Stone Giant

"You are mistaken, mortal, time is our ally, not yours. Come, fight me with your blade made of stolen earth, let us see who wins."

— A stone giant to a trespassing mortal

Cliffside

The oldest of them are older than the mountains, though they rarely speak of it. They move slowly and deliberately, each step a rumble that echoes through the earth, each breath a long exhale that carries the weight of centuries. Their skin is rough and craggy, like the surface of an ancient cliffside, veined with quartz and flecked with lichen. To see one is to mistake it, at first, for the landscape itself; until it shifts and the mountain rises to its feet.
They are creatures of patience, but not peace. Stone giants hold grudges as firm as the earth holds its bones, and their memories are long. A slight against one may go unanswered for decades, but when they move to respond, their vengeance is unstoppable. Yet, for those who approach with reverence and care, they can be surprisingly gentle, their massive hands capable of cradling a sapling or tracing the fine etchings on a shard of pottery they unearthed centuries ago.

Underhill

Their homes are deep in the earth, in places where light is a distant memory. Caverns and tunnels form their domain, spaces where their size and slowness feel at home. They carve their dwellings from living rock, not with tools but with their bare hands, shaping vast halls and intricate stonework that speaks to their meticulous nature. Some say their subterranean cities are filled with treasures - gems that shine like stars, veins of gold - but few who venture to find them return.
Stone giants are bound to the earth in ways mortals cannot comprehend. They hear its whispers, feel its shifts, and carry its weight in their very being. To them, time is a river of stone, slow and inevitable, carving its path through eternity.
And though they rarely concern themselves with the fleeting lives of mortals, there is a quiet sadness in their eyes, a grief for a world they have seen change too quickly, crumbling as surely as the cliffs worn away by the sea.