Cairn

[Cairn]

Name: Cairn
Age: Unknown
Race: Troll
Height: over 28 Hands High (9’6”)
Weight: over 50 Stone (700+ pounds)

Physical Description: Dusky skinned, Cairn’s flesh is reminiscent of stone, earth and lichen. Massive patches of skin seem almost plated with rocky patches. Where dermis would wrinkle on a human, the troll’s flesh seems pebbly or grainy. Near lip-less, Cairn’s teeth extrude in an alligator-like grin. Instead of a set of toes, the massive troll sports a hoof at the end of each foot. Like a horse, the large nail that protects the appendage is a single plate; it is rock-like in texture and appearance.

Possessions:

Crude Armor: A series of cold forged iron plates are chained together to form a protective shirt to cover Cairn’s thinner skinned chest and belly. He has converted (by brute bending) a codpiece from an ‘acquired’ breastplate.

Decorated Trunk: Chain cables hold sections of rock to the head of this absconded tree trunk to form a flanged mace-like head. The club is as tall as a man, weighs as much as a loaded wagon, and wreaks havoc whenever it comes into play.

Barter Bait: During Cairn’s travel, he holed up in a cave that he thought unoccupied. In hindsight, the large creature now understands that a pair of rails and a reinforced cart generally means that miners are nearby. Rudely awoken to the sound of being pummeled by mauls and pick axes, Cairn defended himself and killed nearly a score of dwarves. After consuming them over the course of several days, Cairn finally began to explore the deeper recesses of the mine. Months later, he finally figured out how to exit the cavern and only several compressed balls silver trade bars (they are no longer recognizable as anything more than fist sized clumps of precious metal) and a decorative string of hand axes give clue that he was ever there.

Powers or Strengths:

Massive Strength: Cairn easily shatters wood, bends iron, and lifts boulders half his size. He has snapped ceiling beams and broken through field-stone walls. While it would be possible for the troll to break down a castle wall (with the right tools), he lacks the attention span to establish such an endeavor.

Resilience: It is extremely difficult to hurt or damage Cairn physically unless you are able to target his thin skinned parts.

Trollish Regeneration: Blessed with the ability to quickly heal, Cairn never stays down for long. Caveat: Immolating the brute's regenerating body or completely destroying his brain will end this ability.

Dunce Pupil: Cairn has the capacity to learn (and retain what was learned)through trial and error. It’s not quick by normal standards, but he is smarter than most trolls.

Weaknesses:

Easily Placated: Though fearsome in appearance, Cairn is a simple creature. When full, occupied, and healthy, the giant tends to be docile and easily prone to suggestions.

Slow: Typical of trolls, Cairn is slow to respond both physically and mentally, which lends weight to the impression that the troll is exceptionally dense.

Enormous: Trolls are large and generally inflexible/un-bendy. He cannot fit into small areas without either becoming stuck or destroying the structure around him. He also weighs a lot, which limits the use of bridges.

Shunned: Between the capacity to eat massive amounts of almost anything (with a strong preference for raw meat) and his stupidity, Cairn is not generally liked. When he becomes complacent, he is taken advantage of and abused…not that he seems to understand anything short of violence.

Achilles’ Heel: Cairn’s torso and nether regions lack the extensive armoring the rest of his body has.

History:

It is difficult to decipher when the thought that there might be more out there occurred to Cairn. Life in the wilds of the mountains required effort, so one day Cairn decided he simply had enough of it. Following the sun, Cairn made no real progress until he came to understand that its movements only led somewhere for half a day. After lunch, you simply stopped walking, and eventually you would get away from where you started.

Cruelty and anger were hallmarks of his ancestors, but these were merely nuances of existence to the massive creature. There was no guilt derived from unbridled slaughter. Likewise, there was no pleasure beyond having something to eat from the act. This simple logic generated a lazy, moral less pupil that only exerted the effort to destroy things if it yielded immediate appeasement.

Traveling half days towards an unknown destination, Cairn idled his way in a north-easterly fashion. Mountains yielded to forests and plains and the troll discovered the unique pleasure of being able to walk rather the trudge through difficult terrain. Game became easier to find and through trial and error, Cairn learned that villages were an easy place to secure food. More trial and error found that anything larger than a hamlet had to be approached in a much different manner.

When surrounded by a number of men, it was difficult to protect yourself and having met near death several times, Cairn learned that armor was a good thing and that food gathered through tasks was even easier than food acquired through plunder. Likewise, covering yourself with metal like the humans did made it easier to cover your guts. Unfortunately, this was acquired in the only method Cairn could figure out: the destruction of several men-at-arms and knights. It did prove to be worth the effort in the long run, though, and ultimate made life easier.

Easier is always better, right?

And this is where we stumble upon the story of Cairn the Bottomless, Eater of the Lambs….all 20 of them. He has stumbled finally upon Shim, a civilization-wise troll that has learned the basic mechanics of bartering items and services. While not exactly a mercenary, Cairn will do what he must to acquire more food and Teodinus-forbid, booze…when he learns of it.

[Niabi]

I really like this character of yours. The only thing I can think that you might want to add to it is that the only real way to kill a troll and prevent it from regenerating is to set it on fire or smash its brain.

The only other thing I want to mention is that trolls are rare in Shim or Marn for that matter, so it will be pretty understandable for people to be afraid of Cairn and some people might run away from him before getting too close, but I am sure there will be others that will see him and try to put him to some use. Even if that means being a big, scary bodyguard or scarecrow or lifting stones and building a wall.

[Cairn]

I amended his 'Trollish Regeneration' ability

[Niabi]

Approved.