Hobgoblin
HOB-gob-linn
Hobgoblins are a militant and merciless species that organises quickly, reproduces rapidly, and adapts well to changing conditions.
Basic Information
Anatomy
A hobgoblin is nearly the same height as a human. Their round, hairless heads sit atop wide, thick necks, and their long, tattered ears flank a pair of savage orange eyes. Their dull, grey-green skin is coarse and largely devoid of hair. Their short, powerful legs coupled with their long, muscular arms grants the hobgoblin vague similarities with that of a brutish ape.
Genetics and Reproduction
Growth Rate & Stages
A hobgoblin is considered ready to fight by the age of fourteen, but some receive secondary education to become mechanics, spies, or engineers at 16 years old. In their final year, all hobgoblins are subjected to a "year of hell", a year of constant raiding intended to test each individual's strength and courage. Roughly one in three hobgoblins is then deemed fit for active combat duty; the remainder are relegated to the position of general labour - which, due to the hierarchical nature of hobgoblin society, combatants inevitably rank higher on the social ladder than those relegated to 'support' roles. Those regarded as 'unfit' are given mundane professions, a fairly humiliating fate for a young hobgoblin.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Most hobgoblin societies are paramilitary states, with no distinction between the government and the chain of command. They can be as small as a single starship crew or as large as a conquered world. However, these governments grant nothing unearned to any hobgoblin, and only those who show an aptitude for more advanced knowledge are given access to it.
Average Intelligence
More so than any other goblinoid race, hobgoblins combine a keen intellect with a warlike spirit. Though strictly militant, hobgoblins can be remarkably clever in matters of engineering and alchemy, though these skills are always directed towards the battlefield. Paradoxically, though organised and confident during war, an individual hobgoblin tends to be paranoid and deceitful in nature - a habit from the superaggressive childhood each one endures.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Hobgoblins have the ability to see easily in the dark, a holdover from their goblinoid heritage.
Civilization and Culture
Courtship Ideals
Hobgoblins mate freely, but only with willing members of their own rank - matings between hobgoblins of different rank is seen as scornful. Hobgoblins are highly promiscuous and do not practice monogamy.
Relationship Ideals
Hobgoblins are obsessed with their social status. Once an active combatant, a hobgoblin constantly jockeys for position with its peers and plots to overcome their superiors, typically through a duel for honour called a kalech-mar. Refusal to answer a challenge is seen as a sign of weakness, but more highly-ranked hobgoblins keep their positions by winning dozens of duels, dissuading younger hobgoblins from challenging them.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Common Etiquette Rules
Hobgoblins are natural backstabbers who don't hesitate to use underhanded means to get their way, but if caught, they punish their own kind ruthlessly. Each tribe's general is responsible for dictating punishment, which takes one of four forms: demotion, exile, slavery, and death. Enslavement is by far the most common. Hobgoblins subjected to exile, as well as deserters, sometimes gravitate toward humanoid societies as scavengers, bandits, gangsters, or pirates.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Most hobgoblin societies are paramilitary states, with no distinction between the government and the chain of command. They can be as small as a single starship crew or as large as a conquered world. However, these governments grant nothing unearned to any hobgoblin, and only those who show an aptitude for more advanced knowledge are given access to it.
After the Gap, most hobgoblin societies and groups immediately analysed such things as their religions and social codes, and discarded anything that did not immediately make sense. For example, many hobgoblin societies found they had strict rules forbidding the pursuit of spellcasting knowledge and the use of magic, but this prohibition seemed needlessly limiting after the Gap.
After the Gap, most hobgoblin societies and groups immediately analysed such things as their religions and social codes, and discarded anything that did not immediately make sense. For example, many hobgoblin societies found they had strict rules forbidding the pursuit of spellcasting knowledge and the use of magic, but this prohibition seemed needlessly limiting after the Gap.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Hair is important in hobgoblin culture, especially among warriors. Hair emulates the honoured barghests(link), and long, flowing hair is a resource that must be taken in battle as hobgoblin can neither grow a mane of hair, nor skin hair from a hunted animals. Instead, warriors strip a lock of hair from each sentient being they kill, and weave them into their hats or helms or else glue them to their own scalps.
A proud soldier may show off his five or six locks (braided tightly to protect them) at social events or formal drills, while the most vicious warriors let their stolen hair flow free in battle, confidant they can replace anything lost from their freshest victims. Not every hobgoblin follows this tradition, however, as it is fundamentally bragging about one's skill as a warrior; inviting lesser subordinates to challenge them to an honour duel for their rank.
Some hobgoblins who are especially lawfully-minded view the practice as a foolish excess and needless bravado, something that drives a wedge through unit cohesion with petty one-up-manship. Other simply seize too much hair in battle to wear it publicly.
A proud soldier may show off his five or six locks (braided tightly to protect them) at social events or formal drills, while the most vicious warriors let their stolen hair flow free in battle, confidant they can replace anything lost from their freshest victims. Not every hobgoblin follows this tradition, however, as it is fundamentally bragging about one's skill as a warrior; inviting lesser subordinates to challenge them to an honour duel for their rank.
Some hobgoblins who are especially lawfully-minded view the practice as a foolish excess and needless bravado, something that drives a wedge through unit cohesion with petty one-up-manship. Other simply seize too much hair in battle to wear it publicly.
History
- Hobgoblins are believed to have originated on lost Golarion. When the Gap ended, though, hobgoblins already dwelled in numerous solar systems, which suggests that they might have engaged in dangerous generation-ship or suspended animation expeditions of expansion, or that they had access to powerful interstellar transportation magic.
- While many societies were confused and shaken by the Gap, the disparate and widespread hobgoblin nations were almost entirely unaffected by it, and in some cases grew even stronger due to its amnesic effects. When the Gap ended, all hobgoblins still knew their own names and those of their superiors, their military rank and position, that they had earned those ranks through merit, and that their superiors had similarly earned their positions. This formed a strong common attitude that allowed many hobgoblin groups to work together, taking advantage of the confusion and consternation of their neighbours to wage quick, brutal wars of expansion against regions still coming to grips with the Gap.
In addition, they immediately took stock of their current cultural values and discarded many traditions that no longer made sense, such as the many and varied prohibitions against magic and in many cases, worship of their old deities. Many have now been turned to the Church of Damoritosh, due in large part to their camaraderie in skirmish after battle after war.
Common Myths and Legends
According to hobgoblin records, their origin lies in the Age of Legend. An unknown party created the hobgoblins by enhancing Golarion's pathetic goblin, giving them greater size, stamina, and mental faculties through the use of a powerful artefact called the Cantorian Spring for one purpose only: war against their hated enemies, the elves. The newly-created hobgoblins were imbued with an inherent hatred of elves and were built up into vast armies by their creators.
However, before the hobgoblins could be unleashed, a band of adventurers stole the Cantorian Spring, freeing the hobgoblins from their masters' control yet maintaining their consuming hatred of elvenkind. After a series of devastating wars in which the young, inexperienced race of hobgoblins was decimated by the ancient elven empires, the hobgoblins were forced into a state of squalor from which they have still yet to rise.
However, before the hobgoblins could be unleashed, a band of adventurers stole the Cantorian Spring, freeing the hobgoblins from their masters' control yet maintaining their consuming hatred of elvenkind. After a series of devastating wars in which the young, inexperienced race of hobgoblins was decimated by the ancient elven empires, the hobgoblins were forced into a state of squalor from which they have still yet to rise.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Although modern hobgoblins have evolved culturally from their ancestors, other ancient traditions remain to this day (although their origins are often lost to the Gap). Whenever hobgoblins and elves first encountered one another in the years after the Gap, violence invariably ensued. Individual hobgoblins sometimes have no special hatred of elves, but for most of the race, elves are reviled and mistrusted creatures not even fit for use as slave labour.
Dwarf slaves are well sought after for their engineering and mining skills.
Goblins are seen as either an embarrassment or useful tools, depending on the situation.
Regardless of the neighbouring race however, relations will inevitably be shaky, if not outright hostile. War is often declared upon other non-hobgoblin civilisations for no other reason than to gain slaves. Hobgoblins rarely trade with outsiders and tend to be resistant to suggestions of alliances, although they have been known to buy slaves from drow.
Dwarf slaves are well sought after for their engineering and mining skills.
Goblins are seen as either an embarrassment or useful tools, depending on the situation.
Regardless of the neighbouring race however, relations will inevitably be shaky, if not outright hostile. War is often declared upon other non-hobgoblin civilisations for no other reason than to gain slaves. Hobgoblins rarely trade with outsiders and tend to be resistant to suggestions of alliances, although they have been known to buy slaves from drow.
Oni
Hobgoblins sometimes fall under the leadership of ja noi(link), evil spirits that take hobgoblin-like forms. These oni(link) are seen as awe-inspiring leaders by common hobgoblins, though hobgoblins that realize the ja noi are playing them like pawns often turn against their leader.
Type: Humanoid (goblinoid)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Scientific Name
Cobalus Viro Militari (military goblin-man)
Conservation Status
Sentient. Illegal to kill in most societies. However, if you are clearly under threat of piracy, you may defend yourself.
Average Height
1.5m (5ft)
Average Weight
72kg (160lbs)
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