Kobolds

## Overview

When left on their own, kobolds exhibit strong tribal ties without a feeling of greater connection in between the tribes as Kobolds. This generally leads to the various tribes never quite joining together into a cohesive society, rather a cluster of vaguely allied in defense of each other groups that are all working towards their own goals and aims. This is not always true however, as there is plentiful instances where a strong militaristic leader manages to band together two or three of the seven major tribes.

This can all change however when Kobolds are found under the leadership of Greater Dragons or rarely, particularly powerful Dragonborn. When given the chance to work with one of their Draconic cousins towards something greater, Kobolds are often astonishingly organized, and dangerous to people who oppose them.

Kobolds are not particularly noted for usage of arcane or divine magic by outsiders, but users of both exist in their societies. What they are known for is their enormous skills in guerrilla and mobile warfare, with their usage of various non-sentient draconic subspecies as pets and shock troops in battle being a defining characteristic of them to many others.

There are seven major Kobold tribes, and all are represented on Calaset. As always, do not let this restrict you in your gaming, if you have an idea for a Kobold tribe that has you very excited, create a driving force for the clan, a title, and a symbol and go for it. See below for examples.

## The Kobold Tribes

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**The Dragovich (Drag-Oh-Vitch), The Fierce [Red diamond]:** The only tribe to specialize in frontline combat, to be Dragovich is to be as big and strong as you can be. Even though they are the closest the Kobolds have to shock troops, they specialize in ranged combat, practicing organized fire and maneuver tactics so that groups of fighters can protect each other as they move to flank and finish off less agile opponents. Though they are best known for their amazing archery skills, every tribe member also regularly practices swordplay and is more than competent at close range.

**The Vyatich (Vye-Ah-Titch), The Future [Green circle]:** Eternally looking forward, the Vyatich are deeply spiritual in nature, worshipping all of The Thirteen Patrons, but Damakos in particular, as to train numerous clerics, diviners, oracles, and telepaths. With access to this foresight, the Vyatich use their knowledge to plan raids, mount defenses or retreats, always one step ahead of their enemies. With their abundance of clerics, they are also known as gifted healers within the Kobold communities, using both herbal medicines and poultices in combination with their divine healing to heal any illness or injury they encounter.

**The Novantich (Nov-An-Titch), The Past [Three white horizontal lines]:** Shamans, bards, and crafters, the Novantich believe that remembering their history, and to an extent the history of all Kobolds, is the most important duty they can perform. To this end, they keep extensive written records and oral traditions that are passed down from generation to generation. Well the tribe brings collections of their written archives with them if they have to travel in service to greater draconic masters or for the survival of the tribe, they also sometimes create hidden caches containing massive libraries in order to prevent the Novantich’s work from ever being completely destroyed. Some of these hidden library’s positions are only known to a few, creating legends of libraries lost and hidden away, waiting for someone to rediscover them. In battle, their relentless studying has created plentiful battle mages and warrior bards, well their crafters are well known for creating high quality goods, including weapons and armor, that sometimes even find their way to outside of the Kobold tribes.

**The Krivike (Kree-Vike), The Wild [Silver diagonal line, going left to right]:** Without the stabilizing anchor of Greater Dragons, almost every Kobold tribe is at least somewhat nomadic, often times moving between various camps with the seasons to guarantee food supplies and safety. However, the Krivike are the only true nomads among them; well versed in woodcraft and survival techniques, they abhor the closeness cities and towns bring. They are the tribe most likely to be encountered by non-Draconic peoples, as even when in service to a Greater Dragon family, the Krivike fulfill many vital roles such as long range scouts, path finders, and traders for the grand cities their brethren help build and maintain. To be Krivike, is to always have one foot in front of the other.

**The Polimich (Pole-Ah-Mitch), The Mastered [Purple ellipse]:** In times of war, most Kobold clans will trap various large predatory animals and cage them, then releasing them on their enemies to cause confusion and casualties without any Kobold warriors having to put themselves in danger. The Polimich however have made an art of this animal handling, managing to domesticate and breed numerous large predatory animals for their own usages. This allows them remarkable flexibility, due to the fact that they can utilize the talents of animals native to the place they are in, making the Polimich seemingly equally at home in caves, forests, flat plains, deserts, or snow fields. In open battle, they use various medium sized non-sentient draconic species such as drakes both as shock troops to open holes in enemy lines and as mounts on occasion, riding down enemies before retreating, hailing arrows behind them as they leave.

**The Severtsi (Sev-Er-It-Si), The Builders [Grey square]:** The Severtsi are fascinated by engineering: how to make complex machines or buildings, and also how to tear them down to the ground. The only Kobold clan to have dedicated siege engineers and architects, the Severtsi at times act as an anchoring point for the other Kobold tribes, their walled cities giving other tribes a place to come together for diplomatic talks or trading. It is when they given the long term vision and sense of united purpose a Greater Dragon brings to kobolds however, that the Severtsi truly shine. They are the planners, builders, and maintainers of the grand, soaring, beautiful cities that Greater Dragons love to ensconce themselves in, and are extremely proud of that fact. Most Severtsi are content to focus inwardly; making their cities more secure or experimenting with new building methods. However, when called to fight, the Severtsi can be horrifically effective. Capable of bringing field artillery to the battlefield in the form of small catapults, ballistas, repeating cross bows, and other mechanical weapons of mass devastation, they typically prefer to set up defensive or ambush positions, raining death onto their enemies from safety.

**The Drahvich (Draw-Vitch), The Hidden [Grey isosceles triangle pointed down]:** Infiltrators, spies, and assassins; the Drahvich pride themselves on living in the shadows. They are also well known as being the most malleable Kobold tribes, with them often being the tribe to ally with another in the occasional periods of cooperation. Despite their typically unsavory activities, the Drahvich are typically regarded as being very trustworthy, sticking to promises or agreements made except under the most extreme of circumstances. This is entirely by design, as the future of the tribe often times depends on their ability to convince others that they were not in fact the assassins or saboteurs that had just struck elsewhere. This has actually created a phrase in the western Calaset Kobold dialect, “A Drahvich knife”, being used to refer to times when someone has hurt or offended another, and is perfectly happy to acknowledge their actions. When in the service of a Greater Dragon family, this combination of subtlety, tact, and trust worthiness makes them sought after diplomats and politicians.

## Where are they?

### Old Wounds Time Period

Their Greater Dragon leaders apparently dead, the Kobold tribes of Calaset have been scattered north to the forests of their ancestral homelands and are barely hanging on stuck between humans, elves, and dwarves, none of whom like them much.

**Krivike:** Well most believe the Blue Dragon family that assaulted the Horns of Beshaba approximately 4,000 years ago were all killed and driven off, the Krivike steadfastly deny this. They claim that some of the Blue Dragons still live in hiding in depths of the mountains, and endlessly search for any sign of them in order to help them rise to dominance over western Calaset as is their rightful claim.

## Naming Conventions

For kobolds, I pull from Eastern European names, and specifically Polish names for inspiration.

Kobolds gain a secondary name upon becoming an adult. Depending on tribe, this could be based on completing some sort of ritual or trial, or a purely age based gating point. Below are some general guidelines, but changing circumstances and contexts can alter these.

**Dragovich, Drahvich, and Polimich:** These tribes often times require some sort of physical trial (ritual combat, a stealth obstacle course, taming a large wild animal respectively) for adulthood.

**Vyatich and Novantich:** As the more inwardly focused tribes, these two often perform some kind of more mystical event intended to bring the newly adult kobold into the sacred traditions of the tribe.

**Krivike and Severtsi:** Both of these tribe typically celebrate their members becoming adults at around the age of 12-14 depending on location and time period.