Tell me of the goblins in your world

[Goblyns Hoard]

Termites

My goblinoids are like ants or termites. Goblin are the worker types, Hobgoblin the standard warriors and Bugbears are the giant warriors (check out Driver Ants or Siafu for the inspiration). To top that off I've had to create Queen goblin and Daughter goblin. The Queen is similar to Alien Queens in that she's huge, spends most of her time producing eggs, and doesn't move much. She's even more sedantary than Alien Queens (i.e. she can't just leave her egg laying half behind if she want's to), but come in her range and you're likely to get squished. The daughters are built to a Hobgoblin like scale but more intelligent.

All of the goblin are strictly lawful and have a highly ritualised way of life - the worker types are unable to function if they don't get the ritual responses to their actions, they're almost automatons. However if attacked they will all respond vigourously. As you move up the scale from worker to Queen the different castes get gradually more intelligent and able to operate independently.

They're completely subterranean, and like driver ants they have massive wars between different colonies, which has kept their numbers down. This means that the surface dwellers know almost nothing about them (the story arc at the moment has just seen the first encounter between the party and a small group of goblin that have come to the surface and attacked some miners - it's the first time anyone in the area has ever seen of even heard of these creatures).

I also plan on having a regular nation of Hobgoblin like creatures in another part of the world - I want a civilised nation run by humanoids and Hobgoblin seem the most likely to acheive that. They will be a completely different type of creature - though there may be a physical resemblance to the termite like goblin

 

[was]

In my world, the descendants of goblins are twisted thanks to a magical explosion that nearly destroyed an entire continent. I call them skre'an. They're winged, reptilian and feral with glowing red eyes, jet black skin and shark-like teeth. They tend to hunt at night in flocks and are a little tougher to deal with.

 

[Gez]

There are several goblinkin races: Bernelin (snow bugbears), Blues (psionic goblins, and more a mutation than a subrace), Bugbears, Gold Goblins (standard goblins without the Cha penalty, but with a darkvision reduced to 30 ft.), Hobgoblin, Koalinth (amphibious hobgoblin), and the standard goblins.

Each goblinkin subrace is crossfertile with others. In fact, a bit like for bees, the way the goblin baby evolves depends as much on how much he's fed (and with what) as it depends on genetics. Hobgoblin tribes have healthier meals and tougher education, resulting in taller, stronger, leaner bodies. Bugbears eat a lot, and are mostly carnivorous. A baby goblin adopted by hobgoblins and raised as one of their ones will raise, if he survives to adulthood, to be a hobgoblin (maybe a bit shorter, but not enough to make a difference in terms of game mechanics). A "runt" bugbear baby, malnourished, will become, assuming he manages to survive, merely a goblin.

Goblinkins are fairly generic everywhere, except in one region, of vertiginous cliffs battered by the ocean's waves; where the gold goblins have built half-troglodytic freeports and live on the vast seas, looting and pillaging like the merry goblin pirates they arrrrrr!

 

[shadow]

In my homebrew goblins aren't some savage tribe, rather they have their own kingdom, Kuk-Ngo-Thal. However, they are very despised by most other kingdoms because of their militaristic nature. Kuk-Ngo-Thal has been in several wars to expand her territory against the neighboring dwarven and human kingdoms. Right now there is somewhat of an uneasy peace going. Other races and kingdoms trade with the goblins because of the resources and technology they possess.

Hobgoblins are technically considered goblins. They inhabit the northern corner of Kuk-Ngo-Thal. There is some friction between them and their "lesser" cousins. However, I don't have bugbears in my campaign.