NationStates Jolt Archive

The Muri are the natives of Ordo Drakul-trolls of great size, strength, and voracious appetites. Often pictured as rustic and dim-witted, there is more to the trolls than appear to outsiders-and this is here.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Trolls at full adult size are between seven and eight feet tall and weigh up to 800 lbs. They reach physical maturity at between twelve and fifteen years of age, depending on available food sources, at which time they stop aging. They can still die from disease or trauma, but otherwise simply continue. Though they heal at the same rate as humans, they can regrow limbs and organs given time and adequate food. Their amazing digestive tracts can process anything unless it is made of fire or light-dung, rocks, metals, and even air-though deriving nutrients from air makes them flatulent. Unlike other troll races, the Muri have very acute vision, though their primary sense is the passive sonar they call Darksense. Females are marked by eight mammary glands, though births are usually single with occassional twins. In ancient times, whole litters were born, but this ability was lost before recorded history. Females can consciously control their ovulation, and enter into a feeding frenzy when pregnant until the child is born. Pregnancy lasts between twelve and twenty months, depending upon available food and number of young. Birthing is easy with very low mortality rates for both mother and young.
HISTORY:
In the Beginning was the Darkness from which all things emerged. In the Darkness dwelled the trolls, in a bliss they called Wonderhome. All went well for them, until the Sun was kindled. It burned them and drove them out, into the vast tunnels that lead to the Surface. Korasting, the Mother of Many, attempted to befriend and succor the new being, and was lost to the trolls, costing them their multiple births.
For the Muri, it was the hunter Moorgarki who roamed to the Surface and befriended the Earth Witch, who warned him of the Burning God who guarded the way to the Surface. Moorgarki fought and (dominated) the Burning God, the end result of which was the production of the Muri-children of Moorgarki born upon the Burning God. The jungle trolls came to the Surface unhurt by the Sun thanks to their parent the Burning God, but at the cost of their trollish resistance to cold. They were forever separate from the other trolls, and became the Muri, after their father Moorgarki.
As the race spread, settlements began to appear in prime hunting grounds. Temples were formed where the land accepted the trolls. In remembrance of their own genesis, the trolls would summon the spirit of the land and their leader would couple with it-if children resulted, the land accepted the trolls as family and they would build a temple to house the spirit-children. Major Temples taught their secrets to the trolls and gained power as the tribe increased. Certain Temples spread and became dominant--the Cult of Gorakikki especially, with it's secrets of insect husbandry and training. The trolls tended to cooperate with each other and warred mainly for territory with the other races, banding together against common threats.
Councils of elders formed regional government, their boundaries determined by the limits of each Temple's spirit children. This system remains in place today.
GOVERNMENT:
Trolls have a very complex, Byzantine system, most akin to the Cherokee League of Nations. Regional councils weild supreme authority in their regions, but the Voivode-the Warrior Prince-weilds supreme military authority. Councils maintain their power by providing troops to the Voivode's army, the Order of the Dragon, who maintain order in the region, though the Voivode is careful to have troops provided by one area serve in another. This keeps a unified government and prevents any local council from usurping power by influencing the Voivode's troops as well as their personal militias.
SOCIETY:
Heavily matriarchal. Trolls have a very protective nature where their females and young are concerned, but the nature of troll pregnancy doesn't allow females to hold office. However, they may weild frightening power within troll culture. When a female becomes pregnant, she is banished to the Caves of the Mothers. When she appears with a child, she claims a male as father, and he is obligated to feed her and her child until the child reaches maturity. A female's authority is absolute in this. Property passes down matrilineal lines, from mother to daughter. Males only own so much as they may carry, their weapons, equipment, and pets. All else is the female's.
TRADE:
Trolls barter among themselves, offering up such trade goods as tzin-tzin feathers(a raptor with metallic feathers, claws, and beaks as hard as steel but light as spider silk), rare black pearls from the carnivorous Quaga clams, meats, and hides from the various creatures native to their lands. The Voivode does issue lead coins, designed to be bitten down and formed into sling stones in an emergency, but these are mainly used for trade with outsiders. Troll tech is Bronze Age in major Temples, but Stone Age elsewhere. Smiths, who work with fire, tend to be mistrusted, but their goods are valued highly.
MAGIC:
Magic is ubiquitous in troll society-almost every troll knows a spell or two. Their primary magic is spirit-derived in nature, with troll shamans summoning all manner of spirit to perform their magic. Shamans awaken a part of their psyches to perceive two worlds simultaneously-the physical world and the spirit world. They bind spirits to themselves and to various fetishes, which can command high prices.
The Order of Arkat are fearsome sorcerors, with their own odd magicks, quite separate from mainstream troll magic.
MILITARY:
A troll's jaws can bite through anything, and their claws can shred bronze or iron with ease. They commonly throw massive stones for ranged weapons, but also use clubs, mattocks, picks, axes, and spears as well as slings and javelins for throwing. Organized troll troops are commonly small groups employing guerilla tactics and night fighting, though the Voivode is known to field cavalry on giant mantises and the various Temples employ footsoldiers of varying skill, depending on their focus. The natural hunting abilities and physical prowess of trolls makes them dreaded opponents. Due to their own thick hides, they rarely wear armor, but there are exceptions, usually among the Temples. The scale of the Temple of Arkat is probably the most sophisticated troll armor available, worn only by Cult Templars, with the more common ring mail employed by the various clans the second. Shields are rarely if ever employed.
Troll shamans often provide summonings to harry the enemy, but more often to strike silently at an enemy's leaders as assassins or to prevent sleep. Trolls are very adept at severing supply lines before attacking and dividing enemy forces to pick off stragglers and reduce enemy numbers.

Kyger Litor is the Mother of All Trolls, born when Dehore, the Primal Darkness, placed his hand upon the Man Rune, stirring the sweet essence of Kyger Litor. She birthed many children, including Moorgarki, Father of the Muri, and still lives today, in the Castle of Lead, whose location is known only to trolls.
Kyger Litor is worshipped by all trolls, and the Sacred Motherhood is universal throughout Muri lands.
The Order is divided into three sects-the laity, who are fledgling shamans, always have a second job in their community, but oversee the rituals necessary for troll life, act as bailiffs in the courts, and as shamans, they protect against disease spirits. The second echelon are the jurists, who act as advisors to troll leaders, memorize the body of troll law, and argue cases before trollish courts. Jurists excel in illusion and emotion-affecting magicks, and provide entertainment and education when not conducting their legal duties. The uppermost members are the Sacred Mothers, the judges and magistrates of trolldom. They preside over the courts, passing down bans, taboos, and restrictions at will, bound only by the laws passed by the Silentium and the Voivode. Although the Voivode can overturn a ruling not passed on himself, this is rarely done, especially as troll sentances are carried out as soon as they are pronounced. Magistrates are diviners and seers, capable of ferreting out the truth, plus the magicks acquired through long study as laity and jurist.
In cases of judicial corruption or incompetance, the accused is tried by a jury of twelve magistrates. If found guilty, the offender is bound in lead, sewn into a leather sack with a white cockerel, a viper, a boar, and an ape, then the lot drowned in a sacred well, which dot the trollish lands. The spirit entity which results from these executions is bound into judicial paraphernalia to serve as a cult spirit and used as the courts see fit.
Unlike other Orders, the Sacred Motherhood does not hold lands or armies, though they can call on any trolls for such. All trolls are members of this Order, though only females can belong to any of it's sects. Harm to a priestess of this Order is an automatic death penalty, with the offender's remains burned and scattered on the winds with a curse. Members must spend one year in five procreating-females are raised within the Order, while males are fostered or apprenticed to others. The Order is dedicated to maintenance of troll life, troll honor, and troll justice, and is highest esteemed of all Orders.

Annilla is the goddess of the Blue Moon, which is no more. In ancient times, she roamed the skies, controlling the tides through her marriage to the inchoate force of the sea-an arrangement never fully explained or understood. When the Gods' War began, her husband was slain and she was kicked about the heavens and used for play and sport by the Sky People as well as figures who appear nowhere else in myth, until she fell to Earth and lay broken and mindless.
When the Muri emerged on the surface, a colony was established on the Blue Moon Plateau, where the largest chunk of the Blue Moon landed. There the trolls found the fragmented goddess and tried to nurse her to health. Ailing and incoherent, she babbled the Secrets that formed the basis of this Order. Blue Moon trolls were largely unknown and secretive, isolated on their remote plateau until the Voivode expanded Ordo Drakul to their region. Oddly enough, the xenophobic and secretive Blue Moon pledged loyalty to the Voivode, and maintained their mystery to this day, no one knowing why they acted as they did.
The actions of the Blue Moon are still mysterious-they guard their secrets jealously, through an apparatus as unknown as it is effective. When the Voivode ordered them to destroy the accursed secrets of the Clanking City, it was done overnight, literally, with the possessors of these secrets either disappearing or forgetting their knowledge.
When Ordo Drakul authorized the forming of a secret police, the Blue Moon were the only Order considered, having applied for the position decades before the legislation was proposed. Rumors they had always been such have never been proven nor denied.
The Blue Moon is believed to influence an "Invisible Tide" from which they obtain or model their abilities, proving to have influence when they need it without revealing the source. It is further believed Annilla still lays somewhere on the Blue Moon Plateau, babbling to the heirarchs of the Order.
The Order employs thieves, assassins, diplomats, and the unlikeliest people to achieve it's goals, making regular and astoundingly accurate reports to the Voivode, which are always classified Top Secret:Eyes Only unless the Blue Moon chooses to make them public.
Blue Moon magic is heavily laced with illusions and concealment, but they do possess an odd Divinatory power that randomly drops secrets into their possession. Closemouthed and paranoidly secretive, the only way to discern the mysteries of the Blue Moon is to join the Order and become as closemouthed and paranoid as the Order itself.
The Blue Moon will accept nontrolls into it's ranks, but even these members are as secretive and mysterious as the trolls. Nothing is known of this Order save it's chilling effectiveness and loyalty to the Voivode. What forces lurk on Blue Moon Plateau are theorized, even by the Voivodate, but no one has ever invaded the Blue Moon Plateau to anyone's knowledge.
Save the Blue Moon itself...

Zorak Zoran was one of Kyger Litor's sons, usually portrayed as rash and headstrong. When the Sun was forming in the Primal Darkness, Zorak Zoran was one of the three troll gods who discovered it incubating. Sensing it was an enemy, he unwrapped it to eat it and was burned by it's rays.
He hid in the Darkness then, and was skulking there when the Storm Gods snuck into the chambers of Dehore to find a weapon to destroy the Old Court with.
The weapon they found was Death, and they tested it on Grandfather Mortal first before using it to destroy the Old Emperor. Zorak Zoran followed them and claimed the weapon when it was abandoned, the Old Emperor's blood still wet on it. His use of the new power added to the evils of the Gods' War, and earned him the title of God of Hate, Vengeance, and Warfare.
When the Great Compromise ended the Gods' War and locked reality in it's current form, Zorak Zoran opted to remain in Wonderhome with his weapon, leaving only his warband to work his will.
This warband grew into the Order of Zorak Zoran, fearsome berserkers who war on the enemies of the trolls. The Order is second only to the Order of the Dragon in matters military, and much more active as police and enforcers, only the Sacred Motherhood and Order of the Dragon able to stay them from their course once decided.
The Order is very traditional and conservative, adhering strictly to the Old Ways. They are front line fighters instead of strategists and officers, and this suits them and the officers greatly.
The magics of the cult are all combat oriented-shapeshifting to battle forms, ignoring pain, striking fear into their enemies, and striking with accuracy and power. Alone among the Orders, they practice necromancy and fire magic, and cult Templars are often mummified and animated upon death. Membership is total conviction and irrevokable. Part of the initiation rituals is to kill and eat a family member, to symbolize breaking ties with the old and reaffirming ties to one's new family, the Order of Zorak Zoran.
Zorak Zoran berserks are the preferred guardians of trolldom, as well as the favored mercenaries. Their lands lie at the borders, and they are the first line of defense for the trolls. This Order more than any other symbolizes the trollish concept of the noble warrior, and is jealously protective of it's status. Their bloodthirsty berserkers are the terror of any battlefield.

Gorakkiki is the Father of Insects and one of the few troll dieties not descended from Kyger Litor. Gorakkiki's shamans seek to emulate their god, and see to it his children prosper. The cult controls the domesticated animals of the trolls, giant insects bred and trained for specific functions-centipedes to haul merchant caravans, beetles taught to guard, mantises to carry warriors into battle.
The cult has many farms for many purposes-vast sprawling tracts of land which cultivate various insects and support themselves by sale of giant insects or the insects' products. Gorakkiki alchemists toil ceaselessly to improve their livestock or create new products, and rush to get these on the markets, swiftly disseminating the knowledge of production to other cult sites.
Gorakkiki initiation is simple, requiring only an oath of loyalty and permitting Gorakkiki to "taste the soul" of the prospective initiate. This can be dangerous-if Gorakkiki is not placated and well-fed, he may devour the entire soul instead of part.
After acceptance, the initiate is trained in various cult duties-insect husbandry, alchemy, and the Beast magicks unique to Gorakkiki. The cult operates more like a mercantile operation than a religeous organization, and runs many businesses where there is need. Gorakkiki territories are clean and well-maintained, their prisons feared for the Hive-Mind treatment that reduces prisoners to a mindless subservience. Gorakkiki prisoners are mind-wiped and put into the service of the Cult,performing their duties with no will of their own, part of the Nest of Gorakkiki.
Betrayers of this Order are given the same treatment.

Argan Argar was found by the trolls in their early ascent to the Surface, a minor figure, the Son of Night. A thief and trickster, his early exploits revolved around his perpetual quest for wealth, culminating in his fomenting strife between the surface dwellers and offering troll mercenaries to right the injustice wrought by the other party, usually something perpetrated by Argan Argar or his followers in exchange for considerations from the other party.
His machinations exploited the hatreds and petty jealousies of the other races, ultimately igniting the God War when he sold the location of Dehore's chambers to the Storm Gods. The Storm Gods stole Death from Dehore and brought it to the Surface where they tested it on Grandfather Mortal before using it to strike down Yelm, who was the Sun and ruler of reality as it was then.
Argan Argar took full advantage of the situation, offering troops to any who would pay, resulting in the trolls being the top dogs as the God War ripped reality to shreds, and the race best suited to survive in the bleak waste that remained. When the Compromise ended the War and reformed Reality in it's current configuration, Argan Argar's activities were so pandemic in the God War he was forced to remain in the Godtime with all the other gods, perpetually reinacting the events that formed current reality.
He left his fortress, the Palace of Basalt, to his son, the Only Old One, who is still head of this Order. The Order's duties include minting of currency, setting weights and measures, maintaining roads, and supplying the economic infrastructure of trollish society, all done as religeous duties. The Only Old One has claimed the Order exists to watch the Bottom Line, but no one knows what he is talking about.
Initiates in this Order are taught numerous languages to facilitate negotiations, as well as magicks involving communication and travel. Assaying is also important, and Argan Argar divinations determine quality and composition as opposed to the future, though their arcane Forecasts are disseminated rapidly though the Order and given great weight.
Members of this Order are forbidden to speak untruths, but are quite adept at not speaking the total truth. Although considered a religeous institution by the trolls, the Order is more like a massive and sprawling megacorporation to outsiders. Deals are sacred, contracts are inviolate, and everything is confidential.
Betrayers of the Order suffer a curse that renders them incomprehensible to others and cast out. The Order is common in troll regions, with a chapterhouse in every settlement. Here, currency is exchanged (5% fee to trolls, 25% to nontrolls), loans are negotiated, and money is lovingly preserved and counted with fervor and passion. The Order is the Bank of the Muri, and it's counting-houses known to harbor great wealth and horrid spirit guardians.

The Ordo Arkati are a unique organisation in the trolls' society. Firstly, the Order was founded by a human, the fabled hero Arkat. This unique man's tale is repeated often, depending on the storyteller, either a progression to trolldom or devolution into savagery.
Arkat was a knight to an ancient civilised empire who rose to prominence due to his personal crusade against the demon Gbaji the Deciever. An accomplished sorceror as Gbaji arose in the guise of Nysalor, he joined a barbaric death cult to fight the demon, turning his back on his civilised upbringing.
Rising to the highest ranks in this cult, his crusade brought him into an alliance with the Order of Zorak Zoran, who also raged against Gbaji. He drew closer to the trolls and further from his old cult, this closeness culminating in his undergoing the Rite of Trolldom, which magically transformed him into a troll he lived out his days as.
Arkat brought with him the knowledge of sorcery, and wrote several grimoires he passed to his followers. These books, the Grimoire Arkati, are treasured by the few owners, and are closely guarded by the Order, especially as few survived the Gbaji War.
Arkat died in the final assault that claimed Gbaji's life as well, but his grimoires and legacy became mainstays in trollish society. As enemies of the trolls tried to end trollish sorcery, the grimoires became fewer and fewer and the Order was forced to visit the Godtime where Arkat reinacted his life after his death, teaching his magicks to the trolls to end the threat of Gbaji forever. The paths to Arkat in the Godtime are known only to this Order, who guard them jealously to preserve their magical knowledge.
The Ordo Arkati are careful scholars, forever researching and adding to the sorcerous knowledge of the trolls, ceasing in their studies only when Chaos rears it's head and they use their magicks to destroy it.
This Order has a few libraries in major troll cities, but the bulk of their researches take place in the Godtime. They have close ties to the Order of Zorak Zoran as well as the Sacred Motherhood, and can usually call on either or both if assistance is needed.

Xiola Umbar was a daughter of Kyger Litor who was present when Zorak Zoran attempted to devour the developing sun. Supposedly, she saw something there that she kept to herself, and remembered what she saw. Her presence was that of a healer always, and she is the troll goddess of healing and mercy.
Before the other races attempted to destroy the trolls and drive them back to Wonderhome, she was the most popular and commonly worshipped of the Troll Gods, but her faith had to give way to the teachings of Zorak Zoran and others as the Godswar progressed. However, her healers have always been loved and revered by the trolls, and have considerable influence as a result.
The Ordo Xiola Umbari is a charitable organization, tending to those who cannot tend to themselves. The order consists of healers, shamans, and midwives who preserve Life where they can, and often operates hospitals, shelters, and soup kitchens out of their temples.
This order's magic is coupled with herbalism for their cures, as trollish healing is detrimental to other races-trolls do not age after becoming fully mature, and regenerate all losses with adequate food, so troll healing ages the recipient the number of years it would take to naturally recover. While trolls don't notice, the other races are sometimes offended by this side-effect.
Still, the Ordo Xiola Umbari are the most respected outside of troll society-their other healing abilities are well-respected, and their shamans renown for their capacity with disease. This order doesn't maintain armies, though it often accompanies them.

Zong was born to the First Litter, the seven-or eight, depending on the teller-gods borne of Kyger Litor and Korasting that formed the nucleus of the troll race. A mighty hunter, Zong lived only for the Hunt. Eschewing the worship of his children, he instead gave himself over to the passions of the chase, finding joy in bringing much meat for his family-the race of trolls.
His worship is widespread, and every hunt is an homage to him-his prayers guide the prey to Wonderhome, his secrets allow the troll to find the prey, his hand guides the strike that slays. For all this, his actual cult is very small-dedicated hunters who tend the land, leave food for the Mothers, and act as park rangers and conservationists throughout troll lands.
This Order has massive tracts of land, often overseen by only a handful of dedicated initiates, who comb the area for deadwood, hunt to prevent overpopulation, and tend the pristine jungles to keep them in their state. The Order is little thought of until the time for hunting arises, when it is of paramount importance.
This order does have shamans who listen to the land and see to it the land prospers and thrives. It's typical adherent is somewhat isolationist, mistrustful of outsiders, and more than a little misanthropic. Their magics involve controlling beasts and plants, with nods going to nature and weather manipulations.

Vaneekara is the youngest daughter of Kyger Litor. Bold and audacious, she is often credited with starting the ancient emnity that existed between the elves and dwarves by throwing great rocks at their homes, and these were taken as attacks from the other race. Her exploits during the Godswar were noted, as she was a great warrior against Chaos, with many kills to her credit.
In troll society, the Cult of Vaneekara embodies the concept of the Rightful Daughter-the idea that worthiness is not a matter of birth order, but actions. Vaneekara's worshippers strive to revere their goddess through great deeds and proper action-they are a warrior order, and the only female order not involved with procreation.
Should a member of this cult become pregnant, she is still banished to the Caves of the Mothers, but she will give the child over to the father entirely if male, and to the Ordo Xiola Umbar if female. Motherhood is not a part of this order, though sex certainly is. The Order are the wild women of troll society, dedicated to action and adventure. Their magicks revolve around improving physical performance and amazing combat maneuvers. The Order is flashy and outrageous, counting coup on foes and bragging. This Sisterhood is somewhat condescending to males, requiring superior ability to accept them as comrades(though never equals) and deigning only to mate with the best of the best.
Vaneekara priestesses will often enjoy rich lifestyles, befitting the Rightful Daughters of Kyger Litor.

Humbababom was the First Shaman of the trolls, and was of the First Litter. Shamanism is an innate trollish quality-all trolls have the potential to become shamans, and this Order explores the state of shamanism, and all the explorism of the Spirit Plane is pioneered by this Order.
A shaman must awaken his fetch-a psychic self that extends the shaman's perceptions to the Spirit Plane. This is a dangerous process that could kill the person undergoing the right, but several trolls have undergone the process through spontaneous means, while others never do so-or die before they do. Only the Ordo Arkati has no shamans-it is assumed that sorcery either subsumes or destroys the possibility of a fetch, but this is truly unknown.
Humbababom is usually worshipped as part of the Seven Sacred Ancestors. His Order is usually involved with fledgling shamans, but all shamanic practice is approved by this order. Resultingly, this Order, while small, commands intensely powerful magicks, and has treaties with spirits reaching back millenia...

Karrg is one of the Seven Sacred Ancestors. Just as Vaneekara is the troll ideal of the Rightful Daughter, Karrg is the Dutiful Son, the ideal male troll role model. Karrg's Order is an adjunct to the Sacred Motherhood, acting as guards and enforcers, bailiffs and bounty hunters.
Karrg's Sons are a warrior order, fielding troops when needed by the Sacred Motherhood, and enforcing all edicts and carrying out sentences. This Order is respected for it's loyalty and devotion to duty, but often mocked for these same qualities. The Order is routinely referred to as "Momma's Boys", and holds the same approximate place in troll society as police officers. Karrg's Sons enforce all troll laws, bringing violators to a Sacred Mother for judgment. They know many spells to incapacitate rather than kill, and prefer whips and nets as weaponry in their day-to-day functions, but arm themselves as typical troll units for warfare.
This Order eschews interOrder conflicts, acting only to protect the Sacred Motherhood in such cases. Karrg's Sons are often backing up armies against external threats, however, and have no problem killing and eating non-troll opponents.

Boztakang is one of the Seven Sacred Ancestors, a son of Kyger Litor's who really didn't come into prominence until after the Coming of Chaos, when he proved himself time and again against the various Chaos creatures who invaded Reality at that time.
Because Chaos could not truly be destroyed, Boztakang taught all he learned of his foe to his armies, who formed this Order to be eternally vigilant against any outbreak of Chaos and study it for weakness. This Order interacts with the strangest, deadliest, and most ancient enemies of the trolls, always seeking their destruction.
The magics of this Order all revolve around rooting out and eliminating Chaos, and their purification rituals are renowned as the most effective. The Order keeps many odd books, often from alien species, and studies bizarre nonEuclidian formulae in it's quest to protect the trolls from a constantly changing and implacable foe.
Trollish concepts of Chaos are not human concepts-Chaos is a perversion of natural laws, not moral concepts, making their duty and quest a perpetual readiness, watchful waiting for the next incursion.
This Order will occasionally ally itself against a Chaos threat, but these alliances end with the threat. If it determines any given organization or race is of Chaos, the consensus among trolls is that the Order is correct, and the indicated party is shunned and hunted, one of the few times the Order of the Dragon can be overridden. Members of this Order are explorers on the Far Horizon of Experience, dedicated witch hunters and exorcists, and considered infallible in matters pertaining to Chaos.

Moorgarki is an acknowledged son of Kyger Litor, who either ran away or was lost in the First Reality. There is a matter of great theological debate regarding whether Moorgarki is of the First Litter or the Second. Traditional Muri put him in the First Litter, and claim he either ran away or was taken by Asrelia, the Earth Witch. Other species of troll place him in the Second Litter and claim he was given to Asrelia. Kyger Litor refuses to answer, so the debate goes on.
Moorgarki wandered the tunnels of Reality earlier than other trolls, coming to the Surface before Valind brought the polar trolls to the Surface or Styx brought forth the sea trolls. His connection to Asrelia was early on, when he attacked and ate a party of Mostali fresh from raiding Asrelia's caverns. He returned the booty to Asrelia, and she befriended him, telling him much of the Surface and the guardian that kept her from there-the Burning God Lodril, Lord of Volcanoes and vassal to Pamalt, Lord of the Surface.
Moorgarki followed the dim tunnels to the Surface, where he was set upon by Pamalt and his tribe, the gods of the Surface. He took a vicious stab from Lodril but managed to escape to Asrelia's caverns, where she nursed him to health as best she could, but the wound would not heal. She counseled him then, that a second wound from Lodril would cauterize the first and allow it to heal properly, then told him where he could catch Lodril alone, and told him exactly what to do.
Moorgarki took her counsel, then headed out when he felt well enough. He claimed Lodril easily one-on-one, then (dominated) him as Asrelia ordered. His wound cauterized from the heat of Lodril's body, and then Lodril became pregnant and bore the Muri-hot trolls, separate from the troll race by losing resistance to cold, but gaining colors in compensation, vision better than any troll species.
All Muri belong to the Ordo Moorgarki from birth, as they are his children. The Order teaches ancient treaties with Pamalt and other earth spirits, as well as the Black Breath-a combat technique where the contents of the rock stomach are spewed on a foe, with deleterious repercussions. Other species of troll do not know the Black Breath, and it is assumed to be a secret unique to Moorgarki and the Muri.
This Order involves itself mainly with exploration and colonization, but also teaches any Muri child who desires. Their rituals control troll exploration and colonization attempts, summoning the spirits of the land to mate with the troll leader. If children result, the land accepts the Muri, and a colony may result. This Order is subservient to the Order of Kyger Litor, but takes precedence over all others as far as the Muri are concerned. It is fairly omnipresent as all Muri are members, and has few priests not members of other orders.

When the trolls were driven to the Surface by Yelm, they met many foes, but one friend-the goddess Xentha, who is Night. Her son, Argan Argar, became a troll and one of their great gods, but Xentha herself remained a human, but looked kindly upon the trolls always.
Xentha is looked upon much differently by trolls than by humans. She is the active time for the trolls, and tied to hunting and the crafts, as well as protector and friend. Her Order are craftsmen and artisans, who plumb the Eternal Mysteries of the Night and bring the fruits of their labors to the trolls. This Order is much involved in innovation and new things, as Xentha is revealer of all mysteries to trolls.
This Order practices spells of concealment and protection, as well as summoning of any spirits of the night, and controlling nocturnal animals. They have means of seeing far distances, wherever it is Night. Despite it's pervasiveness, this Order is neither large nor powerful, but greatly respected and revered.

Dehore is a mysterious and poorly understood entity, and his Order is small and feared. He is the First, the Primal Darkness, from which all things sprang, and, if the Order is correct, continue to spring.
The shamans of this Order are reclusive and strange, tending sacred caves where Light has never gone to preserve the trolls' connections to their spiritual grandfather. Dehore can only be contacted in Darkness which has never known Light, and holds all the mysteries of the Universe, as he predates all and has seen all from the Beginning. Trolls believe he is instinctively aware of all things as they rose from him, but he is distant and aloof. He dwells in the deepest sections of Wonderhome, where he preserves all Yelm did not destroy during the Age of Chaos.
Shamans of Dehore may practice any magicks not of Light, and are expected to have a unique spell or two in their repertoire as an homage to Dehore. They deal with the darkest spirits and innovate more than any Order to increase Dehore's knowledge.

Himile is the gold of Cold, who fled Wonderhome when Yelm was slain,taking the freezing cold of Hell with him. The Muri have little to do with him, but other species of troll favor him as protector and smiter of foes. He rules the polar caps, though his daughter Nagrob wanders the planet, dusting mountains with the snow that is her province, and his son Valind blows over the surface, bringing all his father's chill power.
Himile's worshippers tend to be ice trolls, cold-adapted creatures who inhabit subartic to arctic climates. They are immune to cold, and any who would join this cult must spend a night outdoors in Himile's grasp. Survival indicates the approval of the god.
Himile's cult is well-respected, even though the Muri have lost their cold adaptions, and his magics involve the bringing cold and ice. Himile's children, the hollri(ice demons) roam in artic regions as they melt in warmer climates, and interbreed with trolls. Snow trolls adore Himile as second only to Kiger Lytor, but outside the artic, this order has little power or influence.

Gadblad is a son of Karrg's, which makes him the grandson of Kyger Litor. He is the god of smiths and artificers, starting when he was very young, when he was given a pick to play with and learned from play how to make more and give to his friends. He was a strange child, not caring for war or dance or duty, but only for making all he could find.
His story tells that Zorak Zoran heard of his gift of making, and brought Death to Gadblad, who studied Death very long before making copies of it and gifting other troll gods with it. These same stories state Gadblad grew odd and cared for naught but his makings, so he was sealed up in the Castle of Lead, where trolls bring all the new things they may find, and Gadblad shows them how to make more.
Gadblad's cult is a guild for smiths, craftsmen, and technicians, especially those involved in production. As smiths, they use fire magic, but are as not adept as the Zorak Zorani, and all new things brought to them are mass-produced and given to the other orders. Oddly, this Order is not involved with innovation or design, but duplication and retro-engineering. It controls many production facilities, and holds great wealth, but tends to hire mercenaries from a warrior order, particularly the Ordo Zorak Zorani, for defense and to expand it's holdings.
Due to the untraditional nature of this Order, it has poor relations with Karrg's Sons and the Sacred Motherhood, but calls on it's familial ties to prevent hostilities.

When Styx wound her way from Wonderhome to the Surface, she took with her a troll consort and bodyguard, a child of Vaneekara's known as Rokag. Rokag was a dutiful consort to Styx, and travelled with her throughout her journeys, eventually raising the Black Fleet in her honor and dominating the seas for her. His daughter Robber mated with Magasta and spawned the race of sea trolls, but Rokag himself is the god of travel and exploration. Sailors, spacefarers, and others who head for the distant horizon all revere him, and prayers to him start all journeys among the trolls.
This Order plies the seas of Pamaltela, and at one time sailed the stars, though this stopped when the Gates were rediscovered. Rumors abound of ships looting the spacelanes bearing the insignia of this Order, but all rumors are unsubstantiated.
This Order is most prominent along coastlines and the great oceans themselves, but it also maintains the spaceport at Big Rubble.

Orani Mur is the first spider, a relative of Gorakikki's who preys on her cousin's family. Trolls favor domesticated insects over other creatures, but love the great spiders, both as favorite mounts and pets, and even regard them as intelligent beings. Of all the species known to trolls, only the spiders and other trolls are not hunted as prey, such is the esteem in which they are held.
This Order raises the great spiders, tending them with care and training them to serve many of the functions of dogs and horses in human society. Their magics involve communication with spiders, adopting the abilities of spiders, and transformation into spiders.
This Order is large and influential, and enjoys great status, both from the services it provides and the power of it's individual members. It's members are almost a noble class in their own right, and tend to be upper class members of society.

After the Gbaji Wars left the planet depopulated, laying the Curse of Kin on the dark trolls, degenerating the humans to broos, and exterminating the dragonewts, the pockets of troll influence left were separated by kingdoms of aldryami and Mostali, whose constant and ancient emnity threatened any between them. Councils were held, and Kyger Litor established a new Order, one devoted entirely to trollish relations with non-trolls.
The Order concerns itself with diplomacy and warfare, and must be consulted to engage in either with non-trolls. Argan Argari traders and Zorak Zoran berserks alike must bow to the decision of this Order, and outsiders often think the Order is the rulers of troll society, when it is really just the diplomats and generals.
Alone among the Orders, the Voivode, head of the Order, is chosen by election from members of this Order, though occasionally a Warden is chosen to guide the Order until a Voivode appears or comes of age. The Voivode is always male, and either a member of the Erngrabs clan or a pure son of Moorgarki (a pure son is a son descended exclusively from males who can track his lineage to Moorgarki), with Wardens selected when males meeting either of these criteria are either underage or not to be found. The Voivode has absolute command over the armies of the Muri, second only to Kyger Litor herself, who rarely stirs herself to action. The Voivode is chief judge, again second only to Kyger Litor, who can reverse or amend any legal decision that is not passed on himself. This power is given as a concession to diplomatic immunity, ensuring non-trolls will be sentenced under different standards than trolls, most often being banished from troll territories with death the penalty for defying this edict. This Order has the full support of the Sacred Motherhood, though it comes into conflict with them most often over troll tribal rights and privileges, and the Voivode has the personal loyalty and full support of the mysterious Blue Moon.
Most members of this order will learn magic from another order and put it into the service of the Dragon. It has no unique magicks of it's own.

The Orders are all organized in simple hierarchies, with the lowest being the lay members-those trolls not dedicated to the Order, but appearing on holy days and festivals to celebrate the moments that order holds dear. They may work for the Order, or may simply use these occasions to socialize and meet with family and friends. Lay members will have access to minor magics of the Order, and can call on them for aid in areas the Order is specialized in, but really have no say in the affairs of the Order.
The next rank is the Initiate (though the various Orders have different names for this rank, the common term is Initiate. It is acceptable to use this term when speaking of multiple individuals or Orders, but rude when referring to a single individual, when the Order's term must be used as a prefix to their name) Initiates begin learning the ways of the Order, and must give up 90% of their time to Order activities. More powerful magics and special techniques of the Order become available at this point, and studies form the bulk of Order activities for this rank.
An Initiate who qualifies under criteria that vary from Order to Order may advance to Priest. At the Priestly rank, more authority is given, as well as greater responsibilities-Priests are held to a higher standard than Initiates, for all their freedom. The Priest rank is when an individual may be lynched legally, as protected speech, and this goes for the higher ranks, as well. Priests have very powerful magics available to them, and are responsible for the management of Order resources and are the Order's middle management. A Priest must give up about 60% of his time to Order activities.
A Priest who does exceptionally well and meets certain criteria may advance to Templar. The Templars are the backbone of the Order's armies, have access to specialized areas of the Order's field of expertise. Templars only give up about 30% of their time to Order activities, but are the first called on in times of war. Much of their time is spent either honing their weapon skills or in religious observances.
At the top of the Hierarchy is the High Priest, often the head of the Order in their regions. They are the policy makers and supreme judiciary within the Order, often controlling vast regions and making decisions that affect the Order as a whole. The High Priest gives up 10% of his time to administrative details, and often more-they are the movers and shakers of an Order.
While not common, some Orders have a Grand Master-a singular titular head of the Order, whose decisions are absolute, and define the entire Order. These few individuals are extremely powerful, and judged by the highest standard. They commune with the gods of the Order and have access to all mysteries held by the Order.

The Muri trace their bloodlines through the female, and their society is both matrilineal and matriarchal. A female with many children will farm them throughout the various Orders, establishing a power base, as the males are beholden to their mothers and sisters, only disobeying them when their wives tell them to do so.
Given the lifespan of a Muri, the females can have multiple generations under one roof, all controlled by the oldest female-the Clan Mother. Families large enough to require vast complexes to house them all are common, though certain females are known to strike out on their own, and establish their own holdings. Provided that a clan maintains it's cohesiveness, it may well grow to be a Tribe, in which case it holds vast territory and hunting grounds, as well as pulling strings on the local Orders, as family members rise to prominence in the area.
Bonds of family are considered stronger than the bond to an Order, so no conflict of interest is seen when an Order hamstrings itself for the betterment of this family or that.
When a male is claimed by a female as husband, he joins her clan, but may return to his own when the marriage is over (a Muri marriage lasts until the child is legally an adult) or remain as husband if desired. Trolls practice polyandry, so an enterprising female can arrange for multiple husbands, which a corresponding increase in wealth, as all the male's property becomes the female's with the marriage, thus expanding the clan's influence and power. Children are the female's always, unless the male opts for a divorce, handing the young over to the local Xiola Umbar temple and leaving the area. In these cases, the female retains all property, but must endure the shame of having been deemed unfit by her spouse, as well as losing the potential assistance of the children upon attaining adulthood.
The clans and tribes of the Muri are ruthless in protecting their interests, and clan wars are common. If a wealthy male is claimed by two females, a Marriage War often ensues, as squabbling factions each try to gobble up his holdings as rapidly as they can. Often, such wars are only stopped by the intervention of the Sacred Motherhood, who are absolute in their authority, and have been known to seize everything for the Ordo Kyger Litori and execute all protesters.
To the Muri, familial bonds are primary, especially before the courts, with the singular exception of the Ordo Zorak Zorani, who are Contraries that break with their families upon joining, but even this is not an absolute.

The clans, tribes, and Orders all congregate in a united body, the Silentium, who discuss the laws of the Muri, passing new ones and dictating the structure of Muri society. The Silentium are a parliamentary body, with unlimited debate, making filibustering common.
Any group of 250,000 can send one representative to this august body for every full 250,000 members. While the Silentium records are maintained in Dorastor, individual members are forced to serve out their terms in their districts, so as to be immediately answerable to their constituency, sending spirits to render their votes on any given matter. Most of the Silentium hold secondary positions in their base constituency, permitting them to canvas their constituency for opinion on matters they haven't decided yet.
The powers of the Silentium are strictly limited by tradition and custom, and may be overruled by the Sacred Motherhood or Ordo Drakul at any time, so few Muri bother considering them a power as yet, and only matters of minimal importance are brought before them.

Fighting with the aldryami and mostali is fun enough, but any troll general has to worry about the toughest foe of all -- hoomans. If only because of their sheer ability to spawn, humans are the toughest and most deadly foe trolls face. They are everywhere, and in great numbers, and the vast majority hate trolls and seek to destroy us. Troll generals have to be prepared to fight on humans' own ground.

Tactics vary depending on the specific human culture; they all have their own special powers and abilities that must be taken into account. However, these general points serve against all of them.

Keep the operational initiative. The greatest troll strength against humans is the fact that trolls are not tied to supply. Although a troll force is not much faster than a human army (and is slower than a cavalry force), troll bands can travel over territory humans cannot, and can travel faster in a day since trolls are not tied to supply lines, wagons or depots. This is a crucial advantage, since most of the time a troll band should be able to decided when and where to commit to combat, as long as the troll commander is capable and wary.

Scout. This is rarely necessary against mostali or aldryami, since it is rarely useful and too dangerous to scouts. Always make full use of scouts. Flying insect patrols can track human movements, and humans can rarely combat them. Also use your scouts to full advantage -- Zong hunters are the best scouts, and can travel through even human lands almost unseen. Remember that humans enjoy the same advantage, and will know where your force is -- so use your scouts to hinder and attack enemy scouts where useful, to keep the enemy unaware of your movements.

Choose your battles -- and why fight at all? Most troll armies do not necessarily need to seek combat when fighting humans -- human lands are easy to invade. Unlike tough troll lands, where a human army will have great difficulty merely in traveling, a troll force can move rapidly and quickly until local forces are built up. This means that a troll force can aggressively raid, destroying fields, overrunning small villages, taking loot, and retreating home. In many cases, humans can be defeated by this alone -- they are fickle creatures, and have weak stomachs, and destroying or devouring enough crops or herd animals will sometimes bring them to a surrender. Often, such raids will provoke humans into chasing you, so never assault humans in a fortified position except in great need -- they will either remain fortified (and cannot resist your raid), or will march out, losing the advantage of the fort.

Guard against cavalry. Hoomans love their horses (and other steeds). This is always a problem for trolls, since troll "cavalry" is always much fewer -- a tarantula and mahout is far superior to any human cavalryman (even a rhino rider), but few troll forces will have them present. And even the largest troll armies would never have more than 50 or 100 giant riding insects in a force. This means that trolls need to be careful about flanking attacks and frontal charges which may overrun your units, or threaten your infantry. Use terrain to guard against horses, and scatter traps and obstacles on the battlefield to hinder them. Use spirits, insects and magics to terrify or slow horses (an easy task, since they are stupid and fearful beasts). Many an inexperienced or unlucky troll commander has been greeted with the hideous sight of cavalry charging his rear -- never allow it to happen.

Smash through the wall. Humans are not, in face-to-face melee combat, the equal of trolls -- and most are, in their hearts, terrified of us, and even more so of great trolls and cave trolls. The charge is one of the most useful troll tactics against humans, especially when it comes from an unexpected direction, or after the humans are weary from fighting. A charge at the right time can break an entire human unit, sending them into a rout and allowing your troll troops to overwhelm them when they're panicked and confused.

Sucker them in. Humans are aggressive, and it is likely that a raid will draw human forces in to the attack. This can be turned to your advantage, using pinprick raids to lure human forces either into your troll land where you can shatter them on your home ground, or to lure them in to a battle of your choosing.

Cheese it in the face of superior numbers. Trolls are, naturally, adept at stealth and secrecy. Use this to your advantage; in the face of superior numbers and when on suitable ground, a troll force can quickly scatter and disperse, to retreat to the homeland. Pursuing humans will have to find the trolls, and are likely to spend their time pursuing levy who are of little value while infantry and elite troops are able to sneak away in the confusion. Never be ashamed to refuse to give battle -- troll lives are valuable, and even if you kill many times your number, humans will simply spawn forth a new set of soldiers. The best fight is to fight only when you cannot lose -- or to not fight at all. There is always another day, and another battle.

Any warlord likes to fight on her own ground, and for trolls this is ten times as true. An army venturing into troll lands is either huge, desperate, or led by a madman or a fool. Troll lands are, after all, barren wastelands inhabited by trolls, giant insects, and protected by powerful darkness spirits and other unsavory creatures of the darkness. Much like an elf forest or a chaos land, the land itself poses immense problems for an invader.

A clever troll general should use this against her opponents. This is why guerrilla wars are so effective for trolls -- it is so difficult for a human (or other) army to maintain itself in a troll land, that scattering your forces and harassing the invader will eventually

Lure them in. Any invader will find the harsh terrain and natural hazards a forbidding prospect. Use this against the invader; draw them in as much as possible, giving them the hope to fight a mixed battle just around the next corner. With any luck, a goodly portion of their force will be weakened or killed. The problem is, humans are wise to this trick -- and some troll lands are so dangerous that humans will not venture into them, like the Shadow Plateau after Ezkankekko's death, or the Blue Moon Plateau. This is why the vast majority of all battles take place in the Hunting Grounds, since humans fear to venture in any farther than that.

Bushwhack, bushwhack, bushwhack. As the enemy force presses in, do all that you can to harass and confuse them. Use your hunters to pick off enemy scouts; use guerrillas to attack supply convoys, foraging parties, messengers and the like. If you're lucky, you cut them off from supply -- or force them to bring a supply train over rough terrain, which will slow their movements considerably. Pay special attention to targeting animals -- after all, you can't use them (though you can eat them), so there's no point in trying to capture them (unless you hope to sell them -- but horses, oxen and such are difficult to take care of and die easily, so it's just as easy to kill them off and hope the humans leave the carcasses behind).

Starve them. This can't be repeated enough. Humans need a tremendous amount of food and other supplies when they enter a troll land. About the only thing humans will be able to find is water. First, they'll need food -- and additional food for their horses and draft animals if they bring supplies in on wagons or pack animals. Next, they'll need to bring in wood or other fuel for fires -- they probably can find some brush and other wood in a troll land, but few trees grow to such a size as to provide good firewood.

Night Raids. An additional way to spread terror and confusion is by the practice of night raids. Send highly-trained guerrillas in to attack isolated targets -- while you won't do much damage, the demoralizing feature of discovering each morning another couple of dead soldiers in the midst of the camp is powerful. Send in levy and insect swarms, to deprive the enemy of sleep and maintain the terror. Another old troll tactic is to, periodically, send in slingers to send a few volleys into the camp. Against humans in particular, this tactic wears them down and provokes a feeling of uncertainty and panic.

Kill the Light. In a troll land, humans face a problem. Fires will stand out and scream the presence of a human army; but since trolls see well in the dark and humans don't, this means that humans need light to see their enemies. A smart troll general will spend time and attention on trying to destroy all sources of light that the humans bring with them -- extinguish campfires, smother torches, block out magical light, etc. If nothing else, it serves to make humans worried and uncomfortable. A series of "raids" against light can prove useful -- it forces humans into spending time and energy preparing for the raids, and takes the "edge" off human night guards.

Use your insects. Insects are very useful indeed against humans -- not just in terms of scouting or in terms of mobile cavalry, but in terms of terror. Remember that humans dislike insects at best, and are terrified by them at worst. Surprise raids with insects can be very useful -- the fear and terror of humans "augments" the attack. This could be an attack by a giant tarantula or preying mantis, or sending swarms of small insects against human raiders to confuse and terrorize them.
Wait to finish them off. Useful as guerrilla raiding is, it usually can't completely destroy an invading army -- they're simply too strong for pinprick raids to be effective. Rather, a troll army needs to keep mobile, raiding and terrorizing a human army, until they become so weakened and fearful that the trolls can combine and confront the humans in combat, destroying them decisively. The best moment, usually, is when the humans begin to retreat -- often, the human army will become confused and begin to lose discipline, making them easy prey for the trolls. If the humans break, then scouts, insect cavalry and guerrillas will have an easy time picking off the humans during the retreat.

Like most of the non-human races, trolls approach warfare in their own distinctive way. This is particularly true when it comes to combat between troll clans. When two clans fight, the odd conflict between "standing armies" is not nearly as important as the subtle magical deals of the Kyger Litor matriarchies.

Between rival clans the most common form of conflict, however, is known as the "Zong Battles". Surrounding the territory of each clan is a zone know as the "hunting lands;" these are the property of their respective clan, which holds a monopoly on hunting and food gathering in that area. Foreigners must obtain permission to enter hunting zones, or risk being detained or attacked. These areas are not inhabited by trolls, and are usually much larger than the actual area a clan inhabits.

When two clans fight, the hunting lands along the border turn into active ambush zones as each clan's hunters set out to steal food from the other -- and, moreover, each clan's hunters attempt to deny the hunting zones to the other. The hunting zones accordingly are the scene of constant ambush and counter-ambush. Zong hunters snipe at foraging patrols; mobs or stampedes are driven upon rival hunters; and traps are set for each other. This kind of warfare is known to trolls as "Zong battles," since the hunting cult excels at it.

This is similar in some ways to ancient Celtic raiding. The difference, however, is that the interest is not so much in actually poaching prey animals as it is ambushing and killing rival hunters, which establishes a clan's control over a rival clan's hunting ground (for as an enemy's Zong cult shrinks in size, it is less able to properly patrol and harvest its hunting lands). Moreover, this kind of conflict tends to last longer, and are more serious than cattle raids. Although most hunters are willing to risk the occasional "poaching" expedition into a neighbor's land (and many young hunters treat these as a game and as a test of skill and bravery), ambushing and assassinating a rival clan's hunters is a serious business.

For the Zong cult, the purpose of this kind of combat is ultimately to seize enemy hunting territory and it to your own clans; the more hunting lands, the better the clan will eat. Correspondingly, the fiercest battles surround choice hunting areas -- salt licks, good fishing spots in streams and ponds, areas where a particular prey animal frequently inhabits, or areas where particularly tasty plants grow. Notably good locations between rival clans may trade hands a dozen times in the span of two or three generations, as the fortunes of such wars shift. For any clan -- even one with good relations with its neighboring clans -- the borders of the hunting lands move and shift fluidly, as control over certain areas shifts from one side to the other.

Most such conflicts remain relatively low-key, however. No clan can stand to have its entire hunting cult dedicated to conflict instead of hunting, or -- worse -- see the best hunters killed in ambushes, starving that generation. So Zong Battles are frequently intricate maneuvers in which several seasons of hunting may give way to a flurry of ambushes; or a few ambushes each season. But constant, intense conflict is relatively rare.

One of the challenges that faces non-trolls traveling through troll lands is the fact that most of the territory of a troll land is made up of hunting grounds. Humans moving through a hunting ground are constantly being stalked by Zong hunters -- for fun (can I follow the humans? Am I better than they are?), for the clan's security (what will the humans do?) and in some cases for war (can we raid them)? This is particularly true when humans travel through a disputed zone. Although very few trolls will hunt humans for food, humans traveling through a hunting area are intruding -- and may well be attacked as intruders.

In my book, the only good Aldryami is a dead Aldryami, and trolls everywhere should make sure they're very, very good. Unfortunately, those loathsome elfies have an incredibly powerful defensive position: the fact that the Redwood Forest and Vale of Flowers have hung on as long as they have in the midst of a troll stronghold is proof of that. So how do these puny plants manage it?

The Forest Fortress
"Elf woods" are divided into three distinct zones of magical ecology: the Growth Groves, the War Woods and Flamal's Forest (these being, of course, human approximations of Elven concepts: the Muri refer to them as Easy Eating, Tough Eating, and Food-in-Plenty, respectively). The three zones can vary widely in size, depending on local Elven power and the threat poised by neighboring races.

The Growth Groves are a product of Elven decline and are not part of the encompassing spirit of the Elf woods, the magical world of the Aldryami. The groves are, rather, an belt of "normal" forest surrounding the Elf woods that the elves cultivate and cull. As such, it serves as a buffer area, where casual raiders and invaders can be fought, sparing the elf woods proper the disruption and death that war brings. In other cases these groves may be shared with other races, if the Elves are not strong enough to dominate other races. Most importantly, they are room for expansion: when elven power waxes, the groves can be incorporated into the elf forest proper, and new Growth Groves spread past beyond the old boundaries.

The elf forest itself can be divided into two zones; the first is Flamal's Forest. This is the innermost area, surrounding the Great Tree, where the elfies go about their secretive business with only rare contact with the outside world. In most cases invaders are stopped long before this point, so it's beyond the scope of this article.

More important for matters of Elven defense, however, is the War Woods. The bulk of ready Elven defenses usually lie in a belt between the growth forest and the peaceful elf forest of the center. The width varies; in some forests it may comprise only the first few meters of trees and shrubs, in others (such as the Redwood Forest) it may comprise nearly the entire bulk of the Elf Forest. Those invaders that can brush aside the scattered Elven patrols of the Growth Groves face increasingly stiff resistance as they push deeper into the forest.

Holding the Tree Line
In the War Woods, the first line of defense are the various sensory plants. Different Elf forests have developed many: these include vines running on the forest floor that detect the crushing feet of invaders; plants that react to light (from torch-holding night-time invaders); plants that are sensitive to odor; plants that react to active magic; and countless others. The Forest's Hivemind (see the discussion below) can be also used to gain an idea of the strength, identity and intentions of invaders from ordinary plants. Sensory plants are usually planted throughout the forest, though they may be densest at the borders.

The next defense works to passively slow down attackers. Foremost among these are large growths of tangle bushes: these are low (rarely higher than 30 cm or so), but their exposed roots and runners trip up incoming attackers. [any non-elf moving faster their normal walking rate must tread carefully, or trip and fall.] Tanglethicket hedges are planted to slow down raiders and force them to spend time cutting the bushes, or be herded into other plant defenses or archers. Other plants are sometimes used for one or the other purpose as well. In a few situations elves may even carefully plant trees to hold earthen walls in place, effectively creating fortified walls to fight behind.

Elven archers are the main defense, however. Elves often keep their archers loosely staggered to provide a defense in depth. As raider move forward through the missile fire, the front pickets can withdraw unmolested as archers to the rear attack the enemy, enjoying the greater range of elven archers in forest. Massed groups may be held in reserve, for missile or melee attacks; often, the Elves will retreat steadily to allow the enemy to grow disorganized and broken up by the forest terrain, then counterattack. Elf forests that face consistently dangerous foes may cultivate firing platforms in the trees and vine walkways between them.

Wonder Weeds
More active plant defenses are cultivated as well. Most elf forests will foster only a small number of these, preferring to encourage the growth of other plant species. But forests under pressure may resort to extreme measures.

The most common of these is the War Tree. Generally, a fair number of trees in the War Woods will be prepared with the Create War Tree ritual as a matter of course. In the event of attack, these trees can be activated to attack. In some forests, such as the Redwood Forest, hundreds or thousands of trees may receive this ritual. War trees are among the most predictable and controllable of the various active defenses, and are preferred because of it.

More desperate elves may turn to poison. Allergens and mildly poisonous plants are sometimes found in the outlying areas, such as poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac. These are usually not enough to deter attack, but may inconvenience invaders. Very rarely, extremely poisonous plants such as the poison bushes of the Poisonthorn Elves are used, but these have their own hazards. Such plants may kill or weaken beneficial forest animals as well as invaders.

More radical species have been created as well.

* Exploding plants have been bred from rare breeds that burst to spread seeds; these are usually controlled by the Shamans through the forest mind (see below), and instructed to explode at an appropriate time (essentially, this is a captor mine). These sometimes grow wild, and are much feared by the innocent who stumble into them.
* Aldryami Mantraps are huge examples of Venus flytraps, large enough to swallow a man, troll or dwarf in one bite. These are sometimes fostered in the midst of other plants, with the hope that they can catch unwary enemies. They are rare in the north, but can survive with much care and attention.
* Acidsaps are bushes that have a mildly acidic sap. Elves usually use them as a source of mild acid to score copper and wood. They can be planted to trick invaders; the act of cutting the brush or pushing through it (and breaking small stems, branches, etc.) will gradually weaken arms and armor. Aldryami can move through it without suffering such penalties. Elves dislike planting large numbers of acidsap, however, since it disrupts the forest ecology.
* Hookthorn Grass appears generally normal, but comes to a sharp point with a small hook in it. Non-hoofed animals and unshod men (trolls, dwarfs, etc) who step on it will discover dozens of tiny barbs injected into the skin. This is rarely enough to kill someone, but is painful and a passive deterrent.

Armament Plants
Some elves are known to trade with other races to obtain metal weapons and armor. But the forest can provide most of the armaments an Elven army needs. Though outsiders rarely see them, some of the specialized plants include the following:

* Arrow Bushes. These special bushes bear wooden arrows instead of fruit, with a hard tip and leafy fletching.
* Copper Arrow Bushes. These arrow bushes concentrate copper into the tip, which provide extra damage. Superb archers and commanders may be issued a supply of these.
* Armor Trees. This is the standard armor of many Brown and Green Elves. Bark can be harvested from these trees, and after sizing and fastening with tough vines, roughly approximate to studded leather. If the bark is harvested too often the tree may be killed, limiting the potential supply.
* Copper Armor Trees. These very rare trees gradually concentrate copper into their bark and leaves. After centuries, the tree can no longer shed its bark and receive light from its leaves, and dies. Only then will it be harvested, and formed into a number of suits of armor. Many elf forests tend these, to provide armor for officers. Two different kinds of armor can be produced. Plate armor is created by fastening large sections of the copper bark together, providing fairly good protection. Scale armor is formed by overlapping leaves and fastening them onto soft bark. Scale is inferior to both normal and copper bark armor, but Elven Lords may possess a set for ceremonial duties; the leaves can also be harvested without harming the tree, and such armor may be the only metal armor that can be offered to a junior officer.
* Spear trees. These have slender and straight trunks, and branch only at the top. Made of a tough but springy wood, they take a point well.
* Sword bushes. These rubbery bushes have spade-shaped, tough leafs with sharp edges. Harvest properly, they harden and can be used for a season or so before becoming brittle. Elves hold them by the longish stem, using them for short stabbing swords or knives depending on the size of the leaf. Some Elves learn the tricky art of throwing them as well. They have few armor points, but are light enough that an elf can carry several.
* The Forest Hivemind-a strong aldryami presence will have a group intellect to coordinate defense efforts, and this intellect will have an intelligence gathering capacity few can match, as every plant is feeding into it. Fortunately, few plants have enhanced senses.

The key to good race relations is communication, and in that spirit, here's some troll slang phrases:
baby killer: Vicious insult among trolls; infanticide is the worst troll crime. Often applied to Yelm, for her invasion and slaughter of the trolls of Wonderhome, sparing not even the smallest infants.
beardy thieves: Scholars, especially sociologists. Trolls mistrust them for their penchant of "stealing" secrets of the darkness.
beat: Trollish unit of measurement. One beat = 550 feet. A third beat is 185 feet.
been in the day(light): To have faced a challenge, or reached a certain age. Trollish children are not allowed outside in the daylight until they reach the age of 9, or until they're considered ready to face the day's dangers.
bendy: An object darksensed through reflection of a troll's sonar. Trolls sometimes say "bendy-saw" or "bendy-spot" to refer to this.
bite me: Inter-troll challenge; more literally, "Try to take a bite from me." Not used in a friendly manner.
bite my kneecaps: Insult, comparing the foe to a lowly duck (What can a duck do to a troll, besides bite his kneecaps off?). Usually friendly.
boot to the head: Caught violating rules and was punished for it; e.g., "He got a boot to the head." From trollball.
boys: Mild derogatory term. Used where many say "girls." "Look at da pansy Hooman boys, ooo, even da zombies is getting scared! Yah yah, ya buncha wussies."
breakfast : Derogatory term for non-trolls, often used by warriors. "Make some breakfast" is similar to "Making the omelet," and used a jeer in battle. (Lifted from Warhammer FB, I admit).
bring a rock to dinner: To distrust someone. "I'd bring a rock to dinner if I ate with him." From the fact that a suspicious troll may sneak rocks into his food, sending the food to the rock gizzard and thus reducing the effectiveness of poisons.
bull balls: A very brave human. "He's got bull balls."
burned: A troll that likes humans too much. Referring to the vulnerability of trolls to sunburn; a troll with sunburns is out in the day too much. Sometimes also called "Yelm's mark."
catching sheep: Zorak Zorani insult for Karrg's Sons, referring to geas. E.g., "Going to join us in battle or are you busy catching sheep?"
caught in the red zone: Attacked by missile weapons. >From trollball.
chuckle boys: Death worshippers. "Cheerful as a chuckle boy."
confuse and contuse: Argan Argar reference for Zorak Zorani, as a god of disorder and destruction.
Cuddling: Trollish term for the infantry tactic of shield push, since "Dey're always pressin' up against each other, hur hur hur!"
damnfine A universal trollish adjective; a crude direct translation of a common troll word for good. "Dis here number one good damnfine sword, you betcha!" (from CJ Cherryh).
darksee, darksaw: Darksense. Human languages lack the troll's vocabulary for this sense, and trolls usually say "see" instead of "sense."
dessert on dinner: Cavalry; any human riding a horse.
eat that twice: Challenge; "I'll make you eat that twice." Literally, make you eat it, beat you so hard you vomit (not easy to do with trolls), then make you eat it again.
the fanny rune: The moon rune. Irreverent trolls mock the moon rune as being comprised of "two cheeks and da crack." Perhaps from human usage.
First Mom: Kyger Litor. Some trolls prefer to not to say her name in human languages from superstition or mistrust.
five seconds after the fire goes out: A scene of confusion or chaos. Referring to the typical human reaction when ambushing trolls put out their campfire, torches and other light sources.
gone: An object seen with a troll's visual senses but which cannot be darksensed. Sometimes used to refer to magic items in general.
good son: A proper troll son. Also used as a derogatory term by Zorak Zorani for Karrg's Sons. "Ur, hey, can you come to war today, or is yer mom not gonna let you? Hur hur hur!"
hooman: Rude trolls stress the "oo."
Hurtplace: The surface world. In Shadowspeech, "Komor"
Hurt Time: Daytime.
inside the walls: Something proper is from "inside the walls;" suspect things are not. Usually a term used by conservative trolls, warning the young.
jabug: A fighting insect. A bad and obscure pun few will probably spot, and even fewer think amusing.
Leadlover: Greedy; miserly; an Argan Argarite. "silverkisser" and "goldhugger" are similar, but imply commerce with humans and with solars, respectively.
making the omelet: Triumphing over humans, especially Yelm worshippers. A jeer for battle.
moo-moo: A bison. "Look at da moo-moos! Moooo! Moooo! Yah, and da pansy pinkies dats ride 'em, nuts to you!"
leafies: Aldryami.
mama's boys: Zorak Zorani insult for Karrg's Sons.
Nosee'im: The Invisible God.
Orlanth tears: Rain. "Every troll know dat rain is Orlanth tears. See, he's weeping coz Zorak Zoran done kicked his ass again, hur hur hur!"
pansy: Weak, small and helpless, like a flower (or a bowless elf).
pinkies: Humans. An insult not found in darktongue, and which may be a human influence. Also, pink food.
poets: Orlanth worshippers. Trolls who have encountered Orlanthi and their craze for doggerel may make up special limericks for future encounters. "Hey, windy! Dere once was dis stormgod called Orlanth, whose sticker got snipped by a 'newt Klanth; 'dis ticked off his wife, and 'cozed lots of strife, 'coz now Windy not gots lots in his pants!"
poke in a hole: An unpleasant surprise. From the troll habit of using prepared pits with stakes inside of them against cavalry.
pound the ground: An overhand smash; more generally, referring to warriors (i.e., "groundpounders"). Trolls don't use this for runners, which can cause some confusion.
pull the beard: Brave, or a worthy warrior. Originally referred to challenging humans or Mostali by "pulling their beard;"now, any noteworthy feat or humiliation of an enemy.
sheep squeezers: Humans. Probably adopted from human usage.
girl onna a horny pony: Yelornan unicorn riders. Often accompanied by obscene gestures, if the trolls are behind cover and a safe distance away.
sneeze guard: A force of elven warriors. Because the sneeze guard protects the salad.
spears up: An unpleasant surprise. Referring to the nasty habit of elite Spearkin units of hiding their spears and pretending to be a simple levee unit, then suddenly raising up spears and charging in.
Squeaky the Wonder Bat: Rude term for the Crimson Bat.
Squishies: Pixies and runners. More literally, "things that go squish when we step on them." Sometimes used to refer to ducks, humans and other, smaller races.
sticker: A spear; occasionally and crudely used to remark to human (but, oddly, not trollish) genitalia.
sticky: An object within range of darksense, but from which no clear darksense determination can be made.
stunties or shorties: Dwarves.
sunny boys: Yelm worshippers. Note that it applies to female worshippers as well; "boys" is the derogatory term for trolls, where many humans would use "girls" to imply weakness among men.
sure-food: Doomed, or certain to die (and become food for trolls).
sword-sticker: Humans who use swords; usually an insult.
the target: Yelm's sun rune. Warrior trolls find it highly amusing that many Yelm worshippers are kind enough to paint a circle with a dot in it, providing a fine target for trollish missile weapons.
thump suit: Heavy armored; or a Western knight. >From the distinctive sound of plate armor when a troll smacks it: "thump!"
toothless: Mild insult implying feebleness or cowardliness. A friendly insult among trolls, or a snide reference to humans and other non-trolls.
trade with Danar: A foolish thing to do. Probably of human origin, or the result of a spectacularly bad trade with a human trader named Danar. A traditional cautionary phrase.
tummy trouble: Mild insult; a troll with "tummy trouble" is a figure of humor and ridicule. A friendly insult.
upright land: An extremely peaceful or secure place; the prehistoric periods when the trolls lived in peace.
wind breakers: Orlanth worshippers. Referring to flatulence rather than protection from rain.

Crime takes myriad forms, and even with the human communities of Nation States crimes of some societies are not considered crimes in others. It should come as no surprise, then, that crime in muri society differs greatly from that of humans.

In fact, even some of the root concepts of crime tend to differ, since trolls tend to regard “crimes” as being either against Kyger Litor herself -- such crimes being universally abhorred -- and against individuals. And in the latter case, such “crimes” are not considered to be immoral, merely successful or unsuccessful.

ALIEN CRIMES
Suffice it to summarize here that among muri, there are certain actions prohibited under the theocracy of Kyger Litor. Some crimes, of course, are worse than others; other crimes are trivial taboos. The issue here is that given that Kyger Litor defines what is trollish, she also defines what is crime for trolls, and these laws are held throughout the land.

Although there is a core of terrible crimes that instantly make a muri an outcast, a non-troll, most other crimes are “flexible:” a muri with enough power can usually overcome them by virtue of her personal ability and influence. The Zorak Zorani ability to frequently flout prohibitions on using fire, raising the dead and performing proper funeral services is the typical example of this.

In fact, the theocracy frequently uses crimes against Kyger Litor to enhance their own power, which should come as no surprise! Alien crimes are not treated so liberally, but a violator of taboo from a clan supporting a tribal mother will likely be treated more leniently than a violator from a rebellious clan, or one that is not showing proper respect. It is rare for crimes to be fashioned from whole cloth or be dismissed entirely, but the penance imposed by a Sacred Mother or Tribal mother frequently varies.

“DAT’S MINE:” INDIVIDUAL CRIME
Now, most crime in the human sense tends to be crimes against other individuals; thinks like theft, assault, and such. With the significant exception of murder -- which Kyger Litor’s laws separates into “justified” and “unjustified” categories -- most of these thing aren’t actually considered to be crime by the muri.

Take theft, for example. For a muri to steal from another muri isn’t considered a crime in “social” terms: there’s no stigma attached to the thief for having done something wrong. It may be considered in terms of power relations; a thief that steals from a hulking Death Lord with a thousand followers will probably be tracked down and slain, and quite justifiably by troll standards. If the Death Lord was to steal from, say, a poor penniless widower, few muri consider it wrong in an objective -- though it could be assured that any relatives of that widower would dislike it, and hope to seek revenge.

Assault is treated similarly; generally, a muri that comes out of the losing end of a fight is assumed to have been foolish enough to engage in a fight they couldn’t win! There are exceptions, of course; no sane troll would attack a pregnant female, a child or a Great Mother. But it is not considered so terrible for that same Death Lord to attack some pitiful, scrawny, weak and ancient elder -- the elder should merely avoid the fight.

This actually isn’t that unusual from many human societies, of course; Celts, for example, abhor theft from family and clan, but theft from other clans was so routinized that it became part of the Celtic economy.

The point to this being that it’s relatively rare to see too much theft within muri society, since it’s far too likely that a thief would be fairly quickly hunted down, killed and eaten; not by an angry mob, but by one of the thief’s angry victims. This tends to either make sure that thieves are very good, or means that thieves tend to be desperate.

“DIS’S ALL MINE:” CRIMES AGAINST THE GREAT MOTHER
The exception to this, however, is in terms of crimes against a Tribal or Clan Mother. Tribes and Clans are far from monolithic entities, and there is almost always some form of power struggle going on between the various lineage lines. These are rarely violent struggles, but they can be vicious in other ways.

Within this context, there is a great deal of potential “criminal” activity that goes on; things that a Tribal or Clan mother prohibits, but that other trolls will do as the opportunity suits them. Smuggling, organized theft, cooperation with other clans and tribes (as allowed within the context of Kyger Litor tradition) and assault are all “common” crimes within this context!

To return to the example of thieving, most muri don’t tend to steal from other muri unless they’re positive they can get away with it, or are much stronger. But a Clan Mother may deliberately foster raiding or thieving against another clan, hoping to weaken them, or advance her own position. The Troll Stronghold in Big Rubble is the notorious example pointed to in Dagori Inkarth, with constant fighting and feuding between troll factions each promoting their own interests, and with the added bonus of being able to shelter behind non-troll groups when necessary.

Given the Troll Stronghold, it comes as no surprise that crime is particularly noticeable in troll towns, which tend to have much greater levels of violence and crime since the social parameters that “hem in” violence tend to break down. This also helps to explain why the largest towns tend to be either “personal possessions” of an individual, like Crabtown is to Cragspider, or tend to be organized along strict clan/tribal lines (such as Redstone or the Castle of Lead); or are organized by the Argan Argar cult, which has appropriate magics to promote harmony, such as in Laca. In Dagori Inkarth there are no towns or
cities founded or ruled by the Xiola Umbar cult, but some are known in other lands.

I PLAY AD&D. WHERE'S MY THIEVES' GUILD, DAMN IT?
Muri don't really tend to be organized to have organized crime, for the most part. To trolls, "crime" is not set apart in the way that would encourage that kind of crime -- at least not for the most part. The two areas where you do see organized crime are in the aforementioned struggles between clans, and in the fringes of society.

Where a clan is struggling against the rule of a Tribal Mother or Clan Mother, or a family against a family, it is not unheard of for "professional thieves" or "raiders" to be trained up. For the most part, the distinction tends to be that they're disposable, but in a few historical cases they have been very professional indeed. Typical are bands of hunters that stalk a rival's hunting grounds, or mercenaries trained to enter an enemy clan's lands and loot it, returning with the loot. A dead mercenary, usually, is no great loss (if a meal for the rivals), and some clans experiment with the tactic.

The other occasion is when troll society overlaps with non-troll societies. Trolls are, of course, superior to humans in many respects, and have frequently been sought for roles as mercenaries, warriors and such. They are sometimes also sought for roles in organized crime: they make superb thieves, for example, and most are at least as well suited as humans. They also sometimes supply muscle, assassins, smugglers, fences (for stolen human property can be readily and easily sold to trolls) and magic. There are literally dozens of groups in the muri's society that supply aid to various illegal enterprises there.

WHAT, IS THIS HELL’S KITCHEN?
From this description, it probably seems like trolls have little to do besides maim, murder and rob each other constantly! It should be kept in mind at this point that this is where the lineage groups and family structures come into play.

A muri with a grievance -- say, the aforementioned Death Lord just beat him up -- has a potentially huge kinship network to draw upon. Depending on their cult and status, they may have a cult structure to draw upon, too. Certain cults in troll society -- Argan Argar and Xiola Umbar most notably -- tend to back up their members against aggravations. The result is that while muri may not think it’s inherently wrong to beat up a member of society, they tend not to do it without either great reason, or unless they’re sure their “power network” (as it were) overawes that of a rival. The result is something closer to a subtle game of power relationships, with more nudging and pushing than all-out violence. A Death Lord usually won’t beat up a random troll without a strong reason, and most trolls won’t stand up to an angry Death Lord without a network of friends and family to back them. And at that, Death Lords are often considered to be impetuous fools all too likely to bring the wrath of the clan down on their heads.

Troll cosmology begins with the runes-basic concepts and forms that formed the whole of Reality. The first concept was Darkness-a formless, lightless Void from which all of Creation ultimately issued, which the trolls call Dehore(Day-HOAR-ay), the Primal Darkness from which all things derive. Somehow, in a way unexplained because there was no one around to witness and analyze it, Dehore either found or created the Form Runes, and thus birthed the First Things, the Things of Darkness. As Dehore took up each of the Form Runes, a different god or goddess was created from the interactions of Dehore and the rune. This act is not seen as procreative, but as a natural occurence, as if Dehore infused each rune with an essence that was interpreted by the rune, and thus was born (for example) Mee Vorala, the goddess of Fungus, when Dehore touched the Plant Rune, and she spread throughout Wonderhome, filling it with the mushrooms and slimes that are the Plants of Darkness. When his hand rested on the Beast Rune, Gorakikki, Father of all Insects, sprang up, and his children spread to feed on the Plants of Darkness, and each other. Most importantly, when Dehore placed his hand on the Man Rune, Kiger Litor, Mother of the Trolls, came into existance. It is important to note that trolls ritually state Dehore simply grasped each rune to create the first god of each, but that he "stirred the sweet essence of Kiger Litor", implying that trolls somehow embody the Darkness more fully than other creatures of Darkness through a more prolonged contact. More Creation activity follows, as Dehore finds Mee Vorala and Gorakikki had found the Fertility Rune before Dehore, and when he touches it, Korasting, the Mother of Many, is produced-this is important, because it explains why the reproductive functions of fungi and insects are inherent aspects of those gods, but Kiger Litor creates the trolls through interaction with Korasting, bearing the First Litter-the Seven Sacred Ancestors.
The trolls spread and fill Wonderhome, as they call their native realm, and enjoy a paradise of plenty, bliss, and peace. Dehore finds all the Runes, and somehow births the goddess Subere (SOO-beer-ee) to secret them, as some things are best left in Darkness. This decision comes after Mee Vorala comes into possession of the Man Rune, and births the black aldryami. It should be noted that trolls have an ancient alliance with the black aldryami that does not extend to other aldryami, who are seen as both abhorrent and unnatural. Once all this is done, he finds nothing else to do, and he weeps, his tears forming Styx, the Dark Waters, who also takes up the Form Runes, creating sea plants, marine life, and merfolk as she touches the Plant, Beast, and Man runes, before leaving Wonderhome to wander the lands beyond, where she births all the waters of Reality, guided by Rokag, a troll who becomes the god of exploration and patron of sailors.
Before leaving, Styx and Dehore mate and birth a daughter, Asrelia the Earth Witch, who is goddess of subterranian depths, caverns, and the "wealth of the deep earth". Asrelia is either given or steals one of Kiger Litor's children, the male Qualyorni, who she raises as Moorgarki in her secret cavern. Apparently, Styx is impregnated again by person or persons unknown, as when she leaves Wonderhome, she not only births the waters, but also the Surface Earth, who is male, and mates with Styx again to produce Fire, the first element not generated in Wonderhome, and an unknown quality to the trolls for the remainder of this Age.
While the trolls do not mention it, they assume that the other Elements mate with each other in a natural progression, producing the Six Elements, and the Form Runes are passed among them, creating the various species and races. This does not take place in Wonderhome, so they qualify the rest of Creation with "as it was told to us." Fire and Earth were passionate in their lovemaking, killing many until their child, Air, got between them and forcibly separated the two, impregnating his mother Fire and separating her from his father Earth, so she grew distant and became Sky, where she birthed the last element, Moon. Fire/Sky was deeply loved by Earth, and made Empress of Reality, and she and her children the Sky People roamed the heavens with her daughter Moon.
Sometime after this, Asrelia brings Qualyorni to the Surface, where he hunts and eats, ravaging the Surface Earth, until he is hunted down by Pamalt and his tribe. The volcano god Lodril strikes Qualyorni with his Burning Spear, and he flees to Asrelia's caverns, where he is tended and given the instructions that allow him to close the Burning Wound, dominate the volcano god, and somehow father the race of muri on Lodril. The muri are the first major deviation from the line of Kiger Litor, and are generally not considered of "the Folk", as the trolls call themselves, for millenia to come. That he changes his name from Qualyorni, "the Cold One", to Moorgarki, "Father of the muri", reflects this, as does his keeping Lodril as a slave and forcing his way into Pamalt's tribe with Asrelia's sponsorship, some tales saying he fathers the muri at his adoption ceremony, securing his place in Pamalt's tribe and separating himself from Kiger Litor's.
The separation of the muri is followed by the separation of the sea trolls, who are born from a daughter of Rokag and Magasta, father of the merfolk. These two remote offshoots of the troll species hide in hidden wastes, watching as the other races spread and warred for dominion, while the main lineage of trolls remained in Wonderhome, away from the struggles.
This isolation would have a price, as the trolls were ignorant when a lesser darkness diety, Argan Argar, sold a secret of Darkness to Humakt, who sneaked into Wonderhome and stole Death from Dehore's chambers. This minor theft was not noticed at first, nor was the invasion, as Grandfather Mortal, the template for all sentient life, allowed the weapon to be tested on him, sending him to Wonderhome.
The second visitor would be more noticed. When Yelm was sent to the Underworld, bleeding and in pain, her rays withering and destroying all they touched, the trolls were decimated, a remnant of a remnant escaping to the Surface, burned and scorched by the alien goddess. Wonderhome was shattered, the trolls forced to flee, and the First Age closed with the Great Exodus.

There are four major myths from this period:
The Finding of the Sun
Long ago, in the Perfect Age, Zorak Zoran and his twin sister Xiola Umbar went looking for their brother, Zong, who was known to wander the length and breadth of the land, hunting as was his wont. Though there was no need to hunt in Wonderhome, Zong still did so for the pleasure to be had in stalking unseen. As they sought out their brother, they encountered Argan Argar, who also liked to wander, though he was more of a tourist, who travelled only to offer stories of unseen realms to those with food or other gifts.
They met amicably enough, and Argan Argar offered to guide them to distant parts of Wonderhome in exchange for a few tidbits, for Argan Argar was not truly a hunter or gatherer, but loved to barter. Xiola Umbar gave him some fine beetle legs to chew, and he lead them to a distant place, where Things waiting to be Born resided, bundled up carefully and incubating, waiting for their time to come, for all things are birthed in Wonderhome first. One of the bundles seemed strange, as it was warm to the touch, and the three poked at it.
"It is new life, and should not be disturbed lest we deviate it from it's proper course." Xiola Umbar pronounced, as she was the only female and thus, the first to speak.
"Perhaps it has some value-we should unwrap it and see." spoke Argan Argar, for he was forever curious about unknown things.
"It is a future enemy-I will destroy it now, while it is weak." said Zorak Zoran, and he unwrapped the bundle to devour it's contents. The bundle held the nascent Sun, and Zorak Zoran was horribly burned, and ran off into the Darkness to heal, howling in pain and rage.
Argan Argar turned away, but drew close enough to rewrap the Sun, that it would cease to plague Wonderhome and develop into whatever it should.
However, Xiola Umbar had watched from a safe distance, and seen what was to be. Though she never spoke of it, she became a healer in that moment, and devoted herself to mending each hurt and ending pain from that time forth. This is why Xiola Umbar is called "Keeper of the Secrets of Light".


Moorgarki comes to the Surface
Long ago, in the Perfect Age, the Earth Witch Asrelia walked Wonderhome, where she garnered the secrets of the Deep Earth in apprenticeship to Subere, Keeper of the Secrets of Darkness. Asrelia learned much, and grew wise in the ways of magic, in the brewing of potions and the singing of metals, and soon retreated to her own caverns when her apprenticeship was ended. Just as Styx had left Wonderhome with Rokag, a grandson of Kyger Litor, Asrelia thought it was her due to leave with a troll companion, and as she had studied long and hard under Subere, she felt nothing less than a son of Kiger Lytor's was suitable for her.
By means of the knowledge Subere had taught her, she lured the babe Qualyorni from his mother's cave, and took him away, to her own caverns in the Deep Earth, where she raised him as her own, tending his needs and caring for him that he would grow to be more than a companion, that he would grow to be a Good Son, as her own daughter had left to raise a family of her own. Qualyorni grew large and strong, and one day, Asrelia went to visit her family on the Surface, and asked Qualyorni to remain in her caverns, to guard her secrets from intruders. Being a Good Son, he agreed, and stayed in the Cavern of Wealth, to protect it for one he thought his mother.
Bidding her safe journey, he settled himself to guard, but being yet young, he fell asleep, and as he slept, thieving dwarfs, the spawn of Mostali, sneaked into the Cavern of Wealth, and made off with many of Asrelia's secrets. When Qualyorni woke, he noticed the strange smell of the dwarfs, and saw they had stolen much from the cavern, so he tracked them by smell to their tunnels, where he slew many and took their loot, returning it to Asrelia's Cavern. When he put everything in it's place, he noticed the dwarfs had made off with the Secret of Singing Metals, so he set out again to find the survivors and return the secret to Asrelia.
He tracked them all the way to the tunnels of Lodril, where he had the bad fortune to encounter Pamalt and his tribe. Seeing him as a marauder, they attacked as one, and Qualyorni was struck down by Lodril's Burning Spear, which pierced his side and burned the fat from his body. Shredding and tearing his way to safety, he made it all the way to the Cavern of Wealth before collapsing. When Asrelia returned home, she found him there, and tended his wounds.
He was most grievously injured, rambling in his pain, when she soothed his wounds and applied a poultice that sent his soul into the Spirit Plane, that his body's pain might heal without damaging his soul. While there, he rambled and prophesied, and, from hearing his prophesies, she knew what must be done, and did her best to heal him, for he had been a Good Son, if negligent. When he awoke, she had healed all his wounds save the gash in his side from the Burning Spear, which would not close. When he was lucid, she told him only the heat from the one who had inflicted that wound would cauterize it enough that it should heal, and told him what he must do.
Binding the wound that it would not bleed, he silently crept his way to the volcano where Lodril made his home, and waited for that god to return. When Lodril came home to find Qualyorni there, he raised up the Burning Spear--and Qualyorni slapped it away. The angry volcano attacked, and the battle was fierce, but Qualyorni beat him unconscious, then, on Asrelia's advice, held the Burning God's body against his own, close enough the heat of his flesh cauterized Qualyorni's wound, and it finally began to heal. He then made a slave of Lodril, and kept him for his own amusement, living in Lodril's mountain, until, as happened in this age, Lodril bore him children. Not proper troll children at all, but the dark and lean muri. When Qualyorni took his children to Asrelia, she smiled, and named him Moorgarki, for he was the Father of the muri.
He has kept the name since, and kept Lodril as his slave, and they still live in Lodril's mountain.

The First Kozoru

Long ago, in the Perfect Age, Kyger Litor had many husbands. Many were the trolls and spirits who sought to be among her husbands, and she mated with both troll and spirit, and helped birth many races of the Darkness. And one of the greatest of these husbands was Zukozor.

Now, Zukozor was a great warrior, and a champion of the hell spirits, one of the brothers of Adzurana. He was powerful, and if he was not a match for Kyger Litor in power, he was a match in bravery and devotion. Many were the Mothers who envied Kyger Litor her good fortune, for this was a husband of great worth.

Now, Subere the Mother of Secrets had much to do, for the world was young and there were many things that must be kept away where no one could find them, else they could do much harm. And she went to each of the great deities of the darkness, and she begged the boon of them that they aid her in her tasks. And each agreed, and many spirits and heroes were sent to hide secrets, or trap them, or to simply guard them and keep others away. And some of them are still at this, to this very night.

Now, Subere took Zukozor, and placed him as guard over one of the greater secrets. This she hid deep in the Underworld, where no outsider could come, and few trolls would go. And she bade Zukozor to guard the secret while she did other things, and she went away for a while.

Now, Zukozor was content, at first. But as can sometimes happen, he was a good husband when his wife was there, but after she left he grew resentful. He was a great and powerful warrior, but left to guard something that no one wanted -- a secret that Subere would not share even with him. How could Kyger Litor trade him away so easily? Did he not belong at her side? He grew bitter, and he paid no attention to what he should do -- and he did not see that Argan Argar found this place, and knew how to reach Wonderhome: for Zukozor had been left here to guard one of the hidden approaches, the approach that Death would take.

Now, when Argan Argar returned to the world above, he sold the secret of this path; and the Storm Gods crept in and stole Death, the secret Zukozor guarded. And Zukozor was the first creature of Darkness to see Death; and it shook him to his core.

Now, at first he would stand to fight Death, and perhaps he could even have driven it off. But the resentments and bitterness fled back -- why should he be destroyed? Why should he suffer? What did he owe any others? Had not Kyger Litor left him here, with the Hell Hag? And Zukozor did not fight, but begged Death to spare him; and Death spared him, and made him his own servant.

Now, when the trolls saw that Death had come among them, Subere knew what had happened. And at Hanroo field, when the Butcher Sun slaughtered the creatures of darkness, Subere found Zukozor fighting at Pain's side; and she struck him down, and drew out the darkness from him, so that he would never again be a creature of darkness. And Zukozor begged the Butcher Sun to help him; but the Painbringer laughed, and said that she needed nothing from the Darkness. And so Zukozor dragged himself away, and found a place where he could be alone with his pain, cast out by both Darkness and Light.

Now, Zukozor was hurt grievously, but he could not heal, for Subere had taken that part of him. And as he lay in his place, he saw a wounded troll; and he sprung up, and wrestled that troll to the ground, for great was his anger. And when he laid hands upon that troll, he felt his pain and hunger for life diminish, for he sucked that life right out of that troll. And he grew strong, and he vowed then that he would live forever, and never die, and that just as he had owed nothing to no one, so now did everyone owe something to him. And after he was done devouring that troll, he cast it forth, for it too was now an empty thing that needed to take from others to live. This was a great mockery, for Zukozor made life into unlife, and tainted creation, and called this thing his son.

Now, this is how the first kozoru came to be, and they are foul things. Kyger Litor hates her Bad Husband, and she bades us to kill them when we see them. Adzurana hates her Bad Brother, and sends her furies to hunt his children. And Subere hates her Bad Guardian, and Darkness everywhere rejects and weakens him.


Karrg and the Butcher Sun

Now, this is a story about the Worst Thing, when the Butcher Sun came to Wonderhome. A million infants she slaughtered with her terrible gaze, ten thousand infants did she rip from their mother’s wombs. She took Paradise, and left Death and Slaughter in her wake, and sometimes if you stand in the Su-Caves and smell, you can still find the stench of those she cooked alive.

Now, when Komosha came, she desired nothing else more than to become Mistress of the Underworld, for she was a grasping and greedy sort. And in Wonderhome, Kyger Litor had that honor. So she knew she must take up Kyger Litor, and devour her, or enslave her, or rape her, and thus steal her position and her power. And Kyger Litor could do nothing to resist this, for she must complete the magics that would let her take her people from the False Hell, and flee the Slaughter of Infants.

Now, the Armies of Darkness marshaled to resist Komosha, and she burned them down where they stood, ignoring their efforts. Instead she drew ever-closer to Kyger Litor, longing to consume her power and become Queen of Hell. He drew nearer and nearer, until Karrg leapt into her way, and stood before his mother.

“Now, Komosha, O Enemy, know that if you wish to kill my mother, you must kill me,” said Karrg.

Now, the Enemy just smiled at this, and reached out with one terrible burning hand, and knocked Karrg away. And with blood dripping from her mouth, she reached once more to take up Kyger Litor.

“Now, Komosha, I am not so easy at that!” And Karrg leapt back before Komosha, and stood before his mother. And the Enemy snarled at this, and blasted Karrg with her vision, burning and tearing at that Good Son. And the Enemy laughed with a sound like a thousand mothers keening for their lost babes, and drew back one of her spears of light to impale Kyger Litor.

Now, again, Karrg stood. “There remains breathe in my body, Foul One, and I will not let you kill my mother!” And Yelm stabbed at Karrg instead, and shattered Karrg’s shield.
Now, a hundred times the Enemy reached to take up Kyger Litor, and a hundred times Karrg leapt into the way. And so finally, when Kyger Litor finished the ritual, the trolls took up Karrg. More dead than alive, more wounds than flesh, Karrg had not beaten the Enemy, and had been wounded so badly that it would take half the Exodus for him to regain his strength. But he stood between his family and their foe.

The origin of the sea trolls is also from this era, but it is lost.

For the trolls, the Second Reality begins with the end of the Great Exodus, and the trolls crawling out of the earth after a long trek from Wonderhome. The journey itself was uneventful, as the dimensional paths were uninhabited and the trolls ran into no hostility, but they were weakened and injured from the attacks and destruction brought by Yelm. Worse, they did not emerge from the same point, and instead were scattered into small bands across the world they would claim as their own. The twins Gore and Gash emerged at Shadow's Dance, where they built Dagori Ingarth, the oldest of troll settlements, and Gadblad built there the Castle of Lead, where Kiger Lytor herself would reside.
Other settlements followed as smaller bands emerged at other points. Himile and his followers emerged at Valind's Glacier, where they spread throughout the Northern White Wastes. The clans under the Tribal Mother Greshna Venn emerged at the Blue Moon Plateau, where they found the fractured goddess Annilla and tried to nurse her to health. The followers of Gorbi and Relna emerged in the human kingdom of Bliss in Ignorance, where they discovered the Black Sun, Basko, and built the Great Black Sun Temple, where the human followers readily accepted troll dominance, so long as their bloodthirsty Games were allowed to continue. The troll overseers complied, rounding out their diet with the losers of the Games.
Though small and building power, the trolls were not idle in these days. Vaneekara the Hurler bragged how the boulders she threw at the Palace of Delicacy started the ancient emnity between the aldryami and mostali, Argan Argar renewed his friendship with the trolls, becoming one himself, and raised up a mercenary army that aided any side willing to pay, whileZorak Zoran appeared at the Castle of Lead with the New Power, Death, as his personal weapon. He raised his own army, and assaulted Flamal's Forest, where he cut down the Father of All Plants, razed the forest, and allowed Spoorwood's creation.
Though beset on all sides by enemies, the trolls still managed to discover how Yelm came to Wonderhome, murdered by Orlanth, Chief of the Storm Pantheon, and allied themselves with any who would fight the Storm Gods. Still, more gains than losses were made, when the ultimate horror perpetuated byOrlanth manifested: his actions to make himself Emperor of the Universe had resulted in admitting Chaos into the world. Annilla had babbled out warnings in her delirium, revealing her accurate prophetic powers as her ravings began to manifest, and the trolls of the Blue Moon Plateau began writing every word she uttered. Using her words, the trolls were ready for the Great Enemy, and trollish losses as theGodswar shifted from the internecine feuds of the gods to a war for survival against Chaos declined dramatically.
It seemed as if the trolls were ideally suited for the war on Chaos, as they rarely fled in battle (though it did happen) and often rode off the field of battle with the Chaos generals in their gullets. Chaos could easily battle and defeat light and wind, but it was vulnerable to the Tribe of Night, and this was exploited. Set-piece battle tactics favored by the Storm gods and surviving Solar gods were child's play for Chaos to overcome, but the stealth/guerrilla tactics employed by trolls stymied them, and the setting of traps in the field, insect reconnaissance, and pure viciousness of troll warriors whittled away at the forces of Chaos.
Sadly, the trolls could not be in every battle, and Chaos made great advances, devastating Reality in almost every engagement. Gods were totally eradicated, the concepts they embodied wiped from the world forever when slain by Chaos, or warped beyond recognition. Losses were devastating, as every loss from the gods weakened the whole of Reality, while losses to Chaos simply made room for another army to attack.
Finally, standing on the discarded husk the war had turned Reality into, the very stars clinging to a space that hung in tatters, all the gods prepared for the Final Assault. On the plains ofPrax they gathered, and readied for the End. As they honed their weapons and awaited the Last Charge, the goddess Arachnae Solara appeared before them with a desperate plan to save the world: if all the gods, both living and dead, would pool their energies, Chaos could be bound and Reality restored, but it would take a quest on the God's Plane, undertaken by members of each Pantheon. Thus began the I Fought We Won War, an amazing and highly contradictory account that has been proven true in every claim made.
With the energies gathered, Arachne Solara wove the Godswar Compromise, which, if agreed to by all the gods, would renew the world, drive back Chaos, and allow Reality to survive. One by one, the gods all agreed, binding themselves to the God Plane unless Chaos threatened, forever reliving their actions of theGodswar.
It is important to note that the trolls gained nothing by the Godswar Compromise. Largely intact and suffering minimal losses, the trolls were ideally suited to survive in the wreck the War had made of Reality, and would have ruled undisputed, and even thrived. They lost no gods, they could eat everything left,and had no competition to threaten them. However,Kiger Lytor still agreed, with but one condition. The Great Compromise bound Reality to Time, but Time would have no power over the trolls. Arachne Solara readily agreed, and made further promises: the troll gods would choose where they would reside, rather than being bound to the God Plane, and one day, the trolls would return toWonderhome to live as they did in the First Reality.
Thus ended the Second Reality, the Age of Chaos, and began the Third Reality, when Time existed and History now occurred.

Most troll myths arise during this age, and are typical of early myths of any people-the trolls expand, learn the rules of the new reality, and interact with other races and Chaos in friendship and conflict. Troll myths are fairly unique in that they focus on the why of an event, with who, what, and where being mutable.
Part of this has to do with the Great Compromise. Through the events of the "I Fought We Won" War, all that occurs in this era is shunted into the extradimensional space the trolls call the God Plane. Chaos is lured in to fight eternally all the wars of this Age, and trapped, so it may not escape, and the gods perpetually fight the forces of Chaos, saving current Reality from their depredations.
The God Plane is accessible, through astral projection, and any event may be observed and studied. However, this is amazingly risky, as interfering and allowing Chaos to make gains results in a paradox usually resolved by the destruction of the one interfering. However, for each setback given to Chaos, that much divine energy is available to continue the War on Chaos, and a residual amount is passed on to the one who does so, giving them unique powers they may freely manifest as a reward for their success.
This mutability of the Second Reality makes an in-depth examination of it problematic, despite it being readily available to any who dare.
Part of initiation into an Order involves monitored trips to the God Plane to witness the deeper mysteries of the Order itself, which teaches the troll necessary information and allows them to realize the importance of this Plane, and it's role in maintaining a firewall against the depredations of Chaos.
Certain events in troll history have been shunted into the God Plane, which has caused problems of it's own. Arkat entered the God Plane frequently as part of his apotheosis, which drew D'Wargon (Gbaji) into the God Plane as his Eternal Enemy, and members of the Ordo Arkati must learn the secrets of the Order either through one of the few Grimoire Arkati, or by venturing to the God Plane-a far riskier and more common, method. The Second Reality is graven in stone in words as deep as a spear is long, and subject to immediate revision-it is a deadly and dangerous place, and keeps much of the Second Reality from being fully known.

In the aftermath of the Godswar, the trolls found themselves scattered and in small groups which remained dominant due to the small losses incurred in the Godswar. Something vital had been lost in the Exodus, for the Mistress Race rarely bred true anymore. While this did not affect the muri, nor the snow trolls, who deviated from the main race during the Second Reality, it did hit the Mistress Race fairly hard, as smaller, darker young did not grow to the potential of the Mistress Race, and became known as "dark trolls", as they weren't true Mistress Race trolls, but were still closer to the original line than the snow or sea trolls, and definitely closer than the muri, who weren't even considered of the Folk yet. The main centers were Dagori Inkorth, founded by Gore and Gash; the Blue Moon Plateau, where the Venn clan held sway under Annilla; and the mysterious Black Sun Temple, sunk in the far East.
Dagori Inkarth, nestled in the Shadows' Dance region, held the Castle of Lead, where Kiger Lytor made her home, and was thus dominant. Here, the trolls brought their insects and allies, and here was the center of troll power.
Dagori Inkarth joined with the other races, forming the Empire of Wyrm Friends, called so because the dragonewts were the primary instigators of this pan-racial alliance. The dragonewts were the Eldest Race, with a complex life cycle that saw them develop through many metamorphoses until they finally transformed into true dragons and began to grow to immense proportions, often hibernating for centuries. They freely offered their secrets to any who would hear, and forged an alliance with all the sentients then living on the planet.
Under this alliance, the trolls gave territory to the elves, dwarfs, humans, and dragonewts, entering into mutual defense treaties with these same nations. Although a bright start after the depredations of the Godswar, things soon took a turn for the worse, as the EWF discovered a "pseudo-cosmic egg" and decided that it should be hatched, to produce the One True God who would rule all in a golden age.
The trolls saw this as an abomination, and withdrew almost immediately. Their removal saw them blamed for every mistake the EWF made, and assaulted continually. There were reasons, as prophesies had spoken of these events, and claimed the Egg would hatch an agent of Chaos. This didn't stop persecution, and the trolls were beaten back and submitted to horrid tortures in this time. It was a harbinger of horrors to come...

Although the trolls had withdrawn from the Empire, they still had been instrumental in forging the alliance, and their withdrawal was seen as base treason. The Empire declared open season on the trolls, who were forced to withdraw, defending their long-established territories. The Black Sun Temple proved powerful enough to stem the growing tide of the EWF, protecting the human lands east of them, but this had little effect.
The dragonewts had offered up Elder Mysteries and Secrets, and the Young Races swarmed to them. The Eastern humans developed a dragon cult, based on the Elder Lore and secrets of the shape-shifter cults, allowing the High Priests to transform themselves into dragons, and dominating the government and culture of these lands. This Cult of Immanent Mastery preached a message of transcendence, and that by assuming a dragon form, they also assumed a dragon's authority and responsibilities thereof. Dragon priests organized the East into a caste system, where each was assigned a duty according to the class in which they had been born, with the priesthood at the top, followed by warriors who enforced priestly edicts, then merchants and craftsmen, and finally, farmers.
In the West, the Cult that formed was more insidious. As the "pseudo-cosmic egg" incubated, various priesthoods swept across the lands, each proclaiming to bear the message of the One True God, whose name changed from priest to priest. Dwarfs spoke of the glorious Osentalka, humans of Nysalor, elves of the return of Flamal in a new form-the Great Plant-Father and Cradle of Life.
If accepted, the land would seemingly thrive and prosper, but if rejected, a new priesthood would emerge with the same message under a different name, and the old priests would be revealed as Chaos worshipers then expunged, to make room for the new One True God. If the new priesthood were rejected, disease would be introduced to the populace, culling the nonbelievers, and a new priesthood would appear with cures for the faithful. The Empire grew to envelop the world, claiming all but the troll lands.
Where this new god was well-established and safe, odd forms of worship would arise, and permutations of religious rituals would manifest, all to incubate the Egg from which the God would hatch. In the Far West, the ancient human civilization there produced the Warrior Arkat, a great sorceror and Lord of the Empire who denounced the new god under the name Gbaji the Deceiver. In Arkat's kingdom, the perfidy of the priesthoods was first revealed, as well as the horrific truth of the new rituals. Humans were mating with beasts and producing Gbaji's "New Humanity", vile creatures who melded human and animal form in a mockery of the old animistic shape-shifter practices. These horrors were called the broos, and they began to replace the humans in the lands where Gbaji held sway.
Arkat raised his armies and marched, but they were broken by the united troops of the EWF, and Arkat was forced to flee to the barbarian lands, where men distrusted the Empire, and a rogue warlord could build his forces anew. Arkat joined the Cult of Humakt, who was Death, and grew powerful in the Cult, eventually uniting it into a barbarian horde he smashed against the Empire's Legions.
Again, it was not enough, and Arkat was forced to flee to Guhan, where he met the trolls, specifically the Ordo Zorak Zorani, who were warring against his foe as well. Arkat befriended the trolls of Guhan, and there he learned the secrets of the God Plane. When he joined the Ordo Zorak Zorani, he was taken to the God Plane where he learned the deeper mysteries of the Order, but soon found repeated travels there revealed much about his foe and gave great power if he performed certain actions. His God Plane excursions impressed the trolls enough he was given the Ritual of Adoption, and became a troll in truth.
Not only did Arkat become a troll, but he became one of the Mistress Race, and was sent to the Castle of Lead, where the remaining Mistress Race trolls waged their war on the EWF. Kiger Lytor herself was impressed enough she gave gave Arkat one of her great-granddaughters as a bride, and when this child of Kiger Lytor birthed Mistress Race trolls, Arkat was hailed as the future of trollkind in Komor, and Kiger Lytor herself girded him for battle and accompanied him on the field of war.
The pair were able to unite all the trolls under one banner, and the tide of war shifted-the EWF lost more and more territory, and soon, none who looked on what was pulled from the temples could deny Gbaji was a thing of Chaos. The Inhuman King, ruler of the dragonewts, looked at his bodyguards, supplied from the EWF, and realized he himself was riddled with Chaos horrors in his court, and he called to Arkat for aid.
Liberating the dragonewts and purging the Chaos from their ranks was brutal, but proved the turning point of the War, for the trolls and the dragoonewts, along with that remnant of men who still were loyal to Arkat, were able to push the EWF back to the Kingdom of Dorastor, where Gbaji lay awaiting birth.
As the armies massed, Gbaji hatched, and in his first moments of true life, spoke two dread curses against the betrayer trolls and dragonewts. Legend claims the first curse was eaten by a dragon roused from slumber by it's fell power, but the second was the Curse of Kin, and earned Gbaji his troll name: D'Wargon, "Womb-biter".
Kiger Lytor had not borne children since the Exodus, when Korasting, the Mother of Many, was lost. D'Wargon's Curse hit her hard, and impacted her immediate children, the dark trolls, hardest of all, though it's effects would not be seen until later. The walls of Dorastor were shredded, Gbaji's men eaten, and the dark godling himself ritually dismembered and devoured by Arkat's human followers, who were infected by a madness that forced their actions.

Neither Arkat nor Gbaji survived the War, though both somehow transferred themselves to the God Plane, an act cited as proof of Arkat's divinity. The Inhuman King went to the Blue Moon Plateau, and spoke there with the Ordo Annilla. The next day, all dragon magics were forgotten by non-dragonewts. Worse, the dragonewts grew distant and strange. The Ordo Annilla were the last non-dragonewts to even speak with the race, who were seen performing odd acts, occasionally attacking intruders. However, as time passed, they were seen less and less, and finally not seen at all. Their fate is unknown, and they passed from all knowledge, appearing only in the God Plane.
The humans devolved largely into horrid broos, servitors of Chaos, though a few enclaves survived, banding into small tribes and clans.
The elves and dwarfs were locked in internal wars, decimating themselves to purge the Chaos taint that infected them. Neither race would ever be a major power again.
However, the most horrible effect of Gbaji was the Curse of Kin. The young of the dark trolls became twisted and stunted things, merely on a par with men, dwarfs, and elves. The whole of troll thought and advancement became locked on removing this curse, though the initial attempt resulted in whole litters being born instead of single births, and the twisted things accounted for 80% of all dark troll births. Experimentation produced the great trolls, massive creatures who were the size of the Mistress Race at a cost in intellect. Had they not been sterile, they may have represented the future for the trolls, despite their poor mental development. Other experiments brought other permutations, but no cure.
As the millenia wound down, the dark trolls dwindled, eventually becoming extinct. The Mistress Race might have followed them, but Arkat's line continued to breed true, preserving this ancient and powerful species. Oddly, while Mistress Race trolls had notoriously bad vision, their weak eyes barely more than light receptors registering only the presence of light, those descended from Arkat now had the 20/200 vision standard to the troll races, though they remained colorblind.
In the southern jungles, the muri were finally adopted into the tribe of Pamalt the Earth God, and purged their territories of all other races. While the dark trolls dwindled, the muri thrived and filled the jungles with Pamalt's blessing. Their superior vision, about 20/40 by human standards, and seeing full color, was an advantage in their home territories, and they spread to fill the humans territories, keeping the human place-names and titles for themselves.

Would you be willing to add Kashism as one of your people's religions?

The muri on the southern continent spread largely without any competition. The humans of that continent had all devolved to bestial broos, and their gods begrudgingly aided the muri with earth magics to purge the continent of the broo taint, the red aldryami who dwelt in the south never had more than base primate intelligence, even in the so-called "Green Age", when vast aldryami kingdoms were said to spread across every land, and the mostali hid in the Tarmo range, offering gold to any who would dare the rugged trek to their remote mountain fastnesses.
However, while the muri of the south prospered, it was on the northern continent that the other races thrived-many humans in the East had been protected from Gbaji by the Black Sun Temple, and the humans of the East, through the Path of Immanent Mastery, began seeking enlightenment and transcendence. Though founded by Gbaji's corrupt priesthood using dragon lore, the Ordo Annilla's purge of draconic secrets cleansed the Path's adherents, and they roamed the land teaching their odd ways. Through their mysterious belief, "Man is the measure of all things", they studied and scried, and seized many Elder secrets for themselves, then reinterpreted them in terms humans could assimilate, if not understand. The yellow aldryami, who existed in a symbiotic relationship with grain plants, yielded up their mysteries and became bamboo symbiotes held in reverence and awe by the Path. They lost their intellect entirely, becoming beautiful talismans of luck and reservoirs of power for the Dragon Lords who arose by following the Path. (While not true dragons, they retained the name.) Eastern humanity altered in strange ways, and castes evolved, with the arcane priesthood rising up in the backs of the Seven Dragon Warriors, who could assume dragon-man forms seven times a day by their knowledge. Prophecies were uncovered or created, and an ornate feudalism dominated Eastern Culture beneath the Black Sun Temple, lead (among humans) by the Path of Immanent Mastery.
In the West, the pockets of humanity left untainted by Gbaji fell into barbarism, and turned to the worship of Yelm and Orlanth, becoming isolationist and paranoid. As more humans were born, they pushed back the trolls, who were struggling with the Curse of Kin. To the extreme West, a cult of scholars poked and prodded at the Spirit Plane, rediscovering the secrets of sorcery through the Invisible God, human embodiment of Law. The Western Empire became dominated by a theocracy of this entity, and priests freely bestowed titles and lands, eventually deciding that they should bring their own enlightenment to the world by conquest, and wars ensued with the barbarian tribes who worshiped the Storm Gods,as well as the more civilized city states who followed the Sun Pantheon. All three sides had but one thing in common-they would put aside their differences to slaughter trolls.
Troll power in the West fell back to Dagori Inkarth, protected by the dangers of the Shadow's Dance region and the horrors of Spoorwood, though the Blue Moon Plateau endured due to it's remoteness and the xenophobia of the trolls there. Cragspider the Fire Witch rose into prominence in Crabtown, and she became a great power despite being surrounded on all sides by human raiders. Her control of the Orani Mur cult as well as her personal power protected the region of Big Skyfall Lake, making it a stronghold of troll power.
To the southeast of Big Skyfall Lake, Delecti the Necromancer made his lair in a vast reeking fen, which bears his name now, and became notorious for claiming intruders to guard itself. Bands of undead swarmed to armies as humans tried time and again to cross Delecti's Marsh, and eventually it became the easternmost border of the human lands, dividing East and West.
It was in the East that the Dragon Lords started the Wars to come. Using the vast power contained in their slave aldryami, they actually moved a star, causing a fortuitous alignment they could exploit to find Solar Storm, the first of the Dragon Emperors. Solar Storm was outfitted with an army he marched on the Black Sun Temple, overthrowing the troll lords who ruled the East. The Reclamation War, as the humans called it, drenched the East in troll blood, and Solar Storm ruled on horseback, but handed a unified Empire to his successor.
As this happened in the East, twin terrors assaulted the West. In the North, the Humakt cult raised up the dreadful Lord Death-on-a-Horse, who reared up with a vast horde and swept southwards, while in the Yelmian city-states, the woman Rufelza was able to unite the disparate cities into an Empire of Unity, preaching a message that an Empire was a living body, and assigning each race a part of this body. The two ground the Church of the Invisible God to dust between them, then turned on each other.

The powers of sorcery existed long before the Church of the Invisible God laid sole claim to it's secrets, for Arkat had brought the knowledge from the West when he fought Gbaji the Deceiver and shared it with the trolls who followed him. Sorcerous practices are very fluid and flexible, allowing for a greater diversity of magical effect than the standard shamanic practices of the trolls. In the aftermath of the Gbaji War, a group of scholars rediscovered the art of sorcery, and wrapped it around a philosophy and religion worshiping the Invisible God, who was a rather vague, poorly defined, Creator Diety, called the Invisible God because his works and presence were only apparent to the enlightened leaders of his Church.
While sorcery was not as potent for healing as shamanism, it could accelerate healing or neutralize poisons and toxins, but had no effect on disease nor regenerating lost body parts. As an attack/defense, it was much superior to shamanic practices, and the Church used this to great effect, as well as fielding knights in heavy armor to spread their message. The Church preached that there were four classes of Man: Farmers, Knights, Lords, and Bishops, in order of their status in the society of the Church.
The Church of the Invisible God had numerous sub-cults and factions, which differed in minor ways in beliefs and practices. Some did not allow mobility through their classes, and promised immortality for those who served their function in society to perfection, while others forced everyone to work their way through all four classes, mastering Farmer before becoming a Knight, mastering Knight before becoming a Lord, then mastering Lordship before rising to Bishop. Faithful of the Church fully expected to be Resurrected by the Church for exemplary service, and in fact, the Resurrection Ritual was part of Invisible funerary preparation. Failure to work was seen as a sign the recipient had some secret sin, and not incompetence on the part of the Lord or Bishop performing the Ritual.
At it's height, the Church of the Invisible God ruled the Western half of the Northern Continent, stretching from the western coast to the Plains of Prax. The bishops of the Church anointed Lords with titles and lands, sanctifying the blood of those who would rule in the Name of the Church. The myriad armies of the Church were, in their day, the most advanced troops on the planet. Full plate armor for soldier and steed was standard, and the lances dedicated to the Invisible God carved numerous kingdoms across the continent, united in belief, but sadly lacking in heterodoxy and without a central authority. Had the Church had a singular head, perhaps it would not have fallen kingdom by kingdom.
When Lord Death-on-a-Horse arose in the North, and Rufelza united the fractious city-states of Dara Happa into the core of her Empire of Unity, the Church found itself sandwiched between two vicious enemies and the ocean, and were slowly gobbled up by the two forces.
Although the power of the Church ended when Lord Death-on-a-Horse killed the last Bishop, the Church's beliefs were adhered to by humans until the race devolved entirely, and the Invisible God was sworn by in oaths until this time, even in Rufelza's Empire.
Trolls as practice sorcery are members of the Ordo Arkati, and tend to be irreligious and borderline blasphemous, despite having to travel to the God Plane to learn even the rudiments of their art. The Ordo Arkati tend to take a "scientific" approach to their studies, and lump gods in with other spirits, simply beings of greater power than lesser spirits, just as physical beings vary in size and power. Ironically, this is the same attitude the Church took, save for it's own Invisible God.
Trolls still invoke the Invisible God, but only for mockery, as they attribute anything foolishly believed in without evidence is his doing. While the Church refused to name the Invisible God for religious reasons, the trolls call him by the name Noseeim, an insult that started in the Aftermath of the Gbaji Wars. Church records are highly prized by the Ordo Arkati, as these surviving scraps often lead to hints of sorcery from it's most adept practitioners.

The life of the nomads in the years the land was recovering from the Gbaji Wars were not pleasant-Chaos roamed the land and had to be put down or it would slaughter and raven a region into a dull wasteland, then mutate what little could survive into Chaos things. The wandering tribes followed their herds, hoping to score a kill before a chaos beast would appear and wipe out the herd, eating or befouling it's prey. The skies could become choked with the Hounds of Orlanth, vile scavenger birds with the head of a hag and virulent poison in their grasping claws from tearing through carrion and garbage, while great worms would burrow through the very living earth, hungry for flesh and able to attack with surprise from below.
The tribe that wandered into the temple near Valind's Glacier is not not known by name. They worshiped Humakt, Orlanth's shield man who wandered into Hell and stole Death, testing it on Grandfather Mortal before handing the New Power to Orlanth, who used it to strike down Yelm and make himself Emperor. Exactly where they found the temple is not known, either, nor their numbers. They were further north than a sane or non-desperate man would go, and they had not hunted well for some time, for their bones could be counted by a clever man who saw them with their vests open. They were hungry, and tired, and sorely in need of water, and their god Humakt was not far, for they could feel his hand on each heart, waiting to claim each in turn.
Their leader was the first to see the temple, and smell the succulence of the sacrifices to the gods, and hunger rode him all the way to the temple, spurring him to greater speed. Some say he slaughtered the priests, others that there were no priests. Some say it was a temple to Humakt, others Orlanth, still others name any of a hundred gods. None know for a fact, but all agreed-the nomads picked the altar clean, devouring all that had been left for the god. If there were priests, the stories claim they, too, were devoured by the starving nomads.
This proved to be the nomads' undoing, for their leader mocked the god for his impotence, saying, "Ho, mighty one-I have eaten your sacrifices and eaten your priests. Would that my army was large enough that I might eat nothing less good than Man."
And a voice was heard echoing through the halls of the Temple, "DONE!" though none spoke.
When the leader looked about, he saw his people without number, and his hunger great despite having just eaten. A new power filled him, a new confidence radiated from him, and when he rode south, to the nearest settlement, his people called him "Lord Death-on-a-Horse". He raided, and true to his word, ate nothing less good than Man. His warband gathered, and offering up oaths of fealty and respect, they, too, refused any food less good than Man.
The Horde swelled as Lord Death-on-a-Horse rode into village after village, slaughtering the women and children and cooking the remains, then forcing the men to join in the Feast to follow. After the Feast, they would mount up on horses that hadn't been there before, and draw weapons in the service of Lord Death-on-a-Horse. He swept southward, where he attacked the fringes of territories held by the Church of the Invisible God, and his horde grew as the border dwindled.
Initially, the humans in Church lands thought it was the snow trolls who burned their towns, as trolls also ate the dead, but bones were left behind, which trolls would not do, and no sane troll would ever harm a child or breeding female if it were possible to avoid. When Lord Death-on-a-Horse turned his armies northward to assault villages on the southern border of the snow troll kingdom of Beztakang, something unusual happened. The males refused to join in the Feast, and instead fought the Horde. All were burned and the vengeful troll spirits resided among their bones for generations, until the snow trolls swept southwards themselves, and performed the proper funerary rites.
Death-on-a-Horse was soon revealed to be a servant of Ithaqua the Wind-walker, and his men possessed by wendigo-spirits through the Pact between their master and the Great Old One. When the trolls sent a delegation with evidence to the Church of the Invisible God, the evidence was denounced and the delegates burned at the stake as collaborators with the Horde. The trolls began to mock the Church openly, and slowly built an army in the North, defending Beztakang and Valind's Glacier.
The Horde filled the lands of the Church, Lord Death-on-a-Horse personally destroyed the last Bishop of the Church, and cast his eyes East and North, to the lands of the Empire of Unity and the troll kingdom of Beztakang. Unlike the Church, the Empire of Unity reached out to the trolls, and the two armies waged a war of generations against the Horde. The secretive trolls of the Blue Moon Plateau swore to support Rufelza, and joined their forces with hers.
The forces of Beztakang seized the northern half of Death-on-a-Horse's lands, while the Blue Moon conquered the southern half, handing these lands to the Empire of Unity to administrate, as many humans were there yet, in slavery to the Horde. The Warlady Krag seized Lord Death-on-a-Horse, and took the Lord's head in personal combat. Still filled with the dread power of his Patron, Death-on-a-Horse rode off to the Wastes, where his headless form still rides, seeking his head and a new Horde.
Krag founded the kingdom of Borlak, and her own queendom lineage as well, and built many fortresses and reinforcements. The Horde was broken, and only the Empire of Unity remained in the West.

In the East, the Dragon Lords followed their Emperor Solar Storm in a coup that overthrew the troll rulers of the Black Sun Temple, culminating in the destruction of the Temple itself. Solar Storm waged an endless battle over his lifetime, unifying the Dragon Empire into a cohesive whole ruled by the Path of Immanent Mastery, which formed a secret society within the Empire. Solar Storm's descendants ruled for centuries, building up a cultural heritage impressive by human standards, as the West was still steeped in barbarism. Small troll enclaves still existed, but the Curse of Kin saw these degenerate and wither, cut off as they were from the polar realm of Beztakang and Dagori Inkarth alike.
The Path of Immanent Mastery continued to delve into Elder Secrets, even sifting through the ashes of the Black Sun Temple to uncover some secrets of the Darkness. They began to corrupt troll shamanic practices without regard for the deeper meanings of these rites, and experimented with the Spirit Plane in ways never intended. Guardians meant to preserve knowledge until the world was ready for it were dismembered and scattered to the winds, the secrets they held made public too soon, then misused for the political advancement of the Dragon Lords.
The result was subtle at first, but grew in magnitude, until even the Dragon Lords realized what they had done, and took corrective measures. These proved as disastrous as the initial actions requiring correction. The infamous "Goddess Switch" was typical:two grain goddesses were transplanted, with no apparent difficulties. However, within a generation, marriages in one province failed to produce children, and the land grew infertile, creating a desert that persists to this day. In the other province, vermin procreated in mass numbers, and plague swept the area, eventually infecting the whole of the Empire.
Protests rose, lead by the unlikeliest people. In Kyumchang, the local Dragon Lord perished, and the bamboo aldryami that empowered his magic somehow developed intelligence, and gathered woodgatherers to it's banner, raising a revolt that shook the northeast quarter of the Empire. This Green Woodchopper Rebellion was barely put down, and laid seeds that tormented the Empire for generations to come. Imperial tax collectors could not travel outside of cities without being treated like trees, and chopped into bundles for the fires of the peasants' homes.
Fell oracles began to read the entrails of the Imperials thus captured, then verify their visions by interpreting the smoke rising off their bodies. Forays into the Spirit Realm guided by these dread revelations brought further chaos and disruption. Guideposts were moved, and the Spirit Plane became almost unnavigable. In the Kingdom of Bliss in Ignorance, former center of the Black Sun Temple's power, the ancient First Reality rituals of the Blood Sun returned, and gladiatoral games and sacrifices to the Sun were performed by the Dragon Lords themselves. Where once the trolls had stopped these horrid rites, watering them down with the oracular rituals of the Black Sun, the Blood Sun rose again, and the second rebellion, called the Red-Eye due to the smoking auguries practiced by the rebels, struck in a wave across the southern belt of the Empire. Imperial troops were horrified to discover the Dragon Lords had become so debased in Bliss in Ignorance, they were even devouring the corpses of the Blood Sun sacrifices as the trolls were said to have done.
The Emperor and his Seven Dragon Warriors purged the area, forcing the rebels into the Hive of Gorakikki, in which mindless state they became the new slave class of the Empire, an act whose repercussions would prove most dire. Without the proper reverence for Gorakikki, the Hive could not be maintained, and with the trolls long gone, the proper rites were not known. The Empire began impressing every criminal into the Hive, with no knowledge of what they were doing.
Slaves outnumbered freemen four-to-one when the plague burned across the whole of the Empire. A wandering magician was able to provide a cure, which caused thousands to flock to his banner. Calling themselves the Yellow Turbans, they rose from bandit gangs to threaten the Empire. As his last act, the Emperor declared martial law, decreeing whomever should be able to keep the peace should be the law, and offering land and ministries to whomever could stop the Yellow Turbans.
The peasant Dark Cloud raised an army in support of his Empire, and marched to the capital. There, he was shocked at the corruption among the eunuchs who surrounded the Emperor, and he purged the Palace, putting all to the sword. Dark Cloud put the Emperor's infant son on the throne, and appointed himself Prime Minister. The mighty warrior Grey Wolf was made General, and held all in fear. Petty warlords arose throughout the land, and the Empire was shattered. Though some held to the dream of the Dragon Empire, it was in it's death throes, which would continue for the next century or so...

are you going to add Kashism in the mix? under your terms of course.

With Dark Cloud firmly ensconced in the capital, Grey Wolf was sent to a Western stronghold to secure that region and bring peace there. To the East, the noble Blood Scream, Lord of the North, allied himself with the daring Blade Storm, former Captain of the Imperial Guard, forging the Northern Alliance which existed to oppose Dark Cloud, and restore the Imperial Family, whose surviving members were sequestered in a remote Eastern port, the lord Path Leader and his nephew, Cunning Dragon.
The noble Sun family, lords of the Southern swamps, joined this alliance, going so far as to hire muri mercenaries from the Southern Continent. This move garnered much popular support, as the degeneration of Solar Storm's lineage created a great deal of nostalgia for the return of the Black Sun Temple, gone some eight hundred years, and the muri were welcomed as Champions of the People.
This move terrified Dark Cloud, as the great general Sky Ruler of the Sun was undefeated in battle, and his son, Little Dominator, was a fearsome warrior who never lost in personal combat. The rising popularity of the muri armies also struck fear into Dark Cloud, for the trolls had a fierce reputation, and the love of the people. The Suns joined the Northern Alliance, and armies mobilized to march on the capital.
Dark Cloud opened negotiations with Blood Scream, only to fall prey to a plot: the mighty Grey Wolf was wooed by Lotus Blossom, a daughter of a bureaucrat loyal to Blade Storm, and, once Grey Wolf was smitten and promised Lotus Blossom, she was sent to the Imperial Court where she seduced Dark Cloud. Using his position as Prime Minister, he demanded Lotus Blossom's hand in marriage, and her father was forced to concede-as planned. Before they could wed, the armies of the Northern Alliance marched on the capital, forcing Dark Cloud to retreat to Grey Wolf's Western Fortress.
The muri seized the capital, and Sky Ruler found the Imperial Seal, which he bade the muri return to his southern stronghold and pass to his son. The muri handed the capital to Blade Storm, and returned to the South. Without his muri guards, Sky Ruler was struck down by an assassin, and Little Dominator became King of the South. In the West, Grey Wolf slaughtered Dark Cloud over Lotus Blossom. Tradition states Dark Cloud was so fat, his corpse burned for three days before being consumed. Lotus Blossom was struck down as well, and Grey Wolf became a broken man, setting himself up as Lord and holding the Western Fortress and the infant Emperor to ensure his power.
Blade Storm set himself up in the capital, and broke with the Northern Alliance. His war with them would occupy the next twenty years, and end with his becoming undisputed King of the North. With the North locked in war between Blade Storm and Blood Scream, the other Lords of the Alliance tore into each other with abandon. The Sun Kingdom quietly expanded to fill the South, the muri proving indefatigable in the creeping expansion. Path Leader died of old age, and Cunning Dragon swore an oath with two mighty warriors, becoming the Triumvirate, and assuming the names Eldest Brother, Middle Brother, and Younger Brother. Shortly after Path Leader's death, the three fled west to the Kingdom of Bliss in Ignorance, where they rose to rule the kingdom with aid from the Empire of Unity.
Little Dominator traded the Imperial Seal for troops, and shortly thereafter succumbed to an illness. With his death, the Captain of the Muri, Gork Trag, assumed the mantle of King of the South. Heralded by the people, he was drawn into the warfare of the North, a move he personally opposed, but the people insisted there was but one intact Empire, and the humans of the South expended themselves to the last man trying to affect a reunification.
Records show Gork Trag opposed this, and did everything short of declare martial law to prevent it, but the humans of the South continued their acts of aggression to their detriment. When Blade Storm emerged as Lord of the North, he had emnity with the South, and hired mercenaries from Beztakang to fortify his forces for a march on the South. The southern muri and northern snow trolls met in the Central Plains of the East, where the trolls slaughtered every human on the field of combat. When Gork Trag and Kwaratch Kang, lord of the northern trolls met in the field, all the humans had died, and the two great generals met in the midst of their troops, shook hands, and the united troll army marched on the West. The Eastern Empire was divided between the snow trolls and muri, and all humans were slain or driven to the Western Reaches.

The Empire of Unity began humbly enough. The Dara Happa valley held the oldest civilization of humans, worshipers of the solar goddess Yelm and her celestial children, the Sky People. Divided into city-states, they fought sporadically with each other and the Elder Races until the coming of Gbaji, which saw them united under one banner. They soon reverted to city-states when Arkat killed Gbaji, and were once more furiously attacking each other for prominence, sandwiched between the broos of Prax and the Holy Empire of the Invisible God.
In all likelihood, they would have been absorbed into the Holy Empire had not two things occurred-the coming of Lord Death-on-a-Horse and his Northern Horde, and the rising to power of the woman Rufelza. Rufelza had two strikes against her in Dara Happa-firstly, she was a woman, which made her property according to their society, and second, she was a peasant, which made her second-class property. Held in bond to the land, she was only freed when raiding broos slaughtered her liege and burned the land where she was held in serfdom. She, along with the other women, had been secreted in a cave for their protection, and escaped the conflagration, and she assumed de facto leadership of the little band.
Taking up arms, they "reconquered" their lands, and established a matriarchal commune. (The broos had left with the food stores, and the women supported themselves with hunting until the fields could be replanted) To blend in, the larger women shaved their heads and donned armor-though Dara Happan men did not shave, the nearby settlements have records of the "Young Warriors" of Glamour, the kingdom in which the women dwelled, a reference to their lack of beards. Women weary of the abuses of Dara Happan culture all began to make their way to Glamour, and it's population swelled.
Soon, the warlords of the surrounding countries began to eye the prosperous lands of Glamour greedily, and invasions began. The Conquering Daughters fought off invaders, often with luck, and sometimes with magical backup. Rufelza was revered as a prophetess, and her teachings began to spread. Her successful defense opened up trade, and diplomacy, and as her ways spread, cities toppled and joined with her, often without a shot being fired. The women of the nearby regions would flee to her lands, and as the population dwindled, she would offer to administer the lands, and the city would join. Within eighty years, the entire Dara Happan valley had become part of Rufelza's Empire of Unity.
She defended herself successfully against both the Lord Death-on-a-Horse's armies and the Holy Church until the Lord Death-on-a-Horse crushed the Holy Church, and occupied the lands west of her Empire. Unlike the Holy Church, Rufelza allied herself with the trolls by creating the Doctrine of Unity, which claimed all life was One, and all peoples and phenomenon part of this single Great Goddess. This strategy worked well, as the Blue Moon Plateau swore loyalty, and conquered much of the West for her.
With no threats at her borders, the snow trolls not desiring to move further south, she cast her gaze Eastward, and offered troops and support to the Triumvirate who seized power in the Kingdom of Bliss in Ignorance. Eldest Brother of the Triumvirate was an organizational genius who established a brilliant bureaucracy to administer his lands, and this system supplied the Empire of Unity with the internal framework that made it so successful, and the Path of Immanent Mastery influenced Unity thought and philosophy.
Rufelza used the mystic principles of the Path of Immanent Mastery to incorporate non-human belief into her own philosophy. Initially with excellent results, Unity troops were the first to have entire units of magicians organized to fight for the Empire, and these Wizard Legions proved themselves time and again.
Unity became the most advanced culture on the planet, and Unity scholars tackled every problem. Tracts from the Holy Empire were used to manipulate spirit magics as the Church manipulated the powers of sorcery, and magic became commonplace. The Clanking City produced many magical weapons to outfit Unity troops, the dwarf artisans of that city outfitting troops with arms and armor superior to anything on the continent.
The Unity Doctrines never caught on with troll society-mostly because trolls in the wild are solitary predators and too highly individualistic to unite into a single whole, as the doctrine called for. The other races-elves, dwarfs, and men-all incorporated their belief structures into the whole that became Unity. Though the Blue Moon trolls joined, they were secretive and xenophobic, and those other races as traveled to the Blue Moon Plateau to convert them either came away confused, or joined with the Blue Moon and became as secretive as those they sought to infiltrate, though some were never seen again, and the Blue Moon claimed they never arrived.
Finally, the Empire turned it's attention to the Curse of Kin, which had plagued the dark trolls for centuries. Rufelza herself declared to have defeated the Curse through Unity, and produced strong, healthy troll children to prove her claim. While some trolls did flock to Unity, the bulk of the race stayed back, waiting.
Her claims seemed to be borne out, but the children grew, lacking the mental acuity of the normal troll. However, they had a fantastic regeneration, regrowing limbs in hours, sometimes minutes, and this was considered a proper trade-off. Adult Unity trolls were sent to the Castle of Lead, that Kiger Lytor herself might see the benefits of Unity and bring all trolls under the Empire.
This proved to be a mistake-Kiger Lytor immediately sensed the presence of Chaos, and denounced the Empire. Worse was to come-Argan Argari merchants brought back horror stories of events in Glamour, claiming Mi-Go walked the streets, advising scholars, and byakee carried the Unity diplomats to the Outer Void and back. Someone did the math, and realized Rufelza had sat on the throne for almost five centuries. The Blue Moon traveled to the Castle of Lead, and told the story-Rufelza had pacted with Chaos in the beginning, offering human women to the broos for the assault that rose her to power. Her life was sustained by the souls of those sworn to Unity, which she had devoured to maintain herself. She was no mere peasant woman, they said, but a Chaos Goddess on the rise, and her "cure" was merely infusing trolls with Chaos that they would become monstrous servants of the Eternal Enemy. Testing bore out this story, and it was shown that the Unity "cure" would create a slave race, just intelligent enough to follow orders.
The trolls mobilized for war...

The first events considered to be part of the Horrid Millennium occurred in the East, where Kwaratch Kang and Gork Trag converged on Jiang Xia, a pleasant farmland and mercantile center ruled by the "Eight Worthies", magistrates renowned throughout the land for their wisdom and perspicacity. One of the Eight had offered asylum to the Triumvirate, only to have his wife attempt to kill Eldest Brother in alliance with Blade Storm. The Triumvirate seized power and put all loyal to the Eight Worthies to the sword for this treachery. So it was that Middle Brother was Lord of Jiang Xia when the trolls marched on the walls of the city, and it was to him that Gork Trag spoke, delivering the Terms of Jiang Xia.
"Too long has War marred our lands, too long have brothers fought brothers. Let this end now, with your borders secure here, and let us be as one. Take your people and be free-protect them from themselves and live in peace. Let us break our swords here, on the fields of Jiang Xia, where all will know Wisdom prevailed this-" the speech is cut short here as Middle Brother shot Gork Trag in the rock stomach, who then emptied the contents of his rock stomach on the walls of Jiang Xia, sadly the prearranged signal for attack.
The Battle of Jiang Xia was brutal, and the Triumvirate lost everything through it. When Youngest Brother heard of the attack, he pulled the Great Northern Army southward, driving his troops so hard his own lieutenants killed him in his sleep. Middle Brother was beheaded in the fighting, and a truce called for his funerary arrangements once the trolls were firmly in command of Jiang Xia.
Eldest Brother brought an army to the funeral, and even executed his own son for refusing to send troops to the defense of his brother, knifing him at Middle Brother's casket. This act of grief alienated his generals, and he was forced to move his advisor to Commander of his armies, an Unity officer known as the Hidden Dragon, inventor of the repeating crossbow. Although Eldest Brother lived another fifteen years, he was a broken man after this, and his actions were limited to seizures and ranting after this. The lands of the Triumvirate were Unity territory now, though it would be with Eldest Brother's death of natural causes that this would become official.
The Hidden Dragon and Gork Trag played an intricate chess game in the East, each general doing his level best to lure the other into a trap, neither quite succeeding. At the height of the hostilities, the famed muri general succumbed to the falling sickness in the plains west of Jiang Xia.
Upon hearing of Trag's condition, the Hidden Dragon offered to parley, and fix the border at Jiang Xia. His messenger's head was returned with a funerary ensemble, followed by news the Western Fortress, rendered near-unassailable since Grey Wolf's reinforcements, had fallen to the muri, who now controlled all roads north and east from it's strategic location.
Furious, the Hidden Dragon marched to reclaim the Western Fortress, only to find his supply lines cut, and wells poisoned. He deftly avoided a few assaults, but found Gork Trag's body failing, but his mind as sharp as ever. The cunning muri engaged in hit and run tactics, luring the Hidden Dragon this way and that through dread terrain, slowly whittling away at his forces. The damage to supplies forced him to pillage villages and towns to reprovision his forces. When he finally bottled Trag up at the foothills of eastern Bliss in Ignorance, the general was bedridden from his illness, calling out orders from a canopied bed.
The fighting was furious, and at it's peak, Trag mounted the swiftest beetle in his army, and raced from the field. Knowing his foe's death was nigh, the Hidden Dragon personally lead a splinter force off the field in pursuit, vowing the muri would breathe his last in the Hidden Dragon's custody. He chased the beetle almost to Jiang Xia before catching a wooden dummy in the general's clothing. Attached was a note, declaring that Trag hadn't left his bed in Jiang Xia in months, and all the Hidden Dragon had done was decimate human influence in the East, and left his main army to be cut to ribbons by hidden reserves who waited for the Hidden Dragon to chase the false Gork Trag.
Cursing, the Hidden Dragon noted the funerary banners at Jiang Xia announced the death of Gork Trag. The muri would allow him to attend, then allow him safe passage home, and he would see Trag's corpse with his own eyes, so the Hidden Dragon counted himself fortunate, for had the general yet lived, the armies at Jiang Xia would have cut him and his surviving men to ribbons. Trag had countered him nicely on all points save this last, when the gods themselves saw to the Hidden Dragon's victory.
The Hidden Dragon was feted, given a warm bath and fine clothing, then lead to where Gork Trag lay in state. He leaned over the mummified remains in their gleaming Death Lord armor and hissed, "You had a good run-it was sheerest luck I afflicted you with the falling sickness. At least, I know who killed you."
Trag sat up in that moment and seized the Hidden Dragon by the throat. "Just as I know who killed you."
Gork Trag had undergone the Zorak Zorani ritual of reanimation to bring his foe close enough for this moment, and his cold undead claw claimed his foe's life, signaling his forces to ravage the humans he commanded. A mausoleum was constructed at the Western Fortress, which became home to the Vulture Legion, a mercenary company still in existence today.
The Vultures rented out as peacekeeping units throughout the East, and border guards preventing the Empire of Unity from Eastward expansion. Rufelza knew she would need to bring the West in line, and that would mean converting the trolls. The Blue Moon told her of the dark trolls' plight, and she bent her will towards a cure. Traveling to the God Plane, she revisited the Last Battle at Dorastor, where she was able to infiltrate the cocoon where Gbaji incubated, where she attempted to cajole the exact phrasing of the curse from it's speaker. She instead found herself cast out in the moments before Gbaji's hatching, and she returned to her body badly weakened. The potent curse would only allow itself to be heard by those affected by it, and Rufelza was an experienced God Plane traveler, but she was no troll. She would need to undergo the Rite of Adoption and Rebirth, as had Arkat, to experience that moment, and without the exact wording, she could not unravel Gbaji's working.
She announced a Great Game, a physical competition to find the most perfect female warrior in the Empire-the honor bringing about the grooming necessary for her successor. As women poured into the cities of the Empire, they were culled in horrid ways until but one survived-her name forgotten, as her body was emptied and filled with the merest fragment of that which Rufelza had become.
This new form rode out against the nomads, championing the trolls and terrorizing the wandering tribes. The Conquering Daughter stamped out the last humans not part of the Empire of Unity, but failed to befriend or earn the trust of a single troll as she did so. In fact, she was regarded with horror as a monstrosity, and shunned even by the Blue Moon Plateau, who loyally served her mother.
Ultimately, Rufelza had dark trolls who'd borne stunted young captured, and she infused the sickly creatures with her own energies, creating the cave trolls, physically powerful but mentally stunted, and capable of near-instantaneous regeneration. Dark troll mothers soon flocked to her banner, bringing their twisted young for conversion by Rufelza's methods. The process was draining, and the worship gained not nearly enough to replace the energies lost, so Rufelza needed to convert as many trolls to her banner as possible before making her cure readily available. Believing Kyger Lytor would make any sacrifice to save the dark trolls, she sent a delegation of cave trolls to the Castle of Lead.

The Unity Empress Rufelza had allied herself with the mysterious Ordo Annilla from the Blue Moon Plateau, but had proven unable to incorporate other trolls into her Empire. Worse, the Blue Moon refused to accept her as a goddess, only a more fit governor to the humans of the West. Her Conquering Daughter failed to seize the imaginations of humans or trolls, and she focussed instead on trying to alleviate the Curse of Kin placed by Gbaji.
Her first experiments took a long time, and she needed approval to continue, so a group of these creatures were sent to the Spoorwood, to the Castle of Lead, to meet and be inspected by the Mother of All Trolls herself. The delegation was tested and challenged before being permitted entry. They were strong, feral, and savage, but lacked subtlety. They had no understanding of ambush, and Unity Enlightenment seemed a pale imitation of troll knowledge. They permitted in the Castle of Lead, but had to wait for an audience with Kyger Litor.
The First Mother sent them questions, which they could not answer. They did not know their mothers, they did not know the Ancestors who'd saved them. They knew nothing of the God Plane, or the Spirit Plane. It was as if they had no souls at all, and this disturbed Kyger Litor. She looked in their hearts, smelled their mothers on them-and declared them creatures of Chaos. She denounced them, claiming that while physically all a troll mother could hope for, their minds and worse, their spirits, were as stunted as any of the withered Cursed Ones. She then spoke a Word-a Word all trolls know, and none not of the Folk may hear.
It was as if scales fell from their eyes, for they were trolls, even if infused with Chaos, and this infuriated Kyger Litor. That she, foremost champion of Life against that which was Chaos, should have her blood tainted, first with the Curse of Kin, then with this, this abomination. The delegates shook where they stood, and begged for forgiveness and their lives.
She looked at them, and saw them not through her affront, but with a mother's eyes. They were Chaos abominations, but they were her children as well. Being a troll, she did what was acceptable-she sent them on a quest, to the secret chambers of Dehore, to find the Black Eater, most dread of the secrets of Darkness. If they could deal with it, they would be trolls. She separated them from their spirits, and sent them down the secret approach of Death from Wonderhome, to find the stronghold of Dehore.
When finally some stirred again, they were changed, and knew dark rituals that proved they were trolls, though none had met the Black Eater. Kyger Litor acceded to the ruling of Dehore, and took them in, calling them cave trolls.
She insisted they would lead her armies against the Horror that afflicted them, and they agreed readily, for Dehore had shown them they had no ties to Chaos, and they were most wroth now, and felt Rufelza's black marks on their souls as burning welts. Their fierce savagery served them well, and they marched out, meeting the Conquering Daughter in the fields north of Unity lands. The Conquering Daughter was a cunning general, and drove the cave trolls into the forested hills of Yelornia. The cave trolls only survived due to their regenerative powers, and were licking their wounds in the caves of Yelornia, when a strange thing happened.
In the hills of Yelornia dwelled a species of giant goat, notable for but one horn rising from their brow like an antennae to Heaven. Shy and solitary, they had a mystical reputation, as defenders of the land and protectors of the innocent. That they came to the caves was presaged as a good omen, and that they offered help and aid to the cave trolls surprised not only them, but Kyger Litor, when word came to her. Rituals were taught to the trolls, and worthy females who swore oaths and proved worthy were paired with the great goats, who carried them to war and victory, driving the Red Horror before them like chaff.
The Yelornian unicorn riders were able to track down the Conquering Daughter, penning her up in a box canyon, and blinding the Unity soldiers, leaving one in a hundred with one eye to lead their brothers home. The Daughter was beheaded, her skull taken on a pike to the Castle of Lead. Legend claims it screamed as the Castle reared into view, and the skull crumbled to dust.
Without the enemy commander to prove their valor, the cave trolls turned against Unity again, but the Ordo Annilla had brought it's own stories to the Castle of Lead, and Kyger Litor's forces joined them this time. As the Eastern border had been drawn in firm lines by Gork Trag, word from Kyger Litor was sent to the Western Fortress that this line had no meaning any more, and the trolls marched.
This was the first battle in which Rufelza released the Crimson Bat, sending it into battle as her legions, her aldryami, and her mostali failed to stop the troll advance. This horror was the sum psychic potential of her Empire given form, a life-sucking energy force given direction and purpose by Rufelza's will. It decimated the trolls, but she lacked the forces to advance.
The Eastern border collapsed under the weight of Gork Trag's minions, and the Bat was sent forth again. The Vulture Legion stood firm, as they had no life to drain, and Gork Trag raided far into the Unity Empire. Once again, Gork Trag's timeless patience was a deciding factor, and he carved great scything chunks from the Unity Empire, revealing horrors that would make Gbaji quail. The great minds of mankind were trapped in their rotting remains, and traded like books among the necromancers of Unity. Humans were brought into the Cult of Bagog, and made into dread scorpion folk. Aldryami were fed flesh in dire rites, and turned from Flamal's Forest to the dread woods of Rufelza. Even the mostali cultivated odd chemical compounds in Unity, and fell to bizarre sensualities never intended for them. The Spirit Plane was wracked and ruined to adjust to Rufelza's hedonistic vision. The worst horrors dwelled in Glamour, where Chaos beasts mated freely with all who would have them, and the Spirit Plane was choked with the offspring of such unions.
For all this, progress was slow, and territory claimed by inches and degrees, until Rufelza was driven to the center of the Empire, where she plotted to lure all her foes and destroy them in one fell swoop. In truth, she might have succeeded, but for Arachnae Solara, drafter of the Great Compromise. Rufelza's pact with Chaos raised her to Great Power, but it also damned her utterly. As she stood, prepared to eliminate all her foes as they gathered, she gazed upon those arrayed against her, and saw their numbers had swelled. This mattered not-more food for the Crimson Bat, she thought, and gathered up her powers to strike out.
Then she looked again, and she saw. The gods had stepped down from the God Plane, and walked the earth against her, and they reached out to claim her as one of theirs.
Terrified, she drew the Earth up like a cloak to protect her, and it spurned her. Still, her power was great enough she ripped loose a piece, and wound it round her for protection. As her followers were slaughtered one by one, she kept her power in reserve, using it only to save herself, until only she was left.
As her heart was stone, so did her body become stone. As she desired to rule, now she would be a slave for all time. She was forbidden to wander the heavens, but locked in one place, where she would protect the muri from invasion for all time, forbidden to move or change or do ought but protect. Each of the secrets she had stolen was returned to it's rightful possessor, and with each secret, she lost more of herself, until there was nothing left-just the Earth that had rejected her and the Crimson Bat.
The Red Moon hung in the sky over the Lunar Heartlands, and only the trolls remained, now.

Perhaps two centuries after the mystic vivisection of Rufelza, a rather strange thing occurred on the southern continent. Gorang Vrak, a humble landowner, was digging out a turnip patch when he fell into a root cellar. Filled with unknown pots of a strangely delectable oil-based fish stew, it's proportions were oddly unsuited for trolls, and, stranger yet, when he emerged from the root cellar, he saw it was attached to an entire city of alien manufacture.
The inhabitants called themselves the Altmali, and were a slate-blue race of humanoids, with large totally black eyes and mere slits for nostrils and mouths. Most were tall and gracile, but there was a large minority of short, rolling gaited people similar to the main race. Their cities filled the whole of the western coast of the southern continent, as well as the isles of Jrusta, though they had never been encountered before, nor did they appear in any records.
They were welcomed by the Silentium, who called them to the Yellow Springs and questioned them as to their history. The sudden appearance of an entire civilization was nothing compared to the story they told. They were descended, they claimed, from Artmal, the son of Annilla by Lorien, the Sky River Titan, and his seven hundred children created the seven hundred Divine Arts that were the basis of their culture. Annilla supposedly was embattled by Chaos long before bearing children, so this claim was heavily investigated.
The God Plane bore out their every assertion, and revealed worse: when Orlanth had done his part in Rufelza's mystic vivisection, he had returned that portion of the Red Horror taken from him in his place, and fled the God Plane somehow. Now, when Humakt stole Death from Dehore's chamber, that portion of Rufelza that replaced Orlanth could not master the weapon before it's retrieval by Zorak Zoran, setting the events of the Godswar back by millenia.
Reality was weakened, and Chaos loomed large. Orlanth had to be found and returned to the God Plane, or Chaos would crush all. The Artmali were horrified, and taught the trolls the Old Songs, secrets of the Sky Gods that called the Ordo Rokagi from their journeys on the Sea of Space. They brought with them their Black Galleys, large wedge-bodied creatures that traversed Time and Space as easily as a shaman's spirit traversed the Known Planes.
The Ordo Rokagi brought forth certain woods from the southern continent, and treated them with a substance from the Black Galleys, then gave the wood to the sea trolls to be taken deep into Magasta's Well, the deepest waters of the seas. Eggs laid in the wood hatched, and the seas soon had fledgling ships swimming in it, awaiting the Ordo Rokagi to perform the needed rites to return them to the Void Between Worlds where their parents carried the Order of Rokag.
As all this transpired, the shamans of the muri sent forth their spirits, seeking the wayward storm god. The Order of Rokag traveled the Sea of Space, waging a thousand stopgap wars on a hundred worlds to stave off the depredations of Chaos. It was a desperate time, and desperate measures were taken. Troll ships screamed through the heavens, bringing terror and fear to Chaos where they could, all the while seeking the god Orlanth.

(OOC: This section is largely to accommodate my friends in FT settings, and the existence of these craft, much less their capabilities, is a State Secret. The muri are an ancient, Elder Race, and prefer to be thought of as fairy tales or Bronze Age savages if they are thought of at all. There are two ships not detailed here used only in warfare, as well as numerous civilian transports, though it's more common to see the muri purchase other ships from friendly cultures than field their own vessels. With that caveat, we proceed)
Single Fighter
Class:
Spitter (http://img171.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fightershadowsp7.jpg)
Type:Heavy Fighter
Length:15.3m
mass:unknown
Power:Hyperspatial Tap
Duration:infinite
Acceleration: 10km/s
crew:1 pilot
Maneuverability: Class A+
weapon:1 Quantum Bolt Cannon(antimatter based)
defenses:Bio-Armor
Shields
Cloaking capacity
Tractor Beams


These ships use a gravimetric/Hyper-Real space drive system similar to those used in the warships. Like the Capital Ships, these fighters can both cloak and phase into hyperspace, making them the smallest vessels ever seen to have Jump capacity.
Spitters are 15.3m in length and possess more than enough firepower to dispatch an entire conventional fighter squadron single-handed.
All technology in these fighters is organic-based and controlled by a telepathic link between ship and pilot.


Scoutship
Class:
Vampire (http://img389.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scoutshadowww3.jpg)
Type: Scout Cruiser
Length:356m
mass:unknown
Power: Hyperspatial Tap
Duration: infinite
Acceleration: 15km/s
crew: 1 pilot
fighters:none
troops:usually none, can carry up to 250 if needed
Maneuverability: Class A
Weapons: 1 Slicer Beam
1 Heavy Quantum Bolt Cannon
Defenses: Bio-Organic armored hull
Shields
Tractor Beams
Phased Hyperspace Cloaking

Fast, maneuverable, and very well-armed, this class vessel is commonly assigned to patrol the Space of allies, and is armed with a powerful burst weapon that is much more powerful than the energy cannon used by the Spitters, as well as a smaller version of the Slicer Beam


Warships
Class:
Battle-Crab (http://img171.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cruiserbattlecrabdm2.jpg)
type: Attack cruiser
Length: variable-1km-3km long
mass: unknown
crew:1 pilot
fighters:40 Spitters/Class A, 60 Spitters/Class B, 120 Spitters/Class C
troops: unknown
Maneuverability: Class A
Weapons:1 Slicer Beam
1 Jump Point Disruptor
Energy Mines
Defenses: Bio-Organic armored hull
Shields
Tractor Beams
Phased Hyperspace Cloaking

The Battle-Crab, or Spider, is the standard issue warship of the muri. These powerful vessels, while similar in design, vary in size and power, falling into three subclasses: Class A measures about 990m, Class B(the most common) are on average 1.5 km in length, while the Class C is almost 3km long.
The beam weapon can slice a planetoid to shards, gaining it the name "Slicer Beam". It has been theorized that when used under continuous fire, a Battle-Crab could turn the entire surface of a planet into wasteland.
Unlike conventional races, these ships do not form "Jump Points" to enter hyperspace, instead sliding or phasing into hyperspace. This unparalleled understanding of hyperspace also provides the muri with a devastating weapon that collapses the Jump Point of any vessel, resulting in that ship's destruction.
Muri vessels cloak by shifting somewhere between Real Space and first-level Hyperspace. Once cloaked, a vessel is virtually invulnerable to attacks from ships in real space or hyperspace until it fully enters either dimension. The system is vulnerable to massive graviton shifts, but can be quickly compensated for by an alert pilot.
The muri Energy Mine is a field generated that attacks an enemy energy system, draining it of power that is collected to critical mass and released upon a foe, drawn to the source of it's power.
These ships carry at least 40 Spitters.
The Battle-Crab is completely biological, controlled by a telepathic link between the pilots and the ships. This link is the only apparent weakness to the ship, and countered by using only skilled telepaths to pilot the Battle-Crabs.

The ships of the muri sailed far and wide across the Sea of Space, encountering numerous races and cultures. As always, they found friends and foes, made alliances and wars. Chaos loomed large, larger than it should, and many were lost across the whole of Komor fighting the Eternal Foe. The corpse city of Carcosa met it's doom on the haunted Lake of Hali, and Sarnath fell as well, but in other battles, the trolls proved victorious, finally trailing their foe to the very Heart of Chaos, an obscure world on the rim of the Milky Way galaxy.
In the Black Lands of Khemesh, they found kindred spirits among the humans of the Heart of Chaos, priests who knew Black was the color of Life itself, and hailed the troll general as Sutekh, Lord of the desert, the night, and storms.
Secrets they shared, telling the trolls of the other human cultures, the Minoan pirates, the demonolators of Babylon, the mad Hellene seers, and the fierce savages of Europa, as well as the demons who lurked among them as gods. The trolls wandered among them, seeking to know which of the Great Old Ones hid among their pantheons. In the city of Karthadasht, they found more than they desired. Organ pits fueled the mad power of the Old Ones, who glutted themselves on the blood of infants and shared their power freely, some uncouth things walking the streets openly. Karthadasht was destroyed by a rival power, who brought mercenaries from the frozen North, and these men brought news of the Aesir, the Storm tribe, who conquered the Vanir, the Earth gods, and ruled from their citadel of Aesgard.
In the farthest East, they had heard tales of the storm god Susano-O, who drove the Sun into a cave from which she had to be lured, and this tale rung true from what they knew of Orlanth's history, but Susano-O had vanished, only his inchoate rage known in the effects of the Storm. He received no worship, only placation, and had wandered elsewhere.
The Northmen knew him as King of the Gods, lord of sorcery and the gallows, who rode an eight-legged steed, a euphanism for pallbearers and their casket. Guided by these stories, the trolls headed north.
The Northmen they found much common cause with, and they befriended them readily, despite the cruel Tribe of the Storm they served-in fear more than love, admittedly. The trolls grew to love these humans bound in Orlanth's shackles, and they walked openly among them, abandoning their guises even as the Lord Sutekh had as they traded, raided, and sought fabled Aesgard. The Vanir aided them, for they chafed under Orlanth, whose forced marriage with their queen gave him power and authority over them.
The trolls were cautious, and their leader, Gheirrodur, wise. A priest of Gadblad, he traded shrewdly with the Northmen, giving them trinkets of power hard bargained for until word reached Orlanth, and he was summoned to Aesgard. Orlanth's own son, bore by the giantess Jord, one of the primal Vanir, bargained long and hard for the weapon he named Mjolnir, and bore this devastating power to his father, who bade the smith come to him.
His eyes saw all there was in Aesgard, the twisted history of the Storm Tribe, and Orlanth's own vision of the future-an evil thing, for Orlanth had rendered an eye unto Chaos and was steeped in fell magicks. Gheirrodur became a regular visitor, offering items of his Art for free passage, until he cast his gaze upon Orlanth himself. Though he called himself Wotan and Alfadur, Gheirrodur was not fooled. After seeing the Storm Lord, he sent runners to Khemesh, and to Sutekh.
Sutekh came in all his fury, his name mispronounced Surtur by the Northmen, and as a priest of Zorak Zoran, he was known as lord of the fire trolls, for Sutekh was a muri, a hot troll, and his forces suffered in the frozen wastes.
The war to claim Orlanth was fierce and brutal-knowing the weakness of his foes, Orlanth brought the Fimbul Winter, when men turned to cannibalism or died. The muri were hard-pressed, but persevered, raising their dead as warriors to continue the march. They first struck down the Timeless Guardian, whose claims of all-seeing were refuted when he was crushed in the first charge, which also destroyed the bridge to Aesgard. The trolls and the dead pressed forward, laying waste to Orlanth's golden city, built by enslaving the Earth gods. Those of the Vanir bound by oaths of fealty and allegiance were first to die, but all Orlanth's children and warriors were set between him and his foes.
The devastation was total, not two stones left together, and Orlanth was dragged in chains to the God Plane, forced to serve out his part of the Godswar Compromise, his mind destroyed to ensure his obedience.
Orlanth was returned to his proper place, his eye given to Chaos replaced by the piece of Rufelza he'd put in his place, and the cosmos was restored. The price was harsh-the trolls were decimated, and the Artmali were no more as they had never been.
The badly decimated trolls returned to Pamaltela to lick their wounds and mourn their lost friends...

With the restoration of Orlanth to the God Plane, the events of the Godswar happened as remembered-Orlanth struck down Yelm, the Unholy Trio brought Chaos into the world, and the Artmali were never born. The trolls mourned their friends, ate their dead, and watched the cosmos calmly, seeking Chaos wherever it may take root.
They took the protection of Life as their special concern, in part because they truly believed in it's value, in part because they mourned the Artmali and still felt guilty over their loss. To honor Annilla, they exempted her Order from all rules save hers, and elevated that goddess to a strange position-not a member of the Tribe of Night, but very nearly so-an adopted cousin with her own laws and traditions.
The Mistress Race, the foundational core of all trollish, was dwindling. Kyger Lytor had not birthed young since the Exodus,and those of the Mistress Race as bred with the offshoots of the trolls did not breed true, other than the four daughters of Arkat, who founded great clans from this benefice, proof of Arkat's destruction of Gbaji, called D'Wargon ("Womb-biter") by trolls not of the Ordo Arkati.
This caused much panic, for without the Mistress Race, were the trolls really trolls? However, Cragspider the Firewitch, Lady of Crabtown, prophesied that the Mistress Race would dwindle, but not die out, to be restored fully when Kyger Lytor was reunited with Korasting, and the pair returned to Wonderhome to restore it, as well. The God Plane was probed, and Cragspider's prophesy proven true, so the trolls turned to other pursuits.
For a time, the trolls explored, watched, and waited. They hunted Chaos where they found it, encountering their great foes the Mi-Go in this time-sentient fungi who served the Daemon Sultan itself. Unlike the other servants of Chaos, the Mi-Go were sentient, highly advanced, and seduced their prey with promises of great technomancy and advanced science. The sporadic battles with their foes brought about the development of the planet killer-a massive vessel which could generate an Extinction Level Event with eight hours of bombardment from it's weapons array.
Troll distaste for waste saw the planet killer modified by the creation of the Death Cloud. Gigantic spears comprised of nanobots were launched into the atmosphere, the heat of reentry powering the tiny robots so they could literally devour a planet, producing more of their kind as waste matter, reducing a world to a cloud of hungry nanobots within the span of a few hours, leaving nothing behind.
As the troll population grew, they selected systems near to them as had not yet spawned Life, and converted them to Dyson Spheres-the planetary mass would be converted via Death Cloud into a massive shell at the biosphere of the system's star, the star itself maintained by trollish means to create a massive living surface invisible to outsiders, a safe region in which to dwell and raise up the myriad species upon which the trolls fed. Yelm itself was unconverted for religious reasons, so it remained a single light in a galactic corner of Darkness.
The trolls sat, protected in their Darkness, to watch and wait and advance...

It had all begun simply enough-an Emperor of the Young Races announced a school accepting aliens. Kyger Lytor pondered, and sent a runner to the Yellow Springs, bearing her will to the Voivode of the Ordo Drakul.
The Voivode sent his great-grandson and heir presumptive to the school, ostensibly for training, though the First Mother wanted him offworld for her own reasons.
The Academy was filled with aliens of many worlds, some known, others too recent, and the knowledge of Komor as it stood was impressive here, for the Emperor was most respected by the other Young Races of Komor, and had learned much in the brief time of his culture.
Sadly, the same could not be said for the Young Races, who still embarked on petty schemes of dominance and power, embroiling the young troll in many such ventures, culminating in the Eternal Enemy rearing one of it's many heads to be squelched by a coalition of two of the Young Races with the troll's own forces. More of the Young Races had pledged aid, but only those with personal vested interests had bothered to assist beyond these pledges, and the trolls had welcomed them as brothers and equals!
Kiger Lytor scowled then, but still watched. Events progressed as they always did among the Young Races, and the First Mother had seen enough. Komor was not yet ready for the trolls, and she would not subject her children to the perfidy of the aliens yet, nor would she permit their unclean ways to contaminate their culture.
She called her children back-away from the Young Races. The Dyson Spheres would protect the trolls, even as the Crimson Bat protected Pamaltela, and they would wait. The time to remerge would become apparent, the Blue Moon would continue to watch, as would the First Mother herself.
As in all Ages, there was Hope and Promise, but also Deception, Perfidy, and the Eternal Enemy. Chaos was far too attractive to the Young Races, and the muri would have to adapt. The Eternal Enemy was not dormant, and neither could the trolls afford to be. Some sort of compromise would have to be reached, that allowed comity between the trolls and the Young Races...