The wars between the Goblins and the Dwarves. The wars between the Goblins and the Elves. The wars between the Goblins and Dwarves and Elves united. And the wars of the Goblins versus the Dwarves, Elves and humans are the stuff of legend and their roots are lost in time.
Human sages teach that there were four Goblin Wars. Dwarves, Elves and Goblins will tell you that there was, and is, only one War and it is ongoing. All three would agree that there were periods where the flames of war were hotter and brighter then at other times, but there has never been peace.
The exact causes of this history of violence will depend on who you ask. The standard explanation given by human sages is that the ‘Common’ Goblins and the Dwarves occupy the same environments and compete for the same resources, thus making conflict inevitable. While the Haeb-Goblin occupies environments that bring them into conflict with the Elves. The two related Goblin groups, along with the Buge, united to aid each other, which then lead to the disparate Dwarves and Elves (and eventually humans) to join forces against what otherwise was a numerically superior foe.
Although there is no dispute about the environmental competition, Elven sages, whose histories and sources go back even farther then the Dwarves, hint that there were other causes and that the earliest conflicts were incited by other parties. If this is true the Elves do not offer any proofs or explanations.
Most sages agree that the earliest records (available to humans) indicate that the Goblin Wars began fourteen to fifteen thousand years ago with human involvement first noted about seven thousand years ago. And though most human involvement was against the Goblins, there are periods when human armies marched with, not against, the Goblins. This was particularly true at the height of the Zamoran Empire which actively aided the Goblins at several points.
Goblins and Haeb-Goblins were found in large numbers throughout Solista and Pallador until the last Goblin War, or according to the Elves and Dwarves, the last large campaign. Beginning about 4500 years ago, as the Zamoran Empire’s influence in Solista was collapsing, a united effort by the Elves of ShanTah and the Dwarves of Dhun-Thar and virtually all of the human tribes, clans and kingdoms of the day, laid siege to and sacked the great Goblin City of Lildith, crushed the tribes of Haeb-Goblins and drove out or hunted down virtually all the Goblins in, under, and south of the Barrier Peaks. Leaving only scattered bands of nomadic Haeb, hidden dens of Common Goblins and the scattered, far northern Buge goblins, in Solista. Those Goblins with the resources and means, fled Solista for Palador where they merged with the thriving goblinoid populations there, which prospered under the still strong, though declining Zamoran Empire.
Lildith was the largest Goblin city in the world (at that time.) It was the center of Goblin culture and learning with its own currency, territories and even a school of Magic. The city had a population, above ground, of over 40,000 which included many thousands of humans. There are no accurate figures for the size of the underground population, or even the extent of the underground city. Lildith was a hive of Goblin activity for almost three millennia, so scholars estimate that the underground complex and population was at least as large as the above ground portion. To this day ‘LILDITH!‘ is a common Goblin battle cry especially when fighting Dwarves or Elves.
The destruction of Lildith marked the end of any significant Goblin presence in most of Solista, something that did not change until some three hundred years ago when the Caliph of Balaghad unleashed armies of enslaved, mercenary Goblins on his enemies, without regard for the long term consequences.. Today, though but a ghost of what they once were, Goblin and Haeb-Goblin bands can be found roving and raiding in many parts of southern Solista.
The fall of Lildith also saw a decline in Goblin Magic. Most, if not all, of the Goblin Magic Users were a product of the School of Lildith. Contrary to popular belief there were, and are, Goblin Mages, but they have become scarcer since the destruction of the city.