#kotlc troll

[kale-of-the-forbidden-cities]

oh look, a troll (his name is jaret)

@cutebisexualmess @dizzeners @lemon-girl-in-devil-town @keefe--sencen

[eternal-everblaze]

trans bronte inspired by this fanfic (bronte wasnt transitioned in it but whatever i had to draw it) (None of my friends thought it was as funny as I did 😔)

meme included

[moonlarked]

later books kotlc is just shannon thinking of the most fucked up plot points possible and throwing them in a pot and personally I adore it

[purplesoup-lad-le]

Empress Pernille, 2024 Sexywoman comp lady

[inkcovens]

did anyone ever figure out what the vacker legacy was lmao

[brontekotlcyan]

This frame reminds me of Bronte.

I think it's in the ears...

Branch has always reminded me of Bronte 🍴

[thelasttaleofthepari]

SHE TOLD YOU DUMBASSES THIS WAS A BAD IDEA OH MY GODDDDDD

[crippling-pages]

Tam and Biana give the same vibes as Branch and Poppy from Trolls.

That's it thats the post.

[bookwyrminspiration]

The trolls are so interesting. We don’t know what their cities are like or if they’re a water based species. The fact that they have child soldiers is so interesting.

I know!! We know so little it's such a shame--though maybe this'll change in the next book(s), since we're focusing more on the trolls and we've gotten to visit every other intelligent species' capital (sans the gnomes, since they don't have one anymore). So they might break in take a trip to Marintrylla.

All we know is they age in reverse through 7 stages that look completely different, starting as their most violent and stupid and gradually becoming calmer and smarter. Their babies are born very early and implanted in hives, hatchings triggered at lunar eclipses. They have an empress. They don't value animal lives like elves do. And. yeah that's pretty much it, culturally. There's so much left to learn...please shannon...

[camelspit]

In preparation for tommorow. do the right thing. vote luzia. amen.

[dark-blue-diamond]

Kotlc Tarina fanart

[kale-of-the-forbidden-cities]

troll lore (long)

cw: human and troll experimentation (spoiler alert lol)

spoilers for uhh up to flashback i believe

To start, some headcanons about the trolls themselves:

First of all, they're not vegetarian. The elves tried to get them to be for the longest time until they kinda just gave up.

Marintrylla is a very humid/wet place that is mostly shielded from the sun. Trolls need lots of water so most of them carry a large water bottle of sorts with them, especially when outside their territories, where they also wear special clothes to prevent too much sun from drying them out. They're also cold-blooded, and therefore can't be anywhere too cold.

Their government is a matriarchy, as the females are usually bigger and stronger than the males, and most trolls believe them to be smarter as well.

Now for a made-up, potentially canon-contradicting (I did not fact check any of this) history lesson!

For over a thousand years, the trollish population was not doing so well, mainly due to the nature of how babies are born - they have to be kept in the perfect conditions, and when they "hatch" they are bloodthirsty and violent, attacking everything that could be food, since they need a lot of nutrients. Not sure how the whole thing actually works but that's the general gist.

The ogres noticed this, and after taking over Serenevale, they thought they could take over another species as well. Many attacks were made and battles fought, until Marintrylla was the only territory they had left.

Despite their low numbers, the trollish empress of the time (Who I named Lerenia which is just. idk random letter combo i thought sounded good) refused to accept help from any of the other species (elves and dwarves offered to help save their young, while goblins offered to help fend against the ogres, who were also at war with the goblins at the time). Empress Lerenia believed everything had to happen naturally, and that nature would find a way. The council, however, were not so sure.

A point came when the trollish population count dipped under 100. When the council realized just how low the numbers were, they voted to take drastic measures, and set up something they dubbed the "troll sanctuary" which was a top secret project that probably had code names because that one is not all that subtle. It's not as nice as they probably teach in schools, if they teach about this at all (most of it was erased from memories, and you'll see why).

Basically, they took a few trolls and kept them in a secure place (maybe Lumenaria?) for observation and testing, with the aim of finding a way to help the trolls survive better. However, the conditions they were kept in made them more like prisoners, and elves didn't know enough about trollish biology to be able to give them what they needed - many died due to dehydration and/or malnutrition, while others died as a result of the testing. Vespera was very involved in this project (it was only a little bit before her whole human experimentation thing), and conducted many of the experiments, along with Luzia Vacker. almost everyone involved had it wiped from their memory after one elf's mind broke after working there too long. They then left the trolls there for a while, before Luzia came and took over, bringing the few remaining trolls to her private property, away from the eyes of the council. She and Vespera continued their experiments at Everglen, less out of concern for their population and more out of curiosity.

A few humans discovered the secret of the Lumenaria troll sanctuary, however, along with Vespera's human experiments. The human leader, whoever that was, informed Empress Lerenia, who was understandably outraged that the council had kidnapped her citizens and had performed inhumane tests on them in the name of "helping." She was fully prepared to storm Eternalia and start a war. But she did realize it was a bad idea, considering the lack of an army the trolls had. The human leader assured her that they would fight on her behalf, and the empress had safe houses built underground, should the humans need any emergency shelter or protection. These shelters have since been repurposed.

I think trolls and humans both stood out as species, for many reasons, but one thing they both have in common is aging - the other species stay the same for hundreds and hundreds of years, and while human lifespans were much shorter than the rest (though they were longer at the time than they are now, about 200-500 years), trolls also age and get weaker as they grow older.

While all this was happening, Pernille was born! a miraculous baby in a dark time. A little headcanon i thought of is that her name is trollish for "justice", something Lerenia wanted to bring.

The humans were quickly defeated (they tried to get the ogres on their side and failed) but many from all the different species knew at least bits and pieces about some of the things happening. the elvin council placed the blame on Vespera Folend, who managed to go into hiding for at least another decade, and continued to capture humans when she could. There was probably at least one human horror legend inspired by her.

Things settled down after Vespera's imprisonment. treaties were discussed in the very building she was being held prisoner, the very building the horrible experiments had happened in.

This is when neutral territories were established. the elves wanted to give some of the trollish territory that was taken by the ogres to the humans, as well as a lot of the territories that were deemed "unneeded" for the species that were less in numbers. Naturally, the rest of the intelligent species did not like that, and it ended in the agreement of keeping them neutral, although protected against humans (using illusions designed by Vespera herself).

Not long after this, Lerenia tried to have another child, but this resulted in both the child and Lerenia's death, meaning Pernille was forced to take on the role as empress despite being only in her 20s, which could be compared to a young teenager. Her main advisor was her father, and the two have a very strong bond to this day.

Due to the nature of her mother's death, Pernille found new determination to make a change. She knew things couldn't go on like this if she wanted her species to thrive. She was hesitant to trust the council after all she'd learned from her mother, but she formed a team of carefully selected trolls, dwarves, gnomes, goblins, elves, and even a few ogres, who contributed to the project arguably the most thanks to their knowledge on microbiology, which helped a lot. Many decades of work led to the creation of the hive system, which is still used today. this project is still considered to be a great example of incredible things that can be achieved when all species collaborate towards a single goal. It also settled many doubts about the capabilities of the young trollish empress, as trolls had earned a reputation of being nothing but bloodthirsty monsters. However, Pernille showed that she was determined, hardworking, caring, and truly wanted what was best not only for her people, but the world.

[gil-shalossssss]

Masterpost

Issue Three: Elves

The immortality of elves has always bothered me. How do they keep the population at a sustainable level? Wouldn't time be meaningless? But, more importantly for KotLC: Why do they look like humans if none of the other species do? I mean ogres, gnomes, and some if the trolls, kind of. But dwarves sure as hell don't. Why do elves look exactly like humans? If you're saying plot convenience, that's probably the answer. Even so, I have a solution: You know how trolls go through stages? What if elves did that, too? The younger ones can look like humans, and the older ones can look different, and the Anchients can look even more different. Problem solved.

[onemoreattempt]

THIS HAS BEEN GIVING ME SO MUCH ANXIETY LIKE WHEN IS IT GOING TO COME BACK TO HAUNT HER (my bet is on now)

Does Shannon even remember that Sophie is personally allied with the Trollish government and that Luzia Vacker warned her that might not be all it seems to be?

[thatonesongyouretryingtoremember]

some crazy things Shannon put in KOTLC that I love

1. Marella gets vapes ("can of flavored air") from the school lunch line, she also bought some for Sophie as an exams present

2. There is a non-alcoholic carbonated(?) beverage that gets ppl drunk (we have no indication of minimum legal drinking age)

3. there is a holiday food that looks like those swamp hotdogs you can't eat

4. kelpie urine cures seasickness and yeti pee fixes burns

5. sasquatches exist, they are green, and they have beaks

6. el dorado is real and it's controlled by goblins, to get there you ride in an egg-shaped carriage pulled by a titanaboa through the earth's crust.

7. timezones are real, elves just don't subscribe to them. all elvin cities use the same time as London (I think, based on Legacy)

8. every elf speaks and reads their language instinctively from birth, but runes still evolve over time and the Vackers have a specific accent, which is considered aristocratic and correct.

9. dwarves have an underground tunnel that makes you hallucinate

10. two known monarchs of the intelligent species got their job by sabotaging their predecessor, one of them is friends with the main character.

11. Alicorns are still not considered an intelligent species, all legislation concerning them lacks their input.

12. trolls turn into babies when they get old, they finish gestation inside giant communal honeycombs, and newborns have a bloodthirsty stage.

13. Because of her genetics, Sophie can read any type of writing in existence EXCEPT for elvin government documents (and maybe dead languages)

please add on anything else you can think of!

[swans-chirping-in-the-distance]

It's not "only Sophie can do this". That is so far from true. Her friends are:

Fitz, one of the most powerful telepaths of his time. Could've killed someone if his friends didn't stop him. Sort of did kill him. Btw, it was his traitorous older brother.

Biana, one of if not the ONLY vanisher who can completely vanish to every species. Has twice tackled murderers. Almost fell off Mount Everest and is covered in scars because of those times. She's super proud of it. Literally could kill you in a face full of a makeup

Keefe, also tested on. Has 3-4 abilities, two of which are new with him. Snarked the ogre king and won a sparring match with him because of it. Also ripped out THE ogre king's earring. Pretty good with weapons. Can make you listen by word of mouth.

Dex, such a powerful technopath that the council requested him to make special tech instead of an elf that's hundreds of years old and invented most of society's daily gadgets. Often underestimated.

Tam, one of the few shades that can control shadowflux. Joined a group of murderers and killed a friend to save his sister (yeah Keefe's alive, but Tam thought that Stellarlune would kill him and he still did it).

Linh, who held up a river surrounding a kingdom that was poisonous and harder to control when she didn't have full control over her abilities. Btw, she was 15.

She is friends with a variety of elves with crazy powers, ogres, trolls, dwarves, gnomes, and a human.

Only Sophie being able to go in these battles is dumb. It makes sense bcz she's the mc, but not in the actual series.

So I present multi-perspective kotlc.

Solves the "only Sophie can do this" issue. Better for character development. Makes side characters' relationships and lives matter more.

It would change the plot slightly but I think it would help.