> >>> Same with trolls; giving them the Darkness rune is a bit like giving
> >>> humans the Man rune
> > I agree with Trotsky that darkness Should be an implied rune for trolls, just like the man rune is for humans.
> The two aren't really cognate.
Yes and no... I believe that Trolls ARE (in part) darkness, in the same sense that Aldrayami ARE plants, and Mostali are mineral. In that sense, their Darkness rune is entirely cognate with the Man Rune for humans. Abilities like darksense, eating anything, and mating with spirits and bugs and other strange stuff are all part and parcel of their "trollness" of which darkness is a very important part.
That is not the whole story, of course, as they Also worship darkness gods and cults, and get lots of darkness magic from those in addition to their
> A very small percentage of humans are in Man Rune
> cults (and those that do, often do have the Man rune explicitly - eg Pavis).
> A very large percentage of trolls are in Darkness cults, and have access to at
> least a little Darkness magic. So that situation is more like Orlanthi and Storm
> than it is like humans and Man, IMO.
In my formulation, it is the Man Rune for trolls that is more analogous to the Storm Rune for Orlanthi... the Man Rune is Karrg's Ancestor Rune, and the default rune for men. It represents obedience, fighting skill, and general "male"-ness.
It also helps ensure that most Male trolls are more consistently human-like in their appearance and interactions. Not to imply that female trolls aren't humanoid - they still have the implied man-rune, but it is not always as strong as other influences, leading to a greater variety of form (things like extra breasts, spider bodies, bee-hybrids, and all sorts of other strangeness)
Kyger Litor is Darkness and Man, and she is not just the goddess, but the direct ancestor of All trolls. (of course if "orlanthi all" is 85%, "uz all" is probably closer to 60%)
> Yes. Trolls are less diverse than humans.
>
In the sense that they have "fewer runes" to play with as an individual.
On the other hand, their physical bodies are much more malleable, which gives them more diversity in another sense. They are far more likely than humans to consider "non-humanoids" to be part of their immediate family - Ancestor Spirits, Dehori and awakened insects are all reasonably common "members" of troll clans. The Kitori are known to be able to appear as human or troll. All sorts of strange things happen in the deep, dark places of the world that humans barely know about....
which is beginning to kinda wander from the point, but I don't want to give the wrong impression of what I mean by "less runic diversity" Trolls have "less choice" of runes, but the effect of the runes they get can be quite dramatic.
>
> There are a few suprises, though. Hachrat Blowhard, troll Orlanthi hero, is a famous example.
I would probably Give Hachrat Blowhard the runes Darkness, Disorder, and Storm - an Uz might say he had a "Flighty Boztakang" affinity - which is a totally "normal" troll rune-combo, if not especially common. The identity of his storm rune ("violent temper") with Orlanth instead of Umath is probably what other trolls would have considered weird or dodgy about him. Darkness, Storm, and Man could be described as "Loud Karrg", but the man rune influence would have tended to keep him under the thumb of the mothers, rather than leading to him wandering off amongst wierdo humans. (whereas the disorderly Boztakang is always out and about fraternizing with strange powers and dangerous furriners)
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