Hobgoblyn
From BelegarthWiki
History
Hobgoblynz are created from the spirits of fallen heroes. Typically they are spirits of the strongest of monsters who have earned the favor and respect of the Gods in their lifetime; but in the end died valiantly in battle and failed in a solemn oath. Because of this they are not able to join their fallen brothers in the afterlife but are given a second chance through powerful majikz.
These spirits are reborn from one of the most sacred and powerful of all Goblyn rituals. The Goblyn High Priestess combines her mystical energy with that of the land's dominant Shaman (usually an Ogre Shaman) to call the heroes' fallen spirits to her womb where they combine and are reborn into the world as a much more powerful creature, having the best traits of the spirits' original forms.
Because of this Hobgoblyns come in all shapes and sizes. A Hobgoblyn can be born of any combination of the monster races: Bugbear, Lizardmen, Kobold, Goblin, Skaven, Trolls, Gnolls, Orcs, etc. Because they cannot know for sure who they were in their past lives, they grow up with respect for all of the monster races and educate themselves on the histories, cultures, and Gods of them all.
When a Hobgoblyn is born, the first couple years of their life they are raised by the Priestess and/or the Shaman. Growing up around the wielders of majik makes them more likely to recognize other majik users and they become much more resistant to the their effects. It is said that no Hobgoblyn has ever fallen to the effects of majik in battle. This is a short stage in their life, aside from learning about majik and culture from their guardians they also learn how to read, write, track, navigate, gather, and hunt. When they are able kill their first game, they are able to start their next phase of life as children of war.
The Hobgoblyn is then raised by the army of the land. They often become adept at many weapons, reflecting their past lives abilities. It is not uncommon for a Hobgoblyn to suffer from nightmares, flashes of images from lives past.
Goals
The versatility of Hobgoblynz makes them an invaluable asset to the Horde Armies. They can be deployed as shock troops, skirmishers, as part of a shield wall, as archers, etc. Their goals are the army's goals. As grunts, they fight with fierce dedication to their leaders. As leaders, they command with undying loyalty to their men.
Hobgoblyn Lifecycles
The First Hob Lifecycle: The Ephemeral Night Mare
A monster with favour of the gods falls asleep and has a vision (This is usually a goblyn). They are being dragged down the river of souls. After their desecration at the mouths of Baulk they are not cast back. Instead they find the sickled finger of Sifu herself on the roof of their mouth and are picked out of the river. And then dropped into what feels like a corrupted and unending grave. This is The Well of Souls. The mist therein torments the dreaming monster and from the wound left by Sifu in the roof of their mouth, it enters their body. The pain from this causes the dreamer to scream. The scream is a name. And it is what makes form from the mist. The form is a Hob whom has now been named and awakened. As does the dreamer.
The Second Hob Lifecycle: Undone - The First Stitch
The dreaming monster awakens to find the head of a vulture deep inside their mouth. This "Attratus", rips out a needle made of the dreamers jawbone. And that is threaded with its entrails. Out of this wound, the Hobs mist is purged. The vulture always dances through this. And the dreamer never survives.
The mist is as the whisper on the mountain. It has a will and seeks out suitable ground. An open field. In the hollow of twisted trees. In a crease of craggy rocks. Over a current of troubled waters. It is not moved by wind or penetrated by the light. When it finds its womb, it soon communes with its matter.
The vulture is summoned and when above the mist drops needle and thread. These swing in arcs that harmonize with the vultures eviscerant dance. On the seventh arc it pulls tight. This is known as The undone undone. This is the first stitch. The first of thousands.
Gossamer strands become an encapsulating shell and the elements that surround fill it. Almost completely. The Hob cannot speak but is now standing. Its sharp shins drip. Its throat and groin are empty hollows but the hob can finally seethe in the air. The unknown causes hunger. So it devours its own eyes to see the planes beyond. The drumming starts within. Arms that are only moments from solidity claw, clutch and are stretched out. It feeds its toe deep into earth.
And in the moment that the new moon slivers into crescent. An intrepid beetle becomes aware. Tymbals of the Cicadas strike the air. And mist and earth and stitch and flesh, are all thus enmeshed.
The Third Hob Lifecycle: Picking Scabs - The Gathering Cloud - Growing Tymbals
The now enmeshed Hob is corrupted matter. Mixed parts of both will and mineral. Now alive but without voice. By earth and by sky.
Alone, heavy and begins to be covered with its first outer layer. The first of thousands. The Hob is now stitched to this plane, and its quickly hardening and cracking new skin hold it there. But that within must seethe out. And so this layer is painfully peeled away by the Hob. This process is repeated and goes on for some time. Each shed layer shifts the Hob closer to this world and better prepared for it. Change itself cannot be slain. This is why it is said that a Hob looks to die, every single day. The process finally brings the Hob to seem as flesh, blood and bone. But that within still writhes and desires binding. And seeks it out.
Meanwhile, in the chosen tree an intrepid and newly awakened beetle removes its binds. It has gone through a similar process as the Hob and flies toward the underground cloud.
Three hundred and forty three cicadas are this cloud. They are leavened and guarded by the beetle and so they let it coax them out of the ground. Then they molt in their own cycle. These "Kussts" are blessed like their guardian but are unaware and are hive-minded. Each one produces glandular mercury that covers all they touch. Their collective voice can shake the very ground. But it is not they that will have its use.
By the beetle the cloud is led to the Hob and is absorbed through the holes left during its manifesting. They become both the sound and the spawn. The Kussts inhabit the pelvic floor and along the pelvic rim. Expressed mercury passes through the hollow until the next cycle, when the flesh there becomes tangible and organ-like.
After delivering the Kussts into the groin of its host, the beetle climbs through a passage and arrives tentatively at the opening at the hollow of the throat. There it quivers and extends a segmented carapace that binds to become the last internal piece of a real and almost complete body. It is the "Ghoor-Shu" The Speaking Beetle.
This cycle ends when first the Hob speaks. This sound carries. Across distance. Through the planet-crusts. And into the planes where grim minds listen. And when; A deer is startled and becomes imprisoned in unearthly brambles. A false soothsayer puts on robes and follows a beckoning. And the great mountain connecting that within, finally breathes.
Hobs may likely live in solitude for awhile to commune. To dig in deep. But that within will eventually struggle out to find and shelter by their monster-kind. By stick and by stone.
The Fourth Hob Lifecycle: Imbuing Spirit - Unbinding Fear
In the places where nature is tamed- A soothsayer is called for the first time. They have lied about being called before this. But this call is real. It fills them. And it leads them away from their false altars. Away from the believers that they taint. Wearing robes that portray that they are worthy to weaker minds. But hold nothing in them. They pursue the beckoning. They find way to where the voice called out for them. And it is found at the end of thread and a swinging bone needle. They are made to regret all their misguidances while under the Hobs stitching dance. They will know that they are not aware. And they are slowly consumed as they are taught reverence. The materials once made with deceit are changed by the swinging needle. Each stitch is seven. What is made are simple dressings, but powerful. The garment once mundane is now replete with what the unwise could not imbue. And that within finds peace in every knot. And seeps back inside the new folds. This is the first work. The first of thousands. And beginning this work will keep that within bound to the Hob and so the hob to the cycle and so the cycle to the path and so the path to the pendulum.
In the places where nature is wild- The drum beat is fast and it's sound guides the hunter to the edge of unearthly brambles. They were planted long ago and grew up dispite themselves. A beast is inside them. It struggles and brays and is cinched deep into the patterns of grasping claws. For brambles are wicked to panic, a caltrop of the amygdala and the snare of the unprepared. The Hob is silent and sees what is easy to kill. But, there is no prize without struggle. So progress is made with intended steps to the beast that twists away and so is bound yet tighter. Touched by halcyon and steadfast hobben hands, the drumming inside the beast slows and it feels the thorns around it recede. And the beast is lead out as if the brambles had been cut away. The Hob and the beast look upon and know each other. And consider slaying the other. But they know that this is not the time. For there is no sport without fear. And so both mark the other. And both are deeply changed by it.
This cycle completes as the marks on beast and hunter begin to transform them. When the seven hundred moons are passed. And when the huntlusting begins. And when the mountain exhales and lets out the unseen light.
Fifth Hob Life Cycle: Pathfinding - The First Kabhal - The Hollow
The Hob stalks down the lurid path. The one that is known. Led by keen senses that draw it in. The Hobs given mark is a blessing and curse . It harmonizes with the better parts of nature and has grown inside as an unending desire. Lusting to seek out the beast. To become what hunts. The mark has grown outside as an extension of its body. As a beastly apparatus. As that which is used to ruck or to claw or gore. And with a hobben thought, the speaking beetle crawls from within the hollow. It knows the Hobs intent, Has use of the Hobs voice and with a Hobben gesture, is sent to where the cursed lusting and lurid path will lead them.
The beast drags its flanks through deep wooded furrows. And casts off a rancor of spirit. On ground and grass. In the creeping air. And in the planes that only hobben eyes can see. It is no longer with the better part of nature. It is now natures retched and rabid. It is now Dire. Released from the brambles but still imprisoned inside its instinct. And stares out as if it were shackled to the moon itself. The beetle lands by its beastly ear. And whispers that "it is time". And that "change cannot be slain". The Hobs tymbaled voice strikes the air and the Kabhal is declared. The Dire knows that the hunter comes.
And they meet again. Each at the end of the others eye. And there is where they fight. The Hob dances in a harmonized sequence of arcs. And the Dire's instincts negate its prowess as fear fills the furrows.
This is the first hunt. The first of thousands. And at the corpses of those killed will be birds of carrion that will watch the Hobs dance and learn its arcs, and will be changed by it. And though the huntlusting wanes as the beast is slain. There is still an unknown path. The unknown causes hunger. And so the eyes of the beast are taken in. And the earth is seen for the first time. The new-known path is extended out before the Hob as it has always been. And so is dug into with reaching hobben toes and so is seen with new hobben eyes.
Reproduction
Hobgoblyns do not cover their knees or elbows like Goblynz do unless they have a strong compulsion to do so. They can have children with other races, the child is born as the race of the Hobgoblynz mate. A Hobgoblyn is incapable of having a child with another Hobgoblyn, It is not unheard of to have a Hobgoblyn couple raise another child as their own.
Known Hobgoblynz
See Also: Horde
