Are Space Goblins literate?

[Lord Fyre]

We know that in Pathfinder, all Goblins are illiterate as they fear reading steals the words from the goblin's head.

Is that still true of Space Goblins?

[Tacticslion]

I also wonder if somehow "code" is exempt in the way that drawings are.

[Ventnor]

I personally like to think that Space Goblins are fluent in binary but still don't like to use written languages with an actual alphabet.

After all, numbers can't steal your soul the way words can! Numbers help you make lasers which make fire. Therefore, numbers are good!

[The Drunken Dragon]

I'd like to point out that Space Goblins are listed as being more...intelligent than their terrestrial counterparts, and I find it pretty unlikely they've retained the same frankly *insane* belief structure. I mean, granted, I've seen no evidence of this yet, other than the fact that the goblins they introduce in Dead Suns are actually intelligible, but I somehow doubt they brought their whole "reading steals your soul" shtick into the future. It's kind of...insane in a world where an internet exists.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

From what I understand, that stigma’s sort of faded as space goblins “evolved” and modernized. Given writing’s ubiquity in Pact Worlds society and on Absalom Station in particular in the form of signs, holo-advertisements and information kiosks you can scavenge for parts, space goblins have probably come to realize text isn’t as dangerous as they initially believed.

In our Dead Suns campaign our resident hacker is a space goblin!

[Noven]

I wouldn't call them written poets, but in my game they can read and write

[Lord Fyre]

Noven wrote:

I wouldn't call them written poets, but in my game they can read and write

Given the goblin's love of singing, I would expect poets to do well.

[Alayern]

My headcanon is that they can all read, but not-reading is the cool thing in their culture, so they all pretend they are less literate than the next guy. If someone gets caught reading or understanding text presented to them, it is a source of shame and public excommunication.

[CeeJay]

Lord Fyre wrote:

We know that in Pathfinder, all Goblins are illiterate as they fear reading steals the words from the goblin's head.

Is that still true of Space Goblins?

From their entry in First Encounter I do get the distinct sense that "Space Goblins" are meant to be Pathfinder Goblins transposed to space, so presumably the illiteracy is meant to be intact. This is kind of stupid, honestly, so I'm just ignoring it or playing it like the Goblins put this on as an act to gull people into underestimating them.

[Cole Deschain]

Alien Archive:

"Thanks to the goblins’ rapid reproduction rate, many
generations have passed since those first goblins came to
Absalom Station. Fluctuating gravity, an entirely new diet,
and the occasional radiation leak have made space goblins
a distinct offshoot species from Golarion’s goblins. They
are a bit more intelligent, instinctively able to take apart
technology and rebuild it to suit their strange whims. They
are quicker as well, scuttling rapidly into nearby ventilation
ducts after swiping unattended datapads or laser pistols."

"Their innate aptitude for using technology (without knowing how it actually works) leads them to believe that Triune has a plan for them. Some even think it will lead them to some kind of scavenging paradise, where every dawn will bring a new piece of advanced technology to strip for parts. However, neither Triune nor its church has yet officially acknowledged these zealous space goblins."

"A space goblin might even attempt to diagnose a problem with a small piece of technology by putting it in his mouth and tasting every part of it."

"Goblins’ instinctive hatred and fear of dogs and horses
has also adapted over the millennia. Space goblins tend to
refer to any quadruped (or anything shaped even remotely
similarly) that they dislike as a “dog” or “horse,” depending
on its size. In that vein, they still refer to their iconic crude
melee weapons as dogslicers; these function just like
survival knives, though a few enterprising goblin tribes
have discovered ways to give the blades microserrated or
ultraserrated edges. Other tribes have taken to adapting
flame pistols and flame rifles to suit their needs, dubbing
them “horseroasters.”"

They don't exactly sound like a highly literate species.

[Metaphysician]

Yeah, but until fairly recently in historical terms, neither was humanity. ;)

[CeeJay]

Humanity had to learn how to read to build space-age tech.

Goblins having innate space-age engineering abilities Because Radiation without being able to read is bizarre. I mean it's meant to be bizarre, I get it, I liked the Gremlins movies too. But somehow I feel like just letting Goblins learn how to read a schematic is actually the more interesting choice. Depends on what you want to do with them.

[Spacecaptain Pillbug Lebowski]

Of course we are literate. We can read and write in Meme and GUI, and space gobs with high Intelligence scores can take Filk and Auld TV as bonus languages.

[swoosh]

Despite existing within the same timeline Starfinder is intended to be a self contained product.

So until we see any Starfinder material that says goblins are illiterate, I don't see any reason why one should assume they are.