Goblin

**Goblins** are small nomadic humanoids who travel throughout desert in their convoys of ramshackle wagons and chariots.

## Description

Goblins range between 122 to 152 centimetres in height and weight between 30 to 50 kilograms. They have green skin, large pointed noses, and pointy knife-like ears. They have a underbite from which small pointy fangs protrude.

## Psychology

Goblins are very cowardly creatures who want to at least outnumber their enemy two-to-one before even considering attacking. Their biggest fear are death worms, who are known to sometimes suddenly swallow a wagon from underneath the sand when they get attracted by the ruckus of the goblin convoy. The only moment a goblin shows any form of courage is when they are about to die: at that moment he takes a swig of his special flask (which is filled with almost 100% alcohol), says a prayer to the gods, and declares his bravery to the rest of the convoy after which he attacks the enemy in a suicidal frenzy.

Goblins aren't particularly smart either, believing almost everything what they are told and following a myriad of superstitious. How these creatures manage to maintain their vehicle based society is a mystery to scholars all throughout Sahul.

However what they lack in courage and brain they more than make up for in cunning. They love to ambush their target, setting up deliberate traps to give themselves the biggest advantage possible.

While goblins do enslave people they are actually extremely xenophilic. They just love to have other sentient creatures in their convoys with their own vehicle designs and designs and don't shy away from keeping their smarter slaves as mechanical engineers. People who impress them enough even can be invited to join the convoy and its not unusual to find a convoy where one/third of the members are from other races.

## Culture

Goblins have great reference for their vehicles and can often be found repainting them with a fresh lick of paint. Some goblins even believe that the colour of paint has magical properties. One of these colours is green, which is seen as the colour of speed. Because of this goblins like to paint green flames on their wagons with makanium while speaking a invocation in the form of a prayer. This invocation makes it so the makanium enchants the wagon with haste, confirming the goblin's bias. Car decorations are seen as a status symbol in goblin society, with a general rule of thumb that the spikier the better.

Goblin fashion is fairly minimalist in order to prevent overheating during their long hours riding in the desert sun. Most goblins wear nothing but leather straps woven into a harness that protects their vital organs. More well-to-do goblins will have large leather pauldrons and leather helmets on their head. Just as with their wagons goblins believe that the spikier their clothing the better.

### Society

Goblins life in convoys of between Seven to 301 vehicles. These convoys centre themselves around their most important wagon: The water tank. This enormous wagon carries several gallons of water through the desert, allowing the convoy to survive the arid climate. The main occupation of these convoys are racing other convoys, raiding lonely Sand-Botters, enslaving people who are stranded in the desert, and attacking Tri-fan Galleons if the convoy gets big enough.

A goblin convoys is ruled by a junta made out of the biggest and baddest members of the convoy. Inside those junta the member with the fastest and most spiky vehicle becomes the warlord. Other junta members can challenge the warlord for his position in a joust of courage, the winner taking both the position and the decorations of the loser. During a joust of courage both parties will start facing each other and drive their vehicles straight at each other until the more cowardly goblin steers away. In the rare instance that both goblins actually have enough courage to ram into each other the survivor with the most intact wagon will be declared the winner.