I exaggerated a bit. It is not that they NEED to know this background info but if they do know before they start reading, the story is more fun. Both to write and IMHO read.

What do we know about Trollkin in your world from that passage? We can list a number of things just from your sample.

Now lets say he is not a trollkin... lets say he is a vampire. Now what do we know about him? We can list considerably more things because everybody knows at least something about Vampires. Sure the nuances change from story to story, and author to author but some basic knowledge is assumed. The story becomes richer because of the background knowledge the reader has. Although one can read it with no background knowledge whatsoever and it will still make sense.

The holes in my writing skills are fully my own fault due to lack of education. Or effort during it. :) But I could not disagree with you more about writing in someone else's universe robbing you of your ability to convey background information. Franklin W. Dixon, J.D. Salinger, Robin Cook, Dean R. Koontz, Norman Mailer and Stephen King all write their stories in the same universe. When it comes to conveying background information less is usually more anyway according to some I have read tell. Anyway, I am not looking to become a professional writer, I just like to write stories for the sake of writing stories. It is fun to share those stories with others from time to time, especially if the readers share the same interests.

Hydra