Hack Sling

The Hack Sling Clan shares borders with all three other goblin Clans, and seems to have three cultures within its own Clan culture.  In the south, across the savannah, its culture is rural and tribal, living a "mainstream" goblin life.  In and around its Clan City of Qe-Tare', life is more urbanized and revolves around survival in the Shadowfahl, and a merchant existence involving river trade with the Nine Fist tribes along the great river "K'Aag,"  and in Kurst.  The third culture is coastal, involving fishing villages and ports for raider ships.

This Clan attempts to maintain relatively peaceful relationships with its fellow Clans, though this is not always the case, for there is the usual cross-border raiding, and a particularly fierce contest over the Haxfal Woods.  The only Clan to engage in general trade (though the Razorfang trades in weaponry), this capitalistic attitude has not only enriched the Hack Sling in wealth and culture, but has created an impression of fair dealing, and so frequently Hack Sling goblins are used as mediators throughout the Grimme.  That is not to say that Hack Sling merchant barges are not plundered by Nine Fist tribes or its merchants screwed out of cargos in Kurst... it happens, but not frequently.  Should the Hack Sling turn off its trade, the Nine Fist knows it would quickly find itself without a ready supply of timber, fish and salt, all Hack Sling commodities.

The Hack Sling have no special love for the other Clans, and they look down upon the Razorfang as inferior just as the others do, but they try to co-exist.  Hack Sling units readily contribute to the war effort (and the defense of Hax.)

In general, these goblins are average in size, and common in all respects to ferocity and attitude.  The exception are their elite military units (the 8th Doom) and their coastal raiders.

TERRITORY
Two-thirds of their Clan lands are savannah and hill country.  They lay claim to ½ of the Haxfal Woods, and here is the greatest conflict with the Blood Hand.  Where the usual border skirmishes are expected and shrugged off, within the Haxfal there exists an ever-present state of war between the Blood Hand and the Hack Sling.  Although the border essentially cuts the forest in half, and is clearly marked with stone markers and piked skulls and corpses, the Blood Hand claims the entire forest is theirs.  A tangled and twisted landscape of dark trees, heavy underbrush, vines and labyrinths of rotting siege equipment and decaying fortifications, the forest is also filled with monsters.  It is also filled with booby traps.  It is here that patrols of both clans regularly meet in ambush or outright assault, and it is a place of death.  The forest has no natural resources, but that means nothing to the combatants.  The Hack Sling views the tiny war as one of principal...  "If we give in to the Blood Hand in the Haxfal, what territory will they try to claim next?"  To the Blood Hand, the war is nothing more than an advanced training opportunity for its Raketooth Brigade troopers.

The Clan City of Qe-Tare' sits deep within the Shadowfahl Wood, and in fact almost one-third of their territory is within that dark forest.  Qe-Tare is a strange mix of architecture;  brick and mortar buildings spread outward from the ancient stonework and pyramid-style temples of the "Old Ones."  Surrounding it all is a great earthen rampart with a dry moat trench bristling with sharpened logs and pungi sticks.  The forest has been cleared 200 yards back from the dry moat in every direction.  The north side of the city is ancient stonework transformed into a large river port, where trade barges and the occasional oared warship are docked.  Like most port cities, the docks are the busiest part of town.  A few hardy tribes call the forest home, but for the most part, Hack Sling goblins in this region live within the safety of Qe-Tare.

The Shadowfahl is filled with natural resources; timber, game, wild fruit and tough vines used for rope.  Gathering these resources is a perilous proposal, for the forest is home to spiders... lots of them, all shapes and sizes, all colors, and all levels of sentience...  A few adventurous goblins have attempted to explore the scattered, overgrown cities of the ancients beneath the canopy, delving into crumbling spider temples for golden treasures... few return.  The Hack Sling goblins know there is an evil and ancient Spider King somewhere within that vast wood, ever plotting unknowable schemes... 

At the western edge of their territory is coastline along an inland, saltwater sea called "D'ark Vjaada."  On its far side is a Fjord called "Mother's Trench," which leads to the "Deep Water."  The Hack Sling-controlled coast is dotted with fishing villages which pull their catch out of D'ark Vjaada with nets, and rowed, Viking-style warships for coastal raiding.  The goblins in this area live a very Nordic life, and in many ways are closer culturally to their nearby human opponents than they are to mainstream goblins.  They live in longhouses of timber, respect and fear the sea, avoid the giant lands of Fehirmoor to the north, and take little notice of the rest of the Grimme.  These goblins, called "V'jaadason," are almost never found among mainstream goblin military units or in general theatres of war.

CELEBRATIONS
In addition to the generally-observed goblin holidays, Hack Sling goblins have three of their own;

• H'ammash:  A two day festival in May, a fairly generic celebration of Hack Sling prosperity... (actually, a holiday devised by the merchant elite to sell more goods, food and drink.)
• The Joosting:  Celebrated only by the coastal goblins, this three day event in late March is a celebration of the sea.  New vessels are launched, there is plenty of feasting, and tests of skill in seamanship and arms.  Few fatalities, other than the occasional drunken axe accident or drowning.
• R'Aach Dooma:  Celebrated only within Qe-Tare, this one-day event in October is not necessarily observed by all, although its popularity has been steadily growing over the decades, sponsored by the Shamans of the 8th Doom.  On the surface, it is a day to honor the Shadowfahl and its bounty.  (In reality, it is a religious festival predicated on the stealthy rise of the Spider Cult, reborn from the shades of the temples of the Old Ones.  The prominence of spider symbology in the celebration increases year by year, slowly gaining acceptance.  The increasingly dark nature of this holiday is as insidious as the Spider Shamans themselves.)

Hack Sling dead in the southern lands and Qe-Tare' are interred beneath cairn stones.  The coastal Vjaadson burn their dead as they are set afloat on the water.

WHAT'S ON THE MENU
In the southlands, tribal Hack Sling goblins raise bison for meat and skins, and also feed upon antelope, goat, wattish gruel and Blut-Bread.  On the coast, they dine on fish of all types, including the mighty Gar, and supplement their diet with "Dump Chickens" (seagulls.)  In and around Qe-Tare', Clan goblins enjoy all the fare of the Nine Fist (obtained through trade), a regular diet of fish, fruits from the Shadowfahl, monkey, snake and fried Spider Egg Sacks.

ELITE MILITARY

• The 8th Doom:  This is elite infantry backed by spider-mounted Spider Shamans.  Foot troops specialize in the use of venoms, and poisonous spiders employed in artillery (clay balls of spiders fired into troop formations.)  The Shamans are as horrific as their mounts, and have tapped into a dread, Old God magic called the "8th Doom."  Although presumably under command and control of the Clan's Pah, this unit is run entirely by the Spider Shamans, and follows their dark agenda – to bring back the spider cult, and replace the Pah leadership with a dark theocracy.  The reigning Hack Sling Pah is unaware of this deeply rooted plot, and sees the Spider Shamans as merely a specialized unit for warfare...
• Coastal Raiders (The V'Jaadason):  Although not technically part of general Hack Sling military units, they are noted here due to their special nature in their own area of operation.  Raiders of this type are big, brutal viking-style warriors skilled in rowing and shore assault.  They are also more than capable on land, raiding far inland from their point of landing.  Fearsome piercings, the use of horns in armor and helmets, fur cloaks, and the deadly two-headed axe (symbolized on the Clan symbol) make these raiders easily recognizable.  They are known to raid and burn Nine Fist fishing villages on the northern coast of the inland sea, but primarily their target is the coast and northlands of the human "Westvahl," just beyond the western edge of the Shadowfahl Woods.  Goblin Vikings regularly attack Vorseman coastal villages and inland settlements, carrying off livestock and human captives.  Battles between rampaging V'Jaadson foot troops and Nordic human Vorseman cavalry are the stuff of legends, and centuries of warfare have given both goblin and human a healthy respect for the other.