I've alluded to them more times than I can count, assured you that I'm not yours, and even designed a GLOG class dedicated to them, but I don't think I've ever delved into who and what a goblin auntie actually is.
An auntie is part family member (whether found or related), part holder of de facto elected office.
In essence the auntie is a community organizer who plays an important role in minding their "niblings" and ensuring that communal time, care, and resources are allocated where they were most needed. Since aunties usually possess some skill in valuable trades like mediation or medicine for which they were recognized to begin with, they are often at the tip of the spear as well as the butt of the haft.
One need not be an actual aunt or even of advanced age in order to be considered for the role of auntie, although that does tend to be the case in a plurality of instances. An auntie need not be female either, although that too is the most common. "Auntie" has become a quasi-ungendered title in that respect. Like the handful of instances in world history where a woman was designated king or emperor in her own right, so too can a man or any other configuration of being qualify to become an auntie, but the title does not change to conform to them.
(And just as well in my opinion, considering what Kids These Days have done with "unc" ever since it got stolen for popular parlance.)
Auntie is a title granted to those whom a goblin community sees as wisest and most caring for the community as a whole. It does not confer any formal powers or allowances upon someone, but it does bring with it a sense of seniority which leads to their voice being listened to and judged with more weight during group deliberation and consensus-making. Other aunties might choose or be expected to sit in reserve and act as tiebreakers or otherwise decisive votes if their niblings adhere to some form of majoritarianism.
One is not elected to the office of auntie; it's a fluid designation that can change with the winds as a community shifts its priorities and responds to the notable qualities and/or eccentricities of individuals within their number. An auntie becomes an auntie when one day it becomes apparent that most of the other goblins have taken up referring to them as such.
Occasionally there is more than one auntie in a given village or tribe. This can last a surprisingly long time despite the inherent tension in the situation. Most often one or the other simply retires from public leadership or throws their support behind the other on an important matter, but "succession" as it were rarely happens with any pomp. Schisms do rarely occur when two or more aunties directly and emphatically disagree with one another on an issue and leverage their respective camps of supporters.
The resulting familial "set-to" is likely where outside observers have gotten the impression of goblin settlements being chaotic, anarchic [negative] places.
When several goblin communities cooperate, aunties often act as delegates for their respective families. Meetings between aunties are colloquially referred to as sit-downs or palavers, and exist as a sort of microcosm of goblin politics. Sit-downs can become hours-long affairs full of tea drinking, haggling, and polite verbal jousting as each side advocates for their community's interests and tries to satisfy their own imperative mandate, balanced against the spirit of cooperation. There is nothing more shameful in goblin culture than an auntie being rightly scolded by their own niblings for willfully declining to uphold their end of the auntie's contract.
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| Oftentimes the next generation of aunties can be glimpsed in those who give the most lovingly disappointed Look. |
