  The strength of gnomes lies in their coordinated action. Being small and
subtle creatures themselves, the forest gnomes can form large swarms acting as
one giant creature. This unusual defense strategy requires a lot of skill and
training. Directing a swarm is not an easy task! Initially, gnomes used
leader-based control algorithms, although those have been proven to be
vulnerable to abuse and failure.
  After thorough research and study, gnomes developed their own leaderless
consensus algorithm based on very simple rules. It is based on gossip in a
network of a known diameter $d$. One of the gnomes proposes a plan which then
spreads gnome to gnome. If there is an agreement, gnomes act \emph{all at
once}. If there are conflicting plans (an extreme rarity), they try again. The
resulting upper bound on the swarm's reaction time is its round-trip time
$2dt$, where $t$ is the command relay time. The original algorithm is
non-Byzantine; all gnomes must be sane and sober.
  While working on the algorithm, gnomes discovered \emph{swarm time}, a
sibling concept to L.Lamport's logical time. That led to a Byzantine-ready
version of the algorithm.
