Kobolds



Kobolds are inveterate scavengers, thieves and collectors. Small, stealthy and quick witted they take great pride in their ability to move quickly and quietly, all but unseen by the larger races.

Kobold nature is a strange mixture of excitable curiosity and a wariness of the dangers of the world and the larger races. Those kobolds whose curiosity outweighs their caution can appear bold, even reckless in their desire to see what's over there. While those possessed of more wariness than wanderlust seem skittish and timid. Though easily underestimated due to their small stature, kobolds are capable of great ferocity and a tenacity that belies their size.

All kobolds are habitual scavengers and collectors, often ascribing value to things way beyond their monetary worth. Many kobolds build up small hoards of trinkets and gewgaws that they have found or swiped from under the noses of an unsuspecting mark. These baubles are important in kobold society, used both as a mark of a kobold's status and as gifts exchanged to cement friendships.

Though few kobolds practice the arcane arts, all are  highly sensitive to the effects of magic. Some few kobolds are even able to "smell" the presence of magical energy. How this process works and how kobolds came to be so attuned to magic is unknown, but these "mage touched" kobolds as they are known, are often eccentric and strange in their behaviour, as their minds are twisted by their exposure to arcane energies.

Physical Description
Kobolds are small, feral looking humanoids, standing with a stooped posture that rarely exceeds 3 feet tall. Their skin ranges from tan to a rusty black, fading to a lighter shade on their bellies and long, ratlike tails. Kobolds have snouted faces with beady eyes, small ivory horns and large, sharp toothed mouths. Their large, bat-like ears and twitching whiskers hint at their keen senses. The horns and whiskers of male kobolds continue to grow throughout their lives.

Kobolds' clothing reflects their scavenging nature, often dressing in a strange mixture of furs, rags and scraps, all patched and sewn together. Though practicality dictates that they dress in dark, natural colours to help them remain unseen, kobolds have a fondness for red and orange fabrics..

Society
Traditionally, kobolds live in small, secretive clans in remote, hard to reach places such as deep woods or cliffside cave systems. Wary and distrustful of outsiders, these clans will do all they can to keep trespassers away, often using traps, tricks and even magical illusions to make their homelands seem haunted and inhospitable to others.

In the past twenty years or so, more and more kobolds have been spreading throughout the lands of Amentir. Whether driven from their homelands by war, deforestation or simple curiosity and a desire for a new way of life, kobolds can be found throughout the realm. Those kobolds that do choose to live among the other races are usually found in larger towns and cities. Having left their secluded and secret lives behind, they are keen to embrace the hustle and bustle of human civilisation, often forming small communities of their own within larger settlements.

The giving and receiving of gifts is very important among kobolds, these gifts rarely have much monetary value, but are more artefacts of curiosity, the baubles and trinkets that a kobold picks up throughout his life.

Relations
As kobolds have only really been mixing in the world of humans and other races for the last twenty or so years, they are still often seen as outsiders, with a possibly well earned reputation for mischief and thievery. The extent to which they are welcomed within human society varies from region to region. While in the more metropolitan cities of the coast and the diverse frontier lands, the presence of a kobold will scarcely raise an eyebrow, in the more conservative, rural areas they may be looked on with suspicion and distrust.

Wherever they settle, kobolds tend to be looked down on and treated as second class citizens. Kobolds will often be found doing the dirtiest jobs that no human would wish to do. Some few kobolds have risen to high repute within human society, their keen senses and ability to move unseen makes them excellent scouts and trackers and the ability of some to sniff out magical energies can be invaluable to treasure hunters, merchants and many others.