9 Clans to Rule Them All

9 Clans to Rule Them All

The aristocracy of the Ströhm doesn’t form the united whole that the other peoples expect to find. On the contrary, all sorts of clans share power in it.

No one really knows where the nine clans originally come from. The most devout never stop telling how nine goblins followed Rat into the chasms of the Ægis while others insist on the importance of the number nine. In any case the goblin nobility is invariably structured around its nine kinglets who are trying to build the terrifying heterogeneity of the goblin people. It's this desire for controlling variety which is the source of complications on the road of those who wish to get a noble title (even if they have the means to pay for it). Yet many pretenders manage to bypass the hurdles imposed by the kinglets by taking advantage of the trickery of less scrupulous nobles. After all, the clans are as varied as the rest of goblin society. A few things do, however, distinguish them.

The Clan of the Chimes of Bronze

Mainly founded on titles of nobility bound to lands crossed during the exodus and lost since then, the clan of the Chimes of Bronze is the most disorganized one of them all. It gathers freebooters and marauders led by adventurers in a shared hunger for riches and exploration that often keeps it away from the capital. For this reason, this clan is spared from internal struggles and it gets by using the diaspora's staging posts.

The Damned Swamp

The militia of Klûne doesn't depend on the emperor's direct authority, but rather on that of the clan directing it: the Dammed Swamp. Organized into patrols and squads, it is directed by highly colorful personalities who don't make much of traditional titles of nobility and replace them with titles of brigadier, sergeant, captain, major and commander, as well as with a multitude of intermediate titles that are absolutely incomprehensible to outsiders. The Dammed Swamp plays an important role in the plots of Klûne and often sells its services to the lords of the other clans, which explains why it can be found all over Aarklash and is fully involved in the Rag'Narok.

The X Clan

The X clan unites the goblin mutants in a same group dominated by the preoccupation of anonymity. Its titles refer to parts of the mangrove that are occupied by villages of mutants that the clan makes a point of honor of defending. Hard to understand for common goblins, the X clan's interests often cause it to participate in the goblin people's military excursions into faraway lands.

The Black Tooth

The pirate clan of the Black Tooth no longer needs to be presented. Built on Captain Krill's vast fortune, this clan has recently acquired a good number of titles that had fallen into disuse and were all given to Captain Krill. For good reason, many wonder about this accumulation of titles, yet never out loud. The captain, unable to remember all of his titles, has transformed them into sailor's vocabulary and given himself the enviable name of Captain Krill de Tain de Purple de Nur-An-Kor de Bisotte de Mna Scaith de Trabue, which is often shortened to "Captain Krill."

The Black Tooth is now moored in Cadwallon.

The Clan of the Thundering Bells

The clan of the Thundering Bells includes the most fervent worshipers of Rat. Specialized in mystical quests and in spiritual designs, this clan floods Aarklash with its random and sudden tides. Though faith can move mountains, it sometimes fails, and to make up for this the clan abusively uses the mountain-breaker. This fault, combined with the point of honor the clan places in simultaneously firing nine cannonballs in every confrontation, gives an especially random aspect to the battles its wages. It is therefore not unusual to see the clan completely destroy its own army, turning its opponent into the spectator of its self-destruction.

The Clan of the Mounds of Dirt

The indestructible bastion of the Ströhm nobility, the clan of the Mounds of Dirt, as the Ægis Mountains are affectionately nicknamed, has a great love for chivalrous ideals. Its troops, almost all Ströhm, obey the sacrosanct precepts of the N.B.A. under all circumstances and indulge in displays of courtesy in the backwaters of the swamps where this clan's fiefdoms are located. Yet one shouldn't be misled, for the Ströhm are formidable opponents and their titles are among the most important ones of goblin nobility. This clan alone checks and balances the emperor's absolutist tendencies.

The Clan of the Black Rats

Totally turned to technological innovation, this clan, which gathers the owners of land near Bran-Ô-Kor, has specialized itself in ranged combat. Filled with sharpshooters, gas-blowers and others of the sort, it is often used as support for the other clans and is in a strong position to sell its services at a high price. The whole clan is totally and utterly devoted to its chief, the living-legend Golborak.

The Clan of the Helldivers

A motley group of disgraced marauders, the clan of Helldivers seeks the riches underground that its brothers look for at the surface. It has taken the clan years to gather the resources required to buy the titles that make it up. Closer to Darkness than to Destiny, this clan makes extensive use of forgotten artifacts, which ensures it of the respect of its peers.

The Mercenary Company of the Burrowers

The natural extension of the log cabin villages of the Plateau of Burrowers, this clan prefers being called a mercenary company for business reasons. It also includes Kelts, trolls and even a few Wolfen pariahs, thus fully justifying its denomination.

The Ûraken Clan

The Ûraken clan is not counted as one of the nine. The shogun’s exile and its cultural distance prohibit this faction from being counted among the pillars of goblin nobility. Worse yet, Ûraken’s recent return is seen by the Ströhm nobility as an attempt to replace it in its military functions. Emperor Izothop, who is well aware of how fragile power has become due to the clans of No-Dan-Kar, is counting on Ûraken to slowly wear away the nobility’s privileges to clear the way for absolutism. Nobody, however, knows what Ûraken’s true plans are.

The Yakûsa Clan

The Yakûsa clan has a reputation of spawning the most ruthless and determined goblin warriors. Exiled to Zoukhoï, a volcanic island north of the plateau of No-Dan-Kar, this clan rebels against the imperial authorities, these dissidents put their lives and their art of combat in the sole service of the god Rat.  The Yakûsa clan demolishes all the common places that are generally attributed to goblins. Cowardice, spinelessness, and treacherousness, all the faults that usually give the rats of No-Dan-Kar their unique charm, are fought there under the leadership of one of the most extraordinary war chiefs of the goblin nation: Shogun Yakûsa.

Notes

9 Clans to Rule Them All lore excerpt is from Cry Havoc volume 7.