I’m going to try and be regularly adding to my guide to Alaria (fantasy setting) by writing out a new entry every day I manage to get writing done. I’ll be posting new entries here as well as the permanent page HERE. First up: Goblins!

Goblins

Goblins are short of stature, standing at most belly high against a Human. They have small limbs that match their diminutive stature, yet their wiry muscles make them a physical match for the average member of most Greater races. The creatures have skin that comes in nearly every hue of green, ugly features with large pointed ears, noses far too large in most other races’ eyes, and disturbing beady black eyes.

Goblin intelligence varies from tribe to tribe, with some so groups so dumb they are little more than animals, and others intelligent enough to build primitive (but potentially sprawling) towns. Even the dumbest Goblin will have the intelligence to use weapons. They may not be skilled with them, but often this doesn’t matter as the dumber Goblin tribes rely on overwhelming numbers while the more intelligent ones rely on cunning ambushes.

Legends and ancient texts often mention Goblins who were as intelligent as and treated like they were a normal person. Some scholars think there must have been, at one time, a race of Goblins that was as intelligent as any of the other Greater races but that for some reason disappeared from Alaria. Others postulate these intelligent and fully sentient Goblins in ancient texts are nothing but a fantasy or at best an uncommon and misunderstood mixing of Orc with one of the diminutive races such as a Gnome.

Regardless of the truth, Lesser Goblins now seem to be Alaria’s only Goblin race. Many view them as vermin, infesting forests and caves and needing to be purged when discovered. Few argue with this sentiment as the little green monsters survive mostly by praying on others.

Goblin tribes, when small in number, generally gather recourses by attacking those who have wandered too close to their hidden dens or fledgling villages. They’ll take anything of value, making use of all food, clothing, and weapons while hoarding the treasures they have no use for.

When a Goblin tribe grows large enough they will begin causing far greater trouble. Their little bands of bandits will become raiding parties and, if allowed to grow large enough, become small armies that will roam the countryside pillaging whole villages.

It is because of the exponential growth of the threat Goblins present that most try to clear Goblin infestations as soon as they are discovered. While tribes are small groups of Adventurers will normally be employed to slaughter them, but once the threat grows large enough towns will need to gather militias or even call on organized militaries to deal with the threat.

Goblins breed fast, their pregnancies taking only a couple of months and their young growing into functional adulthood in half that time. When tribes are “cleared out” it is known that every single Goblin must be killed, for even just a few going overlooked could lead to the infestation’s quick return.

The speed at which Goblins breed can be viewed as a double-edged sword. With no outside influences slowing their population growth Goblins will breed so fast their tribe members will feel overcrowded. When this happens a group usually peels off, taking many members to start a new tribe away from the lands claimed by the first. This often ensures no one tribe grows too fast but creates a spreading of Goblins across nearby lands if they aren’t dealt with quickly upon discovery.

Goblins are as violent, cruel, and evil as they are stupid and short-sighted. If they are dealt with when their tribes are small, or with overwhelming force once their numbers increase, they are a manageable threat. Many across Alaria think of them almost as rodents or cockroaches, pests that need to be controlled but are not a real concern as long as they are regularly managed.

At least that’s how Goblins have been thought of. In recent times a new subspecies of Goblins has begun appearing all over Alaria, somehow replacing the old kind. This new breed is more cunning and far more dangerous. But it is the changes in their biology, and the shifts in their culture this has led to, that make this new kind of Goblin so disturbing.

There are no female Goblins to be found in this new subspecies. Like all male-only races in Alaria these new Goblins need the women of other races to breed, seeming only to be able to make use of the females of the Greater races. Any woman impregnated by one of these Goblins will give birth to a small “littler” of full-blooded Goblins.

This has led to a disturbing cultural shift in these Goblins. They are still violent and sustain their communities through banditry and pillaging, but now focus on taking women along with any other spoils. Those captured are used as breeding vessels for as long as their bodies hold out. The horrors, however, don’t end there. The primitive culture of this breed of Goblins has become one centered around sex. They worship perverse deities and every member of the tribe will take part in ritualized sex with their victims.

Physically it is often hard to tell this new subspecies apart from the other. It is no surprise that even those who know of this new more disturbing kind of Goblin often don’t realize what they are dealing with till it’s too late as there are only two noticeable physical differences.

The first is their eyes, these new Goblins have red, often glowing, eyes instead of the black ones the traditional Goblins have. During the day or in good lighting this is hard to notice, but in dim lighting and especially at night the new feature is hard to overlook.

Their other distinguishing feature is more disturbing. Their sexual organ is significantly larger than the traditional breed of Goblins. Compared to the average Human the size of the monsters’ manhoods would be impressive, while on their small bodies they are left looking huge.

Along with the increase in organ size these new Goblins also have an increased libido. They seem to be able to fornicate endlessly, although there are some hints special herbal mixes along with the magic of their shamans help this along. The important takeaway is that any woman unlucky enough to be taken captive by them will find their unwanted carnal attention unending.

These new Goblins use a sickening mix of herbs, toxins, magic, and divine blessings of their perverse gods to increase the fertility of the women they capture. Regardless of race or personal fertility any women in their clutches will end up impregnated with their young before long. And thanks to those same drugs and magic the pregnancies are always short and physically draining, leading to births of Goblin litters that happen in weeks or even days.

Those new Goblins will grow to adulthood in mere days. This means this new kind of Goblin can increase their numbers much more quickly, but ONLY if they have women of other races to breed with.

There seems to be only one silver lining of this new horrifying breed of Goblin. Since their culture is so focused on sex with captive women they have incentive not to have tribes that are too large. They are also smarter, which means most successful tribes know that to remain unnoticed by nearby people they need to keep the number of women they capture to a minimum.

This means tribes split more often, keeping them from rarely growing past the size a well-equipped and experienced party of Adventurers wouldn’t be able to handle them on their own. But unless these Adventurers know to expect these new Goblins increased intelligence they often find themselves walking into deadly traps when they take on such a task, their male members killed outright and the women meeting what most might consider a far worse fate…

No one knows how this new kind of Goblin came into being or why it seems to be so quickly replacing the old one. Some suggest they have been magically altered, one scholar suggesting they must be an experiment of an evil wizard gone wrong and now spreading like a plague. In my opinion this explanation is proven false by this new breed’s simultaneous appearance Alaria.

Others suggest only the gods themselves could make such a major change to an entire race. This theory seems to have merit, but there are whispers that something more sinister than a game played by the gods is at work. These new Goblins are often referred to as “corrupted”, and if one has heard of the mysterious perverse force known as The Corruption one must wonder, if it’s real, are these new Goblins not something such a force would create?