For my latest world building project I’ve been thinking about a take on goblins. The idea being that goblins are creatures of total chaos that spring up from nothing, creating a nest and multiplying until they spread forth into the world causing trouble wherever they go. What follows is a poorly formatted early stage of thought on goblins. More to come.

Concepts

Goblins are creatures born of chaos. Where there are no goblins there is always a minor chance that goblins will spring into existence.

Large group of goblins is a “fracas” of goblins

Goblin Intelligence

Goblins are not overly intelligent. They are not stupid, but what intelligence they have is a twisted mass of chaotic desire. They can solve problems to a degree, but they are incapable of forming lasting plans. Their minds jump from idea to idea. Desire to desire.

It is possible to reason with a goblin in the short term, but do not expect your treaty of today to be remembered and honored in the coming hours/days/weeks.

What causes Goblins?

The exact reason the universe births goblin’s is ever a mystery, here are some idea’s. All of these may be true, or none of them may be true.

d#	Idea
1	Are Goblins born of children’s Nightmare’s? Or does the birth of a goblin cause children to have Nightmares?
2	Every time a lie is told, a goblin springs into existence.
3	From the chaos of happenstance goblins are born. When a sock goes missing, or a coin lands on heads too many times in a row. These occurances create goblins
4	before you threw out the bathwater did you remember to salt it generously? Everyone knows that unsalted bathwater once out of the tub grows spores that turn into goblins!
5	Always say the blessing when someone sneezes, failing to do so brings goblins to your village!
6	If you find a coin on the road you must throw it in the well! Keeping found wealth invites goblins to this realm!

Goblins Multiply

All it takes is a single goblin to produce a hoard. Goblins reproduce through mitosis. Once they have eaten enough they find a quiet place and form a bubbling mucas covered cacoon around themselves. After a short gestation period two goblins emerge.

Goblins can eat just about anything so at the start food is seldem an issue to get a hoard of goblins started. Its only after their numbers multiply that they run out of mushrooms, rocks, and weeds that they start seeking more delicious foods in the outside world.

Goblins Mutate

Goblins generally start out very small and simple, but over time they mutate and can take on many forms and gain many abilities. When a goblin splits both goblins tend to keep the same mutations, so within a fracas of goblins a core set of mutations tend to be shared. As chaotic as the creatures are there are sometimes off branches of mutations that do not survive, they are killed and consumed. Sometimes stronger mutation groups form a sub group within the main group.

Mutations can be anything from larger size, to acidic blood. Goblins may grow wings, or multiple limbs. Discard hands and feet in favor of tentacle-like appendages. Some goblins may breath fire, and some may be invisible.

Domesticating Goblins

Goblins are creatures of chaos. They are neither good nor evil, though they are seldem friendly to have around.

There are occasions though when a strain of goblins will mutate in a way that people may find useful, and attempts will be made to domesticate them. This can be beneficial in the short term as there are some goblin mutations that can do great things, but even the most intelligent of goblins cannot be reasoned with for long, and their mutations may get out of hand.

A village may keep a branch of goblins that have developed blood that can cure any disease, but that benefit may turn very dangerous when a new mutation occurs that causes goblin blood to become explosive when exposed to air.

A blacksmith may enjoy having a molten goblin to keep their forge hot, but what if that goblin suddenly becomes ravenous and grows to the size of a house?

There will always be those that try to manage goblin mutations for societies benefit, but those with true wisdom have found such attempts to be folly.