A Brief History of Goblinoid Culture on Ancient Khorvaire

The Dhakaani Empire was a massive goblinoid nation that dominated most of Khorvaire over a period extending from about 15,000 years ago to about 5000 years ago.

They fought a war against invaders from Xoriat, the plane of madness, called the Daelkyr. They joined forces with a group of Orc druids that would become called the Gatekeepers. This war raged on for millennia and the Daelkyr were eventually defeated by the combined forces of the Dhakaani Empire and the Gatekeepers. However, the war exhausted the resources of goblins.

The Daelkyr were thousands of years into their fight with the incredible martial talent of the Dhakaani Empire, and it was not going well for them. The Orcs were putting the seals into place (gates… maybe talk about them later, but not an area of expertise for me), and the Dhakaani were mining and creating weapons and armor made of byeshk, a unique metal found to be extra deadly to the Daelkyr and their creations.

In a desperate attempt, the Daelkyr released a psychic virus which broke the perfect unity of the Dhakaani. The insanity unleased was not a gibbering madness, or a murderous rage, but a more insidious disease. The eusocial nature of the goblinoid’s society was broken. For the first time, they began to think more about “me” than “we.” They became less practical, and for the first time concepts like religion and gods began to occur to them. Seeing the fall of their people, several as yet unaffected tribes cordoned themselves off, moving deep underground. The Heirs of Dhakaan (or Dhakaani) of today are from those long-ago hidden tribes, or Kechs.

Anyway, the Daelkyr were sealed away, and Xoriat was not to be allowed to become coterminous again ever since. Unfortunately, the damage was done. Around 9000 years ago the continent spanning empire fell to infighting and the pushback of enemies over a period of time.

By the time humans came to Khorvaire, they found the tattered remnants of the empire. Ruins and wild tribes of Goblins dotted the landscape. The Sarlonan colonists, taking their warlike culture with them, soon enslaved the fractured race. Of the three types, the goblins were most subservient, fastest to breed, and as such were most populous as a slave race. The hobgoblins and bugbears, who were slower to breed and were used to leading instead of following were much more difficult to keep as slave races and were often murdered rather than “trained.” (Maeceus, 2018)

Got that? Cool! Let’s continue.