Hello, hope you're doing well. What's that black thing at the bottom of your HS troll's feet? Is it padding or shoes?
I am indeed doing well, thank you! :)
Good question, and good guesses! I took a lot of inspiration from spider and beetle feet for my trolls.
It is particularly clear on the beetle feet (right) that the bottom of the foot has a pad of thickly packed hairs (setae). While in tiny arthropods these are largely used to stick to stuff, Trolls benefit more from the padding function.
In mammals, we've got nice big fat pads on our soles to cushion our bones from impacts. You can really see it on the elephant (right).
(forgive the quick sketch) The setae on troll feet does the same thing. They're dense, thick and springy. They also provide a barrier from sharp rocks and stuff, add surface area and friction for gripping, and give sensory feedback on what kinda stuff they're standing on, like whiskers. They've probably got a bit of movement to them too, to better adapt to different surfaces and the like by tightening or loosening the spread between hairs or changing how tense the spring is.
You may have noticed that I rarely draw Trolls with shoes on. Part of that is just I put a lot of effort into the feet to just cover them up (and I think they're cool), and part of it's that it's hard to design clothing for an alien species (shirts and neckwear is especially irritating with the way the rumblespheres are positioned in the front as opposed to humans' side shoulders, plus the sensitivity of the gillslits) but also any shoes would have to give a definite bonus over what bare feet would give them.
So you'd still want access to your toeclaws for both weaponry, grip, and mobility. And you'd want a lot more protection from the elements than the setae give you if you're going to sacrifice the sensory and movement aspects to put something with a sole on, plus you need to be able to put them on and keep them on without damaging the hairs or getting snagged on the claws, and anything that straps underneath is going to be awkward if the hairs can go on either side of the straps (though between the two toes is probably a good anchor).
I have done it a few times though! The ergonomics aren't perfect, but here the Distrait Life of Mistakes (@temporaldecay [deactivated]) crew aresacrificing that for fashion; theming their shoes for their misc/redrom, palerom, and blackrom rave gear respectively. (occurs to me the palewear shoes would be even more provocative with claw covers or softpaw nail tips; really lower your damage capacity. Oh well, too late :) )
Thank you so much for the question, anon <3!!
