Quick Overview
Goblins made their name in the wars of Azeroth as merchants, builders and inventors whose services could be purchased by armies otherwise divided by bitter loyalties. Yet goblin commerce was not confined to a single warlord. That independence had its own consequences.
Full History
Goblins made their name in the wars of Azeroth as merchants, builders and inventors whose services could be purchased by armies otherwise divided by bitter loyalties. Their machines were valuable to the Old Horde during the Second War, when engineering offered ways to break defenses that brute strength alone could not overcome.
Yet goblin commerce was not confined to a single warlord. The Steamwheedle interests prospered by serving customers from different peoples and building trading centers far from the great human and orc capitals. Commerce allowed their settlements to survive in regions where a foreign army might have been unwelcome. Their allegiance was commonly measured in contracts and opportunity rather than inherited feuds.
That independence had its own consequences. A goblin port could become a meeting place for people who would fight under different banners elsewhere, while a goblin invention could change the balance of a battle without its maker becoming part of either cause. The Steamwheedle story is the growth of a commercial power amid kingdoms that repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt themselves.
The Living Archive · Subject Chronicle
Through History
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