Goblinoids

The Masters were Minor Gods. In an attempt to prove themselves to the stronger Gods, they fashioned a race on a very basic and almost unfinished model, quick to breed and easy to 'tame.' Big, rangy and fierce, with long limbs and a bounding, deceptively swift gait, these proto-goblinoids are described, even in the myths of their descendants, in frankly unflattering terms. They had more zeal than ability, more ferocity than strength. They were pushed into short, brutal lives by their creators, born and bred to grow in numbers and generate power through mindless worship, but they discovered a strength that their creators never expected: adaptability. What they were made to lack, they learned, and aided their swift breeding, their forms changed rapidly to suit any habitat. They swiftly grew beyond their intended purpose, and beyond the Masters' control, as they spread across southern Moraea.
Some of the goblinoids found shelter underground, seeking to avoid the gaze of the Masters. Others retreated into the woods for much the same reasons and learned to live as ambush predators. A third group sought a home on the open plains and fought many battles against their neighbours. The undergound goblinoids became bowed and diminutive, but quick, fierce and sneaky, while the woodlanders became large and fierce, built for long waits and sudden violence. The plainsdwellers grew taller, and adopted a lifestyle of ruthless discipline and strict social codes. Over time, these different morphemes became so distinct that they were looked on as distinct ethnic groups: Goblins, Bugbears and Hobgoblins.
All of the Goblinoid cultures suffered substantially when the Legions attacked their emergent states. The orcs, built for a similar purpose but to a much more exacting design, enslaved many goblinoid populations, allied with others, and reshaped their fighters into the genesis of the Horde. Many of each group had already broken away to establish their own cultures in the north, but the bulk of all three morphemes spent centuries serving the Legions, before seeking their own way and creating the Domain of War in the wake of The Uprising and the attendant goblinoid Liberation.
The three types of goblinoid are defined by broad physical similarities, but those dwelling in the same regions also often display common physical features across the three types. For example, those in the Goblin Fiefdoms of northern Talahaea have light coats of dark hair all over their bodies, and more pronounced ear-ridges and nasal flanging than most. A goblin tribe that moves to a new area may experience swift physiological changes, and every so often a weird sport such as a Nilbog will be thrown up. There are even hobgoblins who have adapted to maritime life completely enough to be considered a part of the Seafolk.
All goblinoids maintain an uneasy hierarchy within and between their morphemes. As a relict of the Horde, these hierarchies are almost always based on some form of strength, although the precise mechanisms have become more sophisticated over time. Some Goblins establish a pecking order through constant squabble and scheming, but their more ordered societies prize strategy and technical expertise, judged through complex public competition. Hobgoblin hierarchy was once based on martial prowess, measured by kill counts and adherence to brutal honour codes, but in the modern World they gain status by success not only in military fields, but in sport, civil or religious administration, leadership, learning, or the arts. Bugbears rarely develop sophisticated social structures, tending by choice to favour band-level cultures, but their status may be based on anything from size and posturing to pottery competitions. In mixed societies, these different methods interact in complex and idiosyncratic ways.
The goblinoids never destroyed their creators, but they mostly abandoned the Masters long ago, and in their place worship a mish-mash of deities borrowed from other races. They do this by a process of acquisition and interpretation, buying or stealing idols and putting their own spin on them. Goblins in particular will tend to acquire an image and create a schema of worship by telling stories based on its appearance. Individual goblinoids, families and societies all have shrines where they collect and worship these idols, which they call iki (sing. ikos), building an idiosyncratic religious life.