L
06-09-2010, 07:08 AM
Chapter 1:
And these are nice Goblins!
The mountain range where our hero's life begins has no name and is far from any real civilization – it remains untouched by human or elf influence or by the touch of war. Near the bottom of that mountain, as these creatures don't like heights, on the edge of a massive forest is the home of a small goblin hoard known as Clan Ironbrain to no one – not even themselves. They call themselves something I can't really repeat here, so I'm just going to call them Clan Ironbrain to protect everyone's innocence.
This Clan, which numbers no more than a hundred, lives out a tough, uneventful life. They survive on fish from the river which passes directly through their little village and spend their days doing pretty much nothing, except for one particular day of the year which I'll get to soon enough.
If an elf ever passed through this village he would probably say that these Goblins were stupid. While they could talk (though no one knows where they learned how) there was little else the little monsters could do. None of the Goblins bathed, their homes were nothing more than a ragged mix of mud and sticks and they still caught dinner with their hands. Dinner of course was eaten raw – it's a little known fact that Clan Ironbrain created sushi. Their sushi didn't involve seaweed or rice. Neither did it taste particularly good. But invent it they did, though they never received credit for this act. The Elf would have shaken his head and kept walking, pretending to have never seen the Clan in the first instance for fear of being laughed out of his city.
Since no Elf has ever passed through the home of Clan Ironbrain, though, we don't have to worry what he was thinking now, do we?
It is widely considered by this Clan that the night Keb Ironbrain was born is, without a doubt, the worst night in the history of all things. In fact, Keb's Birthday has become a holiday for the remaining clan mates in which they spend the whole day rolling around in mud and howling at the moon for forgiveness.
The moon has never really cared though, on account of it being an inanimate object with no thoughts or feelings. Clan Ironbrain are yet, some 100 years later, to figure this out.
-
The night Keb was born was dark and stormy - a normal night in this mountain range – and the little mud and straw house where Keb's mother was in labor bulged at the seams – as she did - as the mud softened from the water.
Frequently members of the Clan would die from their house collapsing on them, but the survivors never seemed to realize that they should probably try making houses that didn't kill them.
The labor itself was intense and lasted for hours. Finally little Keb Ironbrain was born, wailing and flailing his little arms as all babies are prone to do when they suck in their first breathe of real air.
For Keb, that first taste of fresh, chill air disgusted him and he's hated it ever since.
-
Keb, 5 years old, crouched by the river fiddling with a long, dried branch that he had stripped of its off shoots. The branch long piece of vine tied to it while the other end dangled in the water.
When it tugged, Keb excitedly yanked it from the water with a fish squirming on the end of it. When it landed in the dirt next to him, Keb quickly grabbed it and started ripping in to its flesh with his dagger shaped teeth.
Many of the Clan looked on, shaking their heads.
-
'The boy is a DEMON!' (Well, what was actually said was a high pitched 'ThbyaDAMON!' but I'll translate)
What passed for a chief in the Clan jumped up and down excitedly as most of the Clan huddled around him in one of the cramped houses. Keb, snarling and biting at anything that came within a foot of him, was tied to a tree stump that poked up from the ground in the dead center of the house.
'FACK YOU!' Keb spat on the Clan Chief, then bared his teeth in a savage grin, 'Keb not bad!' Even at such a young age Keb was capable of articulating himself much better than the rest of the Clan, another thing that always managed to stir the others up in to a frenzy of hate and rock pelting.
The other Goblins scurried around, some jumping, others throwing things at the young Goblin.
'He strange, defective, must die, not contaminate Clan!' The chief pointed at Keb with a stick, thought for a second, then smacked Keb over the head with it, drawing a small ounce of blood. 'Must die, must cleanse evil – kill Keb!'
A chorus of high pitched yelling from the rest of the clan nearly deafened Keb and the Clan leader, but all of it was support for the chief's plan (except for a mouse in the corner, but it was squeaking for everyone to shut up more than in support of Keb)
Keb had no time to prepare a plan of anything as he was assaulted by many sharp claws – some tearing at him, others untying his binds and others yet dragging him out of the tent. The Chief stayed close, smacking him over and over with the stick. All Keb could do was squirm, yelling out words that he had created himself and sounded particularly vile, even for a Goblin. The mass of Goblins would not be stopped though, and before any of them thought any better, tossed him in to the deepest, widest part of the river.
The Goblins of Clan Ironbrain can't swim.
Unfortunately for them in this instance, the river that runs through the center of the village is only chest deep on even the smallest Goblin, at the deepest point, so they don't need to swim.
Keb took a moment to splash and flounder in the water, mostly due to the shock of being thrown in to the lake and the coldness of the water, before realizing this point.
He recovered his wits and stood in the water. Looking around he realized he had an opportunity and moved towards the opposite shore where that part of the village was mostly deserted. He was already out of the water before any of the other Clan members realized and stopped their insane giggling and howling.
The giggling then turned to shrieking and howling as they realized that their fail-proof death sentence was, indeed, failing. Then stones started flying past Keb's head as he began to run out of the village and towards the large forest where no Goblin of Clan Ironbrain ever ventured.
None of the Goblins stopped to think that they could just cross the lake, as Keb had, and follow their escaping prey. They simply stood and screamed and threw rocks in frustration.
Keb has always been infinitely grateful for their stupidity.
The exiled Goblin ran in to the forest without so much as looking back at his former home. He didn't stop running until he was exhausted and could no longer force himself to put one foot in front of the other.
So Keb, exiled, homeless and hungry (as always), began his new life – one which would eventually lead to Fable.
And these are nice Goblins!
The mountain range where our hero's life begins has no name and is far from any real civilization – it remains untouched by human or elf influence or by the touch of war. Near the bottom of that mountain, as these creatures don't like heights, on the edge of a massive forest is the home of a small goblin hoard known as Clan Ironbrain to no one – not even themselves. They call themselves something I can't really repeat here, so I'm just going to call them Clan Ironbrain to protect everyone's innocence.
This Clan, which numbers no more than a hundred, lives out a tough, uneventful life. They survive on fish from the river which passes directly through their little village and spend their days doing pretty much nothing, except for one particular day of the year which I'll get to soon enough.
If an elf ever passed through this village he would probably say that these Goblins were stupid. While they could talk (though no one knows where they learned how) there was little else the little monsters could do. None of the Goblins bathed, their homes were nothing more than a ragged mix of mud and sticks and they still caught dinner with their hands. Dinner of course was eaten raw – it's a little known fact that Clan Ironbrain created sushi. Their sushi didn't involve seaweed or rice. Neither did it taste particularly good. But invent it they did, though they never received credit for this act. The Elf would have shaken his head and kept walking, pretending to have never seen the Clan in the first instance for fear of being laughed out of his city.
Since no Elf has ever passed through the home of Clan Ironbrain, though, we don't have to worry what he was thinking now, do we?
It is widely considered by this Clan that the night Keb Ironbrain was born is, without a doubt, the worst night in the history of all things. In fact, Keb's Birthday has become a holiday for the remaining clan mates in which they spend the whole day rolling around in mud and howling at the moon for forgiveness.
The moon has never really cared though, on account of it being an inanimate object with no thoughts or feelings. Clan Ironbrain are yet, some 100 years later, to figure this out.
-
The night Keb was born was dark and stormy - a normal night in this mountain range – and the little mud and straw house where Keb's mother was in labor bulged at the seams – as she did - as the mud softened from the water.
Frequently members of the Clan would die from their house collapsing on them, but the survivors never seemed to realize that they should probably try making houses that didn't kill them.
The labor itself was intense and lasted for hours. Finally little Keb Ironbrain was born, wailing and flailing his little arms as all babies are prone to do when they suck in their first breathe of real air.
For Keb, that first taste of fresh, chill air disgusted him and he's hated it ever since.
-
Keb, 5 years old, crouched by the river fiddling with a long, dried branch that he had stripped of its off shoots. The branch long piece of vine tied to it while the other end dangled in the water.
When it tugged, Keb excitedly yanked it from the water with a fish squirming on the end of it. When it landed in the dirt next to him, Keb quickly grabbed it and started ripping in to its flesh with his dagger shaped teeth.
Many of the Clan looked on, shaking their heads.
-
'The boy is a DEMON!' (Well, what was actually said was a high pitched 'ThbyaDAMON!' but I'll translate)
What passed for a chief in the Clan jumped up and down excitedly as most of the Clan huddled around him in one of the cramped houses. Keb, snarling and biting at anything that came within a foot of him, was tied to a tree stump that poked up from the ground in the dead center of the house.
'FACK YOU!' Keb spat on the Clan Chief, then bared his teeth in a savage grin, 'Keb not bad!' Even at such a young age Keb was capable of articulating himself much better than the rest of the Clan, another thing that always managed to stir the others up in to a frenzy of hate and rock pelting.
The other Goblins scurried around, some jumping, others throwing things at the young Goblin.
'He strange, defective, must die, not contaminate Clan!' The chief pointed at Keb with a stick, thought for a second, then smacked Keb over the head with it, drawing a small ounce of blood. 'Must die, must cleanse evil – kill Keb!'
A chorus of high pitched yelling from the rest of the clan nearly deafened Keb and the Clan leader, but all of it was support for the chief's plan (except for a mouse in the corner, but it was squeaking for everyone to shut up more than in support of Keb)
Keb had no time to prepare a plan of anything as he was assaulted by many sharp claws – some tearing at him, others untying his binds and others yet dragging him out of the tent. The Chief stayed close, smacking him over and over with the stick. All Keb could do was squirm, yelling out words that he had created himself and sounded particularly vile, even for a Goblin. The mass of Goblins would not be stopped though, and before any of them thought any better, tossed him in to the deepest, widest part of the river.
The Goblins of Clan Ironbrain can't swim.
Unfortunately for them in this instance, the river that runs through the center of the village is only chest deep on even the smallest Goblin, at the deepest point, so they don't need to swim.
Keb took a moment to splash and flounder in the water, mostly due to the shock of being thrown in to the lake and the coldness of the water, before realizing this point.
He recovered his wits and stood in the water. Looking around he realized he had an opportunity and moved towards the opposite shore where that part of the village was mostly deserted. He was already out of the water before any of the other Clan members realized and stopped their insane giggling and howling.
The giggling then turned to shrieking and howling as they realized that their fail-proof death sentence was, indeed, failing. Then stones started flying past Keb's head as he began to run out of the village and towards the large forest where no Goblin of Clan Ironbrain ever ventured.
None of the Goblins stopped to think that they could just cross the lake, as Keb had, and follow their escaping prey. They simply stood and screamed and threw rocks in frustration.
Keb has always been infinitely grateful for their stupidity.
The exiled Goblin ran in to the forest without so much as looking back at his former home. He didn't stop running until he was exhausted and could no longer force himself to put one foot in front of the other.
So Keb, exiled, homeless and hungry (as always), began his new life – one which would eventually lead to Fable.