History

The history of Kobolds, known among themselves as Oboldskay, is largely unknown and almost completely uncared for. Kobolds are regarded as vermin, and none but the wildest of scholars shows any interest in recording their stories or history. Certainly nobody cares less than the Kobolds themselves, who find the keeping of cultural records beyond the “largest detonation they have ever seen” needless.

Geography

Kobolds are found universally in all locations and climates. Wherever other beings may live, Kobolds will be there alongside them, wanted or otherwise. Kobolds have no documented homeland or kingdom, and no one knows where in the world they originated.

Because they are regarded as pests and supposedly incapable of grand societal accomplishment by the other peoples of Arthos, the only notable groups of Kobolds are whichever ones happen to be bothering a particular collective at any one time.

Culture

Perhaps the closest comparison to Kobold culture is that of rabbits. Any problem not solved by explosive blasts will almost certainly be solved by procreation, and Kobolds as a race have survived as long as they do by breeding at a rate unprecedented among any of the other sapient races.

Being a creature that is generally more suited to destruction than construction, Kobolds tend to live in large groups concentrated in large caves, which they are fully capable of expanding as needed. It is rumored that new caves are created in a strange form of sporulation, where a large number of Kobolds are thrown out of one cave by a massive explosion, and land near enough to other caves to infest them and start a whole new tunnel system.

Kobolds have little regard for the concept of personal property, at least as it applies to others, and acquire much of their resources by theft and looting. This act is done as much to their fellow cave-members as from outside peoples. As Kobolds are capable of eating almost anything, down to the dirt from their caves, if they can’t manage to steal anything from a passing caravan, they often will.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Kobold race’s preferred deity is the ‘Great Kaboom’, though little is known about it even among the Kobolds themselves, including whether it represents Light or Dark. Priests of the Great Kaboom travel the lands, blowing things up in the name of their God and teaching people – generally other Kobolds – their ways of destruction and entropy.

Politics

Among Kobolds, what little reverence they can muster goes first to those who represent the Great Kaboom, second to those who have accumulated and managed to hold on to the largest collection of shimmering objects, and thirdly to those of relatively advanced age.

Being so scattered, and being a race of almost entirely children by other creature’s biology, Kobolds have no formal or permanent governance structures, political institutions, or military forces. Temporary forms of these may appear in individual caves when a miracle of some sort manages to make a group of Kobolds rally around a single goal. This goal is generally the acquisition of a particularly impressive object or, in rare practical cases, the acquisition of food or defense against a slow-moving threat.

When organized in a Goblinoid military, Kobolds are typically used by other Goblinoids as trap makers, disarmers, sappers, or even cannon fodder. The latter is not generally explained to the Kobolds themselves by their commanders.

Common Personalities & Views

Kobolds are youthful and childish until they reach the nearly unprecedented age of 5 years. They are generally regarded as naive and cretinous, but can be clever and crafty, especially where the creation of traps are concerned. Their natural talent in the creation of their “KABOOMS,” explosives of surprising power and ingenuity, confounds other races entirely. Kobolds universally love objects that reflect light, often to an extent that lacks any self-preservation, and are easily distracted by them. Older Kobolds may be smarter and more wizened than your average Kobold, but that doesn’t necessarily stop their penchant for the above.

Kobolds are universally amoral. They aren’t evil; they simply have no moral compass or loyalty. A Kobold will kill his own brother if he has more ‘shinies’ than him, and he thinks he can get away with it.

Views on Other Races

Other races are universally feared or pitied, depending on how threatening the individual in question is at the moment.

The only exception to this is Goblins, who, being similar in stature and also interested in trapmaking, are seen as mere wannabe Kobolds who just haven’t grasped the concept of how essential shiny things and the Great Kaboom really are.

Roleplaying Tips

• Outside of unusual circumstances, you will likely be playing an adult with an immature one-track mind. While you don’t have act entirely less intelligent, remember the focuses of Kobold life and stick to them.
• Remember to like shiny objects. You don’t have to be obsessed with them, but they should at least get your heart racing and attract your attention.
• While you are by no means required to worship the Great Kaboom as your racial patron deity, you should show some reverence for it.
• Remember, the only authority worth following is whichever one has the sharpest swords pointed at you, or the most luminous objects on offer.
• Talk in a loud, squeaky voice.