The Island Trolls
This is a small trollish kingdom located on an
island several hundred miles southwest of New Hope. Though the trolls
refuse to talk about it, it is likely that their ancestors were forcibly
ejected from the Broken Peak Kingdom circa TWR -2500, during the same upheavals
which made refugees of the Tower Mountain trolls. Migrating eastward
they eventually reached the seashore and over the next few hundred years
taught themselves the rudiments of sailing. It is not known why they
moved from there to their current home; possibly they encountered further
problems with humans or other trolls. They settled their island circa
TWR -2000 and have lived there relatively peacefully since.
The island is volcanic basalt and metal-poor,
so the sea-trolls have little in the way of wealth as trolls usually count
it. The island covers perhaps a hundred square miles. The beaches
are black sand studded with large, water-worn basalt rocks and boulders.
Inland the the island rises sharply to a central mountain, the peak of
which is approximately nine thousand feet above sea level. The mountain
is extremely steep and rugged, and the island is covered with semitropical
and tropical plant life. The soil is rich and suitable for farming,
but the areas which can be farmed are extremely small.
The mountain is an active volcano which erupts
every ten thousand years or so. It last erupted circa TWR -4000.
Unlike most trolls, the Island trolls are
ruled by a queen and their culture is matriarchal. Their family and
governmental structure is based on their ships; a ship is owned by a female
captain and crewed by her husbands and children. Male children outnumber
females by a signifigant amount; males are considered more expendable.
There is a considerable "macho" tradition; male trolls are raised to be
brave warriors and sailors, to take risks, and to "leave the thinking to
the women." Female trolls are raised to be shrewd manipulators and
traders. Either sex may take up forging or other crafts, but females
predominate. Males who prove incompetant at either sailing, fighting,
or craftwork are sent to cut cane; it is a brutal, low-status job.
Only females may become dreamreaders, and since the formal government is
comprised of a council of shipowner/captains, only females may rule.
The Queen is the female who owns the largest and richest ship or ships.
The current Queen, Tidepool, owns three fine ships. There are approximately
two hundred Island Trolls all told, at least three-quarters of them male.
The sea trolls are intensely superstitious,
and it's a rare troll who doesn't have a pocket full of charms to ward
off bad luck and attract good luck. Almost anything can be made into
a charm, but durable items like bone and metal are favored. An interesting
development of this troll-kingdom is the office of dreamreader. These
are female trolls who are attributed the power of dream interpretation.
They will explain the meaning of a questioner's dream, provide charms to
ward off the effects of an ill-omened dream or supply potions to encourage
good-omened dreams. They are respected and feared, for an offended
dreamreader may cause the offender to dream badly and bring ill-fourtune
upon the offender's family and ship. Dream readers are seldom ship-owners
themselves, but are usually attached to a particular captain by virtue
of blood or pay. The dreamreaders have considerable knowlege of herbs,
drugs and poisons and have great facility in brewing, distilling, and the
like.
The Island Trolls are relatively peaceful.
They have no desire to expand their empire, and are somewhat suspicious
of other trolls. Most of their politics are internal, involving feuds
between various ship captains for lucrative trade; however, these arguments
almost never lead to violence as they might in other troll groups.
They are not as sun-phobic as most trolls, and are willing to go abroad
in daylight, though they make use of broad-brimmed hats and sun-blocking
creams provided by the dreamreaders.
The Island Trolls get their main living from
fishing. They also dive for pearls and coral. They trade these
items with other trolls as well as human and elven tribes. Since
their island is metal-poor, they have little wealth as other trolls measure
it, and most of this ends up in the private hoard of the Queen. They
retain knowlege of smithing and are far more interested in obtaining bronze
and copper (for ship fittings) or iron (for weapons) than gold and silver.
They also grow sugar cane for trade and harvest a type of seaweed from
which can be extracted a drug which dulls an elf's ability to send.
This drug is in great demand from other troll kingdoms and even human tribes.
The sea trolls have kept its source and manufacture a great secret.
With the typical trollish love of ornamentation,
the Island trolls are fine woodcarvers and bronzesmiths. They decorate
their ships lavishly, and families compete among each other to display
the finest figureheads and luck-charms. Their ships are large, double-hulled
catamarans, suitable for island-hopping; they employ lateen-rigged sails,
mainly depend on rowers for motive power.
Among the Island Trolls a female child is
apprenticed to a captain, a dreamreader, or a crafter at around the age
of eight, and receives the equvalent of journeyman status somewhere between
the ages of twenty and fifty. The troll-woman then (hopefully) rises
in the ranks of her profession until she can afford to take a husband.
Especially well-off troll women may take several husbands. If she
is a captain's apprentice, she will work her way up to first mate on her
captain's ship if she is competent, and, at that point, if mated may start
planning to launch her own ship, collecting promises of employment from
male relatives until she has the resources to build her first ship.
If alive and solvent after eight years, (and not all are) the new captain
will be formally admitted to the Queen's Council. She will owe a
debt of gratitude (and very often financial as well) to her mentor even
if the mentor is not (as is often the case) her mother or aunt to begin
with. Very old and successful captains often have junior captains
beholden to them if not actually in their employ.
Dreamreaders are not organized; they work
alone and once a troll has finished her apprenticeship and found a patron
or gone freelance, there is no formal obligation left to her teacher.
Crafters are much the same.
Like most trolls, the Island Trolls will take
elf slaves if they can get them. Because of their isolation and relative
poverty, they seldom get them. They have a reputation among other
trolls for being soft on their slaves; an elf in the clutches of the Island
Trolls can generally count on being fed and sheltered reasonably well,
and is not in any great danger of losing body parts. The Island Trolls
deal with several elf traders amicably and see no conflict in the two things.
If confronted about slaves they will deny everything.