Unless you're a hob or a troll, there isn't really much difference: trolls are a little larger and stronger, hobs are a little more gnarled and spiky. Both sorts tend to live nomadic existences on the great savannah or in the southern foothills of the March Mountains, although some have settled in the adjacent lands, including the southern part of the Summerlands, and taken up the customs of the those countries.
Trolls and hobs are human-sized or a little larger, with thick brown skin that appears gnarled or ridged, black hair rooted well down the spine, and bony spikes at their joints. Their faces are more or less human in shape, though sometimes slightly muzzled, but they have prominent tusks, and narrow eyes of orange or red. Hobs tend to have hunched postures, and scamper with frightening quickness on all fours when necessary; many of the larger trolls routinely walk on their knuckles like apes, to better distribute their weight. Hobs are generally thin and leathery-looking, but are nevertheless stronger than men; trolls range from well-built to hulking, and can be awesomely strong. One on one, even an ordinary hob is more than a match for a human, and a properly armed and armored troll can destroy a whole company. Fortunately, hobs are not very numerous, and trolls are even rarer.
For reasons that are unclear, hobs and trolls are almost all male; female children are born sickly and frail, and generally die in infancy. In a given tribe of hobs, maybe one in twelve adults will be female, and trolls are even worse off. This leads to a great interest on the part of young male hobs and trolls in stealing women from other tribes, or even from other countries; hobs and trolls are interfertile with humans, lyony, and several other peoples from the lands around the savannah. Because of their rarity, all women are treated with great respect and consideration by hobs and trolls, although of course they must be closely guarded. Hob and troll women are resigned to being shuffled back and forth like game pieces, and take it with good spirit; women from other countries generally object to being kidnapped, but it is not uncommon for a hob to give a foreigner an exceedingly good deal on a trade of leather for iron, with the understanding that when the hob returns to kidnap a unmarried daughter with no good prospects, no more than a token resistance and pursuit will be made.
Hobs and trolls normally travel the savannah afoot, in tribal groups of a few dozen or less (more hobs, fewer trolls), herding horses for milk, hunting grass buffalo and polycerans, and raiding their neighbors for horses and women. Although 'civilized' hobs ride, their native culture has never bothered to develop that art. Trolls are too large to ride any reasonable horse anyway.
This file was last modified at 1457 on 27Apr99.