#asktroll

[loominggaia]

I’m quite curious about the Skadgrik trolls and their walrus hunting?

What are their traditional walrus hunts like? What kinda weapons aside from trollish strength do they use to kill these giant, blubbery aquatic tanks? (Serious people underestimate just how BIG walruses can get!)

What kinda relationship do they have with the walruses they hunt and do they have culture significance outside just food and material? I’d imagine they would be experts on walrus biology & ecology just like Great Plains people with bison or indigenous Russians tribes with reindeer.

How do they preserve all the meat they harvest from these walrus hunts? And aside from meat and tusk what other materials and uses do these trolls have for the walrus parts?

Good questions! I haven't fully developed the Skadgrik lore yet, but I do have some basic ideas.

I think they utilize basic rafts made out of driftwood, bone, skins, and flesh (using flesh as inflatables) to drift from iceberg to iceberg, where they find the walruses. They probably spear-fish other marine life like fish and penguins while they're on the water.

The average troll weighs about 600 pounds, but Skadgrik trolls do lean on the heavier side. The average adult Skadgrik male is probably closer to 700-800lbs. That's still not as heavy as a walrus, but it does give them a much better chance of surviving a fight with one than smaller peoples, especially when you consider their ultra-thick skin, blubber, and natural weapons like fangs and claws. They use spears, clubs, and sharpened projectiles like stones to injure the walruses and then chase them down. The Skadgrik (and trolls in general) don't traditionally utilize traps or anything like that, they have a more straightforward way of dealing with their prey.

I do think the Skadgrik have a healthy respect for the walruses. They understand that without the walruses sacrifice, their tribes would not be able to survive. So, there are likely walrus-themed rituals or perhaps funerals to honor those sacrifices. A troll who dies hunting a walrus is honored as a hero for trying to feed his tribe, but the walrus itself is also honored for providing that meal.

The trolls harvest many useful things from the walruses besides meat. They carve all kinds of tools from the tusks, the blubber can be eaten or turned into fuel, and the skins are used for water-repellent clothes, furniture, and insulation. They even use the sinew for thread. The Halostiran tundra is too harsh to let any part go to waste, so there is nothing left of the walrus' corpse by the time the tribe parts it out. The one who made the kill gets the biggest cut of the spoils.

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[loominggaia]

Why don't your Orcs have tusks? I'm not mad I just wanna know (I'm a dnd fanatic and warhammer guy so my go to orcs have tusks)

My trolls and ogres already had tusks, so I wanted my orcs to stand out from them a little more by making them look "smoother" and more refined. Looming Gaia orcs were not really war-like, they were actually quite peaceful and reclusive, so they didn't need the crazy teeth, claws, and horns that some other commoners have.

Ogres and trolls have more naturally violent behaviors compared to orcs. These behaviors are not always malicious though, often it's just "pecking order" stuff. They play-fight a lot to solve problems, this just comes naturally to them, but it does not come naturally to most orcs. Orcs don't need big scary tusks because they settle disputes by speaking instead of biting, and those teeth would just get in the way of speech.

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[loominggaia]

Do trolls socialized around other peoples (e.g foster/adopted kids) still have a penchant for rotten and stinky food? Or is it an innare thing?

Yes, it's actually a biological response so it can't be "trained" out of them. Trolls naturally like smells that most other peoples find disgusting, and "pleasant" smells like flowers and fresh food are repugnant to them.

I do think that trolls who live among other peoples for long enough eventually become nose-blind to pleasant smells though. Kind of like how a smoker won't smell cigarette smoke after a few years of being surrounded by it. Likewise, urban trolls get used to the horrible stench of clean laundry and shampoo because it's always there. But even these trolls enjoy taking a big, satisfying whiff every time they pass a garbage can!

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[loominggaia]

Do trolls have anything akin to cuisine and traditional dishes? Just because you can eat just about anything doesn't mean it has to be presented with no flair. :D I suppose same question for minotaurs. Are there any foods other races go out of their way to try from either of these groups (besides minotaur milk)?

They certainly do! Trolls are in a unique position where they can eat damn near anything without consequence, even foods that are totally raw, filthy, or rotten. But what's even more unique is the fact that they like the taste of nasty, rotten food!

A troll's sense of smell and taste oppose that of most peoples'. By that I mean, smells and tastes that other peoples find pleasant are usually unpleasant to trolls, and vice versa. Taste is subjective, but we can agree that 99% of humans would retch if they put a rotten egg in their mouth. Meanwhile, the average troll can--and will--happily devour it, and enjoy it much more than a fresh egg.

Because of this, trolls have developed many unique dishes that only their species can safely eat. I will warn you, some of the following text is really disgusting. So if you get grossed out easily, consider skipping the rest of the post.

With that said, let's take a look some of these troll-specific dishes from around the world!

Redge: A rotten egg slathered in bitter herbs.

Plopslop: The manure of a herbivorous animal, boiled down into a soup with half-composted vegetables added.

Grrsi: Fresh meat is inoculated with fly eggs, which hatch and partially digest the meat over time. The meat becomes infested with the fat grubs, which are the main attraction of the dish.

Urizluuk: The urine of a male goat, fermented for months in an alcoholic fruit broth. This is a popular drink dating back to ancient times.

Akwi: Raw fish heads, left to dry in the sun until they smell putrid. Sometimes akwi is made with clams or some other sealife instead.

Dukleka: Garlic is force-fed to rats over the course of many days, then rats are fed to a pig-hawk, which has its rear-end sewn shut. The garlicky rats ferment in its GI tract until the bird dies of bloat, then its stomach and intestines are removed and eaten as a delicacy.

Zlub: This is not a meal in itself, but a sauce made from boiled slug slime and rancid onions. It's added to other foods to give it a slimy, repulsive texture that trolls love.

Volzkriz: Animal blubber (traditionally from a walrus or whale) is boiled down into a liquid and then left to cool, forming a hard block of fat. This can be eaten fresh, but it said to taste better the more rancid it gets.

There are lots more, but I'm sure you get the idea...Even ogres, who can tolerate rancid corpses, will be sickened by some of the things on this list. This gives trolls a serious survival advantage over other species.

As for minotaurs, they are a lot less tolerant of rotten foods. However, they can tolerate tough fibers which are undigestible by most peoples. This includes things like raw grass, bark, and woody vegetation. Even trolls struggle to digest these fibers unless they compost them down to a softer form, but minotaurs can eat them fresh, no preparation needed. This is also quite a big survival advantage.

Minotaurs have quite an affinity for fresh grass, and some of them can get quite snobby about it. There are many debates about which type of grass is best for taste and health, and how best to prepare it. Cooked or raw? Some insist that cooking the grass is culinary heresy, and its subtle flavors should be enjoyed in their purest form as nature intended. There are common grasses which are considered "peasant food" and other, rarer species which are enjoyed by royalty.

Grass is a big meme in Etios Nation. Even the Etiosi make fun of themselves for their apparent cultural obsession with grass, and it certainly hasn't gone unnoticed by foreigners. "Go eat some grass" is a common insult hurled towards minotaurs worldwide.

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[loominggaia]

Do other peoples besides centaurs use special or unique furniture that humans don't?

Yes! A lot of this depends on region too. For instance, in some regions people use chairs, and in others they prefer to sit on cushions or just the ground. In some regions people use eating utensils, and in others they use their hands to eat. So the following isn't true globally, just in some places.

With that said...

All heavyweight species require heavyweight-rated furniture. Stuff like tables, chairs, bed frames, and so on are made of tougher materials to withstand the extra weight of these species. Of course these furniture pieces are much larger too.

Chairs made for ogres have a gap for their tails to poke through. More often, these chairs don't have a back at all, so they're more like stools.

Dishes and utensils are bigger and burlier to accommodate heavyweight species. These things have to survive the heavyweights' great strength and crushing jaws. Normal forks and spoons just bend like paperclips, and normal glass dishes break too easily. Heavyweights typically use dishes made of wood, metal, or stone.

Trolls have massive hands, so there are a variety of troll-specific objects like tools and dishes with fatter handles.

Heavyweights' objects in general are bigger. For example, a watering can meant for middleweight species might hold one or two gallons of water. But heavyweights are strong enough to hold much more, so their watering can would seem ridiculously large to a human.

Ogres and trolls don't typically use mattresses, and if they do, they're just hay or animal pelts spread on the floor. This is because their skin is so rough that they tear through fabrics quickly. If an ogre lays on your couch, I'm sorry to say your upholstery is not long for this world...

Minotaur dwellings have tall, keyhole-shaped doorways to accommodate large horns. (Fauns also have doors like this, but smaller)

Gnomes repurpose objects meant for larger species all the time. A spool of thread, for instance, might make a nice end table for a gnome. A child's dollhouse can even be converted into a real house in some cases!

Many gnomes find this tacky and don't wish to use hand-me-down trash from other species. Instead, they make their own furniture out of natural materials around them. They braid fur and hair of larger creatures into ropes or weave it into tapestries. Since they're so small, gnomes are capable of extremely fine detail work. No one makes finer jewelry or dollhouse furniture than they do. "Crafted by gnomes" is an attractive selling point for some objects.

Chairs meant for roshava have four arm rests instead of two.

Sirenes don't really use furniture underwater, but they do use it on the shore, and of course it must be made out of waterproof materials. You won't see sirenes sitting on cotton upholstery, which holds water and gets moldy. Instead, they prefer cushions and fabrics woven from water-repellent fibers like grasses and seaweed. This goes for cecaelia as well.

You'll never find stairs in a gorgon house because this species doesn't have legs. For the record, gorgons can climb stairs, but it's awkward and not exactly safe for them. Instead, they prefer smooth ramps and elevators. Wheelchair-accessible infrastructure doubles as gorgon-accessible!

Of course, all furniture meant for dworfs is shorter than it is for other species.

That's all I can think of at the moment!

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[loominggaia]

i remember a while back i saw concept art of a "pretty troll" that you said you were saving for another story (i cant pull up the exact post atm) was she a "prototype" of janella?

Hmm, I don't remember a troll...I think you might be talking about Annagrok? She's actually an ogre! Her backstory was centered around beauty initially, but her final concept was completely different by the time she appeared in "As Nature Intended".

But yes, I did recycle aspects of that concept for Janella! I thought the concept would work better for a troll than an ogre, since trolls are the ones getting dumped on for their looks moreso than any other peoples.

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[loominggaia]

With humans being the best endurance runners in the animal kingdom is this still true in looming gaia? If not then which race takes that title?

Centaurs have humans beat in both speed and endurance! Almost all of Looming Gaia’s peoples have pretty good endurance compared to most animals because they can sweat. Trolls and ogres are exceptions--their skin is too thick and leathery to sweat, so they cool themselves by panting. They can move fast, but it won’t be long before they have to rest.

[loominggaia]

Are there any cultures outside of Trolls, Gnomes and Minotaur’s that are attracted to fat people?

Trolls, gnomes, and minotaurs have dense layers of fat that protects them from the elements. They appear “overweight” to some other species, but for them, this body type is average and anything thinner is considered abnormal.

So I wouldn’t say they’re naturally attracted to “fat people”, as they’re not technically fat in a relative sense. But all around Gaia are different standards of beauty, and attraction to overweight individuals is quite common because it’s often a sign of wealth and prosperity.

In many troll cultures for example, females eat until they become too fat to move. Although this obviously isn’t healthy, their culture values males by how hard they work and values females by how gluttonous their husbands allow them to be. A female troll’s weight is a sign of her husband’s value to their society, implying that he’s a successful and hard worker.

Conversely, some highly urban places like Zareen Capital and Matuzu Capital are suffering obesity epidemics among the poor classes due to cheap food being abundant and automation causing sedentary lifestyles. In these places, being overweight is associated with being poor and lazy rather than wealthy.

These standards for what’s sexually desirable really depends more on the local culture, not just species.