On the Urok and their Foul Offspring

Goblin is an appellation somewhat misapplied by the good and civilized people of Erenth. Strictly speaking, the word only belongs to a specific species of humanoid foulness -- the diminutive flat-faced, broad-nosed monster with pointed ears, wide mouths and small, sharp fangs which seem to be as abundant in some areas as the bushy-tailed squirrel. More commonly that that, however, the word is applied to all creatures of the so-called goblinkind, including bugbears, bullywugs, flinds, gnolls, hobgoblins, jermlaine, kobolds, lizard men, mongrelmen, ogres, ogrillon, orcs, orog, troglodytes, trolls, urd, and hill giants. It is true that all of them in all their monstrous varieties are descended from the same common ancestors. They are all the foul offspring of an ancient and proud people. 

The Urok were once a race closely resembling humans. They were of the same average height, but were stockier (like Dwarves) and had pointed ears like Elves. They also had ridges on their brow which narrowed to the point just above the nose. They were strong and hearty, and some might say, born for war. 

The Urok were marked by laconic speech and austere lifestyles. Long after the other races had settled into cities, they eschewed them preferring nomadic lifestyles following game. Their strongest and brightest were marked for the warrior upper class. Those who were weak remained part of the servile underclass. 

It is said that at one time the Urok were the dominant race on the planet. If that is true it occurred long before the knowledge of anyone living. What is not in doubt is that the Urok were a contentious people who were prone to raiding and war throughout all of history.

By the time that the human civilization had dawned, learned scholars among the Urok had deduced that man's greatest strength was his birth rate. In league with dark forces, their scholars undertook a fertility program that came to be called the Dread Foulness. 

An evil mage named Niktalor, introduced an extra planar creature known as the cloafly to the so-called Goblin Kingdoms. This invasive species assured the fecundity of the Urok race, but also permanently changed its nature. Over time the actual Urok were outbred by the Dread Foulness and the goblin races rose in their place. Every successive generation of them is more inbred, more mutated and more ill-tempered than the previous.

Of the original Urok, none remain. There are adult male goblinoids and their grotesque wormy breeding pits. While some lairs seem to be rife with "children" and "females" those creatures are really just the runts of their litters. Scrawny and stunted, they are relegated to domestic and servile duties... and in times of want they become food. 

While there are no female goblins, the males are capable of reproduction in the usual way, but the only race with which they seem still capable of breeding are humans. This has given rise to half-orcs and half-ogres. Such half breeds can expect to live 40 years on average and are stronger than their fully human peers, but somewhat more difficult to look at.

The goblin descendants of the Urok do believe that they should rule the world. It is almost their sole animating principle. They believe that all the world was stolen from them and handed over to "the shorts." While the rule of the world has passed from race to race since then, it has never returned to them... its rightful heirs. Their civilization has no records. It relies instead on orally transmitted "tells" of dubious accuracy.