Kobblins

Kobblins: a race of deep-dwelling scavengers, raiders and overall unpleasant little buggers. Kobblins travel in large groups, and enjoy raiding small, undefended villages at the edges of their territories to steal food, weapons and anything else they could possibly find. Whenever they find large caverns or dwelling spots under the earth, they set up their settlements there, building them like hives, out of crude stone and wet wood. Given enough time, goblins could overrun an unprepared village, which is why many have built walls or patrols to guard the surrounding area and kill off a kobblin infection before it can take root. Kobblins have only been able to spread to cold or mild places, and have never dared to live in the warmer, arid lands beyond the Great Mountains. But with the fall of the Caleian Empire, kobblins have been able to spread far beyond their cave dwellings in the mountains and are now threatening lands as far South as Muntasium. They are, and have always been a scourge on the land.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Kobblins are small creatures. They have a short, humanoid shape with pale, faded and often greenish skin. They appear quite skinny, and their limbs are often long, although they are full of fat and little muscle. As a result, kobblins are very weak and will try to wear as little armor as possible and wield the lightest weapons possible. They are also quite agile and can easily climb very short distances and burrow into very small holes and crevices. They cannot run for long, and they are quite easy to kill individually, especially with steel. They will use numbers instead of force to fight an enemy and they will often surround and swarm their target rather than pursuing them for long distances.

Ecology and Habitats

Kobblins enjoy living in damp and wet caves either underground or inside of mountains and mountain hills. They live in very large groups and build simple hovels and paths inside their caves out of wood, stone and any other material they might find lying about. Their settlements are often very dimly lit, with little natural light from the outside.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Kobblins eat an assortment of cave foods such as mushrooms, bugs, small animals such as rats and similar creatures and even surface food such as fruits, occasionally. On very rare occasions, a group of kobblins might emerge from their caves to hunt for some real meat.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Having evolved to survive in dark caves, kobblins have very poor eyesight and can see fewer colors than humans, but they more than make up for it with their good sense of smell and often use echolocation to find their way around dark places. Kobblins will often leave their cave settlements during the night to scavenge, as the sun is often too bright for their eyes. Sometimes, they scavenge on particularly cloudy days, but that is much rarer than during the night. Their scavenging excursions will often be as short as they can make them, and they will often be short trips around nearby roads to harass and attack foolishly unprotected travelers. As for magic, there are almost no magic-wielding kobblins, so it's uncertain just how much adept they naturally are at magic, if they are even naturally adept at it at all.

Civilization and Culture

History

Kobblins have lived within and around the Great Mountains for time immemorial. They haven't changed much at all, and they appear to speak the same or a similar language that has yet to be studied and understood by scholars. Kobblins have always organized themselves into tribes and these tribes have always come into conflict with their humanoid neighbors. Long ago, during the thirteenth century of the Imperial Age, a large group of kobblin tribes swore fealty to a mysterious and abnormally large kobold nicknamed "the Gray Chief". Under his leadership, the kobblin tribes invaded the provinces of Agnea and Iuroma, conquering town after town until they threatened the provincial capitals themselves. During the Battle of the Rhedlands, the underprepared Caleian Legio IIX under the command of an unlikely band of adventurers routed the Gray Chief's army and ended the Kobblin Crusade, sending them fleeing all the way back to the mountains from whence they came. Now, centuries later, there are rumors circulating that far beneath the mountains, the Gray Chief's descendants lived and continue to plot against an empire that has now fallen.

Lifespan

30 years

Conservation Status

Least Concern

Average Height

3'5" - 4'5" / 1.04 - 1.3 meters

Average Weight

45 - 60 lbs / 20 - 27 kg