OK, I just went through the entire Valley of the Trolls maps. I took many screenies but there's no real sense of posting all of those as they're more for my own reference so I don't have to walk back there and make sure I get it right.
Near the end in Sir Reginald Hillary's Journal (University Archaeology Dean) you find out that the Temples of the Sun, the Moon, and the Sky God temple has stood for thousands of years.
From what I gather the priesthood of both important parts of the sky god religion. Colors are Silver (moon), Gold (Sun), Blue (sky). The temple of the Moon is more of the magical lunar aspect though priests are mentioned in both temples.
The Sun Temple seems to be more of the warrior priests of the group since they have a foundry and smithy area in the volcano. Heph felt at home there (being a smithy).
The Sky God temple is obvious homage to the Great Phoenix though the final area you cannot enter. In fact there are a good 4 areas that are definitely unfinished maybe 5.
1. The prisoner to free from Telgar's interrogator.. just not there or dead but I'm inclined to say not dead.
2. Say what in the Moon temple at the shrine. Something is supposed to be invoked to reveal a secret .. nada.
3. The same goes for the Sun Temple. You're left hanging. And there's no real clue in that temple to find the Sky God temple just a clue to find the dragon den (which doesn't have a clue either)
4. After seeing the secret of the Sky God Temple (which isn't a huge lot) You can find a quick egress but this part doesn't give enough clues except to tell you that the other temples had clues (which they don't)
5. A way to reach the possible long dead Lord Fronal
6. This may or may not be the cave hide out Telgar the great is holding up in while his golems level the castle (that has no real name other than Lord Fronal's Castle I guess). And there really is little mention throughout all the expedition of Telgar's prisoner who is female (could be one of the Captain's love interests, a princess/daughter of Fronal .. who knows).
There are other loose ends of some interest like the crazy lich who is experimenting with poisonous slimes (which I don't believe are actually poisonous.. I'll check).
There is the agent who's dead in the mongbat temple area who was spying on the mining expeditions. Truth be told I'm not sure if the original supply expedition is from outside the plateau or from Fronal's ranks to try to unearth the ancient temples of Moon/Sun/Sky God.
We are uncertain what happened to Telgar but he obviously devastated the area with his resurrection of golem construction (huge at the time). We also are really uncertain what the golem power crystal is or how it is made. There is a clue in the iron foundry of a sparkling mote shard on the table near the "Crysalline Life Infusion Chamber." Is it supposed to be crystalline instead (there are a few errors here and there in vot).
The humanoids are primitive and I think they inhabited the valley afterwards. There is a possibility they are or were the original Half-trolls (there are no signs of anyone in the temples) and they migrated with the remnants degenerating into the foul humanoids that are there now. It makes a decent tie in that you might be looking for. It also makes them less of a bastard race of horny humanoids mating with trolls or vis versas and more of an ancient race that is also reclaiming their heritage much like the dwarves have a rather rough past and future.
You can still have half-orcs as a odd hybrid race where humans just got too drunk one night or w/e. We can't really be sure all orc chicks are god awful ugly if we go just by the character icons. Some are done really well for the females.
There is one other bit of info in the mongbat temple area (not sure if we know what temple that is tbh or if its just a fancy mining outpost. Seems more temple) and that's the earthquakes and the opening from deep earth where all those mongbats came from. Apparently, that's were many of the beasts came from (possibly including the dragons). The icy plateau makes sense for the ice critters. What we don't really know is where the shadow warriors and mages came from. Perhaps Telgar had a little bit to do with this since he obviously utilized infernal daemonkind/devils/imp through out the map before he got his golem army. Perhaps its the slimy darkness that followed to infiltrate the temples and keep any believers from ever returning. Maybe the guardians that were there slowly turned feral with no worshippers for thousands of years.
Not bad bit of stuff packed into one map. I could be dead wrong without knowing Cat's full intentions in the map and what was left out or lost in her notes. I could look at some older posts if I can find them. I'm sure she's mentioned something here and there.
that's my speculation anyways.
