Giants
Last updated
Last updated
Giants are towering humanoids usually 5.5 meters (18’) tall or more. They have immense strength and lifespans that span centuries or even millennia. They are deeply attuned to their environments and their primary element, and their physical characteristics reflect this connection. Most are solitary, yet their sheer presence often shapes the landscapes they inhabit.
The races of true giants are:
Fire giants average 6 meters (20’) tall and weigh up to 5,000 kg (5.5 tons). Their skin ranges from tan to deep red, often darkened by soot and ash. Their hair is typically black, blond, or brown, and their eyes burn with hues of yellow or gold. They can live for thousands of years.
Solitary by nature, fire giants stake out vast territories in volcanic regions, scorched wastelands, and other extreme environments. They require neither food nor water, instead absorbing heat or consuming fire, magma, and lava for sustenance.
Fire giants value strength above all else, and their existence is one of constant struggle, testing themselves against the world’s deadliest forces. They forge their own weapons and armor, wielding massive blades, axes, and warhammers with effortless precision. Most have an innate control over fire and wield elemental fire magic as an extension of their will, immune to even the most hellish infernos.
Proud and temperamental, fire giants bow to no one. They live and fight on their own terms, forging alliances only with those who match their power and earn their respect. They are quick to anger and slow to forgive, holding grudges that last for generations.
Frost giants average 6.4 meters (21’) tall and weigh up to 5,500 kg (6 tons). Their skin is icy blue and sometimes mottled with crusts of ice. Their hair can be white, blonde, or blue, and their eyes are pale blue or silver. They can live up to 600 years.
Frost giants are solitary wanderers who carve out dominion in the most inhospitable lands, inhabiting the frozen tundras and towering glacial peaks of Praetoria. While able to subsist on ice alone, many prefer the taste of raw, red meat as well.
They are the embodiment of the relentless, unyielding force of winter. They traverse their domain effortlessly, unfazed by blizzards and subzero temperatures. Most are skilled hunters, able to track prey across endless miles of snow and icy crags. In combat, they wield colossal axes, spears, and hammers forged of stone and ice.
Frost giants are grim and stoic. They respect only strength, endurance, and sheer force of will; only those who survive a frost giant’s wrath might earn their grudging respect.
Hill giants average 5.5 meters (18’) tall and weigh up to 4,500 kg (5 tons). Their skin is ruddy or earthen brown, often covered in grime, dust, or dried mud. Their hair is usually black or dark brown, unkempt and matted, and their eyes range from dull yellow to deep brown. They can live up to 300 years.
They are ravenous omnivores, consuming anything they can kill or scavenge, from livestock and wild game to entire trees when desperate. Their massive stomachs allow them to digest nearly anything organic, and their appetites drive much of their behavior.
Crude, brutal, and fiercely territorial, hill giants roam the rolling highlands and vast plains, taking what they want with sheer physical might. They have little need for weapons beyond the massive clubs, tree trunks, or jagged slabs of stone they swing with bone-crushing force. What they lack in refined craftsmanship, they make up for in raw endurance and brute strength.
Hill giants often live in loosely structured bands, where the strongest leads until overthrown. They respect little beyond overwhelming power and view most creatures as either food, threats, or nuisances. Though not inherently cruel, their dim-witted nature and insatiable hunger make them a danger to anything smaller and weaker than themselves—which is nearly everything.
Stone giants average 7 meters (23’) tall and weigh up to 6,000 kg (6.6 tons). Their skin is gray or slate-colored. They are bald, lacking hair anywhere on their bodies, and their eyes are typically a dull silver or a pale, grayish hue.
They can live for tens of thousands of years. Subsequently, to a stone giant, time moves differently. What others consider a lifetime, they see as a fleeting moment.
Reclusive and contemplative, stone giants prefer the company of stone to that of living creatures. They dwell in mountains, caves, and canyons, spending millennia carving vast, underground halls and chambers and meditating beneath the weight of the mountains.
Stone giants are not driven by hunger, rage, or conquest. Their diet consists exclusively of rocks and minerals. They are patient and methodical, not only in their lives, but also their every movement. Though formidable in combat, most prefer to avoid conflict unless provoked. When they do fight, they wield massive stone hammers, boulders, and even their bare hands with devastating effect.
Storm giants are the tallest of the giants, averaging 7.9 meters (25.9’) tall and weighing up to 6,800 kg (7.5 tons). Most have pale light-green or violet skin, dark-green or dark-blue hair, and dark-green or silver eyes. They can live up to 600 years.
They typically make their homes in arctic, subarctic, and alpine regions. They require neither sleep nor food. Instead, storm giants get sustenance and recuperation by drawing upon the raw power of tempests, which they are able to harness and control (e.g., wind, rain, hail, lightning, tornadoes, typhoons, blizzards, and other atmospheric calamities).
They are immune to lightning- and cold-based damage. Subsequently, they often wear fine tunics and leather sandals even in extreme arctic temperatures. In battle, they generally prefer flexible armor, such as chain or scale. They are found living in solitude, male-female pairs, families, and tribes.
Storm giants have a most unusual method of reproduction. Instead of giving birth naturally, gestation lasts until the mother dies, either of natural causes or otherwise. During this time, the unborn children are taught in vitro, learning language, culture, survival skills, etc. Upon the mother's death, they extravasate themselves from her belly, oftentimes as adolescents or young adults, depending on the period of gestation. If they are not mature enough to care for themselves, they are provided for by their father, kin, or tribe.