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As your eyes scan the nearby fields, you do a double take. The dog-like creature suddenly becomes your top priority, and you waste no time asking Tsu-Ko about it.
Tsu-Ko: "That's a kobold. I'm surprised you haven't met one before; I thought these things were everywhere."
Honourshine: "Things...?"
Tsu-Ko: "Hey, don't give me that look; they're pesky creatures no matter how you slice it."
Curious, you ask what she can tell you about them.
Tsu-Ko: "Well, for starters, they're a species of yin — one of the rare few who can speak, for what it's worth. Which isn't much to hide what little goes on behind those eyes of theirs.
That one over there looks like your typical adult kobold. They're shorter than the average pony, and their fur can be red, brown, purple, blue or black with white accents."
You can't help but wonder if they are related to the diamond dogs of Equestria, or the seadogs of Mare Nullius.
Tsu-Ko: "Can't say I've heard of those. If anything, kobolds are best known for their unshakable desire to serve their shen — or idol, if you will. This idol can be anyone or anything: a person, the sky, a rock... but never another kobold, interestingly enough.
Most of them live in small tribal villages out in the wild, each with their own idols, while some few are kept among the Kirin as pets, like that one over there."
Honourshine: "As pets? And you're certain they don't mind?"
Tsu-Ko: "Oh, they love it. You don't see them wearing collars or anything, do you? No, they're free to leave at any time, but they won't. In fact, you couldn't convince them to leave. They follow their masters everywhere — and I mean, everywhere — unless they're running an errand for them or something."
After observing the kobold for a few minutes now, you notice that it frequently glances over in a certain direction. Following its gaze, you realize what it is looking at: the young unicorn mare over in the next field, likely his master.
Since Tsu-Ko mentioned their ability to speak earlier, you decide to ask whether kobolds are expected to follow Kirin rules or not.
Tsu-Ko: "No, of course not. Any pet's behaviour is the responsibility of its master."
You nod, and unable to resist, you ask if she's ever heard of someone courting a kobold. Tsu-Ko's entire being flattens in exasperation.
Tsu-Ko: "(sigh) Courting isn't the word I'd use, but if you have to ask, it isn't unheard of; honestly, you can't have tribes of creatures who are eager to please without demons taking advantage of that. I'll spare you the details for my own sake.
If anyone in the Empire has this kind of hobby, well, at least they have the decency to keep it to themselves."
Moonflower: "Heehee... so there's no special rules for that kinda stuff?"
Tsu-Ko: "No...? Don't you have a bard to find?"
Enter a comment
The book did state that Ponies and Kirins have eru souls and dragons have san souls. I wonder what kind of souls other species like Griffin, Yaks or Diamond Dogs have. If there's no sapient species with a Yin soul that's a strong argument for Kobolds being just very smart animals. Sure the one in the picture uses a tool but that's something animals in RL do as well. If we ever learn a spell that allows us to examine souls I actually want to examine a Diamond Dog just to see what kind of souls they have.
I'm also happy with the social dynamic in our party right now, and would rather not add a slave/pet we don't care about. Having a pet is a responsibility — it's gonna follow us around and need our attention until one of us dies. (So no privacy unless we send them on constant errands.)
On another note: I do like this Kobold lore. And the little fella looks pretty cute with the hat. Of course, Tsu has a very low opinion on them, but it seems like Spirits have a low opinion on almost anyone who isn't a spirit. Thanks to DnD I'm also used to lizard kobolds, so the dog being a kobold was an unexpected surprise.
And a Kobold who hasn't found an idol yet will automatically latch onto Trailblazer and decide he is going to be her idol because...? We don't even know how they pick their idols. Maybe there's a specific process involved? It's probably not as simple as meeting kobold = becoming her idol.
She said she doesn't know of a pony or kirin who is in a relationship with a Kobold. She said demons take advantage of the Kobold's mentality but considering how demons, with some exceptions, seem to be rather selfish and mean creatures that's probably less of a relationship and more of a master-servant situation.
Their master? I thought this was about finding a companion we want to love not a servant?
This clearly is about Blazer's ego. We failed to woe Snap or the Diamond Dog duo to bad luck with the dice roles. And now a Kobold sounds like a “safe” option to finally seduce a dog. We don't care about what's best for the Kobold in question, we only care about finding a dog-like creature who can't say no to our advances so that we finally get a “win”. That's pretty selfish for Blazer.
And second, this isn't even getting into the ethics of bedding one. See the Harkness Test — can a kobold meaningfully consent, given the intelligence and agency/free will issues? I don't know if it's a slam dunk case depending on how the QM chooses to present kobolds going forwards or maybe other arguments I'm not considering, but I at least am more inclined to agree with Tsu-Ko that it could be distasteful.
Also… do kobolds speak Ponish? If not, we'd have to teach it since I assume Tsu-Ko isn't coming home with us.