Bugbears

Bugbears: Reshaped Hobgoblins

Bugbears

Bugbears descend from Hobgoblins subjected to one of the most extreme mortal Reshapings ever attempted by the Wardens. Goblins, and especially Hobgoblins, were notoriously among the cleverest of the Virborne, but their small stature prevented them from filling leadership roles among the Orcs and Trolls. The experiment sought to correct that weakness: preserve the Goblin's intelligence and cunning while giving it the stature and physical power of the larger Virborne.

Ordinary Virborne had proven effectively resistant to Reshaping and Bioweaving, their existing Virpaela corruption preventing the changes from even starting to take hold. Hob Virborne were different. The heightened symbiosis temporarily made their bodies capable of sustaining the process, and a population of Hobgoblins was selected for the experiment.

The result was neither Goblin nor Hobgoblin.

The Reshaping effectively stretched the Goblin form back toward a larger humanoid body, producing Bugbears standing roughly 6–7 feet tall. But the process could not simply undo everything that had previously happened to their ancestors. What was lost in the earlier transformations could not fully be restored.

The Reshaping permanently disrupted the Virpaela and simultaneously cemented and erased the Hob condition. Bugbears retained much of the physical toughness and strength the Hob state had produced, but the crimson coloration disappeared and hob no longer had any effect on them. Their characteristic Virborne green also vanished. Thick brown fur developed across the body, replacing much of the protection previously provided by their thickened Virborne skin.

Physically, the experiment was remarkably successful. Bugbears were large, powerful, durable, and retained the naturally clever Goblin mind.

Mentally, the result was less successful.

Their intelligence survived, but something about it had been distorted by the Reshaping. Bugbears became deeply suspicious, intensely private, and prone to paranoia, disordered thinking, and unpredictable fixations. Rather than becoming the strategists and leaders the experiment had intended to create, they tended toward isolation and distrust.

Nevertheless, Bugbears proved formidable warriors and survived as a stable people. They eventually found a place within Virborne society, most commonly along its reclusive fringes, where their preference for independence and distance caused fewer conflicts with the larger population.

The experiment was never repeated upon Orcs or Trolls. Greater physical strength had never been its true objective; the Wardens had been attempting to combine Goblin intellect with the physical stature of the larger Virborne. Later, the return of the Paeleva, commonly called Half-Orcs by outsiders, provided Virborne society with something much closer to that desired combination of strength, reason, and strategic intelligence without requiring another dangerous experiment.

Along with the Cyclops, Bugbears came to be remembered as one of the most extreme examples of how far the Wardens could stretch the species they Reshaped.