Goblins

Goblins are an often disregarded race among the Onokrin, lacking the martial prowess of humans and orcs and without the innate magical talent common among the ogres. What sets them apart and makes them a valued member race of the empire is their innate understanding all things magical, mechanical, and alchemical. For reasons even goblins cannot adequately explain any goblin, save for their sub-race blues, need only touch a machine and they will immediately understand the entire function of the device whether it is magical or mechanical. This knowledge allows them to readily recreate and share the technology between each other that is then rapidly recreated over empire holdings. It is almost entirely thanks to goblins that the most advanced technology and magitech is widely spread, be it the use of resonance power systems in the average citizens home, the refrigeration of food through ice boxes, or mass transportation through arcane and steam trains. The eventual end result of this knowledge sharing lead to the formation of multiple colleges that focus on training new engineers, alchemists, and rune sages to more widely apply their talents to frontier towns and other empires beyond their borders. These colleges and learning institutions are parkways training facilities and research institutes, as goblin students need only be introduced to working versions of technology to swiftly understand it. They then move on to developing new methods while students of other races follow behind them at a much slower pace.

The most famous of such institutions, formerly lead by the greatest magi-tech engineer across the known world, was the fabled Order of Brass. Though a small polity in its own right, it is not uncommon for the apex of rune sages or engineers in their field to join the somewhat secretive order. Among goblins, partially due to their ability to easily replicate anything they touch, find joining such order much more difficult than other races despite the founder being a goblin himself. As such, it is a matter of prestige among their race to have been trained within the order of brass. Surprisingly, goblins place very little importance on their aptitudes internally, while the empire values them greatly and prestige can be gained by various orders one has joined goblins are far more focused culturally on their creative works. The same complexity required to finely operate and build various machines both magical and mundane translates well to many different musical instruments, of which goblins often take up both as leisure activities and as professional musicians, making them a common staple among empire concert halls, performance taverns, and clubs.

A lesser known but valued talent among goblins is their natural skill with alchemy. In the same way goblins can intuitively understand magical and mechanical devices they are capable of deciphering the mixtures and properties of substances with a mere inspection. This talent takes two forms, extending to alchemy and drink mixing. Just as many goblins become alchemists as they do brewers, capable of making some of the strongest and finely tuned drinks that are rivaled only by the rodentfolk and their natural talent for the culinary arts. Those goblins who become alchemists often become trained rosaria, as the same steady hands that can hold tools with perfect precision can also perform surgical operations with equal talent, with even the most humble of goblins being capable of emergency field operations, a trait that is valued among mercenaries and soldiers for combat medics. Blues, the deviant subtype of goblins, take this talent even further, being experts in the medical field in the same way the average goblin becomes an expert in the mechanical. Blues are generally treated like any other goblin, neither exalted nor treated as pariahs, simply as different from the norm even with their unique psionic talents among the empire. The only pariahs among the goblins are the tribal remnants still eking out life in the southern plains as independent or gnoll-aligned tribes.

A quick-start guide:

• Goblins come in three varieties, the most common and numerous being the Onokrin born Ironbound who are considered the base line of the goblin people. The second most numerous are the Blues, the deviant form of goblins, though they are often treated as no different than any other ironbound. The last and least numerous are the stone crushers, the hated and misaligned tribal goblins in the southern plains
• Ironbound Bonuses: +15 mechanical, +5 cognition, -5 toughness. Perks grant perfect tool use and can identify reagents at a glance.
• Stonecrusher Bonuses: +10 toughness, +5 robustness, +5 mechanical. -5 cognition. Perks grant perfect tool use and can identify reagents at a glance.
• Blue Bonuses: +10 cognition, +10 biology, -5 vigilance. Blues have expanded psi pools and can regenerate similar to trolls.

Biology

Goblins are a humanoid race that superficially resemble orcs at a much shorter stature, though have many noted difference upon closer inspection. The average goblin tends to range from four and a half to five feet tall discounting their ears, which tend to be very large and most often pointed, but rounded ears are not uncommon. Goblin skin color are varying shades of green and under some rare occurrences can have gray or yellow skin tones. Blues tend to be, unsurprisingly, shades of blue ranging from navy to very light shades of sky blue. Hair color among goblins are generally dark, with most having extremely dark green, black, or dark brown hair with the exception of blues which will have either dark navy blue, white, or extremely light blue hair. Blues tend to have more hair than regular goblins, with hair spreading to the back of the ears and sometimes across the body, though the latter is rare. Goblin faces vary but are generally either human-like or extremely angular with sharp features such as large pointed noses or pointed chins. Generally speaking, blues tend to have softer human-like features, stone crushers tend to have extremely sharp features, and onokrin goblins are a mix between. Goblin teeth are composed entirely of pointed fangs and will commonly fall out when they begin to dull before rapidly regrowing a fresh tooth within two or three days. Completing their somewhat monstrous appearance (to whose outside of the Onokrin that is) are slit-like eyes resembling that of a snake or feline and come in colors ranging from red, black, white, gray, or yellow. Goblins have black claws on both their hands and feet that end in naturally sharp points but are too frail to serve as weapons. A factor that surprises most other races is goblins possess six fingers and six toes per foot, with each digit having four joints and great flexibility. Goblin hands and to a lesser extent feet are capable of very fine manipulation, having both natural steady control and the ability to individually manipulate any digit even at the same time.

Culture

Goblin culture is in many ways both reserved and direct. Among the feral goblins, the Stonecrushers, they are known to be consummate thieves that hoard stolen treasure taken through banditry and often press ganged into positions as slaves by gnoll tribes. This feral nature is a far cry from the city dwelling Ironbound, who make up the majority of goblins across the empire. While orcs, humans, and even ogres can be said to be boisterous and jovial in nature, the majority of goblins are careful with how they express themselves, reserving flamboyancy largely to their creative works rather than within their personality. Although it is rarely spoken aloud, members within the empire are keenly aware that of the existing member species it is only goblins who have large amounts of tribalistic cousins. This stigma, coupled with most goblins lack of martial or directly magical prowess, has taught many goblins to largely go unnoticed and allow only their creations to speak for them.

An unfortunate aspect of goblin society has developed where the value of the individual is largely based upon what they are capable of uniquely creating. While others marvel at the technological wonders goblins are capable of, they themselves assign no merit to such talents, as any goblin who can touch a piece of technology is immediately capable of recreating it. Among outsiders, the creations of machines are used to display skill, talent, and garner a reputation that distances the individual from any possible stigma of their stonecrusher cousins. Internally, merit is largely assigned by what creations a goblin makes through their own creativity. This can be magical, mechanical, alchemical, or an art form and does not need to be practical or even useful, merely beautiful. The highest prestige that a goblin can earn among is own kind is either as a member of the order of brass, an engineering institute that only recruits the most creatively capable engineers among goblins, or as either a stone mason or musician.

Goblins look towards architecture as the most complex form of art and engineering. The nature of their ability with tools allows them to finely create in magic and mechanics, but this ability does not extend to stonework. As such, the creation of beautiful architecture both as an art and as a challenge for ones ability in engineering is one of the highest forms of challenge any goblin can undertake. In equal measure is music, which is another great portion of goblin culture as they assign incredible reverence to their most talented muses. Most goblins are innately capable of playing an instrument as fine manipulation is a natural skill, but to play it extremely well and compose your own music is a talent reserved only for a rare few. The most vaunted and renowned of the goblin race are thusly their most creative artists, as the mundane mechanics are simply a baseline for each individual.

Mentality

The mentality of goblins is represented heavily within their own culture, that being a heavy preference towards artistic endeavors with a practical approach to using their natural talents as a trade. Where the mentality parts from culture is how goblins diverge among their subraces. Stone crushers are cowardly, covetous, greedy, and vicious and are only kept in check by the stronger and more numerous gnoll tribes among the southern plains. The complete lack of industry and effective tools make it extremely difficult for stone crushers to advance themselves beyond a tribalistic stage of living. Even when supported by gnolls and having raided for tools or weapons they can do little more than maintain and prolong the eventual deterioration of whatever weapons they have. Strangely, among themselves, they are extremely giving when dealing directly with blood relatives. The vast hordes of treasure that they secret away is carefully passed down from generation to generation, with the most impressive or valuable treasures carefully protected and maintained. This makes directly attacking goblin tribes a risky maneuver that even gnolls must carefully plan, as the could have any number of readily charged and working magi-tech weapons, ballistic rifles, or even explosives secreted away for just such an occasion. These hidden caches and potential dangers are the only reason the stone crushers have not been fully subsumed by the gnoll tribes.

In direct opposition to this are the iron bound, the more numerous goblins among the Onokrin whose mentality can be more readily described as being the direct opposite of the stone crusher. Iron bound still suffer from the same propensity for greed that their tribal cousins do, but rather than hoarding money, weapons, or other practical goods iron bound are prone to vice and collecting. Many iron bound become collectors of various types, ranging from art, to antiques, to rare and often extremely expensive artifacts that may or may not be practical or purely artistic in nature. Vice is a common problem among the iron bound, in particular alcoholism due to the iron bounds innate understanding of alchemy and mechanics, as just about any iron bound can easily build his or her own distillery and begin crafting their own recipes of booze. Other common vices include smoking through home garden hydroponics and gambling, the latter of which is considered a social ill. Iron bound see home brewing and potential alcoholism as at least something of a potential profit and are willing to consider heavy drinking socially acceptable as long as the individual does not let it negatively affect their overall life. Gambling, however, is as universally condemned as it is popular among goblins. Many believe this problem extends from the fact that goblins can accurately predict and understand much of the world around them due to their natural understanding of their surroundings, thus to have something with stakes that they can reason by probability but not always predict creates an irresistible lure. Many a man has been ruined by gambling addiction, thus the iron bound routinely keep such vices limited to back rooms and private gambling halls where names are never spoken. Beyond these ills though, all the good that goblin culture has can be considered a direct product of the better nature of the iron bound, whose reliance on hard work and preference for art is said to elevate the entire Onokrin empire.

Finally, you have the blues, the creatively named and least numerous of goblin kind that are found almost exclusively among the iron bound. Surprisingly, while blues are treated like any other goblin by their kin, they are noticeably different. For a start, blues do not have the same perfect understanding of technology and use of tools that an average goblin does and are further separated by being naturally psionic, a completely unique factor among the whole of the Onokrin empire. Blues can be said to have the same understanding of the biological process that a regular goblin has towards machinery, making them excellent healers and rosaria. A great deal of blues join the Sons of Baitaal to be trained as vitalists for this reason and this has lead to much stronger religious convictions than regular goblins. The nature of blues is often more heavily focused on the ethereal rather than the practical, with religious practices and observance, greater interest in philosophy, and a larger focus on the super natural. If one asked a question to an iron bound and a blue on how to capture a bird, the iron bound would come up with all sorts of ideas involving traps, nets, or even carefully applied magic. The blue would say they would hold bird seed in their hand and wait.

Back to Races