Illgrum

When I was five, I met our uncle for the first time. He greeted our father with a tight hug. When he saw me, he gaped. Then he smiled. And then he pat me on my head.

There it was again. The voice that was disturbing my slumber.

Uncle talked a little with father. “We’re going on an adventure, Frasmul,” father told me. The next day, we were off to make father a Goblin King.

Back then, I couldn’t understand. I spent years travelling with my father and uncle. The former taught me how to fight and survive, whereas the latter taught me the arts and eloquence. We visited every tribe, and I learned all the dialects spoken by our kind.

Only when I became fifteen years old did I understand what exactly my two role models were planning. If my father became a Goblin King, the people back home would finally recognize him as legitimate ruler. From there, he and his younger brother would conquer all the other goblins, and make a kingdom where everyone could live without fear of humans and beasts.

Ah, man. Who are you? Just let me sleep in peace, for God’s sake! I’m the new chieftain of the Ausmulii; I have a big day tomorrow!

“Frasmul, my boy, us goblins are a savage people who continue to lack a central direction to lead us to security. Our people, your grandfather, our neighbors, they were all killed because our system proved all but robust. You want your mother and your beloved Astvid to live safely, yes? That’s why your father must become king,” is what my uncle told me when I asked him what we were doing all this adventuring for. It seemed to me that father and uncle could not let the past go.

Our uncle means well. He really does. But he is misguided. When we learned of a particular narration about the ancient goblin hero Olfrik from the Turacetae tribe, my uncle was convinced that a sip from the blood of a dragon would cause my father to ascend and become a Goblin King. When we returned to employ our tribe in the search of this blood, they jailed my father and crucified him.

You’re the voice that didn’t let me rest on my first night in this world, and now you won’t let me sleep the first night that I’m proclaimed chieftain Albaric either?! What, will I hear you on my first night as king too then? What a pain…

Uncle and I were left unpunished, and we set out in search of the blood ourselves. To my shock and to my uncle’s delight, we found it after a year of searching. My uncle told me that I had to inherent the destiny of my father and take his name for myself, but… I couldn’t do it.

I wasn’t meant for this destiny—for this burden. I cannot be a king. I was born in the wrong time, because I should have been born a simple farmer or laborer. A grandiose life of rulership and glory is not for me. The modest, and humble—THAT is what I was meant for.

Huh? What are you, some loser? I was born to be a king, and a life of splendor is exactly what I desire. How can anyone call themselves a man and want to live some normal, boring life?

That is why I escaped, Albar. Or perhaps I should say Albaric? Haha.

I don’t really know who you are, to be honest, but I have nothing to tell you so far except this:

“Thank you for letting me escape my destiny, and living my life for me.”

***

“WHOA! Huh?!” I yelled out, and surveyed my surrounding. “I swear I just heard someone whisper in my ear… what in the hell was that?”

I was lying down on a freshly-cleaned, king-sized bed. It was my first comfortable sleep every since I came over to this world. The beds here were not comfortable at all, and even this king-size wasn’t all that comfortable compared to modern mattresses, but it was still better than the average here.

The room—or more like MY chamber—was decently spacious. It was part of the former town hall—now MY property—and it is one of the only buildings in Casbriga that was entirely constructed out of stone and wooden planks. The most important building—MY building—required the most durable material, after all. One day, I hope to see all the buildings in this town reaching the same material quality. Prosperity, not only for the ruler, but for all goblins.

Well, since I was already awake, and really did not want to return to sleep only to be disturbed by that voice again, I might as well get ready for the day. The most pressing goal at the moment, now that I have established a base of power, was to make a structured plan.

Right now, I had two goals which I would have to expound upon:

1. The unification of the five goblin tribes into a single kingdom in order to create a strong nation that can stand up to invaders, whether animal or human.

2. The building of a revamped system that will solve the internal strife within the goblin populace. A system in the sense of a constitution, a legal framework, and institutions.

I had a few ideas regarding both already. For the first point I could potentially train all my tribe’s goblins into Crawgoblins, thus making me the military hegemon—the big cheese, if you will—of Gobland. And for the second point, I could implement a system akin to feudalism. I mean, there’s plenty of reasons why feudalism was THE dominant system throughout medieval Europe, and to some related extent, the Islamic world. To be fair, feudalism was different all around Europe, so it’d be more accurate to speak of feudalisms. Plural. In that case, I would maybe opt for Austro-German feudalism, seeing as I’m Austrian myself.

Hmm… I’m not sure. Goblins are different from the humans on Earth, so perhaps I should try to invent a completely new system? Oh, but how could I ever come up with such a thing! It’s not like someone decided to invent feudalism; Charlemagne just handed his conquered land to people whom he trusted, who in turn handed it out to those they trusted, and so forth, until you end up with an entire realm full of barons and dukes, lords and ladies, all “organized” in some “neat” hierarchy.

So, what I need right now is information. Only then can I hash out a plan. Perhaps I could get the help of the other Highgoblins as well, seeing as they’ve all sworn their loyalty to me. I trust them, and I have faith in their powers and intellect, so there’s potential there. For now… onwards to my uncle! With his guidance, we can probably make a plan. I wonder if he was awake at this time?

***

The Illgrum peninsula is home to a plethora tribes, peoples, and animals. As the name implies, it is surrounded on all sides by inland seas and is connected to the mainland through a single land bridge. Though the entire coastline has long been dotted out on the maps of human cartographers, the upper left corner of the peninsula remains undiscovered, blocked off by mountains from the inland and by steep cliffs at the shore. Everything apart from this fringe territory is referred to as Gobland, home of goblinkind.

The goblins are divided into five tribes that our hero Albaric must unify.

First is his own tribe, the Ausmulii. They rule the center north of the peninsula, and border the kingdom of Lugustia, making it close to the land bridge that connects Illgrum to the rest of the continent. Apart from their shiny, silver hair, the Ausmulii are most well-known for their second Gnobble—Albaric’s great-grandfather—Zakilianric, who singlehandedly stabilized the Ausmulii tribe after dissent threatened to break it up, and who managed to ward off the invading Toretanii from the south. Ever since Albaric’s father departed, the tribe has lost control of its outer territories and become the smallest among the tribes.

Second is his neighboring tribe to the east, the Bugretanii. Akin to their Ausmulian brethren, they too border Lugustia and share in the land bridge between them. They are the most susceptible to human raids, and are thus considered the weakest of the goblin tribes. This reputations holds some truth—as endless warring is bound to leave a nation weakened—but most of it stems from the fact that the Bugretanii suffered many a defeat at the hands of man. Despite all this, the Bugretanii hold the highest share in Hobgoblins among the tribes. Warring weakens a nation, but it forges men from fire and steel. And since Goblins ascend into Hobgoblins once one acquires enough combat skill, it became only natural for them to have an on average stronger populace. In simple terms, constant raids leave them broken as a nation, but hardened as fighters.

To the west of the Ausmulian lands lies the third nation, the Laiesyces dual-tribe. This unique diarchy is the result of two tribes—the Laie and the Esyces—merging together into one, in order to thwart the other large goblin tribes. They boast two Gnobbles instead of one—each head of their own subtribe—making it possible for them to administer and rule over more land compared to their silver-haired neighbors. The Laiesyces suffer from internal strife, as the two co-rulers often clash in ideal and policy. With the balance of power threatening to tip over if any Gnobble becomes complacent, the Laiesyces prefer to keep to their own and adopt a more isolationist leaning.

To the south lies the fourth and last nation to directly border the tribe of Ausmul, the Toretanii. As a recent subject state to the final goblin tribe further south, the Toretanii are among the least developed of the goblins. With most of their population being non-ascended, basic, weak Goblins, the Toretanii make up for it in vast numbers, boasting the highest population second to only their overlord nation. Relations between Albaric’s tribe and their southern neighbor are strained. Both Albaric’s grandfather and great-grandfather waged war against them, after all, so now that another Habzakii’s sits on the chieftain’s seat of Ausmul, tensions are growing once again. Conciliation with the Toretanii will be tricky.

The final tribe came much to our hero’s dismay. The Turacetae, controlling all of the Illgrum peninsula’s southern coastline, is less of a tribe and more of a kingdom…