#melbatoast

Melbatoast is from a small-to-middling messy goblin clan who live in a somewhat swampy environment, though it is actually quite close to an area of volcanic activity as well. There were maybe four ‘families’ in her clan, all fairly large - goblins don’t really make a huge deal out of like, blood family relationships? The goblin language doesn’t even really have words for a lot of things common language does, like “mother” or “uncle” or whatever, there’s basically just one word per sex for “person whose blood I share” and mostly that’s to keep track of who is and who isn’t for like, the purposes of not getting super inbred. It’s a pseudo-matriarchal society and by other cultures’ terms the woman who was kind of the de facto clan leader was Melbatoast’s aunt, or like, cousin-once-removed, or something. but that wasn’t important. 

A lot of what goblin society primarily values is the concept of possessions and ownership, which is why gobbos sometimes were and still are stereotyped pretty badly as being hoarders and thieves. really, it’s just the core tenet of their lifestyle to treat material possessions with a lot of respect and prominence! and to hold onto anything that comes your way because being able to have those resources available to you as broadly and readily as possible brings strength. as such they don’t put a lot of faith in, or respect on, the sort of Arcane Arts™ - some older generations in particular are very distrustful and disdainful of magic, or anything that can “make something out of nothing.” builders, craftspersons and artisans who can work with their hands have way higher standing. not a lot of magic in goblin communities. 

unnnnfortunately, some of the stereotype and the sometimes-negative treatment of goblins by society at large DID lead to many clans like, making this a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, and a lot of goblins ARE now in the business of being sort of petty criminals, either for their own good or in the employ of others. you know. Melbatoast’s clan/family is a lot like this, in a way that never really sat right with her, but the majority of them just seem kind of...defeatist? like, welp, this is our lot in life as Goblins In This World, this is how it always is, this is what we’re good for. and she went along with it to a certain degree growing up but it was NEVER satisfying and she always felt kind of fish-out-of-water-y when she was expected to be underhanded or pickpockety. she did her best to pick up more crafty skills instead, but again, her clan is fairly small, and there just weren’t always people around who had skills they were able to teach her. they were poor and a little bit disenfranchised and yeah, they were pickpockets. the easiest marks were often researchers and other academics who were venturing to and from the volcanic area to study its properties. 

one day, Melbatoast manages to slip a bag off a young studious type, and it is... there’s basically nothing of value in it. this guy is effectively a broke college student, and almost everything inside of it is notes and paperwork, a large leather journal jammed full of loose sheets in addition to the pages actually bound in it, tied shut with twine, marked and dogeared all over. it’s a hideous hot mess. it’s extravagant and Melbatoast LOVES it, is fascinated by it. As she digs deeper into it, what she discovers turns out to be the personal spellbook of a novice wizard. She has, like, ZERO experience with magic prior to this, but this is the most interesting new and weird thing she has ever seen in her boring, uncomfortable life of stealing and conniving to get by. she becomes obsessed with this wizard’s learnings and starts trying to get a harness on them herself. she is - just as much to her surprise as to anyone else’s - a remarkably quick study. suddenly, she’s doing cantrips! she figures out Feather Fall and Thunderwave and Alarm! She finds some extremely rudimentary schematics for a set of arcanomechanical armor, which she takes to with her limited artisan skills she’s managed to acquire thusfar and like. makes. for herself.