Goblyn
WIKISEED FROM CATALOGUE : Created by the Crown of Souls(Please edit freely, then remove this note and WIKISEED label)
Origins of the species
A Word on Goblyns
As an aside, I would like point out that when I speak of "goblyns," I am not speaking of the pitiful and primitive creatures that dwell in caves and forest throughout the Core. No, goblyns are an entirely different breed, unrelated to common goblins. Though they are squalid, little monsters, goblins are natural. They live, reproduce, age, and die, like so many things of this world. Goblyns do not. Unlike the dual-gendered goblins, goblyns are sexless, and while goblins age and die, an unmolested goblyn is practically immortal. Aside from these fundamental differences, goblyns are taller than goblins, have green-brown skin instead of the yellow to red range of goblin skin tones, and have only a fringe of hair at the base of their scalps, while many goblins are quite hirsute.
The confusion between these two groups supposedly dates back to over 900 years ago, according to The Tyrahgaunt Text, a Vaasi history of sorcery. The Tyrahgaunt Text states that an archmagi known as Yrym-Sybarr created the first goblyns from "the dust of a stone from the stars and the green clay that lyveth and the stolen essences of slaves and crymynals and ways secret and the formula of Zetter-Roath." The book records Yrym-Sybarr's words at the success of his experiment as, "Y have succeeded at the makying of a new race. Though the race ys only goblyns, they obey my whyms and delyght yn and desyre only wyckedness." Yrym-Sybarr's unusual Draconic passed into usage with later mages, and soon "goblyn" was the accepted name of the slave race Yrym-Sybarr had created.
Given the unintelligent nature of goblins, many of which still consider sharp rocks the height of invention and fire as terrifying magic, I would normally classify them as sub-human fauna and discuss their activities in the section reserved for commentary on such creature. The goblyns of Forlorn, however, were once human, and thus continue to follow social patterns almost as complex as those of actual humans.
Lore[2]
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (arcana) can learn more about goblyns. In Forlorn, a Knowledge (local) check reveals the same information. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.
DC 12: This misshapen, leering creature is a goblyn, a humanoid transformed by dark magic into a foul minion of a more powerful master. Goblyns are not actually related to goblinoids in any way, but they share enough similarities that they are often confused for each other. This result reveals all humanoid traits and the goblinoid subtype.
DC 17: Goblyns are fearsome, frantic combatants. They may startle unprepared foes with a sudden flash of their teeth. Goblyns are most notorious for their habit of biting off chunks of flesh from the face and throat of their victims, a trait goblyns call “feasting.” Goblyn feasting leaves horrific scarring on its survivors.
DC 22: Goblyns never sleep and are immune to fatigue and sleep effects. They do not feel pain. A goblyn is telepathically linked to its master, and through that master, to all other goblyns the master controls.
References
Dragon Magazine #339
Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue
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Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I & II |
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Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I & II - pp25 | |
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Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I & II - pp25 | |
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Ravenloft Third Edition - p121 |
