The Roads of the Underdark

You wanna know about the Goblins, eh? Little Copper Nick here, and I've heard a few of Pop's tales about them. They're a strange bunch, those tunnel dwellers, but they've carved out their own piece of the Wasteland, no doubt.

The Roads of the Underdark

Pop reckons they're called Goblins because of where they live. See, when the Great Slow Burn really took hold, and the sun started cooking everything alive, folks had to find shade. A lot of 'em went underground, into the old world's road tunnels and subways. These weren't just any tunnels, mind you. They were vast, sprawling networks, forgotten arteries of the old Raskoll system. That's where the Goblins set up shop.

They're skinny and pale from never seeing the proper sun, always lurking in the shadows. And yeah, they wear those cloth hoods and scavenged rags to keep from getting burned if they ever venture out. Pop says they're like the old stories of goblins – living in the dark, swarming in mobs, and always a bit out of sight.

Mobs and Markers

And "mobs" is the right word for 'em. They don't have proper tribes or leaders like us surface folk. It's more like a dozen families all moving together, sometimes breaking off, sometimes joining up with another mob. They're quick, too, darting through the broken concrete and rebar like they were born to it.

The other factions definitely look down on the Goblins. Call 'em "tunnel rats" or "sun-dodgers." Say they're not fit for the open Wasteland. But don't let that fool you. The Goblins know those underground passages better than anyone. They've got their own markers and signs down there, a language of scrawls and symbols that only they understand. They might not be the biggest or the strongest, but they're cunning, and they know how to survive where others would just get lost in the dark.

The New First Nation

Pop, he always had a grudging respect for 'em. He used to say that while we're fighting over the scraps of the old world on the surface, the Goblins are building something new in the guts of it. They're the new First Nation of the Raskoll 3000, in a way. They adapted. They found a home where no one else wanted to look. They might be pale and a bit odd, but they've claimed the underground, and that's a mighty big patch of the Wasteland to call your own.

So, next time you hear about a Goblin mob, remember it's not just a derogatory name. It's about where they came from, how they live, and how they've made the deepest, darkest parts of the Raskoll their own territory.