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The Mar have fought the Drakes for resources for centuries, but even the wizards fear those rare times when the Drakes organize an invasion. To better understand why, read the book.

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Kobold

Kobolds are slim humanoid Drakes that stand about four feet tall. Their arms and legs are exceptionally long and well-adapted for climbing, possessing hands with opposable thumbs and prehensile feet. Their bodies are covered in fur colored various shades of brown in patterns unique to each kobold, and this fur allows them to blend in with their surroundings. They are omnivorous, subsisting on whatever food they can forage or kill.

Kobolds live almost exclusively in wooded areas, as their bodies are awkward in clear areas. The only exception to this are the tribes of kobolds who live north of the Fens of Reur and have made an alliance with the insero there — a mutually beneficial arrangement that allows the insero to avoid engaging sentient enemies in melee and keeps kobold snipers out of the reach of enemy attacks.

Unlike most Drakes, kobolds are not hunter-gatherers. They plant and harvest wild rice, root vegetables, and fruits, supplementing their diet with meat from domesticated waterfowl and rodents. As a kobold community thrives, its population explodes, forcing these Drakes to constantly expand their territory to sustain themselves. This places them in direct competition with Mar communities and helps explain the fierceness with which they defend their territory.

(Overview contributed by Nightfire Tradition)

Tactics

Kobolds are notorious for setting snares and other traps to catch or kill those who venture too close to their territory. Their sentries watch these defenses. If an enemy is not deterred by the traps, virtually every kobold warrior in the tribe grabs blowgun and poisoned darts and swarms to deal with the intruders. Rather than confronting enemies directly, however, they take up sniper positions in the path of the attackers. The poison they use on their darts is lethal to Mar, but it is not clear whether the kobolds harvest or brew this venom. Some scholars believe kobolds have a natural immunity to most poisons.

You will almost never encounter a kobold until you pass through their perimeter traps. It takes a keen eye to notice these well-camouflaged snares, but kobolds place markers near their perimeter in order to prevent their own sentries from falling prey to these defenses. A broken branch too green to have been blown down by wind, for example, might well warn of a nearby trap. It is no wonder that mapmakers who spend much time in kobold-infested areas have a reputation for extreme caution. Once you have identified the perimeter of kobold territory, the best response is to avoid it entirely, because crossing the line will set the entire tribe against you.

Should you face a kobold beyond the boundaries of the tribe's territory, finding cover from its blowgun darts should be your first priority. Kobold warriors train constantly to improve their accuracy with these weapons, and the poison they use is almost always fatal to a Mar. Fortunately, kobolds are physically weak and all but helpless in combat without their blowguns, so anything that negates their ability to use them effectively increases your chances of victory — strong winds, heavy rain, fog, dense cover, or a large shield.

Assuming none of these are available, your only recourse lies in forcing the sniper to use up its ammunition. This is a delicate task for all the reasons given above, and kobolds are not stupid. Faced with a target who keeps moving from one point of cover to another, kobolds will move through the trees to get a better line of fire. If they suspect your intention is to move in close to engage them in melee once they run out of ammunition, they will save two or three darts as a surprise for you when you finally move in for the kill. Usually, kobolds fire these reserve darts at a range of about twenty yards because at less than ten yards, you won't die from the poison before you kill the kobold, but even at point blank range, death will follow shortly after the touch of a kobold barb.

Clearing out a kobold infestation requires careful planning and an army. First, you have to determine the extent of the tribe's territory by scouting along its perimeter. This will give you some idea of where the communities lie. Kobolds are clever enough to set up false trails that lead back to the perimeter traps. Next, you must penetrate the perimeter defenses. You can expect to lose at least a few warriors to kobold traps and snipers, as even a veteran mapmaker cannot hope to recognize and disarm all the snares these Drakes set. This is best done during a regional wet season. Once you have a clear path through the perimeter, prepare yourselves for a relentless assault as the majority of the warriors come out to fight you. If at all possible, only engage them when the weather makes their blowguns nearly useless.

While the first force holds the attention of the warriors, you should send another force through the defenses at another place in the perimeter. This is the real assault, and these warriors must have no qualms about destroying noncombatant kobolds and infrastructure such as wild rice fields, weapon caches, and food stores. Be warned that many kobolds are familiar with this strategy and will send only enough warriors to give the appearance of falling for the feint, holding the majority in reserve to repel the real invasion. In this case, you must be prepared to press forward with your initial assault force and hope your second company doesn't blunder into the kobolds' ambush.

Once you have landed a heavy blow against the kobolds' infrastructure, your next task is to prevent them from moving beyond their perimeter to gather new resources. This can be accomplished by surrounding their territory and picking off scouts and gatherers as they leave the wall of traps. An army can also force the kobold warriors to stay close to their communities by remaining just inside the perimeter and attacking towns whenever the warriors leave. Eventually, the kobolds will either die of starvation or make a desperate assault on the besieging army in hopes of escaping its embrace.

Given how long and costly these campaigns tend to be for Mar, most kobold tribes need never fear they will be the target of a concerted effort to destroy them. Fortunately for the Mar, kobold tribes likewise recognize how costly it would be for them to wipe out a human community, so while they are as capable of such campaigns against the Mar, they seldom bother, Usually, kobold and Mar communities that lie close to one another launch raids primarily to discourage further expansion into their territory.

(Tactics contributed by Weard Girdag Langat)