Trolls
Once thought an ancient nigh mythic species, the trolls of PÈRYL, are actually quite numerous and set to return to the world stage. If ever encountered, the other tribes and sentient species would see no more than one or two, or perhaps, rarer still, a band of 3-5, all of which would be male. It is widely thought that trolls are a unisexual, monogendered species. However, this was not, nor ever was the case. The trolls encountered on the surface world, beyond the barriers of the Black Isles, were male drones: cast out exiles from the homelands, their being without purpose.
Trolls are a eusocial species that marry a monarchal societal structure with the biological hierarchy of a hive. Rather than a unisexual, monogendered species, trolls have three distinct, if fluid, genders and at least three possible sexes. The drones encountered by other races are among the most numerous: they appear as male, masculine, creatures, fully capable of reproducing with other sentient species. Hence, the existence of half-trolls. The Grand Army of the Ptarshakkian Empire seeks to press gang, or otherwise acquire as many of their number as possible for their great strength and resilience. Half-trolls are usually infertile or sterile. In the reckoning of human and gnome scholars, this alone proved that trolls could not be unisexual: if their hybrids were sterile—the usually are—and they seem an admixture of traits from their human (or otherwise) and troll parents, rather than breeding true trolls, there must be an additional factor unaccounted for. The answer was a matriarchal, hive society, where bachelor males wander, and the demesne of the trolls are ruled by revered mothers, grandmothers, and an ancestral queen. Trolls are matriarchal, matrilineal, and secretive. Before the current era of the fifth century of the Qh'énnish Ascension, any non-troll to see a female troll did not survive the experience to report back to their kin, or the world in general. Female trolls are larger, stronger, more intelligent, and longer-lived than their male counterparts. Each troll community is ruled by a matriarch whose children are the nobility that govern the respective demesne. All of whom owe their fealty—and indeed their lives—to the Queen of the Black Isles, because they are her descendants. Noble daughters of the queen, provided they thrive and survive both internecine intrigues, sibling violence, and excel in the eyes of their dame, are sent off into the world and start their own colony. The trollish queen is ancient. It is said, that she continues to exist so long as her people (her literal children and descendants) thrive. She does show the some signs of age, but this is minor considering she has outlived generations of her children. But this is ending. The Black Isles have stagnated and new blood, new energy, and innovation have all but ceased. The queen has declared that her children must expand lest they (and she) die. Some believe that her death is nigh and it is her final act to ensure her daughters prosper before one of their number rises to supplant her. To this end, the Queen of the Black Isles has sent sons, grandsons, multi-great grandsons, out into the greater world to learn more and begin the expansion of the troll influence. But this has been a cautious process. Exiled drones had often left the isles; few were ever seen again. For the last two centuries, exploratory drones have been deliberately set out. It is these forays that had led to conflicts with Southern Ptarshakkians and set the stage for greater conflict as the Queen grew anxious for conquest.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The Qh'énnish term is for the massive trolls is traud, derived from the Qh'énnish root TRD is used for the number "four" and is thought to signify that the average troll is four times the size/mass of an average human male. Perhaps overstating things, but giantism is common among the trolls, later learned to be ubiquitous among female trolls, whose size is often augmented with age. The queen, for example, is nigh 17' tall. Most matriarchs are at least 8'-10' tall. Male trolls are significantly smaller than their sisters, but certainly more massive—thicker, stouter, more muscular—than the average human. Although some hunched over drones can be less tall than a sizeable human male, this is not common. Most average aroun 6-7' and are at least 270 lbs. or more. Stunted males, shorter, smaller than these are born outcasts and hated by their kin. Legendarium holds that stunted trolls are the origin of the long extinct goblins, but this seems unlikely. Still, "goblin" is a slur for short trolls. It is rare for any stunted female troll to surive infancy, such is the shame of being a runt.
The trolls of the Black Isles are greyish in hue. Darker grey and/or mottled/piebald greys being more common on those longer on the surface exposed to the sun. Those that remains crepsecular, nocturnal, and/or entirely underground tend to more chalky grey. Ancient troll records cite the ivory pale trolls of the north, and the ebony jet trolls of the south (the Bsrĕn /ᵝ!seʁĕn/ ), the blue trolls of the east, and the red of the west. The complexion of the various subspecies vary, but generally, vaguely fit under the umbrella hues of their designated exonyms.
Unlike most species, troll ears are made of bone and jut out sideways from their skulls like horns. Troll skeletons are instantly recogniseable by their size and their "ear-horn" skulls. Covered by thin skin, broken ear-bones cause the ears to droop a sign of great shame. Most drones have broken ears. Most are broken by superiors of their lineage diliberately. All outcaste trolls ear-bones are broken. Actual horns vary in pattern from numerous flat bumps on the forehead and skull, to large spikey horns like minotaurs, or crown of horns like devils. However, horns are only apparent in certain lineages; not all trolls are horned.
The skin of trolls is thick, rubbery, and largely smooth and hairless like cetaceans. Of those trolls with hair, it is usually confined to the skull and is very coarse and sticks up by itself. Rare for male trolls to produce facial hair (when it does happen, it is considered to have been some sort of contamination in the lineage; thus it is more common among outcaste trolls). Northern trolls are more likely to have horns and hairier bodies; some are fully furred. Southern trolls are the least likely to have horns or any body hair. Female trolls who have long hair are oddly prized for their uniqueness. Hair colour varies within the subspecies but is generally confined to grey, blue, bronze, red, orange, purple, green, white, and silver. Female trolls with hair often paint their hair in various colours and tribal designs. Horn colours tend to start off as darker patches of skin-tone before shifting to brighter hair-variations leading some scholars to conclude that horns are a hair variant. Finger and toe-nails are hooked and tend to be similar in colour to hair and horn, but darker and unlike human nails, opaque, and more claw-like. Male trolls occasionally grow larger canines and teeth that protrude the lips. This is rarer among females, but when it happens it is considered very desireable.
Genetics and Reproduction
Due to the hives being confined, incestuous pairings are inevitable. This is a source of the Queen of the Black Isle's need for expansion. Other tribes who have dispersed more widely are sought for new blood. Other subspecies of trolls are known to have existed and are sought by the Court of the Black Isles.
Behaviour
Troll matriarchs (inclusive of the queen, the mother of the matriarchs) are the sole progenitor of all her colony. All its workers, servants, soldiers, drones, artisans, seers, and wise ones, are her direct descendants. Fertile male princelings are held close to the court and secreted from other females, lest their precious fecundity be wasted on the unworthy. Drones are dispatched to found other colonies, serve as spies, or merely worked to death for the betterment of the colony. Male trolls are inherently deferential to female trolls, to a degree that borders on mystical. Male troll warriors forced to engage a female are honoured to be slain by them, although if the conflict is legitimate—for example, one sister set against another with male proxies and assassins—then the battle is commenced with great vigour, despite the idealization of the female by the male. If, however, the conflict is illegitimate, then the male may simple accept his fate and give his life. (It is for this reason that the rare troll assassin is never given much information lest he evaluate matters internally and his orders and his biology conflict.)
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Trolls are often light-sensitive, although this can diminish in time. However, rarely afflicted with condition can render this sensitivity to light that it is fatal in that the troll petrifies in sunlight. Again, this might be mythic, nevertheless, female trolls are extremely cautious about exposing their skin to direct sunlight. Most trolls are perfectly capable of perceiving their environment in degrees of moonlight, or near darkness. Whether this is innate to their biology or supranormal, is unclear.
Scientific Name
Xōrūrien traudsiāe
Conservation Status
Believed to be moribund, recent events have shown the Black Isles to be both fecund and densely populated, albeit largely subterrainian.
Geographic Distribution
Related Organizations
Related Ethnicities
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