Tanimbar Goblins Appearance and Biology From a human perspective: "They [goblins] were remarkable ugly. Their jaws protrude in the manner of a cat [or baboon] complete with oversized canines. Their general features are asymmetrical and varied and their heads and bodies covered with pocks and bumps. Skin tones tend toward a blotchy pallid green reminding me of the early stage of rotting meat. Noses tend to be long and pointed and ears are large and stick nearly straight out from their head. Eyes are small and widely separated. Legs tend to be shorter and arms longer in proportion to humans. They varied in height from 2 1/2 to 5 feet with builds from stick-like to grotesquely muscular. It is perhaps unfortunate that they resemble humans so closely. My instincts suggest that they are not another race, but badly distorted humans; a difficulty I shall have to work hard to overcome." -- Logan Kylar, Exquaestio explorer Goblins are not capable of interbreeding with humans, and the goblins of Tanimbar are much less varied than their counterparts in other regions of Celandra. Very large sports do appear on occasion, reaching up to eight feet in height. Goblins live half as long as humans and mature twice as fast. Culture -- Marriage and Family Among the Tanimbar Goblins the basic family unit is a group of brothers married to one or more sisters together with their unmarried children. The "husbands" come from one family and the "wives" come from another. The eldest female in a household is dominant, and may be the husbands mother or grandmother instead of a wife, and has a great deal of power outside that household. No distinction is made between parents, even when it is clear who bore or sired a particular child. Should many or all of a woman's husbands die she may join the household of her sons or grandsons (together with her husbands, if any). A woman without children whose fathers or husbands all die will not be welcome in any household and typically ends up dying of exposure on in a futile attack upon a human (or other goblin) community. Occasionally such women may display skills valuable enough to be accepted by their brother's household. Such cases are rare as those with such skills tend to be sought for marriage. Men are raised to cooperate with their brothers. Women are raised to see other women, particularly their sisters, as competitors. Both sexes are raised to respect their elders and are forbidden to use physical force upon women. However, the competitions between sisters are no less vicious for not being physical. -- Jefferson (Exquaestio) http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/Exq_Main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
