Trolls and Ogres are extinct creatures in the Bloodshadows world of Marl. A number of other creatures are too. Why are they extinct and from where did they originally come? Are they native to Marl? Here's my take...
Trolls, Ogres, and a handful of similar creatures were summoned from another realm during the first Godwar (during medieval times). This Wild Realm is also home to Pixies, Hags, Gnomes, Bogies, Nymphs, and more. If any of these other creatures were brought to Marl, they either proved too disrupting, hard to control, or just ineffective for the summoners' needs. Trolls and Ogres, on the other hand, were quite useful as muscle and soldiers.
After the first Godwar, it is likely that they no longer served the same purpose. Sure, muscle is always needed, but their numbers were probably too great to sustain them as a coherent force for a given faction. Instead, they probably became more independent, inhabiting what is now the Wilderness, shaping it to their own needs. When their numbers became even greater, they would have encroached on the Human population centers. Humans likely turned on them, hunting them and going to war, leading to the eventual dwindling of Troll and Ogre numbers. No more were summoned from the Wild Realm and it became harder for them to survive in the Wilderness with meaner and tougher creatures moving in on their territories. Thus, Trolls and Ogres eventually succumbed to oblivion on Marl.
All this has nothing to do with the Wild Realm, so their populations could very well be flourishing there, as would the populations of the other beings, like Pixies and Bogies. But what are the dynamics of these species in that realm? And who would be curious, brave, or desperate enough to summon one? One last thought: perhaps Trolls and Ogres are also extinct in the Wild Realm, being condemned by the other species for crimes against the Wild. |
