Long ago, there was a war.
This is not particularly unusual. There have been wars pretty much as long as there have been countries.
This one was a little different, though.
As is the case in many wars, one side set about developing a weapon to defeat the other. Through the ages such weapons have changed the course of history. Iron swords, gunpowder, the atom bomb. All of these have changed the course of history in their time. This side, though, set out to develop something different.
The term 'super soldier' is thrown around quite a lot. Really it usually amounts to force-feeding babies steroids until they explode or turn into hulking supermen. The ones that survive are then brainwashed until they're little more than automatons, slapped into some intimidating armor and unleashed on something that has pissed off the local psychotic dictator. They then usually end up being bombed from 10,000 feet in the air just like every other soldier.
The scientists of THIS nation, however, took a somewhat different approach. They sought to create an autonomous fighting force, composed of tough, independent, and completely psychotic soldiery. These could be set loose in enemy territory whereupon they would engage in a guerrilla campaign of massive proportions, their natural ability with digging and explosives would wreak havoc upon any nation which dared to oppose them. They would infiltrate every facet of the terrain and breed like mad. Then, when the country was weakened and if it had yet to surrender, the horde, millions upon millions, would launch a final, massive, assault, annihilating everything before them, burning, killing and razing everything in their path.
This became known as 'Operation Little Green Men'.
Of course, the nation fell, as all nations do eventually. Civil war, collapse, warlords and the occasional nuke took their toll. Eventually, the area was abandoned.
And, forgotten in their warrens, hidden away in the mountains, the Goblins remained.
---
It was summer. You could tell, even below a few hundred feet of rock. The Smartboys kept track, very carefully, of the passing of time. But even without their calenders, it was obvious. The way the temperature rose along with the humidity made it fairly clear. It may've had something to do with the river that ran under the mountain from some source outside, or maybe it was just some curious effect on the mountain itself. Only a very few Goblins who had seen the sun were still alive at this point, for their short lifespan meant that 'living memory' was only about fifty years long at most.
These days youngsters scoffed at the idea of a big yellow ball in the sky that gave off heat and light. It was damn silly if you thought about it for a second. How did it stay up? How did it move across the 'sky'?
That was another concept that was a bit odd. 'Sky'? Initially the word had been taken to mean 'the place where the ceiling isn't.' It took a bit of explaining to clarify that while this was technically correct, there was a bit more to it than that. The idea was generally laughed at now.
Trees. Birds. Wind. Stars. The moon. All of this had been disregarded. Everybody KNEW the world was the few hundred kilometers of corridors, tunnels and chambers which composed the world. Sure there was a big mysterious door in one of the corridors that nobody could get open, but that was probably Mythological. The door to the gods. Or possibly the Infinite Portal of Doom that will open on the day of the end of the world. The two camps of priests were fiercely divided on the subject.
Which was why, one day, with typical Goblin logic, it was decided to just open the damn thing and find out.
For many years, young Goblins had dared each other to enter the Chamber of the Door and press the various buttons, pull the manifold levers and fiddle with the dials. None of this had produced any results other than a beating from the priests.
Now it was being taken seriously. Goblins in white coats were making notes and occasionally getting into screaming matches with the priests. Goblins with clipboards were pointing and yelling at other Goblins who didn't have clipboards. Goblins with lots of explosives walked casually around.
Eventually, a plan was formulated. Since the door couldn't be pulled open, and none of the buttons did anything interesting, and they had all these bombs and stuff in here anyway, the door would just be blown up.
And thus it was that, one day, the Goblins piled a bunch of explosives up against the Door of the Gods/The Infinite Portal of Doom, and blew it up. It was quite a well designed door, but Goblins have an inherent ability to make things explode the way they want them to. There are very few things in this world which can stand up to a determined Goblin with a large supply of explosives.
The resultant detonation deafened every Goblin in the tunnels at least temporarily, killed one hundred and stunned at least that many. Overall it was considered a great success.
The door itself was hurled into the corridor beyond, crashed through the other wall and into the exterior parking lot. All of this had been abandoned for some time now, but apparently there was still some battery power left in one of the corroded vehicles outside, because once the echoes died down, the sound of a distant car alarm filtered into the Goblin tunnels.
---
Expeditions were quickly organized. The first one sent out was officially named 'The Grand Expedition of King Krark to Stop That Damn Racket Out in the New Place.' It was highly successful, although three Goblins were killed in the process. Exciting bonus information was returned as well. Apparently the Goblins tunnels were INDEED inside a large mountain, as had been described by the old Goblins. However, the presence of 'sky' was difficult to determine as it had been 'cloudy' that day. There was an extensive debate as to whether or not 'clouds' qualified as another kind of ceiling. There HAD been something very bright above them, though, so the matter had been set aside on account of weather.
More expeditions had been organized and dispatched. Retrieval of That Damn Noisy Thing, scouting for more Goblins, ensuring that direct exposure to sunlight didn't result in exploding. The important things.
Eventually a small, permanent outposts was established in the former scientific facility which composed the front door to the Goblin's tunnels.
Eventually the sky had cleared up, and, far above, the first thing the Goblins saw was the moon. It was red, whether by some trick of the light or some strange atmospheric phenomena, the great, blood-red orb in the sky had inspired the Goblins. Their own blood was not, as a matter of fact, red, but they knew that a lot of other things had red blood, and it was generally agreed that other things bleeding was much better than bleeding yourself.
The moon had impressed them a lot. A giant ball of rock in the sky does that, especially when it's the first thing you see up there. It had quickly been agreed that the new Goblin state, which had been formed yesterday over lunch, would be named after it. And thus it officially became the Kingdom of the Bloodmoon Goblins. They even had a flag.
New expeditions carried it with them now, ensuring that anybody they encountered, such as the occasional squirrel, knew who they were.
Indeed, so far the Goblins had yet to encounter anybody worth talking to. Squirrels were all fine and dandy, and tasted great, but there was also talk of 'humans'. Apparently they were some sort of big, pink, people. Accounts varied as to whether or not they were all insane, cruel, horrible, slavemasters or knowledgeable, wise, and beneficent slavemasters. Thus it had been determined to not automatically kill any humans that were found, but to at least try to talk to them. And find out if they really did have laser eye beams.
And so the expeditions continued.
(OOC:
Alright, so basically this is some random, unnamed, country that did some crazy genetic experimentation which resulted in my adorably psychotic Goblins. Presumably at some point this country fell into anarchy and most everybody either A) Died, B) Left, or C) Joined some kind of post apocalyptic motorcycle gang, resulting in some kind of big abandoned space. Like Australia. Only with more of a soggy climate.
In terms of possible interactions, I would suggest some sort of peacekeepers/exploration team either searching for human life or trying to restore order in some fashion, or looking to claim the area as their own. Things have deteriorated pretty well, though, given that the areas been abandoned for 20-30 years. Anyway, at some point your own team/force/whatever can encounter a Goblin party, at which point the fun begins.
Please keep tech in the MT/early PMT range. And please, for the love of all that is holy, do try to keep your posts above the paragraph level. I will ignore one-liners and massive text-blocks.)