Goblins

A goblin is about the size of a giant dwarf. The facial features are extremely coarse and characterized by protruding teeth. The broad nose connects seamlessly to the flat, fleeting forehead, the reddish eyes lie under protruding brows and are often bloodshot. Their physique, with its overlong, strong arms, is stocky but less muscular than their larger relatives, the orcs. The whole body is also covered by a shaggy, red fur and is usually wrapped in skins or rags, which are held with a leather cord.

Some warriors carry captured weapons and armor from orcs, humans or dwarves. The goblins themselves are not concerned with forging and working metal, but use spears and clubs with stone or bone tips; as firearms are only simple short bows in use.

The goblins are a numerically very large nation. More than 200,000 of them live in whole Aventuria, most of them in the Green Plain, the Red Sickle and the northeastern Black Sickle. Only in these areas do the parts and clans have their own traditional culture. Other clans are found in the Dragonstones, the Trolltusks, the edge of the Orcland, near the Thash Gate and the foothills of the Firunswall. In Orcland there is a clan of goblins who have been kept for several generations in a mine of orcs as labor slaves. In Festum, however, a fake Goblin clan that leads under her shaman Mantka Riiba a man-adapted life.

The goblin culture is based on matriarchy. The power position of women is based on the miracle of birth, unfathomable to the goblins. They believe that the children are given by the gods to receive the tribe. A connection between sexual intercourse and the birth of a child is completely beyond their comprehension. As a result, women have a kind of holiness because their bodies are blessed by Mailam Rekdai, while other aspects of femininity are viewed as a pleasure on both sides. A partnership in the sense of a permanent connection does not exist with the goblins. The children are common to the whole clan and are looked after by all women equally. In fact, it is probably only due to the incredible fertility of the breed that so far no one has succeeded in eradicating the goblins. The male goblins lead a life exclusively as hunters and warriors, while the women are responsible for the offspring, the food and the organization of the clan life. Naturally, the offspring experience almost exclusively the core tact to the women staying at home, from whom he is fed, cared for and educated. This circumstance explains the strong leadership of the women in the clan and the close ties of the male warriors to their shaman and the other women of the clan.

Among the men is the right of the stronger, or rather, the right of the one who attacks first or from behind. Cunning and trickery are more familiar to goblins than cruelty or violence. The cowardice of the goblins described by almost all other peoples, especially in the fight against superior opponents, is not only due to the nature of the race. Many retreats (as goblins call their hasty flight) are the result of unforeseen events, such as the appearance of a magician in opposing ranks, first seeking the advice of women (especially the shaman). Shamanic power is not based on divine powers, but on witchcraft that is similar in effect and origin to druidic magic. The shaman is the tribe of the physician and priest at the same time.

The goblins know only two deities; Mailam Rekdai, the "Great Mother", the goddess of fertility, who is also worshiped as the patron of tribal peace, and her male counterpart, Orvai Kurim, the Lord of the Hunters, a warlike god (for the goblins, the tribal feud is more likely, the hunting activities). The two deities are usually depicted as upright goblinoids, but their skulls are very similar to wild boars. Orvai Kurim is worshiped exclusively by the male goblins, while Mailam Rekdai is respected by both genders. At least in the vicinity of human settlements Firun increasingly takes the place of the Orvai Kurim. In human eyes, repelling the treatment of their dead, which are buried without special ceremony.

Goblins are inherently sedentary. The relationship with home and stove is strong and creates a strong locality. Although there are no goblin towns and only a few sacred sites, each tribe remains in its place as long as possible; only hunger, enemies or disease cause the tribe to abandon its whereabouts. This is also reflected in the type of dwellings: The goblins of the Green Plain build grass-covered huts (mostly made of earth, mixed with the dried dung of their pigs and built over a hole in the ground). The tribes, which have their home in the mountains, prefer, however, natural caves or abandoned tunnels of the dwarf people.

Today only the tribes in the Red and Black Sickle cultivate their own language, while the other goblins have a mixture of the orcish, the garethi and many other languages, of which they have only partial knowledge. A preservation of cultural achievements is completely missing among the goblins who live far from home. They are generally very aggressive - but also easier to intimidate. Often there is a lack of women, and there is very rarely a shaman, so that the gangs roaming live from hand to mouth. These are the goblins with whom the heroes are most likely to come together: poorly equipped, but often scrounged together to several dozen, the gangs rush haphazardly and murderously through the land until they are stopped.