The Goblins

The Goblins are a small, yet crafty race native to Ecumene, making their home in the islands that make up the Jade Archipelago. As one of the Intelligent Races, they have achieved a high level of technology, intelligence, and society that not many other species have, and while they lagged behind the rest of the races for a good bit, they would grow to become a premier world power in time. Goblins are Primates, yes, but they are not Simians, instead being highly intelligent Lemurs.   They are on the shorter side of all the races, with most being about smack dab in the middle of the four-foot-tall range. However, it would be very hard to step into a Goblin by accident, even for the taller races. This is mainly due to their skin coloration, which is not seen on any other Primate. A Goblin's skin is not white nor black, but rather a greenish-gray, distinct from the stone gray of their very distant Dwarven relatives. Unlike most lemurs, Goblins do not grow thick hair (except for on their tails), and while they do grow the same clear hair that other Primate races have, they are unable to grow anything thicker in most places, so you will never see a Goblin with long, flowing hair or even the smallest of mustaches. The skin of a Goblin itself is very smooth to the touch, being comparable to that of a leather jacket. Indeed, it even has a similar durability, being slightly harder to pierce than that of other lemurs. Goblins generally have bright yellow, green or brown pupils. Due to their Lemur heritage, Goblins have a tail coming out of their backside, and unlike the rest of their body, this tail is covered in thick, rust-colored fur. The tail of most Goblins is about two feet in length.   Interestingly enough, the Goblin race as a whole has fairly poor eyesight. The entire race suffers from farsightedness, and while it is not crippling, if you put something right up an average Goblin's face, he will not be able to tell you what it is. As said before, it is not too bad and a Goblin can see things nearby with a good enough amount of clarity, though distinctly less so than other races. These shortcomings are seen best in the Goblinoid Lettering System, which only utilizes distinct symbols spaced far apart. However, the vision issues of the Goblin race primarily come from their evolution, as they ended up prioritizing smell over sight, one of the few races to do so. While the eyes of a Goblin are small and beady, a Goblin's nose is incredibly large, extending far out over its mouth and chin. The nose of a Goblin is wide and pointed, ending in a downward bend. The race exhibits an amazing sense of smell, being able to almost immediately tell the difference between two cuts of meat. While they have a better nose for organic material, they can also differentiate between different types of metal as well, a skill most races don't have. The nose also acts as a thermal regulation system, as while Goblins do sweat, their larger nose is useful for regulating the heat and moisture of the air coming into the lungs, as well as the nose itself giving off a good amount of heat.   The race also has rather Elven ears, although with some key differences. While the ears of an Elf are rigid, the ears of a Goblin, especially the ends, have a habit of flopping around as the Goblin walks. Goblinoid ears start off being rather plump, but gradually slim down until they end in a point. A fully grown Goblin's ears are generally around 10 inches in length, and they are able to more easily triangulate where a sound is coming from, a common attribute in Primate races.   The Goblinoid race exhibits a toothcomb in their mouths, meaning that their frontal top incisors and canine teeth are arranged in a hair comb-like formation. While it would normally be used for grooming, this is not so for the hairless Goblins. Instead, it actually helps the Goblin's sense of smell even more, as the toothcomb (oddly enough) eases the process of scents reaching the nose of the Goblin. To clean out food and other things from the toothcomb, Goblins have an "under-tongue" located beneath the tip of their main tongue. It lacks taste buds, instead having serrations made of keratin that allow them to easily rake between the small divisions in the toothcomb.   A surprising level of strength is present in a Goblin's muscles. While they are nowhere near the strongest of races (technically being on the weaker side) a fully grown and healthy Goblin is just as strong as a Human, if not a bit less so. While this is primarily due to their denser muscle mass and the square-cube law, Goblins can have all sorts of body types, ranging from incredibly muscular (for their height, at least) to fat and chubby. However, like all lemurs, Goblins have a fairly square head shape, especially when compared to the oval heads of the Humanoid races.   Goblins have little immediately apparent sexual dimorphism. Males, however, have stockier builds while females are generally more slender, and of course, have mammalian mammary glands. As members of the Intelligent Races, Goblins can feel attraction to all of the other races, but they can only breed with members of their own species.

The Goblins have a lemur-like reproductive system, with Goblins having exterior reproductive organs and giving live birth.   The Goblins are interesting in that when compared to other races, they have very fleeting lifespans. This results in them reaching maturity at a young age and giving birth quite quickly, but due to their short lifespans, Humanity has still outbred them, as it has most other races. A Goblin mother has a gestation period of around seven months, with a Goblin being an infant for about half a year. A Goblin is considered a child until about the age of 9, and an adolescent until 16 years, where they normally become fully mature. Henceforth, they are adults and considered seniors when they reach the age of 45. As a Goblin reaches old age, their formerly smooth skin becomes rough with wrinkles, and they tend to completely lose their sight in their senior years, having to rely almost entirely on their still good sense of smell and the help of their family, with old age being honored in the ancestor-worshipping Goblinoid culture. Lifespan 50-55 years Average Height 4’4-4’6 feet   Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild

Due to the long-standing isolation of the Goblinoid Clans from the rest of Ecumene, the cuisine of this race is very unique. The traditional method of preparing food is very simple and very old, involving an earthen pit oven. A pit is dug in the ground and filled with hot stones. Baskets of food are then placed on top of the stones themselves and are then recovered with earth. When the food is done, the covering is lifted off with magic and the Goblin community can enjoy their meal. However, urban communities now use other methods, such as steaming, grilling and deep-frying their food. As for the food itself, the Goblins enjoy a wide range of food that is hunted, foraged for, and raised within the Jade Archipelago. Pigs, unicorns, and chicken are all commonly found in Goblinoid farms, but the race also maintains a strong fishing tradition due to the fact that the race is spread out along numerous islands. Shrimp, salmon, tuna, mackerel, butterfish, eel, whale, and octopi are all enjoyed by the Goblins. Oddly enough, some varieties of insects also make appearances within Goblin cuisine, primarily being grubs and worms. It is not just meat that goes into the cooking pits, though, as no race's cuisine is complete without veggies. Sweet potatoes, taro, bottle gourds, fernroot, seaweed, carrots, cucumber, eggplants, mild peppers, cabbages, onions, radishes, soybeans, mushrooms, and various tree nuts are all very common. However, rice is probably the most commonly cultivated vegetable in the entirety of the Jade Archipelago, with most Goblins eating it in some form with every meal. Herbs and spices are not too commonly applied, but ginger, red pepper, and citrus zest can be found.   Rice does not just form the backbone of Goblinoid food, but also their drink. While milk and tea are common (with the Jade Archipelago being one of only two places where tea leaves are natively grown), rice-based alcoholic beverages are incredibly wide-spread. Sake can be found in almost every Goblinoid household. Another type of alcoholic beverage known as Shōchū can also be found in fewer numbers, being primarily made of sweet potato, barley, and buckwheat, but also rice.   Goblins eat twice daily due to their small frame and generally lower metabolic rates due to their lemur heritage. The race does not normally sit on chairs, instead sitting on straw mats, although they eat on a slightly raised table, usually using chopsticks or a spoon. Parakuihi (Breakfast) consists of food that other cultures would consider to be lunch or dinner foods, such as cold rice and vegetables. Sometimes, soup is served as well. For Hapa (Dinner), the traditionally large Goblinoid families will assemble for a hot meal either made in either the traditional or more modern way, usually featuring fish, chicken or pork along with rice, taro and other vegetables.

It is a time of great change for the Goblinoid people. For the first time in their history, they are united under a single, native government, but the road to get here was long indeed. After the fall of the Aurelian Empire, which held the Goblinoid people in bondage under a Human aristocracy, the Goblins of the Jade Archipelago agreed that no foreigner must ever set foot on the islands ever again. This period is known as the Great Silence, a period in which the rest of the world advanced while the Jade Archipelago was left in the Age Of Faith (comparable to the Early Middle Ages of real life). The Great Silence was only first broken in the early 1200s when Clan Akatowai welcomed Nereid merchants into their lands and rapidly modernized, turning the land stuck in the Age of Faith into a nation more modern than some of Ecumene's longstanding nations. During the 1280s, Akatowai under the leadership of Chieftain Otikoro would begin a massive campaign of unification across the islands, bringing the other 11 Clans of the Archipelago, which had not yet broken the Great Silence and therefore were stuck in the Age of Faith still, into the fold through friendship or through fire.   The Unification Campaigns, obviously, brought great changes to Goblinoid society. Individual Clan culture and the idea of distinct Goblinoid Clans themselves are being fought against by the government of the Divine Chiefdom of Tīkoke, a fight that the national government is winning. As a new generation is born into a rapidly modernizing Archipelago, with all the wonders of modern medicine and industry at their fingertips, the total allegiance that they would have had for old Clan bonds and old Clan Chieftains is manifesting as an equally if not more total devotion to nation and the one and only Divine Chieftain. Even many, many of those who lived through the Wars of Fire and Smoke are swearing allegiance to Otikoro and his government, as the benefits of unification and nationhood are clear to all (except some, like the Haruwerans and Tolans, who cling to tradition).   Despite Tīkoke being a modern nation, it is not industrial. Even in these days of unification, and though there are quickly growing cities across the realm, most Goblins live in rural farming communities in large houses that they share with an extended family. The land they work is officially rented out from the Divine Chieftain's hands in exchange for tax payments, but families own it in all but name. As of current, most farmers still work with hand tools, but traction engines and other more modern farming implements that have long been commonplace in Akatowai are spreading throughout the nation with some speed.

Traditional Goblin names consist of a given name and a family name, though the family name comes first. This is due to the prominence Goblinoid society puts on family and community over individuals. Thus, a male Goblin's name might be something like "Witika Ruru" or "Hamutana Ahuru", whereas a female's name might be something like "Pikari Ihiko" or "Nopera Taimana".   The Divine Chieftain and his family (as well as the former Clan Chieftains and their families) have a different set of naming conventions, however, to differentiate themselves from the common folk. They have no surname, as everyone knows who they are, and each child is given a completely unique name upon their birth. However, after his death, a Chieftain (and only the Chieftain) is given a title that is separated from his given name by the particle "te". This practice of giving posthumous titles is sacred, with this title usually symbolizing the accomplishments or events that occurred during the Chieftain's reign. For instance, the Chieftain who opened up Akatowai to foreign merchants was named "Mirama", and after his death, he would become "Mirama te Aho" meaning "the Radiant" as he opened up the Clan to the brightness of modern living and technology.

Like most on Ecumene, Goblin culture is unabashedly patriarchal. Service to the greater good of not only the community but the entire Divine Chiefdom is the highest honor for a Goblin, but depending on your gender, this service comes in different forms. For men, it comes through physical work, be it on a farm, in a workshop, or in the Divine Army. Women have the lofty task of raising the children and tending the house, with this being seen as a "woman's place". While not as wildly misogynistic as some Trinitist nations, Goblin society still looks down on women as a fairer sex that needs to be shielded from a messy world.   Homosexuality is viewed strangely within the Jade Archipelago. When men are young, having a partner (called a Takatāpui) of the same sex is tolerated, especially if they are in the military. However, if this partnership continues after their service is over or after they begin to grow into their middle ages, they will be stigmatized until they find a suitable wife. As with most other, Non-Trinitist cultures, Goblinoid society is quite transphobic.

Goblinoid marriages are very, very simple and do not include much spectacle. If a male Goblin believes that it is time to marry his girlfriend, he will simply say so, no ring or bracelet required. If she accepts, the patriarch of the groom's home will be summoned to officiate the marriage, and the families of both the bride and groom are invited to watch.   The ceremony itself is held in the groom's house. To make the marriage official, the bride and groom will sit and pray together with the patriarch (who is usually the groom's father or grandfather) in a secluded room. After this is done, the three will exit the room and declare that they are now married, no public vows or spectacle needed. Usually, a party is held after, with games and food and such.

Now that the unification of the Archipelago has been completed, the modernization that has become the norm in Akatowai is sweeping through the entire nation in the form of electricity, railroads, and other such things, although the nation is still overwhelmingly rural.

Goblins speak a language known as "Goblinoid" which is in essence real-life Maori. This language uses an alphasyllabary system of writing known as "Goblinoid", meaning that consonant letters are represented by proper letters, whereas vowels are represented with subsidiary symbols. This script is modeled on the real-life Sundanese Script, as the Goblins would need to use a script with distinctive letters due to their far-sightedness. Because of this, when writing in the Goblinoid script, letters that make up words are often spaced a good bit apart, with words themselves being spaced even farther apart from one another. It has been noted that Goblins who have been exposed to the Runic Alphabet have a great deal of trouble reading it without the use of eyeglasses.

The traditional greeting amongst the Goblinoid race is quite intimate and can easily catch foreigners off guard. To greet a fellow Goblin, a Goblin will approach them and the two will touch their noses together. This is due to the closeness Goblins have with their community, as well as the fact that when close to others, Goblins often have to rely on smell rather than sight. Though, as a strictly hierarchical race, the Goblins follow different protocols when in the presence of their "betters". It is usual that, when speaking to one's boss, parents, or other vaunted figures, one will never take their eyes off of them until the interaction is finished. While such a thing can be very annoying for foreigners to deal with, it is nothing compared to how common Goblins interact with their Chieftain. When he enters a room, all must scramble to gently hold and kiss his tail, and in his glorified presence, all eyes must be on him at all times. Most of all, when with the Chieftain, no Goblin can stand unless told to do so by him. Indeed, while they are permitted to sit on the floor and crawl around on the ground, all know that the traditional punishment for disrespecting the Chieftain by daring to stand if not told to do so is death.   When you are walking past an Ancestral Shrine that is not your own, it is polite to go completely silent so as to not disturb the Ancestors. When entering a house, you must remove your shoes the moment you come in, as you would not want to dirty the house.

Traditional Goblinoid clothing is very different from the traditional clothing of other nations. Instead of cotton and wool, Goblins dress in flax and other grasses. Both men and women wear knee-length, kilt-like garments made of flax. These are secured to the body via a belt of the same material, with men's belts being more ornate, often being colored with stripes. In warmer weather, this is all most Goblins will wear, as there is no taboo about bear chests in their culture. However, the Archipelago's winters tend to be on the colder side, so Goblins will layer up with other garments. Both men and women will wear Hieke, a type of thick rain cloak made of flax or some other grass that is so tightly woven that water cannot get through it. Due to this, it is also fairly effective at keeping out the cold. Most Goblins also wear straw, thonged sandals. However, in the capital city of Manawarere and other more cosmopolitan and industrial regions, a more urban form of dress has become cemented up. Working class Goblins will also wear generally unisex clothing, but both will cover their upper body, wearing a garment of wool or cotton known as a yukata. This contrasts with the urban rich, some of whom have taken to wearing intricate kimonos, or even Dwarven-style suits or Nereid style-thawbs, a fashion that has always disgusted many but which is being actively fought against with the rise of Goblinoid ultranationalism.   However, the Divine Chieftain and his family do not often wear grass skirts or even grass at all. Instead, their cloaks (called kākahu) are made of animal skin and adorned with feathers as a symbol of their power. Indeed, it has been mandated for centuries in the Jade Archipelago that those of common birth are prohibited from wearing animal products of any kind. While the displaced Chieftains of the conquered Clans have been allowed to keep many of their honors, they are no longer allowed to wear animal skin. High-class women of all Clans have taken to putting large earrings in their ears as well.   Goblins of high status and of both sex, be they nobles, rich merchants, or high-ranking military men, will often get themselves tattoed in a way resembling the methods of the real-life Maori. While men are allowed to have simple tattoos all over the face, women are only allowed to be tattooed on the chin. More advanced tattoos and tattoos on other parts of the body require special accomplishments. For instance, right before his ascension to the throne, a Chieftain will get his entire body tattoed, and no one else is allowed to see him before the coronation to maintain the spectacle. However, tattoos are not just a practice of the nobility and are, in fact, widely used by the various militaries of the Jade Archipelago. Once a Goblin first enters the Army, he is given a small tattoo on his right hand. As he rises through the ranks, the tattoos spread all over this arm, becoming more intricate as they do so. By the time a Goblin soldier has become an officer, his entire arm will be tattooed, and from there, his face will be intricately painted as he rises through the officer corps. Full-body tattoos are only allowed for the Chieftains, though.

Houses And Architecture
Most Goblins live in large houses with most, if not all, of their extended family, with the eldest male of the household acting as its patriarch. The house itself is not dissimilar in appearance to the Wharenui houses of real life, being made of timber, thatched rooves, and earthen floors. The house itself is divided into several small bedrooms in which close families sleep together, a living area, and a room set aside for the Ancestral Shrine.   Far and away the biggest urban center in Tīkoke is Manawarere, formerly known as the City of Akatowai. Despite its preeminent status, the houses within the city are predominantly made of wood (unlike those found in the growing city of Taone-Uru, what with its much deeper foreign influence), though government and business buildings tend to be made of sturdier materials such as stone or even metal. Many buildings have been constructed in a pagoda style, influenced by the foreigner but still deeply Goblinoid.
  Music And Art
Traditional Goblin art and music continue to flourish. Carvings in wood, bone, and stone are very common forms of art. They can be found on weapons, tools, the sides of buildings and given as gifts. Noblewomen can even sometimes be found wearing jewelry made of carved greenstone. Proper painting, but in a uniquely Goblinoid style, has also become fairly common as well. Goblinoid music is often event in of itself, with concerts usually being accompanied by intricate kapa haka (a non-military version of the more intimidating haka) routines that tell the stories of days long past. Common instruments include kōauau, nguru, pūtōrino, pūtātara, pahū pounamu, poi awhiowhio, and various drums.   Sports And Games
Interestingly, the Goblins independently developed a game very similar to rugby, which is of course the most popular sport in the world. This sport is kī-o-rahi, and in which two teams of seven play on a circular field divided into zones, and score points by touching the boundary markers and hitting a central target. After the Rupture and Unification, the Goblins have been exposed to other sports as well. Rugby is not as big of a thing in Tīkoke as it is elsewhere, due largely to the prior mentioned sport of ki-o-rahi, but sports such as tennis and cricket have made splashes. Interestingly, the sport of volleyball, invented in Akatowai in 1247, has become very popular with the rest of Ecumene.   Funerary Traditions
Due to the reverence the Goblinoid race has towards death, it is no surprise that they treat their dead with great respect. Most Goblin families have the body of their deceased loved one dressed in their finest clothes before calling for the next oldest member of the household. Said person is given several trinkets that were deeply personal to the deceased, which he puts atop the body. Then, the closest members of the family to the deceased will follow the oldest member outside, carrying the body, while the rest of the family follow in a procession. Outside, an open-air pyre is waiting, upon which the body is placed. The old one will then light the Mortuary ritual candles, which then are used to light the pyre, cremating the body. After it is done, the ashes will be collected and deposited into the urn on the family's Ancestral Shrine. The rest of the day is to be spent in completely silent contemplation and reverence for the Gods and the Ancestors, the only food allowed being plain rice, the only drink allowed being water.   Philosophy
The Goblins have a very collectivistic culture, but this culture is less equal rights for all, and far more a life of service to the greater good of the nation. When the average Goblin works, they are not working for themself, they are working for their family, their community, their Divine Chieftain, and their Gods. This, in part, comes from the way the Goblins worship a "good death". A good death can be a death from old age, disease, or in battle, but as long as you die either in service of or after serving your people, your death is an honorable one. When compared with the other races, Goblins die quite young, and they see death as just a continuation of their life because of it. In life, they must do all they can for those they love, and in death, they can reap the rewards of a life of service. Thusly, Goblins as a whole do not at all fear death, for they know it is simply the path to a higher form of life amongst their ancestors and Gods.

Offensive Slurs And Insults
Slurs for the Goblins include "Greyskins", "Gobbos", "Hooknoses", "Gobillygooks", and "Flopears".   Goblins often refer to other races as "Tauiwi" (meaning "barbarian" or "alien") or "Flatfaces".   Cultural Taboos
The greatest taboo in Goblin culture is to accidentally break an Ancestral Shrine in any way. Be it to tip it over, have the urn break, or ruin the scroll, they are all massive sins. While accidents can be forgiven by the Gods through rigid prayer and purification rituals, it is certain that bad luck will follow the family (and especially the individual who knocked it over) for many years. Insulting a Goblin's ancestors is also a horrible insult due to their culture of ancestor worship. Dishonorable deaths, such as death while committing a crime or worst of all, suicide, bring supreme shame to a family. If a Goblin dies in these ways, they are not added to the Ancestral Scroll nor the Urn due to their shamefulness, and it is certain they will not be accepted into the Land of the Dead.   Of course, all religious taboos, such as not adding the proper honorific of "Gods be pleased with them" to the names of the dead, not following proper funerary rituals, and pointing at a shrine, among others, are all very taboo and bring dishonor and misfortune upon the household.

Goblins use Axe-Beaks (large, flightless birds around the size of a horse) as mounts and pack animals. Most families own at least one Axe-Beak with it being a prized possession not only due to its use as a beast of burden but also because its eggs offer an easy source of protein. Consuming the bird itself, though, is a strict taboo.   Most Goblins view all other races with mistrust, as even though they have brought great bounties, they have always come with their true intentions guarded behind false smiles. This is without mentioning the current conflict between the Tīkokean government and the Nereid businessmen that own the Divine Chiefdom's economy and refuse to let it go, a conflict only inflamed by the rising Anti-Nereid sentiment among the people.