Goblins of the Multiverse: Shadowmoor

Lorwyn changed overnight? Everything that was good and wonderful turned dark and hateful? Mana rearranged, colors shifted, heroes turning evil and villains turning to heroes? There can only be one explanation here.

FAIRY GODPARENTS!

And by that, I mean Oona, Queen of the Fae. Sure, there’s some sort of natural phenomenon going on that involves Lorwyn cyclically changing to Shadowmoor and back, but the big one, the harshest change, the one we all know, is absolutely Oona’s doing.





The Great Aurora by Sam Burley

Shadowmoor is a dark mirror of Lorwyn, where everything’s changed into a dark and twisted version of themselves. The merchant Merrow become coastal raiders. The gregarious Kithkin become insular and xenophobic. The benevolent elementals become destructive monsters. The goblins… get weird. While there is only one species of goblin on Lorwyn, there are many on Shadowmoor, and the plane’s wild and dangerous nature mean that no planeswalker has had the chance to properly identify and chronicle most of them. It is unknown if they’re all transformations of the boggarts, and if not, where the others come from. The information that follows is primarily speculation.





Horde of Boggarts by Steve Prescott

Boggarts: Shadowmoor’s largest, best known, and best understood goblin race is the boggarts. While they share similar physical characteristics to Lorwyn’s boggarts, they tend to be more physically fit, either more lean or more muscular. Their horns are larger and far more frequent, usually pointed forward for goring rather than up for butting. Shadowmoor’s boggarts are less intelligent and more feral, and while they still desire to fill up on sensory pleasures, their desire to taste and consume everything outweighs all others. These boggarts raid eternally, constantly attack any non-boggart they can find, and seek only to consume anything that remains unconsumed.







Hearthfire Hobgoblin by Steven Belledin

Hobgoblins: Hobgoblins are unique among the goblin races. While goblins trained in white ways are not unheard of, hobgoblins are the only naturally white aligned goblins. Hobgoblins are among the few goblin races to have mastered agriculture, and the only to have a primarily agricultural economy. Due to Shadowmoor’s dangerous nature, every hobgoblin has martial training, but their strong military tradition exists solely for defense. While hobgoblins maintain some of the most peaceful communities on Shadowmoor, their aggressive security means that few have had interactions with them.





Murderous Redcap by Dave Allsop

Redcaps: Nothing is known for certain about the redcaps other than that they exist, that they are aggressive, and that they are hard to kill. From folklore, it is believed that recaps feed off the blood of their foes by soaking their heads in it. Shadowmoor’s redcaps appear to follow this tradition.





Swirling Spriggan by Thomas M. Baxa

Spriggans: Possibly created from changelings in the form of boggarts when Lorwyn transformed to Shadowmoor, spriggans are green-aligned goblins with shapeshifting abilities. Spriggans have no known society, merely living in the forests and hunting as necessary. Spriggans can grow to tremendous sizes, and can alter their essence to interact with magic in more favorable ways, but ultimately retain goblinoid shapes.





Stream Hopper by Dave Allsop

Stream Hopper: Oh for the love of… What is this? What even? No. Bad Shadowmoor. Bad faeries. You broke it. This is obviously not supposed to happen. Some poor boggart just got his left side cut off. It’s okay, though… he’s all right now!

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I’ll show myself out.