Brewmeister has several impressive passives that are part of the skill set. Roomwide blackout, resistance to gut wounds, able to puke to reduce alcholol level and make a slick mess that can disrupt movement, resistance to blackout, and higher alcholol tolerance.

Tinkering not so much. Don't get me wrong, the rose color glasses and readily available etchings are pretty sweet. The ideas that I was thinking of would be thematic and less combat oriented so as not to further complicate combat balance.

I'm not sure if these or any other ideas would be worth an envoy slot or even be needed/worth the coding effort (I could just be a little jelous, so i was looking for thoughts, comments or other ideas).

The three that I though up were:
A slight increase to spotting illusions ~1 to 5% and not to exceed the a 50% chance when combined with other similar abilities (it's my understanding that trans arts give a 50% chance to spot illusions).
A small discount when trading with gnome merchants in aetherspace.
The ability to read, speak, and write in gnomish.

Ooh. Not so much the illusions idea, but I really like the knowing gnomish and the discount- they seem neat and not too overpowered.

How about taking slightly less balance on crafting items in Arts, because you are 'deft with your hands' or such? Just an idea.

I wasn't able to find much gnome lore in game, if anyone can point me to some that would be helpful.
The illusion thing was mostly from D&D gnomes having an affiliation with illusions.

As far as is known, gnomes do not have their own language. This does not mean they don't, but it isn't known. Gnomes are techno/gadget freaks, and aether-travelers. Check out the Facility sometime!