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| croiduire:orbs:goblins [2015/10/23 18:38] – Croi Duire | croiduire:orbs:goblins [2020/04/24 22:34] (current) – Croi Duire |
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| As a race goblins are gregarious, curious, brave, clever, quick, and industrious, and these qualities are highly prized in the society. There are exceptions, of course, as is the case with any race, but those individuals fit poorly within the societal matrix. On the down side they tend to be judgemental and gossipy. They are tribal and almost wholly communal; the concept of privacy never caught on. Bands of between 100 and 250 individuals live in spacious caves (first choice, when available), in earth-bermed houses constructed mostly underground, or, when foraging as a tribe (which they do several times a year), in a huge hide tent. Each family has a section of that large, single room where they spread out their sleeping and work mats and keep their belongings. When the community grows larger than that it splits, with the new band moving a few to several miles away so that the resources in the immediate area are not depleted. This is a momentous occasion in the life of a tribe, and treated almost like a birth, with both "parent" and "child" working together to establish the sept in its new home. Some tribes have as many as a dozen septs fanning out from the original location. | As a race goblins are gregarious, curious, brave, clever, quick, and industrious, and these qualities are highly prized in the society. There are exceptions, of course, as is the case with any race, but those individuals fit poorly within the societal matrix. On the down side they tend to be judgemental and gossipy. They are tribal and almost wholly communal; the concept of privacy never caught on. Bands of between 100 and 250 individuals live in spacious caves (first choice, when available), in earth-bermed houses constructed mostly underground, or, when foraging as a tribe (which they do several times a year), in a huge hide tent. Each family has a section of that large, single room where they spread out their sleeping and work mats and keep their belongings. When the community grows larger than that it splits, with the new band moving a few to several miles away so that the resources in the immediate area are not depleted. This is a momentous occasion in the life of a tribe, and treated almost like a birth, with both "parent" and "child" working together to establish the sept in its new home. Some tribes have as many as a dozen septs fanning out from the original location. |
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| They are both hunter-gatherers and farmers. They raise grain and vegetables, the yard of a goblin compound is always full of chickens, and they sometimes keep a few pigs and goats, but they hunt for most of their meat, and harvest the grasslands and forests for nuts, fruits, greens, and herbs both culinary and medicinal. A few tribes specialise in certain commodities (the Cheesemakers, with their great herds of goats, the Shepherds, who bring great bales of wool to the Conclaves, and a few others) but most are generalists and fairly self-sufficient. | They are both hunter-gatherers and farmers. They raise grain and vegetables, the yard of a goblin compound is always full of chickens, and they sometimes keep a few pigs and goats, but they hunt for most of their meat, and harvest the grasslands and forests for nuts, fruits, greens, and herbs both culinary and medicinal. A few tribes specialise in certain commodities (the Cheesemakers, with their vast herds of goats, the Shepherds, who bring great bales of wool to the Conclaves, and a few others) but most are generalists and fairly self-sufficient. |
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| Food preparation is done by each individual family, but the meat from hunting large animals, netted fish, the bounty of foraging, and the crops from the fields are fairly apportioned on the basis of need and numbers. However smaller, single-family meal amounts are kept by the hunter or gatherer--one rabbit or bird, a handful of wild garlic, two or three trout, etc.--and that supplementation separates a good provider from a great one. | Food preparation is done by each individual family, but the meat from hunting large animals, netted fish, the bounty of foraging, and the crops from the fields are fairly apportioned on the basis of need and numbers. However smaller, single-family meal amounts are kept by the hunter or gatherer--one rabbit or bird, a handful of wild garlic, two or three trout, etc.--and that supplementation separates a good provider from an exceptional one. |
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| They tend to marry young, and for good reason. Goblins, both male and female, experience a sharp decline in fertility as they age. Between 15 to 25, a couple is at their most prolific, producing, on average, three pregnancies, between 25 to 35 that drops to one or two, and between 35 and 45, even a single pregnancy is rare. Even the youngest women do not ovulate for approximately a year after giving birth or whilst exclusively nursing, whichever comes //last//, so births are no closer than 2-3 years apart, and the anovulatory period stretches longer and longer between each subsequent pregnancy. The average length of goblin gestation is between 250 and 264 days, or 7.5 to 8 months by the goblin calendar, and pregnancy usually results in twins, although single and triplet births are also common. However, neonatal mortality is high. Single-born infants tend to be the healthiest, but it is far more common than this child-loving race would like for one twin or triplet to be stillborn or die within the first several days. Birthing celebrations (and they are very festive, joyous occasions) are held on the infant's one month birthday after the greatest danger is past. Goblins and gnomes are the smallest of the human races; a big, healthy, singleton goblin newborn weighs no more than five pounds; twins and triplets are usually much smaller, and there are limits on just how small even a full term human-derived infant can be and survive. | They tend to marry young, and for good reason. Goblins, both male and female, experience a sharp decline in fertility as they age. Between 15 to 25, a couple is at their most prolific, producing, on average, three pregnancies, between 25 to 35 that drops to one or two, and between 35 and 45, even a single pregnancy is rare. Even the youngest women do not ovulate for approximately a year after giving birth or whilst exclusively nursing, whichever comes //last//, so births are no closer than 2-3 years apart, and the anovulatory period stretches longer and longer between each subsequent pregnancy. The average length of goblin gestation is between 250 and 264 days, or 7.5 to 8 months by the goblin calendar, and pregnancy usually results in twins, although single and triplet births are also common. However, neonatal mortality is high. Single-born infants tend to be the healthiest, but it is far more common than this child-loving race would like for one twin or triplet to be stillborn or die within the first several days. Birthing celebrations (and they are very festive, joyous occasions) are held on the infant's one month birthday after the greatest danger is past. Goblins and gnomes are the smallest of the human races; a big, healthy, singleton goblin newborn weighs no more than five pounds; twins and triplets are usually much smaller, and there are limits on just how small even a full term human-derived infant can be and survive. |
| The many tribes are bound in a loose confederation for trade and for mutual defence against those who covet their beautiful, fertile lands. They maintain cordial but more guarded relations with the orcs whose traditional territories are on the western side of the Jehonas, and the hobgoblins to the south. (Hobs began as a half-goblin, half-orc breed that aeons ago established its own society.) They are united by a passionate, and well-founded, hatred of humans, and all three nations send forces to patrol the Great Wall to prevent human aggression and incursion. The atrocities of the last war are still fresh in their collective memories. Their feelings toward elves and dwarves are more mixed; yes they had been their bitter foes in the last war, but by then they had fallen under the corrupting and deceiving influence of the evil self-styled "god" Valverus, the Demon Usurper, and the wicked humans. Furthermore, the goblins and hobs and even a few of the less belligerent orcs agree that the orcs brought some measure of dwarven wrath upon themselves. They should have better controlled those renegade tribes that raided up and down the D'Scaris, looting, raping, and murdering. The humans deserved everything they got, but in the olden days dwarves had been their trading partners, distant but respected--dwarven steel meant unqualified excellence. | The many tribes are bound in a loose confederation for trade and for mutual defence against those who covet their beautiful, fertile lands. They maintain cordial but more guarded relations with the orcs whose traditional territories are on the western side of the Jehonas, and the hobgoblins to the south. (Hobs began as a half-goblin, half-orc breed that aeons ago established its own society.) They are united by a passionate, and well-founded, hatred of humans, and all three nations send forces to patrol the Great Wall to prevent human aggression and incursion. The atrocities of the last war are still fresh in their collective memories. Their feelings toward elves and dwarves are more mixed; yes they had been their bitter foes in the last war, but by then they had fallen under the corrupting and deceiving influence of the evil self-styled "god" Valverus, the Demon Usurper, and the wicked humans. Furthermore, the goblins and hobs and even a few of the less belligerent orcs agree that the orcs brought some measure of dwarven wrath upon themselves. They should have better controlled those renegade tribes that raided up and down the D'Scaris, looting, raping, and murdering. The humans deserved everything they got, but in the olden days dwarves had been their trading partners, distant but respected--dwarven steel meant unqualified excellence. |
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| Everything disintegrated when the Demon-Spawn, the wretched children of Valverus, appeared. Not long afterward the human scum forced their way through the great barrier mountains the True Gods had raised to protect their children, attacked the dwarves, and stole their lands, and then turned their aggression on the fertile Jehonas. Their greed was relentless and never-ending! For the past two-hundred years and more orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins had been fighting to keep what was theirs. The Assel-Praetheans had come to their aid; half-elven, half-orcish, they were exceptionally skilful magic users, and their help was telling. To the goblins' great distress, the gnomes had been coerced into serving the humans who had used threats and outright violence to compel them, but even against their reluctant allies human perfidy knew no bounds. After the gnomes had breached the first Great Wall, the human Death Cults, the vile priests of Kyris Jelazel, exterminated the gnomes by unleashing a plague of unparalleled viciousness against them, genocidal in its effectiveness. The gnomes were the race the goblins admired most and were closest to; most modern goblins have some gnomish blood, many are as much as half gnomish, and they suffered grievously too, losing more warriors to disease than to combat. To add to their heinous crimes, the humans blamed the Assel-Praetheans for the plague, and with the help of the Demon God they were believed. It was then the Four Armies knew beyond doubt or demurral that there could be no peace with monsters. A mere forty-eight years ago they managed to rebuild the wall; so far, the humans haven't managed to break through...but they were taking no chances. | Everything disintegrated when the Demon-Spawn, the wretched children of Valverus, appeared. Not long afterward the human scum forced their way through the towering barrier mountains the True Gods had raised to protect their children, attacked the dwarves, and stole their lands, and then turned their aggression on the fertile Jehonas. Their greed was relentless and never-ending! For the past two-hundred years and more orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins had been fighting to keep what was theirs. The Assel-Praetheans had come to their aid; half-elven, half-orcish, they were exceptionally skilful magic users, and their help was telling. To the goblins' profound distress, the gnomes had been coerced into serving the humans who had used threats and outright violence to compel them, but even against their reluctant allies human perfidy knew no bounds. After the gnomes had breached the first Great Wall, the human Death Cults, the vile priests of Kyris Jelazel, exterminated the gnomes by unleashing a plague of unparalleled viciousness against them, genocidal in its effectiveness. The gnomes were the race the goblins admired most and were closest to; most modern goblins have some gnomish blood, many are as much as half gnomish, and they suffered grievously too, losing more warriors to disease than to combat. To add to their heinous crimes, the humans blamed the Assel-Praetheans for the plague, and with the help of the Demon God they were believed. It was then the Four Armies knew beyond doubt or demurral that there could be no peace with monsters. A mere forty-eight years ago they managed to rebuild the wall; so far, the humans haven't managed to break through...but they were taking no chances. |
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| Since then, they have found some unexpected allies in the sea elves of the Cyreth Sea. The Great Wall protected them on land, but they were still vulnerable to naval attack. However, any warships that sail from Rsyvin, no matter how well disguised, are promptly scuttled. Neutral during the war, the elves knew that the humans were the aggressors, and when it ended they instituted a strict policy: No Warships In Our Waters. However, orcish ships, well-armed merchanters for the most part, have no trouble sailing down the Jiran Strait. Humans travelling in anything larger or more equipped than a coastal fishing vessel never make it further than ten miles from their own shore; no human ship of any kind is permitted to approach within ten miles of Xerant. | Since then, they have found some unexpected allies in the sea elves of the Cyreth Sea. The Great Wall protected them on land, but they were still vulnerable to naval attack. However, any warships that sail from Rsyvin, no matter how well disguised, are promptly scuttled. Neutral during the war, the elves knew that the humans were the aggressors, and when it ended they instituted a strict policy: No Warships In Our Waters. However, orcish ships, well-armed merchanters for the most part, have no trouble sailing down the Jiran Strait. Humans travelling in anything larger or more equipped than a coastal fishing vessel never make it further than ten miles from their own shore; no human ship of any kind is permitted to approach within ten miles of Xerant. |
| First and foremost shamans are priests, looking after the spiritual well-being of the tribe, counselling the troubled, and soothing the inevitable friction that arises when so many people live in close proximity. He or she leads them in the ritual prayers every morning before the day's work begins, simply-worded prayers, but clear and complete: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication, ending with the creed they live by. It only takes about a quarter hour, but goblins don't need to be taught their religion; they drink it in with their mother's milk. | First and foremost shamans are priests, looking after the spiritual well-being of the tribe, counselling the troubled, and soothing the inevitable friction that arises when so many people live in close proximity. He or she leads them in the ritual prayers every morning before the day's work begins, simply-worded prayers, but clear and complete: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication, ending with the creed they live by. It only takes about a quarter hour, but goblins don't need to be taught their religion; they drink it in with their mother's milk. |
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| Twice a year, on the solstices, their high holy days, he/she goes into more detail, reading to them from the Tablets, explaining why they believe each principle and how to live by it. It is great entertainment, especially on the winter holiday, the Day of Contemplation (more informally called Thinking Day), sitting cosily by the fire, feasting, drinking, listening to the marvels of the past, and the deeds of goblins whose lives exemplified one cardinal virtue or another. They don't realise how much they are learning. | Twice a year, on the solstices, their high holy days, he/she goes into more detail, reading to them from the Tablets, explaining why they believe each principle and how to live by it. It is excellent entertainment, especially on the winter holiday, the Day of Contemplation (more informally called Thinking Day), sitting cosily by the fire, feasting, drinking, listening to the marvels of the past, and the deeds of goblins whose lives exemplified one cardinal virtue or another. They don't realise how much they are learning. |
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| The summer solstice, the Day of Implementation (Doing Day), is different in execution but not in purpose, as they practise generosity by giving, fair play by playing, cooperation by cooperating, through sports, friendly competitions, gift exchanges (and the shaman makes sure no goblin is forgotten), dances, and other recreations. The rituals and the lessons are scarcely noticed at the time, but, reinforced by happy associations, they are long remembered...and in the evening, as they share the summer feast, tired but content, there are more songs and stories. Goblin religion isn't obtrusive; it's not a heavy burden they must bear, but it's pervasive, the warp of the fabric of their daily lives. | The summer solstice, the Day of Implementation (Doing Day), is different in execution but not in purpose, as they practise generosity by giving, fair play by playing, cooperation by cooperating, through sports, friendly competitions, gift exchanges (and the shaman makes sure no goblin is forgotten), dances, and other recreations. The rituals and the lessons are scarcely noticed at the time, but, reinforced by happy associations, they are long remembered...and in the evening, as they share the summer feast, tired but content, there are more songs and stories. Goblin religion isn't obtrusive; it's not a heavy burden they must bear, but it's pervasive, the warp of the fabric of their daily lives. |
