Kobold

Basic Information

Anatomy

Kobolds are a reptilian humanoid species, with sinewy digitigrade legs and long clawed fingers with a jaw like a crocodile.

Biological Traits

Oft disregarded as pests, kobolds are what seperates a rookie sellsword from a corpse. Kobolds are far more crafty, intelligent, and competent then many expect (though perhaps rather impulsive). Kobolds have a intrinsic skill for digging and mining, giving more credit to the idea of dragons copying dwarves. They had sinewy, digitgrade legs, clawed fingers, and a jaw similar to a crocodile. They were known for being very intuitive and industrious, able to scavenge and make tools out of very little, and some possess an affinity for dragon due to their draconic origins. They also possess a loud "yipping" sound they can use to befuddle opponenets and encourage their allies. They also seemingly are able to regrow teeth for their entire life. Kobolds are a highly diverse species, with severla subraces, though these subraces have little diffrence aside from pigmentation.

Genetics and Reproduction

Kobolds lay eggs, clutches to be exact. Females lay between 17-24 pale, leathery-shelled eggs. These eggs are typically put in communal nesting chambers to incubate. Incubation takes around 7 months. Kobolds have a high fertility rate, which makes up for the high mortality rates later in life.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Kobolds are omnivorous, eating plants and animals. They are able to eat just about anything when the situation became desperate, even tree bark or bone. They have been known to eat sentient beings, but this wavers depending on the situation of resources for a colony of kobolds and other factors. They prefer not to eat what they call "talking meat" but will if needs must, even cannibalism if the rumors are true.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Typically a reptillian face with small horns and burnt orange eyes.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Kobolds have at this point spread across the entire world. They typically favor underground communities they dig out themselves, but have been known to inhabit ruins, or even live in cities. Kobolds regruarly get into territorial disputes with goblins, gnomes, and dwarves.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Due to their affinity for living underground, kobolds have excellent low-light vision. It is often described that in the dark their eyes tend to slightly glow in apperance.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Kobolds names tend to be short and simple, though higher ranking kobolds love to take longer, more majestic names like true dragons.

Gender Ideals

Kobolds are a egallitarian people, and so gender roles seem to be fairly equal across their colonies for the most part.

Courtship Ideals

Kobolds do not maintain monogamous relationships, and due to the importance they place on propagation, they choose mates by practical measures rather than love. However they do also mate for the simple pleasure of it all.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Kobolds speak a simplified, derived version of draconic commonly called Low-Draconic. For those that speak draconic, it is dsecribed as irritating and grating. An example is that instead of saying "very good" they will say "good good".

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Kobold communities gather then groups called colonies, and can be found across most of the world. These communities typically have an overlord or king ruling them, and so gets to enjoy the perks of leadership. One becomes a leader not just by physical might, but by their craftiness and ability to have things go their way. While this system mostly works, there have been times when colonies have multiple self proclaimed kings, leading to civil war.  Priests and those that connect them to draconic gods and their ancestors are also important members of these colonies, being seen as those able to guide the colony in spiritual matters. These colonies produce armies called "legions" where they try their best to gather in a semi coheisve attack force to defend the colony or raid others. They have long since grown to dislike most of the surface folk for their repeated invasions of their homes, and it is not unkown for many colonies to take war slaves. They have long since been used to being bullied by the larger races, and indeed many kobold communities live as slaves and servants of other, more powerful beings. 
Kobolds are seen as pests, but even pests can pose a danger. Indeed kobolds, thanks to their numbers, can swarm an enemy easily and quickly, almost even more so than goblins. They love to use traps and clever thinking to fight opponentes, making it easier to capture or kill those that threaten the colony. They sometimes wear the skulls of enemies and beasts to intimidate, and can be just as cruel as any other humanoid. However, this is mainly due to their paranoia of outsiders and the outside world. However, of course, this paranoia isn't impossible for kobolds to grow out of, and indeed many more social kobolds exist in the cities. 
Kobolds are known for their cunning, preffering to think smarter and not harder. They find metal to be of great importance to their gods, but prefer to make most of their weaponry of dragon bone and body parts. Some mutate their bodies with strange potions to try and look closer to dragons. They have also become skilled at breeding war beasts, ussually reptilain, known as Shieldscale Drangolin and other various lizard hounds such as Scutico (scale rats) or Svaraskalos (lizard hounds). The Shieldscale Drangolin are the most threatening of all, being large creatures that tunnel through the ground with ease, and can easily break apart enemy fortification and can smash through walls. They are even capable of erutping like a volcano, turning them into living bombs that can survive the explosion.

History

Kobolds are xenophobic, paranoid, and industrious folk as many would say. However, they are a complicated race, if a bit impulsive in some regards. Much of their history was long thought lost, but thanks to the work of numerous scribes, some knowledge of their origin myth have been recovered. It is believed amongst the kobolds that in early days of the world, dragons and dwarves hated one another (which is very true). Regurarly the dwarves would fight dragons after digging deep and coming across dragon hoards, and the dragons hated these short folk. However, dwarves are excellent at digging and mining, a useful skill for anyone to have. So it was that the first dragons made kobolds, with the kobolds believing the first of their kind to be one kown as Kurtulmak. He was made to be as skilled in digging and mining as dwarves, but in a form more pleasing to his dragon masters. As he proved himself, the dragon masters decided to give a small reward for his service, being the creation of several dozen wives for him to lay with.
However the exact nature of kobold reproducction was apparnetly forgotten about during their creation, and soon the kobolds began to spread at alarming rates. Many dragons found them annoying and would even do some "pest control" on these nests, but in time many dragons died out from dwarven invasions, and the rest preffered to be alone. So it was the kobolds scatterted into the caverns, without a leader or a guide. This is when most of their history diverges wildely based on each colony/clan. What is well known is they have become a constant annoyance and threat for any underground mining operations, and they even can cause structural damage to buildings on the surface by accident. One can know easily they enter kobold territory thanks to the loud "yipping" they emit from their mouths. However, one should not underestimate the kobolds, as though they can be quick to run, if backed into a corner they fight with an almost rabid nature about them.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Kobolds are generally seen as a pest rather than a major threat, a mistake many make. Kobolds are vicious when cornered, or when on the attack, and have slain more than people would believe. While not instantly hostile against outsiders, their guard is up majority of the time due to the ancient stories of adventurers crurely killing dragons and their kind for loot and riches. Some kobolds have broken away from their communities and intergrated with wider society, some even working as sellswords, but for the most part Kobolds keep to themselves. They are espically hazerdous to any mining operations as accidently digging into their lairs can spark a bloody underground war.

Lifespan

usually 50 to a max of 150

Average Height

2-3ft tall

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Their scaled skin can range between reddish brown and black or even a bluish tint, and they are covered in scales.