Slight delay due to chores and game-mastering, but here’s the final part of holiday worldbuilding. Now, the last poll came out clearly in favour of Goblin Aristocracy with strong showings for Undead Healing Clerics and Gadget-using Thieves Guild. Thanks for everyone who participated in the polls.
This last poll was meant to determine the narrative of the setting and that means delving a bit into the background of the fantasy setting. The polls determined it’s peaceful and prosperous now, but that wasn’t always the case. Almost a hundred years ago, a massive fantasy war turned into a revolution, when the oppressed and decimated masses finally had enough of their corrupt aristocracies and ended the war and most of the illustrious noble bloodlines. The goblins were never at the forefronts of either oppression or war-mongering. Their role in the web of courts and alliances was mostly that of messengers, low-level diplomats, informal spies and liaisons with the guilds. While goblins tend to get carried away and confabulate a bit, they – especially their petty nobility – have a clear code of honour to answer truthfully whenever they are asked something formally. Most goblins pay at least lip service to that code, but the spies that exist naturally don’t follow it, unless it suits them.
Their mostly honest dealings – especially when compared to the haughty elven and bloody-minded dwarven aristocracy – meant they were well-placed when the revolutionary leaders decided they needed a network of trusted couriers and heralds to bring their splintered councils and farms together. Although the aristocracy was officially abolished, most goblin noble houses were allowed to retain their ancestral halls and warrens and even helped with extending them to a real relay network that enabled them to quickly transport messages, letters and small parcels. With the vast distances involved in travel between the different self-administering communities, goblin couriers became – over the course of decades – sought-after impartial arbitrators. This led to considerable power for the couriers, who – cautioned by the example of their former peers – decided to codify what a courier could and could not do. Sometimes this code interferes with their somewhat impulsive nature and often it forbids seemingly easy solutions, but most of the time it has helped with balancing out the imperfections of the localised communal government.
The holding of Heatherfarne that got transported underneath Cork’s (fictitious) Sandy Hill Street is a pretty standard aristocratic abode – by goblin standards. It started out in grey mists of time as a series of caves that were probably not of natural origin, but still enthusiastically used by a band of goblin raiders who preyed on elven trade after being forcefully ousted from their village to make space for another fancy necropolis that wouldn’t be used for another hundred years. Over the centuries the elven empire expanded and absorbed former enemies like the goblin raiders as retainers and eventually petty nobility, to whom all the annoying burdens of rulership could be delegated. The public-facing areas of Heatherfarne saw some heavy reworking into (cramped and skewed) imitations of elven rulership, while the actual living and storage quarters were massively expanded to the edges of the workable rock. The public side got a quick make-over after the revolution to remove the throne and other aristocratic features, but otherwise the warren – as it increasingly became called – stayed much the same, although population numbers increased quite a bit. This means the warren – while certainly no dungeon in the traditional sense – is kind of hazardous to navigate for outsiders. Every room and cavern not used for living quarters is stuffed full of supplies, tools, knick-knacks and mementos in sometimes hilariously precarious configurations.
The warren is mainly populated by goblins and some hobgoblins, but with an odd sprinkling of house-guests and retainers of other species. Both the Knocker and Glaistig might be useful, even though they’ve been written with GURPS Dungeon Fantasy in mind. The goblins could use the stats from the Yrth setting as is with the most exotic trait being really good night vision. For the hobgoblins it would be better to just use the same template and change the attributes to ST +2. You can find the template in GURPS Banestorm, p. 192 and GURPS Fantasy Folk – Goblins and Hobgoblins, p. 13. Otherwise just come up with something that emphasises smarts and quick reactions over strength for the goblins and a bit the other way around for the hobgoblins. Just don’t use Dungeon Fantasy templates for them, these lean heavily into the standard stereotypes. Goblins aren’t bad at using magic, but they are not one of the inherently magical species. In an “aristocratic” warren of at around a hundred people (kids, grannies and all), there should be at least two or three individuals who know some magic or even a lot – a couple more may know a spell or two, but be unable to cast outside of high-mana zones. To make things easier metaphysics-wise, I’d go the Banestorm route and rule that spell-casting priests are just religiously-trained mages. Otherwise you’d have to worry whether traditional clerics still get spells granted from their deity and what that means for the setting. This seems more clear-cut. There might, of course, still be some martially-minded folks in this, but they would be more on the level of caravan guards or enthusiastic hobby fencers since this is a peaceful world. Likewise you wouldn’t find any professional thieves in this warren, but folks good at sneaking around and hiding things might certainly be options for PCs.
The mentioned Code of Honour would be rather restrictive, but not universal. Paying lip service to a Code of Honour is merely a quirk. The actual codes would be Goblin’s Code of Honour: When pressed to answer a question reply truthfully if you can or say you cannot answer if loyalties or urgent need prevent you. (Note: That this technically prevents the character from lying to a murderer looking for their victim, though they can always disregard the CoH in such cases if they forego character point rewards for the adventure and are willing to potentially acquire a negative reputation). Always keep your word. [-10 points]. Goblin Courier’s Code of Honour: Same as above, but add: Make sure your messages and parcels get to their addressees. Do not abuse your position – especially do nothing to enrich yourself or your community when asked to arbitrate. Do not let personal feelings get in the way of arbitration. Do not over-rule local governing bodies. [-15 points].
The inhabitants of Heatherfarne will be quite dismayed initially to find their main entrance blocked and the first encounter with some strangely-clad humans might be very tense. The dynamics of the campaign, however, would centre on how to productively channel the goblins’ urge to build networks and help disparate communities (here different milieus in the city) without scaring the humans off or landing in some government lab. The Irish setting makes this a little easier since doing anything nefarious to them under government auspices would certainly bring the English in with force, so there’s a lot of incentive to keep things under wraps or at least just informally aligned with local governance, which would suit the goblins just fine. Also cue hilarious misunderstandings about the nature of the new arrivals. The goblins might be mistaken for leprechauns or – even better hard-drinking clurichauns – and pressured to reveal their most-coveted secret, making beer out of heather…
GURPS is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games, and the art here is copyrighted by Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by SJ Games. This material is used here in accordance with the SJ Games online policy.
The Blind Mapmaker 