Reproduction

There is but one eternal question that haunts us all: what came first, the troll or the egg.
See, without genetic material from at least 3 different trolls, an egg cannot be produced. But then, where did those three trolls come from? Well, they hatched from eggs and grew of course. But. Where did the eggs come from? From the genetic material of at least three different trolls. BUT. WHERE DID THE TROLLS COME FROM.

You can understand the frustration of this debate.

It does, however, regard a rather important concept: reproduction.

Let’s start with the basics here. Trolls hatch from eggs, spawned by the Mother Grub. To clarify, a troll on its own is incapable of carrying young or laying eggs. Rather, a troll can excrete a genetic ooze that carries their genes. This ooze is, of course, useless to another troll, who can also only produce genetic ooze and not conceive young with it. What can make use of this ooze is a Mother Grub. A Mother Grub is a very special lusus naturae – while there are a multitude of childbearing grub subspecies of lusii, the Mother Grub is particularly important for it is the one that lays troll eggs. Mother Grubs are quite large, with skeletal looking faces and large horns. Quite honestly, the resemble a huge translucent-white wiggler, sans the baby fat and hair.

While pop culture represents Mother Grub faces with an ethereal kind of beauty and majestic horns, any seasoned Caretaker will be scoffing at the ridiculous concept. The reality isn’t so pretty, but the memory of wigglerhood is fairly muddled for most and we all like to imagine something special brought us into this world.

Now, Mother Grubs are vital and respected parts of the troll life cycle…but to be frank, they’re not the most mindful of creatures. Which, trolls aren’t exactly warm and fuzzy either, but a Mother Grub is still a lusii at the end of the day. Leave a grub to her own devices surrounding by the squirming hordes of helpless offspring? Why, it’s enough to drive her mad. In the interest of preserving the Mother Grubs (and safeguarding the wigglers and eggs, I guess), the class of Caretakers was devised. A Caretaker is a troll who loves in the Brooding Caverns with the Mother Grubs and troll spawn, guarding them from wayward hungry predators that find their way into the tunnels and instating some sense of order into an otherwise utterly chaotic mess. Their job is to keep Mother Grub’s healthy, keep the caves clean, watch for sickness, segregate the young according to hemotype, reduce egg squishing related accidents; the list goes on. The intimate knowledge a Caretaker gains from their position is highly classified and puts a lot of red tape around what they can share with the general populous as well as a lot of pressure and a rather severe lifestyle switch. Still, it also affords them many benefits by the empire and gains them great favor as the wardens of the troll species. Classically, Caretakers were exclusively jade bloods and while doors have opened in modern society for other castes to apply for the position, the role is still heavily hemotyped and most jade bloods are still heavily recommended to take certain career paths best suited for their talents.

So you understand the Mother Grub now, but what of the ooze she requires to perform her duties?

Well, by the time a troll’s body has finished maturing into an adult, they’ve been through a lot of ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. One of which is their body developing the ability to produce the genetic material required for a Mother Grub to spawn troll eggs. But the genetic material from just one troll isn’t enough to produce a single egg on its own. No, to fertilize a clutch of eggs, a Mother Grub needs the genetic ooze of at least three different trolls.

The best genetic material that produces the strongest clutch of eggs is excreted from a troll that is in a concupiscent relationship. The heightened emotions release certain hormones in a troll’s system that give the genetic material an extra kick, so to speak. It’s said that the use of the extra concentrated ooze leads to stronger, healthier, and all-around better generations of trolls. This train of thought has so much traction that despite a relationship not being necessary to provide genetic material, for many sweeps, finding a kismesis and/or matesprit was a government forced requirement of all non-military adults. Failure to do so used to result in culling. At least these days that practice has been abolished and the government is no longer pressuring citizens to find a partner. Still, generating genetic ooze with the influence of a partner is considered a pretty intimate, if not dire, act.

Once a troll has reached adulthood, it’s considered your civic duty to participate in annual Material Collection Drives at your local Caretaker’s Clinic. This involves a pretty short visit to the clinic where you’re shuffled into a sterilized room with a sealable container that a troll deposits their genetic ooze into. Do your business, place the sealed container into the wall cubby, check with the front desk to get your name on the donation ledger, and be on your merry way. Alternatively, sealable containers can be mail ordered or picked up from your local clinic and then dropped off at your convenience.

After the genetic ooze has been passed to the clinic, the Caretakers take care of the rest! They deliver the material to a Mother Grub down in the Brooding caverns where she can then begin working her magic.