The criteria for Yimulos is based on a randomized list. In this case, the academia is influenced by the Vikings, Bantu people, and goblins.
Goblin Forms
Goblins are technically related to fae, however they took on a more malevolent meaning. They caused trouble for families, and they lived underground in molds, dessert places, and mines.
They typically have the physical attributes:
- 1 foot in height
- thick coat of black/grey fur
What Do Goblins Do?
The etymology of “goblin” has been debated, though it can be rooted to the German variant Kobold meaning “house-friendly.” These kobold served in houses and ships as servants, so I would need to establish that the jumpinggoblins would teach their lessons in coves, but also houses and ships. I would presume that some goblins started their careers as servants before becoming jumpinggoblins.
They have been known to cause all manner of mischief, from pranks to murder. Some of which include banging pots and pans, rearranging items in people’s homes, tangling horse hairs/tails, digging up graves, and scattering the bones. Would this apply to their method of pedagogy? Perhaps there are some jumpinggoblins out there who use mischief to teach children either how to be crafty and pragmatic in life, or to teach them of the consequences of their actions if they did the same thing.
They are typically active in three nights in a year. So, I would need to make the jumpinggoblins teach at day, but live by night.
I do give credit to Annliya Shaijan for establishing that goblin variants exist outside of European mythology. This plays into my personal folk theory that every mythology has their variants of “the big people, the little people, and the mysterious people.” Goblins, kobolds, dokkaebis, tengus, t’ien-kous, trows, and azizas would differ based on mythology yet share the similar core attributes. The core attributes in this case are that they are the “little people” who cause mischief and chaos and live underground.
As such, I would need to apply that to how the Yimulos cultures and tribegardens view the goblins of their world. The Masug, encountering these people in a large island filled with dinosaurs, would view them as pedagogical experts, able to reenact a point of history. While the Korean dokkaebis would challenge travelers to a wrestling match, the jumpinggoblins would challenge a student to reenact a point of history.
Would the goblins become a check on children’s poor behavior as in European mythologies? Perhaps. They would have to distinguish between good and bad goblins. Romantic literature frames goblins as agents of “liberating imagination.”
However, it’s important to bear in mind that the goblins undertook many influences from Romantic literature to Protestants framing goblins as demonic to J.K. Rowling writing goblins with alleged racial stereotypes. I would need to describe the goblins as being a distinct race of hominids akin to the Neanderthals. Human beings are complicated creatures and the same should apply to goblins, which would be, in my opinion, a way to avoid positive/negative stereotyping. Some goblins work as servants, others as griots; some as mischievous rascals, others as productive miners; some Rainclothed might even have some goblin ancestry.
Since Vikings and the Bantu people are also an influence to the academia of Yimulos, I would need to take their time periods into account as subtle and substantial influences. They had to have existed Protestantism and the Romantic era. The oldest traces of goblins can be dated back to the twelfth century. If I am to work with what little sources on goblin myths, then I would need to take into account those time periods they were spread.
Overall
Since there wasn’t anything substantial about goblins, with the Dark Labyrinth companion being the exception, I decided that I would need to work within my limitations–which is the point of my worldbuilding strategy. In which case, Shaijan provided just enough material for me to work off of.
Further Reading
- Shaijan, Annliya. Goblin mythology: a brief study of the archetype, tracing the explications in English literature. LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2019.
- Yimulos Worldbuilding Sources.