mammonism
noun
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The alarm was being raised. The sound of shouting filled the air as everyone in the camp raced to gather weapons and get in formation. Well, what could loosely be called a formation anyway. This was not a professional war camp. It was merely a place for all the novice warriors to hide, fighting small animals to build their strength under the watchful eye of a few elders. Nobody was ready for real combat.
One of the novices looked around at his companions. They were armed with simple weapons. Crude clubs and spears. None wore armor thicker than some thin leather and poorly treated hide. Even he could tell their formation would amount to nothing. It consisted of the members of the camp hiding behind whatever they could in an attempt to ambush the attackers. The problem was that there was little real cover to hide behind.
One of the elders approached. “Are you scared?”
“Yes, elder.” The youth said. “Very.”
“Good, good. Keep that fear inside of you. Remember it. Temper it. Let it be your armor that lets you live another day. But, like all armor, remember to take it off when you aren’t using it. Otherwise it will do nothing but weigh you down.”
“Yes, elder. I’ll remember that.”
The elder made to move on to the next youth in line, but was stopped.
“Elder, I have a question.” He said. The elder stopped. “Why must we fight? I mean, why do they need to attack us? If they just left us alone, we would be fine hunting in the forest. Even our elite warriors would rather fight bears than anything else.”
The elder hung his head and sighed. “That is not easy to answer, young one. They think us monster. They think us evil. And so they seek to kill us. At least, that is what they tell themselves.”
“But it isn’t the real answer, is it?”
“No. Do you remember those round metal disks we sometimes find?”
“Sure. We keep them in the big tent. Why?”
“Those are called coins. They love those coins. They need them. Damn need worship those things like gods. They will do anything to get more of those coins. They will kill, steal, lie, and betray for coin. They will run away, leaving their companions to die. They will slay their own leaders. Their leaders will trample those who don’t have coins. All of it to get more. And, since we have coins, they will come and kill us.”
“So then there’s no need to fight.” The youth said, brightening immensely. “We can just leave the coins out for them to take and let them be on their way. We don’t need them, so there’s no reason to be killed for them.”
“If only it was so easy. No, young one, it is never that easy. You see, those coming for us now get paid to kill anything that is not like them. Things they call monsters, including us. They will kill us, chop off our ears, and sell them for more coins. If we stand down, they will just slay us without a second thought. At least if we fight, we may be able to take one of them down with us.”
“So, they kill us for their own greed?”
“Yes. Oh, I am sure that some feel that they are helping their own. Some might have pure motives. But most simply wish for more coins.”
The youth hung his head and thought about the elder’s words. “So there is no chance for us to talk? For us to avoid fighting them?”
“No. I wish there was, but there is not. Now, young one, ready your weapon. The humans are coming.”
The young goblin took a deep breath and lifted his crude spear. If there was no chance to avoid a fight, he would at least die as proudly as he could.
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These days there's more and more media showing good goblins. Or at least, not evil ones. Of course, they're still the staple low level enemy in most fantasy games. Maybe someday they'll become something more. But that won't be for quite some time.
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