Troll
Trolls are giant-kin known for two things: their ravenous appetites, and their regenerative healing powers.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Large creatures, Trolls stand an average of 9 to 10 feet tall on two legs. Most commonly, their skin has a greenish cast, and their build is humanoid. Their build ranges from sinewy to obese, but rarely features excessive muscularity. They are hairy in all the places humans are, and the hair is coarse as twine, plagued by grease.
Sexually dimorphic, female trolls are usually larger, averaging 11-12 feet high, and with thicker, denser bones.
Genetics and Reproduction
Female trolls produce a foul, strong-smelling pherimone when ready to mate. Its scent carries for miles, attracting male trolls who then battle for the right to reproduce. Troll gestation times are not well known, but seem to take most of a year, during which time the female continues to hunt and feed at accelerated rates.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Trolls. Eat. Anything. But they prefer meat by a large margin. The freshness of the meat is a bonus, but not a requirement.
Behaviour
Noctournal creatures, trolls hunt at night and rest in their lairs during the day. They prefer to lair in dark, sheltered places, but have not the intelligence or dexterity to build structures. They prefer caves and other natural formations.
Their hunting ranges quite far, owing both to their long strides and their tireless pursuit of food. Many trolls forget their way home, so it is fortunate for them that they are not overly attached to the idea of a permenant steading, and are pleased to simply set up shop in the next reasonable shelter that passes their eye. If a troll has food in its lair, it stays to eat it. If it doesn't, it goes out and cares little for finding the way back.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
The most famed feature of a troll is how difficult they are to kill. They have been known to regrow entire limbs, and to come back from magical destrucion in new, terrifying forms. This regeneration is not instant, however, and given how limited the methods for actually killing them seem to be, disabling them in this way is generally accepted as a good substitute.
In terms of their sensory abilities, Trolls are inefficient trackers. They don't appear to be especially keen-eyed or eared, but their sense of smell is powerful.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
For the benefit of having something to call themselves, many trolls adopt a name that is easy for them to remember and pronounce. They tend to be mono or duo syllibalic, and come from the Giant language.
The names are often simple nouns or adjectives, such as "Mikill" (Large), or "Sigr" (Victory).
History
Giant-kin by their origins, Trolls along with Ogres are the creations of Vaprak, the King Eater. This title was given not for chewing up monarchs, but for being the monarch of chewing things up. Trolls inherited this endless hunger, and they live only to feed.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
As the children of Vaprak and Othea, true giants shun their half siblings, many preferring to even believe that they bear no relationship to the Giant gods at all. Trolls and Ogres are not welcome in Jotunheim, and Annam All-Father abhors the sight of them.
Dragons see them as the most hideous form of giants, and smaller species fear them as ravenous predators.
Geographic Distribution