Goblintown
Goblintown, or as it's now known as Gitzburg, is southeast of Eschbach is a village containing roughly 75 Goblins and in league with the Franks based in Eschbach.
Demographics
Most of the population, about 50, are adult males, and about 20 females, and the about 5 children.
About 45 of the adults are a mix of miners and woodsmen, with the rest of the adults (25) are fighters. The children are too young at present to be able to do anything but are training in basic fighting techniques, mining, and woodwork.
About 10 wolves have been captured and being bred too.
The actual inhabitants are originally slaves used in the mines in the Central Massif belonging to the de Rais clan .
Government
Overall the village is part of the Frankish Empire, and ruled by the Crown. Count de'Ath is next in line, and with Duke Grimmaz Fyrwin below that.
General day-to-day running of the village and surrounding land is left to Boss Gitslapper, the oldest toughest Goblin in the town. He rules as best he can, but needs to slap a bit of 'sense' into the others he rules. He also regularly deals with others such as the Duke and something he is only too willing to do.
Some of the more determined and disciplined of the Goblins have made up a de facto council that they act as advisers & enforcers. They lead work crews mining and working wood, as well as leading warriors and doling out punishments to those that break any laws.
The rest are split into woodsmen, miners and warriors as well as taking on other roles where necessary. They hunt, farm, and trade where they can especially with Eschbach. They also raid de Rais mining camps and trade caravans with whom they detest supplementing their income.
The latter is a break with their general laws as Duke Fyrwin has the same basic distain for the de Rais as the Goblins.
They follow the basic laws of the Frankish Empire, paying taxes to the Crown, and trying their best not to steal & rob, attack, or kill other members of society. The warriors have modelled themselves after the Burgeaters of Eschbach calling themselves the Giteaters. They enforce the laws where they can and regularly train & interact with them to, hopefully, become somewhat like them. A couple of Burgeaters regularly travel & stay at the town to provide extra muscle and help with training and enforcement.
Defences
Survival at all costs is a common thing that helps in the defence of Goblintown. The Goblins are suspicious of anyone who isn't allied to Eschbach so they keep a very wary eye on anyone else who enters the region. They may have a very small dedicated fighting force themselves they rely on Burgeater support and this can be a dangerous force to face. The Goblins being sneaky will happily let the Burgeaters appear to take the brunt of any attack, but will quickly & efficiently carry out a flank attack. These tend to happen lightning fast constantly engaging then disengaging to attack again from a different angle.
Coupled with the knowledge of the region too helps them disappear deep into the rocky overgrown terrain making them difficult to follow or find. On top of that many would be attackers sometimes mistake Goblintown for either being abandoned or used by the odd solo woodsman or adventurer party passing through. Also, with the size of the Goblins anything of medium size or taller find the town quite cramped and hard to navigate. The Goblins as a whole make use of this by getting enemies into spaces they find hard to move in and setting on them in numbers. Since the village is now slowly but steadily growing, along with all also expected to have some weapon training, this has proved rather effective.
On that note, the Goblins have been training all their numbers on how to use basic weapons and basic tactics so that all has a better chance of never being turned to slaves again. They also have modified the mines they use to be able to hide in similar to a siege situation. Water and foodstuffs have been hidden in designated spots in most of the mines to allow for this tactic.
Industry & Trade
Mining is a major industry for Goblintown. The Goblins quickly learned how to mine when enslaved so has took what they picked up with it. Though it is distasteful for them to do so, it is something they have proven they can do now for their own profit. They regularly pull out enough for their own use, and enough to make a profit for them. Besides making items for themselves when used or turned to steel, for stronger use, they sell the rest off to other communities and for use in general trade and to pay off taxes.
They use the forests in the area to help by collecting lumber, animal parts such as elements used in medicine, food, and fur & skins for leather. The latter they have processed in Eschbach and any excess is solod off or used to pay the leatherworkers.
Lumber itself is useful as they can again it is used for personal use, as well as selling off any excess. None of them are charcoal burners so they make use of the Eschbach charcoal burners for this again letting them take a cut of any money or trade.
Their raids on de Rais caravans allows them to get gold straight off, and can be spent any way needed for the town and bonus money for the raiders. They sometimes get cloth, salt, pepper, glass, or any number of such items along with rare items. Some they keep for themselves, other parts they sell to Eschbach, and sometimes blatantly open about it. Other times they do it under the counter if it would attract too much attention. This sometimes requires the use of the Thieves of Frankia to shift it. Both make a profit in some way by this.
The village itself buys a few different foodstuffs they can't get themselves such as different beers and butter. Also, they get other types of metal, and standard dyed cloth. They also get types of general items in almost all areas of life, usually those that they can't manufacture themselves. Though in many cases of this they quickly learn to modify it or work out to build it themselves. With their nature, most stuff gets broke or changed beyond the original use.
Infrastructure
The Goblins of Goblintown are quite a devious bunch when it is called for, and have stripped a number of items from the old mines when they escaped. This has provided materials & tools they use to produce goods, mine stone and metals from the surrounding region, hunt animals & deadly creatures, and carry out carpentry.
The materials has led them to create small mines and carpentry workshop at the edge of town. Primarily extracting iron as a resource, they turn this to ingots when they have enough for their own needs, they sell the remainder in Eschbach. The same applies to lumber with the carpentry camp acting as a de facto lumber mill too. They use the lumber and iron to produce enough tools and regular daily items for themselves.
They've too to breeding wolves to use as mounts in battle and have 10 fully grown wolves for this. They use them in place of dogs for hunting and regularly take down larger more dangerous creatures, especially the beasts & monstrosities that wander into the area from the Central Massif. This has led many of their number become specialists in both hunting & tracking monstrosities, and a small cavalry of sorts for the town of Eschbach.
Most have small communal plots where they grow fruit and vegetables all year round. sometimes these are uprooted for expansion of the village itself. Most of the produce are used or sold locally and it is rare to see any outside in other markets.
They regularly buy in alcohol from Eshbach though they still have a small still hidden in an abandoned mine at the edge of the village. This is used to make a rough grain alcohol dubbed by the locals as The Squiggly Beast, a lesser known local vernacular for the way it tastes & potential side effects of drinking it.
They have a small village hall in the middle of the village at a rough dirt village square for conducting business and training of the warriors. The odd market stall sets up here daily and usually more on irregular market days. Most economic business is done at the buildings owned by the specific buyer or seller.
One aspect that make the Goblins very wealthy is the raiding of the major road running east & west a couple of hundred yards to the south. There is always at least 5 warriors posted either side if this road and have strict instructions to only hit caravans and officially marked individuals of the de Rais family. The Goblins, being one time slaves of the de Rais, take great delight in attacking these, making off with horses (though these are sometimes ate), gold, wares worth a bit of coin, and other items that could be used or sold on. These are usually passed between the Goblins and either the Thieves of Frankia or blatantly sold to specific individuals or in the open markets of Eschbach. Considering the outright hatred of the de Rais in general and especially in towns like Eschbach, this is to be expected. So far, any protest or act (whether open or covert) on part by the de Rais have fallen on deaf ears of the higher ups.
Assets
A wealth of iron in the rocky overgrown terrain here has led to the Goblins using what skills they learned while slaves in the de Rias mines, to be given over to the extraction of this useful material. They may not have the advantages as that of Dwarves for such a job, but they have the spitefulness to get every last bit of iron they can. They see it as being better them, and their allies, having it than those that enslaved them.
The Goblins have recently shown they are crafty and dangerous enough to take down a number of monstrosities that have wandered in from the Central Massif. Most of them have took trophies from the bodies of such creatures like Basilisks, Owlbears, and the odd Cockatrice to show for this prowess. Saying this there are those that have a few other such trophies besides. This skill has led them to be called up by the other local authorities to target other such creatures that appear once in a while. It is something they are willing to do for money, items they lack, and/or favours down the line.
They also regularly can trade furs, body parts and meats of animals they hunt in the surround forested areas that they don't need. Regularly hunting they have built up a knowledge of what creatures are present, what is edible, what's not, what can fetch a fair price, and what plants exist where to be harvested as need be.
Since they are seen as primitive by most and a nuisance at worst by a few, they have generally been left alone but willing to go out of their way to help Eschbach as well as acting as a buffer for the central Massif. Since most were slaves in that region they have extensive knowledge of the layout and can direct & even protect against anything that can be found there.
Guilds and Factions
There is an unofficial miners guild in the village and modelled on the unofficial guild in Eschbach. Both work loosely together and the Goblins look upon it to stop themselves getting exploited. They also swap ideas and training between both mines.
The Thieves of Frankia has a small presence with one or two Goblin thieves accepted into the guild. This allows them to trade and access to all the benefits of the guild.
History
Goblintown is a relatively new town only truly established no more than 12 months ago. They were freed by Grimmaz, Reolus, Anselma and their friends shortly before it's founding. The Goblins were slaves to the de Rais family, forced to work in their mines in the Central Massif. This led them to hardened to indiscriminate violence and mining conditions.
When they were freed they fled to the forests in the region between the Central Massif and the town of Eschbach. There they built a rough set of ramshackle buildings to regroup and settle down. Others in the area that had already escaped arrived and joined them. During the intervening time others arrived and the hamlet became a village.
Better buildings were needed so the Goblins learned skills in woodwork to get basic skill in it along with mining and basic metalwork. They added their own touch, and started hunting eventually capturing a handful of wolves to train.
From there they approached the then lord of Eschbach, Grimmaz Fyrwin. They struck a deal to integrate the village into the town of Eschbach itself where both could trade and mutual protection. Goblintown would follow the laws of the Frankish Empire and pay taxes through Eschbach as part of their territory. The de Rais family cannot touch the Goblins there being seen as citizens of the Empire now, and any Goblin that sets foot there can register themselves there and gain full protection of the law.
The eldest and dominant member of it is Boss Gitslapper who quickly took over when the first Goblins arrived. He quickly organised everything for the village and has recently came up with the name of Gitzburg to stop it being thought of as just Goblintown. Both are still interchangeable and thought off as Goblintown.
Architecture
The village looks as if the inhabitants took general Frankish building design and made a mockery of it. They are primarily made of wood, and built into trees on the ground and/or rocky outcrops. The whole place is built into a lower level to the surrounding rocky terrain with plants grow wild in areas not regularly used.
There is a stream that they draw water from to the north trickling down to the western side of the village. Mine entrances dot here and there usually partially covered with plant growth. The plant growth around the area helps to partially cover the village. A road leads to the main road to the south.
Geography
The region it is in, is heavily forested along with rocky outcrops and dips in the ground. It is perfect for the Goblins to hide in and use to their advantage.
Climate
Season conditions are normal, though the winter months can be brutal with the Alps nearby and sub-zero temperatures are not uncommon during this time. During the rest of the year, the region warms up allowing for temperatures to climb and plant life to thrive drawing in animals o0f all kinds.
Natural Resources
Iron, medicinal plants, berries and wild vegetables such as wild garlic and wild onions are abundant. Birds such as hawks and eagles are present along with badgers, pigeons, goats and wolves can also be found. The odd cave bear can be found nearby and monstrosities sometimes appear here wandering in from the Central Massif or even the Alps to the south.
Wood for lumbar is also common with Alpine Fir, Oak, Willow, and Ash tree s prese nt. The odd Yew tree is present too. All of these are used to some degree or the other.
Beautifully fully realized!
Thanks Mr Story