Giants
Made with Hero Forge
(from Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition Monster Manual - 2014 - [credits])
Ancient empires once cast long shadows over a world that quaked beneath the giants’ feet. In those lost days, these towering figures were dragon slayers, dreamers, crafters, and kings, but their kind fell from glory long ago. However, even divided among secluded clans scattered throughout the world, the giants maintain the customs and traditions of old.
Old as Legend. In remote regions of the world, the last remaining plinths, monoliths, and statues of the great giant empires bow their heads in desolate obscurity. Where once those empires sprawled across all lands, now the giants dwell in isolated tribes and clans.
Giants are almost as old as dragons, which were still young when the giants’ heavy feet first shook the foundations of the world. As they spread across new lands, giants and dragons fought bitter generational wars that nearly brought both sides low. No living giant remembers what started the conflict, but myths and tales of their race’s glorious dawn are still sung in their steadings and holdfasts, vilifying the primeval wyrms. Giants and dragons continue to harbor grudges against one another, and it is seldom that they will meet or occupy the same area without a fight.
THE ORDNING:
Each of the main giant races — the cloud giants, fire giants, and storm giants — are related by common elements of history, religion, and culture. They view one another as kindred, keeping any inherent animosity over territory and ambition to a minimum.
Giants belong to a caste structure called the ordning. Based on social class and highly organized, the ordning assigns a social rank to each giant. By understanding its place in the ordning, a giant knows which other giants are inferior or superior to it, since no two giants are equal. Each of the giant races analyzes a different combination of skills or qualities to determine the ordning. Giants make excelling in these qualities the purpose of their lives.
At the highest level of the ordning, the races of the giants are also ranked according to status. Storm giants are the highest in the ordning, followed by cloud giants, fire giants, frost giants, stone giants, hill giants, and finally giant kin such as fomorians, ettins, and ogres.
Regardless of a giant’s rank among its own race, the chief of a hill giant tribe is inferior to the most common of stone giants. The lowest ranked giant of any type is superior to the highest ranked giant of an inferior type. It isn’t considered evil to disrespect or even betray a giant of another type, merely rude.
GIANT GODS:
When the giants’ ancient empires fell, Annam, father of all giants, forsook his children and the world. He swore never to look upon either again until the giants had returned to their glory and reclaimed their birthright as rulers of the world. As a result, giants pray not to Annam but to his divine children, along with a host of hero-deities and godly villains that make up the giants’ pantheon.
Chief among these gods are the children of Annam, whose sons represent each type of giant: Stronmaus for storm giants, Memnor for cloud giants, Skoraeus Stonebones for storm giants, Thrym for frost giants, Surtur for fire giants, and Grolantor for hill giants. Not all giants automatically revere their kind’s primary deity, however. Many good cloud giants refuse to worship the deceitful Memnor, and a storm giant dwelling in the icy mountains of the north might pay more homage to Thrym than Stronmaus. Other giants feel a stronger connection to Annam’s daughters, who include Hiatea, the huntress and home warden; Iallanis, goddess of love and peace; and Diancastra, an impetuous and arrogant trickster.
Some giants abandon their own gods and fall prey to demon cults, paying homage to Baphomet or Kostchtchie. To worship them or any other non-giant deity is a great sin against the ordning, and almost certain to make a giant an outcast.
GIANTS OF YSGARD:
(from Planescape: Planes of Chaos - 1995 - [credits])
JOTUNHEIM:
"Giant Land," the country where the Norse giants live, is a harsh and demanding country where all small creatures are hunted by larger ones. Raw strength, elemental passions, and a sense of arrogant superiority make Jotunheim noxious. Abrasive weather and residents combine to make the giants' realm one of the least hospitable places among the Upper Planes.
Powers: Sutrtr and Thymm. The giant gods of frost and fire rule Jotunheim, though the other gods of the giants pay occasional visits. Surtr rules from Meerauk, while Thrym wanders the mountains and glaciers with a hand of giantish jarls (ruling lords). His court makes occasional stops in Utgard.
Jotunheim is a realm of frost and fire, volcanoes and glaciers, not hospitable to visitors. The land is made of desolate plains and snow-capped mountains. Only sickly vegetation grows here - stunted pines, yellowing mistletoe, and scraggly weeds.
Jotunheim's the site of the Well of Mimir. Guarded by Mimir the Wise, the water from this magical well increases the Wisdom of the drinker by 1-4 points. Mimir himself (Px/male mountain giant/Fated/N) answers only to the giants and the Norse powers; all others are slain. His well is sunk in a dark crevasse between two hills, where one of the major roots of Yggdrasil enters the land.
Utgard's the major city and fortress of Jotunheim's giants. Utgard is heavily defended and protected by illusions and camoflage. The city is ruled by a giant king, Utgard-Loki (see below), who keeps a council of Jarls in line through sheer force of will. Succession among the giants is a bloody but usually mercifully short affair involving the slaughter of all pretenders to the throne until only one remains. On the few occasions when there are no survivors, an ambitious commonder giant founds a new dynasty, usually a shaman or respected war leader.
Meerrauk is the ancient thronehall of the giants, an enormous underground city carved from soft volcanic stone. Its towers are entire mountaintops, and its roots reach under the stone to the rivers of fire that burn beneath the entire earthberg. The Skull-Throne of Ymir is the eseat of all giantish authority; no giantish king crowned elsewhere is recognized in Ysgard.
The smallest of Jotunheim's notable settlements is the hall of the great Ring-giver of the giants, Brimir (M/male frost giant/Fighter 5/Ring-Giver/chaotic neutral). His beer-hall is Okainir, a raucous place in summer that's almost entirely deserted in the winters, when Brimir is said to hibernate atop the beer kegs in the cellar. Giants come here to wresetle, boast, and drink themselves senseless, and they don't like visitors who can't keep the giants' pace. Any berk who can is welcome.
Special Conditions: Dwarves and gnomes are particularly hated and are prized prey - the giants of Jotunheim hate the small folk because Thor's hammer Mjolnir (whose bite has felled many a giant) was forged by Norse dwarves.
The volsing clan of fourteen mountain giants runs a ferry over the River Iving between Asgard and Jotunheim. They cross the Iving once at dawn, noon, and evening. During the season of the midnight sun, they add a midnight crossing as well. Their raft can carry a thousand men and five hundred ponies, though few travelers send their mounts. (One of the clan has a fondness for horsemeat, and those who argue with the giants don't survive the river crossing.)
Principal Nonplayer Characters: Many giants can work magic, but none are so skilled at it as Utgard-Loki (M/male mountain giant/ Priest 14/W(l)14/Fated/Chaotic Neutral), one of the most powerful of the giants of Jotunheim. Utgard-Loki has wrestled with the Aesir and won through magic.
A wandering shaman of Kostchtchie preaches the tanar'ri lord's doctrine to the frost giants. Not even the Guvners know how many have joined his worshippers, since they've all been taken to Kostchtchie's layer of the Abyss to become frost mages. A dozen of the mages recently returned as high-ups, preaching to their fellows for more converts.
A movanic deva with broken wings serves as the jester in the city of Jotunheim, where he is kept chained to the high table. Named Silverwing by the giants who ambushed him years ago, he has never spoken a word in his long years of confinement. His wings were deliberately crushed under rocks until the bones reset at twisted angles, and he will never fly again. His bedraggled feathers are constantly molting. Some say the feathers bring luck, others bar that.
Services: the giants do little for those who aren't both rich and powerful; it's beneath their dignity to work for the little folk. Any basher wanting to do business with the giants must first prove [they're] worthy, and [they'd] better be a blood if [they want] to outwrestle, outfight, or outrun a giant in some challenge. They can drink an ale horn the size of an ox cart and eat a netful of fish. Despite their reputation for thick-headedness, many giants are as canny as knights of the cross-trade. 'Course, a basher who loses a riddling contest with a giant is more pathetic than one who loses a wrestling match - though probably in better shape.
If a blood can show up a giant, [they'll] always be respected in Jotunheim, where respect brings gifts, followers, and favors. Otherwise, [they have] no choice but to buy from the dwarves, who charge double for everything they bring to Jotunheim.