Gobelinus glaciei (Ice goblin)
Common names: Ice fisher, fishy goblin, nightmare fingers, ice-pick claws
Basic info
Gobelinus glaciei climbing to shore with a fresh catch
Size: 90-110cm
Mass: 15-18 kg
Lifespan: 150-180 years
Description: Ice goblins are coastal gnomidae with a preference to icy waters. They have blue-grey skin, thick enough to cope with low temperatures. Their bodies are well fitted for hunting underwater, with fins that allow them to breath while they wait on their prey, and slick hairless skin and webbed feet that makes them exceptionally agile underwater. Their ears are large, webbed and capable of minute movements. It has been theorized that they were originally used for underwater manoeuvres, but it seems that now they are mainly used for communication.
Ice goblins have very long nimble fingers that end with sharp straight claws. The joints of their fingers are bidirectional, allowing them to bend in two opposite directions. This characteristic has proven very useful in climbing or clinging to rocks, and creating horrible nightmares for people who see it.
Habitat: Ice goblins prefer cold coastal environments, and can be found in the arctic areas of Alaska, Canada, Siberia and Scandinavia. Their communities tend to spread over large areas that are broken into individual territories. Ideally, an Ice goblin’s territory will include both land and sea, as they usually prefer to sleep outside of the water. However, Ice goblins can happily exist entirely underwater, and some choose to do so. There are also known cases of Ice goblins who choose to spend the winter under the frozen layer atop the water in order to avoid the need to cut through the ice to reach their prey.
Diet: Fish. Small fish, big fish, fishy fish, as long as it’s a fish they’ll eat it. Happily.
The two-way jointed fingers of Ice goblins have been a source of nightmares for many who beheld them.
Habits & Culture
Ice goblins live in what can be described as partitioned communities. A community can include a few hundred individuals, but each of them will have their own small territory and while they do sometimes hunt in small groups of 3 or 4, they most often live on they own. Still, the members of each community know each other very well and look out for one another. An Ice goblin will be well familiar with all the community members whose territory borders with theirs and will check in with them, if only with distant ear-signalling, to know that they are alright.
Communities will only have full members meetings in case of emergencies like a threat of some sort. Otherwise, all news and information are passed between community members from one to the other. The need for group decisions is rare because Ice goblins do not have central leadership, they will work together if needed, but otherwise live happily on their own and enjoy the company of their neighbours when they wish it.
The only truly communal practice Ice goblins have is the care for their young. Ice goblins do not raise their young individually, all the young goblins are raised and educated together. The responsibility of caring for the community offsprings alternates between the members of the community, with groups of 3-4 adults taking care of the young for a time. An Ice goblin is considered an adult at about 35, and by the time they reach this age, the young have met most of the adults in the community thanks to the alternate chaperoning. They will also become familiar with the community territories, as they spent time in the personal territories of their supervisors, and are well trained in hunting and self-support. Often, small groups of 4-6 of these newly adults will find an area at the edge of the community’s territory and expend it by settling there, each with their own little area. This is strongly encouraged practice because it builds on the relationships developed over the years of growing together.
One of the most important things a young Ice goblin learns is the intricate ear-sign language used for long distance and underwater communication. Documenting this language is extremely difficult, because different communities develop their own expressions and meanings and because Ice goblins avoid humans. However, thanks to some fae scholars, we have some records of the signs. In this image, fig.1 is the sign for ‘all’s good’; fig.2 means ‘be alert’ (in some communities this mark is used specifically for human sightings); fig.3 is a good example of sharing hunting information, the right ear position stands for ‘good catch’, and the left marks the exact area; fig.4 is an example of communication in a hunting party, the right ear is used to mark one of the participants and the left to mark their role in the hunt.
The territory of an Ice goblin is usually on coast, allowing for rest on land and hunt in the sea. however, some of them take to living in a water-only territory, usually finding a nice underwater cove to live in. They are particularly fond of cave areas that are flooded during tides, “It brings the fishies right to your doorstep!”, and also keeps humans at bay. Ice goblins are not too fond of humans. Aside from the human tendency to live in large groups (“so noisy!”) which very much opposes the solitary existence they prefer, Ice goblins are very much aware that humans find their appearance creepy and on the verge of repulsive, past encounters with humans have proven that all too well… In general, Ice goblins will avoid humans, and should any human come into their territory, they simply wait for them to leave. Like many goblins, Ice goblins have the innate ability to turn invisible, so that is not hard to do. If the humans stay too long, however, Ice goblins have been known to scare them away. Nothing too vicious, just whispering in the night or terrible shrieks that echo in caves (Ice goblins tend to have a rather high-pitched voice that is perfect for horrifying screams).
Ice goblins do not speak human language (they find the endevore pretty useless), but they have learned the word for ‘fish’ in languages prevalent in their local and have been known to scare off lone human fishermen by running towards them and yelling “fish! Fish!”. Legend says that this started with one friendly Ice goblin that wanted to share the joy of fishing with a man who came into his territory for ice fishing. Friendships were not made that day, but the event did bring about a challenge-game popular among adolescent Ice goblins of scaring off ice-fishers with yells. If you can bring back a nice fish from the fishing-hole you get extra credit.
