Goblins of the Badlands
by Marc SaindonThis is mainly to give the Goblins in Cimarron a bit of wild west flavor. Humans will still call them "Goblins" as that's what they are and that's what humans are familiar with, but the Goblins of the Badlands develop into their own culture, calling themselves Nimerigar (a cannibalistic bunch of little people in Wyoming tales).
They split themselves in 3 tribes: Black Bellies (who adorn themselves with a mix of ashes and black mud), the Blue Feet (who raid the Tortles in the swamps for goods or fun) and the Flat Noses (a genetic quirk frequent among the tribe).
In the past, they could have been part of the great Yazi Horde as undifferentiated Goblins, but contacts with the Oltec, and the consumption of Oltec goods from raids, slowly made them adopt some aspects of Oltec culture. Since they aren't fine historians (or a side-effect of bringing the Oltecs to the Hollow World), the Nimerigar actually believe that some of these traits are "their" culture, and that the Oltec gold treasures that they hide the Badlands were actually from their glorious past. (Yes, this is a quick cut-and-paste of the delusions of the Orcs of Oinkmar, or how hippie culture at times misappropriates authentic native american culture to fit their own current narratives for personal self-promotion).
When not raiding or telling stories of a (false) glorious past, the Nimerigar indulge in peyote and vision quests, thus training a bit more Shamani and Wokani than the usual Goblins (you might update these as Druids or Sorcerers). They might have the Burning Man Festival, which is when they gather a burn a man alive, the wise ones looking for omens in the way the guy screams and struggles through the ordeal, and next year, they might feed the next victim to fire ants instead, and claim it was an "ancient tradition". Atruaghin tribesmen would see all of this as a mockery of their ways, and perhaps Atzanteotl is a hidden figure guiding the Nimerigar.
While politically and culturally independent of the main Yazi horde, if any prize is tempting enough, they would probably join in the looting, although in more (relatively) peaceful times they like to keep their distances from the machinations of Hule, and instead incomptently plot the restoration of their imagined lost empire.
(Image from: http://michael.howard.tripod.com/medicine_lodge/little_people.html)
