Goblin Funeral Rites (Help Wanted)
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Kez Darksun
Explorer
Why not a nice, traditional funeral pyre?
The goblin's opinion of their dead fellows can be summed up easily: Better You than Me.
One day's meat, three day's stink
When one of their own dies, goblins usually chuck the corpse into the den of the nearest predatory monster. The goblin way of thinking is that if they feed the monster, it won't eat them. In many cases, this has backfired; the monster gets accustomed to dead goblin, and will now hunt living ones. Goblin shamans came up with a way to combat this, brewing a concoction of mushrooms and rotten eggs, that makes the imbiber stink and taste terrible (so says the shaman), so that the predator will avoid them.
I always hated you.
While a dead man can't pay debts, a dead goblin can still give you vengeance. The dead goblin is often strung up on a tree, and anyone who has grievances will take it out on the corpse, usually with a stout stick. Dead goblins often double as target practice for ranged attackers, or practice dummies to show where to stick a knife in good.
Still part of the gang
There's safety in numbers. And threat in numbers, too! Making your numbers bigger than they are is a useful trick. Some goblin shamans practice a crude form of taxidermy, stuffing a corpse. The corpses are then set up in typical archer perches, and given a broken bow. Anyone that spots a goblin archer will see more than one, even though only a few are of the living. Other uses involve the dummy goblin being used as bait for a trap, or boobytrapped to begin with.
Repopulation
While goblins aren't too smart, and are ever the "take take take" when it comes to food, there are a few things they understand. One is that there's only so much food to go around. Overpopulating is a problem. But, goblins breed like rats, so it's easy to overpopulate. But when a goblin dies, that means one less mouth, and more room. So the death of a goblin means impregnate the nearest girl goblin, to renew the ranks fast!
One day's meat, three day's stink
When one of their own dies, goblins usually chuck the corpse into the den of the nearest predatory monster. The goblin way of thinking is that if they feed the monster, it won't eat them. In many cases, this has backfired; the monster gets accustomed to dead goblin, and will now hunt living ones. Goblin shamans came up with a way to combat this, brewing a concoction of mushrooms and rotten eggs, that makes the imbiber stink and taste terrible (so says the shaman), so that the predator will avoid them.
I always hated you.
While a dead man can't pay debts, a dead goblin can still give you vengeance. The dead goblin is often strung up on a tree, and anyone who has grievances will take it out on the corpse, usually with a stout stick. Dead goblins often double as target practice for ranged attackers, or practice dummies to show where to stick a knife in good.
Still part of the gang
There's safety in numbers. And threat in numbers, too! Making your numbers bigger than they are is a useful trick. Some goblin shamans practice a crude form of taxidermy, stuffing a corpse. The corpses are then set up in typical archer perches, and given a broken bow. Anyone that spots a goblin archer will see more than one, even though only a few are of the living. Other uses involve the dummy goblin being used as bait for a trap, or boobytrapped to begin with.
Repopulation
While goblins aren't too smart, and are ever the "take take take" when it comes to food, there are a few things they understand. One is that there's only so much food to go around. Overpopulating is a problem. But, goblins breed like rats, so it's easy to overpopulate. But when a goblin dies, that means one less mouth, and more room. So the death of a goblin means impregnate the nearest girl goblin, to renew the ranks fast!
Last edited:
Oni
First Post
Devour their fallen comrades so their strength does not escape the tribe. Funerals are also feast, so bring your bowl.
A goblin banned from his tribe suffers the greatest punishment as he will not be eaten by his tribe members and will be seperate from them for all eternity.
Also on the practicle side, you feed the warren and reduce problems with coporeal undead.
A goblin banned from his tribe suffers the greatest punishment as he will not be eaten by his tribe members and will be seperate from them for all eternity.
Also on the practicle side, you feed the warren and reduce problems with coporeal undead.
DrunkonDuty
he/him
Random ideas as they occur to me:
Some sort of remembrance ceremony. Maybe a big dance (a la the Ghost Dance.) Everyone dances themselves into a trance or a frenzy. Maybe the Ghost Dance even summons forth the spirits of the dead warriors.
Cremation and inhumation have been covered. How about:
Some cultures leave the dead to exposed to be eaten by wild animals. A mortuary tower is built, circled by a long ramp that winds all the way the top. The corpses are placed on the ramp to be devoured by vultures and such like. Or the dead may just be left where they lie or placed in trees or on scaffolds, etc, etc.
Embalment is another option. Just think: oodles of mini-mummies.
Aquatic burial. Was it a sea battle? Are the goblins some sort of sea marauders? If so then a viking funeral may be in order. Some sort of underwater tombs. Maybe the goblins buried the dead then diverted a stream over the top to form a shallow lake. Now guarded by aquatic goblin zombies and ghouls.
ANother thing that happened was that when the flesh was all gone from the body (whether burnt or rotted or eaten) the bones would be gathered up and placed in a mortuary specifically designed to hold bones. And this may in turn become a giant freaky bone golem thing with a hundred heads.
Grief as a communal ritual requires some sort of obvious outward signs that all can share in and understand. It's a way for an individual to say 'I also share the pain and am a member of the community.' Some sort of self-mutilation (ritual scarring, maybe even just shaving the head) as a sign of grief. Maybe wearing particular clothes/jewellery/head dress.
A funeral oration recounting the heroic deeds of the deceased. Hard to do for a whole army admittedly but maybe there could be a lot of different orations going on around the battlefield at the same time. Competing orations and their audiences get into brawls (if your goblins are of the Warhammer comedy-goblin bent.)
A battle recreation. Some goblins dress up as the enemy and then get their arses kicked around the battlefield by the other goblins. Of course there were heavy goblin losses so maybe the recreation could focus on some of these tragic turns in the battle before the inevitable goblin victory at the end. Has the comic option of the PCs running into a bunch of goblins dressed up as elves or dwarves or whoever the enemy was.
Clerics (and lay followers) saying prayers.
Mass hysteria. When you get a lot of folks in one place venting deep felt emotions things have a habit of getting out of hand. Think of it like a particularly vicious mosh pit.
Was the goblin army from one, big goblin nation or was it an alliance of tribes? If an alliance of tribes then various different traditions can be used.
Hope some of these help.
cheers.
Some sort of remembrance ceremony. Maybe a big dance (a la the Ghost Dance.) Everyone dances themselves into a trance or a frenzy. Maybe the Ghost Dance even summons forth the spirits of the dead warriors.
Cremation and inhumation have been covered. How about:
Some cultures leave the dead to exposed to be eaten by wild animals. A mortuary tower is built, circled by a long ramp that winds all the way the top. The corpses are placed on the ramp to be devoured by vultures and such like. Or the dead may just be left where they lie or placed in trees or on scaffolds, etc, etc.
Embalment is another option. Just think: oodles of mini-mummies.
Aquatic burial. Was it a sea battle? Are the goblins some sort of sea marauders? If so then a viking funeral may be in order. Some sort of underwater tombs. Maybe the goblins buried the dead then diverted a stream over the top to form a shallow lake. Now guarded by aquatic goblin zombies and ghouls.
ANother thing that happened was that when the flesh was all gone from the body (whether burnt or rotted or eaten) the bones would be gathered up and placed in a mortuary specifically designed to hold bones. And this may in turn become a giant freaky bone golem thing with a hundred heads.
Grief as a communal ritual requires some sort of obvious outward signs that all can share in and understand. It's a way for an individual to say 'I also share the pain and am a member of the community.' Some sort of self-mutilation (ritual scarring, maybe even just shaving the head) as a sign of grief. Maybe wearing particular clothes/jewellery/head dress.
A funeral oration recounting the heroic deeds of the deceased. Hard to do for a whole army admittedly but maybe there could be a lot of different orations going on around the battlefield at the same time. Competing orations and their audiences get into brawls (if your goblins are of the Warhammer comedy-goblin bent.)
A battle recreation. Some goblins dress up as the enemy and then get their arses kicked around the battlefield by the other goblins. Of course there were heavy goblin losses so maybe the recreation could focus on some of these tragic turns in the battle before the inevitable goblin victory at the end. Has the comic option of the PCs running into a bunch of goblins dressed up as elves or dwarves or whoever the enemy was.
Clerics (and lay followers) saying prayers.
Mass hysteria. When you get a lot of folks in one place venting deep felt emotions things have a habit of getting out of hand. Think of it like a particularly vicious mosh pit.
Was the goblin army from one, big goblin nation or was it an alliance of tribes? If an alliance of tribes then various different traditions can be used.
Hope some of these help.
cheers.
Wik
First Post
Division of wealth usually plays a large role in tribal cultures, especially nomadic cultures. In an eastern Canada native tradition, the deceased's family actually auctions off items, litle things like a mug and whatnot, to come up with funds to pay for the funereal. Friends and supporters pay as much as they can for these items, as a way to donate money without it being a "donation".
Something like that could be twisted and put into a goblin society. I can easily see "who gets his stuff?" being a big part of any goblin funereal. The goblin's family (and I'm sure a lot of goblins would step forward) would auction off as much as they could, keeping the best stuff for themselves.
You could even say that goblins who do not "bring in" a certain amount of wealth during this auction are left behind to rot, while those who succeed are fed to the tribe's worgs (this is an honour among the goblins, because it "keeps them with the tribe").
Because goblins die in droves, it might be kind of fun for them to hold these auctions once a month or something, with numerous families competing to auction off stuff (and trade tidbits!). Also, I'd combine it with a wake/drinking fest, led by a goblin shaman who asks for the deceased goblin spirits to watch over the tribe.
Something like that could be twisted and put into a goblin society. I can easily see "who gets his stuff?" being a big part of any goblin funereal. The goblin's family (and I'm sure a lot of goblins would step forward) would auction off as much as they could, keeping the best stuff for themselves.
You could even say that goblins who do not "bring in" a certain amount of wealth during this auction are left behind to rot, while those who succeed are fed to the tribe's worgs (this is an honour among the goblins, because it "keeps them with the tribe").
Because goblins die in droves, it might be kind of fun for them to hold these auctions once a month or something, with numerous families competing to auction off stuff (and trade tidbits!). Also, I'd combine it with a wake/drinking fest, led by a goblin shaman who asks for the deceased goblin spirits to watch over the tribe.
Since enough people have suggested some form of cannibalism or feeding to worgs, I don't have to.
OTOH, you're going to need a funerary song:
And remember, Soylent Green is made of Goblins!
OTOH, you're going to need a funerary song:
And remember, Soylent Green is made of Goblins!
roguerouge
First Post
I think a solemn chant listing the foods the goblin will never again enjoy could be a part of it.
Stormborn
Explorer
Given the frequency of goblin death and the likely fertility of the tribe, whatever it is it will be done often, and occasionally in large numbers. Therefore death can't be that big of a deal for the goblins - no week long rituals or elaborate ceremonies.
Perhaps there is a special kind of shaman whose job it is to prepare the days dead, everyday. Since everyone is family there is no special procedure. Dead are gathered, if possible, and brought for preperation. The useful parts are removed: flesh for the stew pot, skin for leather, goblin gut bow strings, femur ax handles, skull cups, livers for alchemy, etc. Perhaps the finger bones are given to the closest kin as memorial.
The Shaman has to have lots of assistance, given the numbers and the speed of decay. Probablly goblin children do this since both sexes likely fight, hunt, and gather food. Gets them ready for the real world.
Perhaps there is a special kind of shaman whose job it is to prepare the days dead, everyday. Since everyone is family there is no special procedure. Dead are gathered, if possible, and brought for preperation. The useful parts are removed: flesh for the stew pot, skin for leather, goblin gut bow strings, femur ax handles, skull cups, livers for alchemy, etc. Perhaps the finger bones are given to the closest kin as memorial.
The Shaman has to have lots of assistance, given the numbers and the speed of decay. Probablly goblin children do this since both sexes likely fight, hunt, and gather food. Gets them ready for the real world.
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