Goblin
From Sharune Wiki
At first glance the goblin kinship to the Bog Trolls is not easily detected. This of course has its natural explanation. In the early days when the realm of Sharûne was still young and the Great Rebirth was a recent event a small community of Trolls emigrated from the lush swamps of the south-east and sought new and richer pastures in the western mountains. In those times the lands were in quite a turmoil because of the new gods and the weather behaved accordingly. That particular year the snow fell early and the unfortunate Trolls found themselves cut off by the unruly snow. They took refuge in deep tunnels and caves and waited for winter to pass. It did not. That winter, referred to in ancient Elven annals as "Clae'thuinn", the "EverWhite" lasted eighty seven years!
Meanwhile, inside the mountain, the Trolls had discovered that they had chosen their home poorly. The tunnels led nowhere and the weight of the snow and ice had made the outer grotto's collapse trapping them underground. As the years went on the inbreeding in the trapped community had become a real problem.
The lifespan of a Troll is usually a few hundred years but since these Trolls had started to resort to cannibalism as an additional food source life expectancy was now down to just about fifteen years. So life went on and so did the inbreeding. Normally such behavior would have ended in an assortment of drooling freaks but surprisingly it did not. Trolls were at this time extremely adaptable to their surroundings and instead of mutating uncontrollably the trapped race began to shrink. Their hair fell off and their bodies became all the more slender and agile. Tunnels that previously had been far to narrow for the bulky Trolls had now become accessible. And so it came to pass that a new race emerged from the damp bowels of Sharûne to claim the world. The first Goblins beheld the light of day!
This was a good deal of time ago and many things about the Goblins have changed, however many things have also remain the same. Goblins still practice marriage within the family to "keep the bloodlines clean" as they themselves would describe it. They do not eat each other anymore save for very special occasions, "the annual Eating Frenzy" being the one most frequently performed. Goblins live in VERY large communities consisting exclusively of relatives because of their inbreeding habits. A goblins family tree is probably more inscrutable than Dwarven quantum-physics. The official leading post of the community is passed around seemingly without logic. This is due to the fact that the qualities required for Chief-hood changes all the time. One week the person with the most teeth gets to rule and the next week one needs to have hair on the back etc. The real power however lies in the hands of the village Shaman because he is most likely the smartest and therefore the best liar.
Goblins have the following Racial Innates:
Strengths:
- Nimble dodge
- Poison resistance
- Cavern atonement
- Bloodlust
- Sneak
- Luck
Weaknesses:
- Vulnerable to magic
