Kobolds
Basic Information
Anatomy
A kobold is a small, lizard-like humanoid with a short, stunted snout and a long, slithering tail. Their hands and feet end in sharp, clacking claws, and their scales appear in a variety of colors, of which red, black, white, green, and blue are the most common. Less common scale colors include yellow, orange, purple and gray; other shades, such as pink and gold, are also known to occur. "Ghost kobolds" with translucent scales are also rumored to exist, but no sightings have been recorded in centuries.
Their scales are quite thick, giving them a modicum of protection from damage. Despite their diminutive size (they generally stand about three feet in height and weigh about 40 pounds), kobolds are quite agile and quick, able to easily keep up with the average human. As with most other underground creatures, kobolds have darkvision, but are not well adapted to life on the surface, as they are quite sensitive to light.
Kobolds are omnivores and will eat almost anything their sharp teeth can chew and their strong digestive system can process. Like other reptilian creatures, kobolds have a slow metabolism, which means they require little food and drink to survive. This adds to their diligent work ethic, as they require few meal and water breaks, and increases their ability to survive in the nutrient-poor underground environment.
Occasionally, kobolds are born with stronger connections to chromatic dragons than others of their kind. These kobolds are distinguished by the ability to use the breath weapon of the dragon type whose scale color they have.
Biological Traits
Two subraces of kobold exist in Khorvaire: the iredar (Draconic for "ones of earth"), who trace their ancestry to Eberron, and the irvhir (Draconic for "ones below") that descend from Khyber. These two races share a common appearance, but each race has a distinctive body odor that kobolds can instantly detect; in fact, a kobold can automatically identify the subrace of any other kobold within 15 feet. A character with long experience with kobolds can distinguish these scents by making a successful DC 20 Wisdom check; if the creature possesses the scent ability, the DC of this check is reduced to 10. Kobolds find the scent of others of their kind to be soothing, and kobolds that spend long periods of time away from their own kind often become depressed.
Beyond scent, the key distinction between the kobold subraces is supernatural. Kobolds produce a surprising number of sorcerers, which is a phenomenon they attribute to their supposed bond to the progenitor dragons. Irvhir sorcerers typically possess spells tied to corruption and darkness, while iredar sorcerers usually have powers of defense and binding. This is not an absolute rule, and a kobold PC can take any spell that she desires. However, an iredar kobold that makes use of spells such as fear, darkness, or chilling touch may be viewed with suspicion by her companions, who see these as the powers of the Dragon Below.
Stories are told of a third subrace of kobolds: the irsvern (Draconic for "ones above"), children of Siberys. According to legend, these kobolds have wings and live in hidden communities on the peaks of the tallest mountains. In 867 YK, Tolas Koln of the Wayfinder Foundation set out to recover a copy of the Talarash Siberys said to reside in an abandoned draconic temple in the Ironroot Mountains, and the last entry in the expedition journal describes an encounter with winged kobolds with astonishing sorcerous powers. Some say that this is a documented encounter with the irsvern kobolds, while others dismiss it as a hoax perpetrated by Koln himself.
Genetics and Reproduction
Kobolds lay hard-shelled eggs that incubate for a period between 45 and 60 days, after which they hatch using their distinctive cranial horn buds. Although only six to eight inches in height at birth, neonatal kobolds are able to quickly take care of themselves, often spending the first hour after birth eating the remains of their shells. Cannibalizing other clutchmates is not unheard of and is seen by the adults as a sign of strength. Hatchlings grow quite quickly and double in size every year until achieving their juvenile state at around three. They are considered to be full adults around age 10. Sexual dimorphism is very limited, with non-kobolds rarely able to tell the differences between the sexes. Most kobolds are quite short-lived, with a typical life-expectancy of around 30 years before typically dying through violent means. However, when their lives are not cut off early, they have also been known to live for quite a long time, with the oldest kobolds claiming their age to be 140.
Kobolds remain fertile throughout their entire adult lives, with females able to produce an egg once every 20–25 days. Given ideal conditions, however, females can lay a clutch of up to six eggs, and require a coupling only once every six years in order to produce viable eggs. Kobold females become more fecund as they age: a 40-year-old female may be able to lay 50 to 60 eggs per year, while an 80-year-old female may lay up to 100 per year.
Ecology and Habitats
Kobolds typically live in hierarchical tribes isolated from each other and from other intelligent beings. When they encounter other societies, kobolds often make a habit of stealing resources and livestock from their neighbors, earning them their reputation as thieves. Their possessiveness of their mineral resources also leads them to hostilities with other beings, as the kobolds view all minerals in their territory as theirs; when they discover others mining anywhere in their claimed lands, they view them as thieves and interlopers and respond violently. This holds true regardless of whether the other party settled the area before or after the kobolds did. When two kobold tribes come into conflict over resources, they typically engage in swift, violent clashes until one tribe's chieftain is slain, at which point the survivors are enslaved by the victorious tribe.
Kobold settlements are usually complex systems of heavily trapped tunnels and warrens surrounding an inner core consisting of the tribe's living spaces, larders, workshops, and mines. The tribe's eggs are kept until hatching in a hidden location, which is kept secret from most members of the tribe to ensure that they cannot reveal it if captured and interrogated. Elder laying females are likewise hidden in the deeper parts of a warren and fiercely protected, as many tribes depend on their ability to lay numerous eggs in a short span of time to maintain their numbers.
Although kobolds do not farm crops, they often keep domesticated animals for a variety of purposes. Dire weasels are kept as guard and hunting animals in a manner similar to how dogs are used by humans, while dire boars are used as war animals and mounts. When moving underground, kobolds instead use slurks and giant ants as mounts; giant ants are also used as pack animals, and as a source of poison for traps. Bats are trained to carry messages, which kobold tribes use to contact one another. On occasion, bulettes are trained to assist mining and tunneling operations. Kobold myth holds that they were the first culture to domesticate and raise animals, which they foolishly taught to humans.
A second group of kobolds, the forest kobolds, exists separately from the more well-known subterranean kobold cultures, and instead inhabits deep forests. Forest kobolds are more barbaric than their kin, are rarely literate, and live predatory lives focused on hunting and eating any non-reptilian entity they encounter. Forest kobolds are typically green. Forest kobold tribes are known to ally with quickwoods to defend their lairs.
Additional Information
Geographic Origin and Distribution
To date, kobold communities have been encountered in Q'barra and in the Seawall Mountains between Darguun and Zilargo. However, kobolds are extremely reclusive, and recent events suggest that kobold communities are hidden across Khorvaire.
The kobolds of Eberron prefer to live in natural caverns. The irvhir kobolds make their homes deep beneath the surface, while the iredar kobolds usually live in mountain caves. The kobolds believe that these caverns are the veins of the progenitor dragons, and they often carve elaborate draconic designs on the walls. Kobolds prefer to live in tribes containing approximately 100 adults. The largest communities can have up to 600 adults. Generally, though, a community splits once its population rises too far above 100 adults, with younger kobolds moving away to found a new community.
Kobolds bond with horrid animals. Horrid creatures — especially burrowing animals such as rats, weasels, and badgers — are frequently found in kobold communities.
Civilization and Culture
Major Organizations
Kobold culture revolves around three forces. The stonescales (or ternmolik, in Draconic) perform the day-to-day tasks required for the survival of a community: crafts, agriculture, and the gathering of food when agriculture will not suffice. The claws (gix) are soldiers and hunters. And the blood seers (iejirastrix) are mystics who hear the voices of the progenitor dragons — sorcerers, druids, and favored souls whose magical powers are seen as proof of the kobolds' divine ancestry.
Typically the chieftain of a village is an old claw, though in a peaceful region a stonescale can hold the post. The chieftain manages the daily affairs of the community while the blood seers link the communities together. Seers often travel from village to village to meet with other blood seers, discussing their visions and issues affecting the race as a whole.
One other force that has an impact on kobold culture: the Chamber. While most dragons dismiss the kobold's claims of draconic ancestry, kobold blood seers can have strange (though often distorted) insights into the Draconic Prophecy, and the Chamber occasionally makes use of kobold agents. This can result in teams of kobolds equipped with powerful magic weapons and items — an unpleasant surprise for a group of adventurers that underestimates the little reptiles.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Kobolds speak a version of Draconic, inherited directly from true dragons. There is no evidence of the kobolds ever having possessed another language or having been taught by dragons. Most kobolds love to talk, and a meal with a group of kobolds is a deluge of yapping voices. The written form of Draconic was developed long after the spoken version, but not by dragons, who have little need to write. The recorded history of kobolds chronicles their relationship to dragons throughout the ages. This history began with paintings, gave way to pictograms, and gradually developed into the runic script of Draconic still used today.
Gnome scholars have objectively connected the creation of Draconic runes to kobolds rather than dwarves, as was previously thought. These runes have a link to dragons from many millennia ago, when kobolds split off from dragons either through arcane meddling or divine will. Regardless of their true origins, it is widely believed that the earliest kobolds served dragons, learning dragon ways. This education included instruction in a variety of Draconic dialects and accents. When kobolds became independent, forming new tribes and lairs for themselves, they took the Draconic language with them.
As these early, self-sufficient kobolds interacted with each other, either for conquest or survival, their inherited Draconic dialects mingled. These dialects gradually became the amalgamated form of Draconic spoken by many kobolds today. Kobold sorcerers learn how to speak true Draconic, which requires much more exacting pronunciation.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Beliefs
Mainstream kobold culture is oriented around the worship of a particular progenitor dragon. The irvhir tradition is one of the oldest cults of the Dragon Below, though it has no connection with the aberration-oriented cults of the Shadow Marches. The iredar kobolds revere Eberron as the source of life and nature; this is a unique druidic tradition with no ties to the sects of the Eldeen Reaches.
The kobolds see themselves as the hands of the progenitors in the modern age. And in the past, visions of the blood seers have often been tied to the Draconic Prophecy. It is a mystery, since the kobolds themselves rarely understand the significance of their actions — but even the Chamber respects this uncanny gift.
Of course, not all kobolds are bound to these beliefs. A few tribes have split off from these traditions, ignoring the words of the blood seers. Irvhir kobolds often turn to the worship of the Shadow or the Mockery, while independent iredar revere Boldrei and Olladra.
Common Myths and Legends
The kobolds of Khorvaire trace their history to the dawn of Eberron. According to ancient legend, kobolds were formed from the drops of blood shed in the battle between Eberron, Siberys, and Khyber. A new generation of dragons descended from Siberys, Khyber brought forth fiends and horrors, and Eberron gave birth to the creatures of nature — but the kobolds were already there, spawned from the first battle. True or not, this myth is the driving force behind kobold psychology and culture.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Most kobolds prefer to avoid contact with the outside world. Irvhir kobolds are especially xenophobic, and the miners of Zilargo have been fighting irvhir kobolds for centuries. Iredar kobolds are more moderate in their views. They have little interest in foreign cultures and fight irvhir kobolds as often as they battle gnomes or humans.
In the wake of the Last War, kobolds have had more active presence on the surface of Khorvaire. Kobold scavengers often rummage through battlefields and ruined villages. Previously unknown irvhir communities have risen from the depths to strike at weakened thorps and hamlets along the borders of the Mournland. Whether these are random attacks of opportunity or driven by the seers of Khyber remains to be seen.
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