Troll

Legendary spirit folk who guard bridges and passageways.

Basics

• Taxonomic Order: TheFolk

• Alignment: Poioumenonic

• Energy: Kutsegula

• Lifespan: 200 years

• Diet: Meat-heavy mortal fare

• Habitat: Bridges

Origins

Stories of protector spirits near bridges, passageways, and paths gave way to legends of trolls. Often deriving from religious disputes, these stories demonized trolls, but in truth, the beings described often sided either with nature or simply indigeneity.

Description

Troll children are small, round, and hairy. They have are born with a lot of fat to keep them warm in the mountains. As they age, they become leaner and taller (usually). Their faces are always a little animalistic, usually having features of predators (sharp teeth, pointed snouts, big forward-facing eyes, big ears). The hair on their head is often kept long and unkempt. Some are more human-like in appearance than others. Their arms are slightly longer than proportional. They range from 5’ to 8’ tall.

Procreation

Trolls reproduce sexually with one another. It is rare for them to reproduce with other spirit folk, but if they do, they are size- and shape-appropriate, and the offspring will be the same species as the birthing parent. Otherwise, they cannot reproduce outside their own species without supernatural intervention.

Powers

Trolls are beings of liminal land spaces. They have some influence over these spaces while in them. This can be as narrowly defined as a small bridge to as widely defined as a border region or disputed territory or untamed wilderness. The space determines their other powers: if the area is a windswept plain, they will have influence over the winds while within it. If the area is a bridge, they will be able to sense when people near it and tumble them off without touching the bridge. The longer they are in a space, the more profound their influence over it is. A troll living in the edges of a forest may become master of all animals there, for example.

When they are not in the place they have connected to, they will still have influence over similar places. A bridge-dweller will be able to sense bridges nearby. A border-dweller will know when they are on other borderlands.

Trolls are supernaturally strong, good climbers, and can leap long distances.

Stone Powers

Troll children are often given a stone to play with that they shape and craft until it is perfectly round. This stone becomes the troll’s “heart”, which allows them to hide weaknesses, thoughts and feelings, and some lifeforce temporarily. As children, they carry the stone with them always, being more free. As adults, they hide the stone in a place near their liminal space, usually some unusual spot, such as a fish’s belly, in a nearby cloud, or atop an ancient tree.

Weaknesses

Trolls develop weaknesses based on the liminal space they connect to. Many bridge-dwellers live under the bridge and adapt to where the shadows are, and thus, they dislike bright sunlight. This weakness is very common, for many liminal spaces are in shadow.

All trolls fear lightning and dislike the distant ringing of bells.

Nations

While trolls exist all over the world, those not within the original nation are usually assimilated into other nations. There is one recognized troll nation, therefore, in Jorgendheim - the Gífr. However, there are many designations of trolls based on the liminal space they dwell in: “bridge trolls”, “forest trolls”, “rock trolls” or “mountain trolls”, and so on. These are used by outsiders and never by trolls themselves.

Culture

The Gífr dwell throughout Jorgendheim. They live in small clusters, usually one or two extended families to an area, dwelling near bridges in the high mountains, near tunnels, or amidst rocky slopes and cliffs. Most families are single-child homes. They are very territorial and not welcoming to strangers.

When a stranger approaches their space, one of the trolls will be there watching, ready to question them aggressively. This is done to judge the person’s worth and wealth. If they are deemed able to pay, the troll demands payment for passage. If they are deemed unable to pay, the troll decides if they want to let them pass based on attitude, mood, or whim. An important part of their exchange is the how the mortal responds to the troll’s boasting self-description, which is how they announce themselves. If the mortal responds in kind with their own boasting self-description, they are often seen as equals. If they are more meek or afraid, the troll will try to figure out if they do so because they have wealth they seek to protect or if they are truly a fearful sort. The latter will often be allowed to pass for free, sometimes with a small gift.

Their territoriality often leads to conflict with others nearby. They have reputations as raiders, kidnappers, and saboteurs. This is not always unfair, though the kidnapping is always done for ransom and the victims are often treated relatively well for kidnapping victims - and they never engage in kidnapping of innocent children, as they are often accused of. They kidnap warriors or leaders in the community, and they are just as often victims of the same in the area. This is a custom called bergtagning. Their acts of sabotage and raiding are usually to drive people away from building too close to their territories and are part of land disputes. They are known for their ability to hurl boulders.

Trolls live in small extended families. Since they usually have very few children, they tend to have small families. Each extended family is led by the eldest, no matter who they are, unless they are in mental decline due to senescence. Even then, they are consulted by the next oldest and interpreted through them. The matriarch of these families is the tröllkona, the troll-wife. The patriarch is the tröllherra, or troll-lord. If they have some other gender, they are still referred to by these gendered roles.

Trolls have a fondness for working with stone and often make things out of it that others would not - stone boats are common, stone wagons, stone armor, and so on. Living in the mountains, they become attuned to stone. Sculpture, masonry, and quarrying are common among trolls.

Every year, trolls in an area gather for a trolla-þing, or troll-moot. During this, they come together in flatlands and perform ritual dances. This always happens during the annual windstorm season, which they take advantage of to dance within whirlwinds. It is the custom that the women let their hair loose from their braids, put on heavy skirts, and stand in the center of the whirlwinds, letting their hair be whirled about and their skirts to kick up dust. This dance is performed by unwedded troll women; the men watch and choose their future brides.

After the dance is over, the men seek out the women they were most attracted to, asking them out. If the troll woman accepts, they lift their skirts and go into the mountains to sleep together, coming back the next day married. If they do not accept, they whip their hair at the men and wait for another year. If two troll men ask the same woman, it is up to her to pick one, the other, or neither. If they fight over her, she will usually reject both for being too foolish to marry. Thus, if they fight, they do so somewhere in secret, and explain away the bruises as “lightning strikes”. Though this is an obvious lie, the custom helps them save face.

Trollish children are usually allowed to play freely, often unsupervised throughout the area the trolls call their territory. They often get into mischief, playing in the weather, knocking things over, hurling small stones, and tormenting the local mortals. They hide among burial mounds to scare travelers, scare livestock, and get up to other trouble. They are punished harshly by their parents if they truly hurt anyone, so they always stick to relatively harmless mischief. They also serve as lookouts - if they see any real trouble in the area, such as fires, they warn the adults, who come help out.

Trolls are often shepherds, but they hate goats, which they view as untameable.

Esoterica

Trolls are renowned for their magical powers. Older trolls have great influence over the spaces they dwell in, and therefore, they can perform great feats of magic with their inherent kutsegula. They also know how to wield kutsegula in other ways, and they are very adept at it. They wield other poioumenonic and aetherial powers as well, usually. Infernal and celestial powers are rarer, but not unheard of. Shebvic, nommic, and paradoxical powers are not uncommon.

Religion

Most trolls worship Rofguth, the Opener, the Divine Gate, the Protector of Passages. They have a shamanistic tradition among them; ancestral worship is also common. Rofguth is seen as one who guides them in the afterlife, a pscyhopomp deity who opens the gates to the Beyond when they die, and thus, one who must be appeased and honored. Ancestors are guides to life, Rofguth is the guide in death. Honoring Rofguth involves animal blood sacrifices, special dances, and special stone objects that they use as part of rituals. Among their families is often a ginnheilagr, a “most holy” who leads these rituals, but whose role in the family involves other duties as well, such as keeping the family history, shamanic work, telling stories, and knowing the bounds of their territory.

Gender

The Gífr has a weak patriarchal gender system. While all language, traditions, and roles within their families are heavily and binarily gendered, deviation is not punished. There’s no words for it and no customs that address it, but if a troll gendered male insists on being referred to as female, there is no stigma or punishment. It’s just different. If they take on a non-binary approach, they will have to explain it all the time, because few others will get it, but they won’t be outcast or harmed for it. They will just be greatly misunderstood and misgendered.

Economy

The Gífr are assimilated into the slave-based or feudal economies around them in Jorgendheim.

Military

Every troll knows how to hurl a stone or intimidate a mortal traveler, but there are some within the family who take up combat as their primary role. These warriors are called gætir, and they are the most likely to accost travelers. Their main weaponry are boulders and spears.

Language

Trollish languages are mostly Old Norse, with other Scandinavian languages mixed in.

Occupations

Common roles in trollish families are as follows:

• Bjargfægir: sculptor

• Bjarggrafa: quarrier

• Bjargtelgja: masons, stonecutters

• Gætir: warriors

• Ginnheilagr: priests/shamans

• Smala-maðr: shepherd

• Tröllherra: patriarch

• Tröllkona: matriarch

Outside View

Trolls are stereotyped as stupid, cannibalistic, and extremely violent. They are said to kidnap children. Because they are so strong and so hated, they often end up joining militaries or other forces around the world that use them for that strength and hatred. Thus, trolls outside their original societies often end up living up to their negative reputation or joining infernal powers.

Notables

• Angwur Zul'Bradr, Child of Destruction, deceased

• Gorsuk Artak, bodyguard to Viollca Lovell, deceased

• Martukh Zul'Khalgul, trollish avenger, Chosen of Chaos, deceased

• Ybraulk Zul'Fanduur, Night Hunter, warrior of the dark, wielder of true shadow, Aeonian

• Ýtrster, Final Troll, Troll Manifest, Aeonian

Estimated Populations

• Gífr: 10 million

• Other: 10 million

Sample Stats

PRO 9
ATH 9 Climbing 11 Jumping 12
STR 11
AWA 8
WIL 8
PRS 8
STH 7