General

Trolls are wicked, malignant beings. Surprising intelligence lies behind their brutish behavior. Ogres are their mortal enemy.

Trolls are raiders. They delight in stealing, plundering, and pure destruction. This is how they gain prestige. Their society would collapse without someone to conquer. But controlling territory isn’t the aim, it’s the result.

Trolls need to brag, to strut, to cow. They die quickly in captivity and will sometimes kill themselves rather than be captured.

They are the heroic model gone bad. Or, not so much bad as amoral. All their ambitions are fleeting and petty. They live for today. They have no history. Planning consists mainly of where do we go today.

Troll culture centers around the family, or more correctly around the fire. Humans call it the hearth, but “fire” is a better term for it includes campfires while on campaign (which is often). They are monogamous and patrilineal. The only possessions of real value are arms and armor; all else is just plunder, good for showing off but that’s about all. They routinely have potlatches and “feast fires” in which dozens of families burn their wealth.

Trolls are fearsome warriors, brutal and bloody, but they rarely will face an army. They lack discipline. But they can wage guerrilla war effectively, making them grievous neighbors.

Trolls speak and have their own language, but never invented writing. They adopted the Greek alphabet so badly only experts can read troll. But they never write, unless it’s to interact with literate peoples.

They prefer to live under open sky. That’s where they do business. Buildings are where things get done in secret, closed away from the world.

They ride great cats. Horses fear them. Dogs, too. Cats love them. Their castles are infested with cats. Aurochs are their cattle.

Trolls do not ride, they run. Most horses can outrun them over the length of a sustained gallop, but trolls have more stamina. They will eventually run a horse down.

Trolls do run with dire wolves. Together, they make a terrifying raiding party, but trolls bring in other hunter-killer beasts as well.

They can run across most any surface. Water defeats them, as does deep snow.

They make extensive use of slaves, for everything from farming to cannon fodder to artisan work to food (trolls eat most any meat)

They are semi-nomadic, preying upon a place until it under-produces, then moving on. Plunder is vital; it’s how a war chief maintains his position. It’s how the war band maintains itself.

Appearance

Trolls are ogre-sized, which means they are taller and heavier than most humans. They tend to range from 6′ 5″ up to 7′ and even a little bigger. They are brutish in aspect, with heavy features, small eyes, large mouths. Their arms and legs are muscular and their hands are very strong.

Trolls have hide rather than skin and it is both thick and tough, like ox hide. It is naturally pale tan, but trolls practice scarification and tattooing, so an individual troll might be almost any color or combination of colors. Similarly, their hair–which is bristles like on a boar–is reguarly dyed.

Their clothing is largely decorative and used for display. When at war they go nearly naked.

History

Trolls first appear in the wake of the goblin hordes of the 12th century AUC. They appear to have been part of the unending waves of invaders over the next two centuries, but it is difficult to know for sure. Our sources speak in vague terms of Wilders or monsters, not distinguishing between types.

They were pushed out of Germania and Italia by the Karlings in the 15th century, across the Alba and into the Carpati Mountains. There they seem to have found easier hunting. By the time we can speak with certainty, the Five Kingdoms are fully formed. It doesn’t help historians that trolls are not literate and tend to destroy any cultures that are.

Politics

The trolls say they have always been five kingdoms, and historians have been unable to find evidence of any other political form. What trolls mean by “king” and “kingdom” is a far cry from what the Free Folk mean, of course. Sometimes the term is rendered as war chief, but their kings rule in peacetime as well. Chieftain doesn’t carry the gravitas that king does, so we’ll stay with the traditional terms.

The Five Kingdoms are:
Vargenak (Trace and Trebizond)
Comanak (Cyprus, Armenia, Anatolia)
Bajanak (Pannonia, Illyria, Epirus)
Dichak (Aegean and Greece)
Olak (Moldavia, Wallachia, Transylvania)

In each case, there is considerable uncertainty about borders, both internally and with the Empire and the Orc Imperium.

All troll kingdoms are a pestilence to their neighbors. Raiding is easy enough along borders, but what happens in the interior? Those are mostly slave communities, toiling to supply wealth to their masters. Trolls rather like when there is a rebellion, for they can raid there.

Trolls are not sailors, but they’ll happily enslave sailors. So there are troll ships operating around the Euxine and Mare Nostrum.

A king is not a king over a place, though there does build up a strong sense of regional autonomy and right to rule (see list above). A king rules a people. He owns slaves, he does not rule them.

The Five Kingdoms

The Vargenake are the most urbanized, because of Constantinople. They slowly become corrupt and decadent, but they have such wealth and power, they are never seriously challenged. They are masters of manipulation, playing one side off against another, and skimming the profits. Vargenak claim to be the First Kings, and the other four give lip service to this, but no more. King Among Kings.

The Comanake are sly, secretive, often allied with the Vargenak. They raise murder and assassination to a fine art, though it’s more of the club over the head variety than the dagger in the back. They’re simply fearless, for to die while murdering is an honor. In a rebellion, the Vargenake will defeat the army then cow the supporters by burdening them with new taxes and wholesale taking of hostages. The Comanake, otoh, will disappear people. The Comanake are also very much preoccupied with eastern wars.

Olake are preoccupied with orcs, and vice versa. They live on the border lands. They pride themselves as being the most honorable, the most warlike, the wealthiest. They scorn city riches; their treasures are laid up in mighty castles.

Bajanake are famous for their temper. Anger a Bajanak and he will come after you relentlessly. Their responses are often disproportionate. You made fun of his hat, so he kills you. If your brother takes revenge, the Bajanak’s relatives will come destroy your whole clan. Bajanake are certain they are the only trolls with a true sense of honor.

Dichake are the most “reasonable” trolls, if such can be said. They, like the Vargenake, are adept at making (and breaking) treaties, at using leverage. But they will ally with humans or dwarves more readily than any other trolls. They seldom come into contact with orcs. Dichake can often be found as mercenaries in human armies. Dichake also are at war with each other more often than they are with outsiders.

Magic

Trolls have no magicians, but they adore magic and are obsessed with acquiring magical items. This does make them susceptible to being defrauded, but they tend to get cranky when they find out.
Trolls will use magic items from time to time, but for the most part they hoard and display. Feast days are not only for feasting, they are for displaying a chieftain’s wealth, and magic items are the most treasured forms of wealth, beyond gold and jewels and slaves.
Because trolls have no ability or training, they are susceptible to using a magic item incorrectly. The many fatal accidents involving magic items has instilled in trolls a superstitious awe and dread, which only heightens the status of an item. While all this may sound a bit comic—and has certainly been used in comedies—the fact is that trolls are brutal and they eagerly use magical items to rain death and destruction upon their enemies.
The Great Palace at Vargenope (Constantinople) holds an immense treasure, scooped up in centuries of conquest and trade. Magic items go into the Great Palace but never come out again. The place is a tempting target for thieves. It is also a graveyard for thieves.
Magic items are far more likely to be used by Bajane and Olane trolls, and is often employed too by Dichane. Many rumors circulate about Comane trolls, but while more lurid and spectacular, most accounts are second- and third-hand.

Religion

Trolls are pantheistic. They regard every god as real and try to placate them all. Rulers will go with whichever god brings them victory and treasure, his chieftains will follow his choice, and the common troll will dutifully make sacrifices at the appropriate altar. Trolls do not force any god on anyone, and regard what orcs do as deeply offensive.
One might even say the trolls have no religion, they only have gods. There is no priesthood, no sacred literature, no sacred structures. Shrines pop up and decline or disappear regularly, as the locals or some visiting chief desires. There’s a wonderful fatalism about troll religious practice. There are obviously far too many gods to cover properly, so it’s inevitable that some god somewhere is angry with someone for some reason. The best one can do is to make sure observances are kept for whichever gods favor the monarch, the traditional gods of one’s family, and any others that seem relevant at the time. As for the rest, keep your head down and your sword sharp.
This results in wide variety of practice, with very little rhyme or reason. No matter how the observance is performed, it’s probably right and probably wrong. The main thing is to make obeisance and follow local custom. They do not expect non-trolls to know what to do because non-trolls are stupid and boorish.

Trolls have kahinkum. Not a priest, but a “special” person who has the ability to discover what spirits live in and rule a place. The kahinkum is necessary for trolls to live in a place or even to camp for any period of time. For a temporary stay they can simply put out a generalized offering. Think of it as something akin to a cleansing ritual. Trolls don’t recognize the god of one place is the same as the same god in a different place. This is one of the many things about trolls that offends orcs.