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Friday, April 7, 2023

Lost Galmagia: What are Goblins part 3

1)      Sprites, Pixies, and Nixies: These are other remnants of the Unseelie court that followed the goblins here. Much more Fae in nature than the goblins are they have settled in pockets around Lost Galmagia, and since they can all ‘blink’ short distances the Amber doesn’t hinder their passage. As such they have the safety of the Mages Ward, but can appear anywhere. They cannot blink through lead, and the Neanderthals know this. All of them are aligned, more or less, with Queen Mab, and others aligned with that kindly one can treat with them.

a.       The Sprites are mostly benign, doling out curses when they think it would be funny, but also helping people when they think that might be more fun. They aren’t really a threat as level 0 monsters, and the Goblins tolerate them with good grace. The Neanderthals/Galmagian Noble Families hunt them (the sprites in particular) for use as material components in their own curse magic, trapping them in lead lined casks. The Brotherhood has learned how to buy them off with flowers (brotherhood members will carry wildflower batches for this purpose) rather than waste time fighting them.

b.       The Pixies are chaotic and malicious little twerps, but not actually killers. They’re more than happy to mess with people, lead them to monsters or monsters to them, or knife them to sow distrust or fear in the party, but are too vulnerable to want to engage in real combat. If the PCs engage with them openly and offer presents they are more focused than the Sprites and can offer real help.

c.       Nixies are water spirits that now live on the 3rd floor waterways and in the canal nearby, charming people to come down and serve them for a day that is a year and a day on the surface. They can also manipulate water to an extent, or more precisely water acts ‘strangely’ when they’re around.

d.       One basic purpose of them, narratively, is to “funhouse dungeon” up the Mages Ward. They appear in other places but they do their weirdest stuff in the already magic high environments of the Mages Ward.

2)      Kobolds: this is an interesting question. I had not considered using them because they clutter up the landscape Dwarves, Orcs, Ogres, and Giants form one clear lineage. Elves, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears, Sprites, Pixies and Nixies form another in the Seelie and Unseelie courts. Kobolds are odd creatures out. Their main shticks of fast breeding trap makers are either co-opted by the Hobgoblins or not something I want to emphasize in the OSR style game where hidden traps slow things down. But if I have Sprites with their curses be fire fey, nixies as water fey, pixies as air fey, maybe we get back to kobolds as knockers/earth fey? Something to consider for a different dungeon. There’s not space for them in Galmagia.


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