World: Alfheim
Diet: Fish, some meat from land
Height: 10’6″
Lifespan: 120 years
Habitat: Any freshwater environment
Activity Cycle: Nocturnal
River trolls are a common race of troll, seen nearly anywhere there is enough fresh water to submerge their massive bodies. Even in many places that do not normally meet their standards, the dams they build will block up rivers and allow the resulting lake to rise. This architectural ability is the most famous feature of this species, inborn into all members and trained over time into the ability to make truly incredible buildings out of mud and wood alone. The most common intellectual classes for river troll heads are thinkers and dreamers; thinkers to make pragmatic aspects of their structures, and dreamers for the more artistic elements.
Left to their own devices, river trolls most commonly live in expansive family units, sharing a dam-house that expands over time to fit its members. With a lack of fire and stone in their preferred damp environments, a mastery of wood and daub is necessary. A traditional dam-house has multiple entrances and exists, some underwater and some on land, allowing the trolls within to escape from the few creatures powerful enough to break in and threaten a whole family of trolls, or simply come and go in privacy. Each home is unique, shaped not just to the preferences of the troll making it but where it is.
While river trolls tend not to like living in groups larger than their family units and perhaps some grindylow, they are sometimes seen in cities as architects, and more commonly seen at river crossings, guarding bridges of their own creation. These trolls have taken it upon themselves to improve Alfheim’s overall infrastructure, charging tolls to cross their bridges. A few petty lords attempt to prevent this, but merchants generally prefer the cheaper tolls of the trolls and direct action is rarely taken against them.
