Goblin

**Goblins** were the most loyal followers of the Emperor, and perhaps the most numerous of his servants. A scourge on the known world since time immemorial, goblins are brutes and louts of the first degree, spreading fear and misery wherever they go. Their sadistic nature, murderous habits, love for constant and ever escalating warfare, and mere ability to bring war and barbarism to all corners of the lands they trek have given the goblins a fearsome reputation. In a more practical term, goblins simply live to fight. While they lack the education of more advanced races, Goblins possess immense cunning and are quick learners, but rarely adopt new tactics to replace their fondness for close quarters brutality.

There are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of goblins living across the Whispy Woods. Mostly consisting of loose tribes and clans, the goblins may seem like a scattered people, but when the call to war is sounded, they band together and form a unique and deadly force on the battlefield. Occasionally, they unite behind a single chieftain known as a gormash (meaning "high one" or “exalted one” in goblish) as they were under the goblin Grimmsley.

Goblins are known for producing large, brutal armies of difficult-to-kill troops, usually supported by a variety of other evil creatures. Such are their skills on the battlefield that the majority of the most destructive campaigns ignited by the Goblins are more often led by a gormash of great strength and intelligence. They are an overly quarrelsome lot and if they find themselves without an enemy, they will often pummel each other just to keep their spirits up. Goblins naturally take their skills for granted and regard all others as weak, soft-hearted and foolish - an arrogance that usually leads to their downfall.

## Behavior and Culture

Goblins are (and always have been) a cruel, warlike race of ruthless barbaians and vicious cutthroats, fighting with reckless ferocity and delighting in the slaughter and torture of their foes. According to the Emperor, goblins have "a love for war." It is common knowledge that goblins see peace and kindness as laughable concepts, and cannot comprehend love or affection for anyone. They have no concept of pity; to any goblin, the weak are simply weak, and are beneath them in society. While often lacking in terms of intelligence, goblins are no fools. In fact, it is dangerous to call a goblin even a simpleton. They make no beautiful things, but many clever ones including machines, tools, weapons, and instruments torture, and were delighted by wheels, engines, and explosions. Some goblins are smart enough to craft crude weapons, gather food and even build crude buildings. They could tunnel and mine as well as any but the most skilled dwarves, though they were often untidy and dirty.

Goblins are highly adaptive in almost every environment and can survive in any region. Much of their society consists of many different tribes, with some reasonably refined, and others more hostile. Some recognize chieftains, while others exist in a perpetual state of conflict, warring against each other and themselves. Others travel in roving bands that scavenge for food and hunt whatever they can find. The population of each tribe can sometimes range from a mere dozen or so individuals to as large as a vast horde. Beyond the natural dominance of the strong over the weak, there is little to no semblance of order within most, if not all, goblin tribes. Fights and brawls are extremely common, and assassination and death is just a simple part of tribal life. As such, goblin societies are extremely unstable, and are prone to strife and constant fighting, even if it is just amongst a small group of individuals.

Goblins are known to be opportunistic when it comes to their diet. They can eat just about anything, from rotting carcasses to any game they can hunt, and even in-species cannibalism. In fact, the mysterious vanishing of livestock and other small domesticated animals is a telltale sign that goblins are in the area, as they will capture and eat them.

## Clans

Goblins can be found just about anywhere, but are often divided up between several distinct tribes and clans, some of which have long been bitter enemies with each other. Most are fairly unique in their culture or physiology than the more common goblin.

Some of these clans or groups include:

* **Common Goblins**: The broadest sub-grouping of the goblin species. Though the average goblin stands shorter than a man, they are considerably more violent and uncivilized. To a goblin, there is no joy greater than that of battle, and violence is a daily part of their lives. They are usually armed with simple weapons and some type of crude armour to protect themselves. What they lack in quality, they make up for with quantity.
* **Moon-Goblins**: A sub-species of subterranean goblin most famous for living in deep tunnels and pits underground, due to their intense aversion to sunlight. In order to hide as much of their skin from any light source as possible, they have been known to wear very dark or black clothing to better shield their light-sensitive skin.
* **Wood-Goblins**: The name given to goblins who live exclusively within forests, hence their namesake, where their destructive habits makes them an all too-common threat for many rural communities. They often live in an even more primitive lifestyle than other goblins, often covering themselves in vegetation as means of disguise.
* **Hill-Dwellers**: Goblins that have adapted to mountainous and hilly areas who are known for being the best equipped of the goblin tribes, as well as the most disciplined. They are above the petty squabbling that happens in most tribes and settle their differences with proper duels.
* **River Clans**: A distinct subspecies of goblins which have adapted to aquatic regions and are often found in or near rivers. They have a liking for especially dirty rivers, marshes and other foul waters, thus giving them a horrendous odor.
* **Cave-Goblins**: A primitive, feral off-shoot of the goblin race known to inhabit many cave systems, and for their ritual practice of cannibalism.  Even the most heinous, foul-smelling scumbags look upon these goblins with reverent horror.
* **Snotbellies**: goblins which are so dull-witted and simple-natured in behavior that they serve no purpose in society other than slaves or emergency food. Their larger goblin cousins usually try to capture them and train them to do simple tricks or very basic jobs, such as fetching and carrying equipment.

In the Fifth Age, a new breed of goblin was created by the Emperor, called **Berserker Goblins**. Unlike normal goblins, these creatures were unable to think rationally and could easily be sent into a violent frenzy at the slightest provocation. Rarely speaking, and only communicating with bestial growls and hisses, the berserkers were tremendously strong and even more savage than their cousins. Able to cut off limbs and heads with ease, snap necks with a single hand, and unable to feel pain of any kind, even severing their limbs or heads could not end their rampage.

## Military

The Goblin Army is the most prominent organization amongst the goblins where many of them find their employment. From the mightiest Gormash to the feeblest Snotbelly, the goblin race lives only for war. Violence and warfare is deeply rooted within the goblins, and no amount of enchantment can ever change that single mindset. Upon the day a mighty gormash of sufficient strength and cunning arises amongst the tribes, he gathers alongside him as many goblins as he possibly can and launch an earth-shattering campaign of destruction that has the potential to destroy the Whispy Woods in a matter of days.

Such a campaign generates untold fervour amongst the goblins; a fervour that would give an entire tribe the incentive to travel hundreds of miles just for the prospect of joining in on the violence and plunder. However, most of these campaigns will barely last a few weeks before the tribes begin to squabble amongst themselves if not given a common enemy to fight. As such, a gormash would have to be the toughest and most cunning goblin around, for should his tyrannical rule prove too weak, the tribes would challenge his right to rule and splinter off into different factions. However, should a horde find a destination and a common enemy from which they could fight, their advance upon the battlefield is ground-shaking to behold.

Goblin warfare is often just as unpredictable and unconventional as the goblins themselves. Tactics employed by the goblins are diverse, but probably the most common strategy is a simple frontal assault. Especially in most of their armies, the goblins lack the strategic intellect to devise and execute complicated battle strategies on the field of battle. This usually stems from the goblins' animosity against one-another, where different mobs of them would fight amongst themselves over the most trivial of issues, even when the whole tribe is engaged in battle. As such, it is particularly important for a gormash and his retinue of enforcers to always assert his harsh rule upon his subjects on an almost daily basis, lest the battle would turn into an all-out brawl that would spiral out of control.

A horde of goblin warriors wield a wide range of weapons into battle, including hunting spears, crude stone axes, bloodied clubs, rusted swords, wooden shields, and occasionally looted wargear. Some Goblins, however, prefer to kill their foes at a safe distance, utilizing the use of primitive bows and poison-tipped darts to tackle larger or more powerful opponents. Said archers have a savage tendency to shoot at any passer-by that just so happens to walk by their camp as a means of "target practice". They are never known for their accuracy, but the ferocity of their volleys prove dangerous enough that it can still decimate enemy regiments in a hail of crude arrow-tips. Goblins do not mine nor smelt and there are few smiths and fewer forges in their society; the only metal armor that they wear are bits and pieces taken from the corpses of their foes, typically after a battle.

In large numbers and with some proper encouragement, a goblin army on the offense would almost always outnumber their opponents by nearly ten to one, using their overwhelming numbers as a way to smother their enemy.