Votarran Goblins

The most populous group of Goblins, Votarran Goblins are one of four major ethnicities of Goblins in Totania, alongside the Nationalist, Alzirgan, and Ocultos Goblins. They are the Goblins who were led into exile, settling in and around the cave known as Votarra Den on the edge of Dwarven Territory.

Government Structure

The Votarran government is, for the most part, made up of one governing body, with little delegation around it. It is a straightforward system of rule founded to keep the people safe under a structure of government while displaced and in exile.

Goblin Matriarch

The Votarran Goblins are ruled by the Goblin Matriarch, a monarch position taken up exclusively by women.
The precedent for this dates back to when the Goblins were all individual settlements with no unified banner. There, many of the Goblin clans found great importance in the role of women in their society, finding them to have both great wisdom and strength as well as greater leaderly instincts that were, in some cases, tied to maternal roles they had taken up and, in others, unrelated to familial duties at all.

Zelgrile by Jarhed

However, this was only for some Goblin clans. That was until the Goblins were united together when they went to war with the Helft Empire, where one of these Clan Matriarchs held the banner for all Goblins, becoming the Goblin Matriarch.
Through the line of succession, this continued until the united Goblins broke apart during the Goblin Rift (see sidebar for more information), where the final Goblin Matriarch, Zelgrile, was killed.
She passed her title on to her rightful heir, head of the Votarran Goblins, Jibral. Thus, while they were displaced, the Matriarch of the Votarrans has technical rights over all Goblin people, if one were to follow tradition.
However, the Matriarch of the Votarrans only rules over the people of Votarra Den and its surrounding areas.

Jibral by Jarhed

She has near absolute power over the Votarran Goblins, and due to this many scholars use the word Queen when describing her, as they would for the monarch of the Elves or Dwarves.
However, the position of Matriarch does have one major difference from that of a monarch in other nations, and that has to do with one thing they have no power over.

Deputies

The Deputies, or Diputados, a small council of officials that are chosen by the Matriarch, are the ones in charge of actually enforcing her laws.
The Matriarch has no power when it comes to enforcing laws, she only makes and interprets them. Instead, it is the Deputies that deal with finding those that are evading the law of the Matriarch and bringing them to justice.
They also deal with governing deeper areas of the cave, where the Matriarch cannot personally go, and therefore they spread her will outside of her reach.

Settlements

Technically, all settlements under the domain of the Votarran Goblins are in the cave system known as Votarra Den, but there are smaller subsections of the cave that are their own locations.

Votarra Den

The namesake of the Votarran Goblins, Votarra Den is the cave where all Votarran Goblins are from. At the very front of the cave system, in its largest cavern, is a settlement named after the cave itself.
This place, also called Votarra Den, is the center of Votarran politics and culture.

Trade

The Votarran Goblins have limited options when it comes to trade, as they are surrounded on all sides by Dwarven land and therefore can almost only trade with the Dwarves.
However, the cave system does go out beyond Dwarven Territory at its deepest reaches, allowing trade in limited regards with the Elves and Draconians.
The Goblins mostly export precious minerals, as they have an excess of them found within the caves of Votarra Den, and in turn they receive resources, mostly food, as they cannot grow many crops underground.

The Goblin Rift

During the Dreamless Sleep conflict, where Gellark Lionrage led the Humans to settle the northern coast of Elone, where the majority of Goblins lived, a split occured.
Upon the death of the previous matriarch, Zelgrile, who had united the Goblin people against their former enemy of the Helft Empire, disagreements of succession and what to do next ruptured the Goblin leadership.
Most followed Zelgrile's daughter, Jibral, who had discovered Votarra Den. This subsection then became the Votarran Goblins.
Others, however, split off. The Alzirgan Goblins had already split off previously, founding the independent city-state of Alzirgos.
Some went east, to the Mines of the Slime, becoming the Ocultos Goblins.
Jibral's greatest opponents, however, remained behind in caves beneath Nerodil and other cities founded on their old land. This group became known as the Nationalist Goblins, intent on keeping the old Goblin nation intact in whatever way they could.
The Nationalists and Votarrans were most at odds, and conflict between the two has persisted ever since.

Religion

Votarran Goblins have a deep history with their creator God, Tohil, the God of War. From the creation of the Goblin people, they have worshipped him.
However, many movements for peace among the Votarrans have led to Tohil worship diminishing greatly.
While he is still worshipped by a majority, that number is ever shrinking by each subsequent generation, with other Gods that are less related to the Goblin people gaining more and more popularity.
The Gods to gain the most followers from this are Gods with temples nearby Votarra Den, such as Selene, Elven Goddess of the Moon, and Helle, Draconian Goddess of Greed.

The town of Votarra Den is where the Matriarch lives, as well as where all trade and tourism enters and leaves the caves of the same name. It is a bustling hub of art and trade, with access to and knowledge of the outside world that other Votarran settlements lack.
A notable part of its population is a group of necromancers that live right on the outskirts of the cave entrance, who are the largest opposition to the Matriarch in the town and often work against her rulings. However, in situations where the Votarrans have been under attack, the necromancers have almost always been the first to swoop in and aid their fellow Votarrans.

Tohil by Jarhed

Oscucia

There are very few accounts of outsiders going too deep into the caves of the Votarrans, so most settlements deeper in the caves have little public information. Oscucia, as one of the nearest Votarran settlements to Votarra Den proper, is the most well known.
Oscucia has a close relationship with the citizens of the town Votarra Den, and they are best known for being the most common visitors to Votarra.
Their citizens are said to thrive in the darkness, which makes navigating the caves outside of Votarra difficult for outsiders, as they strike at any sources of light in Oscucia. What else resides there is unknown, as few can make it far once in Oscucia.
It is also believed that Oscucia is home to a temple for the God Tohil, creator of the Goblins. As his original major temple has been seemingly lost to war, many believe this to now be the center of his faith in Totania, though no one is certain of this, save for, potentially, the Goblins that live in Oscucia.

Segunte

Said to be the secondary entrance to the cave system, it is unknown where Segunte is and if it is even real, but some adventurers and explorers have made the claim that there is another way in and that, in this other entrance, is the town of Segunte.
Inhabited by Votarrans that excel in hiding from others, they are believed to live mostly off of stolen goods from travelers. However, sightings of Goblins stealing from those that are journeying have been noted all over Elone, so where Segunte could be is a mystery. Whether they are found right by this entrance or if they travel great distances to steal so they may obscure their home, the Goblins all outright deny the existence of Segunte.

Culture

Thriving in Unfamiliar Shadows

Votarran Goblins are the most prominent on the world stage, but this comes after a long history of oppression and suppression. They exist in their present form only because of their defeat in war and exile from their homeland. Therefore, the Votarran Goblins have embraced their displacement as an important part of their culture.
This has been embraced in different ways. The citizens deep in the cave, in places like Oscucia, have learned to thrive away from where they can be seen. Their culture has taken on a brilliant shade in the darkness, where they cannot be disrupted or displaced again. In a place where their imaginations are left to thrive without interference or influence from the outside, where they can live unbothered.
But the reason Votarrans are so prominent in the world is because another way Votarrans have embraced displacement is by going all over the world, using their cultural history of having no true home to travel all over the world and be anywhere at any point. During most events around the world, a Votarran Goblin will likely have found a way to make themselves known as at least a minor part of what has happened.
This has led to Votarra Den becoming a hub for culture despite being, in the eyes of the Votarrans, an impermanent home for them. Thus, most Votarrans have settled down there, even if they dream of one day living somewhere where they can see the sun. For that, at least, they may travel.

Art

Votarran art has focused on many things, initially mostly depicting their history as the center of the united Goblin nation and their grand place on the world stage. After some generations, they began depicting, instead, the legends of their own history as Votarrans, rather than just as Goblins. Paintings of the Dreamless Sleep conflict where the Humans drove them from their land, sculptures of their founder Jibral and her mother Zelgrile, and writings mythologizing this event.
As more generations passed, they began making art, instead, about their isolation from the world. Art about the darkness surrounding the Votarran people and how they are far removed from the rest of the world. For this (and their worship of Tohil, God of War), many believe the Votarrans to be a dark or even evil people, but this is far from the truth. Tohil's warlike worship is not evil, but is instead something the Votarrans and other Goblins embrace for survival, and their artistic darkness is more a representation of their tragic history and circumstances than their present beliefs.

Cuisine

Votarran cuisine has considerable emphasis on what can be made with what its citizens are able to get in the regions surrounding the cave, as well as what animals they can raise within the caves. Lamb and beef are the staple meats, and both lambs and cows produce milk for any dairy products in Votarran meals.
Mushrooms that come from the caves are a central part of Votarran dishes as well, and they have many different types of bread that they often wrap foods in, such as the trenza and various kinds of tortilla. Travelers that returned from Udai with knowledge of Orcish cuisine helped to develop foods using the tortilla in particular, creating popular dishes like the burrito, taco, and taquito, which Goblin merchants then spread around the world.
Some say Votarran cuisine has left the most lasting mark on the world, as opposed to any other impact from the Votarran people, as its dishes are famous around Totania. This is a vast simplification of who the Votarrans are and what they have done for Totania.

Language

Votarran dialect mostly resembles the Goblin language of other regions, but, like the other Goblin ethnicities, they have developed their language in some slightly different ways. Most notably, it is said that the Votarran Goblin language emphasizes less plosives, as they are better for hiding in caves and out of sight from those that may be searching for them.
After hundreds of years, it has also developed enough that it is, in many ways, its own language save for the roots of its words. The system that conjugates verbs in Nationalist Goblin dialect is far more intricate than that of Votarran, which in many ways resembles the Draconic language spoken not far to the south of Votarra Den.
Votarran has also lost a neutral way of gender address in its language, having exclusively gendered language. Due to this, there have been movements by some progressive groups to reintroduce this into Votarran speech, but they have largely failed at gaining steam amongst the Votarran populace, which is considered too scattered in the caves to create such a unified movement.

Siesta

Votarran Goblins follow the Goblin tradition of siesta, originally six hours after dawn each day, where all citizens take a short rest. This allows them to have more energy for the rest of the day, after taking about a 15-30 minute nap.
It was initially taken six hours after dawn, but as most Votarrans living in the caves cannot see the sun, they instead often take the break after eating lunch or time out six hours after they wake up. Either way, the tradition has persisted despite their removal from their home and cultural land.
Votarran Goblins that travel elsewhere in the world, as they are wont to do, have been often called lazy due to continuing the practice of siesta even when in a foreign land. However, they have also been noted to work much harder because they take these siestas, gaining more energy than those that do not get their daily naps. Perhaps that is another reason why Votarrans have, despite their displacement and oppression, gained a prominent role in world politics and history.