If you’re reading this, it’s likely because you’ve manifested for the position of troll. Now, let’s not pretend this is anything it’s not: the job is not glamorous or well-respected, as you’re surely fully aware. However, it is a needed and important profession, and one that – in many cases – defines the fancier ones. You will go on to make a minor, but significant, contribution to the stories and monsters and unnerving suspicions of men, and to the imaginations of humanity as a whole.
In the last few centuries, the trade has spread immensely. Where trolls were once an exclusively mid-northern thing, they have now made their way into the folklore and consciousness of a much wider culture. As such, the job only becomes more vital – not just in maintaining the antagonism of Scandinavian romps. and preserving the separation between idyllic and despised human traits in those nations. Trolls play a massive part in the fancy of children and the like; and in fact, that's where you'll find a lot of your work comes from.
You will be assigned a haunt and a tutor, who you will apprentice under for an indeterminate period of time and gradually replace. You will also be given a threatening demeanour, decayed skin, supplementary fat and a grumpy personality. Please wear or have these attributes on your person at all times while on-duty. Your tutor will show you which minds to surface in and affect, and introduce you to the shifts you will be given.
In the future, with the right ethic, you will likely go on to assimilate into the substance of artistic muses, mischievous sprites, natural corporeals, elementals and all the other things that our collective nature makes up. But until then, there’s a good deal of lurking to get through. Just keep in mind that all ideas are important, no matter how small a role you play as one.
As a final note, reflect over this motivational philosophy:
Fey are very much the actors in the theatre of men’s minds. This is why we are as volatile as we are: as creations, we must re-form and reshape ourselves as the philosophers, artists, writers, children, escapists and all other sorts of characters demand. We are a function of the mind. Or perhaps the mind is simply a reflection of our activity on some more abstract tier. It’s hard to say which came first.
–From The Tales of Lewis Eykos-Anure, Professional Madman; translated liberally from Danish.