Earth Gnome

Earth gnomes are mighty elemental beings from another plane, the living embodiment of Earth itself. When they cross into our world they take a rough human shape, gnarled and ugly, built of soil, roots, stones and other rocky matter. At seven feet tall and broad and heavy of frame, they give off a sense of enormous strength.

Their bond with the earth lets them pass through it as easily as through air, and they arrive by rising slowly out of the ground without disturbing anything. Like all elementals they depend on their element: they must stay in touch with the ground, so they cannot swim, though stone and wooden buildings are close enough to earth to hold them up. A gnome cut off from the ground slowly crumbles to dust.

Aeetes of Colchis wrote in The Hidden Powers that the gnomes form a great nation on their own plane under a gnome-king whose word binds them all. Anyone wanting their service must address the king through a summoning, and he grants it only if talked round, bound to serve the mage, or bribed with what Aeetes calls the fruits of the earth. Those fruits are precious metals, and the gnomes resent mortals digging them up. They are close-knit, so whoever earns the enmity of one will get nowhere with the rest, and they are deeply honorable, remembering a good turn for many human generations.

They command all magic of their element and may cast any spell of Earth or Plant magic up to fifth level, one spell per level of ability each day.