"Rest is death."

Lore

Born in the fevered experiments of the elven Emperor Derelan, goblins were an attempt to make an orc that could be controlled and directed at their foes. In this, Derelan failed spectacularly. In goblin folklore it was Gresh himself who intervened in the experiments, and while Derelan received the tide of chaos he was after, he failed to control it.

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Goblin society is typically separated by clan, each lead by the strongest, smartest, most capable, most audacious, or simply the luckiest amongst them. Often these clans join up with larger warbands, most commonly lead by orcs or hobgoblins, providing valuable labour in exchange for protection and a larger capacity to raid.

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Goblins have little concept of privacy, living and sleeping in large common areas with only their leaders living separately in private chambers - to protect against assassination attempts as much as anything else. With so many in such close confines, goblin abodes are often stinking or soiled, something the goblins don't mind, especially when it carries the bonus of keeping others out. 

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Young goblins quickly learn to rely only on themselves, for any other would happily stick a knife in their back. Aggressiveness, ruthlessness, violence, and treachery are the laws of their lives, for to do anything less is to invite others to take advantage. In this, nigh every goblin sees themselves as a temporarily embarrassed warchief, eager to scramble their way to the top.

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Due to their stature and proclivity for joining larger hordes, goblins have almost always lived as accessories to other cultures at best, and as outright slaves at worst. Being bullied by bigger, stronger creatures has taught Goblins to exploit what advantages they have, however: sheer numbers and malicious ingenuity. The concept of a fair fight is meaningless in their society, with goblins favouring ambushes, overwhelming numbers, dirty tricks, and any other edge they can devise.​

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Goblin settlements are typically very densely populated and filled with young goblin children, birthed by the litter. Even their youth cannot escape the violence of their kind, however, and often perish in some misbegotten scheme or another. These settlements, and all of goblin society really, is sustained by raiding and scheming - sneaking into lairs, villages, or towns by night to take what they can, or else waylaying travellers and stripping them of possessions or enslaving them. If supplies get short enough, goblins will often resort to eating members of other races, or even other goblins.

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While most goblin clans worship Gresh and Bok, some clans that are not under the dominion of others have been converted to the worship of Saultas, something that is the result of a concerted effort by human clerics to harness goblin activity for their own aims.

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Goblins do not get along well with most other races, especially gnomes and halflings who, being a similar size, are not as easily dismissed as beneath consideration. Goblins have a somewhat ambivalent relationship with hobgoblins, and orcs, who they've worked with frequently. The frequent disrespect, and the frequent alliances built on threats rather than mutual benefit strain what would otherwise seem a natural arrangement. Those warchiefs that scorn their goblins too much often end up dead one way or another, but those who go out of their way to reward them often find a twisted loyalty in return - for while each goblin would wish to take the warchief's place, they know their best bet to do so is to ensure they remain there until such a time as the goblin can be the one to depose them.

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Individually goblins - even among the darkling races - are usually viewed as a nuisance beneath real notice, and those who provoke the ire of the larger races often earn a swift kick to run them off. Large groups of Goblins, however, are considered far more dangerous, and even the rumour of a gathering goblin army in nearby lands is a grounds for pre-emptive war. Nearly every settlement of note thus has a permanent bounty for evidence of destroyed goblin lairs.
 

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Quirks

• Goblins are not stupid. They are actually frighteningly intelligent, but a level of laziness is engrained in their culture. Whenever possible, they prefer to manipulate or force others to do things for them with clan chieftains often having small hordes of servants or slaves (goblinoid or otherwise) doing everything from feeding them meals by hand to sharpening their weapons.

• Goblins are biologically compatible with orcs and other goblinoids, and their offspring take after either parent at random.

• Goblin vision is adapted to the dark, and they can see well even in low-light conditions.

• Goblins typically have green-grey skin, but it is not unheard of for them to have orange, red, or yellow skin as well.

• Goblins are born in a litter, regardless of which race births them, and so every goblin youth has plenty of siblings. By the time they reach adulthood, however, that number has normally dwindled by half.