Trolls

Giant Kin
Trolls are said to be descendants of giants. According to legend, in the time before elves and humans, perhaps during the time the earliest of the orcs roamed the surface of Doa'Dane, giants populated the southern regions of the continent. Unwanted children, those born with deformities or other such defects, were left in the Herosian Forest as an offering to the fey. Not to be confused with the fay–as in the likes of elves, dryads and sprites–the fey were once feral forest spirits who consumed damned offspring. The word troll derives from the Old Herosian (pre-Odish) trolðe, loosely translating to "abomination." These sacrificial offspring were not all consumed by the fey. In time they grew as their own species, and because they descended from giants, they were intelligent and developed their own language. Moreover, the trolls became capable of spellcraft, probably a trait learned from the fey who spared them.

Over the course of a millennium or more the trolls began adopting traits of both animals and the fey, thus becoming more feral over time. Today trolls are incapable of speech and behave more akin to quasi-intelligent animals. This process of feralization resulted in the breakup of troll communities. Modern trolls are never seen in groups, only alone.

Physical Description
As giant kin, trolls are both tall and broad. The average male troll stands no less than ten feet in height, with a shoulder width easily reaching five feet. Female trolls are slightly larger, standing no less than eleven feet in height with a denser physique. Granted, these dimensions only pertain to adolescent trolls, the only ever seen by mortals. No mortal has ever been known to lay eyes upon an adult troll and survive.

Unlike their giant cousins, trolls are covered in thick, coarse fur, and often Herosian foresters mistake young trolls for bears. The colors of troll fur range from hues of brown with white or silvery flecks to dark gray with white flecks. Their fingernails, sometimes described as talons, are black as coal, and it is said that even their bones are as dark.

After an adolescent troll wandered into Hälsingsland in the eleventh century, an anonymous witness provided the following description.

We did not understand at first what our eyes told us. The beast stood taller than the highest rooftop, and when it became threatened by us it stomped its heavy feet upon the ground as if it were going to charge like a bull. The very ground shook beneath my feet with each stomp. Although it resembled a large man wearing furs, it behaved much like a bear, rearing its head high and bellowing an awful, threatening cry. Six men, Helgi Helm, Visjolf Forester, Bjarni Tall-Tales, Bolli Long-Stride, Harald Archer, and Gjuki Short-Pants, met Milora by the end of the fight. We few that survived and saw the giant slain knew not what to do, so we burned the remains, in the old ways. The stench of its burning fur was putrid, and once the flesh melted we saw the creature's bone was blackened, not by our fire but as if the bones were made of charcoal.

Ecology
Trolls are arctic creatures, thus they can only be found on the Herosian Peninsula. Today they are much more prominent in Hotten, though they once occupied much of the northern reaches of Västødland. It is believed that the deforestation in northern Västødland over the last thousand some-odd years contributed both to the depopulation of trolls and their migration east into Hotten. Trolls are solitary creatures and mostly reside in the northern foothills of Hotten. However, with the expansion of human civilization, trolls are beginning to appear more frequently in the Herosian Forest.

Behavior
Only fragmented observations of troll behavior are available to the public. For the most part they appear to be solitary creatures, perhaps setting out on their own during puberty. Although no verified observations of community or family life exist, legend states that female trolls are particularly protective of their young. There exists the Old East Odish phrase ekki reiðr líki einn kona-troll, which loosely translates to mean there is no anger equal to that of a mother troll.

Trolls almost never interact with humans. They live in the hills or the forest and hunt large animals for food. On rare occasions a troll may dwell near a farming community and eat livestock. Trolls are content with living in solitude and keep as far away from humans as possible.

In addition, trolls have a unique allergy to sunlight, one so severe that if they are ever fully exposed to it they reportedly turn to stone. Because of this allergy, trolls are never seen during the day, and one desperate for shelter may in fact kill neighboring humans in order to find safe shelter.