bleachlings with enhanced fey powers- gray.)
The advent of the Bleaching certainly has something to do with the gnomes' separation from the First World, but the exact hows and whys have a few different possible interpretations (at least for now). Not even the gnomes really know what's happening, just the symptoms, possible treatments, and the usual result.
I had assumed it was a consequence of being force ably exiled from the first world (along with one of the Eldest, who is now forgotten by almost everyone) for irritating Pharasma. I choose to view the "On the Origin of the Gnomes" bit on pages 14-15 of "First World: Realm of the Fey" is accurate.
It's possible that we're actually pivoting the other way and locking things in for the new edition rather than leaving them open. Concrete "this is what causes the Bleaching" has its own uses when you have a setting with 10 years of history to rest on rather than a brand new one where everyone is still figuring things out.
I hope not. Hooks like that are delicious mana for enterprising GMs. The day Paizo explains what happened to Aroden is the day I stop reading Pathfinder Campaign Setting material.
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It's possible that we're actually pivoting the other way and locking things in for the new edition rather than leaving them open. Concrete "this is what causes the Bleaching" has its own uses when you have a setting with 10 years of history to rest on rather than a brand new one where everyone is still figuring things out.I hope not. Hooks like that are delicious mana for enterprising GMs. The day Paizo explains what happened to Aroden is the day I stop reading Pathfinder Campaign Setting material.
I highly doubt something like that would ever happen. There's far too much value in the mystery behind Aroden's death than there would be in explaining how it happened. It's a little bit different for the origin of gnomes though, where it's possible that clarity could actually stimulate creativity that's being constrained by not knowing how strong the connection to the First World is and how it's supposed to work.
I strongly suspect that the origin from the Kingmaker CRPG is something that we'll either adopt or at least not contradict going forward.
Dot.
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The gnome's separation from the First World is actually only one possible explanation for the Bleaching; it may or may not be correct. There aren't many people alive on Golarion who would be able to attest to whether or not gnomes experienced the Bleaching before leaving the First World. Bleachlings, gnomes who have survived the Bleaching, also tend to have unusually strong connections to the First World and cease aging; it's actually possible that all the bright color and excitement gnomes are drawn to is actually a result of their transition to the Material Plane and their natural state was as bleachlings. The reason the Bleaching kills them now could be because their mortal bodies can no longer contain the primal power that is their birthright.
There are known populations of gnomes currently living in the First World. Anophaeus alone has a population of 1.2 million gnomes. I assumed that these were gnomes that never left the First World, not gnomes that immigrated back to it. Has it not been decided whether or not these are Bleachlings?
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The gnome's separation from the First World is actually only one possible explanation for the Bleaching; it may or may not be correct. There aren't many people alive on Golarion who would be able to attest to whether or not gnomes experienced the Bleaching before leaving the First World. Bleachlings, gnomes who have survived the Bleaching, also tend to have unusually strong connections to the First World and cease aging; it's actually possible that all the bright color and excitement gnomes are drawn to is actually a result of their transition to the Material Plane and their natural state was as bleachlings. The reason the Bleaching kills them now could be because their mortal bodies can no longer contain the primal power that is their birthright.There are known populations of gnomes currently living in the First World. Anophaeus alone has a population of 1.2 million gnomes. I assumed that these were gnomes that never left the First World, not gnomes that immigrated back to it. Has it not been decided whether or not these are Bleachlings?
There's probably a bunch of different ways to answer that, honestly. As I mentioned previously there's intentionally some vagueness left in things like this; First World: Realm of the Fey also notes in its "Origins of Gnomes" section that everything written there could be wrong, because it's written from in-world context and who knows how reliable the sources truly are. The gnomes could be gnomes who have the fey type and never left which could mean they're bleachlings or something else entirely from the gnomes in the CRB. They could be gnomes who found their way back to the First World and entrenched themselves there, functionally immortal again without fear of the Bleaching.
That being said, James Jacobs is the guy who knows best what's canon and how that's all being reconciled as we go into the new edition; it's possible that all of the possibilities can be reconciled, and it's equally possible that it continues to be left vague with a few curious inconsistencies that could be hints at an entirely different "true origin" or maybe intentional false trails. Or they're all true and it's just the timeline and specifics of the various events that are a bit vague. Personally, I think the game is well-served by not locking too many things down; it's often more fun when your group has their own tailored version of events that they've filled in the gaps on (maybe even events that they participate in due to time travel!)