I wrote up some stuff about Goblins in my LARP :)
I wanted to post this bit of information to my LJ/Facebook for safe keeping... don't feel obligated to read. I just like having a record of this in more than one place for ease of finding. But feel free to let me know what you think if you do decide to read through it.
From the Book:
===========
1. There are less goblins in the world than all other player races (baring Minotaurs).
2. Goblins tend to treat each other as humans would family members, more so when they have a skillful trade (this can go both ways in the extreme, family fights are never pretty)
3. Goblin crafts are very functional and well made, not necessarily ugly, but never intentionally pretty.
4. Goblins enjoy throwing competitions, this is a physiological advantage and are highly tuned to this sort of hand/eye coordination.
5. Goblins are Acquisitive and will often fixate on a certain type of item to collect and hoard, the type of item is different depending on the goblin. Obviously, this means that knowing a goblin's item type can make bargaining with a goblin easier.
6. Goblins are physically faster than humans.
7. Goblins and Yrichs are related to the same ancestors.
8. Goblins are generally smaller than humans with ruddy-brown skin.
9. Goblins live to be around 80 to 120 years old (generally 20 to 30 years longer than humans).
--------------------------------------
Rick has approved the following for other attributes about goblins..
Habitats:
------------
- Goblins tend to live in small groupings of less then a few hundred.
- Goblins prefer living near areas with high concentrations of mineral deposits and useful raw materials.
- They also prefer to live in places where they can easily trade their goods to other races in exchange for surplus foods and conveniences, burrows often rise on major trade routes, or close by major population centres.
Political views and structure:
------------------------------------
- Because of their indifference to politics, and generally passive nature, goblins thrive under almost any form of government that will let them do their own thing.
- Goblins will avoid, if at all possible, attacking other goblins in wars involving their overarching governments (eg. Erama attacking Draco). Getting goblins to do this, may require significant manipulation tactics.
- Goblins have a chief for every burrow, often with a few advisors, if the town is large enough to warrant it.
- When a goblin steps up to take power, he/she may not even face opposition, it is then the poor goblin's responsibility to make important decisions concerning the priority of civic repairs and take the brunt of criticism for anything that goes wrong in the burrows. Generally, only thick skinned goblins will remain in this post for long.
- The average goblin citizen is more concerned about honing their craft/trade/skill. However, they will GREATLY care about how political decisions may effect the factors involved in acquiring their goods and the ability to manufacture their products.
- Goblins are VERY practical. If a leader is not "working", then the leader must be replaced with a more effective/functional one. This is typically done by common consensus or by a goblin volunteering for the job.
- When a great goblin leader presents themselves to a burrows, most will pass their leadership down from parent to child. This is an ideal scenario for goblins, but often is found lacking.
A Goblin's Sense of self and community:
--------------------------------------------------
- Goblins often make excellent miners (Please read more about Goblin philosophy to make this point more clear)
- Goblins STRONGLY value skill, NOT profit. (A successful goblin is a skillful goblin, note that money often is associated with skill in human society, but often this is *not* the case in goblin society)
- Goblins with high skill are often given free lodgings, materials to work with and food amongst other goblins, not necessarily extra money.
- Throwing competitions are valued greatly. Many games in goblin society involve throwing. All of these play a part in honing the skill that all of their kind are famous for.
Family Life:
--------------
- Women do not often have children. Their pregnancies last over a year and It takes 17 to 25 years for a goblin to fully mature to adulthood. (in contrast with 14 to 18 years for a human)
- Families average 2 to 3 children, with the adult women typically waiting until they are past 35 before considering motherhood.
- Women in goblin society are just as likely to pick up trades as men are. Although, Women are still more likely to become full-time caretakers of children than men are.
- During the first 10 years of goblin childhood, all young goblins are raised together in the closest burrows.
- Goblins who have chosen to live among other races, will return their young to the burrows during this time, often visiting regularly, but not actively being a part of the nurturing process. This is an important part of en-culturing goblin language and customs to the young.
- Some mothers or father may have the luxury of taking care of their children, but typically this is because the parent is a full-time care taker by trade.
- children who miss the 10 year goblin education, will have a hard time earning respect in goblin society.
Goblins and Erama:
-------------------------
- In Erama, it is hard for goblins to be forced into military service, because of their crowded and often confusing burrows. A litter of children are often taken care of by many women and men (not necessarily their own parents) at the same time. Making names and registration tedious at best.
- to humans, goblins are hard to tell apart... and much like elves, it would be hard to tell a goblin's true age.
- Goblins often only have two names. Some individuals will pick up a third (Eraman) name in order to "fit in" with the ruling society.
The Goblin way of thinking:
====================
- Details are everything to a goblin. The big picture is often lost because of this.
- When a goblin sees a particular raw material, he sees it as a physical representation of a non-physical concept.
-> For example: A piece of silver is part of the entity called: "Silver".
- Goblins have a personal relationship with each entity of raw material.
- Respecting these materials is of utmost importance, it can be thought of as a religion, but is more accurately a philosophical view on the way reality is interpreted for goblins.
- Failure to respect a raw material "entity", will result in a decrease of performance in the equipment constructed. Therefore, Goblins will often revere raw materials in ways that seem unusual.
- If a particular goblin is religious, he/she will often make his/her religious icons out of materials that he/she wishes to show further respect to.
- Goblins will often see objects in terms of their base materials.
-> Example: "A human sees beautifully crafted armour and appreciates the detailing and the shape"
-> "A goblin sees a synthesis of steel, brass, leather and perhaps iron or copper. The shape and detailing, these are often seen as necessary to maintain the combination of materials in a meaningful and functional way"
- Goblins express their respect for each material, by knowing the properties of the materials off by heart.
- By knowing a material, the goblin is able to properly take care of it.
-> Example: Preventing rust, reducing long term wear and tear damage, avoiding safety hazards, spotting integrity issues early on.
- Goblins will undoubtedly come across as obsessive compulsive to other races. This is the true reason why goblin equipment is always trustworthy. Therefore, goblins do not value their own equipment the same, once it has been passed through the hands of non-goblins for long enough.
Goblins: Magic, Religion, and Shamanism:
==========================================
- Goblins have no formal gods. They pay homage to the gods of the surrounding areas. Often the gods associated with trade, crafts and earth.
- Goblins can become priests, shamans and Cabbalists.
- Although goblins *can* be these professions, they are the exception, not the rule in their society.
- Priests, Shamans and Cabbalists are specialists, highly praised for their unique abilities that aid in goblin society.
- Shamans are more common among these three types, due to their connection with the earth and raw materials.
- Goblin Shamans undoubtedly take their Raw material entity philosophies to a spiritual level.
- Magic is more commonly pursued by women in goblin society. The reasons for this are merely cultural, as far as anyone can tell.
- Goblins who are able to imbibe magical properties to material, are thought to possess the highest level of material understanding. These goblins are revered.
- Goblins with magical and holy skills, tend to live outside goblin society. In order to hone one's skill in these trades, a goblin would have to be a part of a greater guild or group. These groups would provide a better platform to learn. Therefore, you will find very few of these types in a typical goblin burrows.
Goblin's views on the other races:
=========================
ELVES:
---------
- Elves are flawed creatures.
-> They believe that because something is aesthetically pleasing, it is of fine quality... That is very naive and cute of them. We teach are young how ridiculous this concept is, by letting them smash beautiful elven cups and plates into goblin steel kitchenware. You can guess the outcome. Some of the children may carry scars from the experience, but it's a lot of fun and in the end an important lesson is learned.
- Not that all elves are bad people you see. Some are quite skilled in what they do, but, they are the exception, not the rule to the average Goblin's eye.
- Elves are more respectful to the world's living materials, then all other races and we can respect this fact, but don't tell them we said so.
LEONIDS:
----------
- Too much time and effort is spent on rules and rituals that do not seem to make any difference.
- We will tolerate their trading rules in order to survive and prevent war.
- Some goblins think that Leonids respect the idea of trade as we respect the raw materials of the world. However, this line of thinking leads to assigning value to intangible concepts like "beauty. (see: how we feel about Elves)
KYRNOS:
----------
- Skilled peoples, excellent sources of information.
- They know how to arrange and categorize knowledge in meaningful ways.
- They never lie and generally, if steep, are shrewd but effective traders.
- We like Kyrnos, they just don't necessarily have the patience for all our questions and we don't have the gold to keep their attention for long, too bad really.
TROLLS:
-----------
- They are big, can get aggressive easily and generally do not possess the skills that the average goblin would care about.
- What is respected most, is the affinity trolls have for earth and stone. Goblins are envious of this connection.
- The best idea is to steer clear of trolls where possible, if not, try to be their friend, offer respect and gifts, at the very least, it can protect you.
MINOTAURS:
----------------
- We're not sure what to make of these guys. They're prone to rage and they're big, so much like our view on trolls, avoid if possible.
YRICHS:
----------
- Our old blood ancestors!
- We do not judge the Yrichs as harshly as the other races do. We understand that their ways are different, but those ways hold similar roots to Goblin ways.
- We just wish the Yrichs would stop being so exclusive, trade would be easier, negotiations would be easier.
- We have also noticed that Yrichs don't respect the raw materials as well anymore, which is probably why they lost their way, so long ago. Maybe we can teach them again?
HUMANS:
-----------
- They're everywhere. So, we just have to get used to them.
- They expect money, not friendship, this dissuades us from having a real racial bond.
- The skilled among them are not always the most sought after.
- Humans cannot always recognize talent among their own, this confuses us.
- Most humans fail to see the importance of respecting the materials of this world. Worse than elves in some cases, their equipment quality is never consistent.
- The skilled among them understand the basics of material respect, but the rich among humans *expect* respect without effort. This does not make sense.
- Trade with humans is integral to goblin society. We could not survive without the luxury incomes supplied by repairing and creating products for humans.
- We gladly let human rulers lord over the lands we occupy, as long as we can continue our way of life.
From the Book:
===========
1. There are less goblins in the world than all other player races (baring Minotaurs).
2. Goblins tend to treat each other as humans would family members, more so when they have a skillful trade (this can go both ways in the extreme, family fights are never pretty)
3. Goblin crafts are very functional and well made, not necessarily ugly, but never intentionally pretty.
4. Goblins enjoy throwing competitions, this is a physiological advantage and are highly tuned to this sort of hand/eye coordination.
5. Goblins are Acquisitive and will often fixate on a certain type of item to collect and hoard, the type of item is different depending on the goblin. Obviously, this means that knowing a goblin's item type can make bargaining with a goblin easier.
6. Goblins are physically faster than humans.
7. Goblins and Yrichs are related to the same ancestors.
8. Goblins are generally smaller than humans with ruddy-brown skin.
9. Goblins live to be around 80 to 120 years old (generally 20 to 30 years longer than humans).
--------------------------------------
Rick has approved the following for other attributes about goblins..
Habitats:
------------
- Goblins tend to live in small groupings of less then a few hundred.
- Goblins prefer living near areas with high concentrations of mineral deposits and useful raw materials.
- They also prefer to live in places where they can easily trade their goods to other races in exchange for surplus foods and conveniences, burrows often rise on major trade routes, or close by major population centres.
Political views and structure:
------------------------------------
- Because of their indifference to politics, and generally passive nature, goblins thrive under almost any form of government that will let them do their own thing.
- Goblins will avoid, if at all possible, attacking other goblins in wars involving their overarching governments (eg. Erama attacking Draco). Getting goblins to do this, may require significant manipulation tactics.
- Goblins have a chief for every burrow, often with a few advisors, if the town is large enough to warrant it.
- When a goblin steps up to take power, he/she may not even face opposition, it is then the poor goblin's responsibility to make important decisions concerning the priority of civic repairs and take the brunt of criticism for anything that goes wrong in the burrows. Generally, only thick skinned goblins will remain in this post for long.
- The average goblin citizen is more concerned about honing their craft/trade/skill. However, they will GREATLY care about how political decisions may effect the factors involved in acquiring their goods and the ability to manufacture their products.
- Goblins are VERY practical. If a leader is not "working", then the leader must be replaced with a more effective/functional one. This is typically done by common consensus or by a goblin volunteering for the job.
- When a great goblin leader presents themselves to a burrows, most will pass their leadership down from parent to child. This is an ideal scenario for goblins, but often is found lacking.
A Goblin's Sense of self and community:
--------------------------------------------------
- Goblins often make excellent miners (Please read more about Goblin philosophy to make this point more clear)
- Goblins STRONGLY value skill, NOT profit. (A successful goblin is a skillful goblin, note that money often is associated with skill in human society, but often this is *not* the case in goblin society)
- Goblins with high skill are often given free lodgings, materials to work with and food amongst other goblins, not necessarily extra money.
- Throwing competitions are valued greatly. Many games in goblin society involve throwing. All of these play a part in honing the skill that all of their kind are famous for.
Family Life:
--------------
- Women do not often have children. Their pregnancies last over a year and It takes 17 to 25 years for a goblin to fully mature to adulthood. (in contrast with 14 to 18 years for a human)
- Families average 2 to 3 children, with the adult women typically waiting until they are past 35 before considering motherhood.
- Women in goblin society are just as likely to pick up trades as men are. Although, Women are still more likely to become full-time caretakers of children than men are.
- During the first 10 years of goblin childhood, all young goblins are raised together in the closest burrows.
- Goblins who have chosen to live among other races, will return their young to the burrows during this time, often visiting regularly, but not actively being a part of the nurturing process. This is an important part of en-culturing goblin language and customs to the young.
- Some mothers or father may have the luxury of taking care of their children, but typically this is because the parent is a full-time care taker by trade.
- children who miss the 10 year goblin education, will have a hard time earning respect in goblin society.
Goblins and Erama:
-------------------------
- In Erama, it is hard for goblins to be forced into military service, because of their crowded and often confusing burrows. A litter of children are often taken care of by many women and men (not necessarily their own parents) at the same time. Making names and registration tedious at best.
- to humans, goblins are hard to tell apart... and much like elves, it would be hard to tell a goblin's true age.
- Goblins often only have two names. Some individuals will pick up a third (Eraman) name in order to "fit in" with the ruling society.
The Goblin way of thinking:
====================
- Details are everything to a goblin. The big picture is often lost because of this.
- When a goblin sees a particular raw material, he sees it as a physical representation of a non-physical concept.
-> For example: A piece of silver is part of the entity called: "Silver".
- Goblins have a personal relationship with each entity of raw material.
- Respecting these materials is of utmost importance, it can be thought of as a religion, but is more accurately a philosophical view on the way reality is interpreted for goblins.
- Failure to respect a raw material "entity", will result in a decrease of performance in the equipment constructed. Therefore, Goblins will often revere raw materials in ways that seem unusual.
- If a particular goblin is religious, he/she will often make his/her religious icons out of materials that he/she wishes to show further respect to.
- Goblins will often see objects in terms of their base materials.
-> Example: "A human sees beautifully crafted armour and appreciates the detailing and the shape"
-> "A goblin sees a synthesis of steel, brass, leather and perhaps iron or copper. The shape and detailing, these are often seen as necessary to maintain the combination of materials in a meaningful and functional way"
- Goblins express their respect for each material, by knowing the properties of the materials off by heart.
- By knowing a material, the goblin is able to properly take care of it.
-> Example: Preventing rust, reducing long term wear and tear damage, avoiding safety hazards, spotting integrity issues early on.
- Goblins will undoubtedly come across as obsessive compulsive to other races. This is the true reason why goblin equipment is always trustworthy. Therefore, goblins do not value their own equipment the same, once it has been passed through the hands of non-goblins for long enough.
Goblins: Magic, Religion, and Shamanism:
==========================================
- Goblins have no formal gods. They pay homage to the gods of the surrounding areas. Often the gods associated with trade, crafts and earth.
- Goblins can become priests, shamans and Cabbalists.
- Although goblins *can* be these professions, they are the exception, not the rule in their society.
- Priests, Shamans and Cabbalists are specialists, highly praised for their unique abilities that aid in goblin society.
- Shamans are more common among these three types, due to their connection with the earth and raw materials.
- Goblin Shamans undoubtedly take their Raw material entity philosophies to a spiritual level.
- Magic is more commonly pursued by women in goblin society. The reasons for this are merely cultural, as far as anyone can tell.
- Goblins who are able to imbibe magical properties to material, are thought to possess the highest level of material understanding. These goblins are revered.
- Goblins with magical and holy skills, tend to live outside goblin society. In order to hone one's skill in these trades, a goblin would have to be a part of a greater guild or group. These groups would provide a better platform to learn. Therefore, you will find very few of these types in a typical goblin burrows.
Goblin's views on the other races:
=========================
ELVES:
---------
- Elves are flawed creatures.
-> They believe that because something is aesthetically pleasing, it is of fine quality... That is very naive and cute of them. We teach are young how ridiculous this concept is, by letting them smash beautiful elven cups and plates into goblin steel kitchenware. You can guess the outcome. Some of the children may carry scars from the experience, but it's a lot of fun and in the end an important lesson is learned.
- Not that all elves are bad people you see. Some are quite skilled in what they do, but, they are the exception, not the rule to the average Goblin's eye.
- Elves are more respectful to the world's living materials, then all other races and we can respect this fact, but don't tell them we said so.
LEONIDS:
----------
- Too much time and effort is spent on rules and rituals that do not seem to make any difference.
- We will tolerate their trading rules in order to survive and prevent war.
- Some goblins think that Leonids respect the idea of trade as we respect the raw materials of the world. However, this line of thinking leads to assigning value to intangible concepts like "beauty. (see: how we feel about Elves)
KYRNOS:
----------
- Skilled peoples, excellent sources of information.
- They know how to arrange and categorize knowledge in meaningful ways.
- They never lie and generally, if steep, are shrewd but effective traders.
- We like Kyrnos, they just don't necessarily have the patience for all our questions and we don't have the gold to keep their attention for long, too bad really.
TROLLS:
-----------
- They are big, can get aggressive easily and generally do not possess the skills that the average goblin would care about.
- What is respected most, is the affinity trolls have for earth and stone. Goblins are envious of this connection.
- The best idea is to steer clear of trolls where possible, if not, try to be their friend, offer respect and gifts, at the very least, it can protect you.
MINOTAURS:
----------------
- We're not sure what to make of these guys. They're prone to rage and they're big, so much like our view on trolls, avoid if possible.
YRICHS:
----------
- Our old blood ancestors!
- We do not judge the Yrichs as harshly as the other races do. We understand that their ways are different, but those ways hold similar roots to Goblin ways.
- We just wish the Yrichs would stop being so exclusive, trade would be easier, negotiations would be easier.
- We have also noticed that Yrichs don't respect the raw materials as well anymore, which is probably why they lost their way, so long ago. Maybe we can teach them again?
HUMANS:
-----------
- They're everywhere. So, we just have to get used to them.
- They expect money, not friendship, this dissuades us from having a real racial bond.
- The skilled among them are not always the most sought after.
- Humans cannot always recognize talent among their own, this confuses us.
- Most humans fail to see the importance of respecting the materials of this world. Worse than elves in some cases, their equipment quality is never consistent.
- The skilled among them understand the basics of material respect, but the rich among humans *expect* respect without effort. This does not make sense.
- Trade with humans is integral to goblin society. We could not survive without the luxury incomes supplied by repairing and creating products for humans.
- We gladly let human rulers lord over the lands we occupy, as long as we can continue our way of life.