The gnome language is related to dwarven, but is less consonant-heavy and gruff. A famous human writer has described the spoken gnome tongue as intelligent and mystical. The language is hard to learn, which partially explains why its spreading has been limited beyond gnome communities. The gnome alphabet contains fifty-two letters, which are composed of at least three smaller glyphs. When enlarged, these glyphs are beautiful entities, but at normal size they seem very similar to the common ignorant reader. Glyphs are evenly spaced out to form a letter. They are always written in relief so that they can be traced by a finger. This explains how the gnome scripts can be read in the dark, a feature that is particularly useful in mines. The final trial to become a gnome scribe is legendary even beyond the borders of gnome society. The student must make his way through a large labyrinth without the aid of light. This is accomplished by solving riddles at waypoints that have been chiseled into the walls. A gnome-cut gemstone looks quite ordinary to other races, but it conceals a lot of hidden information in chipped edges and uneven spots that are scarcely visible to the eye. By turning such a stone in her hands, a gnome can tell you about the stone's origin and any other information the gem cutter wanted to share.