Goblins

The goblins are one of the magical races, that is, offshoots of humanity who evolved on higher-magic worlds. Like the fae, they mostly have Second Sight. Their magicians are much fewer, but the few there are have affinity for the same sorts of magic as do the fae. They do, however, all have an innate magical talent of shapeshifting. The extent of this varies – some can only change the length of their ears, while the best can even pass themselves off as fae for extended periods, fooling Second Sight!

Goblins are not unaging as the fae are, but rather, like humans, reproduce much more rapidly – another reason, perhaps, why their magicians are not as skilled. Physically, goblins are, in their natural forms, humanoids who stand a hunched four foot tall on average. They manipulate their facial features to give themselves appearances very distinct from each other – typically the ears, nose, and mouth, and often the eyes, are all large, giving them a caricaturish appearance. Their home faces are generally amusing caricatures to non-goblin eyes. But it’s for their war faces that goblins are generally known: they use the same talent to make hideous visages designed to terrify their enemies.

Most goblins are not very technologically advanced. They usually fight with tooth, claw, horn, and any other weapon-appendage they can grow, using skirmishing tactics, employing their shapeshifting to gain surprise. Spears, bows, slings and thrown rocks are the usual missile weapons. They also have good knowledge of herblore and poisons, and often poison their weapons and weapon-appendages. The goblins of Wyrmwood, though, know how to make cold iron – and this makes them a real threat to the fae.

Goblins generally live as hunters and gatherers in small tribal villages, well camouflaged, in styles that vary with the local terrain. Fishing and farming communities more closes resemble human villages.

Goblins have a reputation as good animal trainers and handlers; perhaps their ability to shape shift gives them a greater understanding of animals.

The goblins of Wyrmwood are the most notorious but also least typical of the goblins, with more centralised and authoritarian government and better technology.

Typical abilities
Most goblins have Characteristics not dissimilar to humans, when in their natural forms. They all have some degree of Shapeshifting, affect Sight, Sound, Smell/Taste, Touch and even the Mystic and Mental Groups, though the last two are subject to skills vs skill rolls. They assume the physical characteristics of any animal they can imitate, and can often manifest horns, claws, etc, without taking on full animal form.

Goblins share the fae vulnerability to cold iron.

Names
Goblins everywhere use the same naming patterns, and in large part even exactly the same names, though pronunciation may vary widely (or to look at it another way, all goblin names can be translated into all goblin languages).

Every goblin is, at birth, given a monosyllabic name at birth, from an inventory of standard names, but this "1-name" is never used outside the immediate nuclear family. Within a tribe or village, 2-names are the norm: that is, the 1-name prefixed by the mother's one name (care is taken that this will be unique within the community).

The most common form of name, however, is the 4-name, prefixing one's great-grandmother's, grandmother's and mother's name. This is the name by which a goblin is generally known to the world at large, though it's not guaranteed to be unique. If need be, the 8-name or 16-name will be used.

Most goblins know their 64-names by heart, and some, especially those of significant descent, can even recite their 256-names - or at least, so they claim.

Known goblin 1-names include the following:


 * Bor
 * Jal
 * Jomp
 * Jont
 * Nad
 * Nog
 * Pel
 * Pond
 * Rap
 * Ren
 * Rump
 * Stir
 * Tlen
 * Trul
 * Tsak

Rumpelstiltskin (German Rumpelstilzchen) appears to be a corruption of the goblin 4-name Rummpelstirtlen.