I love trolls and their culture, and their physiology fascinates me! Often I don’t see much body decorations for trolls aside from rings and wraps and carvings for tusks – but surely with such a prominent physical feature they would focus a lot of importance to it! Especially as a chance to show off! So I thought of a fun variant of tusk ornamentations that are meant to be extravagant just for extravagance sake!
Building up from the Troll Bannermen idea [Link] these ornamentations vary from tribe to tribe, rank to rank, and individual tastes. These are outer wears of not only these tribal belongings and social standing, but a chance to show off trophies and health. It is meant to be easily distinguished and provided a good first impressions. They can range from simple in construction and humble in material, to incredibly ornate and lavish.
They can carry the ever prominent importance of strength and health. Some of these ornamentations are HEAVY, easily weighing up to 100lbs for the more lavish ones. A male troll wearing these heavy ornament drapes not only shows the strength of his body, but the strength of his tusks. His tusks are strong and healthy, and by association so is he; that he can carry this “unnecessary” weight for a long time and doesn’t bother him, doesn’t tire him. Female trolls would likely find this very attractive, and lesser ranked, weaker, or enemy trolls would be reminded of their place at a glance. When two tribes meet, their best warriors would wear these ornamentations similarly to how human men cross their arms and flex their chest to make themselves look bigger to intimidate the other without being directly aggressive. It just looks MANLY.
These ornamental drapes can nowadays be applied just for sake of aesthetics or personal pride or for any casual reason. The handsome redheaded troll druid has decorated his tusks with antlers and leaves; the hunter below him is showing off some of his recent trophies. Trolls with shorter tusks wear longer ornamentations, trolls with longer tusks wear theirs wider.
How a drape hangs on a tusk is usually as follows
A heavy cover material is draped over the tusk. Usually pelts, leather, or heavy cloth. This is to protect the tusk from direct contact with more abrasive materials that can erode the tusk.
The drape is tied securely front and back.
A second heavy layer is tied around the tusk which keeps the ornaments weighed down (outer side) and bunching up in front of the troll’s mouth so the individual can speak and eat clearly (inner side).
The ornaments are applied however they need to be; by layers or one heavy canvas of decorations.
Ornamentations are secured.
It is discouraged to wear these ornamentations in combat or any active physical activity as they can be heavy and clumsy; more to the troll’s disadvantage.
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