Goblinoid

Goblinoids are a group of related humanoid species that trace their descent to the servants of the Unseelie Court. While each species could be found in their own communities, some goblinoids gathered together in singular hierarchical cultures. Goblinoid species include Goblins, Bugbears, and Hobgoblins.

Physiology

Goblinoids had a wide variety of possible appearances. Goblinoid species could be tall or small, be covered in fur or have none, and other spectrums. Age was not even a common factor, as goblinoid species both lived to and matured at different rates. Non-goblinoids sometimes thought of goblinoid appearances as feline or cat-like. Long, pointed ears were also common among species.

Culture

Goblinoid cultures did not have much similarity between groups, but shared a common language and origin story. They also viewed each other as related species. Some goblinoid species, such as the Durkoloki and the Mugashi, lived within the same cultures as other goblinoid species. “Goblinoid” was an exonym, named after the most commonly encountered species in the group, Goblins. In the Goblin language, the word for goblinoids was dur.
Goblinoids spoke the Goblin tongue, which they called Durghikuu or Ghikuu. The language was highly variable, with different inflections and phrasing based on who the speaker was addressing. Goblins spoke a branch called Shyypalea, which was further divided into the Kutorese dialect of the Kutori, the Baragish dialect of the Barags, the Pakkanihmish dialect of the Pakkanihmi, and the Bhuka dialect of the ethnic group of the same name. Bugbears spoke a branch called Vahsyakas, which was further divided into the Vaugish dialect of the Vaugh, the Gairngish dialect of the Gairngnyk, and the Tohiivanan dialect of the Tohiivanon. Hobgoblins spoke a branch called Maktadivakyaran, which was further divided into the Sluamar dialect of the ethnic group of the same name, the Koalinth dialect of the ethnic group of the same name, the Ghadish dialect of the Ghada, and the Marhuch dialect of the ethnic group of the same name. Mugashi and Durkoloki goblinoids spoke their own branches of the language, Mugashese and Durkolokish respectively. Durkolokish had a large number of tense and inflection changes based on the rank of the speaker and the addressee, while Mugashese often had little difference in tense and inflection change when compared to other Goblin dialects.
While not always the case, many goblinoid species followed the same religion, that of the god Marduk. Goblinoids knew Marduk by the name Maglubyet. Maglubyet’s cult did not rise in popularity among goblinoids until the late Arcane Age. In fact, some scholars thought of Maglubyet’s conquest of the goblinoids during the Dawn War as a mythological explanation for this rise in popularity. Before then, and in some goblinoid communities still today, the goblinoids followed the deities that supposedly created them; goblins worshipped the god Khurgorbaeyag, bugbears worshipped the deities Hruggek and Grankhul, and hobgoblins worshipped the deity Nomog-Geaya. Bogeykin goblinoids instead venerated Archfey - such as The Queen of Air and Darkness, Fear Doirich, and Puck - as deities.

Civilization and Culture

History

According to myth, all goblinoids were once servants of the Queen of Air and Darkness, known as Bogeys. The Queen of Air and Darkness would shapeshift the Bogeys into appearances that she wished them to be, using a magical skinning knife known as Shadowshifter. The children of Ereshkigal - Nomog-Geaya, Hruggek, Grankhul, and Khurgorbaeyag - heard of this knife and wished to possess it. The four entered into the realm of the fey. While Nomog-Geaya distracted the Queen of Air and Darkness and Khurgorbaeyag stole away the bogeys, Hruggek and Grankhul took the knife. The four met back up, and began arguing over what shape the bogeys should take. Khurgorbaeyag wanted them to be small and quick, easily able to evade opponents and strike them in vulnerable spots. The twins Hruggek and Grankhul wanted them to be tall and lithe, with the ability to stay quiet and strike quickly. Nomog-Geaya wanted them to be strong and disciplined, able to seamlessly work with one another to achieve any goal. They argued and argued, and wrestled Shadowshifter from each other until it shattered into a million pieces. As the remnants of the blade passed over the bogeys, each one took a shape similar to one of the shapes described by the gods. Khurgorbaeyag ’s preferred form became that of the goblins, Hruggek and Grankhul’s preferred form became that of the bugbears, and Nomog-Geaya’s preferred form became that of the hobgoblins. In the panic, some of the newly-shaped goblinoids were able to slip back to the Unseelie Court, but the four gods were able to take the rest of them back to the Material Plane with them, ruling over the new species as their respective patron deities.
Goblinoids stayed fairly uninteresting in the historical record until the rise of the Kheosmajkuan Empire around the later middle period of the Invasion Era. Archaeological records of the city of Kheosmajku, whose empire inhabited the territories of the modern-day Asvalan Peninsula, show evidence of goblins, bugbears, and hobgoblins all living within the same culture. Records are unclear, however, if a hierarchy existed between the species at that point. Kheosmajku fell sometime during the early Era of Restoration.
After Kheosmajku, the most prominent goblinoid civilization to rise was the bugbear Kingdom of Chamrakk in modern-day Bleatar, Qitorria, and Dobevyat. It was supposedly named after its first monarch. Records indicate it was founded soon after the fall of Kheosmajku, possibly from migrants fleeing the empire collapse. It lasted until the late Era of Restoration or early Arcane Age, with the primary theory being that its fall came about as a result of the Shattering.
Around either the late Arcane Age or early Dark Ages, the cult of Marduk came to prominence among goblinoid species. Among goblinoids, he was known by the epithet Maglubyet. Maglubyet soon came to be the patron deity of most goblinoids, as he is today. Some scholars believe that Maglubyet’s conquest of the goblinoids and imprisonment of the old gods was a mythological explanation for this phenomenon.
Goblinoids did not put much of a dent in the history of the Age of Mortals until the rise of the Durkolok Empire in 961 MT. Luvazon the Wraith, a male hobgoblin chieftain named so for his pale skin, united the many goblinoid clans on the island of Lagwepytheth in the Dorin Sea into a single state. He then crowned himself the first emperor of the Durkolok Empire. In the modern day, the Durkolok Empire holds the islands of Lagwepytheth, Orglepdrae, and Dwagpylel, among many other smaller islands. It is the only state in Diaghal where a form of the Toronuch Dogma is the official state religion.
The Sylvan Sovereignty movement united many of the goblinoids of Hitochi into a shared culture. This culture became known as the Mugashi.

by Julie Nguyen

Origin/Ancestry

Bogeys