Goblin
Goblins occupy an uneasy place in a dangerous world, and they react by lashing out at any creatures they believe they can bully. Cunning in battle and cruel in victory, goblins are fawning and servile in defeat, just as in their own society lower castes must scrape before those of greater status and as goblin mobs bow before other goblinoids.
Beast Masters and Slave Drivers
Goblins know they are a weak, unsophisticated race that can be easily dominated by bigger, smarter, more organized, more ferocious, or more magical creatures. Their god was conquered by Maglubiyet, after all, and now when the Mighty One calls for it, even their souls are forfeit. It is this realization that drives them to dominate other creatures whenever they can — for goblins, life is short. Goblins seek to trap and enslave any creatures they encounter, but they flee from opposition that seems too daunting. For miles around their lair, they employ pit traps, snares, and nets to catch the unwary, and when their hunting patrols encounter other beings, they always look for ways to capture their foes instead of killing them. Goblins that run up against the fringes of society first test its defenses by stealing objects, and if these crimes go unpunished, they begin stealing people. Enslaved creatures receive the worst treatment the goblins can dish out while still getting decent performance out of the slaves. But humanoids and monsters that are especially capable or that provide unusual services find themselves treated like favored (though occasionally abused) pets. Virtually any kind of creature that can be browbeaten into service might be found with a goblin mob, but rats and wolves are nearly always present. Both have lived in concert with goblins for at least as long as humans have worked with dogs and horses, and in goblin society those two animals serve similar purposes.Additional Information
Social Structure
Goblins live in loose clans ruled by a leader they refer to as a Mob Boss. A goblin mob is organized in a four-tiered caste system made up of lashers, hunters, gatherers, and pariahs. The status of every family in the mob is based on its importance to the mob’s survival. Families that belong to the higher-ranking castes keep their status by not sharing their knowledge and skills with other families, while those in the lower castes have little hope of escaping their plight.
Outsiders who don’t understand the goblins’ social system are sometimes surprised by how different castes interact with them. A single human warrior might frighten away a dozen gatherers, only to be shocked when two hunters viciously attack. A captured group of invaders might hang in a net while dozens of goblins pass by and pay them no heed until a group of gatherers shows up.
Lashers. The closest thing a goblin mob has to nobility is the caste of lashers — families of goblins trained in the ways of battle, and also possessed of key skills such as strategy, trap-building, beast taming, mining, smelting, forging, and religion. If the mob has any spellcasters, this caste includes them. Lashers follow the lead of the mob’s boss, and enforce their will on other goblins with whips.
Hunters. The families of goblins that are skilled in the use of weapons but not privy to any other special knowledge have the second highest status in the mob. Hunters are often the best wolf riders and know the most about the territory farthest from the mob’s lair. These individuals hunt game in peaceful times, and in combat they serve as scouts, foot soldiers, and cavalry.
Gatherers. Families in the second lowest caste are responsible for getting food from the surrounding area, taking what’s naturally available or stealing whatever they can. Gatherers also do the little amount of farming of which goblins are capable and are charged with checking traps for captured people or beasts. Gatherers aren’t usually armed with weapons more deadly than a sling or a knife, but they frequently carry nets, caltrops, lassos, and nooses on poles for controlling captured creatures. These goblins cook for the mob, and in times of war they are also responsible for making poison.
Gatherers, and the pariahs beneath them, greatly fear for their lives in battle, believing that the lashers and the hunters have special knowledge of how to survive. It is the members of the lower castes that give goblins their reputation for cowardice.
Pariahs. Some goblin families are the lowest of the low, composed of the most dimwitted, least educated, and weakest goblins. They get the worst jobs: mucking out animal pens, cleaning up after other goblins, and doing any hard labor such as digging mines. If the goblin mob has slaves to do some of this work, the pariah families enjoy the opportunity to supervise and dominate such creatures, which have no status at all.
Facial characteristics
Goblins often have jet black hair, beady black eyes, and sharp-pointed faces.
Average Intelligence
Spellcasters of any sort among the goblins are rare. Goblins typically lack the intelligence and patience needed to learn and practice wizardry, and they fare poorly even when given access to the necessary training and knowledge. Sorcerers are less prevalent among them than in many other races, and Khurgorbaeyag seems to dislike sharing his divine power with his followers. And although many goblins would readily offer anything to have the abilities of a warlock, the patrons that grant such power know a goblin is unlikely to be able to uphold its end of any bargain.
Even when a goblin is born with the ability to become a spellcaster, the knowledge and talent necessary to carry on the tradition rarely persists for more than a couple of generations. Because they have so little experience with magic, goblins make no distinction between its forms. To them all magic is “booyahg,” and the word is part of the name they give to any of its practitioners. A goblin with access to booyahg becomes a member of the lashers and can often rise to the role of boss.
Booyahg Caster. This goblin served under a hobgoblin wizard, stole a look at its master’s spellbook, and learned a little wizardry by aping the gestures and words it remembered.
Booyahg Wielder. This goblin found a magic item (a necklace of fireballs, a circlet of blasting, or the like) and learned how to use it.
Booyahg Whip. Khurgorbaeyag saw fit to gift this goblin with powers that enable it to dominate others. The goblin has other goblins that slavishly obey its orders.
Booyahg Slave. This goblin warlock serves a patron who can extract payment in flesh if the goblin doesn’t do as promised. Often this patron is a coven of hags serving as the mob’s boss, a fiend that has made its way into the world, or an undying lord such as a lich or a vampire.
Booyahg Booyahg Booyahg. This goblin is a natural spellcaster that harnesses an unweildy magic, although extremely powerful the wild nature of their magic marks a Booyagh Booyagh Booyagh as a bit of a pariah in goblin clans.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Goblin names are not given at birth as the average goblin life expectancy is very short and they believe giving a name to be a waste. Instead, they assign them numbers until, if the goblin is lucky or resourceful enough, they reach the age of maturity (usually after 4 years). These names are given by the Mob Boss and named goblins gain great respect among their comrades. If a goblin does something incredibly daring (or stupid) and gains renown, he may also be given a title describing the deed.
Male: Gungax, Makdox, Gizil, Bilnix Rukalog, Drax, Unkgil
Female: Tiwin, Kawli, Wort, Ib, Drolaw, Marowa, Walow
Common Dress Code
Goblins love symbols of authority, and thus the tribe’s boss often has such trappings wherever he or she goes. Such a symbol can take a typical form, perhaps a crown or a throne, but also can be a more distinctive objects like a high-backed wolf saddle or colorful boots. The castes in a tribe also adopt symbols to indicate membership or kinship, but the symbols used are rarely the same between different tribes and often make little sense to other creatures.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
In the cities where they are accepted, most of the time begrudgingly, goblins usually live in solitary or occasionally join gangs with other races.
In the wilds, a Goblin Mob will ruthlessly attack any interloper they believe they can overpower. Goblins are not typically cordial creatures and will even commonly wage war against other mobs.
Lifespan
60 years
Average Height
Male: 3'8"
Female: 3'5"
Average Weight
Male: 70lbs
Female: 60lbs
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Goblin body colorings range wildly running from deep browns, greens, greys and occasionally even silver.
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