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[Vester]

Ooh, so they're satans from hell land.

Or the "Underworld" could mean they just come from underground, but I don't think so.

Maybe they're like Rattlesnake Jake - they build themselves up to be some kind of hideous supernatural force, even if they actually aren't. And like Rattlesnake Jake, they come to believe their own legend.

[Matoro]

That's very interesting topic.

I have always thought something like Goblin-Demon pact to reason for gobbo immortality. But it seems that demons do not have (yet) any kind of magical powers which would give immortality. So let's search answer from goblin biology.
They are some kind of lizard-humanoids, aren't they?
Dead by old age is caused by aging of cells. But what if gobbos are race which can regrow any tissue or cell? It makes them immortal.
That made me think... why goblins are so evil? Or why others thought they are so evil? Were gobbos been many hundred years ago normal race in peace with others? Maybe some demons, who had escaped from underground to surface, took over goblin fortress and started civil war of goblins? Evil goblins led by demons won that war and killed all peacefull goblins. After that, goblins have been evil.

[peskyninja]

First my english knowledge are limeted so I'll do my best to  try to explain.
An old cell has "pieces" of it destroyed, including DNA and RNA so if the gobbos can "regrow" their cells they won't do anything diferent than we do,we just copy old cells.

[Organum]

Well, what if their cells reproduce without losing telomerase, and also they don't become cancer ridden? That would prevent them from aging (I think? Even if I'm wrong, this is just WMG).

It's probably magic, though. :|

[Koronii]

I always thought that goblins were the enslaved descendants of dwarves who dug too deep.

[Tevish Szat]

With the child-snatching behavior and immortality, I see DF's as a form of what would typically be called the Fair Folk, or Faeries.  Such creatures are generally immortal, and are quite noted for their child-snatching behavior.  Creatures referred to as "goblins" are found among their number, and "goblins" are in traditional (pre-tolkien) tales universally a sort of fairy creature with an evil nature or at least a bent towards mischief.

DF seems to have spliced in Tolkien's Goblins/Orcs, which came in hordes and waged war, with the faerie goblins that caused mischief and stole children, resulting in war-like immortal immoral child-snatchers.

[Black_Legion]

With the child-snatching behavior and immortality, I see DF's as a form of what would typically be called the Fair Folk, or Faeries.  Such creatures are generally immortal, and are quite noted for their child-snatching behavior.  Creatures referred to as "goblins" are found among their number, and "goblins" are in traditional (pre-tolkien) tales universally a sort of fairy creature with an evil nature or at least a bent towards mischief.

DF seems to have spliced in Tolkien's Goblins/Orcs, which came in hordes and waged war, with the faerie goblins that caused mischief and stole children, resulting in war-like immortal immoral child-snatchers.

Indeed it has but you are forgetting the genius, bipolar, sock-obsessed,  metalworking, stone artifice building sociopaths that are the dwarves. I think this would make dwarves a mash-up of equal parts Hannibal Lecter, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Shelden from the Big Bang Theory. This revelation is both intriguing and shakes me to my core... now when the hell will that damn execution(Fun) tower be complete !!Science!! won't just happen on its own!

[Kappas]

I have always thought that immortality of the goblins is simply an innate trait, because they were created so, or alternatively it came from evolution. You see, when goblins massacred each other in prehistory to the brink of destruction, those who lived long enough to find means to reproduce survived.

[Yoink]

Personally I think of goblins as being an organic race, but I guess there's some evil shamanistic magic or something involved in keeping them alive. As for the obsession with pain and cruelty, perhaps they're a bit like Dark Eldar in that respect?

[Vester]

Personally I think of goblins as being an organic race, but I guess there's some evil shamanistic magic or something involved in keeping them alive.

There's no reason it has to be evil shamanistic magic, since goblin evil is definitely not innate and depends entirely on where they're raised (their [ETHIC] tags specifically). It could just be... regular shamanistic magic?

Or the Mark of Cain. Maybe it's a curse that causes them to persist?

[UltraValican]

Goblins for me have always been a "once great empire sort of deal", they were the first to discover "adamantine" and were overun by the demonic forces of hell. My explanation of their imortality is that they once had the best healthcare/medicine in the world. In my forts, I'm attacked by 2 types of goblins.
Type 1
Rebels trying to end your fort before you can breach hell and share their fate.
Type 2
Demon mandated attacks forcing you to tap into adamantine and release the king's"friends"

Obviously, elves are corrupted goblins.

Theres also df fluff : The Threetoe story: Snatcher
It potrays a Goblin having a child with an Elven Queen and kidknapping his own daughter, not out of savagery however, but so his daughter would have a choice in who to live with eventually. The spawn of a goblin or an elf( Gelf?)  could take after either parent, so thats not a bad theory.

[DG]

The goblins are created by the land and are tasked to defend it from imbalance. They are sustained by the land and do not need to eat. They are not born and thus do not naturally die. Their methods are the ones proven most effective, warfare and pillage. Whenever a certain faction becomes too powerful and threatens the land with their undue influence, the goblins rise up and do their duty. Over the years goblins have learned that dwarves are especially prone to excess so they tend to send raiding parties, even against small settlements, to keep them in check. Preventative-maintenance, if you like. If a dwarven civilization manages to grow to unhealthy proportions despite the goblin husbandry, with their forges consuming forests, their butchers decimating species and their burrows riddling the earth, the goblins must cull them for the greater good. The dwarves have no concept of the greater good and so ascribe notions of evil to the goblins.

Goblins adopt members of other species for investigative reasons. They hope to learn more about the most troublesome species and perhaps find a way to influence them to take on a less destructive path through life and thus avoid the goblins taking iron to them like gardeners to weeds. With the latest update the goblins are probably investigating the badger menace, those bastards are everywhere.

[NRDL]

The goblins are created by the land and are tasked to defend it from imbalance. They are sustained by the land and do not need to eat. They are not born and thus do not naturally die. Their methods are the ones proven most effective, warfare and pillage. Whenever a certain faction becomes too powerful and threatens the land with their undue influence, the goblins rise up and do their duty. Over the years goblins have learned that dwarves are especially prone to excess so they tend to send raiding parties, even against small settlements, to keep them in check. Preventative-maintenance, if you like. If a dwarven civilization manages to grow to unhealthy proportions despite the goblin husbandry, with their forges consuming forests, their butchers decimating species and their burrows riddling the earth, the goblins must cull them for the greater good. The dwarves have no concept of the greater good and so ascribe notions of evil to the goblins.

Goblins adopt members of other species for investigative reasons. They hope to learn more about the most troublesome species and perhaps find a way to influence them to take on a less destructive path through life and thus avoid the goblins taking iron to them like gardeners to weeds. With the latest update the goblins are probably investigating the badger menace, those bastards are everywhere.

They're elves.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Vester]

The goblins are created by the land and are tasked to defend it from imbalance.

I like this. It basically fluffs the goblins as the world's immune system. Of course they can't do anything about horrible apocalyptic problems like the melting bug, but then, the immune system can't handle everything either.

[Kappas]

I also like that idea. Perhaps because I have always apreciated certain greyscaleness in ethics and the depth that comes with it.

Also being created by land is quite satisfactory thought, since, you see, it makes it seem almost like a law of nature. Just like clouds consist of dissipated water.