Man Flesh Hunts

CW: humans as a foodstuff, slavery, forced marriage

Man flesh hunts are a ritual practised by the race of Giants. They occasionally send raids out to the surrounding lands, in order to capture humans. The humans that they like they take as spouses, others they kill, and enjoy their flesh as a feast. Not much is known for sure of the giant culture, but it seems this serves as a coming of age ritual to the young members of the clan. This rite is most notable among the organised clans of stone giants, even though the more solitary forest giants regularly raid human settlements too.

Notable instances

Once the Hero Ásinnar used one of these hunts to get captured by the giants, and to infiltrate their inpenetratable Stone Fortress. This way she was able to get to the Gates of the Underword, and travel to the land of the dead.

History

It is not known when this tradition began, but the giants have been attacking their human neighbors for the whole human history. An important shift in the culture happened, when the Giant kings became the rulers of the human tribes in the centuries preceeding the Giant Wars. Then the rulers would protect their people from other rival giants, effectively securing them a monopoly of human products that were previously only obtainable from raids. Then in the Giant Wars fought in the last century BFS the giants were banished away from the plains. After that the raids continued locally, but lately the sightings of the giants have become ever more rare.

Execution

The giants participating in the man flesh hunts are typically young (by the giant standards) and inexperienced in war. They prefer stealthy tactics, attacking small settlements in the cover of the night, taking easy captives and retreating if they face serious opposition. Based on rare survival stories the captives are then taken swiftly back into the giants' caves. They are then inspected by older members of the clan, who seem to fulfill the role of a spiritual leader. Although the details are unknown, the hunters seem to receive rewards based on the captives they took. The favourite captives are then kept separately for being married, while the others are caged away for a few days at most, until they are slaughtered for a fiest.

Giant reproduction

The giants don't appear to have different sexes, at least notisable to the human observer, but the humans usually prefer to refer to them with male terms for their large size and aggressive manners. It is unknown if the Giants are capable of reproducing within their own kind, but they seem to prefer taking spouses of other races, humans and spirit beings alike. Thus, it seems the hunts are a vital part to the continuation of their society.
There are many competing thories of why the Giants have resently become more rare, even to the brink of disappearing altogether, but a strong hypothesis is that the increesing degree of infighting between the giants and a few individuals claiming all the potential partners disrupted their reproductive cycle, leading to the downfall of their race.