On Animals
obviouslly animals will be a major partof this NES, and most animals are up for grabs- you just need to be origional in your use, and make sure that thier is at least soem sane, rationality behind what you doing, and that if you really were a gnome, in your particuler position, that you actually do it.
Ants; weak, but come in hordes, and endlessly trainable, and a good work force; those who can learn t.o harness th epower of the ant hill can go far, of course, i dont have the faintest idea how this coudl be done, so you'll have to be able to convince me that your way woudl work in any stories/orders that you up with.
Bees; similer to ants, except bees can be both ridden (air force) or trianed to be UGAP (Un Gnomed Aerial Platforms) for suidicde bombing and the like
Grasshoppers- a basic cava;ry uniot, though endlessl ystuip, and prone to beign eaten by other variosu animals, or droppign dead due to insecticide (so are ants, bees, or any other bug for that matter)
other animals that you can find potential uses for; butterflys, frogs, lizards, praying mantises, some verities of snakes (the misses of thehouse tends to freak when snakes are about, so I woudl suppose gettign them is a risky buiness, and keeping them an even harder proposition) mice, and you know, just about anything, as long as it isnt to large, height wise