The Monkey Goblins seem to be the best option for any information at the beginning of the campaign. Did anyone explore this or expand their role?
I actually replaced the Veiled Masters from the latter half of the AP with monkey goblins. I needed to rewrite a few plot elements, but I feel the changes really elevated the source material.
I'm making it possible to befriend the tribe of ghosthater goblins. Since the voyage is 6 weeks each way, I'm not giving my players a resupply ship until the end of book 2, so I've been expanding on the communities the PC's can trade with. I'm following suggestions left by Adam on the Lost Outpost GM Forum in making them rivals to the grindillows, and I made them initially unfriendly instead of hostile, allowing the PC's to try to make inroads if they wish. I set their tribe's base value at 200gp and the maximum purchase limit at 800gp, but their tribe will grow (like the colony) over time. I'm planning to make the major-growth events when the PC's eliminate one of their rivals - starting with the grindillows, and including the other four monkey goblin tribes on the neighboring islands (as detailed in the appendix of book 2), until they are the ruling goblin tribe in the tri-isle area!
I decided to do the opposite - I wiped them out.
I wanted to make the starting situation a little more bleak and to force everyone to rely upon their fellow colonists more. One of the few remaining ones decided to join their settlement - if nothing else to give me a voice for providing guidance/insight about the area for the PCs.