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During the course of the Great Troll War, no community was placed in a more desperate situation than the dwarven town of Augurame. Besieged by hundreds of trolls and cut off from the lines of their human allies, the town's defenders were forced to wage a constant war of attrition that would inevitably lead to their defeat.
As the defender’s numbers were worn away, the lorekeepers of Augurame embarked on a desperate strategy. They proposed a magical infusion of wounded dwarves with troll blood, a gambit inspired by news of the humans' recent tactic of grafting troll limbs onto injured soldiers.
While this process was anathema to everything the dwarves held dear, the lorekeepers hoped the infusion would save the lives of many dying defenders and return them to full fighting ability in a fraction of their normal healing time.
The process was dangerous and held a great risk that the infused dwarves would be mutated by the process, but the lorekeepers kept this knowledge secret. They believed that the risk of mutation was more than acceptable in light of the desperate situation, believing that that any change could be undone when the war was over.
The lorekeepers' omission was discovered only after hundreds of transfusions had been done, caused widespread outrage and shame among the infused warriors. The mutations occurred in numbers far greater than expected, often changing the warrior mentally as well as physically. The consistency and regularity of the mutations served to create a new race with a combination of dwarf and troll traits, unable to interbreed with either of its progenitor species. Any magical attempt to reverse the transformation was ineffectual, leaving the mutated soldiers trapped in their new forms.
Those affected by this mutation called themselves trahmok; the dwarven word for ‘cursed’. They forsook their homes and formed their own communities, becoming a living reminder of the war and the cost of survival.
In one respect however, the lorekeepers’ decision was successful: the trahmok resented the dwarven people for ‘cursing’ them, but they hated the trolls who were the source of that curse and battled them relentlessly throughout the Troll War.
Personality: A half-elven wit once said that the trahmok ‘have the good cheer of a dwarf, but none of the social graces.’ Trahmok are generally a dour and ill-tempered people, with a disposition toward aggressive behavior that has garnered them a somewhat clouded reputation in more urbane cultures.
Created as warriors to battle powerful creatures many times their own size, Trahmok view the world as a grim and bloody place. They have little patience with those whose inclinations are more poetic or picturesque, often regarding them as fools. Most trahmok are aware of their race’s reputation amongst other races and use this to keep others away: Trahmok make few close friendships, seeing little point when death is their constant companion.
Even the normal camaraderie that is felt between soldiers is rare among trahmok units, although they will fight fiercely in order to save a fellow soldier who has proven his worth. While they will often write off these acts of bravery as pure pragmatism, many believe their refusal to abandon a wounded comrade has its roots in the desperate situation that led to their creation.
Physical Description: A typical trahmok stands nearly half a foot taller than their dwarven progenitors, but has a lean, rangy build. Trahmok tend to have pallid skin, sometimes with green or gray patches near the eyes or nostrils, and gray or black hair. Unlike dwarves, they are all beardless, as they are incapable of growing whiskers. Instead their faces are dominated by their long, hooked noses. Many trahmok also have vestigial trollish features, such as claw-like nails, oversized teeth, or rubbery skin.
Relations: Dwarven-trahmok relations are tense. While they share a common heritage, dwarven interaction with the trahmok is always tinged by shame and often results in a desire to avoid their kindred. Many of the trahmok continue to feel bitterness over what was done to them, further complicating the relationship.
Trahmok are implacable enemies of giant races of all kinds, but reserve a special hatred for trolls and ogres. They lack the dwarven passion for fighting goblinoid races, with some of the more dissolute trahmok falling in with such creatures in order to snub their dwarven cousins.
When dealing with other races the trahmok generally get on well with barbarians and other savage races with a strong warrior tradition. They rarely get along with races that are overly urbanized, often seeing such species as soft and foolish.
Alignment: The trahmok’s psyche is a battleground between dwarven discipline and the eternal hunger and rage of the trolls. This makes them unpredictable, reacting to different situations according to the portion of their ancestry that speaks loudest at any given time. They often drift towards neutral and chaotic alignments, although trahmok that have mastered their inner rage do exist.
Most trahmok tend to be pragmatic to the point of ruthlessness, willingly sacrificing one life for another or turning aside from quests that appear to dangerous to complete. Most of them are neutral with regard to good and evil. Their very existence has taught them that ends will often justify the means.
Trahmok Lands: Trahmok communities usually claim only a limited region as their own. These communities are often near or on the fringes of a larger dwarven community. In many cases the trahmok build above a dwarven community, claiming the surface of a mountain or range of hills, while the dwarves control the interior.
Trahmok settlements tend to be small, rarely more than a few hundred people. They are governed by a small council formed by the heads of each household and survive on a mixture of hunting and subsistence farming.
Religion: Trahmok theology is a mix of dwarven deities and trollish demons. While they acknowledge the existence of these deities, their approach to religion remains a mixture of apathy and primitive superstition. They occasionally build small shrines to their gods, but lack anything resembling an organized clergy or temple.
Many trahmok keep luck charms that have deep personal significance and construct complex personal rituals they believe protect them from evil. An individual trahmok may choose not to bathe on days when he doesn’t slay an enemy in the belief that it will keep him safe in battle, while another may refuse to remove a lucky item of clothing that wards against demons.
The few trahmok that dedicate themselves to a particular deity usually choose one associated with luck, strength or warfare.
Language: Trahmok speak Common and Dwarf. Those Trahmok who learn additional languages often speak Giant.
Names: Trahmok given names tend to be short and abrupt, usually consisting of one (or at most two) syllables. Male given names usually contain ‘hard’ consonant sounds, while female ones favor sibilant sounds.
Trahmok family names also tend to be short and simple, and often evoke violent imagery. The trahmok were created to wage a long and difficult war, and their names reflect this heritage.
Trahmok Male Given Names: Adok, Grak, Kar, Orgro, Trag, Wurk
Trahmok Female Given Names: Eshe, Moza, Nex, Shen, Uneth, Xia.
Trahmok Family Names: Cutter, Firehand, Grimm, Shields, Vanguard, Warden.
Adventurers: The trahmok were created for the purpose of struggle and warfare, so it isn’t surprising that many of them follow violent and dangerous lifestyles. Many trahmok are soldiers or mercenaries, while others use violence to make a less honest living. They are particularly attracted to the life of an adventure, revelling in the violence and danger without the need to form strong attachments outside of a very small group of individuals.
Trahmok Racial Traits
• Monstrous Humanoid: Trahmok are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person.
• +2 bonus to Constitution, -2 penalty Intelligence and a -2 penalty to Charisma. Trahmok are as hardy as their dwarven ancestors, but retain a streak of troll-like cruelty which alienates others.
• Medium-sized: As Medium creatures, trahmok have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Base land speed is 30 feet. Trahmok are rangier than dwarves and can move faster. They suffer the standard penalties to speed for wearing armor or carrying more than a light load.
• Trahmok can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and trahmok can function just fine with no light at all.
• +2 racial bonus to saving throws against poison and disease.
• +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when it’s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
• Self-sealing wounds: Trahmok retain a vestige of trollish regeneration. When reduced to between –1 and –9 hit points, a trahmok automatically becomes stable. They don’t have to make stabilization checks to avoid losing 1 hit point each round.
• Trahmok gain Troll-marked as a bonus feat, without the need to meet the pre-requisites.
• Automatic Languages: Common, Dwarf. Bonus Languages: Giant, Goblin, Undercommon. Trahmok speak the language of their progenitors, and generally the languages of those creatures they most commonly encounter.
• Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass Trahmok's fighter class does not count when determining whether they take an experience point penalty.
• Level Adjustment: +0
| Race | Adulthood | Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer | Bard, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger | Cleric, Druid, Monk, Wizard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trahmok | 20 years | +1d6 | +2d6 | +3d6 |
| Race | Middle Age | Old | Venerable | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trahmok | 45 years | 65 years | 85 years | +3d20 years |
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 4’ 1” | +2d6 | 120 lb. | × (2d4) lb. |
| Female | 3’ 11” | +2d6 | 90 lb. | × (2d4) lb. |
