Forums: Forums -> Goblins

• +2 Strength, -2 Intelligence, –2 Charisma.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, goblins have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Base land speed is 30 feet.
• Darkvision out to 60 feet.
• Automatic Languages: Common, Goblin. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elven.

Once little more than brutish pests that roamed the elven frontier, goblins now rule what was once elven lands. Theirs is a society based on strength and conflict.

History
Since time immemorable goblins had lived the same way, in small tribes that waged constant war on each other. Major tribes made alliances with weaker ones against common foes, then just as quickly broke those alliances. Loyalties shifted, old conflicts were forgotten in favor of new ones. That time passed when, during the elvish civil war, the Gorak tribe allied itself with the dark elf faction. In response the light elves allied themselves with the primary foe of the Goraks, the Karogs. The elves intended their allies only as cannon fodder, but the orcs brought in their own allies and soon their old wars raged across the elven lands. They attacked the elves indiscriminately, enslaving the populace of any village they found. The elven armies, divided and depleted by the civil war, could not effectively fight the orcs that were already freely moving through their lands. It was far too late when the two sides agreed to fight the orcs and not each other.
Conquest of the fertile elven kingdom allowed the orcs to stop fighting constantly for food and limited resources, once so scarce in the mountainous terrain they originated from. The warrior class put their enslaved elven populace to work farming, mining, and building to free themselves of such work. And with that free time the orcish warriors did what they did best, fought each other. They devoted themselves to their constant warfare. The working goblin population began to specialize, developing newer, better weapons and armours to serve the warriors in battle. The once nomadic tribes became tied to the single area where their elves worked, and the warriors began to fight not for food, but land, wealth, and glory. The goblins assessed their leaders by the battles they had won.
The tribes became kingdoms, which grew based on who controlled the land worked by the elves, and to which leader the growing goblin towns pledged themselves. With the growth of defined kingdoms the old loose alliances became more set and formalized. Orc lords needed to know who they could count on, and insisted on using family connections to keep their allies tied together. Weak lords needed to pledge themselves to the stronger, and defeated lords could live only as subservient to their conquerer. The strongest of all the lords declared himself King, and demanded their service.

Government
Goblin lands are ruled by lords, who control a small area by virtue of leading its military and owning its serfs. By controlling by the muscle and the raw materials they control the goblin populace. Lords sell what they take from their serfs, either to their own people or abroad, in order to support their own luxury and army. Beyond this control lords generally care little for actually ruling. Towns are ruled more by consensus than by their lords. Although goblin consensus is often support of whoever can beat the opposing viewpoints in a fight.
Lords are tied together by complex a series of alliances, marriages, and blood connections. When a war breaks out between lords (and there is always at least one going on) they prefer immediate family to extended, and extended family to simple allies. There is no requirement to aid one's allies, save that the only way for them to return the favor is to extend it.
The goblin king rules his subservient lords the way all lords do. His control is minimal but since he can summon the largest army by virtue of the many lords that serve him his opinions carry great weight.
The truly powerful group in the goblin kingdom is the Priests. They teach and lead the goblin populace in general, and command far greater respect than the lords can. And their magic makes them a force to be taken seriously.
Goblin priests are the mage portion of their populace. Their power was developed on the backs of elven wizards and scholars, taken during the fall of the Elf kingdom. Although most of that knowledge was lost, what remained was still more than the early goblins had had. The priests believe that their power is granted them by the gods, that they can better lead the populace. Magic worthy youths are identified early and sent to the nearest large city, where they are raised in a temple and taught the basics of magic and mythology until they are suitable to be trained by a senior priest as apprentice. An apprentice takes over for his master upon his death.

Religion and Myths
The chief god of goblins is Maert, god of war. Goblin mythology, as taught by their priests, holds that the world began in a war between the Titans and the Dragon gods. Although the Titans won, they were weak from fighting the Dragon gods and easily defeated by the Gods. The Gods created their own servant peoples on the world, to throw down those created by the Titans and Dragon gods. The goblins were created by Maert himself, to be the warriors of the new people. But the gods refused to allow their creations to mingle, and so the warriors found only themselves to war with, while the weaker races took their own homes that the warriors should have found.
Goblin heroes are all great warriors of the past. Each kingdom remembers the great heroes of its tribal time, and the greatest warriors of the lords and their men-at-arms are remembered by all.

Culture
Goblin culture is still centered on conflict. The primary method of teaching goblin young in any subject is to make them compete over it. Every craft is based on crafters being superiour to all others they know. Even the priests compete with each other constantly in order to be the strongest caster. The orcish government, of course, is entirely based around warfare. Goblins rarely stop to think about the elvish serfs that support their society unless they come in frequent contact with the serfs.
Goblins are given a name at birth by their parents. They use their region or their parent's names for further identification.

Relations With Other Races
Goblins have little use for other races (besides the elves). Although they believe themselves to be the warrior race, they mostly just war with each other. They tolerate halflings for their shows and the goods they trade. And they dare not attack the Empire or to try to take any of the dwarf strongholds, so the lords along those borders simply trade with their neighbors. The people too are apathetic towards the other races, mostly looking towards what good or harm any particular member they meet might do them.