Goblin
Goblins are swarms of little gremlins with no sense of self preservation and blind loyalty to their community. They come in a wide range of colors and appearances, but they are all thin limbed humanoids with pointy ears. The most well known type of goblins are called Urban Goblins, who live in the societies of other humanoids. Urban goblins are small, green skinned humanoids with thin limbs and big ears. They are also considered the default, from which the other goblins are variants. The various other types of goblins are adapted to their environment, often with a change in skin color for better camouflage. Thick white fur for frozen regions, slick blue skin for underwater life, brownish yellow skin to mimic dry savhanna grass and so on.
Basic Information
Genetics and Reproduction
Goblins are almost comedically fertile, as their strategy to any problem is to throw more goblins at it. Their ecological niche before the became sentient was similar to a rabbit or a mouse: near the bottom of the food chain so they need a lot of goblins to make sure some make it to adulthood. When they became sentient, this "more goblins solves all problems" mentality followed them, leading to them becoming one of the most populous sentient species on Savinaru.
This rapid reproduction also makes them mutable. As goblins spread out across the face of Savinaru, they splintered into dozens of races: Desert Goblins with sandy brown skin and large ears for heat resistance, Polar Goblins with thick fur and small ears, Cave Goblins with pale skin and climbing claws, Aquatic Goblins with fins and the ability to breathe water and more.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Most goblins have short descriptive names suffixed by the name of their tribe/kingdom/etc, demonstrating how important these groups are to them. A group of archers in the X tribe might be named Bowshot X, Fletch X, and Arrow X once translated from Goblin. These names are generally only a couple syllables, but those of exceptional importance or renown may take on longer names to reflect their greatness.
Gender Ideals
Goblins have very few gender roles beyond reproductive purposes, due to how goblins can change sex at any point. Being able to do it at will takes practice but goblins will unconsciously try to keep a balance of male and female in their society, with men being slightly more common. The actual balance depends of a variety of factors, but ratios like 60% male 40% female or 2/3 male 1/3 female are common.
Courtship Ideals
Goblins generally have a flirting season, where the males will dress up, maybe paint themselves, and strut their stuff for the girls. The men often compete for the attention of women, whether that's athletic competition to prove their might, contests of wits and intelligence, or whatever else they think will impress a mate. Once the female goblins are impressed by the males, they will start a relationship with some of them. Two males per female is the average, though anywhere from 1 to 5 partners have been seen.
Relationship Ideals
Goblin relationships center around children, as their species survives by making lots and lots of goblins. It is not uncommon for a goblin polycule to have as many children as adults, with the males taking on the majority of the child rearing responsibility. The female takes some of the responsibility, but the general roles in goblin society are that the female takes care of the children when they're in the womb, the males take care of them when they are out of the womb. The unmarried goblins are expected to feed resources into the city/tribe/etc. so that the married goblins can focus on raising their children.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Goblin society is very strange to most other races, and much of this stems from the goblin view on death. Most other creatures view death as an end, the grand finale on their existence and their journey to the placid eternity of Gartalach. Goblins don’t believe in that. To goblins, death is an inconvenience, an annoying trip to Gartalach before their god Flurgitim reincarnates them. A goblin soul goes through Gartalach, spends a year or two in a pool of souls tended by their god, who then fishes them out and sends them back to Savinaru good as new. They don’t remember their previous life, though it is still recorded by Skaljigan. Due to this, goblins don’t seem to care about death. They would rather not go through the hassle of dying, but if someone dies, who cares? They’ll be back in a while. This lax view of death often confuses outsiders, who see a goblin get brutally killed by a monster and their friends just give a half hearted “Welp, there goes Jibix. See ya soon, buddy!” This leads to goblins not caring about individuals but being very loyal to groups. An organization, whether tribe, guild or otherwise, will outlive any individual goblin and can affect greater change in the world. This leads to goblins throwing their lives away in droves to further the agenda of their clan without a second thought.
History
Goblins evolved near the bottom of the food chain. Being small, fragile and weak, they relied on numbers to counterbalance their many losses. They also relied on community, as great numbers are even more effective when banded together. These two facts carried over as they grew more intelligent and began forming societies. It wasn’t long before the goblins began expanding outwards, searching for more land and resources to fuel their endless numbers. As vast numbers of goblins began exploring, countless subtypes began adapting to a variety of environments. Desert goblins, polar goblins, jungle goblins, and many more. As goblins fractured into multiple races, their cultures diverged as well.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Goblin relations tend to fall into one of two camps. Urban goblins are goblins who live in the cities and towns of other races. They adopt the culture and mannerisms of whatever people they live around, becoming just another part of the city. Despite this mimicry, urban goblins do still have stereotypes beyond that of their home city. Urban goblins are hyper patriotic, but they are also little chaos gremlins.
Feral goblins are more aggressive, and often seen as pests by those around them. Their high birth rates often lead to population booms, and this rapidly growing population often leads to them being expansionist. They are always on the hunt for new land and new resources, and if they’ve got to kick other people out, so be it. This complete disregard for others often leads them into conflict with whoever is nearby, though this does not always go well for them. The goblin battle strategy is generally “throw more goblins at the problem”, and with enough strong defenses the goblin’s neighbors can weather the swarm. This strategy has also had an almost comedic effect in The Swarming Valley. A kingdom of goblins has been at war with a large warren of ratfolk for ages, and both sides rely on swarm tactics. Two seemingly endless armies clashing, with neither side caring about the mass casualties because they can just breed more. Goblins can be negotiated with like any other civilization, but if you haven't made nice with your local goblins be prepared for a green tide to wash over you every now and then.
Goblins are generally weak, both due to their small size and their thin limbs. A goblin can become strong through rigorous training, but they are on average physically weak. They are shockingly resilient however. Their physical weakness makes outside observers think they are also fragile, but
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