Cloud Giant
Cloud giants, called Skyejotunen in their own language, were a race of giants who preferred living among the clouds.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Cloud giants stood erect at soaring heights around 24 feet. Their huge bodies weighed around 11,500 pounds.
The bodies of cloud giants often displayed handsome and well-defined features. Their skin ranged in color from milky white to light sky blue. Their hair was silvery white or brass, and their eyes were iridescent blue.
Ecology and Habitats
Most cloud giants lived atop high mountains,14328 inside or even above a near-perpetual cloud layer.328 Due to their ordning a cloud giant's home was often extravagant throughout, sporting such things as windows29 framed in gold leaf or tapestries composed entirely of pearls.10 All cloud giant strongholds had a space devoted to a garden. These were seldom ever affected by drought, frost, or locusts.29
Cloud palaces often had complex scrying devices to keep an eye upon the inhabitants of the region they lived in.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Many cloud giants were known to hunt for wild game, such as elk,30 but in general they were avid gardeners, growing gigantic versions of produce. Such as beans the size of turnips, turnips29 and apples the size of pumpkins, grapes the size of apples, and pumpkins the size of wagons14 or carriages.29
They preferred their food to be carefully prepared with a variety of spices and sauces. Cloud Giants were also known to have a fondness for finely aged wine
Behaviour
Cloud giants were easygoing people,11 highly creative, masters at strategizing, and had great appreciation for music.34 They considered life to be a series of obstacles, which were meant to be met with joy rather than sorrow and overcome with applications of skill.12
Cloud giants commonly had superiority complexes, considering other creatures to be their "lessers",12 which at times blinded them to the consequences of their actions.13 They also had an obsession with gambling and wagering,1014 with a strong desire for high risks and high rewards, frequently betting on the outcomes of events outside of their control.
Magic
Out of all the giant races, cloud giants were the most outwardly magical. Possessing an innate ability for casting spells related to the air, gravity, and weather.17 Being able to summon forth a cloud of fog and mist at will314 or turn themselves into mist. Some had even greater control of the weather, being able to bring forth storms and steer the wind just as well as any storm giant.14
Cloud giants were known to innately have a high affinity for both runecasting and traditional sorcery.
Combat
As they were often skilled in strategizing, cloud giants often fought with other creatures in well-organized units under a carefully developed plan of attack. A typical tactic among them was encircling an enemy and barraging them with rocks to distract from the spellcasters among them.4
When it came to close quarters combat, they were known to favor the use of greatclubs19 and morningstars that were appropriately sized for their use.
Additional Information
Social Structure
The central unit of cloud giant life was family units, rather than the standard giant clan. Consisting of a mated pair, their offspring (if any),28 and a couple of close relatives.29 The members of a family usually shared the same sort of alignment.14
In times of need, scattered cloud giant families would band together as a unified clan.1429 These were typically led by older individuals who possessed great talent in spellcasting. Every clan,4 family, and individual cloud giant knew where their nearest neighbors were, even if it was hundreds of miles away.29 Clans would sometimes join up with one another to engage in trade, throw celebrations, or battle against other threats.34 Though they preferred not to gather together in too great a number at any one place, knowing their combined treasure hordes would attract adventurers and would-be thieves.
Ordning
For cloud giants an individual's place in the Ordning was determined by extravagance and wealth.1429 Though possession of greater wealth didn't mean much unless it was on display, either by decoration of their home or themselves.29 Because of this, appearance was considered reflective of one's station in life, so the more clothing and jewelry one owned the more prestigious they were thought to be.4 Though there was also emphasis on these extravagances being beautiful or wondrous.14
Cloud giants also displayed their wealth by the giving of lavish gifts to other families. They believed the best gifts were those that everyone could be convinced was more valuable than its actual worth, with only the giver and receiver ever knowing the truth.10
One's wealth and place in the ordning could also be shifted by acts of gambling,1410 which served them as a sort of bloodless feud that could go on for generations between families.10 Individuals were even willing to wager their own ordning rank.1413 In earlier ages this gambling could involve simple games, such as quist and wah-ree, but over time it became common to bet on the outcomes of events outside of their control. These were referred to by the cloud giants as "contests" and thought to measure a cloud giant's ability to master the psychology of other creatures.12 If one tried to fix the outcome of such wagers by interfering, they were considered the loser if the deceit was discovered.
Their ordning also featured a complex etiquette revolving around the ideas of victory and loss, which dated back to the days of Nicias. Skilled winners were expected to know how to share their victories with all, while losers were expected to be gracious and humble. Because of this etiquette, loss was considered to be nothing more than the absence of victory.12 On occasion they could still be sore losers, resulting in those generations-spanning betting wars in which individuals hope to win back what their predecessors lost.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Cloud giants had vision that extended into the infrared, (although this was not infravision,) which allowed them to see particularly well through fog and cloud,15 as well as low-light vision.3 They also had an excellent sense of smell.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Common given names among cloud giants included the following:
Males: Ahdaug, Arltulk, Durvaskr, Krokr, Kurruk, Lhammurt, and Vorskar.
Females: Agatra, Dagna, Dakkra, Dyrdiss, Eistla, Faena, Faenra, Haelda, Laugra, Yastra, and Ystrid.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Culture and Cultural Heritage
They often dressed in clothing made of the finest material and jewelry. Rather than wearing any form of armor, they preferred to wear or carry things enchanted with protective magic. When they did wear armor, it was usually a chain shirt.
Cloud giant nobility seldom showed their faces, instead owning and wearing a collection of exquisite masks that were made of precious metals and adorned with gemstones — the act of wearing a mask was meant to emulate ancient depictions of their patron god Memnor. These masks reflected the noble's current mood, thus masks were prized for how accurate they could express a mood and an individual might shift between many in a single day. Only the richest of nobles could afford the dozens necessary to show all of the possible, subtle differences in emotions.
The patron god and father of the cloud giants is Memnor the Trickster, the cleverest and slyest of the giant deities. Cloud giants align themselves according to the aspects and exploits of Memnor that they most admire, with evil cloud giants emulating his deceitfulness and self-interest and good cloud giants emulating his intellect and silver-tongued speech. Family members usually align in the same direction.
Common Myths and Legends
The patron god and father of the cloud giants is Memnor the Trickster, the cleverest and slyest of the giant deities. Cloud giants align themselves according to the aspects and exploits of Memnor that they most admire, with evil cloud giants emulating his deceitfulness and self-interest and good cloud giants emulating his intellect and silver-tongued speech. Family members usually align in the same direction.
Those who sought to emulate this trickery above all else were known as smiling ones and wore two-faced masks — one smirking and one frowning, the latter meant to represent displeasure over their place in the ordning — that served as symbols of their devotion.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Among the giant races the cloud giants ranked third in the Ordning,38 yet they considered themselves to be above all the other giants,414 including storm giants due to their reclusive nature.14 Though when alongside a storm giant, they considered themselves to be equals.34 When it came to the lesser giant races, cloud giants often employed them to seek out wealth and art on their behalf. Hiring fire giants to act as smiths and crafters, frost giants to act as raiders and plunderers, and hill giants to act as general brutes and combat fodder. Sometimes having those of the hill variety fight each other for their amusement. They might even order the latter two to steal from nearby human lands.14
Non-Giants
Clouds giants often demanded tribute from humans and demihuman communities. They viewed tribute as only proper, for they drove many threats from the areas in which they lived and they were so kind as to not simply take what they wanted,29 though those of a more evil-alignment were liable to simply raid such communities.34
Many cloud giant families would offer their bountiful produce to such communities when they became stricken with drought, frost, or locusts. Such help was at the root of tales of magic beans and cottages carved from gourds.29 Good-aligned cloud giants were even known to engage in trade with humanoid communities for clothing, food, jewelry, and wine. Some communities established such good relations with nearby cloud giants that they would come to their aid if endangered.
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