Curse of Maglubiyet - setting background idea

[Cagemarrow]

So i have this idea about how the standard fantasy world would be different if goblins were more of a threat and what that could do to the world around them. I'd love to hear what other people think this might affect or story ideas that could come from such a world.

Clerics of Maglubiyet

The Goblin Clerics of Maglubiyet have hatched a dangerous plan to grant their god the covetted Fertility portfolio by stealing it from the Goblin Goddess Kikanuti. By pooling their resources and years of research they finally managed to complete a ritual that laid a racial curse on the goblin people.

This curse works in three parts. First it instigates a literal blood lust, the smell and taste of blood other than goblinoid acts as an powerful frenzy inducing addictive aphrodisiac. Second they are now supernaturally fertile, every coupling results in a pregnancy and the birthrate has changed from individual or twins born to actual litters of goblin young, sometimes even resulting in siblings born at the same time having different fathers. Finally the curse allows the goblins to breed true with any other species, with coupling's resulting in litters of new born goblins.

Newborns are literally born into a baptism of their mother's blood as most mothers perish in childbirth without the aide of a Cleric to provide healing and restoration to alleviate fatal complications. With the tremendous spike in birthrates the goblin population has exploded and armies can be bred and fielded within a few years. The clerics have used this to stage a coup d'etat and have taken over leadership of the Goblin clans. Now they are striking outward, tearing new territories away from their neighbors and laying waste to the countryside around them.

Not all of the clerics are in agreement as to their battle plans and splinter groups have broken off to form their own armies and territories from the newly taken lands. To make matters worse the curse didn't just target goblins, it has affected all creatures with the goblinoid type, though many have the difficulty of dealing with feeding and training their sudden surplus of children without the benefit of them reaching adulthood in a short period of time.
 

[weenog]

Kind of neat, but you probably should rework it.

Non-goblin blood compelling that sort of behavior means every successful attack which isn't instantly fatal, by a lone goblin, is likely to transform into an attempted rape.

100% conception rate with anything means every successful rape degenerates into a long term alien parasite body horror experience.

Whether your players signed up for the game of rape, I don't know, but it seems unlikely.

Breeding true while crossbreeding means any time two different goblinoid species get together, there's no correct option for what the offspring can be.

[Cagemarrow]

You're probably right on all counts. I never intended this to be used directly against the players, but instead as an explanation why there are suddenly millions of goblins eating their way across the world.

I was in an e6 game where an unstoppable army of goblins had taken over the western part of the continent and chased the players across a mountain range to lay siege to the last known city. Dm was just using fiat to say that the goblins numbers vastly outmatched everyone else, to the point they had even wiped out the dwarven nation in the mountains before moving onto the city the game started in.

It was supposed to be a city based adventure but with half the party from the west and wanting evenge it became a quest to save as many refuges from the west as possible while the incopentent and corrupt government tried to fight off the invaders.

We ended up building a fleet to flee the doomed city as nothing we did stopped the goblin horde.

[weenog]

You're probably right on all counts. I never intended this to be used directly against the players, but instead as an explanation why there are suddenly millions of goblins eating their way across the world.

Look into the history of Temujin, aka Genghis Khan.  One charismatic individual with some new ideas, and the courage and strength of will to put them into practice, can do an awful lot to transform a scattered, disorganized rabble into an unstoppable conquering force.  None of the major goblinoid races have Intelligence or Wisdom penalties.  Maybe it's time a good leader made them quit acting like they do.

[Endarire]

Viva la revolution!

[Tempest]

Or take a look at Obould Many-Arrows if you're looking for a Realms specific leader of goblinoids, he did manage to unite the orc/goblin/ogre clans of the Spine of the World, invading the Silver Marshes and even bringing the collective human/dwarf armies to their kness. He wasn't even divinely blessed when he did it, but later became an Exarch of Gruumsh due to his success.
He was a very intelligent and charismatic orc, a prime example of the kind of individual weenog mentioned.

 http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Obould

[weenog]

It was said his only fear was that when he dies his sons will destroy all he has created in their fight to succeed him.

Sounds to me like someone was thinking of Temujin and his legacy when they designed the character.