Kobold
"You humans fight like stags. You lock horns, you follow rules, you die with honor. We fight like rot. We are in the walls. We are in the floorboards. We are the oil on the stairs and the spark in the dark. You want a fair fight? Go find a Paladin. You want to survive? Don't step on that tile."
Origins: The Dragon's Shadow
Kobold history is defined by proximity to power.
- The Scale-Servants: They acknowledge they are the "lesser" kin of Dragons. In their mythology, when the Great Dragons were forged, the sparks and chips that fell from the anvil became the Kobolds. They are the debris of divinity.
- The Social Contract: Kobolds grovel before Dragons not out of simple fear, but out of a transactional respect. The Dragon provides the "Nuclear Deterrent" (fear the Kobolds provide the infrastructure, the cleaning, and the perimeter defense. It is a symbiotic relationship.
Cultural Values: The Art of the Unfair Advantage
Kobold culture celebrates Asymmetrical Warfare. To a Kobold, a "fair fight" is a failure of planning.
- Lying as a Virtue: Honesty is a luxury for species with high Armor Class. Kobolds view lying, cheating, and scheming as high art forms. A Kobold who tricks a party into a pit trap is celebrated like a bard who wrote a masterpiece.
- The Trap is Sacred: Kobolds live inside a machine of death. Their warrens are designed to kill anyone taller than 3 feet. This is their pride, they turn their environment into a weapon.
- The Calculus of Survival (The "Liability" Stance): Kobold society is ruthlessly pragmatic. Because they die so easily, the individual is cheap, but the Warren is expensive.
- The Sacrifice: A Kobold who acts as bait and dies to lure adventurers into a crusher is a hero.
- The Liability: A Kobold who cannot run, work, or scheme is a drain on the Warren's calories. In their eyes, "charity" is a weakness that endangers the group. It is a harsh, cold-blooded worldview: You are your utility.
Placeholder Misc by Lou
Common Names:
Kobold names sound like mechanical noises, snaps, hisses, or the materials they work with.Sounds: Snick, Tik, Klick, Hiss, Snap, Pop.
Materials/Tools: Flint, Wick, Cog, Ash, Soot.
The Cruelty: Some take ironic names from their victims, like "Sir Knight" or "Pretty Elf."
Other Info:
Reptilian Psychology:Kobolds are ectothermic. They require external heat sources (magma, steam vents, dragon fire). Their emotions are slow-burning and logical, not fiery and passionate like mammals.
Nuance on Disability:
While they view physical frailty as a liability, they value Intellectual Cunning above all. A Kobold with no legs who can design a complex gear-lock is revered as a "Trap-Master." They aren't ableist in the human sense; they are just "output-ist." If you can kill the enemy, you have value, even if you do it from a stationary chair.
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