Goblins

[Tundra]

What do goblins wear? ... potentially.

[Orion283]

Mine are scavengers so what they wear is largely dependent on their environment. Most likely leathers and furs assembled from the local wildlife, as well as simple armors made from bone. If they've been productive in dealings with other tribes and non-goblins they'll also be seen with a hodgepodge collection of items recovered from battles, crudely modified to fit goblin-sized folks. A human-sized chain mail shirt might be trimmed off at the bottom, for example, and that portion may yet be found wrapped around another goblin like a bandoleer. Overall I envision them as kind of like Native Americans in the way they find a use for everything, though they're not quite so elegant in application. Function over form.

[Hippie]

Orion said what I was going to say, in a better way that I had planned to say it. :D

[Gene]

I've always envisioned them as a civilisation as old as humans, though not quite as intelligent or advanced. But they've all got armour, and detailed weapons, and proper clothing. They're not as strong physically as humans but are the same height and build (though skinnier) so armour is interchangeable. Clothing is different: not so much of owing to thicker, more leathery skin, but less natural body mass means less insulation and therefore they need more furs and warming materials.

Fashions are different, stemming from goblin weaving and dressmaking technologies which tend to go in different directions to humans. Most femals wear leather and fabric dresses, skirts or thick leggings. The males wear simple, practical, hard-wearing fabrics, but when it's warm will just go bare-chested.

(You may have gleaned from this that the only goblins I've ever used are both warm-blooded and not so reptilian as they are in their stereotypes. I like the idea of different but equal civilisations.)

[Thuriel]

Goblins could potentially wear fine Victorian formalwear, if you want them to.

[Gene]

STEAMPUNK GOBINS!

Shotgun.

[Tundra]

I'm making goblin dolls you see. I think they're going to remain bald, (should they?? gah now I'm confused...) and they have long pointy ears. Maybe they need a hooded cloak with a pointed hood or something.
I'm not even sure what version of goblin mythology I'm making here. I'm not sure if I should make a male and a female goblin, or two males. They've got mottled green skin, and they're going to be a bit smaller than the usual human, so maybe 4 foot something, but 'in proportion'. So, about the size of a child I'm imagining. I'm not sure what their culture should be even.If it's the mischievous/trickster wood type folk, or the mad battle fiends, or scavengers, or the red vest like my mother was suggesting... I guess I can make these two in one way and then make more in another way, surely? Heh I could dress them in floral patterns. Or khaki camouflage outfits!

[Orion283]

Now yall have got me thinking about goblins across the ages. In any context they're scavengers and survivors, rarely innovating but with a keen eye for opportunity. Neanderthal goblins would probably be about the same as early humans. Fantasy goblins, as above. Victorian era goblins may resemble travelling gypsies, gnome-like in some ways. Goblins in a modern world would be natural used car salesgobs. And goblins of the future would cruise the stars in amalgamated ships containing all the cheapest technology that they can weld together and call spaceworthy.

[Tundra]

heh. I really have NO idea. people keep giving me such conflicting ideas what goblins do and dress like. I think that my two I've decided are both males and youngish. I'm just going to invent some sort of clothes, that sort of blend in with the environment, I've decided that colours that don't, are more 'upper class' goblins, because they don't have to leave the ... wherever goblins live. I'm making some sort of wraparound/leggings things with a codpiece (partially because I'm slack and can't be bothered sewing really thin trousers. I want to show off how thin they are, so trousers won't work). And I think they'll have capes of some sort, or perhaps cloaks.

[MichaelB]

http://www.goblinscomic.com/ is a great source for potential goblin clothing designs. Certainly they fit the archetype well enough.

http://search.elfwood.com/search.jsp?query=theme24&hitsPerPage=20 might have some designs worth either imitating or taking ideas from.

[Tundra]

Well, people can help me figure out what the next ones wear too. :P These are wearing these weird wraparound hose I seem to have invented (i assume that they can pull them on.) with a codpiece holding the two bits together, at least that's for one of the guys (yep decided they're both guys). They have green tunic like shirts, different kinds of green. One is more 'shift' like, and is longer, with a leather tied knot belt, and a drawstring neckline, and bits of leather tying the sleeves in closer to his arms. The other has tighter sleeves, small v neck, and a wide leather belt. He's also the one with the codpiece. I was considering making them capes but that would have taken me at least another hour, so it would have been more expensive. though maybe I should anyway...

[Tundra]

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14581689
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14581993

The two goblins I made!

[Hippie]

They're CUTE! Niiiiice. :D

[Gene]

Looks like a . . . merchant. Or a fisherman, but maybe I'm mistaking the white thing over his shoulder for a net when it's supposed to be something else. :)

[Tundra]

It's a... substitute for pouches/pockets for when they're doing stuff. They hang things on it. Where I got that idea from, I don't know.

[Orion283]

It's a very gobliney idea. Something that looks odd but in practice it works out. I can imagine them hanging all sorts of odd trinkets on those things from tools to mementos.

[Dwiesel McAllister]

I like them! They're precious! :)

[KeinesV]

Bangles and war paint.

[Sammi]

An apron and plastic gloves. Then you could make a very tiny scrub brush.

[Orion283]

Now I'm imagining a detergent commercial, except instead of the scrubbing bubbles it's a bunch of tiny Mr. Clean goblins clambering all over your stuff and scrubbing it. Except they actually make your stuff dirtier.

[KageJim]

Thanks to hundreds of hours of playing Oblivion, this is just about the only way I picture goblins, anymore...

http://www.uesp.net/w/images/images.new/f/fe/OBCreature-Bloody_Hand_Goblin_Chef.jpg

[MichaelB]

woah, threadmancy! Check the dates of threads you reply to, KageJim, especially if they're almost a year old.

[Orion283]

But goblins are fun. And gobliney. I kinda think of mine like little messy violent gnomes. Plus writing a story focusing on goblins has lead to all kind of interesting ponderances. You have to think about what they eat, when they sleep, and other biological processes that don't come up in a story where they appear on stage thirty seconds before being rent asunder by adventurers.

[Dwiesel McAllister]

^True. So often, we writers of fantasy fiction are preoccupied with the prettier creatures of the various traditions (myself included).

[KageJim]

I didn't really bother to look at the post dates. Just thought about if I had something to add or not. :p

[strawberry-tea]

Why not talk about goblins... Everybody loves goblins.

Well, I had some in an old story of mine (Witch Hazel), largely because I wanted to name a chapter "Goblin Market" after the Christina Rossetti poem... >_> But now they don't fit into my 'verse at all, and I'm probably going to go back and change them into some kind of spirit. But the way I imagined them was as ugly little men in quaint old-fashioned human garb, midget sized.

[KeinesV]

war paint, and the blood of devoured men, crusted around their mouthparts.

[strawberry-tea]

war paint, and the blood of devoured men, crusted around their mouthparts.

From what I hear they prefer the juices of virgins.