Worldbuilding: Tyrannical D&D Goblinoids and Dragon God
Building the darkness in D&D
I’ve been doing some D&D worldbuilding recently and one of my favorite elements to work on is the raid/conquest-driven peoples. For my own part the mental blueprint I draw from is the more romantic version of Mongols, Vikings, or Visigoths. I say the romantic version because, despite what pop culture may want you to believe, these were well-organized peoples. Complex internal structures were used to support raids which were more often a means to extend influence and power rather than fill the bellies and purses of the raiding warriors.
My personal love is for the romantic notion of a tribe who travels the countryside raiding in order to survive and this will be my key motivation for design here. This is of course wildly unrealistic unless we are talking about very small groups (a band of highwaymen) but the idea does make for a compelling setting. The goal is to find a proper angle to attack this from. I want to make the survival and persistence of these peoples fairly realistic and easy to believe.
Next is how to deliver a feasible backdrop for a people that live by the sword and cause incessant hardship for the neighboring kingdoms. As a secondary goal I would like these people to have survived in this fashion for at least a few hundred years. The idea that they not only live in this fashion but have been able to maintain this kind of prolonged warlike existence without successfully expanding their territory, or losing territory, is the kind of thing that makes for an interesting story.
Goblinoid raiders
A goblin as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]
For a bit of context I have been working on different parts of this setting entirely based on my own desire to see it completed. I lack an organized workflow and I find it much more engaging to allow things to develop organically. During the course of my scheming I have re-branded a few creatures and placed all of them in a single group: orcs, goblins, ogres, ettins, bugbears, fomorian, hobgoblins, trolls, and gnolls are all considered goblinoids and could be considered different “flavors of goblin”. A goblin is still a goblin and an orc an o rc but how and why are of my own design. This is an entire article on its own and not something I can cover here but, if you see goblinoid, you’ll have some concept of to what I refer.
To bring together and control the scattered tribes, families, and clutches of goblinoids we need only look to history for the easy answer. A strong tribal leader, historically, has been able to use power, intimidation, clever diplomancy, or even seduction to unite the people. In the case of this leader I would like to use something that every goblinoid seems to respect: brute strength. Using the brute strength model makes for an easy explanation to the leader’s rise to power and with some simple additions to this story I can try to explain the longevity and indomitability of a tribal group that controls a fairly vast territory.
I have always been enamored with the idea of a powerful queen and a dark brooding father, not fit to be king, leading his child into her dark destiny with whispers of ancient knowledge. I find it compelling but it raises a variety of questions that, until a few days ago, I felt like I was reaching a bit to answer.
A dragon is always a good answer
Doing a bit of light reading, my way to unwind, I stumbled across the 5E chromatic dragon descriptions and the entries for each dragon that speak to the beasts’ mentality. Now, I’ve read these before, but I don’t know that I can say these entries ever stuck with me for more than a moment. Interesting no doubt it wasn’t until I started reading the green dragon entry and things started to really fall into place.
A green dragon as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]
“When dealing with sentient creatures, a green dragon demonstrates a lust for power that rivals its draconic desire for treasure….”
This entry and others go on to reinforce the idea that a green dragon is a powerful manipulator and masterful leader. This is precisely the kind of thing I was looking for and as I dug deeper I began to envision my tyrant tribal leader. The Living Treasures entry sealed the deal and I immediately set to work fleshing things out.
I knew I would use a territory that, prior to the tribes’ occupancy of the area, belonged to another culture or race and was well developed. I love the idea of the green dragon nesting in the ruins of conquered foes (Tolkein style) and drawing on existing enemies of these people to secure its dominance of the area. Elves, the natural enemy of a green dragon immediately come to mind.
The idea I moved forward with is an elder dragon that has taken over a small elven kingdom and now, decades or a century later has shown a renewed interest in the goings on of the world and begins slowly spreading its tendrils of control. I now know, based on these choices that we’re dealing with a lush forested area. I decide that my dragon is a male ancient green dragon. I’ll find a name for this nefarious fellow down the line.
One of my original goals here was not to simply define a bad guy and his army of minions but to define a people. I wanted to create a civilization of tribal warriors that could persist and serve as an integral part of a world. This is important to note because the idea that a group of goblinoids could be unified for a few days, weeks or months is certainly plausible, but I wanted decades or centuries. This is a much more complex goal and in order to guarantee that kind of stability I needed a leader who could control its goblinoid horde through more than just fear and brutality. A simple tribal chieftain or evil overlord was not enough. What this situation calls for is a tyrant.
Long after the downfall of the elven kingdom the scattered tribes of goblinoids, living in the nearby mountains and swamps, are unified under the banner of a great leader. She is the offspring of a dark pact with the ancient green dragon I mentioned above and a goblinoid shaman. The resulting hybrid is a magic wielder, unbelievably strong, nearly immortal thanks to the many gifts of her father and benefits from his guidance, a dragon of thousands of years in age.
This relationship benefits both father and daughter as she becomes the face of her fathers machinations leaving the ancient dragon to slumber, accrue treasure, and ply his manipulations in the surrounding lands without fear of reprisal. She lives as the unquestioned queen of her people, every luxury afforded her, every pleasure hers to take. A perfect union for both dragon and offspring.
Now that I have achieved the foundation of my tribal people I need to establish a basic supply of natural resources and some general aspects of the culture. Given the nature of dragons, their legendary narcissism and this particular dragon’s lust for power, I feel comfortable with the idea that shamans across this territory worship the green dragon as a god. It’s possible that some greater power has become available to the creature due to this worship though that would be something addressed later in the final details.
Looking for exotic new beasts to add into your game? Perhaps the noble dranther or hungry gantuan will wander into your setting!
Hunting or raiding would not be enough to sustain an even moderately sized population on its own for any lengthy period of time given the dragon’s corruption of the area. Hobgoblins immediately come to mind as a solution. They have a gift for keeping trained beasts and utilizing beasts of burden. As is the case with many tribal peoples these goblinoids keep large packs of a herding creatures for food and clothing as well as other more exotic monstrosities for war, riding, and hunting.
Some form of limited farming may also take place but only in the most simplistic sense of the word. Some Amazonian tribes able to sustain themselves primarily off the bounty of the jungle also foster small plots of yams. This is the kind of farming I imagine these tribal goblinoids taking part in. While what they farm or the kinds of creatures they keep should be explored, I don’t need to make these choices immediately. I feel confident that these tribal goblinoids could survive in small groups spread out over their territory indefinitely given just the parameters we have so far.
For at least some portion of our goblinoid tribals the idea of overpopulation driving the need to raid makes sense. Given the fact that goblinoids also have a propensity for breeding quickly it’s logical to conclude that tribes who have outgrown their immediate resources may end up raiding each other or making excursions into nearby lands for food and booty. To help stem internal quarrels and bloodshed an ancient but still practical concept can be used. Levy, as was done in some medieval kingdoms: to conscript troops. By levying troops from each tribe on regular intervals the tribal queen continues to exert dominance and grow her own army. This also allows for a more elite force, in direct control of the queen, as these tribal warriors could receive proper military training and more advanced equipment.
While much of the conflict between the tribal goblinoids and the outside world is represented by raiding and even open war, there would always be the desires of there “dragon god” to consider, in the background and likely far less blatant. He would have his own schemes and undoubtedly act on them using his daughter’s armies to get what he needed. He may also, by taking the form of a mortal, manipulate those kingdoms closest to his daughters. All that remains is to decide the true goals of an ancient green dragon that sees itself as a living god. I love the idea that the longevity of this empire would undoubtedly be due to its internal military might but also, its distinct lack of consistent growth because of the “games” that the great dragon god engages in with nearby kingdoms.
A liars tale
“….Oh no my friend I swear to you its the truth! In all my years of at sea I had never witnessed such a thing. We landed on the shores and followed the map as you see it before you now!” Slamming his finger into the parchment map he stared across the table into a crowd of grizzled sailors and wealthy merchant men. “Just as sure as I stand here today I stood on these very shores!”
Roaring from the back of crowd came the first of the dissenters. The crowd turned to hear his words, clearly a man of some respect to garner such a sudden and calamitous silence.
“You’re a liar and a thief! Every man about his wits steers clear those waters. We know all to well the stories of the goblin and orc that that toil there!”
Taking a few steps back from the table and assessing this outspoken fellow he decided that, since this brave noble hadn’t left, he must in the very least, be a bit curios.
“My friend I am no liar I promise you, however, I never claimed to be anything but a thief!”
With that he pulled a stiff salty tarp off a small pile of items near him. The skeptical audience a wash of mouths agape and sudden bursts of bluster as men throughout the crowd exclaimed in awe. Revealed from below the tarp was a freshly honed and polished pile of ancient elven arms and armor, jewelry and coin, bottles of wine and a rare silken garment, carefully folded and laid just so.
“I tell you the truth my friends, if only we could bring more ships, more men, the ancient elven ruins lay just inside the wood and all you lay eyes on is ripe for the taking!”
With that, and rather pleased with himself, he folded his arms across his chest and watched the crowd closely, a smirk across his face. One last voice, not so loud as the last, came ringing through the crowd.
“I hear stories of a dragon that sleeps in those parts.”.
The deal was as good as done, now to silence one last doubter. Uncrossing his arms and taking a few steps forward, just enough to lock eyes with this final critic, he spoke gently, evenly. “Do I look like a fool to you my friend? I have found neither hint nor trace of a noble dragon in my many months I spent on those shores”.
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