Kingdom of Jotun

The Kingdom of Jotun is one the longest lasting independent nations in Prima Terra makes up one of the three nations of the Aedrinaran Islands and is the only organized nation of Giants in the continent. Formally a colony of the ancient Krowethic Empire, Jotun has been an independent kingdom since the late mythic age, starting around the 3300s, and began stylising itself as the 'kingdom of the jotun' in 3700s with the first Frost King being crowned.
An isolated and secretive kingdom, Jotun engages in trade only with its immediate neighbours of the Eighth Kingdom of Aedrinar and the Ice Elf city leagues, and even then only when those people come to their ports. The majority of this trade is done through the non-giant led city of Jameleska, and the 'smalltown' district of Nordenstor. Jotun is a self-sufficent nation, producing enough food and resources for themselves, and exhanging only certain levels of surplusses via these ports. Their imports tend to be luxery goods or limited supplies, such as Aedrinaran meads, ivory, pelts, and additional mithral or Aracnium.

Structure

Jotun is a feudal nation, ruled by The Frost King and divided into smaller 'duchy' level administrations. Each feudal position is inherited by the oldest son or daughter, depending on the position. Below these duchy levels are smaller lords and barons who rule over towns, villages, or areas of land and below them are settled 'barons' who might rule over smaller areas. These structures are usualy family based.

Culture

Jotun is a very isolated culture, valuing their privacy and solitude. Outside connections are limited to key ports and districts within Jotun itself, such as Jameleska, Nordenstore, New Ammandor, and the ports on the island of Nyytkrow. The Jotun take value in their families, with family lines and branches living in close proximity to each other and intrafamily fueds being rare to unheard of. 
The Jotun tend to have stricter definitions and gender roles than other cultures, with titles and lands being inherited by sons or daughters. Whilst their funding nation of the Krowethic Empire appears to be a patriarchal society, there are no legal or culture limits on the role of women within Jotun and gender status is roughly equal. Women tend to inherit positions of business or religious heirarchy more than men do, whilst men tend to inherit farmlands or noble titles more.
Naming traditions are also flexible. Whilst many Jotun will have a first name and a family name, if they inherit a position from a relative they assume the title of that position. For example, the king of the nation is always known as the Frost King, and no numbering is designated to differentiate between frost kings themselves.
The Jotun also tend to favour tight living communities, with isolated homesteads or keeps being rare to find. Staying within your community, and sticking together, is seen as a virtue, and defending your community or family against outsiders is expected.
The Jotun are also a less warlike people than their neighbours. The ages of Jotun expansionism are long past, and although supporting a fomidable field of warriors, this seems to be for civil or defensive purposes. The only direct war, outside of defending or reclaiming conquerered territory, in the last thousand years has been in the 40 Year War, where they joined The Commonwealth coalition to liberate their ancestral homeland in Cape County from the Seldrinar Supremacy and Eldrian Empire.
In the distant past, Jotun once practiced slavery, or thralldom, but this mostly came out of fashion by the early second age due to the connotations with the defeated Forgotten Gods. This thralldom would exist in small pockets, such as Theygor, but was never condoned. As a grevious crime under Aedrinaran law, if an Aedrinaran every came across a Jotun slaver they would be sure to wage war on them and kill them, and this was never stopped by a Frost King if it occured.

History

Colonization

Jotun traces its ancestry to a series of colony ships, led by the frost giant Ymir, that left the Krowethic Empire sometime arouund 1100, ma. Landing in what is now the Duchy of Jameleska, the island of Jotun ruled by Svartvelheim and Lich King Gryllfagor. Ymir and the frost giants would war against Svartelheim, winning key battles at The Icelets, Astergor, and Fasingos.
Scattering the surviving Svartelheimers, they became roaming nomadic tribes of goblinoids scattered in isolated forests and mountains. The Giants set about building colony cities to mine resources, and came into some minor conflict with outposts and raiders of the Forgotten Gods. Building a capital at New Amannor, the Frost Giants of the Colony of Jotun would exhange supplies with their fatherland in the Krowethic Empire whilst building coastal defences and new resource settlements to access the plentiful ores and to hunt the giant fauna of the region.
Three Jotun colonists, during the reign of Governor Ymir II, the future gods Loki, Aegir, and Surtur would join with Odin's host to fight the forgotten gods. In common myth, Loki would inspire the Jotun and Krowethic Empire to join the war outright - committing the force of Jotun to destroying the cult. These three new deities are idolized in Jotun society, with temples to them being widespread alongside temples to the Allfather of the giants themselves.
A troll-led cult, known as the Cult of Varpak, also emerged in the colony but was snuffed out by the colonial authorties. They were driven underground and would continue to exist for centuries, infiltrating the frontiers of Jotun society.
Back on the continent, the Krowethic Empire entered a decline during the Mythic Age Collapse period that saw disease and revolt spread throughout their empire. Gradually, administration and contact between the colony and their fatherland declined, eventually stoppign alltogether by the 3300s. Jotun became known as 'The Lost Colony' to mainlanders and was a popular folktale and myth. From this point onwards, the nation was fully indepedent.

Early Independence

Jotun, now fully independent, did not stylise itself as its own nation for some time. It would not be for another generation, when the first Frost King crowned themselves, that the kingdom started to become its own indpendent culture rather than just a cut-off extenstion of the dying Krowethic Empire. This first frost king had dreams of conquest, taking some of the 'western isles' of Aedrinar that were ruled by nomadic clans and turned on the early Ice Elves of Asrinheim during the Jotun-Vaniri war with dreams of taking their rich lands and subjugating them.
This near century long war is remembered only in legend and some evidence of might battles along the coast of Asrinheim. On the eastern shores of Furunheim, the petrified masts of Jotun warships dot the coastline between the island and Sudalfenland. House Ardiylir would be the leading coaltion against the Jotun. The only major victory the Jotun seemed to have aquired was in taking the island of Vanaheim, destroying House Waterglow in the process and sacking Frigganhelm.
The Jotun were defeated by an elven force who destroyed New Ammanor, killing the Frost King and forcing a peace treaty upon them. After the war, it became a coming of age ritual for the ice elves to slay a frost giant for centuries. Smaller bands of humans also settled along the coastline of the kingdom and its surrounding isles, being regularly invaded or subjugated for tribute.

Flight of the Dragons to the Second Age

By 1600, the Jotun were an isolated and improvished nation. The arrival of the 7 Dragons fleeing the east brought chaos to their land as the Silver Guardian landed on Rauttland and plagued their coast, taking down warriors and towns that stood against it in their hunt. This led to the Giants to breeding the limited population of Basiliks, originally imported from Krowethia, causing the population to swell and continue to plague the region to this day.
After a frost king died trying to invade the dragon's lair, his successor turned to Aedrinaran queen Queen Astrid I Dragontamer to quell the monsters. Astrid would peacefully calm the Silver Guardian, and they became the protector of the Basilisk Library of the Order of the Seven Skalds in the region. The Jotun paid homage to Astrid for her lifetime, resuming to full independence after her death and the disbandment of the Second Kingdom of Aedrinar.
The nation remained small and contained, only occasionally battling with the neighbouring Aedrinarans. Ice Elves would continue to hunt Frost Giants throughout Jotun, often solitary hunter packs or occasionally infiltrating settlements to find their targets. The Jotun were known to sink any longship that entered their waters with their impressive navy and coastal mounted catapults and platforms.
There are conflicting reports of the Aedrinaran high kings of the Third Kingdom of Aedrinar raidign their land, some sagas and chronicles claim notable Aedrinaran leaders and warriors during this time would pillage the shorelines, but these are disputed as propaganda to boost notable figure's status. There was some limited break in isolation as the Blizzard Duke of Nordenstor signed a treaty with House Winter-Shield to allow some trade, namely whale carcases from Winterharbour in exhchange for stone and Giant help in exapanding their town's harbour.
It is unclear whether the giants joined the coalition forces at the Battle of Adar at the end of the first age to defeat the Soulthek. Mixed myths and legends say they did - and an ancient Jotun text promising the Lost Colony would return to their homeland three times in their history - once to defeat darkness, once to defeat the sun, and a final time to save the world, theorizes that the 'defeating darkness' line refers to this battle.

Rise of Jameleska

During the early second age - ice elf hunting of giants continued. It was on the shores near a human settlement known as Jotunbrygge that Jamel and Valeska arrived. The two came across a mutated frost giant that had become an aspect of Varpak, the troll god. Slaying the subjugator of the town, they would return centuries later to become its rulers.
Jotunbrygge ebbed and flowed between Jotun and human control for centuries, until Dalion I would cement independence in the 1490s of the second age, starting work on what would become the inner walls of the city. It was not until 1772, 2a that the town was renamed Jameleska and King Ragnir I of Drekenheim, armed with the Hammer of Thunderbolts, expanded to control most of what is now the Duchy of Jameleska - including the jotun towns of Jastingrag and Theygor.
The giants would lose every conflict with the Jameleskans, who managed to construct their middle walls in  the early 1800s - and warriors and settlers arrived from across the isles to populae the city and gain access to the wealthy resoruces of Jotun itself. The tides eventually turned in Jotun's favour in the 2000s, as the reign of House Snowflower saw the Giants retake the western coastline and Jastringrag, as well as regions on the eastern coast north of the city. Fir a hundred years, skirmishes and wars broke out that pushed Jameleska to only its outer most fortifactions. The hammer of thunderbolts was also lost in a failed Jameleskan counter-attack, taking away the city's greatest weapon.
The jameleskans stopped stylising themselves as kings, and Duke Paladin III halted further wars by allying with Aedrinaran and Elven houses that would have put the kingdom in greater danger of conquest. The city finally came under Jotun control for the first time in the early third age, under the rulership of Karl I, and the city became a freeport. This ended the isolation of the kingdom, as more trade opened up between Jameleska to the rest of the isles.

Hostility Period

The kingdom became more disunited, with vassals acting indepdently of a weak frost king. The ruler of Nyytkrow, The Krow Prince, invaded Einmanfjell, launching the First Jotun-Aedrinaran war in . King Olaf III Kingmaker and the warriors of the Seventh Kingdom of Aedrinar would defend the island, and launch counter-invasions across Nyttkrow and Forntorheim and Olaf trained and funded Henry of Jameleska to prepare for a revolution within the duchy.
The Jotun-Aedrinaran war ended with defeat in 552. The Aedrinarans occupied their conquered islands, and continued to pillage the coastline in the aftermath of the conflict. This tyranny by Olaf would finally end the thousand year long rivalry between giants and elves, as both were under the subjugation of the Aedrinaran humans. The last deliberate giant hunt by an elf as a coming of age ritual occured in 588.
Revolt broke out in Jameleska in 579 when Olaf's protogee, Henry Rassendorf, offically rebelled against the Jotun kingdom. Supplied with arms and reinforcements by the Aedrinarans, the sides were drawn to a standstill within the Titansgrove and around Storonthorpe for centuries. The war finally ended in 691 with the Treaty of Lastlight that saw the Duchy refolded into the kingdom of Jotun, with additional freedoms and liberties, as well as soverignty over the territory of Astergor.
Only a few decades later, in 710, 3e, the Second Jotun-Aedrinar war broke out. The Jotun reclaimed their lost territories in swift victories at Lokindor and Gudshard, restoring the old borders and allowing peace to foster as the Aedrinaran Jarls submitted their axes in surrender. The Frost King would forge a new crown out of the melted down weapons of the wars over the last two-hundred years.

Modern Period

Since 710, Jotun has remained a quiet nation. Called a 'lumbering mammoth' by the Elder of House Salinir - Jotun is known to be deadly, but slow to react and generally peaceful. They only rose to action in the 40 year when stirred by the Aedrinaran High King to retake their homeland from the 'heathen' Seldrinar and Eldrians, commiting their juggernaughts to destroying the occupying hose and liberating The Commonwealth, the nation that now controls the heart of their fatherland.
A minor crisis in 1052, 3e, saw The Snow Lord, the renegade ruler of Jastingrag, start a war with Jameleska. The Frost King and other giants were nearly bent to his will, when the Eyes of Varpak † used dark sorcery to poison the heirs of every noble house in the realm. Doomed 2 Die would halt this plan and save the kingdom and city of Jameleska.

Demography and Population

A giant nation, the Kingdom of Jotun is majority Frost Giant. Smaller bands of other giants, such as the fire giants of Astergor, Hill Giants, and Storm Giants, can be found across the kingdom in closely nit communities. Forthengar is also exclusively ran by Cloud Giants and floats above its mountain.
A variety of human and elven cultures have hybridized in the metropolis of Jameleska, forming a unique culture of their own. Humans from Aedrinar, The Eldrian Empire, Commonwealth, and even as far of Sargon have mixed with halflings, gnomes, ice elves, imperial elves, and a few Southern Elves. A diverse and populace melting pot of a city, it is by far the most cultuarlly unique pocket of the nation.
Roaming bands of Jotun Goblinoids can also be found. The descendents of the fallen kingdom of Svartelheim, these tribal bands stay far away from civilization - either hunted or used as mercenaries by ruling Giant families.
The nation remains stable in its birth and death rates, with the only spikes coming from Jameleska, which was growing rapidly until a sudden decline in the recent war with the Frost King, but appears to be rebounding stronger than before. The mixed population of Jameleska equals the rest of the population of the kingdom. Life expectancy for giants is around 400 years old.

Territories

The kingdom controls the islands of Jotun, Veggenheim, Rauttland, Forntorheim, and Nyttkrow in the Aedrinaran archipelago. These territories are divided into the following duchies:
Frost King's Lands

• New Amanor
• Caanran

Duchy of Jameleska

• Jameleska 
• Jastingrag 
• Storonthorpe 
• Theygor 
• Astergor 

Twinned Mountainlands

• Forthengar
• Ishingrad

Isle of Veggenheim

• Amman's Light
• Jotunhall

Talheim

• Frostfall
• Mashgoran
• Nordenstor

Island Hold

• Lokindor
• Saarkthel
• Isle of Forntorheim

Military

The Kingdom, as a whole, holds no organized or single army. Some warriors or citizens may be sworn to a certain lord or baron, but they act more as a defensive force than a hostile invading one. They can be called into war at any time, or volunteer if needed, and due to their size and strength even a disorganized Jotun militia can prove a deadly foe for any army. The only exception to this is the Jameleskan Military, a standing army from the duchy that makes use of impressive technology, training, and numerous corps that mainly defend Jameleska, but should the nation ever be invaded by a hostile force they would be called to defend any town or city.
Jotun does hold a standing navy of ships, with some vassals having smaller fleets of their own. This navy mainly patrols their territoral waters to deter pirates or sea monsters, but can engage in impressive blockades - such as that seen during the 4-week war between The Snow Lord and Jameleska.

Founding Date

Between 3300-1700 ma

Alternative Names

The Lost Colony

Predecessor Organizations

• Krowethic Empire
• Svartvelheim

Demonym

Jotun

Government System

Monarchy, Absolute

Power Structure

Feudal state

Economic System

Market economy

Currency

The Kingdom of Jotun uses two currencies. Frostmarks, giant, ornate precious gems of various weights for the Giant population, and utilizes the Aedrinaran Gold, Silver, and Copper economy for their smaller folk - breaking down the gems in exchange for raw currency as a form of exchange.

Executive Body

The Frost King rules as an absolute monarch - their court in New Amannor is ran entirely by the royal family, the House of Ymir. The king has final saw over war, foreign relations, military planning, grand nation spanning projects, and the division of territory. The smaller land barons may hold dominion over their cities or regions, but pay homage to the Frost King as vassals and must follow their every word.

Location

Aedrinaran Islands

Neighboring Nations

• Eighth Kingdom of Aedrinar

Related Species

• Frost Giant
• Hobgoblin
• Human

Related Ethnicities

• Jameleskan
• Jotun
• Jotun Goblinoid