For those of you not (deeply fascinated with / raised in) the northwest, I suppose I should give some sort of overview of the folk that Whitey wiped out in the lovely Pacific Northwest (mind you, I am not especially knowlegable about this myself... so I'm generalizing horribly):
They lived along the coast, in longhouses that sat on the beach between the high water line and the forest. (large, communal dwellings being reasonable for the trolls too)
They sustained themselves primarily by fishing. (kinda like crabtown does)
Social Status was determined by how much stuff you could give away at a feast (called a "potlatch"). Basically, you would invite as many neighbors as you could afford to feed and give gifts to, and the more guests/better gifts you could distribute, the cooler you were. One of the signs of a great Cheif was to have a Really Big punchbowl... (Mostly I just love the Idea of trolls competing to collect enough food to gorge their rivals into submission. This is probably a common uz political tactic in all areas... a well fed troll is less likely to plot against you. "Feed your friends -- Gorge your Enemies" -- uz proverb?)
They have lots of Really Neat (and playable) myths in a wonderfully vivid shamanic style. Lots of stories about "having dinner with the Orca people" and such. (plot hooks)
Totem Poles: Basically carve a tree into a bunch of stylized animals/people and stand it up on the beach. (the UZ would have especially wonderful totems... all sorts of Darkness monsters and demon things)
I dont have maps with me, but I envision a coastline dominated by rows on rows of these longhouses, and trolls out fishing all night in their dugouts, and huge feasts going untill dawn, and frightening Totems grinning silent and terrible across the water dawn to dusk.
danm --
(Volt is a company that I work through -- NOT a name I chose.)
Thomas Doniol-Valcroze comments on Pams comment:
> Oh, before I forget:
> Pam said, a while ago (I am way back in the digests):
> >And they (trolls) are matriarchal, so they can't be all bad
>
> So are killer whales! :)
>
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