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Inside the unpredictable goblin wars of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion: "I introduced controlled chaos whenever I could"

Goblin wars! Bethesda veterans tell us about the little-known feature that brought naturally-occurring battles to Cyrodiil.

In the course of a typical day you'll find them waking in their own beds, tilling in the fields, breaking off for lunch, and in the case of the deeply paranoid wood elf Glarthir, sneaking round the back of the local church in the middle of the night to plot killings. These skirmishes play out between seven different tribes scattered across Cyrodiil, and on that fateful day you're first pumped out of the sewer system like so much excrement, there are already two disputes ongoing - between the Sharp Tooth and the White Skin goblins just outside Skingrad, and between the Bloody Hand and Rock Biters on the Yellow Road. After I yoinked the Sharp Tooth's totem, meanwhile - taking care to leave its attending shaman alive, even as he entered a desperate search state - I left it on the ground outside Skingrad's gates to see if I could trigger a wider conflict.

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