[hider=Hobgoblin Race]
Over the course of thousands of years, countless numbers of demons and otherwise alien creatures have invaded the world.  Many bring back slaves from this land, and others are made slaves with a bit o' magic tampering.  Others, as soon as the summoner died or something of the like, were loosed in the world, and most were forcibly shoved back into the Hell they came from, if not outright slain.

And then you have leftovers.  Orcs, Goblins, Bugbears, the whole mess of things.  Some are decent mages, as they descend from unwilling Elves, humans, and Dwarves, and others are decent warriors.  90% of the time, they fit in with the next army and get themselves killed in a big war...or something like that.

Then you got 10%.  Half of those are wanderers - hobos, vagrants, bandits, bards, cartographers, etc.  They're as hardy as the rest of them when it comes to travelling, but in the face of danger, they tend to panic a little too much.  After all, nobody bothered to tell them that bears live in caves.  Makes sense as to why they're usually just fodder, right?

The other half bear the most semblance to what could've been their races if it weren't for some meddling eldritch force selling them to the biggest sacrifice.  Distinct cultures and exotic weapons come into play here.  Among those races that can forge, the Hobgoblins are most righteously deserving of their title.

Hobgoblins are renowned for their expertise with fire, or more specifically, what they can make with it. As coined by their "favorite creatures", the Humans, Hobgoblins are great cooks and ironsmiths, and specialize in various steels from just about every kind of metal you toss at them. This puts them at odds with a few other races (or, did, in the dwarves' case; you don't see too many Hobs for a reason) for the honor of being the best craftsmen, but considering the Hobs (for short) just got their distinction from the rest of their ilk not too long ago, it isn't surprising to say that the Hobs were given the benefit of the doubt when their blacksmiths opened up. Like orcs, they love to use lamellar designs, as they're light, maneuverable, and protective for all their troubles, using as little steel as possible (because from where the goblinoids originated, most iron was refined via iron sand. Large chunks of ore were unheard of.) Their skin tones, unlike those of their greenish-yellowish-rainbowish colored brethren, are always shades of grey, and are a lot more matte because of their hygenic nature. They have eyes the color of gold, amber, and ruby, and stand about the same height as humans, as well as stand in the same weight range. Rumors say that the hobs have a bit o' man blood in them, which might be true, considering there's also a million hues of half-hobs half-men and whatnot running around the world without a surname to stick onto themselves...or well, wherever they came from.

In terms of being assets for war, they boast more dexterity and strength than their run-of-the-mill counterparts, but are best known for being the smiths of the fallen heroes' armors - again, one cannot stress enough that they can manipulate metal as though it were a draught made by dwarves' hands.  Hardening, tempering, and honing are children's play to them.  It's also why they're one of the most hated races in this land.

Just a forethought : only one clan of these Hobs are truly, truly submissive and friendly - the Aulds.  As the name implies, they're probably among the first Hob clans to get around to being smiths, and as such, have developed the most stable culture.  To protect themselves from magic that would otherwise enslave them to the will of others, they have developed high-pressure forging of raw iron, as 'cold iron' has the damnably strange property of attracting and deflecting magic.  Protection is decent, at best, because they're nomads.  Iron isn't always so plentiful at times, and elves willing to accept the coin for protection enchantments are even harder.  Traditional forging has become a bit of an uncertainty with the Aulds.[/hider]