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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Azul" data-source="post: 918935" data-attributes="member: 11779">In a prior campaign I ran, I had the goblinoids (we unified them into one race, with the various types being subraces) be Machiavellian (sp?) mercantalists.  Lawful evil, honoring their contracts but always trying to sneak in exploitative clauses and whatnot, and happily selling arms and magical goods to any who had the money to buy them.Our goblins were master craftsmen, rivalling the dwarves for sheer quality, but lacking the dwarven sense of artistry.  Goblin weapons and goods were of excellent quality, but drab in appearance.  A strong rivalry existed between the dwarves and goblins in our world, with both vying for the same trade and the goblins being prone to mass producing and undercutting the dwarves.We had our goblins be sophisticated and amoral.  They saw themselves as socially more advanced than the neighbouring races (having transitioned from absolute monarchies to a society based on plutocratic cartels, with only the framework of the old royal order existing to fulfill needed governmental function).  They were also quick to exploit any new technological developments (including alchemical inventions such as crude gunpowder) because they were less conservative than dwarves or elves.  Their fighting forces were well trained heavy infantry (bugbears and hobgoblins) mixed with lighter skirmishers (goblins).The traditional goblinoid infighting was replaced with "wars of assassins" where rival merchant houses would arrange for premature "retirements" of those they found troublesome.  All very civilized, in a brutally cut-throat sort of way.  A little poison in one's meal, a slit throat while one slept, that sort of thing.  Our model was the merchant families of late medieval and renaissance Italy (i.e. Borgias and Medicis).The other thing we did was have our goblins be disinterested polytheists.  They accepted all gods as having some validity and honoured them, but they bowed down to no god.  They worshipped power and wealth...  very materialistic and pragmatic.They also tended to ham up their cultural peculiarities which made them seem crude and uncivilized to outsiders because it made outsiders underestimate them, both in trade and in power (they were our "sleeping giant" in military terms, hiding their true strength by restricting access to their mountain fortress cities to "foreign quarters", which also gave the cartels better control over the flow of trade goods).Anyway, I don't know if these ideas of are any use to you, but feel free to swipe any bits that you like.</blockquote>

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