> How come trolls need an economy.
Because (as far as I can figure) there are more trolls in some areas than
the local food base can support. I may well be wrong (Sandy? Am I wildly
flailing about on this? ;)
> Figure:
> 1, Trolls can eat Everything. The possibility of a troll starving seems
> slim.
True, but in an "urban" setting the trolls have to either haul in food or
eat the local landscape bare, and then start working on the rock.
Eventually, you *do* dig down into Wonderhome, but... 'Sides, it's
always better to eat the far away food first, because that's the first
food you lose to enemies/other trolls.
And IMO, while trolls can eat anything, they do need a little variation in their diet, and not everything (e.g., air, dirt, sand, water) is particularly nutricious. So you do need a decent amount of meat/plants.
I figure an urban population of trolls needs to "haul in" food if the population is larger than the local food source + game within a day or two's range. Crabtown is probably among the larger trollish slums since the lake is a great food source, but some of the other towns (Cliffhome, the Castle of Lead, etc.) may need to import food.
Importing food isn't probaly all that complicated, actually. Offhand, you could have hunting parties ranging far afield (what uz cares if the meat's fresh?); you could keep insect herds out in the fields, and bring 'em in for slaughter; or the trolls might even experiment with agriculture. (I recall that some hunter/gatherer cultures passively planted fields -- trolls might do something similar. And trolls don't have to worry about weeds. ;)
> 3, Trolls don't care much for clothing, it seems.
Only if they have to go out in the day, true.
> So almost all things which needs producing in a Troll society seems to
> be 'luxury' items (a nice carcass instead of a tree, a lead maul instead
> of a log, body decorations...)
Well, yes, but look at how much of European trade was in "luxury" items.
Joe-bob peasant, even fairly recently (say, mid-19th century France
according to Eugen Weber), wasn't the focus of trade -- it was luxury
items for the better-off and food/materials imports for the cities.
I'd agree that Joe Uz doesn't need to trade, but the townstrolls and rulers would be the ones who'd inspire it.
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