Kobolds

It's hard to believe that hordes of kobolds once threatened the safety of every woman, man, and child on Terrek. For the better part of a decade, hundreds of thousands of these creatures nearly overran the world, squawking and whooping in their high-pitched voices, killing and pillaging. They bred frequently and caused an amount of terror quite disproportional to their heights. Today, however, kobolds are practically extinct, thanks to the effectiveness of the once-popular Kobold Control Wand.

A Kobold Control Wand is an ordinary wand originally invented to eliminate the kobold problem by some rather non-humanitarian mages. It allows any user perfect control over a single kobold's movements (except for those related to speech) without even an Evocation check. Furthermore, every time the wand is activated, it creates an identical duplicate of itself. This self-duplication feature has rendered Kobold Control Wands incredibly common, despite their relative uselessness now that kobolds are in relatively short supply. Most merchants still have a large inventory of kobold wands they'd sure like to get rid of, and many old treasure hordes contain piles of them. Adventurers sometimes carry the old wands for use as kindling.

Kobolds under the control of a kobold control wand are pretty much entirely defenseless, although they can still speak at will, and the wands do not allow the user to change what the kobold thinks or says. Most likely, they will protest vigorously when manipulated with a wand. Most kobolds, understandably, have a profound sense of indignation at being oppressed by other races.

Kobolds are short (around two feet tall) humanoids with a good mix of mammalian and reptilian features. They are skinny, with large, slightly webbed feet and hands. Other than their beady, black pupils, their eyes have no color. Their hair is usually short, messy, and black, and almost without exception greasy. Both male and female kobolds sometimes suffer from what is occasionally referred to as "male pattern balding." Their skin is a spotty, dirty gray — though it is unclear whether this is their natural skin color or simply a coating of filth. Kobolds tend to carry primitive, grubby melee weapons, like spears and clubs.

The kobold style of dress could best be described as "early baroque trash bin." Kobolds seem to enjoy squalor — in fact, they don't seem to be comfortable living someplace until it's so trashed that most other races would consider it unlivable. They root around in filth to meet most of their basic needs, such as those for food and shelter. They either live off the trash of other races or make their own. They are capable of making crafts with some quality, but they don't consider these crafts complete until they've been dragged through the mud and sat upon repeatedly.

Few races can reproduce like kobolds, which is probably why their species still exists at all, and why the possibility of their terrorizing the world remains. Of course, it also helps that they are highly resistant to disease. Plagues that would decimate most races pass kobolds right by — and yet, kobolds always seem to have some disease or other, albeit something that feels fairly mild. Though their immune system fights off disease quite well, it often stops short of a full cure, so though kobolds rarely die of diseases, they are often carriers.

Kobolds tend to panic very easily, although it is unclear whether this is a result of some innate racial tendency or a normal response to dealing with the kind of prejudice they are forced to deal with regularly. Still, most kobolds possess a strong patriotic streak. They usually believe that Terrek was once called Koboldia, and that they will one day rule it. Kobold emotions are highly infectious to other kobolds, and a group of kobolds will thus tend to follow the most emotionally intense and unstable among them.

Kobolds are also well-known web-page editors. It's not easy for them, however, and they often die in huge quantities due to the stress. For example, kobolds died to create this page.

It is said that kobolds taste like chicken, although it is considered impolite to mention this in mixed company.

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