Trolls

Trolls are an ancient and proud race but one in decline, much like their Goblin kin. Once numerous around the world, over the last thousands of years they have steadily withdrew to their ancestral homeland of Greenland. Greenland is a massive island and autonomous Danish territory between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Much of its land surface is covered in ice. Most of its small population lives along the ice-free, fjord-lined coast, particularly in the southwest. Its northerly position, largely above the Arctic Circle, results in natural phenomena such as summer’s midnight sun and winter’s Northern Lights. Trolls live in the ice caverns below the island, which spread for hundreds of miles around the island and into the Arctic Sea. Trolls are amphibious creatures, able to survive quite happily on land and sea, often opening up their caves into the waters for hunting or pleasure.

Trolls are large, humanoid creatures ranging from 5ft – 7ft in height, with powerful builds. The have ice white skin from years of living underground, with pointed teeth and ears. They are a deeply spiritual race and hold places of spiritual significant in high regard, often acting aggressively to any trespassers (a trait they share with Goblins). They have a pantheon of gods and goddesses that they worship, their myths describing an ‘Age of Heroes’ when the gods overthrew the malevolent ‘Masters’ and freed the Troll race from servitude. Some speculate that these ‘Masters’ are the same present in Goblin mythology and it is true that the Trolls treat the Goblin religion with some disdain.

Troll communities are called Clans and roam the ice caves in groups around 30 – 100. This underground nomadic existence is most like the Native Americans of the US, with the obvious difference between the open plains and the expansive ice caverns. They hunt bears, seals and giant ice sloths that share their underground habitat. The ice caverns themselves are now recognised as one of the most important natural wonders of the known world and include such sites as underground tree groves, waterfalls and mushroom plains. However the Trolls are very reluctant to invite any strangers into their lands, so much of it remains a mystery. Indeed, Trolls only really came back into the knowledge of the GA during the 1950’s when Arctic explorers stumble across the caverns in the North Pole.