Garden Gnome Liberationists

Basic Information

Garden gnome liberationists are groups that "liberate" garden gnomes from private gardens and "releasing them back into their natural habitats". These groups are primarily active in France, although similar groups have arisen in neighboring countries.

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia entry

Game and Story Use

• Maybe the relocation of the garden gnomes has some illuminated link to the Gnomes of Zurich.
• Perhaps the garden gnomes are faeries who have been transformed into small statues by cruel spells and then sold off to humans, and the liberationists are trying to undo the spells.
• In more fantastic settings, small statues of mythological creatures could serve as "spirit homes" for these entities, binding them and bringing the owner of the land they are on good fortune (whether out of their own free will or because the statue binds them to the owners). Stealing these statues could transfer this good fortune to new owners and new places, and as a result the more potent statues might have guardians.
• Reputedly there are also groups in operation dedicated to the destruction of Garden Gnomes - the Pixie Eradication Society, for example, roamed Dartmoor in the 1980s destroying gnomes wherever they found them - whether these people are natural enemies of the liberationists or simply have a more extreme version of "freeing" the gnomes remains to be seen.
  • If, as above, the gnomes are serving as a fetish then destroying them may well liberate the spirits bound inside them.
• If in the Severn valley, especially around the town of Goatswood, leave the gnomes alone.