Fiction:The Firmament/Goblin

"Gob's da best dere is!"

- Anonymous goblin raider

Goblins, collectively known as goblinkind, are a type of humanoid characterized by a small stature and savage culture. Most live in hostile tribes who dedicate themselves to looting, pillaging and devouring other humanoid races, or serve as soldiers and slaves of stronger forces. While certain groups have learned to live in civilization, most are considered pests by many nations of Telamon. They are among the races collectively known as the Greenskins.

Biology
Goblins come in a variety of shapes and forms, though they are generally short in height, standing at an average of a meter tall, possessing long, pointed ears as well as prominent noses. Most possess sharp teeth, green shades of skin, and red eyes which glow in the dark. Males tend to be scrawny and with sharper features, while females are far more voluptuous, shapely and with softer features.

History
The goblins, like all Greenskins, descend from Primordials who pledged their allegiance to the demon lord Druacath during the cataclysmic arrival of Varagarash Narahil, hoping that by doing so, they would be spared of destruction. These traitorous Primordials fought their own kind in the name of the demons, though were evidently unsuccessful, with the Goblinkin races emerging from the northern wastes of Gromkazul around 8,000 years in the past. While their larger orc cousins would rise up to create hordes and empires, goblins have been content with merely spreading as much as they can. With the founding of Druacatakh, goblins begun serving under orcs in the Great Eondrassana War, though there are no records of them being any more than that - servants, with no authority over the barbaric horde.

In the modern era, goblin tribes are common across all of Dryadala, descendants of warriors from the Great War who chose to leave the orcs behind to no longer be told what to do by anyone. These tribes are considered pests across all the lands they inhabit.

Culture
Goblins are violent and cunning creatures who relish in tormenting other races. Compared to other Greenskins, Goblins lack the same mental faculties of their brethren, and as such are generally dim-witted and simple-minded. Their tribes are usually patriarchal, made up of a chieftain, shamans and warriors with the females caring for the needs of their husbands. Goblin culture is centered around violent displays of power, amassing food and resources, rampant promiscuity and bullying other races, leading them to be seen as monstrous by most others. They are notoriously cowardly, and while they can be forced into servitude, they are generally lacking on concepts like loyalty towards non-Greenskins.

Religion
Most Goblin tribes worship their patron, the demon lord Druacath, though others also pay respect to other individual demons. Outside of Druacatakh, easily impressed goblin tribes have come to worship a number of other things, sometimes including mundane landmarks or things that do not actually exist, though many also came to worship certain forces of nature, who are very real but generally do not care for the creatures, seeing them as annoyances.

Relations with other races
Goblins are seen by other Greenskins as servants at most, and they are typically used as cannon fodder, house servants or harem members. In the Ogrelands, ogres are also known to enslave goblin who cross them, generally eating them at the first slight. The elves despise all Greenskins and goblins are no different, usually killing them on sight. Most tribes are not tolerated in human lands and serve as a constant problem to farmlands and outskirts, though some more passive tribes have been slowly integrating into human society as second-rate citizens, usually living in slums. There has been a quiet but growing demand for female goblins as brothel workers and concubines along the darker streets of the Lechnerlands, while males are growing in popularity as spies and assassins.

Grim
Native to Duskwood, grim goblins are a breed with black skin, crooked fangs and eyes as dark as the night. They are adapted to the eternal night produced by the vampire counts of the region, hunting in the light of the moon with frightening precision. They are known for their inherent sadism, above average intelligence for Goblins and a complete immunity to fear; not even the most loathsome undead of that land can intimidate a grim goblin, who will merely laugh at the attempt at intimidating it.

Plain
The original breed of goblin native to the wastes of Gromkazul, plain goblins are generally only referred as such to tell them apart from other specific populations. Having several shades of green skin and fearsome red eyes, they are by far the most common form of goblin, existing in tribes across much of the greener parts of Gromkazul and Dryadala. While mostly aggressive to other races, certain populations have successfully integrated themselves into nations like Waldland and Meerland, though they are often treated with a certain amount of prejudice.