Giants

Typical Attributes

Bod 11 - 14, Chi 5, Mnd 5, Ref 5 (Move 8)

Schticks

• Animate Element (#)
• Camouflage
• Long Life (#)
• Old Way

Description

Giants are huge humanoids, ranging from two and a half to five meters tall or even larger in rare cases. They are somewhat more burly than humans for their length, and often adopt a coloration and skin texture appropriate to where they live, thus there are azure reef giants, yellow desert giants, white snow giants, deep green jungle giants and so on, all closely matched to their environments.

The giants of the Land of Fate do not wander the land like fur-clad barbarians. They dress as most civilized people do, in robes and tunics and turbans made of fine cottons and silks. If they can afford it and have need of it, they wear armor. Porter and dock worker giants wear what they find decent and comfortable.

The giants of Zakhara are ancient tribes and races from the early days of the world. Although they are respected for their huge size and strength, they are increasingly outnumbered by the smaller races, and their cultures have declined from the position of ruling the most fertile lands to subsisting in the corners of the world. Most giants accept this change and became enlightened, but a few still strive to restore their power over the land by forcing smaller races into service.

Zakharan giants stay apart from humans from a sense of superiority to smaller races. The exception is the hill giant race, which mingles freely with humans. Hill giants even live in harmony with other races in many of the great cities.

Zakharan giants do not just pick up the nearest rock or tree to use as a weapon - they prefer to use carefully crafted wood and metal weapons like gigantic bows, tridents, and even lances. One way to win any giant's trust is to provide such a weapon. While they prefer metal weapons, they cannot make them themselves from start to finish, because giants are such poor miners. To get coveted metals and finished weapons, Zakharan giants resort to many strategies: mercenary work, caravaning across the deserts, guiding jungle hunts, and diving after sunken treasures. Some giants prefer not to work for their gains; they locate the metals and take them by force. Zakharan giants are entirely willing to engage in trade to get various items such as coffee, cloth, and spices from other races. In exchange they offer rare furs and jungle flowers, riches from the sea, and opals or other gemstones taken from the deserts. A few exceptional giants take their skills to town and set up shop in the dwarven quarter. Generally only hill giants will truly adapt to city life.

Zakharan giants have written traditions of poetry and scholarship. Desert and reef giants are the most literate, and the work of their historians and scholars is valued by humans because of its overview of long time periods. All the giants of Zakhara are traditionalists: they believe that there are proper ways of doing everything, whether it be brewing tea, curing meat, negotiating a contract, or preparing a desert clan for battle. Not following giantish protocol is a serious breach of etiquette and often results in violent punishment or expulsion from the company of the giants, depending on the severity of the offense. Zakharan giants refuse to be rushed in anything, and they are supremely confident that their time honored methods are the best. Their scholarship is influenced by this tendency as well, with the result that it can be called plodding and reactionary. Giants look to the past more than they look to the future.

Giants, genies and gods do not get along, as genies refuse to recognize the power of the giants and their superior traditions, and giants refuse to give the genies tribute or the gods sacrifice; nor will either acknowledge the others as superior beings. The clash of these proud groups has perhaps been responsible for the slow decline of the giants, though neither giants, gods nor genies talk much of the other two.