KOBOLDS

Kobolds are a race who live within the O’Ghomoro Volcano, in the northernmost reach of Vylbrand. Indeed, they live in and not on the volcano, driving deep shafts and tunnels into the mountain cone. Driven into conflict with Limsa Lominsa over mineral resources over the many years of their shared residence, they only recently have mended fences with their city-dwelling neighbors--a tenuous peace that depends on the good behavior and good faith of both sides.

In order to get on well with the kobolds, it is prudent to know why they are as they are, through their history, culture, and most importantly, their perspective.

Contents

- Appearance
- History
- Culture
- Digs and Titles

Kobolds are well-suited to their subterranean lifestyle; squat and limber, they move as readily on all fours as upright, not unlike an opo-opo. Their eyes are particularly weak and easily dazzled by bright light, but their hearing and sense of touch compensate for this. Kobolds are bestowed with thick fur, bottlebrush tails, and catlike whiskers and tactile hairs that sense not only air movement, but changes in air pressure with tremendous subtlety. Their sharp claws give them tremendous traction on most surfaces. (1)

(1) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 250

APPEARANCE

Kobolds universally wear metal helmets that conceal all but their red glinting eyes, and some wear more plate strapped to their bodies. More elaborate helmets are reserved for high-ranking dignitaries.

Though such testimony is vanishingly rare, there are a handful of witnesses who claim to have seen kobolds unhelmeted, and report that their faces look like this:

Unlike other Allied Tribesmen, kobolds are insectivores, consuming earthworms and larvae and other burrowing bugs. These they eat raw, though they will sometimes prepare their catch in a strange sort of meatball. White earthworms, however, are strictly reserved for higher-ranked kobolds. (1)

(1) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 250

HISTORY

The kobolds hold that, satisfied with this new home and protection for them, Titan then submerged himself into the caldera to sleep, promising to return when they should have need of him.

(1) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 251

Kobolds believe that their history began when their deity, Titan, crafted their race from soil and clay to create keepers for the earth. When they proved too frail for life on the surface, Titan ignited O’Ghomoro, and the lava created tubes and tunnels, and left behind rich deposits of ore.

This ore was a divine gift to them, for Titan then taught them the ways of refining those rich rocks into fine metal--and shaping it into tools and armor and weapons. With these, the kobolds learned to defend themselves, and drove back the frightful beasts.

O'Ghomoro Mountain, as seen from Middle La Noscea

Whatever the case may be, kobolds have surely made the most of their divine providence; master metalsmiths, they swiftly harnessed ores and alloys that other nations would never imagine. It would be they to teach the shaping of cobalt ore, for example, to the Wandering Races. (2)

It is easy to forget that the kobolds had what seems to be good relations with the city-state of Nym. In the Fifth Astral Era, Lalafell from the South Seas arrived on Vylbrand to trade with the kobolds, and their outpost blossomed into a mighty nation. It is thought that the Nymians' reverence for Oschon, god of wanderers and mountains, provided common ground with their Titan-worshiping neighbors to the north. (3)

(2) Quest: Rivalry and Respect
(3) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 33

But it has not only been through trade and training that the kobolds have taught the Wandering Races to transcend their limits. In year 875 of the Sixth Astral Era, the Galadion ran aground on the shores of Vylbrand, her crew seeking somewhere to begin anew in their exile from Aerslaent. The kobolds vigorously drove them back from dry land onto the rocks; undeterred, the crew dismantled their broken ship and built what would become Limsa Lominsa over the ocean waves themselves. (4)

(4) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 95

With the massacre of a Lominsan settlement in Western La Noscea in 879 was born the eternal enmity between the Lominsans and the kobolds. As the city-state grew, both with native births and with the arrival of other ships’ crews seeking liberty and a home, the needs of the people grew as well. Soon, the two ever-expanding nations would find themselves fighting over the resources Vylbrand had to offer, with Limsa Lominsa seizing all of the southern half of Vylbrand (called La Noscea, as distinct from O'Ghomoro). (5)

(5) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, pp. 48, 109

In 1518, the infamous treaty was made between the 1st Order Patriarch, the head of the kobolds, and Limsa Lominsa, in which the kobolds were assigned "the bounty of the land" and the Lominsans "the bounty of the sea". Ambiguity is the death of contracts, though, and this poor phrasing resulted only in more conflict, as the Lominsans could not live on fish alone, and the kobolds strove to enforce that which was unconscionable. (6)

Diplomacy having failed at last, the kobolds gave it up, and instead turned toward a new strategy: calling upon Titan to destroy Limsa Lominsa. (7)

(6) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 51
(7) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 53

This desperation was capitalized upon by the Ascians, who taught them the art of forging primals. Pretending that what the kobolds made out of faith and aether was truly their god returned to them, the ancient liars well knew that it was but a cheap imitation, one that would also force the kobolds into an endless and mindless cycle of consumption, expansion, and aggression. (8)(9)

This was what Admiral Merlwyb inherited, taking her office a year after this was begun. (10)

(8) Quest: Forever Taken (1.0)
(9) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 51
(10) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 53

Fortunately, matters begin to look up. Between the Warrior of Light's inroads with the 789th Dig (which defeat the idea that all kobolds desire the same thing or hate the Wandering Races), the discovery of how to reverse tempering, and, at last, a tenuous truce with the kobolds as a whole (thanks to Admiral Merlwyb's personal courage), there stands a chance to end the war and forge a new treaty.

...That is, as long as Lominsans and kobolds can behave themselves.

(6) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 51
(7) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 53

CULTURE

The central fact of kobold life is the stone and ore that they believe were given to them by their god. Their entire society is structured around its procurement, refining, and shaping into pleasing and useful items, and their craftsmanship has often been imitated and integrated into other races’ work. (1)

(1) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 251

The unit of kobold society, therefore, is the Dig. Digs are rigidly tiered classes of kobolds, to which they are assigned throughout their lives based upon their individual capacity for thinking while working. The lower the number of the Dig, the higher its rank, and the more intellectually demanding its work will be.

Thus, the priests and bureaucrats occupy the lowest numbered Digs; middle-range Digs perform supervisory tasks and alchemy and metalworking; Digs with the highest numbers are brute-force laborers. And, more to the point, each Dig holds authority over the Digs below it; for example, the 35th Dig can direct the work of the 36th, the 34th lords over both the 35th and 36th, and so on. (1)

(1) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 251

A Fifth Order Patriarch. Note the elaborate and outsized helm.

Thus, the First Order Patriarch stands at the pinnacle of all kobold society, regarded as the mouthpiece of Great Father Titan Himself. The First Order is utterly full of priests, not a manual laborer to be seen among them.(1)

Meanwhile, the 789th Order is the dumping ground for the laziest of kobolds--a great vice among their people, for which they have been forbidden audience with any manifestation of Titan (though this is probably to their unexpected benefit, seeing as this prevented them from being tempered). (1)

(1) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 251

Kobold society, unlike many, allows for a surprising amount of upward mobility. All kobolds begin life in fosterage with a dig separate from their parents’; when they come of age, they are assessed for their abilities and assigned to the dig that seems most appropriate. Throughout their lives, they are continually observed and their performance evaluated; they may move up or down through the Orders, depending on how well or poorly they do. (1)

(1) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 251

Kobold nomenclature is simple, usually composed of two one-syllable names: a clan name for a forename, and then a given name. With so little in the way of possible variation, and so many children born to each mother, there are many kobolds by the same name. To avoid confusion, they will often refer to themselves and one another by their Dig number and role therein along with their names. (1)

Thus, "59th Order Roundsman Ge Ga" refers to Ga, of Clan Ge, a supervisor or inspector for the 59th Dig.

(1) Encyclopaedia Eorzea Vol. 1, p. 251

Kobold titles describe their role within their dig, and form an important part of their identities. While they do not always describe the kobold's body of work, they do indicate their typical duties. Below are some of the titles known to be given to workers, with their general meanings:

DIGS AND TITLES

Leadership and clergy:

- Patriarch/Matriarch: Head of their numbered Order
- Priest: Spiritual authority, sometimes head of their Order
- Prelate: Clergyman*
- Bedesman: A chaplain of sorts, whose duties are primarily to offer continual prayers for others
- Roundsman: A supervisor or inspector who makes rounds during the work shift
- Fugleman: A soldier who is assigned as a model for drills, a guide for marching, and an exemplar in general

* It should be noted that, in many contexts, a prelate is a high-ranking priest; however, this does not necessarily seem the case with the kobolds

Laborers and soldiers

- Scholar: Recorder and keeper of knowledge
- Alchemist: Practitioner of various stripes of alchemy
- Potman: Specifically, one who alchemically dissolves metals, or dehydrates caustics by boiling off water
- Pickman: Hewer of rock
- Quarryman: Hewer of rock
- Pitman: One who works in a pit
- Patrolman: Soldier or peacekeeper
- Gurneyman: A carter
- Dustman: Remover of rubbish
- Mendicant: Not a role, precisely; appears to indicate exile or outlawry