Editing Goblin Slayer (section)

==="Non-Prayer" Characters and Other Beings===
*'''[[Goblins]]''' are almost a character unto themselves, being a recurring threat with recognizable character despite the "leaders" being killed off in every arc. What makes them interesting is that the author has spun what is most often considered a weak low-level threat into crazy Viet Congs on crack, essentially making them the goblin equivalent of [[Tucker's Kobolds]]. Generally, the goblins pose a great exercise for any longtime [[DM]] that wishes to go against tropes or surprise [[Party|veteran players]]. Some of their notable tactics include: Totems to distract from their hidden ambush tunnels (again, like Viet Cong), using seemingly live corpses as traps, hiding in old wells, using wolves as guard dogs and mounts, and using kidnapped women as literal meat shields by tying them to boards and hiding behind them. All goblins are males and reproduce with females of any other race, and may eventually grow up into stronger, smarter goblins if they live long enough. In addition, they are all sadistic xenophobes that look upon all other lifeforms, including the forces of Chaos (evil) as being lower and more pathetic than themselves while also resenting them for having wealth, knowledge, health, and the other fruits of civilization while they have nothing but shitty holes in the ground and the castoffs of what they can steal. This drives them to raid, rape, torture and consume all others whenever they have the chance, which is as often as a goblin can sneak attack anyone. They also hate each other, with the small gobs looking at their fellows with treachery, mistrust and envy, and the bigger ones treating their underlings like trash. Essentially, they're [[Skaven]] without Warp tech. It's implied that the fable of goblins coming from <s>[[Morrslieb]]</s> the barren green moon which orbits their world is true in some sense, though in a D&D setting where planeswalking is possible nothing is certain. Later stories deal with the possibility that their kind is evolving, with select members of the species trying to learn and uplift the rest of their race via stealing from other races and worshipping dark gods.
*'''[[That Guy|Truth]]''' and '''[[This Guy|Illusion]]''' are two of the [[God|cosmic forces]] that control the setting. Truth is a cocky asshole who loves [[grimdark]] settings, encourages adventurers to party-kill one another over loot, and is a lazy shit that designs dungeons by just pouring a tons of high-CR monsters and traps into a maze and calling it a day. As long as adventurers die gruesomely, whether to goblins or dragons, he's happy. Illusion is a sweet girl who works hard to come up with well-designed challenges for the world's inhabitants but loves tossing her own on [[DMPC]]s into the setting to try and act out her railroaded plot. Strongly suspected of being the "player" behind the current legendary Hero going around the world defeating the forces of Chaos, and thus the source of all her nat-20s. The games of both, can result in "random" events occurring, such as horrific eldritch horrors arriving or even entire dungeons and massive old buildings popping up, safe to say their games will never stop. Goblin Slayer intrigues both of them: delighting Illusion with his creativity, and irritating Truth with his single-minded quest and circumventing fate with his preparations. At the end of the day, though, neither of them will argue with the dice. Less emphasized in the anime and manga.
*'''Order''' and '''Chaos''': The great cosmic divide in the setting, also characterized as "Prayer Characters" and "Non-Prayer Characters." Generally, Order means [[Lawful Good]] and Chaos means [[Chaotic Evil]] though there are degrees and individual differences to various characters and factions. All gods are on one or the other side, and rather than destroy the world by battling it out between them with their full force, they create and control, through dice rolls, the people living within their world and the challenges they face. Most stories featuring the main cast are, at some distant level, part of plots manipulated by distant and powerful forces of Chaos, of which goblins are the sacrificial chaff to accomplish their plot. Occasionally, glimpses of the far greater battles of the likes fought by Sword Maiden are shown, but the emphasis is on the battles faced by Goblin Slayer and his comrades on the periphery of these threats.