The Druid
31/12/10 20:58
As the release date for the goblin set approaches I thought I’d share with you a bit of background about the goblins and the troll druid:
Most trolls do not possess the skills for shaping magic or the knowledge of how to bind the lowliest of sprites and devils. The slow beasts are renowned for giving precedence to satiating their appetites rather than concerning themselves with such metaphysical matters. But in the furthest reaches of the Weirwood, and other places where time and change do not penetrate so deeply, older magics are whispered and remembered, and though slow in thought, trolls of the deep places are even slower to die. So over the passing of many human lifetimes they learn the secrets of tree and beast and goblin kind.
The elder trolls in the Weirwood are shepherds of the forest, shapers of its lore and guardians of its many mysteries. Having been exposed for several generations to the magic that permeates the forest, they have developed a familiarity with the nature and way of all creatures, so that every common beast of the forest and supernatural being—be it goblin, sprite, brownie, leprechaun, elemental, spirit, or even some powerful lords of nature like mighty Behemoth and the great Shrike god—will heed their call.
It goes without saying that such deep places are forbidden to mortal men. Many a scholar and explorer have tried to access these ghostly realms, believing they harbored great temples brimming with riches and hidden tomes with secreted scrolls of power. For how else, they argued, could witless trolls ever learn the way of magic and conjuring? Indeed, each expedition is dispatched with more careful preparations than the last, with wards and offerings, talismans of safe passage and good fortune, amulets, priestly blessings and great rituals and sacrifices, but the few that return bring little more than tales of horror and plight. They tell of travelers plagued by misfortune and falling prey to vicious beasts. But there are also tales of an uncanny sort that speak of sacrifices to a powerful winged goblin deity that roosts in a mighty tree within the Weirwood.
Most trolls do not possess the skills for shaping magic or the knowledge of how to bind the lowliest of sprites and devils. The slow beasts are renowned for giving precedence to satiating their appetites rather than concerning themselves with such metaphysical matters. But in the furthest reaches of the Weirwood, and other places where time and change do not penetrate so deeply, older magics are whispered and remembered, and though slow in thought, trolls of the deep places are even slower to die. So over the passing of many human lifetimes they learn the secrets of tree and beast and goblin kind.
The elder trolls in the Weirwood are shepherds of the forest, shapers of its lore and guardians of its many mysteries. Having been exposed for several generations to the magic that permeates the forest, they have developed a familiarity with the nature and way of all creatures, so that every common beast of the forest and supernatural being—be it goblin, sprite, brownie, leprechaun, elemental, spirit, or even some powerful lords of nature like mighty Behemoth and the great Shrike god—will heed their call.
It goes without saying that such deep places are forbidden to mortal men. Many a scholar and explorer have tried to access these ghostly realms, believing they harbored great temples brimming with riches and hidden tomes with secreted scrolls of power. For how else, they argued, could witless trolls ever learn the way of magic and conjuring? Indeed, each expedition is dispatched with more careful preparations than the last, with wards and offerings, talismans of safe passage and good fortune, amulets, priestly blessings and great rituals and sacrifices, but the few that return bring little more than tales of horror and plight. They tell of travelers plagued by misfortune and falling prey to vicious beasts. But there are also tales of an uncanny sort that speak of sacrifices to a powerful winged goblin deity that roosts in a mighty tree within the Weirwood.
