Frost-Nibblers
The Frost-Nibblers are a diminutive and elusive goblin clan native to the Icy Wastes. Renowned for their cunning sabotage, deadly ingenuity, and obsession with icecraft, these goblins favor subtlety over strength and mischief over massacre. They live in secretive warrens beneath the snow, burrowing deep into glacial caves, frozen riverbeds, and the abandoned ruins of long-lost outposts.
Rather than engaging in open warfare, Frost-Nibblers rely on traps, stealth, and slow sabotage to bring down their foes. Whole supply lines vanish into hidden crevasses, and heavily armored patrols simply vanish, only to be found buried in ice pits—faces frozen in shock.
It’s said the first Frost-Nibbler chewed through the ice bars of a prison built by winter spirits and was rewarded with knowledge of every crack and creak in the world. To this day, clan members leave tiny bite marks on stone, ice, or bone to claim territory and share warnings.
Structure
The clan is ruled by a council of ancient trapmakers called the Whitenail Circle, whose teeth have grown long and yellow from a lifetime of gnawing through rope, bone, and ice. The current leader is Mother Sleetgnaw, a whisper-thin elder with one frostbitten eye and a voice like wind on glass.
Key roles include:
- Nibblers – General clan members and diggers.
- Snapfangs – Elite trap crafters and enforcers.
- Whiskers – Scouts, often missing fingers or noses from exposure.
- Freeze-Breeds – Goblins raised in ice-cradle nests to become wholly cold-adapted.
Culture
The Frost-Nibblers view the act of slowly dismantling the world as a kind of art form. They believe that patience, frostbite, and cleverness are divine virtues, and revere "Nibbling Spirits"—tiny, whispering entities said to live inside cracks, rust, and worn rope.
- The Long Bite: A rite of passage in which young Frost-Nibblers must dig a trap-pit without tools, using only their teeth and clawed gloves—earning their names once they succeed.
- Crack-Hymns: Whistling songs sung while setting traps or digging, believed to “invite the frost to chew with you.”
- Glacier Teeth: Carved icicle charms worn as necklaces, each one earned by a successful trap that maimed or killed an enemy.
Frost-Nibblers are masters of ice-based sabotage and are famed for:
- Frostbite Pits: Camouflaged sinkholes filled with sharp ice, barbed hooks, and freezing brine.
- Gnawing Ropes: Slightly frayed climbing gear left intact until just the right moment.
- Crack-Grenades: Ice bombs filled with expanding pressure gel—causing equipment to snap, splinter, or violently shatter.
- Bone-Slicks: Frozen strips of oiled animal bones laid over snowfields to cause cavalry or sleds to lose control.
Their hit-and-hide raids are often mistaken for natural disasters until patterns emerge.
Public Agenda
Relations with Others
- Ash-Ears: Considered noisy, reckless idiots who attract attention and ruin the subtlety of war.
- Whitefang Orcs and Iceshard Dominion: Treated as hostile giants to be toyed with rather than fought directly.
- Skittertongues: Sometimes allied, though the Frost-Nibblers distrust their slick tongues and tendency to overshare secrets.
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