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Notes on Kobolds - Base Form and Transformation
Kobolds are still a greatly misunderstood creatures which is why they are still classified as a monster type in their base form, despite the fact they are rarely agressive and territorial towards other races. It also does not help that at first glance Kobolds live a rather primitive life and seem to have little to no culture, due to a gap in general understanding with little to no research having been done on Kobolds and their life cycle. So in order to rectify this our group of field researches have been sent by Artis University to study and observe the Kobolds in their natural habitats so that with a better understanding the Kobold's lives will be improved as well as they are often still unfairly treated and hunted or downright bullied by other races, but humans in particular.
We were allowed to live with the Longfin tribe in their little forest village, the location of which will be kept secret for their protection as they have faced harassment before which displaced them from their previous home. Curiously this particular tribe has not one, but two, Chimerae protectors living with them and it was one of them whom we had to negotiate our stay with and promise to keep the location of the village a secret. We will cover Chimerae another time as we are here now to focus on the Kobolds, but we will be asking their protectors a few questions in due time...or one of them at least as the larger one does not seem very talkative. (Not to mention some of the team were rather intimidated by the huge Chimerid.)
Kobolds can be found in a variety of habitats but their base form is pretty much the same regardless of the environment save for some different colors, such as a pale and golden color for those who live in arid and dsert areas, and blues for those Kobolds who live by the sea or large lakes, and ofcourse these forest Kobolds who are green in color with a stripe or dapple pattern on their scales. Naturally it would surprise many to hear Kobolds have scales or an entirely different form since they are only familiar with Kobolds who have chosen a different form already and they are hardly ever seen in their base form in or around civilization and some people would not even believe that Kobolds who have not yet transformed are one and the same creature. Regardless of their habitat the Kobold's base form is pretty much the same everywhere aside from some unique adaptations to their environment, they stand between three to four feet in height with a few exceptions being up to six feet and some local legends speak of one base form Kobold being up to eight feet tall but no evidence has been found of that.
Despite their rather short legs and small size Kobolds are very nimble and quick capable of running faster than any human, and as some of the fishing Kobolds proved they are aqually agile in the water and will often catch fish by hand or mouth after chasing down a fish in the water. Something they are well equipped for as they can stay submerged for around twenty minutes in order to ambush fish, although some prefer to just dive in from above from atop a rock in the stream or the river bank.
That is not to say that Kobolds don't use tools such as a fishing rod, most are simply too impatient and prefer a more active method, and the only time they do use tools is while hunting larger prey on land.
Kobolds are also surprisingly strong for their size capable of carrying heavy loads when they move their tribe to another location or bringing their kill back to the village,one infamous report tells of Kobolds sabotaging a siege somewhere as the soldiers would cut down too many trees and the Kobolds would retaliate by carrying off their siege machines with a group of them carrying off an entire trebuchet without dismantling it just so they could use it as fire wood and building a wall around their village for protection. This aparently got so bad that the siege ultimately failed because of the constant raids on their supplies, though this and similar events have caused the Kobolds to remain classified as a monster type. In their natural form Kobolds are also highly resistand to magic and most spells cast on them will either be abdsorbed or greatly reduced, and while not many Kobolds use magic they tend to be rather mediocre spellcasters at best so they only have a defensive advantage in a magic duel one on one but then Kobolds make liberal use of swarm tactics to overwhelm any opponent should they chose to fight anyone.
Andt his brings us to the Kobold's ability to change into another form, something those in the wild will not often use as they will lose all their natural traits and abilities of their base form. Since they lose any advantages of their natural form and trade them off for any new ones of their new form it is not something to be considered lightly even more so since appearantly they can only transform once and never go back to their original form. As such Kobolds only take on another form if they have been greatly impressed by someone or they care much for some one or something. So this transformation could be taking on the form of another animal such as a pet which was dear to them or a hero who saved them in order to be more like them and be closer to them as a sign of respect. For example a few of the Longfin here have chosen to take on the forms of their Chimerid guardians although they likely got little in return as all chimerae have more of less unique traits and abilities. This just goes to prove that it is not always a direct benefit to the Kobolds or their tribe, and sometimes it can even backfire when they gain too much of a certain ability to handle it. As an example the Lipane have a story which they will tell any new mage as a warning of obtaining too much power too quickly, the tale of Grutt Firewatcher, a Kobold who befriended Lipane mage after being saved by them and took on the form of a Lipane. Grutt naturally wasn't prepared for the boost in magical power he recieved and upon returning to his tribe he lost control of his new power and by accident injured many of the tribe and thus was exhiled. During his exhile Grutt would often lose control and cause a number of disasters whenever he tried to do good and help anyone, to the point where a bounty was placed on his head. So eventually the Lipane mage who'se form he took had to come and save him once more from an angry mob and she took him in as her apprentice teaching him to control his new power. Grutt never was able to return to his tribe but he did remain as Naidja's apprentice and assistant and only after a lifetime managed full control of magic at a reasonable level. The moral of the story being that taking shortcuts and gaining power too quickly can be a danger to yourself and others, and it requires patience and discipline to master the arcane arts correctly.
There does not seem to be a limit on what forms a Kobold can take on with their transformation and there have been reports of them taking the form of animals, monsters, or even that of the other races on Eidon such as Lipane, Vossen, Volfen, other lizard folk, and bird folk to name just a few, but hardly ever any reports of them taking a human form which is not all that surprising as they do not have many positive interactions with humans. It is not yet fully understood how exactly the transformation process works and wether it is a spell or simply a strange ability which is unique to Kobolds, so we need to observe this transformation more closely to unravel it wherein lies the problem as Kobolds hide away to transform once they have made up their mind on a form to take. What little we have managed to learn about if from questioning the Longfin there appear to be two ways to imprint a form with the inferior way being by memory which means the form may not be perfect or they do not gain every trait and ability of the original. The second is by touch or holding something touched by the person or being, which leaves a far stronger imprint and takes on every trait and ability of the being they chose to resemble. In the end however both methods lead to the kobold looking like a smaller version of the original being. The process ins't instantaneous as some believed but does in fact take a couple of days no matter which method of imprint is used. We were fortunate to observe one of the Longfin going through the transformation process, though that is to say we did not observe much, but it still provided some interesting data. Once a Kobold has decided on their new form they will isolate themselves and start to prepare by first digging a burrow under a tree and sealing themselves in with a pile of twigs and leaves to hide the entrance and plugging up the entrance tunnel with a wall of clay. However our volunteer made some changes for us by digging out the burrow large enough that two of our researchers could stay inside, and provided we guard the entrance it would not be sealed.
Once the burrow has been sealed the Kobold will then use the remaining clay and leaves to construct a coccoon and seal themselves inside that to undergo the transformation. We were warned to not open the coccoon or use any magic on it to see what was happening inside as doing either of those would either kill the Kobold inside or mess up the transformation which would have been equally devastating to the Kobold if they got the form completely wrong or turned out misshapen. We were able to use some non invasive scrying techniques to at least gain some understanding of th process and why Kobolds chose to undergo transformation in isolation. For one thing they are incredibly vulnerable should their place of transformation be breached, the other reason is for what seems to be happening inside the coccoon making it clear why we should not have opened it to check inside or use too much magic on it. Inside the coccoon the kobold will quickly enter a hybernation like state and for the first few hourse nothing much seems to happen as they just sleep, but then something happens which spooked our observers at first as all life signs inside the coccoon become undetectable and the Kobold appeared to have passed away, however resisting the urge to open the coccoon and keep observing proved to be the right call as soon we could detect something happening inside, as the Kobold's body seems to convert into a slime and then crystalize. These gelatinous crystals will then rearrange themselves into a rough shape of the new desired form and start to solidify again. Again proving why using too much magic might have had negative affects as these crystals seem to contain and store a lot of magic, and are basically crystalized mana which can easily be overcharged with energy with unpredictable results. After a while signs of life can be detected again inside and the coccoon with glow feintly as the Kobold's new form materializes, we decided it was safer to stop any scrying at this point as the magic might otherwise become unstable so we simply waited and recorded any changes from the outside. After five days the process is complete and the Kobold emerges from it's coccoon in their new form, our observers claimed it was a strange feeling like watching a dragon's egg hatch only for a pint size Chimera to emerge from it.
The Kobold did not waste much time to show their new form to the rest of the tribe and they were instantly recognized as we expected as some of our earlier studies have shown that even if they have been apart for years before a transformation Kobolds can still recognize one of their own instantly even if they ahve never seen the new form before, we assume this might be a form of empathic link between tribe members which we assume is another reason for the isomation as otherwise it might be as distressing as it was to our observers to suddenly not sense any life anymore.
We left the Kobold village a few days later as our short expedition came to an end, probably none to soon as their Chimerid guardians were gettign more agitatd by the day with our presence even though the Kobolds were mostly fine with us, probably even entertained in some cases, but we promised we would be back another day to learn more about them. On our return trip back to Artis we discovered we had a stowaway as one of the Kobolds had gotten into our remaining food supplies and fallen asleep after gorging itself so we had to turn back and return him to the tribe, but it pleaded with the leader to stay with us to learn bout the city and the humans like we had learned from them. So today we welcome our newest student, Venn Talespinner, at Artis university as our first Kobold student and field researcher.
~Juliana Carran, Kobold expeditionary leader, Artis University
Made in Hero Forge
Chaarcters belong to me
Chakat_Blackwater
We were allowed to live with the Longfin tribe in their little forest village, the location of which will be kept secret for their protection as they have faced harassment before which displaced them from their previous home. Curiously this particular tribe has not one, but two, Chimerae protectors living with them and it was one of them whom we had to negotiate our stay with and promise to keep the location of the village a secret. We will cover Chimerae another time as we are here now to focus on the Kobolds, but we will be asking their protectors a few questions in due time...or one of them at least as the larger one does not seem very talkative. (Not to mention some of the team were rather intimidated by the huge Chimerid.)
Kobolds can be found in a variety of habitats but their base form is pretty much the same regardless of the environment save for some different colors, such as a pale and golden color for those who live in arid and dsert areas, and blues for those Kobolds who live by the sea or large lakes, and ofcourse these forest Kobolds who are green in color with a stripe or dapple pattern on their scales. Naturally it would surprise many to hear Kobolds have scales or an entirely different form since they are only familiar with Kobolds who have chosen a different form already and they are hardly ever seen in their base form in or around civilization and some people would not even believe that Kobolds who have not yet transformed are one and the same creature. Regardless of their habitat the Kobold's base form is pretty much the same everywhere aside from some unique adaptations to their environment, they stand between three to four feet in height with a few exceptions being up to six feet and some local legends speak of one base form Kobold being up to eight feet tall but no evidence has been found of that.
Despite their rather short legs and small size Kobolds are very nimble and quick capable of running faster than any human, and as some of the fishing Kobolds proved they are aqually agile in the water and will often catch fish by hand or mouth after chasing down a fish in the water. Something they are well equipped for as they can stay submerged for around twenty minutes in order to ambush fish, although some prefer to just dive in from above from atop a rock in the stream or the river bank.
That is not to say that Kobolds don't use tools such as a fishing rod, most are simply too impatient and prefer a more active method, and the only time they do use tools is while hunting larger prey on land.
Kobolds are also surprisingly strong for their size capable of carrying heavy loads when they move their tribe to another location or bringing their kill back to the village,one infamous report tells of Kobolds sabotaging a siege somewhere as the soldiers would cut down too many trees and the Kobolds would retaliate by carrying off their siege machines with a group of them carrying off an entire trebuchet without dismantling it just so they could use it as fire wood and building a wall around their village for protection. This aparently got so bad that the siege ultimately failed because of the constant raids on their supplies, though this and similar events have caused the Kobolds to remain classified as a monster type. In their natural form Kobolds are also highly resistand to magic and most spells cast on them will either be abdsorbed or greatly reduced, and while not many Kobolds use magic they tend to be rather mediocre spellcasters at best so they only have a defensive advantage in a magic duel one on one but then Kobolds make liberal use of swarm tactics to overwhelm any opponent should they chose to fight anyone.
Andt his brings us to the Kobold's ability to change into another form, something those in the wild will not often use as they will lose all their natural traits and abilities of their base form. Since they lose any advantages of their natural form and trade them off for any new ones of their new form it is not something to be considered lightly even more so since appearantly they can only transform once and never go back to their original form. As such Kobolds only take on another form if they have been greatly impressed by someone or they care much for some one or something. So this transformation could be taking on the form of another animal such as a pet which was dear to them or a hero who saved them in order to be more like them and be closer to them as a sign of respect. For example a few of the Longfin here have chosen to take on the forms of their Chimerid guardians although they likely got little in return as all chimerae have more of less unique traits and abilities. This just goes to prove that it is not always a direct benefit to the Kobolds or their tribe, and sometimes it can even backfire when they gain too much of a certain ability to handle it. As an example the Lipane have a story which they will tell any new mage as a warning of obtaining too much power too quickly, the tale of Grutt Firewatcher, a Kobold who befriended Lipane mage after being saved by them and took on the form of a Lipane. Grutt naturally wasn't prepared for the boost in magical power he recieved and upon returning to his tribe he lost control of his new power and by accident injured many of the tribe and thus was exhiled. During his exhile Grutt would often lose control and cause a number of disasters whenever he tried to do good and help anyone, to the point where a bounty was placed on his head. So eventually the Lipane mage who'se form he took had to come and save him once more from an angry mob and she took him in as her apprentice teaching him to control his new power. Grutt never was able to return to his tribe but he did remain as Naidja's apprentice and assistant and only after a lifetime managed full control of magic at a reasonable level. The moral of the story being that taking shortcuts and gaining power too quickly can be a danger to yourself and others, and it requires patience and discipline to master the arcane arts correctly.
There does not seem to be a limit on what forms a Kobold can take on with their transformation and there have been reports of them taking the form of animals, monsters, or even that of the other races on Eidon such as Lipane, Vossen, Volfen, other lizard folk, and bird folk to name just a few, but hardly ever any reports of them taking a human form which is not all that surprising as they do not have many positive interactions with humans. It is not yet fully understood how exactly the transformation process works and wether it is a spell or simply a strange ability which is unique to Kobolds, so we need to observe this transformation more closely to unravel it wherein lies the problem as Kobolds hide away to transform once they have made up their mind on a form to take. What little we have managed to learn about if from questioning the Longfin there appear to be two ways to imprint a form with the inferior way being by memory which means the form may not be perfect or they do not gain every trait and ability of the original. The second is by touch or holding something touched by the person or being, which leaves a far stronger imprint and takes on every trait and ability of the being they chose to resemble. In the end however both methods lead to the kobold looking like a smaller version of the original being. The process ins't instantaneous as some believed but does in fact take a couple of days no matter which method of imprint is used. We were fortunate to observe one of the Longfin going through the transformation process, though that is to say we did not observe much, but it still provided some interesting data. Once a Kobold has decided on their new form they will isolate themselves and start to prepare by first digging a burrow under a tree and sealing themselves in with a pile of twigs and leaves to hide the entrance and plugging up the entrance tunnel with a wall of clay. However our volunteer made some changes for us by digging out the burrow large enough that two of our researchers could stay inside, and provided we guard the entrance it would not be sealed.
Once the burrow has been sealed the Kobold will then use the remaining clay and leaves to construct a coccoon and seal themselves inside that to undergo the transformation. We were warned to not open the coccoon or use any magic on it to see what was happening inside as doing either of those would either kill the Kobold inside or mess up the transformation which would have been equally devastating to the Kobold if they got the form completely wrong or turned out misshapen. We were able to use some non invasive scrying techniques to at least gain some understanding of th process and why Kobolds chose to undergo transformation in isolation. For one thing they are incredibly vulnerable should their place of transformation be breached, the other reason is for what seems to be happening inside the coccoon making it clear why we should not have opened it to check inside or use too much magic on it. Inside the coccoon the kobold will quickly enter a hybernation like state and for the first few hourse nothing much seems to happen as they just sleep, but then something happens which spooked our observers at first as all life signs inside the coccoon become undetectable and the Kobold appeared to have passed away, however resisting the urge to open the coccoon and keep observing proved to be the right call as soon we could detect something happening inside, as the Kobold's body seems to convert into a slime and then crystalize. These gelatinous crystals will then rearrange themselves into a rough shape of the new desired form and start to solidify again. Again proving why using too much magic might have had negative affects as these crystals seem to contain and store a lot of magic, and are basically crystalized mana which can easily be overcharged with energy with unpredictable results. After a while signs of life can be detected again inside and the coccoon with glow feintly as the Kobold's new form materializes, we decided it was safer to stop any scrying at this point as the magic might otherwise become unstable so we simply waited and recorded any changes from the outside. After five days the process is complete and the Kobold emerges from it's coccoon in their new form, our observers claimed it was a strange feeling like watching a dragon's egg hatch only for a pint size Chimera to emerge from it.
The Kobold did not waste much time to show their new form to the rest of the tribe and they were instantly recognized as we expected as some of our earlier studies have shown that even if they have been apart for years before a transformation Kobolds can still recognize one of their own instantly even if they ahve never seen the new form before, we assume this might be a form of empathic link between tribe members which we assume is another reason for the isomation as otherwise it might be as distressing as it was to our observers to suddenly not sense any life anymore.
We left the Kobold village a few days later as our short expedition came to an end, probably none to soon as their Chimerid guardians were gettign more agitatd by the day with our presence even though the Kobolds were mostly fine with us, probably even entertained in some cases, but we promised we would be back another day to learn more about them. On our return trip back to Artis we discovered we had a stowaway as one of the Kobolds had gotten into our remaining food supplies and fallen asleep after gorging itself so we had to turn back and return him to the tribe, but it pleaded with the leader to stay with us to learn bout the city and the humans like we had learned from them. So today we welcome our newest student, Venn Talespinner, at Artis university as our first Kobold student and field researcher.
~Juliana Carran, Kobold expeditionary leader, Artis University
Made in Hero Forge
Chaarcters belong to me
Chakat_Blackwater
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Kobold
Size 1024 x 1024px
File Size 1.29 MB
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