Goblins

Goblins are one of the races of Innworld. Despite their ability to level, Goblins are viewed as a monstrous species by the rest of the world.

Physiology

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 look 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.

Goblin Teeth by Cortz

They have pointy ears and rather lengthy, pointed noses, but not overly so. Goblins have two rows of sharp, pointy teeth which they can regrow throughout their life. While some Goblins can grow hair, they are usually bald except for old Goblins, who may grow hair on their face or head.

Physical Abilities

An average Goblin is weaker than a Human.

Senses - Sight

Goblin have good night vision.

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. By the time they turn three Goblins can function as adults.

It is not known how long Goblins can naturally live, as they usually get killed before they die of old age. Prixall, who is sixty years old, appears no older than a Hobgoblin of four years and claimed to be not old. This seems to be uncommon knowledge, as previously, Rags considered Pyrite and Redscar "old" at the ages of 8 and >10. In comparison, Prixall considers Greydath the only old Goblin she'd ever met.

Diet

Goblins can eat almost anything from regular food, to raw meat, to rotten or spoiled food, to even some types of dirt. In extreme circumstances, they may even cannibalize their own dead.

Goblins can live for up to a week without food and twice as long if they have the right classes. Some, like Tremborag, could probably have starved for a month. However, they still need to drink water, or they will only last for a few days.

Reproduction

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.

Magical Qualities

[Shamans] are the most well-known magic users of Goblins, drawing Mana from the members of their tribe and thus growing stronger as the tribe increases its numbers. Because of the lack of opportunity and education, Goblins rarely become arcane [Mages]. Because of this, most other people are under the misconception that Goblins are only capable of [Shaman] magic. However, Goblins are able to cast magic and become [Mages] just like other races, depending on individual magical abilities. Noears and Rags are such [Mages].

As magic-capable Goblins are usually targeted first by adventurers trying to decimate a tribe, most Goblins choose not to pursue the [Shaman] or [Mage] classes.

Special Abilities

Every Goblin that takes a leading position over other Goblins, such as a [Leader], [Chieftain], [Shaman], [Great Chieftain], [Lord] and [King], can see the memories of past deceased Goblins, years, centuries, or further in the past. The size of a Goblin leader's tribe impacts the quantity and age of the memories they can access, and there is a minimum number of Goblins needed to access this power. It is extremely valuable, as Goblins remembered strategy or good places to hunt or hide.

Goblins, potentially only Goblin leaders, can sense other Goblin leaders in the distance as lights in the darkness. It seems to be partially up to the will of a Goblin if they allow themselves to be sensed. The strength of their light doesn't directly correlate to the strength of the Goblin. Goblins are able to sense other Goblin leaders even across continents and seas, depending on their light's strength, though it gets harder to pinpoint locations the farther it is.

Evolution

Similar to Lizardfolk, by fulfilling certain unknown conditions, Goblins can evolve into different forms. Hobgoblins seems to be something of a base evolution, from which Goblins may further evolve into rarer Great Goblin subtypes, only one of which is known (Fomirelins). It is implied there are additional Great Goblin subtypes.

Hobgoblins

Hobgoblins, or "Hobs", are Goblins who undergo what is described as a "sudden growth spurt" that makes them about as tall as a Human, while also increasing their physical strength greatly. Hobgoblins can be twice as thick as a grown Human, using the extra body mass to protect their inner organs from being damaged when struck. These Hobgoblins, though appearing outwardly fat, are quite fit and are not unduly hindered by their added weight. Not every Hobgoblin tends toward this weight gain, however.

Hobgoblins may be what a grown Goblin is, and the transformation happens "when they are ready or needed". Hobgoblins have been remarked on not being adult Goblins, just what a Goblin becomes when they have something important to do. Tribes that are dominated by other species, such as Raskghar or Ogres, will manifest few if any Hobgoblins.

Fomirelins

Fomirelins, also known as Great Goblins, are a Great Goblin subtype that Hobgoblins may be able to turn into. They are hulking creatures of muscles. Hobgoblins who do not fully turn can change for a limited amount of time, with all of the apparent fat of their normal forms rearranging itself into muscle. Greydath considers such half-transforming Goblins weak.

Fomirelin means "Great Goblin of the Sea", and apocryphal tales say that Goblins would walk into the sea and re-emerge as giants ready for war. Teriarch describes them as an act of desperation and revenge similar to the Dullahan War Walkers.

Additional Subtypes

Further evolutions exist but have not been detailed. There is an evolution that is taller than a Goblin, with larger ears and pale skin.

Cave Goblins

Cave Goblins appear identical to the above-described Goblins, with the exception of having grey skin instead of green. They are not an evolution form in the vein of Hobgoblins or Fomirelins, but rather a Goblin subspecies.

Behavior and Culture

Leadership

Chieftains

A Goblin Chieftain (or [Leader]) 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. There is power in being a Goblin leader, just as there is power in [Shamans], which connects all Goblins. Goblins give their Chiefs and Shamans their abilities. In their case, they took memories, just as mentioned above in Special Abilities.

Shamans

A Goblin Shaman can lead a tribe as well as a Chieftain, and can also access the memories of past deceased Goblins. The more Goblins are in their tribe, the more power their spells have.

Lords

See Goblin Lords

Goblin Lords are the first type of Goblin that have the ability to send out signals to all Goblins that urges the Goblins to join them. Their presence can be sensed by other Goblins intuitively in some cases.

Kings

See Goblin Kings

When a Goblin Chieftain amasses enough goblins, they turn into Goblin Kings. All Goblin Kings so far have ended up waging terrible wars against non-Goblins despite being docile at first, with the reason implied to be remembering a terrible act enacted against Goblins long ago during the God War. Velan told Tremborag that there is no purpose or task that killing everyone fulfills, it is just to end everything.

Upbringing

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 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.

Goblin females are rarer to become [Warriors] than men, because they are often busy being pregnant or weaning. Clever Chieftains don't split off gender-mixed squads of Goblins for longer-term tasks away of the tribe, because doing so can result in a fully new tribe.

Language

Goblins possess a language, and the most common dialect is considered low verse, meant for warriors and battlefields. It's become the most common Goblin dialect due to the need to survive, and because young goblins don't have the time to learn the full Goblin vocabulary. It's described as rough and unpleasant to speak; while used in cases of necessity, the Goblin tongue is usually eschewed by Goblins in favor of gesturing and pointing. Most Goblins speak in a splintered form while using body language and context to fill in the gaps. Goblin sounds including grunting, chortling and loud eigk-ing sounds.

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.

The other dialec is more eloquent and verbose, and has less gestures and expressive body language. It is spoken in the safer and more peaceful tribes like the Molten Stone Tribe, and coastal tribes implied to originate from the Goblin Isle. The dialect in Baleros is considered more complex as well.

For more information, see here.

Naming

Goblins receive their names from Shamans. If 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 exceptions to this rule was Rags, who received her name from a Human, and Reiss who received his name from Zel Shivertail upon his death. While Ulvama refuses to acknowledge 'Rags' as a "true" name, most agree all the same that Rags is truly her name and not a nickname.

The reason why the Shaman, Ulvama, refused to acknowledge it is because only a [Shaman] can give a proper name, by using their power. This is so when named Goblins die, other leading Goblins, like Chieftains, can remember them through memory.

Slave Tribes

Goblins will sometimes become subservient to other intelligent Monsters such as Ogres or Raskghars. These slave tribes produce very few to no Hobgoblins while they are enslaved.

Games

As most tribes are focused on survival and rarely have the opportunity to develop in peace, most of them don't have much in terms of culture or games. But those that do, like the Goblin Isle and the Molten Stone Tribe, have a magical game in which animals of colored light are conjured. Children catch them, and the animals dissolve, covering the children in colored sparkles.

Known Goblin Tribes

• Army of the Goblin Lord - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Big Eats Tribe
• Biting Blade Tribe
• Bloody Hand Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Broken Spear Tribe
• Burning Snow Tribe
• Cave Goblins
• Fire Bite Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Flooded Waters Tribe
  • Goblinlands
• Frostfeeder Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Furgather Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Ghostly Hand Tribe
• Goblin Isle Tribe
• Goblin's Lament
• Gold Stone Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Greystone Tribe
• Jawbreaker Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Kraken Eater Tribe
• Molten Stone Tribe
• Mountain City Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Mountain Fierce Warriors Tribe - (extinct)
• Old Fire Tribe
• Redfang Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Rockbreakers Tribe
• Rockfall Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Rolling Rocks Tribe
• Scale Slayer Tribe - (extinct)
• Still Grass Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Sword Taker Tribe - (absorbed into Flooded Waters)
• Undercrawler Tribe - (extinct)
• Valley Pact Tribe - (extinct)
• Yellow Powder Tribe

History

After the creation of Innworld, the gods brought over many different ideas and people from their respective homes. No gods claimed or represented the Goblin race, who were the last to be brought into being, as the final piece of the "great project." When the first Goblins were created, they emerged from the sea. While Goblins were created to be monsters, their first centuries of existence were spent swimming and fishing in the ocean. However, their creation was the "first sins of the divine," and implied to be one of the instigating factors of the final war against the gods.

According to Zineryr, Goblins were victims in the God War, during which they lost their family, their people, and their King. Zineryr also spoke of there being only ever one Goblin King. For as long as anyone can remember, Goblins have been hunted all over the world, because every Goblin King that emerges becomes genocidal.

During the Zeladona's time, Goblins were believed extinct by the other races, and had faded into legend.

After the fall of the Minotaur's Age of Conquest, a Goblin named Sóve the Island Queen established a settlement of Goblins on a floating island, which became enemies of the House of Minos. Every year, when the two islands draw close, they enter combat, ostensibly for the House of Minos to keep them from growing too strong and sending out groups to aid other Goblins. Niers Astoragon muses who is occupying who.

The Goblin King Curulac of the Hundred Days rampaged in Terandria for a hundred days, from which his moniker came from. He wiped out two bloodlines of the Hundred Families. His actual goal was to destroy the Lucifen and Agelum, and he devastated both species to such an extent that they had to merge into one group to survive. His final gift to Goblinkind was his daughter, and later his grandson Greydath.

On Baleros, the Goblin Lord Velan the Kind established his tribe as a mercenary company, powerful enough to be counted as a Great Company. While most nations didn't formally recognize Goblin's Lament as a power, his dedication to peace and trade earned the grudging respect of other species and improved the perception of Goblins. Even the Forgotten Wing Company enlisted Goblins, and Niers Astoragon wrote a book on working with Goblin mercenaries. There was hope that with his example, relations between Goblins and other species would improve.

Second Antinium War

When Velan became the Goblin King, he and his tribe carved a path of devastation towards the coast, erasing settlements and breaking every established treaty they had. Once there, they built a fleet and sailed towards Izril. A Minotaur fleet and the Archmage Balkizat engaged the army at sea to sink them, but both failed and the Archmage was killed by Tallis the Stormbreaker. Velan briefly went to the Goblin Isle to recruit them, but they refused to join him.

Velan and his nine Goblin Lords disembarked on Izril. The first army sent against them by the humans was easily destroyed. The following force sent three days later of about a hundred thousand [Knights] and [Lancers] led by Fulviolo El, Petria Terland, and Ulva Terland was routed within ten minutes, with Velan personally beheading Fulviolo and Petria. Less than a hundred human survivors escaped, and the personal armies of two of the Five Families were broken.

The Goblins pushed towards First Landing. Velan and eight of the Goblin Lords besieged the city. The nobility risked their lives to directly lead their soldiers and repel the Goblins with their combined auras at great cost in the Sacrifice of Roses. The Goblin Lord Murmar was slain during the siege.

The Goblins withdrew and began a campaign of fire in the surrounding area, destroying smaller targets while First Landing remained under siege. The siege of First Landing was broken when Magnolia Reinhart attacked using the Crown of Flowers, driving the Goblins back. During that time, Velan travelled to the High Passes for eight days, where he hid his treasure and was delayed by Teriarch. When he returned he had opened a pass between the north and south for the Goblins.

The Goblin forces clashed with Az'kerash's undead once, which ended in a stalemate.

The campaign in southern Izril was given to Tallis the Strombreaker. He sacked port cities along the western coast and easily routed Drake armies. The Antinium attacked when the Goblins came too close to one of the Hives, resulting in Tallis destroying the first Antinium army with one spell and subsequently destroying the second and third armies sent as well, giving them their first major defeat of the war. The Antinium changed tactics and harassed the Goblins to wear them down.

In the north of Izril, multiple armies of Goblins rampaged across the continent and sailed across to Terandria. There were at least a hundred thousand Goblins in each army. Some of the Goblin Tribes of Izril refused to join Velan in his rampage, such as Mountain City, Molten Stone, and Ghostly Hand.

Niers Astoragon travelled from Baleros and entered the war, taking command of human armies to push back Greydath's forces in the east and stalemate other Goblin Lords. Though he refused to directly engage the Goblin King, as any battle against him would be disastrous.

Terandrian forces then reinforced the north with an army two hundred thousand strong, and Velan attacked them with five thousand Goblin elites. These elites were said to be comprised of Hobgoblins as strong as Gold-rank adventurers, and that some were as tall as half-Giants. More forces from Baleros and the Blighted Kingdom followed to fight the Goblins, who attacked them as soon as they landed.

Velan moved south, encircled an Antinium Hive and personally killed a Queen, causing the Antinium to pull back their forces and defend the other Queens. Tallis' forces were free to reinforce the Goblins in the north if needed.

After the Peace at Liscor, with the Necromancer out of the war and the Drakes and Antinium having ceased hostilities, the entire continent and foreign allies focused on the Goblins. Velan remained unassailable in his main army. Tyrion Veltras pursued an aggressive campaign against the Goblins while Magnolia linked with Niers' forces to maintain a defensive perimeter and halt the Goblin armies, seperating their forces to not be crushed by the Goblin King.

Velan and his Lords seemed determined to keep fighting to the bitter end. So the armies targeted the Goblin Lords to encircle and isolate Velan. Wrymvr killed a Goblin Lord in personal combat, and Tallis was felled by tree Archmages and Xrn. Velan amassed his remaining forces into a single army, a million strong, and marched against the combined armies sent against him.

The final battle at the Bloodfields lasted four days. Niers and the Antinium separated him from the remaining Goblin Lords so the allied armies could kill the exposed Velan. Velan killed two of the six [Generals], a Terandrian [Lord], and a Named adventurers, and pursued the retreating army. A mage bombardment then cut him off from his army, and a detachment made up of high-level [Mages] and [Archers], led by three Archmages, attempted to bombard him to death. He survived but his vanguard was wiped out, so he charged alone. That was when he was slain by Elia Arcsinger.

Every Goblin on the battlefield and perhaps the world felt Velan die. The Goblin combatants were cut down while they were too grief-stricken to fight back, and fled with their morale broken. The remaining Goblin Lords save for Greydath hurled themselves into battle and were slain as the Goblin armies were destroyed. Greydath's forces held out for longer than the others. Magnolia retrieved one of the keys to Velan's treasure from his body.

Post-War

After the war, all of Velan's efforts to make Goblins accepted were overturned. On Baleros, Goblins were hunted down until there were no visible tribes left, banned from Balerosian Monster regiments, and Niers' books were burned en masse. The remaining tribes of Baleros are hidden.

Relations with other Races

Frost Faeries

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. They also never bother them with any pranks.

Minotaurs

The House of Minos consider the Island of Goblins their ancient enemy, and regularly keep tabs on Goblins on the other continents. Venaz believes the House of Minos annually clashes with the Goblin Isle to deplete their strength and prevent them from sending groups to aid other Goblin tribes, but Niers Astoragon says the Isle sends out groups anyway and muses if the Isle depletes the House of Minos instead.

Elves

The Elves were the first species to encounter the nascent Goblins. It appears they were friendly, and the statues of Elves on the Goblin Isle are considered "friends".

Trivia

• In their native language, "Mirak" is the term for Goblins.
• Goblins are called the "youngest species" as they were the final race to be created by the divine.
  • Antinium technically are the latest species to have been created by a god, Goblins are still referred as the "youngest species" because they were the "last original species in the plan."
• Adventurers guilds offer tiny bounties for Goblin ears. This amount may range from a copper piece for every four pairs of Goblin ears to two copper pieces per ear
  • As of Volume 6, Liscor has decided to discontinue the bounty on Goblins. Furthermore, they have adopted the Wandering Inn's rule "No Killing Goblins" as one of the rules on their brochure.
  • Goblin ears are an ingredient in at least some alchemist recipes.
• 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.
• Goblins are a bigger threat in the northern part of Izril than they are in the southern.
• 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 some Goblin tribal battles, each side has hundreds, sometimes thousands of Hobs.
• Niers Astoragon wrote one of the only books about Goblins titled Goblin [Mercenaries]. Leading Goblins and being led by Goblins.
• Deceased Goblins automatically go to Hellste, the afterlife for <Sinners> and the like.
• Goblins living in Terandria hide in places with fewer people or that others wouldn't think of. As a result, they are considered especially hard to track down.
• Baleros' Goblins are stated to live underground.
• Along with Baleros, Rhir has currently the lowest known Goblin population out of the continents.
• According to Teriarch, Goblins generally like fish due to the affinity with the sea their early ancestors had. However, Rags disputes this, as most tribes are forced to scavenge and would likely enjoy anything new that doesn't taste bad.