Grey Forest Gilgren kobolds

The Grey Forest Gilgren are a subculture of the Gilgren kobolds centered in the Swynfaredian Grey Forest.
They are from the only kobold group within the broader Grey Forest region, but to most humans, especially Swynfaredian humans, they are the only kobolds they know in the region so they are colloquially called the Grey Forest kobolds.
The Grey Forest Gilgren are subjects of, and generally staunchly loyal allies to House Fremiss-Caedwin, specifically those centered in the Duchy of Caedwin. This is a controversial move for both parties. The Fremiss-Caedwins have gotten grief from their peers for stooping to associating with kobolds and the Grey Forest Gilgren have been accused of being traitorous toothless sell-outs by more traditional Gilgren kobolds
Given the general low opinions most Swynfaredians have towards kobolds, most Grey Forest Gilgren rarely travel far from their alloted lands unless they have sorcery and they usually dress in arcane robes to reveal themselves as such. This is because Swynfaredia humans established sorcerers as their upper class, so by their own doctrine they have to begrudgingly give any sorcerer a degree of respect.

They are hard workers and have made themselves valuable to their Fremiss-Caedwin lords with their remarkable kobold noses. They are superb hunters, trackers and foragers, both foraging for reagents and other organic valuables such as truffles.

picture of truffles by Big Dodzy

"The Caedwin-Fremiss clan recruited the Grey Forest Kobolds to help them find truffles? Don't we have pigs that can do that?"
-Lady Menna, Matriarch of House Fremiss-Angharad

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Like most kobolds, they speak Draconic as their mother tongue. Without realizing they are doing it, the Grey Forest Gilgren are slowly adopting the accent of the Swynfaredian dialect of Draconic.
Most Grey Forest Gilgren usually make it a point to teach their young how to speak Common.
They are not highly literate, generally only sorcerers or sorcresses bother to learn to read and write and even then, not always.

Shared customary codes and values

Like most Gilgren kobolds, the Grey Forest Gilgrens are staunch Greymoria worshipers. Unlike most other Gilgren, they are a lot less aggressive towards outsiders, willingly subordinating themselves to humans with only relatively modest Greymoria-piety.

Basic Greymoria Symbol 1 by Me using a combination of Nightcafe and MS Paint

Common Etiquette rules

In order to better assimilate with the Swynfaredian humans, they tend to be over the top with their displays of deference to humans, especially dragon blooded nobles.
Among themselves, they are far less formal. A lot of kobold communications is pheremonal, and kobolds can establish and understand respect and status or lack thereof with their noses, able to communicate dominance and submission without saying a word.

Common Dress code

Among their own kind, the Gilgren kobolds dress for utility which usually means only loin cloths in warm weather, furs in cold weather.
Among humans, non-sorcerers tend to wear simple and very covering robes while sorcerers and sorcresses tend to wear elababorately colored robes.

Foods & Cuisine

The Grey Forest Gilgren are generally not picky eaters. They tend to make about half of their food needs from farming and half from hunting and foraging.

brown eggs by Nick

They tend to cook their food, but not as thoroughly as most humans do.
Like many kobolds they are especially fond of eating eggs. With access to all the benefits of human civilization, their settlements naturally have accumulated a lot of chickens.

Birth & Baptismal Rites

The Grey Forest Gilgren more or less follow the standard practices of the kobold birthing trek with a fairly low crawling distance.

Funerary and Memorial customs

The Grey Forest Gilgren don't put much stock in personal funerals. Much like how births are communal, so are mememorial customs.
Deceased kobolds are generally buried in unmarked graves in a remote forest and allowed to decompose with a very brief uttering of words.
The recent and not-so recent honored dead are remembered collectively by the whole clan at specified ritual times.

Ideals

Gender Ideals

The Grey Forest Gilgren, like most kobolds are fairly androgenyous with regards to their gender roles, even more so than the fairly egalitarian Swynfaredian humans

Relationship Ideals

Like most kobolds, kobold females generally lay their eggs at roughly the same time and the eggs are deliberately mixed up with those of other mothers. After surviving their birthing trek, juvenile kobolds are raised collectively by all adults in the tribe.

Parent ethnicities

• Gilgren kobolds

Encompassed species

• kobolds

Related Locations

• Duchy of Caedwin
• Swynfaredian Grey Forest