DYARVIK (Stone-trolls) and the Valley of the Five Stones:


[hider=Stone-trolls]
[b]Name of Species:[/b] Dyarvik [Stone-trolls]
[b]Physical Characteristics:[/b] Dyarvik are giant, heavy-set, slow-moving, gentle-minded creatures of omnivorous appetites, curious and reflective minds, and a friendly and open sexuality. While trolls never stop growing, and over their long lives can grow to massive size (with the largest sometimes 30-40 feet tall, like small hillocks) most are about 12-15 feet tall, and easily 5-7 feet in girth. Dyarvik have powerful backs and thick legs, with longer, dragging arms. Their heads, usually set low beneath a hunched back and shoulders, however, have large, bright eyes with multicoloured irises, big ears, and lip-less mouths. Dyarvik usually have no discernable gender, and can switch between “male” and “female” throughout their life, and in general it is of little importance to them; a matter of necessity or personal preference. The name “stone-troll” comes from their thick grey, mostly hairless hide, often mottled with green or brown patches. The oldest trolls have skin that is indeed almost like rock in its texture and toughness. Because trolls can be stationary in hibernation for months of the year [or years at a time for the oldest stone-trolls] they will often be covered in lichen, grass, or even small trees! Trolls also have large hands, with soft, fleshy palms and long, narrow, sensitive fingers. 
[b]Genetic Compatibility:[/b] Trolls, though they enjoy a healthy, romping sexuality through the summer months, breed true very rarely. Troll-children have an eighteen-month gestation, and are usually conceived in the spring of one year and spawned and protected in the mouths of their mother and father through the long winter after their birth. While trolls do not breed with other races in the traditional sense, they enthusiastically adopt the abandoned children of other sentient races, animals, and even plants. It is common for these children to be protected and fed in a troll's large mouth-pouch in a hormonally-induced hibernation. They emerge noticeably larger and stronger, but over several years of hibernations can come to have trollish features and deformations. Troll-woods are often marked by the presence of oddly-featured, long-limbed, grey-skinned troll-spawn, of improbably varied species.
[b]Life-Span:[/b] The most ancient of stone-trolls cannot really be said to “live” anymore, but were born somewhere on the order of five hundred years ago. A troll continues his regular cycle of hibernations for at least a hundred and twenty years before falling into a near-permanent sleep. Most sentient troll-spawn die after 40-50 years, but can live as long as 80 years. 
[b]Diet:[/b] Anything; trolls have been known to digest even earth and small rocks for their mineral nutrients, but prefer a healthy diet of vegetables, greenery and meat.
[b]Racial Attributes: [/b]
[i]Hibernation[/i] – trolls do not have to sleep through the winter, but it is an essential part of their reproductive and growth processes, and trolls who cannot hibernate will find their growth stunted. Generally trolls will hibernate curled up out in the open, drawing earth over themselves, and relying on their natural camouflage and thick hides to protect them.
[i]Great strength[/i] – trolls are among the hardiest, strongest and most massive creatures in the world.
[i]Solitary[/i] – Dyarvik communities are generally small; the size and appetites of the largest Dyarvik put a limit on their population in one location. Most Dyarvik spend their lives in small groups of friends or family, or looking over small communities of troll-spawn or gardens.
[i]Long memories[/i] – Dyarvik have impressive memories and are rarely lost or mistaken about details, though they can also be slow to learn new things or adapt to change.
Age: Dyarvik have existed as a species for at least 100,000 years, and co-existed with the first proto-Prometheans. 
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[hider=The Valley of the Five Stones]
Location on Map [Maybe on the north-west coast, near the mountains? I have no preference]
[b]Flag:[/b] Dyarvik have a complex runic language, but the ancient symbol for themselves is a vertical line bisecting a circle.
Name of City: The Valley of the Five Stones
[b]Population:[/b] There are at least 15,000 fully-grown Dyarvik concentrated loosely on a tribal and ritual center in the valley. Of these, perhaps 1000 are sleeping “ancient” Dyarvik, over 30 feet tall and 300 years old.
[b]Half-Races:[/b] At least 50,000 troll-spawn and fostered children live in scattered villages around the valley.
[b]Known For:[/b] After breaking free of their long and brutal forced enslavement by Prometheans, Dyarvik increasingly flocked to the free and wild territory around a wide, fertile valley in the foothills of the mountains. The rocky hills afforded hundreds of natural caves to hide, but the young Dyarvik, bold and eager to challenge the Prometheans, raised five massive stones, each at least 50-60 feet high, in a henge at the center of the valley. This henge honoured the mythical “five ancients” who built the world from clay and water. Despite Promethean attacks, more and more trolls and troll-spawn (usually killed on sight by Prometheans) rallied to this banner, and built roads, fields, and small fortresses throughout the valley, turning it into the tribal, economic and religious centre of Dyarvik society.
[b]Culture:[/b] Dyarvik culture is shaped by their solitary nature, slow reproduction, and long hibernation. They are anything but unified as a species, and indeed can be fiercely territorial and violent towards each other. Grudges, if left unresolved, are for life, and for generations. Large-scale warfare is not unknown, but in general disputes are personal. Trolls dislike gathering in large groups and big cities, and many adopt a rough, primitive lifestyle very different from their enslavement in Promethean cities. However, they are generally curious, and form deep bonds with each other, often living and traveling with groups of friends for decades. Their culture has a complex oral tradition, filled with complex music, dance, chants and rituals. For example, Dyarvik must take a pilgrimage to the Valley of the Five Stones and speak with the ancient elders as they near old age. While they have a runic language, most messages are spoken, not written.
[b]Religion Overview:[/b] Dyarvik worship the five ancients, super-massive trolls said to have constructed the world and from whose sleeping bodies the world is now constructed.
[b]Government Type:[/b] The Dyarvik increasingly recognize five high chieftains, usually selected ritually at bi-annual celebrations to initiate new adults to the community. One chieftain is almost always an elder, thought to be wiser and more cautious; and another always from the younger trolls, more violent and confident.
[b]Calendar:[/b] Promethean, though Dyarvik tend to talk about years and time in reference to events and not dates.
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