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Goblin

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Revision as of 21:30, 29 December 2017 by 82.1.230.120 (talk) (Slight edit; pluralising & tidying-up sentence.)
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xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼


Goblin
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Urist likes goblins for their terrifying features.
Portrait

No portrait

Biome

Any location

Attributes
Alignment: Evil

· Learns · Humanoid

Cannot be tamed 
Size
Birth: 3,000 cm3
Mid: 15,000 cm3
Max: 60,000 cm3

Age
Child at: 1
Adult at: 18
Max age: Immortal
Cannot be butchered

Wikipedia article

v50.14 · v0.47.05
This article is about the current version of DF.
Note that some content may still need to be updated.
A medium-sized humanoid driven to cruelty by its evil nature.
A goblin riding a beak dog, drawn in crayon by Bay 12 Games.

Goblins are intelligent, evil, aggressive vermin humanoid creatures that live in dark pits, and are the main opponent in fortress mode. They often establish settlements in dark fortresses within regions touched by evil, though it may be hard for some to imagine that goblins are capable of building those obsidian monoliths. They quickly become a threat to the great majority of fortresses - except some island or mountain forts.

Goblins will start harassing a fortress early in its life, first with babysnatchers and ambushes, and later with sieges. Goblin babysnatchers carry a bag for their purpose. Their soldiers are commonly armed with copper and iron armor, as well as copper, iron and silver weapons, generally with no quality levels unless on weaponmasters. They are also typically accompanied by other creatures, such as other humanoids they have successfully kidnapped, trolls and beak dog mounts. Their items can be a valuable source of metals for fortresses that embarked on metal-scarce areas (leading some players to refer to the plunder from a defeated goblin attack as Goblinite). Defeating a majority of an attacking force usually sends the rest of them running.

Goblins are biologically immortal, dying only to violence and disease. For inexplicable reasons, they also have no need for sustenance and never need to eat or drink, despite being carnivorous.

Goblins speak the goblin language.

Some traitors dwarves like goblins for their terrifying features.

Ethics and values

Goblins show the least concern for ethics out of any race in the game, with the sole exception being that treason is punishable by death (which currently has no effect on successful attempts to bump off a leader). It appears that goblins do not enforce punishment, but instead simply ignore crimes and leave any punishment to be determined by the parties involved. It is because of their acceptance of controversial acts that goblins become enemies with nearly every other race. For example, goblins find the torture of animals, the butchering and consuming of sapient beings, oath breaking, and general malice acceptable or consider it a personal matter.

Goblin civilizations are created when a particularly funny clown escapes the circus. These clowns remain in charge until they're killed or otherwise defeated, in which case normal goblins will take their place. This could imply the reason behind their particular (lack of) ethics. Goblin civilizations in fact require these clowns to appear in worldgen - should you use advanced world generation to forbid clowns in your world, you won't have any goblins in it at all.

Goblins consider power to be of the utmost importance. They also value cunning, independence and martial prowess. Goblins dislike peace, perseverance, hard work, tranquility, cooperation, tradition, decorum and friendship. They don't at all value loyalty, introspection, eloquence, harmony or nature. Goblins abhor law, truth, self-control, fairness and sacrifice.

Behavior

Goblins are normally not playable in adventurer mode, as the player isn't able to make adventurers from their civilizations. However, you may be able to play as one if populations of goblins have been absorbed into dwarven, human or elven civilizations during worldgen, though as noted, they will not actually belong to the actual goblin civilizations, meaning your goblin and the others will be hostile to one another. "Goblin" settlements will sometimes be completely goblin-free, having been displaced by the descendants of children that were captured in ages past. In this respect, whilst they're a goblin faction, they're populated purely by prisoners and brainwashed humanoids.

While aggressive, goblins are notably cowardly. Although they're brutal and sadistic, they will not hold the line against a superior force and are more than willing to sacrifice their wounded comrades in a badly organized retreat. Their strength generally comes from pure numbers, as they're usually weaker than a dwarf one on one (a notable exception is their weapon lords and masters, who can be VERY talented in warfare.)

D4Dwarf.png This article or section has been rated D for Dwarf. It may include witty humour, not-so-witty humour, bad humour, in-jokes, pop culture references, and references to the Bay12 forums. Don't believe everything you read, and if you miss some of the references, don't worry. It was inevitable.


Despite their bloodthirsty, selfish, unsympathetic and cruel nature, goblins are also recognized as a benevolent and merciful race in some aspects. Goblin Baby-Snatchers claim moral superiority by rescuing innocent lives from the slavery of making rock trumpets until they are eaten by a giant cave spider. Atrocities such as the so-called dwarven day care institution also spur snatchers to rescue the children from constant abuse. Goblin Sieges are considered to be a form of mass mercy killings, as a fort can die in the most horrific of ways, such as social disagreements, an infestation of parasitic organisms (some masquerading as dwarves) or worst of all: a visit from the circus.

In addition, dwarven science[Citation needed] has proven that the violence between Goblins and Dwarves does, in fact, start on a purely instinctual level. Leaving a goblin and dwarven child locked in a room together will result in them kicking, punching, and biting each other to death the moment they notice each other. Whether this natural animosity stems from centuries of war or opposing viewpoints on the treatment of children has yet to be determined.

Despite being mortal enemies of the Dwarves, Goblins are still infinitely better than the despicable tree hugging hippies.

See Also

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