For ages, the Mushroom People have been at war with the Gnomes from Over the Hill. Many, many years ago, when a Gnome was out gathering wild mushrooms to make stew for her family, she grabbed a few of the Mushroom King's children, and the rest is history...
The Gnomes have always insisted that the fabled kidnapping and kid-stewing all those years ago was an accident (baby Mushroom People do, after all, bear a very close resemblance to your garden-variety non-sentient mushroom), but the Mushroom People have always believed that the Gnomes had a far more sinister motive behind the devouring of those delicious Mushroom children; a plan to leave the Mushroom Kingdom without an heir to the throne, and subsequently take over the kingdom in the name of Gnomekind.
Although most of the Mushroom People still despise the Gnomes to this day, Dietfried here thinks it's time to make peace with the Gnomes. He thinks of himself as something of an activist, and travels around the Mushroom Kingdom advocating peace and friendship with the Gnomes from Over the Hill. He hopes that someday the two nations can live in harmony.