Goblins

Goblins are one of the races of Innworld.

Biology and Abilities

Appearance

Goblins are a humanoid race, with green skin and crimson eyes as their most recognizable features. Normal adults are on average around four feet tall, unless they have developed into Hobgoblins (see below). Their eyes looked uniformly red at a distance, however, that is because the whites of their eyes and the cornea are red. The pupils, by contrast, are the darkest part of their eyes.

They have pointy ears and rather lengthy, pointed noses, but not overly so. For a human at first glance, this makes their faces look ugly. This impression intensifies when Goblins present their teeth, which look pointy and sharp, and of which they have two rows, like sharks do. As another similarity to sharks, Goblins regrow these teeth throughout their life.

While some Goblins can grow hair, they can't grow facial hair, except for old Goblins, who can grow beards. On average, Goblins are smaller than Humans, with the exception of Hobgoblins, who are taller than them.

Physical Abilities

An average Goblin is weaker than a Human.

Lifespan

Goblins grow up fast: Babies learn to walk after about two weeks. After that, they shoot up in height rapidly as Goblin children. They remain functionally children for about six months to a year. After that, they can fend for themselves.

It is not known how long goblins can possibly live, as they usually get killed before they die of old age. Their lifespan has been guessed to be up to 30 years, although it's rare to see one get that old.

Several Hobgoblins have been shown who got significantly older, most significantly Greydath. Tremborag was also supposedly older than many other goblins and even hobgoblins, but still significantly younger than Greydath.

Eyesight

Goblins have good night vision.

Special Abilities

A Goblin Chieftain can see the memories of past Chieftains.

Hobgoblins

Hobgoblins, or "Hobs", are Goblins who undergo what is described as a "late growth spurt" (it may be related to Levelling) that makes them about as tall as a human, also increasing their physical strength greatly. Though quite fat by human standards, Hobgoblins are deceptively fit and strong; again possibly thanks to a Skill, their added body mass, should they have any (for not every Hobgoblin is fat), does not seem to hinder them at all and instead provides additional protection, as some blades cannot penetrate it deeply enough to truly injure the Hobgoblin.  

At a certain stage, Hobgoblins may be able to gain the ability to change their forms. The only known one who can currently do so is Tremborag. In his normal form, he is already an unusually gigantic Hob, and even Goblins make the mistake of assuming he must be quite weak and may even be unable to stand upright. In battle, however, Tremborag could shift — physically shift — into a more fearsome form, all of the apparent fat of his normal form rearranging itself as muscle. That said, it might be merely the result of a Skill. 

Goblin Chieftain

A Goblin Chieftain is essential to any tribe. Without one, Goblins are aimless, no matter how many of them there were. A Chief can direct them and give them purpose. 

But being a Chief was more than just about leadership. It was also something that connected all Goblins. There was power in it, just as there was power in [Shamans]. Goblins gave their Chiefs and Shamans their abilities.

In a [Shaman]’s case, the more Goblins that were in the tribe, the more power their spells had. But a Chief took something different from their Goblins. They took memories.

It was something every Chief could do. They could remember things that had happened to their tribe, things that had happened years or even centuries in the past. This is extremely valuable, as Goblins remembered strategy or good places to hunt or hide. But it only worked with enough Goblins.

Background

Although Goblins are considered a minor threat by most settlements of any size, when they do appear in huge numbers they are fully capable of wiping out villages, cities, and even nations.

History

During the Goblin Crusades, multiple armies of Goblins rampaged throughout the north of Izril and sailed across to Terandria. There were at least a hundred thousand Goblins in each army, and their king even had a million Goblins at his back, when he was defeated in the Blood Fields.

Culture

Traditionally, "being a Goblin is fairly simple". Only a couple of things have to be thought of.

1. Survive
2. Obey your Chieftain
3. There isn't even a third thing to think of. That's was how simple it is.

The willingness to do anything to survive in spite of constant fear, combined with this obedience to the chieftain, seems to be the core of what "is" Goblin, at least in Rags's opinion.

Goblins possess a language, described as rough and unpleasant to speak; while used in cases of necessity, the Goblin tongue is usually eschewed by Goblins in favour of gesturing and pointing. For this reason, Goblins are expert at reading each others' body language. The Mountain City Tribe, among their many idiosyncrasies, were known to speak the Common Tongue (what Earth knows as English) instead of the Goblin Tongue, with some of them, such as their leader Tremborag, being quite fluent in the language.

Naming

Goblins receive their names from shamans. In case a tribe doesn't have a shaman they can't get a name, but for the sake of convenience, they sometimes give each other nicknames. The only known exception to this rule was Rags, who received her name from a human. Although a shaman refused to acknowledge it as a "true" name, most agree all the same that Rags is truly her name and not a nickname. 

Known Goblins Tribes

• Biting Blade Tribe
• Bloody Hand Tribe
• Broken Spear Tribe
• Fire Bite Tribe
• Flooded Waters Tribe
• Frostfeeder Tribe
• Ghostly Hand Tribe
• Gold Stone Tribe
• Jawbreaker Tribe
• Mountain City Tribe
• Old Fire Tribe
• Redfang Tribe
• Rockfall Tribe
• Scale Slayer Tribe
• Still Grass Tribe
• Sword Taker Tribe
• Undercrawler Tribe

List of known Goblin Kings

• Velan the Kind
• Curulac of a Hundred Days

Relations

Frost Faeries

For reason not yet stated, Frost Faeries call them the children or the youngest, and they never watch and listen to them, as they might cry if they did, and the fae did not like to weep for the past.

Trivia

• The Adventurers Guild offers a copper piece for every four pairs of Goblin ears.
• Goblins are a bigger threat in the northern part of Izril than they are in the southern.
• The offspring of Goblins are always Goblins regardless of the partner, male or female. But sometimes Goblins may inherit traits from their non-Goblin parents, which are often rape victims.
• It is believed that Goblins cannot learn magic in the traditional sense, but only by them drawing mana from their tribe.
• Aside from Garen, there are other famous Goblin chieftains in Izril. Far to the north, there are other tribes who make Humans tremble, just as there are ones to the south and on other continents. For example, A pyromaniac witch, who refused the Goblin King, and a brute who loves combat and accepts no one as his master.
• Goblins rarely live long enough to reach Level 20.
• Goblins have weaker classes than humans. For instance, instead of starting with the [Warrior] Class, Goblins first get something like [Scrapper], which changes to [Warrior] at around Lv. 5.
• In Goblin tribal battles each side has hundreds, sometimes thousands of Hobs.