I’m not a major professional roleplayer, I partake casually, but I am serious about lore and how I want my character to fit into the World of Warcraft.
I generally lean towards more ‘‘civilised’’ races, Blood Elves, Humans, Dwarves etc, even Orcs, but I am struggling to connect with my troll.
I just can’t imagine a troll shaman roaming the Eastern Kingdoms, or out appreciating art and treasure or places of beauty. The Zandalari are civilised sure, but I play your standard troll.
Can I get tips or insight into how I could make my troll fit into what I like about the World of Warcraft, and how a jungle troll finds himself appreciating the wonders of Silvermoon and the architectural prowess of Strormwind whilst being connected his own people and the history of his race.
Break the mould, but also respect the borders. They shouldn’t restrict you or your characters creative drive and more so provide a guideline of what to expect, suggest what to do and how to go about it. But also a base identity to make something out of.
Yes, Trolls are tribalistic, but what’s stopping an intrepid individual from exploring other cultures and finding beauty in them? Sure, you can say ‘x race has no reason to because x race and z race were in conflict 103913 years ago’ but that shouldn’t stop individual thinking. Especially those who can look past them.
You see this demonstrated even now through certain NPC’s that portray different personalities that is outright a disparity from the norm.
Define “civilised” first
Whats that means to you
The Troll tribes usually very tribalistic, some of them cannibalistic, sure, but there are Temple Cities all over Azeroth;remnants of their empires. Gurubashi, Amani and the Drakkari are the most famous, but the Farraki had their own too, with the sprawling temple city of Zul’Farrak in the desert of Tanaris civilised usually means - having a high state of culture and development both social and technological.
In WoW technology and Magic walks in hand in hand, a bit like Asgard in Marvel
In term of culture, every Troll tribe have their own, and they are socially developed too… but of course one could argue, if you are socially developed you don’t have… tribal structure? Head shaman and Tribal cheif? But really, be it king and pope, prime minsiter or anything, the name of the office is a bit irrelevant. Means the same. An individual or group the others follow. And Laws the society follows and vallues.
The technology is as I said strange ‘question’ in WoW… the 'civilised" Humans are “inferior” when it comes to technology, compared to Dwarves or Goblins or Gnomes… and both are children compared to the Eredar/Draenei or the Naaru (or the Legion)
The Elves are living in cities, like the Trolls in their temple cities, not really the biggest fan of technology, since they don’t need it, they have magic, have constructs, like the mojo fueled Troll golems… and socially? They are mostly in a monarhcy, be it Quel, Shal, or Sin… or kaldorei.
So it boils down to, what “civilised” means to you?
Troll culture shares many similarities with the Aztecs and Mayans, and I think for this question we can focus specially on the latter.
The Mayans suffered what historians call the ‘Classic Maya Collapse’. For unknown reason they abandoned their Urban centres during the 8th and 9th century, which went into decline shortly after. When the Spanish discovered these sites, they found tribal remnants living in the ruins of their former empire.
The Trolls suffered (and are still suffering) a similar decline. Trolls are one of the oldest race in Azeroth, and once their cities were everywhere, with Zandalar as their cultural centre. However, after some Trolls boys mutated into the cursed monsters we now call “Elves”, the Trolls suffered from the new race making a place into their world. The Trolls had fierce fights against these new invaders, and it feels similar to the Spanish Aztec wars, as the Trolls only lost lands.
The Trolls are mostly Tribal, but are remnants of their former glory. They still remember their hierarchies, and some are more “civilised” than others. The city of Zandalar still stands as a centre for Troll culture, and I think it’s good to play BFA expansion while leveling on the Horde side to understand them better.
That said, it’s Warcraft. If you want to make a Troll who’s civilised and tries to mimic Elves, go for it. If you want a Troll who’s more interested in tech like a Goblin, sure. If you want a Sand Troll who lived quite the struggling desert culture, go yes sure whatever. That’s the fun about WoW RP. You can make a Tauren Surfer who likes BBQs, A crossdressing Knight, or an Undead Clown, and it would still fit into that strange colourful world.