2D6 Dungeon Goblins - A solo player dungeon crawler

2D6 Dungeon Goblin Lore

Before Goblinoids

The goblinoids descend from the crooked folk known as the Nasit; small, hunched beings who appeared in the caverns of the old world shortly after the coming of Kaladear, the one God. They were created from clay and hollow bone, metamorphosed by the presence of one of Kaladear’s great Robed Architects, magically-imbued monoliths, that had tumbled down a canyon as the cliffs rose up around it. Their bodies of loose bones and grey flesh came together as if puppets pulled by strings. They then gathered around the monolith and called it Zgon. As it settled into the mud, it made a noise that sounded like a word, “Nasit”. They took the word as their name for they had none, and made Zgon their god. It’s broken and bashed form appeared to them as if a great stone figure, a face smashed and distorted, the ugly one, much like themselves.

As she sculpted the world, Kaladear saw them for an instant but was ashamed of how they had been formed by her accidental gift, horrified that they should be made from the magical presence of her Robed Architect. She took Zgon away from them and placed it in the mountains to the north where it silently feeds the mountain and heats the lava flows of the Karwold Peaks. By this stage though, shards of Zgon, chips of rock, had been separated and had eased themselves into the earth, some magic remaining in the domain of the Nasit.

Goblinoids Rise

As the plains formed above, the centuries passed and the underworld was shrouded in complete darkness. The subterranean gods; Grakada, Intuneric and Nevazator, appeared and found the dying Nasit and turned their pity on them. They had been rejected by Kaladear and left to perish but they occupied their domain. They extended their influence and mixed the Nasit blood with that of the amphibians, as they saw them surviving in dark pools of the underworld. They enlarged their eyes to help them see in the dark and gave them cunning so that they may find food and equipped them with means to procreate. They called them Goblinoids and they were born into damp caves and gravel basins, emerging from green pools, to infest the underworld. They would feed on the mushrooms and insects and in turn they would be fed upon by the larger creatures that dwelled in the dark. They were no longer Nasit and instead took the form of goblins, small thin creatures with yellow or green skin, large eyes and ears and sharp teeth. They were savage and unruly, their leaders short-lived and driven by blood lust. This period was known as the Dark Scourge.

The goblin domains expanded and this drew the attention of three more subterranean gods who decided to leave their own mark upon this uncontrolled mass. Murataynie saw that the goblins were witless and so created a group of Goblitrix, a more intelligent form of goblin with bigger brains who could help order the hordes. Maduva saw that the Goblitrix were still physically weak and so created the Ogranulfs to serve them, larger powerful beasts who did as the Goblitrix commanded and helped bring order. Then, Radacina saw that it wasn’t enough and that they needed workers who could seek out and solve problems, helping the Goblinoids achieve a more clearly-defined society. She formed the Grelins, smaller beings able to squeeze into narrow places, but with finer motor skills and a clearer understanding of how things work. This was an era when underground Warrens began to form and a new age began. It was called The Age of Bone.

During this time, the Goblitrix sought the power of the Ash Shards; chips of grey rock which had been knocked from the Robed Architect, the goblins knew as Zgon, during its fall into the subterranean world. These magical shards had powers of metamorphosis. Some were found, crushed down and given to goblins to drink and others were strapped to goblins as adornments and after a time their proximity warped their bodies. New forms of goblin gradually appeared, some worshipped, others despised, bloodlines warped and not always for the better. This period during the Age of Bone is known as the Rending. It saw the formation and rise of the Ashbound, a form of cleric or priest that preached the Cinder Word and drank the Ashgruel.

A New Religion

The neutrality of the Subterranean gods, their insistence on being present for all those who lived in the bowels of the world, frustrated many of the goblins. Although they appreciated the gifts they had been granted by the six subterranean gods, they did not feel devotion or dedication from them and blindly sought true devoutness that their newfound intelligence demanded. Religious leaders known as Idolbound or Godmarked formed Sects, each focusing on one particular Subterranean god. They relocated, digging tunnels, forming massive warrens, with their own followers.

Then one day, six goblin miners lost in their tunnels broke through the ceiling of their domain and appeared on the surface of the world. They found themselves in a rich forest and crept through to find a village of Kaladians, a beautiful human species loved by Kaladear. Shocked and enraged, the goblins attacked and slaughtered the village occupants. They then fell to their knees and waited for the eye of Kaladear to fall upon them. It did, and as she went to strike them down, one of the goblins called Braxisva spoke the words that became enshrined in goblin lore. “Smite us do you? Do you not see that we are of your making; we are of the dark places you created. We are made of the things you discarded and left to rot, we are of the earth and stone that you formed into this world. We were here before your angels; we are your forgotten children. This is what we have become!” With these words Kaladear recoiled as she saw the truth that these were the decedents of the Nasit who she had so blindly despised and robbed of their god.

Guilt steadied Kaladear’s hand and she returned the six goblins to their underworld, sealing the entrance they had found to the surface. She returned Zgon, one of her precious Robed Architects, to them by placing it in a deep cave, in the hope it may guide them. The six goblins were also changed. Kaladear made them wiser, human-like, taller, less horrific and only allowed them to know of Zgon’s location. These became the six Kraglord Monarchs: Braxisva, Horkalix, Farakae, Rawaclic, Abolicir and Fortacax.

Kraglord Monarchs

Kaladear did not change the will of the Kraglords and they came to despise the overland and its inhabitants. They become a spiteful species, always hungry for blood and conquest, determined but unable to find a way to the surface, a magical barrier placed by Kaladear, preventing them from emerging into the light.

Each of the Kraglords established a faction and took control of a warren, their power and influence growing these underground tunnel cities into power-states. A century passed and it was clear that the Kraglords aged slowly, Kaladear’s gift extending their lives. Their grip on power began to slip as their people questioned their nature, some becoming fearful and others resentful of the length of their reign. One by one the warrens fell, a century of prosperity extinguished quickly by the goblins’ corrupted natures, until only Braxisva and his warren-city of Endalpax remained. The time of the Kraglords was over, for the earth began to shake and the volcano Scarvex pushed up from the depths, split the earth and severed the magical barrier between the underworld and the surface of Coradine. Braxisva led his army through the fault and conquered the surface. This was the time known as the Decimation.

Eventually the goblins withdrew, the subterranean world calling them home and Braxisva ruled for many more years in the darkness, his body wreaked by the lava flows of Scarvex. On his death, his daughter Triv’ith Blood Meld ascended to the throne and she in turn tried to conquer the surface, for the magical barrier had been permanently destroyed by the volcano, but a united group repelled her forces and the goblins were defeated.

The Goblins fell onto decline and their numbers dwindled, warrens and tunnels alike collapsing. Hundreds of years had seen the Goblinoid ancestry evolve, some touched by gods, others mutated by the presence of Low Magic, until many forms of goblin inhabited the darkness. They stumbled around for guidance until one goblin appeared. A descendent of Horkalix and Farakae and one of the last Goblitrix to be born, his name was Drendalek. He sought out the forgotten Cave of Zgon, having inherited the knowledge of its whereabouts. He found it and built his warren around it into a massive citadel. Deep down in his heart, a hatred burned but his approach was more patient, and he taught his minions to build dungeons near the surface. When the time came, they would be closer to the surface and rather than retreat into the unfathomable depths, they could harry the overlanders, break their will and prosper from the bounty of the surface. Drendalek whispered down the tunnels of his warren, “Why eat worms when human flesh could be so readily available?”

The Current Age

It has been hundreds of years since a Goblinoid has been seen in Coradine, in fact many people know nothing of them or think tales of goblins are only stories to scare children. Other peoples have colonised the lands and the world has experienced peace. The appearance of the nether human dungeons has caused concern that something is creeping up from below. You have heard tell of a disturbance on the outskirts of your village. A strange-looking creature was spotted fleeing into a thicket. You had better take a look.