The <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Battle</st1:place></st1:City> of Sholmohs

The Hobgoblins, or Hobgolmohs as they call each other, speak in their raspy and harsh voices of an ancient battle, where the fate of their race was determined. An epic clash between the Hobgobs and the tiny demonic Sholmohs, the battle is known as the Battle of Sholmohs. The wrinkled dregs and wretches of the plains tribes often tell the saga to the violent Keshiks to entertain them during times of relative peace.

The myth talks of two armies pouring over the steppe towards each other like two gigantic waves, ready to crash and spray dark red and black blood into the air. One host contains all the remaining hobgobs of the world, ready to repulse the demonic sholmoh cohort and save themselves from a bloody and horrific destruction. These sholmohs, as the legend goes, were actually the darker side of the hobgobs, and they were in this world instead of their fiery otherworld to take the hobgobs? place as a race of the world instead of being their mere shadows reflected in another place.

With the cunning of their great sun-branded god, Gormustah, behind them, the hobgobs slew all the sholmohs and claimed the steppe as their own.

This tale which is barked among nomads and khans alike only reflects the truth of the myth, which is indeed a far more powerful story.

Origin of the Hobgoblins

Long ago, when the <st1:place w:st="on">Old World</st1:place> was in its infancy, and the race of man had only just spread, a mighty warlike nomadic people covered the eastern steppe, a people known as the Hob. They battled for generations with the goblins of the plains, who rode atop giant wolves. Neither the inherently treacherous and bow-wielding hob nor the cowardly but cunning goblins could defeat the other.

After dozens of wars, both races mustered each one last legion, two hordes containing hundreds of thousands of warriors. The goblin god, Gork, was reckless and ready to begin a Waggghhhhhh! against the powerful human army.

In contrast, the backstabbing deity Mustak, the sun god of the hob, knew that only a treacherous plan would save his people.

On one dark clouded day, the flat steppe was covered from horizon to horizon with the two armies. In one fateful charge, possibly the largest armies ever mustered crashed together. In the heavens somewhere, two gods clashed as well, and lightning laced the skies giving the battle an eerie supernatural feel.

Hob horse archers shot down hordes of goblins, and giant wolves tore faces off of hob and horse alike. Male and female hob fought side by side, reveling in the battle. But their resolve was not enough, and the goblin ocean began to swamp their morale.

The rage of Gork and Mustak could be felt across the world, and in one tremendous blow Gork seemingly knocked Mustak into the very sun from whence he was said to be born. But Mustak used the last of his power to explode himself out, and with a ring of fire around him stabbed Gork in the back with such force that an aspect of Gork ripped from the his seams and within the heat of the sun?s fire fused with Mustak.

Below, the warriors looked up to see the dark clouds flare with fires from within, and then a torrent of energy poured down and merged the hob and the goblins, creating the race of the hobgoblins.

Gork left the steppe, his eastern aspect being melded within the deity Gormustah.

 Rise of the Khans

From that time the hobgobs became nomads, wandering tribes constantly in search of yak and bonnacon to sustain their way of life. In this time war began with the southern ogres, known as kupigrob, literally hungry border monsters. These steppe ogres were malicious and ravenous, and in short time devoured all the remaining steppe horses, leaving the giant wolves to roam uncontested.

The ogres proved indeed to be a southern border for the hobgobs. Many a tribal battle was fought, and many a hobgobs was snacked upon. With the senjuruh to the east, translating as eastern man-things, rapidly advancing their society, the hobgobs made enemies to the east and south. From the north a slow trickle of chaotic beasts drizzled down, and the reclusive yakkans would every so often roar south from the tundra to engage in a ritualistic warpath, to cleanse the herds of the weak.

With foes lurking at all sides, the cowardly hobgoblins desperately needed some source of strength to keep from collapsing. The wayward and disparate tribes were saved when but one hobgob stepped forth from each clan, seemingly touched by Gormustah himself. These powerful warriors were each branded, some said by the mighty sun, home of Gormustah. These dozen or so hobgobs had a fearlessness that surpassed even the bravest of hobgoblins, and immediately rallied and commanded the nomadic hobgobs leading them to victory or at worst stalemate against their foes.

The Khans as they were called became the leaders of the hobgolmohs and with them leading, the hobgoblins secured the steppe as their own. At this time, the now ancient tradition of branding particularly reckless or powerful hobgobs came into being, and to this day the sight of a deep and symbolic brand strengthens the resolve of all hobgobs.

Guhlamgobaar

Some time after the emergence of Khans as the clan-kings of the hobgolmoh came Guhlam Khan. Known for his fearlessness and his strong spear arm, the Khan set his eyes upon the last unclaimed region of the steppe, the dark and wild <st1:place w:st="on"><st1laceName w:st="on">Dragon</st1laceName> <st1laceName w:st="on">Tooth</st1laceName> <st1laceType w:st="on">Valley</st1laceType></st1:place>. A lush and menacing jungle, shrouded in a whirling cool mist, the valley had dozens of giant protruding rocks that jut hundreds of feet into the air, in the shape each of a dragon?s tooth. This eerie valley had been settled by traveling Cathayans, and had since become a powerful military outpost. Its settlement had been the Cathayan?s most costly expedition, and was soon to be their last expedition for many generations.

Guhlam Khan wanted this valley for his home, and taking it would be a sign to all that he was indeed the most powerful being on the steppe. He amassed an army, trained many of the more determined hobgoblins into steppe knights, known now as the Keshiks. A later Khan, the infamous Genglah, would be the one to formally train an army and introduce the term Keshik to the hobgolmoh race.

With an army unseen since the mythical Battle of Sholmohs, Guhlam Khan invaded the Cathayan fort within the valley. The Cathayans held out in a tragic but valiant stand, using the dark powders kept for celebratory explosion to launch rockets at the wolf riders. After a year long siege, the fort fell, and with it did any Cathayan desire to expand or explore beyond their borders. Guhlam Khan named the valley Guhlamgobaar, translated as Guhlam?s <st1:place w:st="on"><st1laceName w:st="on">Goblin</st1laceName> <st1laceType w:st="on">City</st1laceType></st1:place>.

This Guhlamgobaar then grew into a prosperous and gigantic city of hobgoblins. Torch fires are seen covering the valley day and night, and long and swinging rope bridges have been made to span the gaps of the Teeth. At night you can hear the eerie throat-song sung by the wretches, those curious hobgoblins who are female in appearance but in psyche little different from their more masculine counterparts.

The Hobgolmoh Empire

During the next few hundred years, the tribes of the steppe became situated and stable, and the domain of the hobgoblins was secure. Though these tribes contained many smaller clans which roamed from one place to the next, the hobgobs were able to protect their borders from all sorts of menace. The ogres to the south proved to be the most troublesome, and often a treacherous Khan would send a hundred hobgoblins down to be devoured to keep some semblance of peace.

As these tribes were all established under fearless and treacherous Khans, the leaders often desired more land and more power. Small skirmishes would break out between clans, and local heroes were often branded for either betraying their kin to allow the other clan to win, or for acting bravely.

Then, in one generation, rose the great Genglah Khan. Beginning his life as a nomad on the plains, he earned a reputation of ruthless cunning and physical presence so strong that he was said to be Gormustah incarnate. He single-handedly slew many large plains creatures, and was the first hobgob to ever tame an alpha male wolf, the oldest and most vicious of the steppe wolves.

Hobgolmoh society respects this violent kind of bravery, and though hobgobs are prone to treachery they are also more prone to admiration of the qualities most lack. Indeed, it is rare a Khan is betrayed, while perhaps a plains chief or friend may be readily stabbed in the back with an arrow.

This reverence allowed Genglah to summon all the Khans to Guhlamgobaar, to meet in conference about the borders and tribes of the hobgoblins. Though Genglah was not a Khan, his fierceness commanded their obedience. At Guhlamgobaar, a curious seeming and mysterious hobgob stepped forward with a brand, like the traditional ones used to brand heroes and leaders. This brand, however, burned with a fire so hot that it was said to be a child of the sun itself. The peculiar brander asked if any Khan were brave enough to indeed be scolded by the flaming hand of Gormustah, and become the ruler of the hobgobs. None of the Khans had the courage, for as they neared the pain was so strong that blood ran from their nose and ears.

Genglah however stood and walked to the strange thing, and without wavering allowed himself to be branded. A dark light shone and the air became thick with red haze as the brand was pushed deep into Genglah?s face. When it was removed, Genglah turned to be met with terrified and reverent eyes. He had indeed become a living manifestation of Gormustah, and in that instant gained the allegiance of all Khans of the steppe. Genglah had become the first of the great Khans.

Genglah the Great Khan mustered forth many tribes and many warriors to Guhlamgobaar, the new capital of a Hobgolmoh Empire, whom he trained under the command of the lesser Khans, to form into the now mighty Keshik wolf knights. Armed with the Hob bows of their ancestors, these fighters became the best mounted archers in the entire world.

With flaming eyes, Genglah looked upon <st1:place w:st="on">Cathay</st1:place> and unleashed his hordes of wolf riders, his own armies combined with the nomadic hobgobs of the neighboring tribes who feared the Khans wrath lest they move with the army. In five short years nearly half of the Cathayan lands were subdued and assimilated into the now rapidly expanding Hobgolmoh Empire. Any Cathayan peasant who protested was slain, but all who showed the proper respect born of fear were shown mercy, and allowed to live as they had.

To aid this expansion, a terrible comet descended upon the southern ogres, forcing them to flee and ultimately leaving the steppe to the hobgobs alone. This comet brought with it new fears and new monstrosities which were captured, slayed, and emulated within the clans.

With <st1:place w:st="on">Cathay</st1:place> subjugated, Genglah turned west and pushed across the Mountains of Mourn and into the dark lands, where they battle against dwarf and greenskin. Unaccustomed to the speed, size and tactics of the Keshik riders, both dwarf and orc fell readily under bow and Genglah himself slew tens of thousands of enemies. The Keshiks continued moving west, until they reached the might World?s <st1:place w:st="on"><st1laceName w:st="on">Edge</st1laceName> <st1laceType w:st="on">Mountains</st1laceType></st1:place>, where they set up camps and began recruiting and orc and goblin who would give them allegiance, preparing to make a push into what they had learned to be the heart of many civilizations.

At its peak, the Hobgolmoh Empire was the largest land empire ever seen in the world, spanning from Cathay in the east to the World?s <st1:place w:st="on"><st1laceName w:st="on">Edge</st1laceName> <st1laceType w:st="on">Mountains</st1laceType></st1:place> in the west. Under the command of the Khans, whose power was sapped directly from Genglah and Gormustah, hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of men, dwarf, ogre, beast, and greenskin were overcome and integrated into the Empire.

The Fall of the Hobgolmoh Empire

The Hobgolmoh existed in this state for nearly a decade, covering much of the eastern world. But such things are not meant to last. A renowned Cathayan general began to wage the first successful campaign against the oppressors, and victory after victory was won by the deft Cathayan swordsman.

Genglah Khan left the edge of the <st1:place w:st="on">Old World</st1:place> to end the general?s campaign in the east. He told his troops to wait until his return to enter the <st1:place w:st="on">Old World</st1:place>. But betrayal was high in the hobgobs minds, and they began an invasion into the World?s <st1:place w:st="on"><st1laceName w:st="on">Edge</st1laceName> <st1laceType w:st="on">Mountains</st1laceType></st1:place>. The Dwarves, thinking these hobgobs to just be mere goblins, fought them back just as their ancestors had fought the goblins for ages. Without the presence of Genglah, the lines crumbled across the mountain range and the hobgobs were repulsed.

In the east, Genglah raised a giant army of his best Keshiks and engaged the Cathayan army at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Battle</st1:City></st1:place> of the Empire?s Fall. During the cataclysmic battle, Gormustah cheated Genglah and he was cut down by the Cathayan general in a mighty duel. The hobgobs were so shaken by this, they fled, and in a matter of weeks the Empire collapsed.

With the loss of Genglah, a new great Khan was to be chosen out of the remaining Khans. The Khans in the west and east all left their positions and troops behind and returned to Guhlamgobaar for the ceremony. The Khans gathered, and a great series of betrayals and conflicts occurred between the clan-kings, each wanting the supreme power of the Great Khan. This exact ritual, that of betrayal within the echelons of hobgoblin military command at the loss of a Great Khan, became regular, and are now referred to as the Jingupek Genglah, or the Cheating Games of Genglah. The name is the name of the previous Great Khan, and shows that these betrayals are occurring on that dead heroes behalf, just as Gormustah had betrayed the first Great Khan leading to his demise.

The hobgobs remaining in the west eventually assimilated into greenskin culture, and without the powerful winds of magic constantly blowing as they did over the steppe, all the feminine hobgobs died, their physiologies unable to remain intact without the power of magic to aid them.

In the east, all the hobgobs were routed from <st1:place w:st="on">Cathay</st1:place> and a great wall was built to stop further invasions. To this day, the wall has stood and no hobgoblin has stepped foot on Cathayan soil.

The Empire waits to be rebuilt by a new Great Khan.