Sporeback Troll

When the Simic first began to experiment with cytoplasts, trolls were chosen as some of the first test subjects, both for their advanced physical strength and constitution. Original trials were first believed to be successful before unforeseen issues prevented further experiments. The trolls that had been used for the experiments were originally scheduled for extermination, but last-minute budget cuts and pressure from higher up saw them released back into the Ravincan sewers instead.   Trial Run The Simic Combine has used trolls as experimental guinea pigs for centuries, particularly for tests that require subjects with unusually high durability. Because of this, the Simic has worked to make sure the legal rights of trolls remain limited, even among the Golgari, who often capture trolls to sell them to the Simic for a fair price.   When the Simic biomancer Momir Vig first discovered cytoplasm, several experimental teams were created, each run by an assistant researcher under the direct management of Vig himself. Each team worked with a variety of related creatures, determining the exact nature of the effects induced by cytoplasm, and which qualities the cytoplasm could transfer between different species. Because of their already high levels of natural diversity in body shape and function, one research team was assigned solely to experimentation with trolls, and determining how the cytoplasm interested with the troll's enhanced regeneration.   Unexpected Results During initial experiments, the team working with trolls saw much greater success than the others. As Momir Vig had hoped, the troll's natural resilience and regenerative qualities allowed them a higher chance of surviving the first round of cytoplasm. In fact, over time the trolls seemed to even adapt to the cytoplasm itself, developing boils filled with a substance roughly analogous to a naturally-formed cytoplasm.   When the experiments proceeded to the second stage, the research team found itself facing major issues. As opposed to the standard effects of cytoplasm, trolls introduced to cytoplasm already encoded with the genetic imprint of another troll did not undergo minor physical alterations. Instead, the second troll's regenerative qualities were pushed into overdrive, taking in the newly introduced genetic material and transforming the second troll into an exact duplicate of the original. Rather than creating new, more powerful breeds of tolls, the cytoplasm succeeded only in recreating a single base copy many times over.   Extended Coverup Momir Vig, when faced with these results, found them to be a failure of the Simic Combine's basic principles. Believing that the results could undermine his newfound success, Momir Vig ordered the research with the troll's shut down, and the team disbanded. Furious with the failure, Momir Vig even rescinded all funding to the team, effective immediately.   Without proper funding to secure extermination of the remaining trolls, and somewhat unwilling to destroy what little remained of their research, the biomancers in charge of the trials instead decided to release the trolls back into the Undercity through the sewers. Once there, the trolls had an unexpected effect on their environment.   Because of their naturally-produced cytoplasm, the sporeback trolls were just as capable of inducing cytoplasmic effects as successfully altered subjects. Furthermore, when the trolls began to breed, any successful progeny were instead exact genetic duplicates of the original subject. Today many thousands of these trolls still exist in the Undercity, their numbers kept limited due to lack of genetic diversity, a new species successfully created by what a brilliant Simic biomancer viewed as an unacceptable failure.