Gilgren kobolds

According to the Gilgren, the first dragons may have helped Hallisan and the other Nine save Scarterra from being eaten by Turoch , but the first noble dragons' descendants quickly became corrupt bullies. The kobolds are the second oldest race alive today because the dragons exterminated all the new races that emerged after them.   Greymoria couldn’t stand for this. Working with Phidas and Korus they fashioned a new race from the flesh of the corpse of a particularly despotic dragon king, Gilgraesh (who was eventually murdered by his own son).   Greymoria reanimated his flesh into the first kobolds. With the cunning and power of their dragon blood they were able to avoid the dragon’s notice until they grew numerous and organized enough that they could survive a genocide attempt. They even managed to kill no small number of dragons by the time of the First Unmaking .   They Kobolds helped weaken the dragons enough to allow the other races to flourish, including the elves. The elves, in their hubris, hunted the kobolds and other races besides in their attempt to emulate the dragons and rule the entire world with an iron fist. They faced an Unmaking just like the dragons did. The humans are no better and will fare the same in due time. The kobolds survived the end of Age of Dragons, they survived the end of Age of Elves, and the Gilgren kobolds intend to watch happily as the Age of Humans collapses.   A few Gilgrens believe that they can rule the next age, but most are settling for surviving and continuing to be the world’s second oldest race and watch from a distance as the next dominant race also collapses. A few Gilgren tribes speak of an age where no one race dominates and the races live in their own territories leaving each other alone: not ideal, but a vast improvement over the current situation. Gilgren kobolds gravitate towards Greymoria who they view as their creator and patron. Korus is also fairly popular. While the depth of worship of Korus is far less than Greymoria, they are more likely to pray to him on a daily basis (often praying to find food and avoid dangers) as his purview includes the natural world that they need to survive in.   Of all the kobold cultures, Gilgren most closely resemble the entry in traditional D&D worlds. They hate most other races and generally attack them, rob them, enslave them, and eat them whenever they perceive the odds are in their favor.   Because of their raiding lifestyle, the Gilgrens are the most nomadic of all the kobold cultures just by necessity. They regularly have to move on because they’ve depleted an area or have become a large enough nuisance to the other races that they warrant an organized response. They tend to suffer more violent deaths than other kobolds and this has affected their society. They put less effort on mating for life and more emphasis on the importance of continuing their race. They still observe the birthing trek ritual that all kobolds do, but they generally place their nests a lot closer to their camp than the Laershin Kobolds or Tiamalan kobolds do. Indecently close, so say the other two kobold cultures).   Gilgren tribes tend to follow the leadership of whoever is most personally powerful, usually the most potent sorcerer. It’s noted that Gilgren tribes have noticeably more sorcerers than the other kobold tribes. The Gilgren’s themselves claim it’s due to Greymoria ’s blessing, but a few scholars who have studied kobolds have established that Gilgren sorcerers tend to be fairly weak physically. Among other kobold tribes, sorcerers-to-be are often the last ones to make it to camp. It is speculated that a disproportionate number of would-be sorcerers die on the birthing trek.   Gilgren are generally hostile to other races, but they are not mindlessly hostile. They will try to scout out potential targets near them. They will weigh their options gauging the strength of their potential targets, the potential for loot, the potential for reprisals, and make sure to have an exit strategy. While their avenues to make contact are limited, Gilgren kobolds will try to establish trading relationships with mercenary minded non-kobolds to fence things they steal that they can’t immediately use. They also have allied directly with Greymoria friendly groups but these alliances tend to be short-lived.   All other factors being equal, they will attack a non-human before a human. This isn’t because they like humans, but this is because humans are more numerous than the other races and more likely to have retaliating kin. They figure as the dominant race humans will be hard to topple until the Third Unmaking hits. After (or during) the Third Unmaking, the Gilgren plan to really let loose all their pent up hostility and let humanity face their well-deserved wrath.   The Gilgren love to hunt dragons, but they rarely have the power to make a serious attempt at dragon hunting unless they can isolate a very young dragon. Sometimes young dragons escape, and come back to wreak vengeance on the kobold tribe generations later. By this point the kobolds might not even remember why this dragon is angry at them, and it looks unprovoked. So the embittered survivors now have one more campfire story about how awful dragons are and the cycle of hate continues.   Historically, Gilgren kobolds would attempt to recruit tribes of Tiamalan kobolds they met if they are currently following Greymoria or one of the Nine currently friendly with Greymoria , but they were prone to attack them otherwise. In lieu of a direct attack, Gilgren are well known to attack a powerful non-kobold force and then attempt to frame the nearest Tiamalan tribe for their own atrocities.   In recent generations this enmity has softened. Nowadays, Gilgren kobolds are more likely than not to give Tiamalans a free pass. Serious losses fighting the humans in recent generations has convinced most Gilgren leaders that they can’t afford to fight their own kind. Unless Mera is a particular Tiamalan clan’s patron in which case all bets are off.   The Gilgren have also reduced their hostilities against the Laershin Kobolds . The Laershin have long memories and are not about to forget all the times they suffered due to the actions of the Gilgren either directly or as a result of being blamed for Gilgren atrocities against the other races.   Because the Laershin are so territorial, they usually have the home court advantage and sometimes have local allies with an anti-Gilgren/pro-Laershin understanding. Even the most far-reaching nomadic Gilgren tribes tend to make a note of where all known Laershin territories are, so they can avoid them. If they willingly enter a Laershin territory, it’s usually in great force of arms to discourage Laershin attacks, or with a substantial bribe to buy temporary peace.