Goblin

There are 3 types of goblinoids; goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears. While on the surface, they appear to be as distinct in nature as dwarves, elves and halflings, they are in fact united by their worship of Maglubiyet, a conquering god who conquered the gods of these 3 races to unite them under one banner. While different in race, goblinoids are united in their worship of Maglubiyet and will not meet as strangers or foes, but as allies, brought together by Maglubiyet’s will.

Goblin culture

As one of the “weaker” races, goblins occupy a difficult place in a dangerous world. They are cunning and cruel when in combat or when they taste victory, but when defeated, become fawning and servile. They occupy the lowest status within goblinoid culture though even within goblin hierarchy, a caste system is in place where lesser goblins are servants of greater goblins.
Outside of goblinoid culture, goblins are self-aware enough to know that they are weaker, less intelligent and less powerful than many other creatures. They are easily defeated by the larger races giving them a short life span. It is this realisation that compels them to try to dominate other creatures where they can. For this reason, goblins will set traps and snares for miles around their lairs to attempt to capture and enslave any creatures that might wander into their territory. When they come across a settlement, they will also try to capture people, but are cautious of those that might be more powerful than they are. For this reason, goblins will first attempt to steal objects from such settlements, and, if unpunished, will then attempt to steal people and creatures.

For goblins, their captured slaves are one of the few opportunities for them to stamp authority on others. They take great pleasure in playing the role of a superior being, maltreating the slave while allowing them to remain capable enough to perform the work they need. Some slaves may become favoured and will be treated like a favourite pet (though will likely be given occasional beatings to keep them in line).
Typically, goblins will have wolves and rats in their servitude, but anything they can capture and beat into submission will be enslaved. This could be from among the intelligent races and while goblins might struggle to defeat a group of humans or dwarves, it wouldn’t be unusual for them to use their cunning to capture an individual from these races and keep them enslaved.

Goblin hierarchy

Goblins operate under a caste system with different goblins having different roles and those of high-ranking families keeping their knowledge and skills carefully guarded from lower castes to maintain their status. An outsider might find this confusing, for instance, a single human warrior might encounter a dozen goblin gatherers, causing them to flee before being attacked by just 2 goblin hunters. Someone caught in a goblin trap might be passed be several goblins that completely ignore them until a group of gatherers show up to retrieve the captured victims.
The different statuses held by goblins include:

Lashers

Lashers are the closest thing that goblins have to a class of nobility. They are formed from families of highly trained goblins, versed in the arts of battle, trap-building, beast taming, mining, smelting, forging, religion and sometimes, even magic. Lashers are the ones that enforce the will of the boss upon the rest of the tribe, often using brute force to ensure the boss’ will is enacted. They operate as leaders among goblins and carefully guard their knowledge from other goblin familiaes to help maintain their position in the tribe.

Hunters

Hunters come from those families that are skilled in combat but not knowledgeable in other matters as lashers are. They are not only skilled with weaponry, but also capable riders, using wolves as steeds (and an additional danger to foes). It is hunters that know most about the territory around the tribe, often acting as scouts but also hunting game allowing them to become familiar with their surroundings. During times of war, they can be relied upon as capable foot soldiers and cavalry.

Gatherers

Gatherers and the caste below them, pariahs, give goblins their reputation for cowardice. They lack knowledge of combat and are fearful of engaging in it. Instead, they operate as finders of food, perform the little farming goblins are capable of, check the traps for victims, cook and make poison for war. They don’t tend to carry weapons more dangerous than a knife or a sling and are fearful of hunters and lashers due to their superior status and the gatherers’ relatively weak physicality.

Pariahs

Pariahs are the outcasts of goblin society. They are seen to have no special skills so receive the most unskilled and least liked jobs of all such as mucking out animal pens, digging mines, cleaning and any other hard labour. If the tribe has been fortunate enough to enslave another creature, pariahs may be fortunate enough to supervise and dominate such creatures which have an even lowlier status than they do.

The boss

Goblins follow the ruling pattern of their God, Khurgorbaeyag, who rules autocratically as a tyrant, demanding that all others bend to his will alone. Goblin bosses will follow this method of ruling. Like with most tyrants though, goblin bosses are often betrayed and murdered for the power of becoming the new boss (or to put a stop to their cruel rule). When this happens, there’s a mad scramble by each of the lasher families to establish themselves as the ones to rule, often leading to backstabbing and all-out combat. The victor of such contests becomes the new boss and the allies of the old boss are reduced to becoming pariahs (or worse) under the new ruler.
Other creatures might become rulers of a goblin tribe if that creature kills the existing boss. Most goblins will bend to the will of the new boss (despite their lack of goblin heritage) but if the creature is not clever, lashers may start to rise against the boss to bring back a goblin leader to the tribe.

Booyahgs

Goblins have little familiarity with magic. It’s rare for goblins to be born with the capacity and discipline to train as a wizard, and even then, to actually find someone to teach them would be incredibly difficult. Sorcerors are rarely born among goblins, perhaps because Khurgorbaeyag does not like sharing his divine powers with his followers. There are also few patrons interested in gifting magic to goblins seeing little likelihood in a return from their investment.
On the rare occasions that a goblin develops magical abilities, no distinction is made as to the type of magical power they wield. To goblins, all magic is booyahg and all magic wielders are booyahgs. They do however, reserve an elevated position within goblin hierarchy as goblins do like the idea of the power magic provides meaning that booyahgs often become lashers and even bosses.

Goblin lairs

Goblins can live in all sorts of areas and environments, but will often find themselves in forests or caves tending to seek easy access to the materials they require (food, ore, animals etc). They’re capable miners and will often dig for the resources they need but they’re also happy simply muscling in on an abandoned mine instead. Underground lairs tend to have low hanging roofs and narrow walls.
Goblin lairs will tend to have traps littered about the place, especially in natural pathways to capture any potential intruders. Wolves will often patrol the perimeter while goblin lookouts will take up vantage points in trees. Ambush points will often be created as well as a form of protection. Without the natural physicality of other races, goblins must use as much cunning as they possess to remain safe.

Genetic Descendants

• Bugbear