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[Glacies]

Goblins are immortal. General consensus is that Goblins should breed like rabbits. They can construct giant obsidian towers (Although I think the demons do that bit.) They weave giant cave spider silk into clothing. They work with iron, and can use bows and crossbows to boot.

Goblins are badasses.

Also, it strikes me they're a fair bit more clever than people typically think, since, well, they do go to the trouble of making pretty silk garments with decorations on them. This implies they value artwork as well as sheer martial prowess. Which also explains why they have farmers, if a vocation like weaving is not instantly crushed. Although, perhaps, providing clothing and food are seen as neccesary but unpleasant duties. This wouldn't explain the decorations, though.

[Stormrage]

Some goblins just want to watch the world burn.

[Jualin]

Goblins: I picture Goblins as having the same attitude as the Spanish Inquisition. When you have actual physical gods flying around and throwing fireballs, it tends to do wonders for your sense of belief.

Also, as I can't figure out how Goblins would make towers out of obsidian otherwise, I imagine the demons make them for the goblins. The applications of this ability to war are numerous. Goblins lead by a demon could just ignore ground based defense, or the demon could construct ceilings and walls to protect the assaulting goblins from crossbows. Or the assaulting goblins could just set up shop some distance from the defending fortress and build up new dark fortress to gather forces before the final assault.

How they manage to make so many iron items seems a mystery to me as well. Also, why iron? Why not bronze? Or silver? Or steel?

[Vester]

They are immortal, so I imagine that given enough time they could do anything. I think they synthesize iron out of unrefined spite.

[Stephen]

Hmm.  It appears  we all have very varied ideas about the Goblin race.  This probably stems from the fact that our interaction with them is much more limited than it is with humans and elves.

So, MY completely unfounded mental picture of goblin attitude is:

Goblins fight not out of anger or greed, but out of love for the fight.  It's almost a kind of playful rambunctiousness that drives their endless campaign of murder.  Whereas the Dwarfs fear and loathe the Goblins, the goblins look to the Dwarfs with a kind of casual respect of a worthy (though amusing) adversary.  If Dwarfs were not around as a convenient battle partner, the goblins would be just as happy fracturing and fighting amongst themselves.  They obey the demons because the demons tell them things that they would want to do anyway.  They're not simpleminded -- their daily lives are as full of as much variety and drama as the other races (they probably have interesting attitudes towards things like emotions, work, family relations; I really have no speculation in that area).  But at the end of it all, the charge off into battle is the crowning moment that validates and rewards all that other stuff.  They aren't eager to die -- when the battle looks lost, they will cut their losses and hastily attempt to return home.  The shame of retreat is vastly overwhelmed by the thrill of potential -- they can return to fight again, and each seige has the possibility to be more grand and more successful than the last.

[Vester]

They're sort of viking-ish, if you think about it.

Though there's probably a death-cult philosophy out there fixated on their own undying nature. They're an interesting contrast to the elves, actually, which may have been intentional.

[Fault]

WELL THE WAY AH SEE IT

Dwarves:
A strong and stoic race, who treat every situation with a degree of seriousness and pride. Every Dwarf thinks of himself as a tool of epic importance on the cosmic scale. This is the reason for such dire punishments when mandates are delayed, and why no dwarf bats an eye when another one wanders around wearing naught but a vomit-stained hat and mismatched socks. It is because this half-dressed wretch of a dwarf still carries himself with such pride, such honour in all that he does. In dwarven society, the lowliest and most trivial jobs have the potential to become epic skills. What other civilization has legendary conversationalists?

Dwarves never look back on something and laugh. Situations that might seem humorous or unimportant have entire engraved walls dedicated to their memory. Where else but a dwarven fortress will you see an engraving of a queen being eaten by carp right next to and engraving of a farmer making cow cheese? This is because each event in a dwarf's life is just as important as the next, and no action goes unremembered. Dwarves will belt out tales of menial crafting jobs with the same honour and bravado as a soldier discussing past victories.

ELVES:
It is in the nature of an elf to be huaghty and indignant. They have an undeserved sense of superiority which often leads them into conflict with other races. Elven society has many secrets, one being how they manage to survive in the wild without building shelter. They refuse to share these secrets with other races, a tendency which also tends to lead them into conflict. Humans find elves beutiful, and as such are willing to forgive such indesgressions. Dwarves know the truth about Elves though, that they are a hypocrits, and a bigoted and reactionary race.

Elves believe that they are permitted to do certain things that other races should not be able to. Many times have elves sieged dwarves for the percieved sin of cutting trees, while carrying wooden weapons and armour themselves. Elves chastise goblins for eating their dead and drinking the marrow from their bones. But many a dwarf has been emotionally scarred by the sight of his fallen comrade being dismembered and devoured by a frenzied elf. Elves may seem nice to fledgling fortresses, bringing generous cloth and wood supposedly gathered through non-violent means.  But their sense of superiority always leads them to war with the more developed fortresses, as they simply can not tolerate anyone with the potential to be more powerful than them.

[Armok]

Hmm, I kinda like Faults idea abaut dwarves, thou not to that extreme really.

Anyway, I realized that it might be the case that dwarves really loath anything that is immortal, because that seems to be a property shared by goblins, elves, gods, wizards, dragons etc. All the things that dwarves really hate.

[cerapa]

Might be because they want to make artifacts(greatest thing in life) but they wanna make sure its perfect before they make it, so if they were immortal they could never make artifacts.

Their just trying to help.

[Seagoon]

I like the idea that a respected dwarf is any dwarf who works to support the fortress.
A hauler might just carry things around all day, but if he did not then the cheese would not be made and the ore would not be smelted thus the armour and weapons would not be made and the warriors not fed so that hauler shares all the subsequent glory that is earned by those he helps.
And so on...

[atomfullerene]

Goblins: I picture Goblins as having the same attitude as the Spanish Inquisition.

Well, they do tend to show up unexpectedly.....

[TBot Alpha]

Labyrinth:  Admitted inspiration for some of the Goblin traits

We need a David Bowie megabeast. NOW.

[kilakan]

I personally always thought of goblins as elves that at the beginning of time, had some under-lying want to murder all the cute and furry animals of the world and when they saw a demon and it's raw murderous hate something snapped inside them and they went under a smegal-like transformation and eventually became goblins, the embodiment of everything they wanted to do as elves but weren't allowed to.

[Vester]

I personally always thought of goblins as elves that at the beginning of time, had some under-lying want to murder all the cute and furry animals of the world and when they saw a demon and it's raw murderous hate something snapped inside them and they went under a smegal-like transformation and eventually became goblins, the embodiment of everything they wanted to do as elves but weren't allowed to.

That's why they're better than elves too. They're more dwarfy.

[nil]

I personally always thought of goblins as elves that at the beginning of time, had some under-lying want to murder all the cute and furry animals of the world and when they saw a demon and it's raw murderous hate something snapped inside them and they went under a smegal-like transformation and eventually became goblins, the embodiment of everything they wanted to do as elves but weren't allowed to.

Tolken's orcs were elves that had been corrupted by evil gods, so this is an old (and good) conception of them.

re: Kobolds: I don't see them as stealing out of kleptomania or anything like that, but simply because they can steal stuff that is far superior to anything they can make.  They always go for the most valuable item they can get at, after all.