Goblin, Coggleborn (3.5e Race)

Coggleborn Goblin
Within the vast and varies climates in the world, various races have adapted to their environments and adopted different cultures to fit. The elves and their many subraces are testament to this fact, but they are not the only ones. Among the goblinoid races the lowly goblin has proven to be as genetically varied as any elf. One has sprung up from deep below the Brassblood Mountains, technologically talented goblins known as the Coggleborn.

Summary::Coggleborn goblins are far more technologically advanced than much of their goblinoid kin, pioneering gadgets and machines to make a dwarf or gnome proud. Yet the origin of these goblins are a bit of a mystery, for the one day literally dug themselves from underground to a world not ready to accept them.

Personality
Coggleborn goblins have a very hands-on approach to things. Everything is a puzzle, and one just need to know how the pieces fit together to make something work. This is useful for figuring out machines, but sometimes comes off as emotionally careless to others. Their curiosity can also get them in trouble at times, resulting in many a lab-side explosion from a spur of the moment alchemical experiment gone wrong.

Notably though coggleborn goblins have more in common with gnomes than goblinkind, typically being fairly peaceful in mindset. They still retain a goblin's sense of mischief and mayhem, however, when it comes to reckless stunts and pranks.

Physical Description
Coggleborn goblins are short green humanoids with who, likely due to their higher standing in the world and superior health conditions compared to most goblins, are not frail or deformed and actually moderately stocky for a being of their short stature. Their noses are much shorter than others, slightly upturned, and they retain the long pointed ears like an elf with rounder edges to account for their higher bulk. They also retain their pronounced sharp teeth revealing their meat-heavy diet. Their hair is notable for being wildly variable and multicolored, sometimes with different colors on the same head (which some coggleborn claim was the result of an old experiment gone wrong in the goblin's early history). Their skin tones cover various greens, blues, oranges, and greys, but never any human skin tones. Eyes are as colorful as their hair.

Coggleborn goblins have an unusually high concentration of heavy metals in their bodies, which does not harm them but causes their blood and flesh to give off a strong copper scent. It's uncertain if this is a result of their diet or their location around various machines and working with metals.

Relations
The coggleborn goblin is in a strange place in history, having literally dug themselves to the surface only in recent times. They hail from the depths under the Brassblood mountain range where they made contact with the surface races. Many are unsure how to treat these "new" goblins, holding former grudges against their kind. This is especially true for dwarves and gnomes who often have clashed with goblins and now have goblins who have more in common with them then other races. They appreciate having other metalsmithing races to trade with, but they suspect them so especially since coggleborn goblins are often vague on their own history. Though much has been recorded about science, technology, and other experiments coggleborn social history is patchwork and often forgotten.

The rumor goes that the coggleborn were normal goblins who had been destroyed by dwarves, but a kindly dwarf (or in some tales a gnome) had taken in goblin children he found and raised them. These goblins, though mischievous, grew up good and well and soon revealed that they were much better at then the dwarves for getting into smalll spaces and working on their grand machines. And so an entire goblin civilization arose from these humble beginnings, until eventually the dwarves faded away and were supplanted by their effective children. This is how the coggleborn tell it, though they admit it is probably just a story and they don't have record of it. Yet others would say they are cursed gnomes who were smote by an angry god to live as goblins, or goblin invaders who conquered a dwarven settlement and took their technology, putting it into their own culture.

In the end, the dwarves have a suspicious and cautious friendship with the coggleborn goblins. The gnomes, less prone to traditional thoughts, have accepted them more openly. And others have mixed opinions but have largely accepted them for who they claim to be. They see other goblins as pitiable, and have a slight distrust of elves, for it seems their first contact with another race was with the far more deplorable drow.

Alignment
Coggleborn culture trends towards chaotic, and a slight trend towards non-evil.

Lands
Coggleborn goblins come from under the Brassblood Mountains, an area rich in heavy metals and caves. The only reason it hasn't been mined is because it supposedly had been by the brassblood dwarves who set up camp there many many years prior. No one had heard from the highly insular dwarves for ages, and so no one questioned their non-appearance until long after they had been forgotten and apparently displaced with not dwarves, but goblins. From there they spread out over the surface and through the underdark seeking out other races. They can be found in many lands now still exploring a world which is new to them. In their homeland it is highly defensible, and had only recently found paths to the surface and underdark. The latter is ill explored, and the goblins show little interest in digging too much deeper than they have. The rumor goes that they may have found something under there and had to seal it away. Now they wander the world in search of power and magic to bring back home and handle a threat which will eventually devour the world.

Religion
Coggleborn goblins are largely non-religious. Few have time for it, and religion is something they cannot often "puzzle out" and break apart into its base components to see how it works. Mysteries are no interest when they cannot be solved.

Language
Coggleborn goblins speak Common and Goblin. Most also choose Dwarven as one of their bonus languages.

Names
Coggleborn goblins have a suspiciously dwarven naming scheme, giving credence to the idea that the Coggleborn were either raised by, or conquered, dwarves.