Category:Trolls

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Trolls are the third species created by Anilis and Senilis. The trolls are mortal, and because of this, the elves tried to destroy them, in order to "correct" their gods' failures. In the end, all they were able to do is to drive the trolls further north. Their present homeland, wherever it is, is close enough to the Ensigerum village for encounters to occur, usually with disastrous results for the trolls. They hate fire.

According to Paul, who fills Anita in on troll matters following the skirmish with Warrel and Sara Amraphel, trolls have a surprisingly sophisticated belief system that links body and soul more strongly than in some other religions, hence the trolls' practice of cannibalism. Paul also surmises that the wandering trolls were displaced from their tribal lands by actions of the Veracian Church, which persuaded the army of Veracia to make a raid in response to trumped-up charges of troll aggression. (Trumped-up? So the modern troll is actually peaceful? Who woulda thunkit...) During the encounter between trolls on the one hand and Ianilis and entourage on the other, the trolls swear an oath "in the name of the Five Great Mothers" implying that these are divine figures of some kind; however, we don't know any details yet. The fact that the number equals the number of known Paedagogusi (and that Paedagogusi Kawaii had an ... encounter ... with trolls in times gone by) has led to some speculation that the Paedagogusi may, in fact, be the Five Great Mothers. Again, this can't (yet) be taken as fact.

Troll society, again according to Poe, is matriarchal. In the one extended encounter with trolls thus far that hasn't simply led to hacked-up troll (here), the group, which is apparently executing a condemned criminal, is led by a female troll who is addressed as "Chieftess." When the visiting Ian, accompanied by Anita and Paul, stupidly identifies himself as a "Marime" (not knowing that the term has decidedly negative connotations to a troll), the Chieftess orders the (male) trolls with her to get the tribe ready to clear out, to avoid further contact with this whacko. (From what we've seen of Ian lately, this is reasonable enough.) They obey unquestioningly, giving some sense that a Chieftess is somebody important. We don't know anything about the power structure in troll society beyond this level, however.

Trolls have a rudimentary level of technology, with crude swords and bows and arrows. They don't seem opposed to using plain old fang and claw, though. According to Sarine, they eat humans and other opportune bits of protein; however, it probably came as a surprise to her that they also eat Paedagogusi when given the chance, as happened to Kawaii. (The result: scorched troll, one of those little tidbits that suggests there's more to the Paedagogusi than meets the eye.) Poe, however, says that anthropophagy is not really part of your basic troll psyche under normal conditions, and he ought to know; see comments below.

They appear to have some capacity to use magic as evidenced by the middle figure here, but no details of their ability are known. Ian confirms the magic capability at one point by calling the female trolls witches. Their minds are apparently too resistant to torture to be worth interrogating.

Physically, trolls are large, dark-skinned creatures, with four clawed fingers on each hand. Their eyes are dark compared to other races, the effect of which is possibly increased by their prominent eyebrows. They also have pointed ears in the same manner as the elves, and flat, inconspicuous noses. Those trolls seen so far have all had their hair worn in dreadlocks.

Can there be half-trolls in the same way as half elves are half elf? Apparently so, as there's a nice purchasable poster of the half-troll Mikota, although she did not appear in Errant Story itself. We don't know what the other half is -- human? elf? something else? -- but the sequel presumably will tell all.

There is a picture of a troll here. Better pictures can be seen here and afterward. The reference to Tarragon the Troll is most likely apocryphal.

Note that trolls were the subject of an entry in the Chronicles of Heretic Knowledge info-filler sequence.

Errant Road

Trolls also figure in the Errant Road free-form role-playing game, although any appearances of, and information about, trolls there are not "canon" and should not be considered applicable in the Poe-verse. Player character Grope is a troll and has mentioned several other named trolls. The troll mythos revealed in the Errant Road-verse definitely isn't canon, although it draws on familiar concepts of body-soul coupling, cannibalism as religious rite, and so on.

Poe Notes:|

(Taken from this thread in the Forum)

A Troll actually reaches maturity much sooner than a human, somewhere between 12-15 years of age at which which point the aging cycle begins to slow considerably.
The lifespan (not factoring in that reaching old age is an extremly rare event for a troll, especially males) is around 700-800 years
Gestation period is approximately six months.


(Taken from this thread in the Forum)

Actually they're a matriarchal, tribal based sociality with each clan usually being lead by the oldest/most powerful female magic user.
Other fun facts about them: They practice a form of ritual cannibalism as part of their relegious system. (mostly having to do with death and the afterlife, not as some sort of 'offering to the gods' or thing like that)
Only females troll actually ever develop the ability to use magic (which is more or less why the trolls are a matriarchal society).
Most of their skirmishes with mankind are the result of humans trying expand into troll lands, not because of any sort "We're just plain evil and like to kill soft, squishy humans" thing.
They don't actually eat humans (well, unless they were really, really starving and had nothing else to eat) and most of the rumors of them doing so were started by a misunderstanding about a single incident; after a rather long, difficult battle with a group of humans defending a newly built settlement, the trolls decided to honor them in the traditional manner trolls use to show respect to strong warriors who fight against and are killed in battle- they ate part of their flesh so their spirit would continue to live on after them. (as I said, the trolls have a kooky little belief system)
See? I don't always answer just the easy questions.


On skin color

Skin pigmentation for Trolls general ranges from green to brown or something between the two shades. Muddy reds (and reddish browns) are also possible, though more uncommon. Regardless of initial pigmentation, all Trolls slowly become a mottled grey as they reach advance ages. (Frankly I really should had desaturated the hands in the image a bit to show this, since the character isn't exactly suppose to be a spring chicken) Hair coloration is normally dark greens, dark browns, or black, although in some tribes it is fashionable to bleach their hair to a reddish tint. (how they do this is better left not talked about).
Although Trolls possess impressive natural regenerative capabilities, they still scar from injuries as normal, and their healing abilities sharply decline as they reach old age.(elder warrior trolls tend to end looking like walking masses of scar tissue) Troll medicine and healing magics take this regeneration into account and tend to focus on getting the injured troll to a point where his own natural healing process can take over without problem rather than directly dealing with the injury. Because of this, their medicine/healing magic tend to be spectacularly bloody affairs that would probably outright kill most other races.

Pages in category "Trolls"

The following 3 pages are in this category, out of 3 total.

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