Goblin

Goblins are a species of Others that typically dwell on the outskirts of cities. They are vicious bastards that enjoy the pain and misery of others, often harassing the homeless or those who fall through the cracks. They are violent and have names that are inappropriate and crass, making them frustrating to work with. Those who utilize them exclusively are Goblin Queens or Goblin Kings.

Nature

Goblins can have almost any appearance, but they are generally vaguely humanoid and always ugly.<ref>Goblins as a whole came in all shapes and sizes.  Some were fat, some

were skinny, some were furry, others scaly, others still had skin. 

 They could be no larger than a squirrel, or five times the size of a man, in all colors.
Certain rules held true, though.  All were ugly. - Excerpt form Signature 8.1 </ref>

They are weak to metal, especially elementally-infused metal, which makes cities hard for them to thrive in because metal pipes beneath the ground carry a charge. As a result they usually live on the fringes of such places.<ref>Verona held out the nugget, then held it back as Cherry reached for it.  “Do you go to the Ruins at all?”
“Not much,” Cherrypop said, still reaching, wobbling on her perch of cans.  “It’s mostly made up of stuff Goblins can’t deal with.  Stuffed metal.”
“Stuffed metal?”
[...]
“Metal with water running through it, like pipes,” Cherrypop said.  “Metal with electricity running through it.  Metal that’s hot, not so common.  Metal with gas, like more, funner pipes.  Metal with sand or rock running through it would be the same, but that’s rare.  Hurts to be

near, makes us weak.  Lots of it in the Ruins.  The other places we’d 

normally go are missing.”
- excerpt from Stolen Away 2.7</ref><ref>The goblins traveled in very specific territories.  They liked areas where they could enjoy human comforts while not quite being in the presence of humans.
More frequently, they picked places that had been abandoned or for sale for some time, and Jacob’s Bell had a lot of those buildings.  By the time a realtor or bank employee stopped by to check on the building,

walls were spray painted or had holes, feces were smeared in places, 

and garbage littered every surface. It was with this knowledge that she limped along busier streets, keeping to areas where the heavier plumbing made crossing harder for goblins, under an archway. - excerpt from Signature 8.5</ref> Some manage to get around this,<ref>“He’s slippery one,” the woman said.  “He’s lurking, trying to spoil our fun.  Hunting me.  Because I found a way to cross through your cities.  Bridges of bones.”
“I don’t understand,” Maggie said.
A man’s voice cut in.  “Her kind can’t walk easily inside modern cities.  She found a way, and she’s been waiting for a chance to use it.” - excerpt from Histories 2 </ref> or simply endure the discomfort.<ref name=":2">Metal door, metal frame, pipes… he was aware of all of them, as he might be aware of a flame by reaching out and feeling the warmth from it.
[...]
This wasn’t a proper boundary, no power had sealed it, but it was still uncomfortable.  The things that gave the goblin power and energy were cut off here.  It was a bit like suffocating, a bit like being cold.  He always felt it a little, the sensation of dying, the spark within him going out by the smallest degrees, bit by bit, but here, like

this, he felt it happening faster. 

[...]
The goblins were leavings, discards, scrap given form.  The earth called to them, to decompose them like it was meant to devour and decompose all leavings, and the metal was the earth in distilled form.  Or maybe the process that made goblins was [sic]
- Excerpt form Signature 8.1 </ref> Some goblins adorn themselves with horrific metal piercings, which is not too unpleasant (by goblin standards) as long as it's not filled with elemental power.<ref>1:32 AM <Olivebirdy> ...how do goblins put metal under their skin or wound around their privates, then, if it drains them?
1:33 AM <Wildbow> It's charged metal that drains.  Metal with water running through it, power running through it, hot metal, etc.
1:35 AM <Olivebirdy> Water is life, it’s natural, and it naturally draws out the deathly energies.  Well, for goblins, metal does the same thing, and it takes a bit out of them when they pass over a place where metals are buried.  More so if that metal is charged with any power.”
1:35 AM Does uncharged metal only drain them a little, then?
1:36 AM Thanks for the answer :)
1:44 AM <Wildbow> Uncharged metal doesn't really drain them, Ollie, except insofar as it's been 'charged' by ambient heat
1:45 AM But they don't mind being harmed a bit.  Self mutilation is a thing. - Wildbow on IRC</ref>

They typically sleep 16 to 22 hours a day, although they can be more active during times of turmoil.<ref>Goblins are supposed to sleep for sixteen to twenty-two hours a day, but

I’ve noticed goblins have been more awake and active than that.  Ghosts
are cropping up, and they should be quieter than they are.  Old echoes 

are stirring. - excerpt from Gathered Pages: 10</ref>

Goblins can feel the "spark" within them fading at all times; worse if they're cut off from the world by metal or other boundaries.<ref name=":2">This wasn’t a proper boundary, no power had sealed it, but it was still uncomfortable.  The things that gave the goblin power and energy were cut off here.  It was a bit like suffocating, a bit like being cold.  He always felt it a little, the sensation of dying, the spark within him going out by the smallest degrees, bit by bit, but here, like

this, he felt it happening faster. - Excerpt from Signature 8.1</ref> A hostile binding can drain a huge portion of their strength, weakening them for years.<ref>A chain settled around his neck.

“No!” he shrieked, clutching at the metal loops.  “No, no, fuck you!”
“Shh,” the practitioner said, tightening the chain.  Her dark brown hair was cut short, pushed out of her face by a metal hairband.  She still wore her winter coat, alongside a checkered scarf.
He could feel his essence draining out of him, bleeding into the metal.
This was what dying felt like. Except he wouldn’t die.  He’d become less, he’d take years to recuperate.
[...]
A second chain came out of her bag, winding around his feet and through his elbows until one was bound to the other.  Each loop of chain took a measure of his strength, until he was too feeble to work his hands out from under the metal. - excerpt form Signature 8.1 </ref>

Goblins typically don't get along with Faerie, whom they call the "Unfair Folk," and it has been revealed that some time in the past they were actually enslaved and bound by them, during an era when the courts were changing over. As a result it mixed up relationships between the two, and many powerful goblins agreed to take up certain forms, as part of treaties.

Wherever a large number of Goblins congregate can become an opening to the Warrens. Going too deep down in the Warrens also opens up into the Abyss.<ref>“It’s fast,” she said. “You can go down anywhere there’s enough goblins for there to be a warren-hole, get down deep enough you get a little abyss-y and time and distance don’t make any fuckin’ sense, head back on up. Fucking bam, crossed half the continent.” - Excerpt from Poke</ref> Apparently Goblins record their own reality show here as well.<ref>“Daily recording of Goblin Game. Used to be a game show, now it’s reality TV. Because of course goblins have their own reality TV show. Your, uh, friend there can probably find the channel to watch it, but you shouldn’t. Give it a pass and trust people who know more to handle it.” - Excerpt from Poke</ref>

Goblins themselves have two different theories on their creation. The first being that they were made from cast-off bits of humans, such as nails, hair, skin, all cobbled together. The other is that the fae were once human and everything they cast-off became goblins.<ref>The goblins shared stories between one another about what goblins were and why metal was so problematic. The usual story was that when a Wise man drank from a cup while dining, the bits of food that got into the cup and lingered after the drink was done accumulated. Except it was workings, not drink, and bits of self, not food. Greasy fingerprints left behind when touching something beyond the veil. Bits of skin that should have grown and the hairs that should have fallen from one’s head, that didn’t, because they were wearing different skin or hair, and the stuff that wasn’t had to end up someplace.

There was another story that said that the unfair folk were people once, and they chopped off all the bits they didn’t like, and those bits became goblins, but Buttsack didn’t like that version.

Fuck the unfair folk. Being magic hairballs for humans, fabricated of their dust, scum, grease, pubes, and stress, that was one thing. Being of faerie? Fuck that idea sideways and backward.

Whatever the case, many stories had one or two common elements. The goblins were leavings, discards, scrap given form. The earth called to them, to decompose them like it was meant to devour and decompose all leavings, and the metal was the earth in distilled form. Or maybe the process that made goblins was - excerpt form Signature 8.1</ref>

Types

Goblins come in many shapes and sizes, including as small as a bar of soap, male and female, humanoid and not; but generally speaking they are all ugly and stink.

Puissance

Goblins inherently defy and despise classification; classifying them by power level tends to encourage them to increase (or occasionally decrease) in power to change their classification. Nevertheless this is commonly practiced.<ref name=":0">Goblin, third class, which put her between lesser and middle tiers.  The problem was that goblins despised and defied boundaries and convention, and trying to apply one saw a given goblin slip into a tier above or even a tier below.  They came in all shapes and sizes, humanoid and not, and as Deedee went, she was a beauty among goblinkind and she was a beauty to him. - Poke ch 2</ref> Their names offer a clue to their "power level", with more powerful goblins adopting more dramatic names.<ref name=":3" />

Minor goblins (such as the various goblins allowed to roam Jacob's Bell, like Buttsack<ref>The Faerie were active, the goblins allowed to run rampant so long as they were minor goblins. [...] She hadn’t been able to help everyone that Buttsack had hurt or

plotted against, and even though he was the most malicious and capable 

goblin she’d run into since she’d arrived in Jacob’s Bell, he was still a

minor goblin.  Resourceful, but minor. - excerpt from Signature 8.2</ref> and Arsepint<ref>He didn’t expect me to call Arsepint back, and have the lesser goblin bring me the dropped firearm. - excerpt from 1.x (Pages 1)</ref>) are largely humanoid in shape; and often have tools like corkscrews and forks that are tainted with filth and feces.<ref name=":0" /> Lesser goblins are the ones who have amusing rude names.<ref name=":3">[2017-03-06 13:09:52] <Wilbdow> At a higher tier they lose the sweary/rude nickname convention and take on other names.  That's mid-tier.  At highest tier they start getting prefixes and affixes.

[2017-03-06 13:10:36] <Aantioch> Yeah, we saw goblins that were more serious business like, uhh
[2017-03-06 13:10:50] <Aantioch> Remember that one other goblin king dude? Hal, I think?
[2017-03-06 13:10:57] <Aantioch> He had a non-rude goblin
[2017-03-06 13:11:14] <Wilbdow> Spikedick, yeah
[2017-03-06 13:11:21] <Wilbdow> (was the practitioner)
[2017-03-06 13:11:45] <Wilbdow> Dragon-bat and hyena are mid-tier, as was Spikedick's, I believe.  His might've been more toward high-tier. [...] That's where you definitely get into the 'better left unsummoned' part of things - Wildbow on IRC</ref>

Deedee is considered a "goblin, third class", between the lesser and middle tiers.<ref name=":0" />

The Hyena is a mid-tier goblin.<ref>Blake, though, had something related to goblins, something that wasn’t small?  A moderate goblin? - excerpt from Signature 8.2</ref><ref name=":1">“Gerhild.  Redcap Queen [...] Used to be a goblin queen, just like you, but she stopped being so human and started being more goblin a bit ago.  Enjoys being both practitioner and goblin at the same time. [...] she’s a goblin queen, with a small herd of redcaps, and she’s got three of the big ones with her. [...] “Do you know the Hyena?  From Toronto? [...] it was described to me as being middle tier,” Mags said.  “Was that off base, or-” “Middle tier’s right,” the nameless goblin said.  “An’ these ones, the three, they’re bigger, better, meaner, fuckier.  So I guess they’re upper tier.” - Poke ch 3 </ref> Gallowscream's goblin weapons, themselves moderate Goblins on a par with the Hyena in Blake's estimation, hint at some other abilities a mid-tier goblin might have - one was able to cause anyone struck by it to explode into gore, another to cause decaying cuts in objects that birthed small goblins.<ref>Execution 13.8</ref> Mid-tier goblins generally shed their "sweary" names and take on more dramatic ones,<ref name=":3" /> usually after a transformative event.<ref>1:50 AM <Olivebirdy> Do goblins choose their own names? Do they change as the goblin grows?
1:51 AM Does the Hyena have a silly name like Dogdipper?
1:55 AM You kinda think that if Buttsack had gotten big and strong enough, he'd stop being Buttsack and start being Hindbag the Ripper.
2:14 AM <Wildbow> Generally requires a transformative event.  Whether they choose their own name or not depends on the circumstance and the goblin - Wildbow on IRC</ref>

Gallowscream itself is considered a medium or greater goblin, as was the Goblin Dragon Blake encountered in the Drains.<ref name=":3" /><ref>Null 9.5</ref>

Gerhild's three chief minions were themselves considered upper-tier goblins, and presumably she would be as well.<ref name=":1" /> Rackspatter of the Nine Thousand Scalps was considered a superior goblin. Binding a superior goblin required special techniques, which Maggie Holt traded away her ability to swear in order to learn.<ref>“I traded the harshest part of my tongue to a goblin for information on how to bind superior goblins.  I, uh… that’s pretty much the whole story.” “Ah.” “I don’t suppose you know where there are any superior goblins?” she asked. “I’d be betraying my guests if I directed a practitioner their way.” “Goes against the whole point, huh?” “Yes.  In theory, I could point you to a certain individual who betrayed my rules, Rackspatter of the Nine Thousand Scalps, but I wouldn’t be doing you a service.  For one thing, he can’t be bound.  If I

remember right, ninety-nine of his nine thousand scalps are from 

practitioners that tried and failed.  It’s like the rule of three, reinforced thirty three times over.  At this point, it’s a foregone conclusion.  You’d be the hundredth.” - excerpt from Signature 8.7 </ref> A greater goblin might be comparable in power to a minor Deity or major Incarnation.<ref>That much power that fast has to come from somewhere, and then be given form as a ritual by someone or something.  A strong incarnation, a

lesser god, a great Goblin.  If it had appeared in the last month, I 

might think it had something to do with the current state of the Carmine

Beast.  That could be a big enough power source… perhaps.  [...] There are things that have that kind of power, like gods and strong 

incarnations, but I’m not aware of anything that strong that could have any connection to the Choir, and I’ve done some extensive searching. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.2</ref> Greater goblins generally acquire dramatic titles in addition to their names.<ref name=":3" />

Subspecies

• Gremlins: Tinkerers and trap-makers who take technology and tools and use them to kill their prey.
• Redcaps: Rare goblins that bathe their hair in blood to acquire strength.

Uses

Goblins are basically attack dogs, rabid in nature, and used for chaos or destruction rather than anything else because they are so difficult to control. Some have abilities that make them more useful; others have knowledge, and parts of their bodies can be harvested and used, such as a Goblin Ear.

Like many Others, goblins have an innate ability to sense and divert the attention of Innocents.<ref>Moving around was easier than in most places.  Here, the humans were insecure. He could see it in the shifting patterns around them, where their focus was falling.  He’d seen the roving spotlights in the movies and video games.  In most places, the attention of people was like those

spotlights, roaming, cast out from their eyes, a dull glow emanating as
they listened.  Here it was different.  The focus was largely on themselves, only periodically casting out at specific targets.

Not always, but enough.  Buttsack cloaked himself thoroughly against the insensitive, and for extra measure, he was careful to watch where they were paying attention and nudge it aside when it veered his way. [...] His thoughts were cut off when the door behind him opened.  He moved his hand, ready to turn the attention aside. The bitch focused on him right away.  He moved his hand, ready to divert her attention and head in the other direction, but she didn’t budge. - excerpt from Signature 8.1 </ref>

Most powerful goblins can turn themselves into weapons when defeated, an old tradition going back to early goblin tribes. They can continue to inflict violence, and accrue power, in weapon form.

Goblin Magic

Goblins (and as a result Goblin Queens) will often have access to an eclectic mix of minor, nasty, practical magics. Some of it is specific to goblins, but it may include other types of magic that fit with their nature.  Examples include:  

• Buttsack knew a way to merge with the wind to an extent, becoming immaterial and able to cross certain boundaries, which he had learned from a goblin named Scuzzwick.<ref>Once they were inside the building, the humans were supposed to be

safe.  The doorframes, the windows, the plumbing, all were made of refined metal, ‘stainless steel’ they called it. [...] One piece of knowledge Buttsack had picked up had been from a scrawny

little bitch of a goblin that called itself Scuzzwick.  Lick both 

hands, lick the back of the knees and elbows, the back of the neck.  The

licking didn’t matter so much as the wet, and it was easier and more 

comfortable to use his own tongue than to use the snow.  He scratched his forearms deep enough to get his fingertips wet with blood.  Once the

wet patches and blood were there, he could reach each arm out to either
side, feel the wet patches grow cold from the force of the winter 

breeze. Move with the wind, letting the arms move as the wind did. A fatass of a man sauntered right past him.  Buttsack could feel the movement of air, clutch it with bloody fingertips, and follow it. Catch the wind and ride it through the door the man was opening. Drifting inside. “Do you smell something?” a bystander asked.  The dumpy looking fuck shut one of the metal cabinets, then hooked a lock onto it. Buttsack hurried off to take cover before he became fully material again. This wasn’t a proper boundary, no power had sealed it, but it was still uncomfortable.  The things that gave the goblin power and energy were cut off here. - excerpt from Signature 8.1 </ref> He knew a "working" to make fear he inflicted stick with the victim.<ref>This one wore hose, which he could scratch, or he could dig in his pockets for something to drop inside.  He kept a lot of things.  A live roach, two centipedes, a bundle of flea-infested hair, fresh shit in plastic wrap- He’d decide depending on what she looked like.  Maybe do all of them.  Then he’d make a marking so the fear would stay, the bad feelings, but the impressions would linger, staying with her. - excerpt from Signature 8.1 </ref> He also knew a curse that made the target see all food as rotten.<ref>The goblin she’d interrogated, Buttsack, had confessed to systematic attacks on more or less random targets.  There was a lot of little hurt here and there.  Some big hurt.  Buttsack had used a curse on a girl to make her envision everything edible as rotten and disgusting.  Every plate of salad practically compost, meat appeared and tasted rancid, festooned with maggots.  She’d been hospitalized a month ago, on the belief that she had an eating disorder. Buttsack was upset because he wanted the curse back, so he could use it again.  Maggie managed to twist his arm until he shared the way to break the curse. - excerpt from Signature 8.2 </ref>  

• A goblin made a deal with Maggie Holt for her ability to swear, enhancing its own swearing to dangerous levels.  

• Sir Toadswallow knew how to use the Rule of Three to inflict minor curses through repeated insults. He also had a lockpick that permanently breaks the lock it's used on.

• Goblins can deliberately slaughter groups of people in an attempt to form a Dog Meat.  <ref>“I’ll get you a gift soon,” Munch said. “Been thinking, but I don’t

have much. Got a thing with some goblins this summer. Guy and his gun nut buddies are getting spare animals from shelters, using them as moving targets for practice. It’s like the Bedsurf camera couple. Universe doesn’t like it if you invite someone or something into your home and mess with them. We were going to try to make some Dog Meat.”
“Dog Meat like…”
“Like we get enough of them together, they invite their friends in from the States, including some who can maybe make some fostering and adoption paperwork disappear for kids. Then we see if we can’t kill enough of them in a messy enough way that there’s a Dog at the end.”
“Like Stiles, but not,” Gash clarified, a smile creeping out around the sides of his face. “Different breed.”
“Want to borrow it if it works?” Munch asked. “Could be my gift. [...] a feral, crazy murder beast with some really cool scars. Won’t die easy, and they can turn up with powers, I’ve seen

one that could climb walls as fast as you or me could run, and another 

that could immobilize people with deafening screams, for as long as she could scream." - excerpt from Stolen Away 2.7 </ref>

• A "thorn in the flesh" is an anti-Practice tool sometimes crafted by goblins by sneaking a spike into someone's guts and letting it stew in their bile before removing it.<ref>It was a cone-shaped thing that could have been a thorn or the end of

a very black nail.  Surprisingly heavy, despite being a half-inch long 

and relatively thin. [...] “That there’s a thorn in the flesh. Buried in some loser’s guts. Best if it’s kidney or spleen. It healed over, left to stew in bile, picked out again after a few years, leaving some of the organ around the

outside.  Dried it in the sun, and with a hair dryer.” - excerpt from Stolen Away 2.7</ref> It can be embedded in a magical effect to interfere with it and eventually harm the Practitioner responsible.<ref>“Push it into a practice.  Summoning, diagram, object, whatever.  

Poisons it. Makes it uglier, a little weaker, and harder for its maker to break. If there’s someone connected to the practice, they’ll get sicker and sicker as long as the connection’s there. They’ll know it’s something like the thorn, so if you don’t want to lose it and get it used against you, you’ll want to pick it back out before they show up. Otherwise, they gotta end things from a distance, which can hurt if the thorn’s stuck in it, or come and pull the thorn out themselves.” - excerpt from Stolen Away 2.7</ref> The longer it festers, the more powerful it grows; a weak one is capable of inflicting a bad cold. <ref>“How sick?” Verona asked.
“After a week to a month, depending on how strong they are, their karma, crap like that? Bad cold sick.”
“And after that?” Verona asked.
“Bad cold sick. That’s it. If we left it buried for longer, it’d be better, but the twit was going to go see a doctor.”
- excerpt from Stolen Away 2.7 </ref>

• Bluntmunch knew how to make glamour-breaking stinkbombs.
• Bluntmunch, as a goblin with "clout", is able to reach into the Warrens and pull out goblin minions<ref>“I can call friends,” Bluntmunch said.

“He’s good at that.  Having dregs he can call,” Gashwad said.  “Not good at much else though, are yeh?” [...] Bluntmunch prowled across the area, found a tree with a decent sized hole in it, and spat in his hand.  He drew in the spit, then shoved his hand into the hole. He brought out a goblin, kicking, scrabbling and making sounds of protest, then held a calloused mitt to their mouth. [...] “These three are some regulars from my crew, when it’s not the Kennet goblins.  You’ll see them around some.” - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6 </ref> and to bully minor goblins sent against him into switching sides.<ref>Bluntmunch picked up two of the gremlins that had overwhelmed his minions, then hollered in their faces. He dropped them, and they scampered back. He pointed, and they obeyed. That was part of his deal.  Bossing goblins around.  Having that clout. “Well, we gave them more troops,” Verona observed. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.8 </ref>

• Some goblins make "goblin wards", small animals inflated with their own farts which detonate as an alarm when magic is present.<ref>“It seems they’ve done away with some of the spirits we set up, and

are finding their way in.  A somewhat innocent dame can go where a practitioner or errant Other might make a ward fart or a traps go off.” “Fart?” Avery asked. “A goblin ward.  You start with a good round animal, like a hedgehog or owl, a bit of wire to tie it down, some soda, cabbage, or other gassy

food, gotta treat it to make it more gassy, then a bit of gum, to plug 

up its-” “Okay, okay, I think I can see where that goes,” Avery told him. “They go off violently enough you can hear the detonations from miles

away, sometimes,” Bluntmunch said.  “Especially if you have an ear for 

it.  They stopped before setting off one, and Cherry didn’t spot ’em.” - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.6 </ref>

• Some goblins, such as Gashwad, are highly aware of the entrances and exits to the Warrens and can use them to "teleport" ahead of their targets or otherwise shorten journeys.<ref>Gashwad kept skipping ahead.  He was lying in wait now.

“How’s he moving like that!?” Lucy called out. “There’s little paths and tunnels, if you’re tuned into the Warrens,”

Avery said.  “The place goblins come from.  Snowdrop showed me some.  

Gash- gash seems to know most of them!” - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.8 </ref>

• Gashwad had something that turned a patch of grass into a bubbling tar bit on contact.<ref>Gashwad leaped down from the fence, into their way.  Lucy reached into her pocket, where she had the last of her glamour.

He threw something down into their way.  Grass blackened and died.  Then the blackness bubbled. Like tar. - excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.8 </ref>

Notable Goblins

• The Hyena
• Dickswizzle
• Buttsack
• Deedee
• Sir Toadswallow

References

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