Troll

Trolls (also known as jotnar; singular jotunn) are a race of giants from norse mythology. They were born from the sweat of the primordial being Ymir.

Although often opposed to the norse gods, the jotnar often interbred with them and joined them though adoption (Loki) or mariage (Skadi). Indeed the distinction between aesir, vanir and jotnar seems more analogous to warring tribes (some nurturing and defending order, others destructive and trying to plunge the worl into chaos) than completely different beings.

While not part of gaelic folklore they are a race of pagan sapient creatures and can thus be concidered fairies

## Appearance

Trolls vary greatly in sizes but are always gigantics, from a "mere" several times the size of a man to rivaling mountains, the troll used in Crypto X Ing being an average between these extremes.

They typically look humanoid, though their hunched stance and long arms give them a simian look. Their flesh is similar to earth in colour and texture and moss and plants tend to grow on it, giving the troll a hairy appearance from afar, trolls do have actual hairs however as well as beards for males, both dirty and unkempt. Trolls usually have long pointed ears like canines, tusks, and big protuberant noses. They wear crude clothing made of animal skins.

Some trolls however are less humanoid looking, possessing multiple heads and more than one pair of arms and/or legs.

## Behaviour

Because sunlight is deadly to them, trolls are nocturnal beings, prefering to make their homes in the far north where winter nights last month and even in summer an overcast sky is not uncommon. They willl also find shelter in caves or man made structures like ruins or, most famously, old bridges.

Trolls are crude and violent beings who will plunder rural locales slaughtering and eating cattle and farmers alike. They're also highly territorials and react with great violence to humans trespassing on what they consider their territories. Trolls are curiously antireligious, despising both the norse gods (and warring against them) and the christian God as well as the followers of either faith.

One of the stangest thing about trolls is that, although they have genders and do reproduce sexually, both sexes can also repoduce assexually if they wish (the norse god Loki is a famous result of such reproduction).

## Characteristics

* Strength : trolls display awesome physicall prowess able to throw stones as heavy as 150 tons suggesting a lifting stregth of 150,000 tons (a conservative estimate).
* Resilience : the troll's mineral flesh is extremely sturdy, even more so than natural stone as trolls are not negatively affected by the plants growing on them, which would break down ordinairy stone. In addition trolls can survive seemingly fatal injuries so long as their body is at least mostly intact. Multiheaded trolls in particular need all of their heads destroyed to die.
* Healing factor : trolls heal much faster than humans and while they can't use their healing factor to reattach lost limbs (as these turn to stone imediately), they will grow back over a period of months.
* Speed : trolls are slower than humans, due to their greater size, multiheaded trolls suffer from additional problems coordinating their movements as the heads sometimes want to move in different directions.
* Intelligence : trolls are rather stupid, though still above animals, comparable to cavemen.
* Senses : trolls are infamous for their sense of smell helping tem find food in the darkness.

## Powers

* Weather manipulation : trolls emit a cold weather aura that cause the local climate to become colder and cloudier, with snowstrom and blizzard becoming more frequent. This power scales up to the trolls size and power.

## Gear

* Clubs : trolls can easily uproot trees to use as clubs.
* Stones : trolls can use rocks both as mele blungeons and as thrown projectiles.

## Weaknesses

* Bright lights : not only does sunlight turn trolls to stone, soviet nuclear experiment in the great north during the cold war lead to alledged population displacement and agressive uproars on the troll's part, sugesting the flashes from nuclear bombs where turning them to stone. This also explain Thor's hammer Mjöllnir's great effect as a weapon against trolls, as lightning flashes would turn them to stone.
* Church bells : the sound of churches bells repel trolls.