Kobold

Basic Information

Anatomy

Kobolds are short, often slightly hunched over creatures with strong, pawlike feet that sport a lizardlike bonestructure and three clawed toes on their large feet. As for their upper bodies, they are mostly humanoid with the exception of a carpace clad tail and a fingers shaped into claws on humanlike hands. Furthermore, beyond just bones on the inside, Kobolds also have exoskeleton parts on their elbows, knees, sleeves, feet and chest which protects them against sharper weapons.
Their jaws are similar to a crocodiles, with near a hundered teeth. Their snout and head though are shaped more akin to a rat than any lizardlike species, with large ratlike ears protuding from their heads combined with large horns sticking out of their skulls.

Biological Traits

To an exception of the foodpoisoning, Kobolds are fully immune towards air transmitted poisons which may enter through their lungs or skin. Much due to the density of their skin combined with powerfull lungs evolved by eggs hatched in dusty mines. As another side effect of hatching these radioactive eggs into Kobolds, the Kobold has become immune to radiation as well.

Genetics and Reproduction

Kobolds, unlike most races doesn't breed to born children, as they are a genderless creature which lacks reproductive organs. To replenish their numbers, kobolds will infuse eggs with the metal cobolt which radiatiates a certain energy from the metal. An energy which warps the fundamental magics within the casing and transforms the creature inside the egg to a kobold, which is from where they got their names.

Growth Rate & Stages

The life of a kobold is short. A kobold reaches full maturity already at the age of sixteen, and the creatures generally know how to walk and talk from the moment they hatch from the eggs. In truth kobolds as something of a magitechnical experiment are born with fully mature brains but the only reason why they are considered to even mature is because they are so weak and frail untill their size and exoskeleton has properly developed.

Ecology and Habitats

Kobolds are fully capable of adapting to both heat and cold, as they are able to regulate the temperature of their blood, thus rendering them immune towards most but the extremes of weather, such as the blazing pits of Bhaelnarok or a winter night's blizzard in Dargaroth could still prove fatal to them without shelter.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Kobolds are known to care not about the consistency, taste or other delights of food. They will eat absolutely anything that will not kill or put them at a risk. Ironically, for their care to get good proteins within them, no matter what, they are only slightly resistant towards poisons in food, diseases and parasites. Thus it is not uncommon for Kobolds to cook their food in the most basic of ways to ensure it's safe to eat.

Biological Cycle

The Kobolds go through two sessions of a biological change lazily called scalechanging. Just as the name suggests, it's the event where the exoskeleton and scales protecting their bodies fall off due to weakness, as they are replaced with new ones. The first of these changes happen around the age of 27-30 where the scales are replaced with far harder but also more elastic scales. Which means the Kobold is at the very peak of their health.
The second scalechange isn't as celebrated though, as it happens somewhere around their fifties and is a direct sign that they don't have more than five to ten years left to live their life, as they slowly deteriorate to die by natural means. Perhaps as boon for their short lifespan - swift and merciless biology, they are also completely devoid of emotions and especially fear isn't something they are capable of understanding. However, any Kobold who reaches this age without having transformed an egg into another Kobold tend to turn into a feral savage with only that in mind. Likely a form of evolved desperation switch for their race to continue existing.

Additional Information

Social Structure

While Kobolds are not the most social of creatures, they tend to stay in what is best called gangs. Kobolds will often stick around with their eldest, whom is the Kobold that hatched the others from the eggs. These newborn Kobolds will thereafter serve their leader untill they draw their last breath.
Once a gang of Kobolds is rendered leaderless, the living ones will separate from the rest to use their knowledge and make a gang of their own. Usually this gang consists of between thirty to fifty Kobolds, but only a fourth of their numbers usually survive to create a new gang, with an additonal only one third actually managing to form a gang. However, when a Kobold gang is at it's peak, they are a force to recon with.

Facial characteristics

The face of a Kobold is generally layered in scales, which surround and protect their large protuding snouts. To breathe and smell through these scales, the Kobolds also have several near decorative notches within them.
The Kobolds also have two different eyelids, with the first eyelid being seethrough for their nocturnal eyes. This allows them to protect their eyes against dust and other nasty things which could enter their eyes, as they trek through dark hollows and caves. Combined with this, their eyes also have the same shape as a gecko's.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Kobold mercenaries can be found all over both the Hells, Peregon and all of Arcathia as they tend to spread like wildfire.

Average Intelligence

Kobolds are cold and calculative creatures, with a similar intellect to that of goblins. Though while their social ability is more than lacking, thanks to their lack of empathy and emotions, Kobolds still have a strong sense of right and wrong thanks to logic replacing feelings.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Kobolds have extraordinary good ears and noses, as they can hear near thrice as good as any human, and smell metals from miles away of their location. Their tail also give the kobolts a dauntless balance with near catlike reflexes. This limb can however be sacrificed for survival, if caught, but will regrow.
Beyond this, kobolds are also able to sense vibrations through their horns, and by such means track movements nearby and beyond the earth on which they stand to a near pinpoint accuracy. Since their eyes are really bad in the spark of daylight, they often apply the sense of their horns above eyes when up and about outside of their nocturnal hours.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

For Kobolds, names are no more than just a tag they can mention to understand exactly who they speak of. Hence their names are generally just some random word, either completely made up or most often taken from a set of objects. Examples being Forklift, Sandblade or Hammerface.
To make it even worse, as Kobolds are highly matemathical creatures, their younger generations tend to be named in numeric order similar to that of the Remnants, but without the cultural significance behind their number. Thus resulting in abberations such as, First of Catcus, Fourth of Gun-Pistol and Thirtieth of Hammerface. Thankfully, their names are reset whenever the leader of their gang dies as it doesn't hold any significance after. Only for the survivors to pick a new name for themselves whenever they create a new gang.
Their gangs also so happen to be named in similar fashion, like Hammerface's Hammerheads or something in that manner.

Average Technological Level

Kobolds are not exactly inventors, though through their familiar herritage, a Kobold can learn everything they are told on instant and are swiftly able to reproduce products of this knowledge. They are, however, not able to discover any new breakthroughs on their own yet. Albeit, many biologists of the Eastweald believe that it may only be a manner of time before the Kobolds on Arcathian soil might evolve to become a proper part of nature.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Kobolds speak a language called Kobold-tongue, which closely resembles the Revenant language, although for some reason it's far more refined and scientific. Though they are capable of learning a full language in the span of just a couple months.

Common Dress Code

Kobolds generally dress in whatever rags and garbs they can find. Though on later years it seems they've made some form of evolution to prefer scrappy, tactical pieces of protection and cloth against both hostile enviroments and creatures. The most odd part of it all, is that they seem to have a racial affinity for wearing large brown robes with cowls and dark masks, accompanied with several pockets and bags either stitched into it, or worn over the robes on belts.
Many believe that this trend may come from the style of garbs being similar to labcoats used of the predecesors that first created the Kobolds, which could be explained by some form of personality trait following along the radiating spells on the eggs. Either built into the process by accident or on purpose.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

While the Kobolds are by many percieved as a creature which lacks a culture, this is far from true. Even though they are emotionless, Kobolds prove time by time again that even though they'll split from their gang whenever it's leader passes away, they are still loyal creatures who will both protect and care for one another. They are also known for creating vessels both flying and on the ground which often serve as their headquarters.
Due to how hitech this technology is, and the fact they can travel through space to one plane of the hell from the other, they are known as one of the few only space traveling races to exist in the universe. One which sadly can't use these futuristic knowledges beyond trading, shipping and mercenary work thanks to their incapability to research further knowledge. Hence, their culture can in short and ignorance be summed up as, spacefaring lizard mercenaries in a mostly medieval universe.

History

The reason why Kobolds as a species may seem odd or unattural to the world, is because they were not meant to be a real creature. Kobolds in nature should not exist as they are a rare case of sentient familiars, given intellect and a sense of reality in a capacity that has allowed them to take the reproduction of their beings into their own hands, by recreating the necessary spells and mechanics to perform their old creators doings.
Considering their appearances much resemble some odd gecko, dragon with just a few percents rat hybrid, one can be sure that the Kobolds predecesor was a big fan of lizards, which caused them to form the magical radiation spells in a way that would alter their genetics and biology to hatch into such a form. Why exactly the metal cobolt came to be the form of link which allowed the process to work remains a mystery though.
What does not remain a mystery, is the knowledge that whatever race came to become the Remnants were also the people who first created the original Kobold familiar. It is also clear that the Kobold, unlike the ancient Remnants of flesh and bone, were not affected by whatever world ending event that rendered Develus to become a sandcovered hell-plane. Evident by the fact Kobolds are the dominant sentient race within Develus and are known to survive within each and every plane of the twelve hells as well paid mercenaries.
Kobolds have even gone so far, as alike dragonkin, they have managed to travel down to the mortal realm of Arcathia and proceeded to spread over it's lands through generations. In irony to their much more humble kin in hell, Kobolds in the mortal realm are infamous for selling their mercenary services to beastkin or criminals, mostly since Peregon managed to influence much of the civilized world, through the Highcourt, that they were a beastial species devoid of empathy and hence lesser. Even though they are fully capable of learning to understand and follow both law and culture.

Origin/Ancestry

Hell

Lifespan

57 years

Average Height

1.4m

Average Weight

60kg

Average Physique

Despite their bodies being heavily muscular, the Kobold is still a pretty lean creature which can easily be pushed over even by smaller races, as they evolutionary focused far more than defense over offense. Though their legs are still able to kick about as hard as a human, it's their sharp claws which make for their deadliest unarmed options, unless they have been clipped.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

While the skin and exoskeleton of a Kobold as a basis is coloured in light brown, Kobolds have an ability to change the colour of their skin like a chameleon. Though this is a long process that may take months to fullfill properly. Hence Kobolds tend to mark themselves in tints most fitting to camouflage themselves in darkness, while spots and stripes can symbolice their family or gang.

Geographic Distribution

• Develus

Discovered by

Primum immortale