Giant Kin
Born from runes beneath the skin of the earth from the pain of the planet trying to defend its surface, Giants are brutish accumulations of strength. They stand from 10 to 20 feet tall and originate the adjective 'giant' as a synonym for big or huge.
The sacrifice for their great strength and size came in the mind, they are slow to react and most are slow in thinking as well, but they are not to be messed with ultimately. They see smaller folk and are overcome with protective rage for their territory - as they were made to do, they will do everything in their power to rid the planet of these deemed threats. They fear no death but that of their territory.
Giants are mostly solitary by nature, few may live in small families but children will more often than not move on to their own space. They have their territory, their purpose and they solely act to further this purpose. Eating > keeps them alive > If they're alive they can protect.
Giants have little tolerance for other races but being slow to react can give the more cunning smaller Minds time to be persuasive or tricky or even kind. It is perhaps by these means that Giant's blood has found its way into the rest of the world. For even among Giants, there are exceptions to the standard norms. That said their blood has proved entirely domineering in physiology, only slightly increasing the eventual size of their offspring rather than meeting the parents halfway. Instead their smaller parent would be inherited in the mind.
Slowly over time their blood has thinned, as have their height and now those of this lineage are known simply as Giant Kin. Giant Kin stand out as their own Mind for being the largest of those that can dwell in settlements, while also having far too much thought and social ability to become a solitary guardian like the full Giants.
Appearance
Giants are humanoid in their general shape, they are then doubled or tripled in height. Each subrace of Giant has its own set of traits unique to their territory. Any mix of these traits can be passed along the line to their descendants.
Forest: The shortest of the Giants to navigate around the foliage. Large branching antlers of wooden appearance grow in place of their eyebrows. Their skin can be any shade of brown or dull navy blue. Their heads end in the splintered wooden edge of a chopped tree. Moss, lichen or small ferns may grow in place of hair and beards. Trunk-like legs capped by dual hooves plough the dirt. Legs and/or arms may be reinforced by coils of roots or vines. They bleed ember sap and may cultivate mosses or lichen on their forms.
Valley: They sport potted bellies and arching shoulders to nestle their head in a valley. Around their heads and down their backs they're thick with grassy manes.
Karst: Uneven and knobbly in silhouette as if stones have fallen across their shoulders and back to fuse to their form. Their skin can range from greys to oranges of stones, some even having wavey layers. Stacks of fused rocks create horns on their head. Some have mantles around their shoulders patterned to appear as if their heads sit atop a snow mountain.
Marsh: The most spindly of the Giants, when still they can easily be mistaken for dead trees. Vines and muck hang off of them to complete the look. They are browns and greens of mucky dull hues, bleed a black soil sludge and they have mohawk-like hair along their heads that can be mistaken for reeds lining a water's edge.
Dune: Are bottom-heavy with wide flat feet to transverse the dessert dunes or to roll down them like tumbleweeds. Their skin ranges from sandy creams to peachy orange. Pale hair is caked with sand from burrowing below the surface when idle and sleeping. Their flat feet detect vibrations through the sand for miles. Their large appearance on the horizon draws in those lost and wandering, only to come across a burrowed Dune Giant ambush.
Glacier: The tallest, they're entirely composed of whites and blues in colour. No hair but the fur-like manes around their necks. Perfectly white skin sparkles like snow when they plant themselves down in the white fall, others are bright blue to hide in the shadows of the glacial ice.
Giants are all united by bright vibrant green to aqua eyes, a trait which is often passed onto their Kin.
Height: Depends on the type of Giant, which depends on their terrain, going from 7-10 feet / 2-3 meters
Weight: Depends on the type of Giant, which depends on their terrain, going from 220-900 lbs / 100-400kgs
Features
Giant Kin take on a feature or few of their Giant ancestor, whether this be of forest, valley, karst, marsh, dune or glacier. If in the respective terrain, Giant Kin have an easier time navigating the area instinctively and usually have the appearance needed to easily blend within it.
Because Giant Kin are also enlarged humanoids in size, they also tend to be stronger and have the surface area to back it up: meaning they can carry twice as much as a standard human.
Naming Traditions
Family names
Giant names tend to translate from Grand to simple elements of nature in Penn, but most Giant Kin will adapt names from surrounding culture as well.
Examples: Gora (Gorge)
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