“Allow me to tell you a tale.”
They rustled but stilled as my oration went on. Yes, I could stomp them flat with just the spoken word, not just song. My Oratory was in the 50+ range, too, just for moments like this.
“Long ago, when the world was young, the gods came and gathered at a place, to declare their lands for their peoples.
“The great Horned Goblin and His servants stood forth, Him raising His Morningstar, and He swept it over all. He shouted out, ‘Three-fold my people are, and so thrice the lands will be theirs! I claim the mountains and their deep places, I claim the plains and their herds, and I claim the forests and their bounty, all for Goblins, as is only right!’”
The gods of the Goblins leered and jeered, for such was indeed right, entitling the Goblins to all, and all other races who wished to live there would only be slaves to the Goblins!
“The One-Eyed god of the Orcs just sneered at them, raising His heavy Spear. He stabbed into the mountains, and they blackened and tore open with great rifts and chasms. He swept it across the plains, and they burned to deserts and wastelands. He smashed down upon the forests, and they became fell badlands and benighted swamps.
“These are the lands I claim!” the great One-Eye growled. “No longer mountains or deep caves, not plains, nor forests! These are desolate places where only the strong can rise, where only the orcs can endure and survive, and in time, they will drive all these other lands from existence, and only orcs will survive there!”
“The Goblins scowled at the Orcs, bridling with fury, for that statement basically challenged all that the Goblins had declared to be true, and set the stage for a war without mercy!
“But the two pantheons of savage gods had forgotten they were not the only great species there. Some of the elder gods, of the Jotuns and Dragons and the like, simply ignored these statements as the irrelevant drivel of children. But the eyes of the gods of the Elves, the Dwarves, the Gnomes, and the Hyn were cool and calculating.
“They in turn looked to the gods of the Humans, Powers who numbered many servants in many worlds beneath them, and proposed an alliance, of those red of blood against the green and the yellow.
“The Aruan Pantheon agreed, but not for the sake of blood. They were sworn to ideals, after all, and would accept goblins or orcs, elves or dwarves, as readily as any other to their service. They agreed because the Orc and Goblin Pantheons stole the choice of Free Will from their peoples, and to gods Good or Evil, that was the greatest Sin.
“’We will fight them in the mountains and the deeps, the rifts and the canyons,’ promised the Rockborn.
“’We shall settle in the hills, but we will fight them in the heights and the depths, upon the stone or beneath the trees,’ promised the Gnomes.
“’We shall claim the forests and living places and defend them against the blight of both Goblin and Orc,’ promised the Elves.
“’We shall help wherever we may be of service, living among you and keeping the peace, and not contest your claims to your lands,’ promised the Hyn.
“The Aruans looked out over all at the last, and said that humans would settle in the plains that had been left open for them as the last choice, but they would put no limits on where humans or any of their peoples might wander to and abide in the future, as that would impact their Free Will. This might cause difficulty with the other species in the future, but the Pantheon was broad of mind and disparate of wills, and the other species red of blood could only agree.”
I paused as the Goblins hung upon the tale, and I continued after a moment.
“The war between Orc and Goblin was taken by surprise when the Five Races fell upon them. In all the lands they had claimed for themselves, there was war red and green and yellow, and they were cut down and chased away. The blight of the Orcs and the ravaging of the Goblins was stopped and turned back. The Five Races became masters of their chosen lands and waged war upon Goblin and Orc, knowing that their gods cared nothing for others, only the Goblins’ claim to all lands, and the One Way of old One-Eye.
“And so it continues, as Orcs and Goblins whelm their numbers, and go forth to take all the lands from all others, and the Five Races fight them back. When the yellow and green of blood assail the mountain keeps of the Rockborn, attacks from behind break their sieges. When they enter the forests to burn and raid, attacks come down from the hills and mounts, and over from the neighboring plains, to cut them down. When they range across the plains to burn and pillage, they are encircled and restricted by forest and mountain, until they are finally run to the end and perish.
“So go matters among the green and yellow and red of blood.”
I let that lay heavy upon them for several breaths, and then continued, “Thus will matters be made here. You will be compelled to attack, to claim all for your gods and for goblin-kind. There is no recourse, there is no questioning this; there is simply the Green Will of the Goblin gods.
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“I do not think I have to tell you how the human nations of this world are going to react to a fanatical and violent specist pantheon setting up shop here and claiming the whole world as theirs. Furthermore, once they know the Goblin gods are endemic to your species, and the only way to be rid of them is to kill all the Goblins... that is exactly what will be done.
“The other species on this world can and will hunt the Goblins who cleave to their Species Gods to extinction, because there is no other solution. If they do not, they know the Goblins will simply bide their time, breed, and rise to bedevil their descendants again.
“These Goblin gods are coming to you. You cannot stop them from coming. The weakest-willed among you are going to submit to them, captivated by the Green Will and visions of blood and conquest and power over all others. You will give up your Free Will and that of your children, and there will be war, and the Goblin gods will be pleased.
“You might ask why I am telling you this, why I am introducing these gods to you now.” I studied them calmly as they nodded slowly. “They are coming. Do you wish to know of them now, or when a new Shaman screams their names, all the members of your tribes do the same, and he demands that you convert to the Horned Goblin or die?”
Their faces all changed in realization.
“The Aruan Pantheon believes in Free Will. Thus, the choice to submit to the racist, Species-focused Goblin Pantheon is still yours, in the end. They leave that choice, and its consequences, to you.
“As a final note, the fate of the dead of the Orc and Goblin Pantheons.” They all blinked and leaned forwards despite themselves.
“The grudge between yellow and green is endless, and the war that started between the Threefold Race and the One Path has never stopped. Each blames the other for foiling their domination over all, Conquest against Blight, Dominion against Horde.
“The wills of their gods drive them on even in the afterlife. Orcs and Goblins wage endless war, their spirits drawn from across the many worlds of the multiverse, and are thrown into unending combat against one another.
“Those who die serving the Goblin and Orc gods slaughter one another tirelessly, seeking vengeance they cannot gain, dying over and over, until there is nothing left to be slain, and they dissipate into the endless battlefields of blood and malice and hate.”
The Goblins all sucked in breaths at the vision my words were painting. “Yes. Your afterlife will be endless war, endless slaughter, dying over and over again until your spirit gives up under the weight of your countless deaths. There will be no peace, no smiling children, no great feasts, no singing and celebration and dancing.
“There will be brutal, endless war, until you cease to exist under its toil. If we could but part the Veil and stand upon Strife, you would see this war for yourself: trillions of Orcs and Goblins, worlds upon worlds, engaged in endless war with one another, a clash dwarfed only by the unrelenting Primal War of the Fiends, or perhaps the endless conflicts of the Elements.”
I paused again, and surveyed the lot of them and their uneasy expressions, fangs exposed, crimson eyes shifting, muscles tense.
“And so, this is what I am going to do.” I paused again, weighing my words, if I should even speak them, and forged ahead.
“I am going to tell you about the Goblin gods. What they represent, how they are worshipped, what they do, their dogma, and their doctrines. You are, unlike most Goblins throughout all of Creation, going to go into that situation with your eyes wide open.
“If you are going to damn yourselves and your children and all your descendants to misery and eternal war, then you are going to do it with your crimson eyes wide open.”
They all swallowed.
“I am going to give you some of the keys to power. I am going to show you how to Level, how to get stronger, and how to fight back against the Shit beyond the Shroud that is coming for us all. To the rest of the planet, some of that Shit might end up being All of You. You will have the choice to fight with us, or against us.
“Lastly, I am going to give you something that did not come from your Gods, it came from you. There is no Goblin god here, no Divine Mandate, no exertion of power, and there never has been.
“And I am speaking in the Goblin Tongue, I have been since I started talking here, and you have understood every single word that I have spoken.”
They all gasped in shock. Of course they knew of the Human Tongue, as it had spread across the world like wildfire, and they’d had to learn it quickly in order to be able to speak with humans.
But they hadn’t had a Tongue of their own, like the Elves and Dwarves and Gnomes did... but now they did!
“The very language you speak is the essence of what it means to be a Goblin. It requires no gods to learn, and they did not grant it to you... what you are has granted it to you. You are more than those that call themselves the Gods of the Goblins can ever be, and most certainly ever WANT you to be... but whether you will choose to embrace that is your choice.
“Everything I inform you of today will be encapsulated onto Holo Crystals that you can take with you, and show all of your people... or not. Free Will. Your choice, damnation or ascension!
“We will start with those who call themselves the Goblin gods. The first of these is naturally the leader of the Pantheon, The Horned Goblin, who has many Names, but is often called...”
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“-and my final words to you are these: All I have revealed to you I have done under the auspices of TRUTH.”
Goblins choked, green blood spurted from noses, and they clutched at their pointed ears. Absolute Truth is hard for those dark of heart to bear.
“Godspeed. Your Fate, and those of your people, is yours to decide.”
I left that reverberating undeniably in their brains. No matter how much they wanted to convince themselves otherwise, I had not spoken falsely to them. They could be assured that the words they had heard, and which could be replayed over and over to them after I Chained a Permanent Illusion into the Holo Crystals and handed them over to the Amanans for dispersal, were valid and honest and would not change.
Whether they chose to embrace temporary power and blandishments about the afterlife in return for damning their descendants was now in their hands, not mine.
Also, the Holos would teach their people The Goblin Tongue quickly. I was already posting a full breakdown of it for Heavenbound Hall to put up, the three-aspect language already driving some linguists crazy.
“Are you placing an inordinate amount of faith in them?” Legion asked calmly, as I swung onto Sleipner behind them. They could sense the Auras of the Goblins as clearly as I could.