The ancient pre-Cataclysmic texts make frequent mention of warfare against
the Goblins on the northern fringe of the Lloroi Empire Although many frozen
corpses littered the subarctic wastes after each of a thousand battles
and ambushes, the feud was not settled before the Cataclysm rendered it
irrelevant.
The catastrophe raised high mountains where none had existed before, and
brought the Goblin range down into the warmer latitudes. Many Goblins perished
during the upheavals, but those that survived found the rugged, savage
life of the Nithmere ("World's End") to their liking. They called their
mountain country Zorn, a name that means "home" in all the Goblin dialects
Goblins stand between four and six cubits tall and are covered with coarse
hair ranging in color from reddish brown to black. The staple of the Goblin's
diet is flesh, and he will sicken if confined to a vegetable diet for too
long. Of all the races of Minaria, only the Trolls surpass the Goblins
in individual strength, and none rival them as all-around warriors.
The activities of the Goblins, especially in earlier times, center around
hunting wild game, raiding the enemy for goods and captives, and herding.
The principal domestic animals of the Nithmere are the hill goat, prized
for its meat and wool, and the long-necked sheep, which is also a useful
pack animal
At one time, a Goblin's wealth was measured in the number of goats and
sheep he possessed. In fact, a young warrior could not come into adulthood
until he was successful in rustling animals from an enemy's herd, although
this ethic was the cause of many inter-tribal conflicts. The importance
of these beasts in the culture of the Goblins is seen in their choice of
gods: Nergil, who is worshiped by most of Zorn, is a ram-headed being
The primary concern of the Goblins has been keeping their population in
proportion to their food supply. Unlike some other races, they have done
this without resorting to the practice of daughter-slaying.
Travelers to the Nithmere are surprised by the indulgence Goblins shower
on their young. Whipping of small children is almost nonexistent and, if
they cry, their wants are either immediately satisfied or they are soothed
until they settle down Very early the Goblin child becomes a functioning
member of the family--not by sulking through tedious chores, but by holding
responsibilities of vital importance to the welfare of the household.
Despite their affection for their young, the Goblins necessarily attempt
to limit their birth rate by means of various incentives. According to
the words of the Goblin elder Mooi (preserved by the astute Shucassamite
geographer Taheiki), marriage is deferred until full adulthood, and the
chaste individual is admired over one who is not. Female virgins may belong
to any of a number of amazonian societies, whose members are honored on
the level of young male warriors. These maids partake in hunting and warfare
exactly like their male counterparts. So agreeable is the life of the Goblin
amazons that many never marry, although it becomes permissible for them
to do so after their twenty-ninth year. Females who are expelled from their
societies for wantonness fall into disgrace; their sorrow serves to remind
their sister Goblins to obey the high-minded rules of their societies.
The Goblins scorn town life and do not permit the formation of villages
within their domain. Foreign traders are careful not to offend Goblin sensibilities
by letting their trading posts expand out of hand Even in areas of the
densest population, the various families place their huts in small groups
of four or five, separated from their neighbors by rough land or goat pastures.
Not even The Pits, the seat of the sirdar's government, may be considered
a real municipality.
The basic unit of the early Goblin culture was the family hunting group,
called the Hrungsenna Related Hrungsennas make up a clan. The leader of
the clan is a patriarch of the grandparent generation. To this leader the
clan Goblins owe inflexible obedience, since clan survival depends on a
kind of martial cooperation. Clan headmen have the responsibility to choose
the chief of their tribe. Although democracy prevails in the chief's election,
it goes no farther in Goblinland. The chieftain makes the hard decisions,
which are meant to be carried out instantly. Torture, mutilation and death
are the tools of coercion available to a tribal leader. His power is curtailed
to some extent by certain traditional rules Violating these--usually by
acts in denial of the four Great Virtues (courage, generosity, wisdom,
and fortitude)--has brought down numerous past chieftains
Most of what is known of the Goblin way of life may be gleaned from a few
modern texts, the most important of which is The People of Nergil, by the
Elven scholar Nuadat. Until very recently, the Goblin people have not fared
well in the literature of Minaria The old chronicles of Men, Dwarves and
Elves equated them with devils or predatory beasts. A traditional prayer
of the Vidarna tribe reads: "Be our bulwark, Lord Anshar, against the frenzy
of the Goblins "
Nuadat found it very hard to put together a concise history of Zorn, because,
to a Goblin, history is tribal history--and correlating the deeds of eleven
turbulent tribes into one narrative account is a vast undertaking The fact
that the Goblins do not keep written chronicles further complicates the
task
Says Nuadat: "The sources of information concerning the Goblins include
the factual, the traditional and the mythical. The seriousness of the Goblins'
interest in their own antecedence is evidenced in their scrupulous maintenance
of storyteller skins. These are pictures painted on goatskins, usually
in spiral form with the first event of the year at the vortex. Each picture
is intended to remind the story teller of a different event of the year.
The clans have hundreds of these skins, representing centuries of time.
Unfortunately, it becomes impossible to sort out legend from fact for periods
of some five hundred and more years in the past."
Yet, even these legends must not be discounted; the Prachar Goblins have
a story of a time when the gods made the mountains:
Dark grew the sun
over Zorn
The crag peaks
reared
Heaven broke,
roared
And poured out
hot stars
Fire and smoke
burled upwards
And shimmering
heat touched the sky
The early legends say that Zorn contained six tribes which lived in peace
and periodically met to discuss matters of common interest. Gradually,
as the Goblin population increased and pastureland and game grew scarce,
rivalry led to conflicts. New groupings appeared and old ones dissolved,
so that by the year 1000 the Goblin storytellers could name eleven tribes--a
number that has remained unchanged to this day
The poverty of the Nithmere has forced the Goblins into raiding as a way
of life It is not possible to migrate to better lands, because the Goblins'
habits--particularly their anthropophagy--have made them the target of
ire all over northern Minaria Yet, can their actions be said to be truly
evil, when Nature has enjoined them to eat meat or die?
For centuries the Goblins raided their human neighbors as they pleased.
Catastrophes, such as the invasion of Kalruna-Sasir (ancient Muetar) by
"abominations of the land and horrors of the air" made their work easier.
But never was there a chance for the disunited tribes to make any permanent
conquests in the highly-populated south. Civilized armies could overwhelm
them with iron weapons, sophisticated tactics and sheer numbers, as happened
at the Battle of Tanglefoot, when Egalon, the Emperor of Muetar, shattered
a powerful sortie by the Longmuir Goblins
By the end of the twelfth century after the Cataclysm, Vidarnan warrior
bands ("thargals") were subduing the Conodras tribes to the west of Zorn
and coming into conflict with Goblins in the foothills At the same time,
the human barbarians in the Wild Reaches and Blownover were increasing
in power and impinging upon the flanks of the Nithmere When the Pirostars
put an end to the anarchy in Muetar, the Goblins were encircled by foes
that no individual tribe could stand up to alone
It was the border tribes, those with more familiarity with non-Goblin ideas,
that took the first steps toward formulating a native state which could
match the power of the enemy.
At the outset of the thirteenth century, the Goblin Mengsmal assumed the
chieftainship of the Gakstetter tribe. He had seen how trade had enriched
his human neighbors, and he desired the same for his own tribe But he realized
no caravan would enter the Nithmereas long as lawless Goblins roamed the
borders, robbing -- and sometimes devouring -merchant travelers. Accordingly,
he suppressed banditry among his own people and drove the marauders from
other tribes out of his territory. Finally, he opened the Nithmere to traders
from Immer and Muetar.
Bold entrepreneurs took up Mengsmal's offer, and soon the Goblins were
eagerly exchanging vanamir-ivory, furs, amber and musk for cloth, spices,
beads and--above all--rock salt The latter the Goblins called "jozon,"
and it was used as the standard currency of the Nithmere. The wealth that
flowed into the Gakstetters' hands allowed Mengsmal to arm the tribe with
iron weapons and to bribe the allies of rival tribes After he had isolated
his enemies, the Hliosurts and the Glyfadrs, he conquered them by force
and imposed a tribute.
But trade did not develop as quickly as Mengsmal desired. Plainly, Zorn
had few products to offer that traders could not get elsewhere. Accordingly,
he talked to Immerites and Muetarians and heard them speak of the high
prices they paid for slaves and how far afield they were willing to go
when prisoners of war were available. When Mengsmal understood this, he
resolved to enter into the lucrative slave trade of Minaria. He spread
the word that non-Goblin prisoners would be purchased from the tribes in
exchange for cloth, spice, beads and jozon. The Goblins of the Nithmere
were pleased to comply, for human, dwarven and trollish meat was not preferred
by them anyway, and the goods they acquired in exchange could buy many
goats and sheep.
After Mengsmal's death, the Hliosurts and Glyfadrs reasserted their independence,
while the Gakstetter leaders quarreled over who would become chieftain.
However, the idea of unity was too vital to pass away with its originator.
The Longmuir Goblins, inhabiting the region of the Mouth Pass, had already
confederated with the Yngguls of Stone Toad(later the "Cursed") Forest
to ward off Mengsmal's ambitions. These tribes maintained order in central
Zorn and replaced the Gakstetters in trading endeavors.
The wealth created by trade was not shared equally among the families even
within the same clans. The rich tended to purchase huge herds and then
try to drive the poorer Goblins off the common pastureland. The ensuing
conflict did much to destroy the old patterns of tribal life. For a time
the new vagabond class renewed Goblin attacks on Immer and Muetar, the
former being involved in the Ducal War and the latter in feudal anarchy
in the decay of the Oyarostar dynasty.
During this period of economic prosperity but civil ferment, the worship
of the god Nergil commenced to spread out from the Glyfadr tribe which
originated it. But Nergil was more than just a throwback to a simpler time.
He spoke of justice in the civil arena, of brotherhood and peace among
his worshipers, and an end to eating the flesh of sentient creatures.
So seriously did the Glyfadrs take the injunction against fighting with
co-religionists, that when an outlaw thargal fled from Immer and occupied
Ozerg Mountain in the face of Goblin resistance, peace was made on equitable
terms when the intruders, now called the Ozerg Mountaineers, accepted the
worship of Great Lord Nergil.
The Glyfadrs prospered during the latter thirteenth century, raiding Immer,
Muetar and the barbarians to obtain slaves to sell south, as well as north
to the Svipdagvoir Goblins, who were mining jozon. When starvation forced
the Gakstetters to attack the Gap Castle in 1288, they were routed and
severely weakened. The Glyfadrs enticed them into a federation by means
of economic aid and the attraction of Nergil worship.
Elsewhere in Goblinland, the thirteenth century saw the tyranny of the
Mangubat Goblins under Gronek spread throughout eastern Zorn. When Gronek
insolently offended the mysterious Black Hand, Gronek was ruined, and his
fragile domain broke up after him.
The power vacuum left by Gronek's fall was filled by the Svipdagvoir Goblins.
They had recently discovered a native deposit of jozon at Bitter Water
Spring and opened a vast mining operation using slave labor. The huge loss
of life at this mine was an open scandal all over Minaria, and captives
taken by Goblins sometimes slew themselves rather than be sent to the jozon
mines.
Initially, the output of jozon enriched the Svipdagvoirs. Alas, they were
not economically sophisticated, and the growth of the jozon supply undercut
its value. Many Goblins, once wealthy with jozon, were paupered, and the
economic life of the Nithmere was thrown into confusion. This was the state
of affairs in the year 1290, when the Great Barbarian War broke upon the
rocks of the Nithmere.
We know of the war largely from the memoirs of the Ozerg Mountaineers,
who stood by their Goblin allies throughout the conflict. Sagaradu Black
Hammer had risen to the status of Great Chief over the barbarous north.
He directed the energies of his fur-clad warriors against the barbarian's
common enemy,
Zorn, and in the war that followed, scarcely a hill or dale in Zorn
was free from the bloody skirmishes of Goblin and barbarian warriors.
It is testimony to the trauma this war caused the Goblins that not one
lay describes it, nor is any year named from an event issuing directly
from it. For example, the calamitous year 1296 is called "The Year the
Traders Did Not Come." Yet, out of the horrors of this conflict, the barriers
that divided tribe from tribe inexorably fell, as a sense of common cause
and "Goblinness" replaced them.
How the last Goblin host made its stand in Stone Toad Forest and was relieved
by the timely arrival of the Black Hand with a demonic aid so terrible
that the scene of the battle was ever after known as "The Cursed Forest"
is a tale too well known to bear repeating here.
After the barbarians were expelled, leaders of all the tribes met to debate
the future of the Nithmere. No other kingdom had aided the Goblins in their
desperation; the elders feared an attack from without would one day destroy
the Goblins utterly if they did not band together now and forever. Nergil
worship had spread widely during the war, further enhancing the spirit
of Goblin brotherhood.
According to the scholar Nuadat, the council met for a year and a day,
drawing up the laws that would govern the country called Zorn. It was decided
they must have a lord. They chose Ockwig, the sirdar (war leader) who had
delivered Zorn in its gravest hour.
Ockwig's government was still young when Boewenn's War made the west tremble.
Although Boewenn's fury was spent upon human foes, he won no sympathy from
the Goblins. The massacres and burning towns of Immer reminded them of
the Great Barbarian War.
As the Elves advanced, many Immerites fled into the Nithmere to escape
death at the hands of Boewenn's most fanatical general, Tegwedd. At the
fringe of Wild Wood, a mob of the Immerites were captured by a detachment
of Goblin soldiers, who intended to sell them for slaves .
Tegwedd demanded the surrender of the prisoners, but the Goblins insisted
upon payment first. Sharp words were exchanged and arrows followed. Tegwedd
withdrew, but communicated the event back to Boewenn, by means of a magic
glass. Incensed at the impudence of the goblins, Boewenn ordered Tegwedd
to make reprisals. He did so, against several border settlements, and added
additional insults by desecrating the shrines of Nergil with the blood
of the hare--a "vile beast" to the Goblins.
Angrily, the Goblins joined the war and shattered the Elven army in Immer.
Worse than the loss of soldiers was the capture of the magical devices
on which the small Elven army depended for victory.
By spring, Ider Bolis' broad walls were breached, and Tegwedd hanged himself
from the Triumphal Arch of Elir rather than be turned over to the Goblins.
Zorn emerged from the war legitimatized, if not well liked, in the eyes
of its neighbors. Ockwig nurtured good international relations by maintaining
the peace, but his successor, Nystul, took an aggressive stance. He sent
a raiding expedition against the rich Mines of Rosengg, only to have it
frustrated by an alliance of Dwarves and Muetarians.
The sirdar's humiliation alienated a large section of his support among
the tribes--a situation that encouraged a charismatic military adventurer,
Ortwir, to force his way into the sirdarship This conflict, called the
Brothers' War. threatened the survival of both the infant state and the
faith which had made it possible.
Although a brilliant tactician. Ortwir thought too little of Immer s fighting
spirit and boldly raided that area for supplies. In reply, King Reglissar
of Immer made common cause with Sirdar Nystul and helped destroy Ortwir
s army at Shrieker's Scrub The villain himself escaped capture and fled
Zorn for parts unknown.
Since the civil war, Zorn has increased its variety of exportable products
and acquired a new ruler by lawful succession. It is yet to be seen if
Sirdar Draschgig will lead Zorn to greater prosperity, or to new troubles
and division.