Alternian Stuff

Documented things about the world of Alternia and its culture. Please read links before reading and interacting! - SL

[alternianstuff]

I have forgotten to specify:

Troll horns are NOT the same as Troll bones!

Then, what are they?

A troll's horn begins its journey of growth as soon as the grub pops out the egg. At this stage, it is nothing more than a deep red nub. It is very soft to the touch, and sensitive, as it is covered in nerves.

Its shape will be determined by the individual's DNA. As it grows, it will shed skin several times (a painless process) in the form of flakes, kind of like dandruff, but more elastic.

When the grub is old enough to explore on its own, that's when its horns have a more distinct shape. After plenty of shedding and growing, you will notice that it starts to develop a 'gradient'.

The base remains red, but around the tip it becomes orange. When an individual is even older, around 5 sweeps, this gradient further develops, and the tip of the horn is yellow, while the middle section is orange.

Troll horns have a tough core, but are slightly soft outside, like antlers. They can break, and it hurts a lot.

It has been observed that goldbloods tend to have at least two sets of horns. No one exactly knows why, but it might be a mutation.

Tealbloods seem to always sport straight horns, without much of a curve going on.

Ceruleans have the most odd thing going on: Their horns are almost always asymmetrical in shape. The left one does not match the right one. This is sometimes seen in jadebloods, but not as often.

Indigos tend to have arrow-like horns, or at least with sharp tips.

Purplebloods seem to almost always have multiple curvatures to their horns, like a squiggly line. They also tend to become very long, either upwards or downwards.

And finally, Fuschsias all have the same distinct horn type. It could be because they all share the same ancestor, and there isn't much variety in their gene pool. But what do you expect from a caste that can live almost forever?

- SL

[alternianstuff]

The fascinating world of Troll 'Bones'

I know what you might have thought at first, but we are talking about what some describe as the structure that keeps your body up. The very tough core (do not be lewd).

To some's shock, well... They aren't really bones at all. At least, not the traditional sense.

If you inspect a troll bone on a molecular level, you will find that it is 80% chitin, which is very common in crustacean and insect-like lusii. The rest is blood vessels, bone marrow (matching the individual's blood color!), and hydroxyapatite.

But, why are grubs so squishy then? At a larval stage, Trolls have a thin exoskeleton that protects the organs around the head area (hence why you can see and feel they have a skull), but the rest of the body is all pure muscle, organs, and fat. However, their skin is like tough smooth leather, so they have some form of bodily armor.

Their claws, or what some tend to call nails, are made of chitin and keratin. They are very tough, and the grub uses them to climb and hold onto things.

When the grub hits the pupae stage, something interesting happens inside: The body produces more chitin, along with hydroxyapatite. These will be fundamental to create the pupated stage's new and more sophisticated bone structure.

Interestingly, grubs seem to have a little nubby tail that rarely stays when the individual pupates. This does not compromise their life quality, it's a sort of leftover, like grub scars are.

Now, how easy are troll bones to break? That is a question that is hard to answer, because it depends on the individual's diet.

A diet poor of calcium and plant fiber can result in weak bones that easily splinter when hurt enough. On the contrary, a balanced diet makes it so that the individual is more likely to survive great falls (and the typical scuffles among peers).

Also, bones are ever so slightly translucent, but you need a light to put up against them to see that. That is just to 'blame' on the chitin.

- SL

[alternianstuff]

I have thought this blog was fundamentally dead as I have left it to rot, but behold. I am back.

This dastardly website will not let me check my mail again (this kind of technology is more dated than ours so it might be a me issue), but I swear on the Heiress (this is a figure of speech do not cull me) that I got an interesting question about Troll bones. Time to bake a post soon.

- SL

[alternianstuff]

Grubs! A Kind of Extended Talk

If you are here reading this, chances are you're either a curious extraterrestiral that somehow got hold of this blog's url (greetings!) or you are one of the lucky few who survived the hardships of the first stages of grubhood and somewhat safely matured to trollhood. An applause to you. 👏

Statistically speaking, only a measly 15% of a batch of grubs from a Mother Grub make it to trollhood. The rest either are stillborns, get eaten, get hunted down, or die of natural causes like illnesses or injuries. No matter your caste, you are special.

A curiosity, there is a 2% chance that a single grub egg might have twins. However, the two do not particulary tend to stick together, but they will recognize each other thru scent, both in their larval stage and adult stage.

There is also the typical rivalry that comes with such an occurrence and they might actually try fighting each other, so you might not even know you had a twin in the first place.

Anyway, what happens once the little guy pops out the slimy ball of mucus? Well, at that stage they are VERY small, around the size of your palm. Their eyesight is miserable, and they can barely emit noise. That's when they are allowed a period of stasis in the caves to absorb their egg's slimy nutrients, and grow a little.

Once their eyesight forms a little to the point they can distinguish color and depth, rougly 1.1 feet long, and their horns are no longer little nubs but somewhat a recognizable shape, that's when they're let out on their own.

If you're wondering, at this stage it's virtually impossible to tell a grub's gender (why would you assign it one anyway in the first place?).

Out there they have to survive on their own until they find a Lusus to bond with, unless they meet a horrible demise. Obstacles include the scorching sunlight, Lusii that see them as food rather than kin, and also poachers. Despite their size and apparent helplessness, they do have some tricks up their sleeve.

An example is Rustbloods and Goldbloods just now developing their telekinetic or psiionic powers, which actually makes them slightly more dangerous than a pupated troll, since they cannot control them.

People tend to avoid Cerulean grubs completely (or try to snag them for a ton of cash), because they tend to fire random mind control at their attacker when threatened. It does not last as much as a pupated troll, and feels more like a pounding migraine, but it is very annoying.

Then there's higher castes like indigos and purples, which have abnormal strength. A grub's bite is already nasty by itself as they have some sharp teeth, but when indigos and purples bite, they lock their jaws and don't let go until they're satisfied. And sometimes, they can dig right past your muscle tissue.

You'd think seadweller grubs are an easy catch since they're in confined areas like lakes and rivers and the sea, but those tend to have a strong scent that gets them a Lusus fast (highblood privileges I guess). And those Lusii tend to be very nasty. So, do not try.

Now that we got a look at the castes, what's next?

The Pupation process!

The journey towards trollhood requires some fundamental steps. The grub must be at least one sweep old, have a Lusus it bonded with, and feel safe in an enclosed area like a cave, tree trunk, etc.

Eventually, a grub will start to secrete a foam-like substance from their mouth that is greenish in color: That is them making the cocoon's silk and mixing it with their saliva.

They will soon find a comfortable spot to cocoon up, and each grub was observed to have their own style based on caste and personality: Some hang by a thread, others literally 'glued' themselves on a surface, some lazily sat on the floor like a sack of tubers, And plenty more creative ways.

The silk, when hardened, is surprisingly sturdy. Some trolls keep it as a memento after they pupate, or reuse it for clothing.

It takes a troll half a sweep to pupate, and what goes inside sounds gruesome, but fascinating: The grub's body 'digests' itself sort of, and some specialized cells start to rearrange that slurry around into the new body.

After they hatch, they will have one last reminder of when they used to be trolls: Troll scars. They're present on the sides of one's body, a little more below the armpits. Apparently the middle legs of the larval stage simply fall off and get used in the pupating process.

Everyone remembers the silly things we did when we first got out that slimy mess. Personally, I fell right on my face, rolled on my back, then went to get some water from my sink, which strangely didn't seem so scarily big and tall anymore. My lusus took a whole day to lick me clean. - SL

[alternianstuff]

Troll Diet, A brief Guide

Kicking off this blog with a good, slim read. I will try my best not to use my quirk for the following text.

Generally speaking, a Troll's main diet is mainly carnivorous of nature, as you can tell from the teeth alone.

However, thanks to industrialization and the introduction of what people would colloquially call 'junk food', the diet had also become sort of omnivorous as sweeps passed.

Vegetables, and some kinds of fruits, were introduced in the population's diet, and that opened the horizon to more exciting flavors (or making meat more flavorful).

There is a very small percentage of trolls, considerably a minority, that are voluntary vegetarians, due to personal or biological motives.

Now with that out of the way, exactly, what do trolls eat normally?

Half a portion of their diet is, to some other cultures' horror (apparently), their own young. Grubs that failed to bond with a Lusus and wandered for too long become the target of butchers, poachers, or local food companies. It's just the way it's been for sweeps.

From them you can extract small portions of meat, morsels, juice, and even soft bone for the few people that like to chew on that kind of delicacy (and have the kind of teeth for it).

The other option is, of course, lusus meat. However there is a sort of taboo: It is forbidden to hunt a bonded lusus. At least, with the purpose to harvest it for food. If your life is in danger because of one going berserk, go on and defend yourself the best you can (and get yourself a legislacerator while you're at it).

Killing a wild one is just fine, as long as it isn't poisonous or endangered. Although, I've seen some... interesting individuals try the meat of some poisonous spiked fish. Eugh.

Trolls need plenty of sugar to sustain themselves, and that's where the sugary drinks, fruits and juices come in play. Hydration wise they need it, but can survive for a while without it too, with the exception of seadwellers which need moisturized skin all the time.

Me personally, to conclude this article, I have a balanced diet of both meat and sugar, with pastries in the mix.