Kobolds

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

Most Kobolds primarily organize by a system of "Pluais", best described as a combination of familial bonds, geographic area and adherence to a special holy cave.
Kobold Pluais and their flags

Pluais Anghtir
Pluais Angthir is the oldest of the Kobold Pluais and is generally viewed as intellectuals and record-keepers, with the famous great Anghtir library containing the most comprehensive archive of Kobold history and indeed Titenfiscan history in general. Their flag depicts the mythical Kobold ancestor, a salamander touched by holy dragonfire. They have historically kept to their ancestral territories and have long been known to mediate conflicts between other Pluais rather than take sides.

Pluais Goothron
Brother clan of Pluais Gormgeal, this is perhaps the most religious, with most Pluais members still worshipping the great dragons. The clan famously provided Gormgeal with units of zealous religious warriors serving as elite troops to shock and breach enemy lines. Most Goothron still live in their traditional areas and continue their old practices of farming and mining, with some considering city-work an un-kobold activity. It's banner depicts the Obsidian Wyvern on a background of white.

Pluais Gormgeal
Currently the strongest and most influental Pluais, widely considered to be the face of Kobold Society. It currently covers the largest amount of territory and contains the majority of the Kobold population, combining traditional Kobold professions with the many new opportunities integrating into the cities gives them. It is notorious for it's historical feud with Righrean, often referred to as Gormgeal's "little brother". This feud goes back to the founding of both Pluais, with a number of border territories often changing hands over the centuries, most of which in the end where seized by Gormgeal. Notably, it was a Gormgeal chieftain that united the northern Pluais during the wars of reconquest, a historical sore spot for the Righreans. The flag depicts a stylized black version of the Sapphire dragon, the supreme deity of the dragon Pantheon in a white ring on a blue background.

Pluais Righrean
Second in both population and territory to the Gormgeal, the Pluais are the historical competitors to the Gormgeal and also the most fervent worshippers of Myratnis, having quickly adopted it from the Titenfiscans during the wars of reconquest. They have the most advanced military of the Kobold Pluais, integrating cannons and crossbows into their arsenal with a much larger fervor than their fellows and instituting a modern command structure rather than the old Pluais system. They are still seen as untrustworthy by the Gormgeal and Goothron, with some harbouring wishes for the abolishment of Titenfiscan reforms to democratize the Pluais societal structure and a return to "Greater Righrean" by seizing their old claimed lands from the Gormgeal, by force if necessary. Their flag is one of the newest, with the trident being a symbol of Myratnis, the red a symbol of all the blood shed by their people in the struggle for greatness and the purple and yellow symbolizing wealth and nobility. The cross symbolizes expansion and the reclamation of lost land, a controversial symbol among the other Kobold Pluais.

Pluais Smairde
This clan is famous across Titenfisca for it's passion in regards to gold, silver and precious stones. However, it is not an expression of greed, but rather a passion for the artistry and craftsmanship that goes into creating ornate pieces of jewelry and the Pluais is seen as having the greates jewelers in all Titenfisca, with a majority of the Kobold population currently living in cities across Titenfisca. They are traditional allies of the Righrean, but recent tensions as well as improving relations with outsiders have cooled their relations somewhat. Their banner symbolizes the Emerald Wyvern, the alleged anicent father of the Smairde, along with a pair of yellow crescents, a common pattern in Smairde artisanry.

History

For a long time, Kobolds lived in small agricultural settlements in mines and caverns, growing and harvesting a multitude of mushrooms, herbs and other plants, slowly expanding onto the surface. Whilst there is evidence of violence between Kobolds and still-feral Squidspawn (most prominently in the form of cave paintings depicting packs of multi-limbed monsters raiding Kobold settlement), the two species did not interact much until the development of primitive hunter-gatherer societies of Squidspawn, whereupon the relationship shifted into a more amicable one. However, it was only with the arrival of humans that the bond between Squidspawn and Kobolds would grow as strong as it is today.
Kobolds where able to avoid being driven north like the Squidspawn, but where forced to retreat back underground, often having to fend off bands of human raiders looking to steal their resources, most prominently items like gold and silver. Many Kobolds where also captured by humans and either kept in cages as "pets" or being forced to fight against each other for the amusement of their human masters. The remaining free Pluais in the north united under one banner sometime before the first southern offensive, assisting the Squidspawn in retaking land.

Banner of the united Pluais, now widely used as the universal symbol for Titenfiscan Kobolds.
This military cooperation lasted until the fall of the red hand, with Kobolds and their Pluais being granted de facto autonomy inside the Titenfiscan Republics, though the topic of legal recognition has increasingly been brought up in Titenfiscan politics as of late. Most Kobolds nowadays either live in their traditonal Pluais as farmers or miners, whilst other Kobolds mostly live in the larger towns as jewelers, artist and artisans, with their craftsmanship often being regarded as the best in Titenfisca.