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Polkageist · 10-03-2020, 06:14 PM

Just playing with ideas about trolls, I got to thinking about how they 1) don't really die, and 2) don't also take over the entire world.

First off, the not dying. The only thing that causes real damage to a troll is fire and acid. So, does the troll ever heal from that?
I think the answer is no! A troll regenerates nearly any harm to its body *except* that which is caused by fire and acid, which never really heals. So a troll's senesence is not so much that it gets old and dies (they don't), but that over the years they slowly accumulate enough damage from fire or acidic sources in the environment that they stop working and "die". At that point they may take further damage and regenerate, but only to a point because they won't regenerate past the point of the accumulated fire/acid harm that they've taken.

Second point, where are these trolls taking acid and fire damage? Interestingly enough, there are enough sources of that in nature. Fire is easy, forest fires probably kill a good number of trolls and in any forested area are probably the number one factor in keeping their scaly hides under control. Adventurers and savvy townsfolk are a decent second, and likely the only 'natural predator' of a troll.
Acid is interesting, because there's a lot of it in the environment but not in a great concentration. So how does this affect our troll? Kind of like plaque from fatty foods builds up in humans and causes heart attacks, acidic elements in the environment slowly build up harm in a troll until it keels over. Now don't get me wrong, this takes a LONG time, but not impossibly so. Things like stomach acids from kills or scavenge, acid rain, acidic waters in swamps (spruce bogs for example), heck even citrus fruits that a troll unknowingly eats slowly builds up that plaque.

I guess a third point as to why trolls don't take over everything is that they're probably not all that aggressive at reproducing. Not that it's really known how they do so, probably in a 'lop off an arm and grow a buddy' sort of way that's probably not all that popular.

Nothing canon or concrete, just some musings about the how and why of the beasties.

10-03-2020, 06:14 PM	#17
Polkageist Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: Trolls and Unarmed Attacks/Strategies Just playing with ideas about trolls, I got to thinking about how they 1) don't really die, and 2) don't also take over the entire world. First off, the not dying. The only thing that causes real damage to a troll is fire and acid. So, does the troll ever heal from that? I think the answer is no! A troll regenerates nearly any harm to its body except that which is caused by fire and acid, which never really heals. So a troll's senesence is not so much that it gets old and dies (they don't), but that over the years they slowly accumulate enough damage from fire or acidic sources in the environment that they stop working and "die". At that point they may take further damage and regenerate, but only to a point because they won't regenerate past the point of the accumulated fire/acid harm that they've taken. Second point, where are these trolls taking acid and fire damage? Interestingly enough, there are enough sources of that in nature. Fire is easy, forest fires probably kill a good number of trolls and in any forested area are probably the number one factor in keeping their scaly hides under control. Adventurers and savvy townsfolk are a decent second, and likely the only 'natural predator' of a troll. Acid is interesting, because there's a lot of it in the environment but not in a great concentration. So how does this affect our troll? Kind of like plaque from fatty foods builds up in humans and causes heart attacks, acidic elements in the environment slowly build up harm in a troll until it keels over. Now don't get me wrong, this takes a LONG time, but not impossibly so. Things like stomach acids from kills or scavenge, acid rain, acidic waters in swamps (spruce bogs for example), heck even citrus fruits that a troll unknowingly eats slowly builds up that plaque. I guess a third point as to why trolls don't take over everything is that they're probably not all that aggressive at reproducing. Not that it's really known how they do so, probably in a 'lop off an arm and grow a buddy' sort of way that's probably not all that popular. Nothing canon or concrete, just some musings about the how and why of the beasties.