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Troll

"The ogres got a fief. We got a hill outside the walls. Both of us came here on the same day, with the same captain. You explain it to me."
— Gretha-Ironbridge, eldest Troll of Windswept Hill

The giant kindred of the Behemoth Mountains — distantly related to ogres by mountain heritage but distinct by lineage, temperament, and Cadwë legal status. The Trolls came to Cadwallon with Khaurik's ogre exodus in the founding era. They were not granted the same protection. The ogres got Ogrokh. The Trolls got told they could settle the outskirts. A hundred and seventy years later, that is still where most of them live.

What They Are

  • Giant kin — taller than ogres (2.5-3m), leaner, with rougher skin (rocky to greyish-green by lineage), heavier brow-ridges, and tusked lower jaws
  • From the Behemoth Mountains — the same range that the rebel orcs fled to in 852. Trolls and Behemoth-Mountain orcs share a region, not a kinship.
  • Strong but not invulnerable — Trolls bleed normally; the legends about troll regeneration are Cadwë exaggeration, encouraged by the Trolls themselves because it has kept casual aggression down
  • Lifespan: 80-120 years; their elders remember the founding era directly
  • Came with Khaurik's ogres in 832 as camp followers, porters, and second-tier muscle. The agreement Vanius offered the ogres did not extend to them.

Where They Live

  • Windswept Hill — the largest Troll community in Cadwallon, just outside the city wall; ~600 individuals living in the cluster-village the Trolls built when they arrived 170 years ago
  • The Nomadic Lands (Kraken) — Troll labor for the docks and the refugee economy; the population is high single thousands, mostly working
  • The edges of Ogrokh — a small Troll community lives in the ogre fief by quiet agreement, serving as secondary muscle in the fief's enforcement structure
  • The Howlers' Howling pack house — small Troll presence; the cross-species community appeals to a few of the younger Trolls

In Cadwallon

  • The founding grievance. The Trolls came with Khaurik. The Trolls were not given a fief. Gretha-Ironbridge has petitioned every Duke since Lothar for recognition as a founding population. Every Duke has declined. The grievance is real. It is not, by Troll standards, urgent — they have time.
  • Second-tier labor economy — Trolls work the docks, the slaughterhouses, the warehouse routes, the construction crews. The work is paid; the pay is less than ogre rates for the same work. The Trolls have noticed.
  • No guild membership — by tradition, not by law. The Architects have started hiring Trolls for the Tractor heavy-labor work; this is a new development and the other guilds are watching it.
  • The Howler experiment — Krenald has been negotiating with [[Gretha-Ironbridge]] about bringing Troll muscle into the Howlers' bounty-hunter operations as cross-species pack members. This would be unprecedented in Wolfen tradition. The negotiation is active.

What They Remember

The orc rebellion

Gretha-Ironbridge is ninety-three years old by Troll reckoning, which makes them old enough to remember the immediate aftermath of the orc rebellion of 852 from the Behemoth Mountains side. As a young Troll, Gretha saw the first orc settlers arrive in the Behemoth range and personally negotiated their accommodation with the local Troll clans. Gretha was an important person in that period and remembers what kind of intervention the Syhars sent after the runaway orcs. Cadwallon's orc community does not know Gretha exists. Kal Rajghur would benefit enormously from knowing this. Gretha is not advertising.

The Howler cross-species pack

Krenald the Howler is offering Gretha-Ironbridge a deal: send three young Trolls to join the Howlers as cross-species pack members, in exchange for public Howler endorsement of a Troll petition for founding-population recognition. Gretha is considering it. The deal is good. The Howlers' political standing in Gamehead is, however, low, and Hadrax may block the endorsement the moment Krenald formalizes it. A free league brought into this negotiation may be asked to broker, witness, or expose the cross-currents in Krenald's faction that Gretha doesn't yet see.

The founding grievance resurfaces

A young Troll named Vord-of-the-Bridge has begun making speeches in The Nomadic Lands about the Troll grievance, attracting Kraken dockworkers (Troll and otherwise) and beginning to look like the start of an actual labor movement. The Guild of Ferrymen are concerned. The Duke is being briefed. Gretha-Ironbridge is embarrassed by Vord and would like Vord quietly silenced — not killed, but discredited or relocated before the situation escalates and the Duke responds with militia. The free league hired for this job has to navigate Troll politics, Ferrymen interests, and a real underlying grievance that Vord is not wrong about.

Relations

See Also