Gulgund

Gulgund is a nation and region located in the Southwest region of Crestfall. A humid, swampy region, Gulgund is the primary homeland of Crestfall's population of goblinoid races, including goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears. The demonym for those native to Gulgund is "Gulgundan".

Geography

Gulgund is a dense region of humid swampland and thick foliage, making traversal by foot difficult for those unfamiliar to the terrain. Pungent swamp gas hangs in the air, creating a strange, otherworldly glow when exposed to the light of Teranuz's dual moons.
Scattered throughout the region are the crumbling remains of the civilization built by early goblinoid settlers, many of which have gradually sunk into the soft earth after centuries of disrepair. Many believe these half-submerged ruins to contain a wealth of artifacts and other riches of these early goblin cities; however, due to the difficulty involved in unearthing these sinking stone temples, very few have been explored in the Modern Era.

Ecosystem

The dense swamps and jungles of Gulgund are host to a diverse variety of unique flora and fauna which cannot be found anywhere else on Crestfall. Among the most noteworthy creatures native to this exosystem are the bizarre instances of megafauna which dwell within the darkest reaches of this region, including the giant ape, the swamp-dwelling catoblepas, and even enormous reptiles known to the Gulgundan goblinoids as "dinosaurs".
These dinosaurs are believed to have been introduced to Crestfall around the same time as the goblinoids themselves, and for hundreds of years have been domesticated by the goblinoids as livestock and beasts of burden...with varying degrees of success depending on the species and temperment of the dinosaurs in question. Among those species that have proven to be incapable of domestication is the resident apex predator of Gulgund's jungles, a huge feathered beast known as the Tyrant Rex. From an early age, young goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears are taught to take off running as soon as they hear this ferocious creature's signature bellow rumble through from deep within the treeline.

Demographics

Gulgund is the homeland of Crestfall's goblinoid population, a diverse group of closely-related humanoid species which includes goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears. Anthropologists of Crestfall posit that the goblinoids first arrived in Gulgund hundreds of thousands of years ago, having crossed over from a now-submerged land bridge which previously linked Crestfall to the Southern continent of Aiyun. If this is indeed true, it would mean that the goblinoids are among the oldest of races which currently reside within Crestfall, possibly even predating the arrival of humanity to the continent.

History

As mentioned, the region now known as Gulgund is believed to have been originally settled by goblinoids arriving via a landbridge connecting the continents of Crestfall and Aiyun. Evidence gleaned from investigating the ruins of the earliest-known goblin settlements indicates that these early goblinoid settlers still practiced the worship of their original pantheon of deities shared by the goblinoids of the Aiyun region; at some stage in the early development of Gulgundan culture, the Aiyuni pantheon was discarded in favor of a new pantheon of goblinoid deities, with the deity known as Maglubiyet serving as the chief figure in this pantheon. It is believed that this shift in the dominant religious practices of Gulgund may have coincided with the hobgoblins' rise to power in forcibly unifying the other goblinoids under their rule (see below).
For thousands of years, the society of the native Gulgundan goblinoids was divided into a strict and rigid caste system, with goblins at the bottom, bugbears in the middle, and the hobgoblins residing at the top of this hierarchical society. This subjugation led to multiple instances of goblins and bugbears embarking on mass-exodus departures from Gulgund, resulting in the spread of goblinoid populations across the surrounding regions of Crestfall.
It was not until the year 715 ME that the Gulgundan caste system was officially disbanded, resulting in an ostensibly more equal political structure for the resident Gulgundan goblinoids. While this has been seen as a boon to the majority of Gulgund's goblinoid population, rumors circulate of hobgoblin factions who secretly yearn for a return to the "old ways", believing the abolishment of the caste system to be an affront to these hobgoblins and their perceived superiority over other goblinoids.

Type

Territory

Location under

Crestfall