The Ordning

The rules that determine the rigid structure of Giant society. The Ordning was imposed by Eyal to limit the potential power of the Giants compared to Eyal's own creation, the Elves.
There are two fundamental aspects to the Ordning - the peculiar nature of Giant children and the rigid and detailed caste structure that all True Giants adhere to strictly.
The different types of True Giant - Hill Giants , Stone Giants , Frost Giants, Fire Giants, Cloud Giants and Storm Giants - are actually all the same species. Any pair of giants may breed any type of giant. When a giant child is born, it is not apparent what type of giant he or she will be. And the type of giant that his or her mother and father are has no impact on this. When young giants reach adolescence, they leave their parents and travel into the wilderness to dwell on their own. After a few months of feeding, they find a secure location to hibernate in. During this hibernation, they slowly transform into an adult giant. From this point on, they are forever physically and culturally a particular type of giant.
Some types of giants are rarer than others. When they emerge from hibernation, roughly 30% of giants will be simple Hill Giants, 25% Stone Giants, 10% Frost Giants, 10% Fire Giants, 5% Cloud Giants, 5% Storm Giants and 15% will suffer from Taint.
The different types of giants are very different and each has their own culture and even their own preferred environment. The Ordning dictates a totally rigid caste system whereby Storm Giants have higher status than Cloud Giants, who in turn have higher status than Fire Giants, then Frost Giants, Stone Giants and Hill Giants at the very bottom of Giant society. Giants of different types do not generally mix. Within each type above Hill Giant, there is a detailed list so that each giant knows his or her place. Every storm, cloud, fire, frost or stone giant knows which giants of his own kind he or she is superior to and which he or she is inferior to, but he or she also knows that he is superior to all giants of lesser types and that he is inferior to all giants of higher types.
On those rare occasions when giantkind unites, it is always under the leadership of a strong Storm Giant ruler - a Storm King.
Many scholars believe that the seeds of what eventually became the War of the Elves and the Giants were sown in the Giants' resentment of Eyal (creator and patron of the Elves) for his imposition of the Ordning on giantkind.