No race was noisier than Goblins. Not even Kobolds.
The Kobolds looked like lizards but barked like dogs. At worst, they were loud. Goblins were like a crowd of relatives suddenly chattering in your ears when you were already irritated, tormenting body and mind alike.
Goblins lived about as long as humans, but they bred about as fast as Ratfolk.
Only four months had passed since the move from Shelter Harbor Town to Gemstone City, and eight litters of more than twenty little Goblins had already been born. Barely a month later, they were running around after the children from the Orphanage.
Children were the easiest to influence, especially these children, who had been well protected in the Northern Frontier and the Lower Hive. As the future practitioners of Annan's ideals, they played with the little Goblins. At most, they used their size to push them around a little.
The adults, however, thought there were too many Goblins. Two Goblins could make as much noise as twenty.
Annan had tried telling them not to make a racket outside, but it was too difficult. Making noise was practically an inborn talent for Goblins. They even talked to the machines while building spinning machines!
Ingrid also pointed out that, at the rate Goblins bred, Gemstone City would have six thousand of them in five years.
Annan wanted to create a beautiful scene of different races living together, but he couldn't ignore the reality that different races reproduced at different rates. Ten Elves might still be ten Elves a century later. Ten Ratfolk could give you an entire Ratfolk Kingdom in the same time.
Stopping Goblins from breeding was just as difficult. Much like humans who could never keep idle after dark, Goblins needed something to do through the long nights... They couldn't