Whether they are known as titans, ancients, primordials, or some other name that emphasises their impossible ages and impossible strength. They will not say where they came from, only that they are not Gods and will not be worshipped.
They are said to have been the creators of cyclops kind, but again refute these claims, saying they are simply cousins rather than parents. In appearance they are more "human" than most, with tanned skin and long hair, not bearing any elemental markers like the the grey cracked stone giant flesh or the wispy locks of cloud giants. They are simply enormous, usually at least twice the size of most giant-kind.
Galangir, Sage of the Sands
Galangir is the eldest sister of this ancient family, and beloved by her siblings. She wears a simple grey pelt, and knows every story ever told and every life ever lived, storing them in grains of sand as they pass. She is graceful, and gentle, and wise, and her smile never leaves her face, though those who know her well can see it sometimes fills with wistfulness.
Her stories travel with her, forming a moving desert a hundred miles across called An'Galaris. She carries the weight of history within her domain, acting as a chronicler for every child that is born or star that dies under her watch. Myths say that her desert existed first, that she was born from a collection of the sands that assembled from the birth of the universe and gained consciousness on their own. When asked, she simply laughs the question away and responds with some of her own.
Sylas met Galangir long ago, before he ever came to the Giant Lands. She had settled on an island in The Varolian Sea, awaiting the passing of what she called "The Last Great Dawn Titan". Now that he knows her desert travels with her in a great, 100 mile wide dust cloud, he wonders what will happen once her task is done and she has to pass through occupied lands to get home.
Orolos, The Wordsmith
Orolos is the eldest brother of this ancient family, and beloved by the lesser giants. He is the only one who remains in civilised lands regularly, and is the ruler of the largest city on the continent. He carries with him a monolith of stone at all times, upon which words swim and dance - every word ever spoken, and every word that ever will be.
His city is one of wonders, hidden from the world by runes of hiding and blessed with technologies utilizing runes not yet discovered. Where his sister collects the past, he uncovers the future. He is as gentle as she is with his great size, though he smiles less often and his bouts of wisdom are sometimes interrupted with fits of twitchiness, as though suddenly realising or being told something from afar.
Sylas remembers only a little of what he saw in the city of Orolos, and only a little of their conversation. He knows the giant was welcoming and told him many things. But after the conversation the Wordsmith spoke a rune of memory, and much drifted from Sylas' mind.
Velagrin, The Martyr
Velagrin is the most tragic of his ancient kin, bound not to Stories or Words—but to Truth. He cannot lie, and senses all falsehoods. Oaths sworn in his presence become written into his skin, and tear open his flesh when they are broken.
He was once relied upon by giant-kind, before his scars were many. He officiated weddings and oversaw peace treaties. His presence allowed giants to trust one another, and they sought him out for counsel and clarity. But only his siblings could ever truly be trusted. Marriages failed or wars renewed, and his skin opened as if cut with a great blade. In the earliest days he raged at those who offended him, crushing their homes and cursing their bloodlines.
But since then he has forgiven the lesser giants, for they cannot help themselves. He is quiet now, and slow moving. He has become a hermit that only the wise or the desperate seek out in order to prove their words true to others. And whenever a new, inevitable, wound opens upon him, he simply accepts it as the nature of lesser beings, suffering for them without retaliation.
When Sylas found him, he could not believe the grim, cloaked figure could be related to Galangir and Orolos, so full of life and light as they were. He was crooked and limped when he walked, and carried such sadness in his eyes.
Amongst their conversations, Velagrin pointed to a still-bleeding wound that stretched all across his heavily scarred body, stating that "Remind your Gods that their debt remains. Orolos tells me I will be collecting it soon."
Caladros, He-Lives-Again
Most of the Elder Giants are strange to outsiders, but perhaps none more-so than Caladros, whose body dies and is reborn every day at exactly midnight. A newborn cries from inside the fading chest of an old man, and within half an hour has learned to crawl away from the now-vanished corpse, carrying a journal as old as time with it. Over the course of a few hours he has grown into his childhood and runs free across the land in the pale moonlight, becoming an adult just before the dawn.
As an adult he travels, seeing the world around him again and again with fresh eyes every day, taking in the majesty of all creation. On days he encounters lesser giants as he walks he dances with them, sometimes falling in love, sometimes starting a brawl, sometimes helping them build wonders.
By the time the sun begins to set his beard has grown grey and he settles down somewhere comfortable. He writes of his experiences into his journal, recounting the colour of every flower he saw and the name of every beast or giant he met. And then he dies, and starts the day again.
Igrithé, Thief of Dreams
The youngest sister of this ancient family, and feared by the lesser giants. She stands alone atop a lake nearly a hundred miles across, walking its surface as though it were glass. The waters are perfectly still, impossibly clear, and unimaginably deep. Each droplet contains the hopes of a soul; their dreams for who they could be or what they could do; the potential of a life in physical form. Each time a life is born a drop of rain manifests and falls silently into the lake, adding to her eternal collection.
Though she seeks only to collect a record of these hopes, standing eerily still upon her lake and rarely interacting with anyone but her kin, myths and legends swirl around her claiming malevolence. Some believe that she haunts those who have abandoned their goals or twisted their souls in pursuit of them, such as a paladin falling to cruelty to avenge injustice, or that the steals the hopes of those who see their reflections in her waters, leaving them as hollow men without any purpose in life.
Yet her siblings see her as she is; contemplative and quietly pondering, yet so full of hope and the desire to know how these hopes end up, whether each life is able to achieve everything they wanted.
Marunhet, The Lantern-Keeper
The youngest brother of this ancient family, and feared by his siblings. He is a collector of what-might-have-been; each time a choice is made, he considers the future that could have played out were the other choice made. The heroes that could have been made had people not turned from glory, the war that could have been avoided had the king forgiven a slight, the lives that could have been ruined had a partner gone through with their betrayal.
He carries them all in a lantern upon his staff, with an ever-growing flame that reveals potential futures you avoided when you look into it. He leaves lesser lanterns on roads across the continent as a warning to those who find them: a great choice is soon upon them, that could change the shape of their lives. Some have even gone to him, begging him to undo a choice, to rewrite their fate to a better one they saw in the fire. He has never granted them this wish, yet offers counsel
He seems a benevolent figure to the lesser giants, yet to his siblings he bears resentment. In his lantern he sees such incredible potential that has been lost due to their choices, and will never hesitate to start an argument over the fact they will not change their ways to avoid the potential futures he has seen.
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