A Year Lived in the Life of a Goblin: A Study into the Intimate Nature of the Goblin Experience

This finely bound tome is clearly of elven make. Despite it;s high quality it is extremely dusty and it isn’t clear if anyone has ever even opened it. It is written by a famed Tenari researcher, Tamlin Syra'nar.
Inside this document you will find my recent studies on goblins and the conclusions that I have drawn from said studies. I have conducted three surveys in three different locations, the forests of Dreamsong Woods, the rocky Moloa mountains, and the deep caverns of the Smoky mountains. I have come to several conclusions; first is that goblins have an uncanny ability to adapt and evolve to their surroundings. I postulate that this has something to do with their rapid reproduction cycle, allowing those with traits best suited to their environment to thrive and produce more progeny. Second is that even the most primitive of the goblin species I have encountered have complex social structure. They have a hierarchy structure and something that resembles culture, even if they haven’t developed real linguistic skills and what language they do know seems like regional mimicry. However there are also far more complex goblin clans, a few with much further developed culture and society, and even the ability to speak. My final conclusion is that even though goblins in environments with plenty of resources can develop into a peaceful, even sentient species, those in harsher environments can become savage, cruel, and deadly creatures. Goblins are easy to manipulate and influence due to their limited intelligence and once they learn the power of violence and malice, they can become a serious threat to the local population.

Before I started my journey of discovery into the goblin world, my assistants and I traveled to our cousin-races city of Dalendra’thira to read what they had on the topic. Since the destruction of their great spire of knowledge there was far less information than I had hoped for, however I did learn that goblins are believed to originate from the Fey Wild and likely traveled the Mortal Realm before even the Tenari, making them one of the oldest fey races on this plane. Some of my later research would confirm that this is quite likely, however it seems that due to their long tenure in the Mortal Realm, that their connection to the Fey Wild and it’s magics have likely been lost, not unlike our own people.

The first stop on my trip was more local, Dreamsong Woods. The goblin clans here have been known to cause problems and were considered a menace to both dwarf and elf alike. The Runidiri, who have multiple shrines to the wild spirits throughout the forest seem to have the least amount of issues. I spoke to a warden in the Moonclaw Clan that oversees the protection of Dreamsong and she told me that she had come to an accord with the dominant tribe of goblins in the forest. An accord! This was surprising to hear indeed. We spoke at length and she informed me that the largest tribe, which had lived here for thousands of generations (goblin generations that is, maybe ten or twenty in Tenari generations), had maintained some of its connection to the Feywild, likely due to strong natural ley lines running through the Dreamsong. I postulate that this clan must have settled here very early on in their tenure on the Mortal Plane.

So my assistants and I struck out to find this clan of goblins that reside deep in the forest. The first clan we came across urged caution, however one of my assistants, in their confidence that this was one of the civilized goblins, approached them offering food. They ravenously consumed the food he had, and then when they had consumed all of it, they ravaged him and picked his bones clean in mere moments. We were able to recover his remains, and my other assistant who watched on in horror as he was consumed offered to take those remains back to Stormcrest. Rest in peace Gilear.

With our new appreciation for the danger of our situation we moved on, taking care to not wander off individually and keep a low profile. Eventually we did arrive at a peaceful glade where we observed goblins eating fruits and vegetables. That’s right, this clan of goblins was vegetarian, an observation I believe I am first to record. We approached them again and learned that they spoke Sylvan fluently and I was taken aback a second time in the same day. It was then however the clan of goblins (which I believe to be the same one who consumed our poor Gilear) launched an ambush on us as we met in the clearing. We were vastly outnumbered, however one of these Fey Goblins stepped in and cast a spell! It created a massive image of a tarrasque and the pursuing goblin clan turned and fled. It was then clear how this peaceful tribe of vegetarian goblins could have become the dominant clan in the area.

We spent a month with them learning their ways. They had constructed homes, not dissimilar to the type of burrow-house created by halflings, although without as complex architecture or hominess. They had begun to cultivate mushrooms as well, a treat I have learned that all goblin’s love (and a treat that all sane elves should also cherish, delicious!). I was thoroughly impressed throughout the stay, trying the cuisine that they had prepared for us and allowing their young to practice sylvan with us. Although the experience was quite similar to that of spending time with another sentient culture, we did feel at unease throughout the stay. There were certainly some goblins there that did not care for our presence and I had the feeling that they were hiding something from us. Once that feeling grew to it’s crescendo we departed Dreamsong and took sail to our next location, Golgolthyr.

Coming into Golgolthyr I had a lot of theories already smashed. I figured the goblins to be a divergent offshoot of the orc species, given their similar morphology and skin tone, however I realized that those were old ways of thinking, and upon any sort of actual reflection, it was clear that they were no more alike than elf and an elephant. When we landed incognito on the southern shores of the Moloa hills I was met by an old friend who I had the privilege of making an acquaintance with on my last trip to Golgolthyr, an orc wanderer called Mrok. Mrok had agreed to be our guide to observe the goblins of the mountainsides of Golgolthyr. It did not take long for his expert tracking to take me and my right hand assistant Sandiralyn (the rest of my assistants had been tasked with watching the sloop as we were moored in unwelcome waters), to observe the clans. We stayed for two weeks in one of his orcish tree huts, safely out of harm's way, able to take notes at our leisure without having to watch our back. But alas, it would have seemed that we came so far for so little. The goblin’s here behaved with much the expected, rival clans constantly bickering and skirmishing for dominance and resources, no better than a den of hungry owlbears. While each clan did seem to have a clear hierarchy, they seemed little more than scavengers and opportunists.

The extended stay in the tree hut did give me some quality time with Mrok though. We spoke of my postulation about the golins being related to the orcs, which he had a good laugh at, although I am certain that he was slightly offended. Apparently to the orcs of the southern Golgol forests the goblins are too a nuisance. The goblins have more fear of the orcs, which I believe to be related to their larger size and considerably more imposing nature, so encounters are less frequent. He did tell me about a time where orcs and goblins did fight alongside one another against common foe, and after the conflict they did enjoy a period where they traded with the goblin clans and were able to communicate with a basic sign language. Desperate to get some benefit out of our long and dangerous journey here, I convinced Mrok to allow us to see a lone goblin up close, which he obliged. When the goblin saw us I instructed Mrok to use which of the hand signs he recalled, and for a moment I believe something inside the goblin instinctively responded to them, before it scampered back off into the forest.

We departed Golgolthyr and began to travel to our final destination, the Smoky mountains. My reason for choosing this for the final location is that in the years after the War of Ash, the goblin population in the mountains flourished with much of the surrounding civilization being destroyed. They grew to a great number, eventually forming a horde that was subsequently wiped out by the Celestine army (a well suited foe in my opinion). We arrived in a tiny town in the southern foothills, on the edge of the Thousand Dune desert called Sungakure, which had initially been settled by Golgol colonists. The city was now home to a large contingent of Celestine soldiers who had been on goblin clean up duty for some time. I was able to meet with a man, Captain Edwin Brosh (who modern readers may now know as Grand Marshal Brosh), who I believe was the one good man in that regimen.

Captain Brosh and I spoke for some time about the conflict with the goblins, one that he had studied before taking the post here to exterminate whoever remained of the goblins, to prevent them from ever amassing in a horde again. The captain had told me that a goblin was just about as rare a sight in these foothills and that he was planning on requesting that the church recall his force, implying that his mission was accomplished. He again confirmed much of what I already knew, that the last several years of extermination had resulted in the last of the goblins becoming incredibly savage and fearless as they faced oblivion. According to the captain the goblin horde, when amassed, fought as an army of organized chaos. The goblins stayed together as clans, but the clans all operated independently in battle, making it hard for the Celestine forces to react, but also easy to disperse the horde as once it's organizational structure was removed from the picture. He had also given me a tip that while the goblins in the foothills were all but gone, a single clan of goblins had ventured into the deep caves of the mountains after the horde was formed.

This cave dwelling clan had adapted to life underground and when the goblin horde was slaughtered, there became less competition for resources. Some of the local townsfolks had been trading with this clan for some of their mushrooms that the deep caves uniquely held. The captain was slow to admit, but he had been present for these exchanges and deemed the goblins not a threat. I believe this is why he never reported the existence of these goblins back to the church. I convinced Brosh to take us to these mushroom hunters to better learn about them. With a little palm greasing, he agreed, and off we set for the mountains.

When we arrived at the cavern entrance we waited until dark, when the goblins emerged. To my surprise these goblins skin had gone quite pale, nearly completely white, and their eyes small and milky from disuse underground. To compensate for this their ears grew much, much larger (comically really), and were covered in a short, white, furlike fiber, which they used for echolocation. They spoke in a mix of common and clicking sounds, and while we were not able to travel with them into their deep dwelling, I was fascinated by the experience.

After that experience we returned back to Stormcrest with a wealth of new knowledge and information to compile. I had a lot to reflect on both from my observation of the goblins, but also those people I met along the way who had learned to live alongside them in peace or perdition. I believe there is much to be learned from the goblin, and if they are given aid and supply, and regulated in their breeding, they could become a proper sentient race to develop their own unique culture and society.

Type

Manual, Scientific