Goblinoids are a loosely related family of sentient peoples that share physical ancestry, overlapping traits, and long historical interaction. Outsiders often treat them as a single category, but this is mostly a convenience. Goblinoids differ significantly in temperament, organization, and social structure, sometimes more than they resemble one another.
This family includes goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs, along with rarer branches such as the Grend, a large Faerie-altered offshoot believed to descend from hobgoblins.
What they share is not culture, but body plan, ancestry, and certain behavioral tendencies shaped by survival on the margins of larger societies.
Goblinoids are not inherently evil. They are, however, often dangerous. Many live in environments where caution, ambush, and preemptive violence are reliable survival strategies. From the perspective of settled peoples, this can make goblinoids appear treacherous or hostile. From the goblinoid perspective, it is simply practical.
Approaching a group of goblinoids calmly and unarmed is rarely interpreted as trust. It is more often interpreted as opportunity.
Shared Physical Traits
While size and build vary widely, most goblinoids share recognizable features:
- slightly flattened noses
- somewhat pointed ears
- narrow jaws with mildly pointed teeth
- large or slightly enlarged eyes (not exaggerated)
- lean musculature relative to body size
- skin tones tending towards earthy, orange-ochre
Skin colouration is usually various shades of earthy oranges or orangish ochres. It does slightly vary by region; but mostly in shade and tone. Goblinoids in the hottest regions can be slightly more darker orange-brown. Temperate populations can be a yellow-orange ochre cast. Tropical populations are predominately orange ochre. Subtle variations exist everywhere.
These shared features make goblinoids recognizable as related peoples, even when size and build differ dramatically.
Shared Behavioural Tendencies
Goblinoids vary widely, but several tendencies appear across the family:
- preference for terrain advantage
- emphasis on group coordination
- comfort with ambush tactics
- willingness to attack when advantage is clear
- avoidance of open, even fights
- limited trust of outsiders
- pragmatic short-term alliances
These traits are cultural tendencies, not universal rules. Individual groups may behave very differently depending on environment and leadership.
Intelligence and Capability
Goblinoids are quite intelligent and have complex societies. Differences between groups are cultural rather than absolute.
Some goblinoid peoples are mobile and opportunistic. Others build structured, disciplined states. Some rely heavily on scavenging, while others maintain organized metallurgy and logistics.
What goblinoids generally lack is not intelligence, but institutional continuity. Many goblinoid societies are shaped by displacement, conflict, and limited access to stable resources. This tends to produce practical competence rather than long-term innovation.
Relationship With Other Peoples
Goblinoids often live near the edges of settled lands, in broken terrain, marginal regions, or contested frontiers. This positioning reinforces patterns of raiding, ambush, and opportunistic violence.
However, goblinoids also:
- negotiate temporary alliances
- serve as auxiliaries or mercenaries
- trade when advantageous
- avoid conflict when risk outweighs gain
Such arrangements are rarely stable. Trust is limited on all sides, and agreements can collapse quickly.
Major Goblinoid Peoples
The most widely recognized goblinoid peoples in Aletheia are:
Goblins
Small, wiry, and highly mobile, goblins rely on numbers, terrain, and ambush. They avoid direct confrontation but attack aggressively when advantage is clear. Goblins mature quickly, reproduce rapidly, and often live in large, loosely structured family groups.
See: Goblins
Hobgoblins
Larger and physically comparable to humans, hobgoblins form disciplined, hierarchical societies built around warfare, logistics, and territorial control. They are less inventive than humans but highly organized, often relying on standardized tactics and structured command.
See: Hobgoblins
Orcs
Orcs are larger and physically stronger than most goblinoids, with heavier builds and more aggressive territorial behaviour. They form loose kin groups or warbands and often dominate nearby goblin populations. Orcs share distant ancestry with other goblinoids but diverged early and developed along separate social lines.
See: Orcs.
Grend
Grend are large, Faerie-altered goblinoids believed to descend from hobgoblins. They resemble oversized, hairy goblins with mottled beige-to-brown skin and orange-tinged coats that often bleach brighter in sun. They live in small family groups and rely on opportunistic hunting, scavenging, and ambush.
See: Grend
Relationships Among Goblinoids
Goblinoid peoples share ancestry and sometimes territory, but they do not form a unified culture. Their relationships are shaped more by practicality, opportunity, and relative strength than by any sense of kinship. Cooperation happens when useful, and conflict is common when interests diverge.
Orcs
Orcs generally do not prioritize long-term relationships with other goblinoids. They tend to be territorial, opportunistic, and internally fractious. Alliances — even with other orcs — are often temporary and based on immediate advantage.
Orcs may dominate goblin groups when convenient, ignore them when not, and occasionally cooperate with hobgoblins if the arrangement promises loot, territory, or survival. Loyalty rarely extends beyond strength, reputation, and short-term gain.
Goblins
Goblins are highly pragmatic and acutely aware of their physical disadvantage. They prefer avoidance, misdirection, and opportunism over open conflict. Goblins will happily exploit any other group — goblinoid or not — if the risk is low and the reward worthwhile.
They often shadow larger groups, scavenging, spying, or manipulating events from the margins. Goblins may serve orcs or hobgoblins when necessary, but rarely out of loyalty. Their long-term survival depends on flexibility, not allegiance.
Hobgoblins
Hobgoblins are the most strategically minded of the goblinoids and are more willing to form structured relationships. They may incorporate goblins as scouts, auxiliaries, or labor, and sometimes tolerate orc allies as shock troops.
However, hobgoblins prefer control and predictability. Disorder — especially typical orc behavior — is seen as a liability. Hobgoblin alliances therefore tend to be hierarchical, with clear expectations and little patience for deviation.
Grend
Grend are comparatively new to regular interaction with other peoples and remain largely insular. They tend to keep to their own territories and show little interest in goblinoid politics or hierarchy.
When contact occurs, it is usually cautious and brief. Grend neither seek dominance nor accept it easily, and their unfamiliarity with established patterns of goblinoid behavior often leads them to disengage rather than negotiate.
General Pattern
- Orcs: opportunistic, loosely cooperative, frequently fractious
- Goblins: evasive, exploitative, survival-focused
- Hobgoblins: organized, hierarchical, strategically cooperative
- Grend: insular, cautious, largely independent
These relationships shift constantly. Shared ancestry matters far less than terrain, pressure, and opportunity.