The Goblins long dwelt deep beneath the surface of their world, emerging to the surface only in times of desperation to forage and hunt what they could from the surface. None know for certain what initially drove them underground; some Goblin legends speak of a great war, but most claim that their ancestors have always lived this way. For much of their history, their world was ignored by the larger species until it came to be settled by a group of Human renegades seeking a world where they could operate outside of the confines of the Great Human Alliance.
The Goblins readily embraced their new neighbours, emerging at night to visit the ever-growing Human cities. The Humans and Goblins formed a strange friendship, with Goblins offering help and supplies to the newly settled colonists while the Humans gave them gadgets and tools. Close to a century of collaboration ended with a series of earth-shaking explosions that nearly sealed them forever inside of their caves.
Seeking to escape their now crumbling homes, the Goblins fled onto the surface. There, they discovered that the Humans had disappeared but left behind a wealth of technology and infrastructure for them to use, though much of it was badly in need of their unique touch for repairs, and other parts seemed to bring on strange changes in the Goblins. Some saw this as another odd gift left by their former companions, while others exercised greater caution.
Remembering that the Humans came from the stars, the Goblins wasted no time in seeking out and assembling space-worthy ships to seek out their companions. Eventually, they did encounter Humans among the stars, but these ones didn’t recognise the Goblins and had little time for their antics, treating them as annoyances rather than friends. Dejected but not unwilling to give up hope of reunion, the Goblins continue to seek out their old friends and new gadgets among the stars, even as many find their chaotic outlook to be more dangerous than endearing.
What treasures will you find among the stars?
History
The Times Before
Goblin stories tell of a time when their people walked among the stars until a disaster swallowed the sky and drove them into hiding. The Goblin Reclaimers remained underground for untold generations after, uncertain whether they are the only survivors of their ancient kindred. Most other species dismiss this as mere myth, as the few researchers who bothered to investigate it found no evidence of their presence on other worlds.
Tunnel Dwellers
For most of their known history, Goblins lived in a massive crisscrossing network of tunnels beneath their homeworld’s surface. These tunnels boasted vibrant ecosystems, ensuring that the Goblins only rarely had to emerge to the surface to forage, yet their numerous predators often resulted in short and perilous lives for the Goblins.
New Neighbours
Nearby factions paid little mind to the Goblin’s homeworld, which possessed few precious resources and many dangerous predators. The situation changed with the arrival of humans, who had no knowledge of the world’s reputation before their arrival. These humans were a mix of petty criminals, survivalists, and other outcasts, united together by a desire to build a home outside of the laws of the HDF.
Strange New Bonds
At first, the Goblins avoided the newly arrived humans, keeping to the safety of their tunnels. Yet soon, the Goblins encountered miniaturised remote-controlled tanks hunting through the tunnels and successfully killing many of the Goblin’s natural predators. The Goblins started to aid these tanks, either by leaving signs to guide them or secretly luring the predators into their line of fire.
True Friendship
Eventually, the Goblins started visiting human settlements on the surface, secretly helping with chores and leaving gifts. Initially, the humans saw them as an urban legend: creatures leaving strange rocks and shells as gifts or cleaning their house. As the existence of Goblins became more widely known, they were welcomed by the human outcasts. Though the Goblins remained attached to their own homes underground, the two peoples struck up a sincere, if strange, friendship.
The Star Rain
Then came the Star Rain. A series of quakes that forced the Goblins to seek shelter deep within their tunnels, sealing themselves off from the surface. The wisest of their people claimed that the stars themselves had rained down upon their world; they had been spared as their ancestors because they had hidden underground.
New Friends
When the Goblins finally returned to the surface, they discovered no sign of any living humans. In their place, they found the Junkbugs hiding in human settlements with no memory of their creation. Unwilling to believe their companions had died, the Goblins instead insisted that the Humans returned to the stars, leaving behind scrap as gifts for them and the Junkbugs as a token of friendship.
Mutations
Some Goblins rushed to human settlements to claim these remains, but those who did were forever changed. These Goblins developed strange mutations, which they claimed were a gift left by the humans to help them survive on their own. Their Junkbug companions were sceptical about their claims.
First Contact
The Goblins set out to find the missing humans. They gathered everything that they could salvage, and with the help of their Junkbug friends, they cobbled together a fleet of ships. Yet the HDF-affiliated humans they found did not recognise them and considered the Goblins to be a nuisance.
Reclaimers
Just as the Goblins were about to give up hope on encountering their friends, they discovered other irradiated worlds like their homeworld, many of which had been left abandoned. The Goblins spread out to these worlds, setting up new settlements in the hopes of encountering their old friends once more.
Timeline
- 75 BRC - Humans Arrive
- 79 BRC - Predators Hunted to Extinction
- 124 ARC - Star Rain
- 125 ARC - Junkbugs encountered
- 134 ARC - Pursuit to the Stars
Society
Goblin Reclaimers have truly embraced living in the moment. They spent many generations hiding in the caverns of their world, narrowly avoiding predators. In this time, Goblins learnt to take joy where they could, cherish their friends and make the most out of their, often short, lives.
Now, faced with a galaxy far wider than the winding caverns of their home, the first generation of Goblin Reclaimers have fully embraced their sense of wonder. The Junkbugs try to check the Goblins' enthusiasm, but usually, they are simply dragged along for the ride.
Though other species may look down upon them and the chaos that the Reclaimers leave in their wake, it appears that nothing can check these Goblins’ curiosity and desire to explore, particularly in search of their long-lost companions.
Friendship
The Reclaimers are a people who deeply value loyalty, friendship, and respect. A recurring issue, however, is that their interpretation of kind gestures can be difficult for others to understand; carelessly discarded goods may be taken as a gift, while locking such goods away may be viewed as a personal insult.
Their desire to reunite and repay the humans who came to their world and aided them with the local predators remains a driving motivation for many Reclaimers who have ventured to the stars.
The Junkbugs
When the Goblins first arrived after the Star Rain, they encountered the Junkbugs. They found these intelligent insects loitering around the ruins of many abandoned human cities. Initially, there was much speculation about their origins among the Goblins, but eventually the Goblins decided to take them in as friends.
The two species formed a rather strange dynamic, with Junkbugs often being more calm and rationally minded than the boisterous and ever-energetic Goblins, but nonetheless, they feel a debt to the Reclaimers for taking them in, and the two have created a strong cultural bond.
Freaks & Looters
Some Goblins rushed to the cities to seek out signs of their former human friends, interpreting signs left behind by their missing companions as invitations to explore deeper. Yet, those who did found themselves affected by what the Junkbugs called “radiation”, with their forms changing in strange ways.
There were some Goblins who saw this as yet another boon, eagerly embracing both the mutations and any useful “gifts” which they came across. Some developed strange psychic powers from the phenomenon, becoming known as Weirdos. For others, these mutations were more physical in nature; they adopted the name Freaks. Though other cultures may look at these terms as derogatory, among the Goblins, they are viewed as terms of affection and even respect.
Other Goblins were more hesitant to risk such drastic physical changes, but with the aid of Weirdos and Junkbugs, the Reclaimers began to cobble together makeshift protective suits which allowed these Goblins to explore the abandoned Human cities with significantly reduced chance of mutation.
Even as the Reclaimers have begun to leave their homeworld, they continue to view worlds affected by radiation as significant, with some believing these are traces left behind by their human companions and others simply interested in the mutations and salvage such places have to offer.
Technology
Many species see Reclaimer technology as bizarre, even paradoxical. While the original designs have been salvaged from human technology adapted to pursue predatory species underground, many of the repairs and modifications appear to serve no particular purpose. These miniature tanks were not considered particularly valuable or powerful by the standards of the HDF, and even many of the human settlers had adapted them for the purpose of robot battles in makeshift arenas, which became a common pastime for gamblers on their world.
Some have theorised that these machines work with the aid of the Weirdos' psychic abilities or even a latent psychic power shared among the Goblins as a whole. Others claim that the Junkbugs secretly tinker with the Goblin’s technology to make it operable without wounding the pride of their companions.
The Radiance
The Radiance occurred while most Goblins still lived underground, and while there was much discussion about its meaning, it ultimately made little difference to their largely subterranean lives. It was only later that when they encountered the humans that they learnt that the star had been created upon their arrival; the Goblins came to know it as the “Miskinaw” or “passage star”. Since the humans disappeared from their world, some Goblins have begun to investigate the radiance, seeing the mutations caused by it as analogous to those received from lingering too long near human settlements on their homeworld. Others are more cautious, though, noting the strange obsession and celadon-tinted eyes as something new and dangerous, which gives even Goblins pause.
The Star Rain
The Reclaimers refer to the event where the humans disappeared from their world as the Star Rain, or “Kinawin”. Most other species, including their Junkbug companions, believe that this event was some kind of nuclear war between human settlements. The Goblins, however, believe this was an echo of their ancient legends. They refuse to give up hope that some humans survived by fleeing to the stars just as their ancestors survived by fleeing underground.
Since the Star Rain, they have explored the Sirius Sector and beyond, searching for the missing humans, often settling on worlds marked by radiation and destruction in the hopes that they might find some sign of their friends there.
They have earned a reputation for seeking worlds that others would consider uninhabitable and mending scrap which others would consider beyond repair, which is how they have come to be known as “The Goblin Reclaimers”.
Language
The Goblins speak a common language pieced together from the various dialects of their homeworld, which appear to share a common origin. Their current dialect was pieced together by the need to communicate with their human companions, who struggled to differentiate between the languages of different groups of Goblins, necessitating a common language be adopted for the humans, which eventually became standard among most Goblin communities as well.
Goblins rarely make use of surnames, though they once had more established tribal names. Instead, they have personal names which are occasionally supplemented by a nickname among notable Goblins.
Examples
[Ehemis], the [Shooting] [Star] – [Name], the [Adjective] [Noun]
Goblin Names:
- Takwapik, the shooting star
- Ehemis, the flying nail
- Nîmitash, the glowing claw
- Oskasiw, the laughing rocket
Personal names are italicised.
Trivia
Proverbs
- “Launching yourself up to the stars is easy; it’s getting back down to tell the tale again that’s hard.”
- “Reclaimers put our hearts into whatever we build, as well as anything else we can get our hands on.”
- “Reclaimers never forget a debt, even if you don’t know you owe us.”
- “The ominous hum and glowing green bits are how you know it’s working.”
- “No distance is too far for a friend.”
- “Don’t think about how it works, or you’ll hurt yourself worse than if it hits you.”
- “One man’s trash is a Reclaimer’s main battle tank!”
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Grimdark Future
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Grimdark Future is a story set in a war-torn sci-fi future, where humanity struggles to survive in a new galaxy. This is a universe filled with epic conflicts, mighty heroes, and daring adventurers, where species and factions face off in a battle for supremacy. This world book gives you everything you need to know about the Grimdark Future universe, its people, locations, conflicts, and more, and serves as the ultimate guide to the setting.
