Goblins

General Information

Goblin society in the Southlands is very structured compared to some other role-playing muds. The Southlands players are given this guide to follow, and it is expected that they do so.

Deadwood Leadership

The goblin tribes in the Southlands are all ruled under the absolute power of the Sage.  It is the life giving magics that the Sage provides that has historically allowed the goblins to flourish as a civilized race, rather than just as a nearly beastlike enclave of endlessly warring families.  While all ultimate decisions are made by the Sage, including matters of justice, revenge and war, the daily leadership is provided by a Warlord and a Warlock.  These two goblin individuals have somehow proven themselves to the Sage time and again with wisdom and deed and carry out the Sage’s rule through threat, violence, intimidation and force.  The goblin people as a whole allow this, because of the massive tradeoff for an increased lifespan, intelligence and a sense of community that they had never achieved before.

The Concept of the Family Community

The goblin people don‘t live in a family oriented environment, in the traditional sense.  Goblin young are given a communal education, being raised by appointed teachers in various trades and positive lifestyle influences to the goblin way of life.  It is not uncommon for the fiercely weak or even stupid of those bred end up terminated and their life force used for those who would be better served using it..

Ownership of Property

Everything that is under the possession of a goblin is considered their property, until someone bigger and stronger comes along and takes it from them.  Only the most fit and skilled survive and are allowed to raise their voice, so all ownership of property is a precarious event.  This being said, anything and everything that a goblin lays its hands on or even desires is considered marked property by the goblin people, even the vast reaches of the forest unexplored by the people are considered goblin territory that someone who is strong enough has yet to claim.

Childhood and Education

Every goblin is taken from its mother directly after birth and is immediately given into the charge of what is little more than an overseer.  This teacher provides sustenance from freshly killed forest creatures as well as the given task of imparting basic survival knowledge to the wee goblin creatures.  The goblin children are expected to fight for all of their nourishment, so those who are strong or allied with the strong eventually end up with the majority of the nourishment and life-force.  Upon reaching the age of ten, with basic and remedial educations of society, survival, religion and even magics under their belt, the goblin children are then taken into specific sects of society, depending on their own personal aptitude.  From this point out, they live the remainder of their lives working within these sects, to promote the desires and goals of the Sage. All goblins speak constantly in rhyme.  They are taught this from the time they are born, so it seems to be a simple part of the language of Deadwood.

The Four Aging Tenants

There are four major passages that come with age and life that are sacred within the goblin community and they are as follows:

Hatching: Upon hatching, the goblin hatchling is taken from its mother with every blessing, and from that point is placed in a communal hutch.  While the mother will most likely never see her child again, she is blessed personally by the Sage for adding to the community.  This blessing comes in the form of allowing bathing in the blood-pits under the Temple in the center of the tree.  This bathing is to represent the addition to the community and loss of life-force that the mother gives in creating the hatchling.  It is traditionally believed that the blood-bath the mother takes replenishes the lost life energy.

Adulthood: This ceremony is simple and effective, with blessings bestowed by the Sage.  Upon reaching exactly sixteen summers, the young goblin is taken before the Sage and is left in the courtyard.  A long series of hallucinations and visions are projected into the mind of the goblin, the series of mental images so strong that it is said to only intensify all of the proper and regimented training that made up the child’s education.  After several days of this intense and regimented blessing, the goblin is escorted from the courtyard and set before the people to continue their life as one of the many.

Carrying of the Hatchlings: Upon discovery that the goblin woman is carrying the additional life-force of hatchlings, she will go before the members of her community and demand from them the blood of their fresh kills and the brains of an enemy.  When the fresh kill and brains are brought before her, she will then gather them together and simmer them together with roots and herbs in a thick and heady stew.  This stew is then consumed by the mother abruptly, no other nourishment given to her until the entire pot is gone.  With this the hatchlings will have taken in the life giving blood and the mental acumen of their enemies.  The Blood-Stew is said to strengthen the egg shells as well as the spirit of the mother and children alike, and if this blessing is missed or forsaken, the eggs will be determined to be inadequate and likely destroyed upon laying them.   The eggs are created within an goblyn by her own body.  Nearly all that is necessary for life is composed within the egg.  However, once the egg is lain, a goblin is selected by one of the Sage's council to "fertilize" the egg, an act which is similar to elven mating, but lacking in the presence of the female body.

Permission to join the Sage's council of Elders: The only way a goblin becomes revered in society as an elder is if they have progressively beaten down all competitors for their influence and survived numerous battles through wit, guile, magic and strength.  Only one who has lasted through the test of time is seen as someone who carries a voice worth listening to.

Religion

All religion hinges on the fact that the Sage has been leading the goblin people for a thousand years, has never aged and brought to them access to life-force and learning unknown to them on any level before.  Ancient records always tell of the Sage and of the gifts brought to the goblin people to raise them from lowly beasts of the forest and projected them into the level of being a major power and source of influence on their own world.  Before her arrival, the goblin lifespan was thirty years, blowing out like a candle.  After her arrival and gifts and acts of magic, the goblin lifespan is not predictable.  The Sage is worshipped as the one and only divine being, granting both life and death with little more than a glance or uttered word.  As such, only prayers and sacrifice to the Sage are enough to bring further prosperity and blessings to the goblin people. This religion is known in Towskish dialogue as Wrath, and it is The Sage who is its conduit.  She also has a living conduit, who makes it possible to speak Deadwood to her faithful, should it become necessary.  This conduit is held in the highest esteem and protected above all others.  Since the Sage's ascension she gave up the right to be seen in the world of mortals... but Kuron Sage has always been able to find a loophole.

Death and Funerals

Death is an absolute shameful act to the goblin people, for their entire purpose is to prolong their lives as long as possible.  This does not make the goblins a cowardly race, for they have no fear of death, but more they are a people who have an intense sense of their own immortality, due to the strength of the Sage and their regimented upbringing.  When a goblin dies their bodies are buried outside of the village on the skirts of goblin lands, in an effort to provide the wasted life-energy to the strength of the goblin environment and spirits. No ceremony is held, no loss or bereavement felt, only perhaps, a faint dismay at the failure of one of the family line or close friend.

Marriage

Goblins do not marry and do not take mates.  This is seen as a disgusting and hideous concept reserved to weaker races who are reliant upon hanging their fates and life-force on another individual.  Goblins are people who strive to be as strong and independent as possible, the thought of being required to spend their entire existence with another individual would demean and weaken their entire way of thinking.

Crime and Punishment

As goblins do not have sex, rape is not a crime nor even a thought.  The strong take what they desire, so theft and burglary are not crimes,  murder is only punishable when it can be avoided.  A strong goblin is one who would take what they wish and leave their opponent humiliated.  Treason against the Sage and betraying the goblin way of life is considered a hideous crime, one that is immediately punished by dismemberment.  If such  acts continue, further appendages, limbs, facial features and the likes are removed and fed to the communal wolves until such a time comes that the goblin simply dies.

Appearance and Dress

The most common dress of the goblin people would be scant leather and obsidian armors, obsidian being reserved for only the most powerful and influential of goblins.  Animal hides and furs are typical dress as well.  Silk is considered weak and even obscene, cotton considered the garb of an outsider and metal armor as being crude and even ineffective, a product of weak individuals who lack inner strength.  Goblin hairstyles are highly varied and highly maintained.  Typical goblins will apply wax, bone and animal fats to their hair to sculpt it in odd shapes and designs, but rarely wear it short, with baldness considered a defect of an unworthy spirit-force.  Goblin hair is coarse like horse tails and highly unmanageable.  Goblins are prone to using oils, animal blood and various extracts from the organs of their enemies to apply a glossy sheen to their tough, leathery skin.  Ritual piercing, scars and brands are lavishly applied to the goblin skin to further add to their strengthened and hardened appearance.

Entertainment and Dining

Goblin entertainment typically consists of elaborate tales of death, killing, hunting and powerful magics.  They also find entertainment in torturing weaker goblins, showing off through acts of strength or cunning, brutal acts of revenge, long bouts of alcoholic rants and even brawling.  It is not uncommon for goblins to make an evening of having a captured foe attempt an escape so they can be tracked down inside the village and ripped apart, so that all might consume the life-force as it leaves their enemy.

Arts and Crafts

Goblin artwork typically consists of elaborate fetishes and charms, bone carvings, body markings, and obsidian sculpture.  Their musical tastes tend to only involve elaborate and incredibly loud rhythms, with loud stomping, clapping, hooting, chanting and beating on things the preferred musical expression.  Music that would require an actual instrument is frowned upon and would evoke terrible rage for damaging one’s sense of peace and tranquility, the harsh rhythm the only thing to evoke such a reaction.

Nobility

There are no nobles and classes in the goblin community, only respected elders who have given their wisdom, leadership and guidance to the people.  Goblins who amass great personal wealth and power typically surround themselves with others who have a like interest, to keep their possible enemies and rivals as close to them as possible, but such can be easily lost and gained, with every goblin living with the ingrained belief that might makes right.

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Last modified: 07/12/07.