(Note: "Goblin" and "goblinoid" are the standard terms of reference for a particular, largely-nocturnal race of /Homo sapiens/ in the Black Steel world. Like humans and elves, they could probably be divided into various geographically and culturally distinct "subraces," but almost no one ever attempts to define such categories for goblinoids, since differences of culture and even physical appearance tend to vary widely even within a small geographic area among goblinkind; the extent of the differences between "subraces" are so insignificant in comparison with those that are often found between local tribes that such divisions are typically ignored completely by students of goblin lore -- which, as with "subraces" of humans, likewise confined to superficial differences such as in skin color, is about as much attention as they deserve. Of course, the human desire to categorize things typically leads to other divisions of goblinkind into "subraces" of other varieties, typically associated with size or ferocity, but these don't represent even true subraces at all; they refer to common developmental or cultural factors that may occur in similar ways in widely-separated places and have nothing to do with heredity.)
Humans use any number of different words to refer to beings, real or imagined, who are at once like and unlike them enough to cause revulsion. From goblin to bugaboo to bogey, with countless variations like "hobgoblin" and "bogeyman," arguably extending to the likes of "barbarian" and "brute," most of these words have come at one time or another to be used for goblin peoples. While some insist that certain words specify certain "types" of goblins, this usage is utterly inconsistant from one human land to another; one nation's "bugbear" is another one's "gob."
Physically, goblins resemble humans with somewhat over-sized ears, noses, and eyes, relatively long arms, and a large quantity of body hair. Their skin is typically grey, but their hair is almost always black among goblins in their prime, tending toward grey or white like human hair if they manage to survive to old age. Their eyes may be red, brown, grey, or black, though red is believed to be the most common. Goblin noses usually appear as though the nostrils were permanently flared, and their canine teeth tend to be longer than the average for those of humans or elves. There are number of subtler differences in their facial structure as well, which make goblins immediately recognizable to anyone familiar with them -- and, by the standards of most human observers, contribute to their hideous ugliness. For what it's worth, goblins appear to be of divided opinion about human appearances, running the full spectrum from copious praise for human beauty to revulsion at human ugliness. Even if all concerned were really telling the truth as they saw it however, it must be remembered that all were goblins who (more-or-less-)willing decided to interact with humans, so it is unlikely to be a truly representative sample.
Primarily a nocturnal race, typically living in dense forests and the shallow parts of caves, goblins do appear to have some anatomical and physiological advantages that help them to see better in the dark, and to rely more heavily on their other senses than do humans, but it is important to bear in mind that these differences are small in comparison with those between different species; goblins can't see in total darkness, and in truth, most of their ability to function better than most humans at night comes down to practice and training, honed over the course of many generations as night-bound creatures.
Most humans regard goblins as intrinsically and entirely evil creatures -- some due to prevailing mythologies, some due to assumptions that anything ugly must be evil, and some due to bitter experience. While the notion that "evilness" is a natural, hereditary trait of goblinkind is clearly ludicrous -- Black Steel personnel are well aware that goblins can be as peaceful, empathetic, trustworthy, and virtuous as any human being, as inhabitants of Gorlog's village have amply demonstrated on many occasions -- the hatred that has grown up between humans and goblinkind is indisputable, and its most violent atrocities rather one-sided. Where most humans would just as soon avoid goblin caves and never interact with the creatures, goblin culture almost universally extolls murder, pillage, rape, and destruction of humans and their property. In this case, the rare exception -- such as Gorlog's village, where unmistakably goblinoid people, growing up in a culture of tolerance for their human neighbors, are almost universally friendly to those neighbors, happily trading, teaching, learning, and sharing labor and protection with them -- really does seem to prove the rule. Whatever the cause, most goblin cultures seem to extoll violence and larceny toward human beings, in spite of their manifest native capacity to form more peaceful societies. It has been argued by a few -- nearly always by those who do not themselves dwell near hostile goblin tribes -- that greater tolerance of and friendship toward goblinkind on the part of human beings would lead to peaceful relations between the two peoples, but it is not only said but amply demonstrated throughout history that goblin tribes willing simply to refrain from attacking and stealing from their human neighbors are almost always left in peace, and yet it is rare for goblin tribes to take this step, no matter how peaceful or tolerant their human neighbors may be. Such research as Black Steel has been privvy to suggests that most goblin tribes would have to abandon most of their cultural heritage in order to long interact peacefully with human beings. Of course, individual goblins are as capable as humans of rejecting the mores of their native societies, and the most tolerant of human cities are likely to include small populations of "renegade" goblins -- to say nothing of Night Harbor, where not only all human races, but any number of sentient species mingle and conduct their various trades, in an atmosphere of extreme latent danger, but mostly peaceably.
The extent of magical aptitude among goblinkind is hard to guess, though it certainly is not as widespread as among elven peoples. Given the typical size of their tribes, their most common cultural mores -- typically intolerant of learning -- and the rarity of communication from tribe to tribe, it would be unsurprising to find no wizards among goblinkind even if a much greater proportion of their population were natively capable of wielding magic than is true of humanity. In fact, Black Steel personnel have never encountered a goblin wizard -- unrealized potential is harder to assess -- and though goblin shamans are sometimes claimed to possess miraculous powers, there has been no opportunity for Black Steel to confirm any of these as more than stories.
Goblins and human beings breed true -- it is not clear whether the same is true of elves and goblins -- and the children of such pairings are typically strong and healthy, blending the racial characteristics of their parents. Berlokh, Thaqz's assistant, is the example best known to Black Steel personnel of these. Among human societies, anyone with both goblin and human ancestry in their family's recent history is said to have "goblin blood," especially when physical characteristics -- from red eyes to subtle differences in the shape of the face -- give them away. The term "goblin blood" is usually considered an insult among humans, and used as such, and some human nations have been known to ban people with known goblin heritage from citizenship, or even to exile or imprison them upon discovery, but it has been said that these receptions are preferable to those normally received at the hands of goblin tribes into whose clutches humans with or without goblin blood have fallen. At all events, Black Steel does not make goblin blood a bar to citizenship, whether or not there is any human blood at all mixed in, and the use of the term "goblin blood" as an insult among humans is rare in the extreme in a nation where using it in that fashion would insult not only the target of the words, but a number of Black Steel's allies and military personnel who truly have goblin blood, or are goblins entirely.
