Dar'sultaj - The Troll Race

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No one is quite sure how the trolls earned their name. Some surmise that it was their powerful, rousing ritual chants which earned them such - to troll is to sing heartily and a round is also known as a troll. Some more observant cataloguers point out that to troll is also to wander - the trolls are nomads who make their livings with subsistence hunting and gathering.

Ranging from 7 to 9 feet tall at maturity, trolls are powerful creatures, but there is still some hint of their elven heritage. They have lithe builds of dense, sinewy muscle, angular faces, and extended, pointed ears that provide a sense of hearing that is difficult to match. In addition, they show somewhat elongated arms (allowing them the ability to walk for short distances on all fours) as well as extra canine teeth. Trolls have also developed a keen sense of smell that almost matches their hearing. Young trolls are a tan or yellowish-brown, growing to maturity with darker green coloring mottled around the shoulders and limbs. Their hair is usually some shade of green, sometimes highlighted with all of the colors of the rainbow. A fully erect troll could almost resemble a standing, flowering tree.

The most unique attribute about trolls is their seeming invincibility. The chaotic ley energies that made the savannah so vibrant and resilient imparted this energy upon its inhabitants, including the trolls.

Trolls, by nature, are very xenophobic and isolated. There is almost no trust in outsiders. Consequently, trolls speak few languages other than their own. It is commonly thought throughout the Badlands that because they speak in such a guttural language that they must be unintelligent. Unfortunately for many, this is simply untrue; trolls have an intelligence that goes far beyond animal cunning and contributes to an understanding of their surroundings passed down through generations that catalogues a history of living in several environments. Few are as adapted to any environment as the troll.

Perhaps due to their xenophobia, a troll (in his right mind) would never imagine eating anything sentient... mostly because sentient creatures tend to be unclean. As stated bluntly, "Goblins roll in their own filth, redcaps would eat the goblins who have rolled in their own filth."

A history of subsistence and structured family groups where one or more parents did not survive have created a quite egalitarian troll society, allowing any troll to achieve any position. It has no castes and no actual job specialization.

Weapons

Because of their beliefs, trolls will never be seen with metal weapons. They do not dig, so they can not mine the metals necessary to create the weapons. Taking such weapons from fallen enemies implies complicity with the production of such weapons and is seen as morally wrong in the eyes of trolls.

Although trolls do not commonly go into combat against each other, they do know the value of a swift, powerful strike necessary to fell one of their own as swiftly as possible. Because of this, standard troll weapons are weapons designed to cleave, sever, and decapitate.

The only weapons ever seen in the hands of trolls are those made of flint, obsidian, jade, and other stones easily found lying around, or even commonly bone.

Melee Weapons

Axe; Hand Axe; Spear; Struj'ak (a long, curved, wide-bladed dagger which is equivalent to a short sword in a human-sized hand); Kadaj (similar to a chakram in appearance, but with holes around the circumference for finger placement and either a sharpened edge completely around or on the outer edge...a dangerously efficient hand weapon); Tuj, from the troll word for "moon," a single long blade with no sharp points and a handle at each end at the back of the blade.

Projectile Weapons

Vud'rak (a double ended axe with a single handle in the middle...capable of long-distance decapitation, but usually made of bone). Spear, Rak'lur (a round stone, sharpened across most of one edge and thrown like a discus).

Jud Carg

A cheaper method of creating larger, stronger weapons is called Jud Carg, or burn bone. By grinding obsidian into a thin powder and mixing it with clay, a ceramic paste is created. When the paste is spread over the surface of an object and cooked directly within the flames of a tinder fire, the result is a weapon as light as bone and as strong as iron that can be ground down to a much finer point than bone alone. The weapon is then usually shaped to fit the hand of the wielder with a handle wrapped in leather.

Armor

Trolls do not see the point in armor for its own sake, and many of them are well aware that they will heal over time. Still, for decorative purposes and to dull the cut of a blade, which might distract them in battle, some sew obsidian or stone plates into animal skins in order to have extra protection.

Religion of the Dar'sultaj

The trolls have three primary gods, although their religion is mostly animist, holding a belief in countless minor spirits. The gods have limited religious influence, and they are quite openly derided, despised, and trolls rarely defer to them.

Gira

Gira is the source from which all things come. She is neither a force, nor is she a way, she is a means. She embodies bounty. The only goddess the trolls had upon arriving to the Badlands was this goddess. She is the weakest and most vulnerable of the three gods because of her impotence. It is believed that Gira, like all things, will grow old and die and it is the duty of the trolls to protect her until she grows senile. She has no glyph, symbol, or image.

Nurtrejja

Nurtrejja is the second weakest god and is the youngest of the troll gods. She embodies the forces of life, growth, health, and peace. A single horizontal line in the center of a circle is her glyph and her symbol is a stalk of tall grass. In figure carving, she is most often seen as a nude troll female holding a stalk of grass.

Nurtrejja is considered the youngest god because her adoption, from the human goddess Nostrella, is fairly recent. Knowledge of her was actually imported by the troll sage Dur'draj Ajanarja, along with knowledge of the continent of Hyathis almost a millenium ago.

Cannubal

Cannubal is the strongest god and is also considered the most depraved and detested. He embodies the forces of death, destruction, and conflict. A pair of jagged overlapping lines (resembling sharp teeth with the points directed toward each other) is his glyph and his symbol is an animal skull. In figure carving, he is most often seen as a diminutive troll male with a pug nose and a mouth full of extended fangs holding a spear or knife.

The Legends

Gira, the Source

In the beginning, Gira was. But nothing else was. Gira saw this and knew that it was not right that she should be all and nothing else should be. She, the source, gave birth to all things, and when all things passed they returned back to Gira so that new things could be born.

Cannubal's Birth

In this way, life had begun, and air and trees and water and fire in the sky. Animals wandered the plains and lived in the trees and swam in the waters of the world and the old people, Aniditaj, lived in the same way. They used only what they needed because all things came from Gira, and there was enough for all of them. They gave back what they did not need so that Gira could make more.

But the Aniditaj wanted more than what Gira gave them. They wanted what others had. So, the Aniditaj fought against each other in order to obtain more and they spilled each other's blood and cut each other down. This was wrong because the Aniditaj could not eat what they killed because the meat was their own. And the meat was rotten on the earth because no one would bury or burn their enemy.

When Gira took back the bodies, she was poisoned by bad blood and it spread within her, but she feared that if she let it go, then all things she made would be sick with bad blood. In her womb, where all things are born, only death and hate and blood formed and when she feared that she would die from the sickness, she released it. And so Cannubal was born, the befouler.

Nurtrejja's Birth

Having known great pain for so long, Gira was happy to be free of it. When the Aniditaj killed each other, she let their bodies rot on the earth. She only took what they used properly and gave back nothing. In this way, all good things gathered in Gira's body and she feared no pain or suffering.

Over time, though, she saw what her creations had become. Cannubal was growing in strength and he urged the Aniditaj on to wicked acts and turned them against each other. Blood was everywhere and murder was growing. The Aniditaj began to use her body without her permission and they cut her and burned her and bled her and took from her at Cannubal's command because he knew what was needed to keep war going, iron and fire and hate.

Gira felt life and happiness and peace within but knew that she could not last with death surrounding her. Reluctantly, she released into the world all of the good life she had stored within. Nurtrejja was born, the preserver.

Life, Death, and All Things.

Once again, Gira was. Now, Nurtrejja was, Cannubal was, and all things were with Cannubal. Nurtrejja knew that she could not give life to anything unless Gira provided. She also knew that all things could not be provided until all old things were given back to Gira.

When Nurtrejja met her brother on the plains, Cannubal challenged her for dominance of all things that come from Gira. Nurtrejja approached him alone and said that she would not fight him because all things that die must be reborn again. Even if she were to raise a hand to kill the murderer, the murderer would be reborn angrier than before and retribution would seek her.

But she assured him that she was not afraid, because even as all things which die are reborn, all things are reborn which die, and she would return once again to stand against him. Cannubal considered this and was not convinced. He mocked Nurtrejja by sending half of all armies against each other in unmatched bloodshed. Yet, when each army fell, Nurtrejja buried the bodies and returned them to Gira so that they would not rot and poison her again. Over the graves, green grass began to grow and no one knew where the dead were buried.

Cannubal was content that Nurtrejja was lying and continued his acts of war. But for each soldier that Gira received, a new life was given back. For each dead life, a child was born. And so, for every soldier. For each soldier, there was a baby to care for. And to do this required each soldier to lay down his weapons. And there were no feuds because green grass over old graves made them forget old wars.

They could not raise their children without peace. When all of the soldiers had put down their weapons, Cannubal was enraged. He had lost his armies to Nurtrejja and she had not raised a hand to him. Once again, all things were from Gira.

 

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