The Kobold City States: Cultural Profile

While they are yet to really feature in the campaign I'm running there, the Kobolds native to the Cephalus Mountains have developed a complex and technologically advanced society and I don't really want to sit on this document without posting it anymore.

Introduction: The Kobold Lands are, for the most part, dominated from under mountains by the kobolds. Kobold society is, above anything else, rigid and hierarchical. The laws they follow, much like the cities they build, are etched from stone and difficult to change. Although some of their city states have fallen or declined in the last 250 years, the kobolds still generally hold onto the laws and customs from 3,000 years ago. The kobolds worship the gods of the rivers that support them, maintaining shrines at the headwaters of rivers that water their cities. Kobolds are divided into many distinct castes that each fit into a nearly incomprehensible (to outsiders) hierarchy with one kobold at the top. Each city is a government and hierarchy unto itself, so each city has one leader, known as the First Kobold. Each city state is known to have unique rivalries and values that prevent them from presenting a united front against any kind of invasion.

Magic and Technology: Very few kobolds are known to be able to cast spells, but kobold artisans still know the secrets of imbuing items with magic, allowing them to produce enchanted objects of great power. While this ability is unknown outside of the city states, it represents the only magical abilities commonly found in kobold society. These magic items are very difficult and expensive to make, so each one is usually entirely unique and created at the command of the First Kobold of a city.

Kobold technology, on the other hand, is analogous to the technology of early 18th century Europe. While the truly marvelous pieces are too expensive for most castes, clockwork is reasonably common, gunpowder weapons with rifled barrels aren’t unheard of, although they are all muzzle-loaders. The soldier castes of the city states are universally equipped with smooth-bore muskets and fight in a manner not unlike the 18th century British army. Although they have clocks that tell time very well, the kobolds have never developed a true calendar system because they prefer to live below ground, where calendars mean little.

Society: Kobold society is built around supporting the strength and overall power of the city state. Personal and private property do not exist in kobold society. Citizens are provided everything they need to perform their jobs and survive from day to day, and in exchange they perform the labor associated with their caste. After 3,000 years, castes have become highly specific, with most professions constituting castes in their own right. The rules of how various castes are supposed to interact and who has authority over whom are well understood by most kobolds, but no outsider has ever been able to make sense of it. Kobolds are told from birth that there is no greater honor than to spend their lives in service to their city, and they generally believe it.

City-states are led by the First Kobolds, the only individuals who are truly at the tops of their respective hierarchies. In a kobold city-state, every chain of command eventually leads to the first kobold, the kobold in charge of deciding what the laws, customs, and overall goals of the city. In most cities, the first kobold maintains a leadership council known as the Council of Trades, made up of the leaders for every caste in the city. The purpose of the council is to meet with the first kobold to give them counsel and receive orders on a regular basis. These orders are then taken to the rest of the caste members so that the first kobold’s orders can be carried out. The Council of Trades also has the duty of electing a new first kobold from among their number whenever the time arises.

Any form of insubordination or questioning of the caste system is punished brutally by both superiors and the law enforcement caste, so although some kobolds may not enjoy their place in kobold society, they will rarely voice such feelings. Among the first kobolds, these kinds of policies are considered important and necessary in order to maintain the status quo that they benefit from so much. Despite all of this power, there is quite a bit of pressure for first kobolds to treat their subjects well and not live in opulence. In kobold society, the success and failure of a society is seen as the responsibility of the first kobold, and there is always another kobold on the council willing to take the job if the Council of Trades holds a vote of no confidence. To avoid execution and replacement, first kobolds try to live life in line with the tenets of austerity and morality endorsed by kobold religious dogma.

Religion: Kobold religious beliefs are centered around worshiping the headwater springs that supply their city-states at the heads of the great valleys of the Cephalus Mountains. In trying to emulate the nature of a high mountain spring, the religion values cleanliness, both moral and physical, simplicity, and individuals following the paths laid out for them. Members of the priest caste are charged with maintaining headwater shrines and giving advice to those that seek it. They also are charged with performing cleansing rituals of the entire city every 10 days, as well as funerals, coming of age ceremonies, and any number of social functions. Each city-state’s practices are somewhat idiosyncratic, but it is generally believed that the spirits of the headwaters sponsor the cities that grow around them and bestow good fortune to cities with virtuous and intelligent first kobolds.

Cities: Kobold cities are exclusively built underground as large tunnel networks with many small rooms branching off. These cities are built around the headwater springs of major rivers, so they are also usually at the heads of valleys as well. This results in population centers higher up in the mountains with hinterlands extending downstream as far as each city can control. Unlike cities on the surface, every inch of a kobold city has to be dug into the rock, and the digger caste treats every inch with the same care they'd give to the first kobold, so every inch of a kobold city is an expertly carved piece of art. Citizens of kobold cities take great pride in the beauty of their homes, as well as the hard work that went into making them.