The Lesser Giants and Giant-Kin

The would was not always this full of small, scatterted peoples. Long ago, this was not a land of mortals, but of titans and now long dead gods. With thunderous booms the world quaked and shook at the march of these colossal beings, only to eventually either fade into history or be brought down by the countless mortal races. However, though so reduced, the giants still live to this day. Even more so, new life has sprout from the surviving giants and this time period, forming the plentiful lesser giant and giant-kin families. Describing each and every one in detail would be a monumental task, but what follows is a brief overview of the many creatures.

• Formians: Formians are perhaps some of the most nightmarish of the giant-kin in known tomes. Native primarily to the lands of the Celta Clans and the land of Vebastonne, these are strange beast like giants said to be fueling by hate, lust, death, war, and blood. They are said to have emerged from the nightmares of old giants, and are said to worship a one eyed god being known as Baalar. They are powerful, highly aggresive, and are seen as omens of darkness and doom. It is said they were once destoryed by the fey and Seele courts, but clearly, it was not enough.
• Desert Giant: Said to be the distant relatives of fire giants and dao genies, some have joked that this would technically make them nobility in the lands of Tajir. They are around 12-13 feet tall with swarthy skin that ranged from burgundy, maroon, and crimson. Suprisingly nimble for their size, these giants typically live as warrior nomads, hunting and riading what they can. They are cruel, but have a strange respect for elders and those who show honor in battle. They tend to worship elemnetals of fire and earth, and have the ability to manifest some minor control over sand. While violent, they also sell their blades as mercenaries, and many Tajiran Sultans have made use of Desert Giants as auxillary troops. Strangely, they have a special hatred for blue dragons, and some point to perhaps some ancestral feud between them, more so than the regular bad blood of giants and dragons.
• Forest Giant: A curious sort to be sure, forest giants resemble 11-foot tall wood elves, and while some point to hill giants as a possible ancestor, in truth little is known about where they come from. Some theorize they are the result of strange magicks in the Dale Woods, but regardless, these giants have bark like skin, leaf-green hair, and brown or green eyes. They are all vegetarian, only eating beans, berries, fruits, mushrooms, and roots. They are known as brooding and stoic, self proclaim themselves forest guardians (which can ruffle the leaves of some treants), and are paranoid of those outside the forest. Althought not aggresive, they are highly territorial, and will attack intruders quickly and violently. Trained in druidic arts, it is not uncommon for them to ally with the wood elves of the Great Dale and beyond, though these are always tense alliances. They are called upon by the wood elves only when needed, as most forest giants prefer to be alone.
• Sea Giant: Said to be the result of the Goddess of the Sea laying with a titan she chose as her consort, the children of this are the sea giants, who tower at around 14-15 feet. They are pale blue or sea green in skin, and said skin is highly tough and thickened from the pressures of the under ocean. Hair tends to be of green or orange in color, and they fashion armor of hide and shells of larger creatures. Most sea giants build settlements near coasts, as they like to eat the animals on the surface. Most tend to avoid surface dwelllers, but some have been known to trade or banter with costal dwellers. However others have been known to raid and burn ships and costal towns, kidnapping townsfolk to use as slaves or for randsom. Also said to be able to exert some control over the oceans and waves.
• Swamp Giant: Somehow an even more brutish and savage degredation of the hill giant, swamp giants are aggresive and simpleminded. Standing at around 13-14 feet tall, they will hunt and eat just about anything so long as it breathes and bleeds. Their tough skin has become mottled and frog like, and their hair dark green and stringy. Highly territorial and xenophobic, they hunt all those who encorach on their territory and raid local communities for whatever strikes their fancy. Curiously have a great fear of black dragons, and will attempt to slay them before they become a threat as many black dragons enslave swamp giants. Curiously, they tolerate the precense of trolls, leading some to believe that they may have a common ancestor.
• Ogre: While much has already been covered on ogres, a summary is nevertheless presented. Ogres are perhaps one of the smallest of the giant family, and are typically very big humanoid like creatures. Their appetite for anything with meat is legendary, and it is said they can almost never be satisfied fully with what they consume. VIolent, brutish, and simple-minded, ogres typicaly prowl around in herds and clans to eat and devour those who get in their way. They have also been known to be used as mercenaries by many nations.
• Trolls: While a larger article should be dedicated to trolls, they are presented as such. Trolls are a far offshot of the giant family, and come in many diffrent varieties. They are known as violent, malign, and greedy creatures who plunder and kill for the simple joy of it. Also known as being incredibly dim-witted, and its not uncommon for tales to exist of heroes outsmarting trolls with deals. Trolls are also highly mutative, and it has been observed that the only way to truly kill one is with fire, as they can regenerate their limbs and bodies with alarming ease.
• Athnach: Also known as Cave Giants, athnachs are said to be thick skinned like humanoids standing at 10 feet tall. They reek of the most foul body odor one can imagine, and are dim-witted brutes living in gorges and caves to hunt prey. They are able to meld into the rocks on the side of a ravine, only to emerge and throw boulders and bash apart travelers, taking the corpses back to its lair to feast. Curiously, are also obsessed with honey, and can be bribed by this golden liquid easily. It has been observed that when presented with it, these giants cease almost all aggresion and immediatly focus soley on eating said honey.
• Basajaun: Basajuan are hairy, large giants standing at 15 feet tall. They typically wear no clothes except when in battle, and have thick, short fur covering much of their body. They are innatley talented blacksmiths, preffering to live in remote country sides working their forges and tending their flocks of goats and sheep. Some of the most peaceful giants in the giant family, they are used to engaging in trade with other humanoid species, and it is argued by some on if the dwarves taught them this skill in the craft, or the other way around. Generally non-hostile, most humanoids tend to leave them alone, though some make friends with them in the more rual communities.
• Bøyg: Bøyg are more northern species of giant-kin, standing at more than 15 feet tall. Vaugely humanoid in apperance, they are said to resemble something more akin to a humanoid serpant, with muscular limbs covered in scales, and the head of a serpant and its tail. Each hand has razor sharp claws, and they possess highly venemous fangs. Hunting in packs, Bøyg are highly intelligent, but simply prefer brute force as it is the most exciting for them. They constnatly flick their tongues out, making them speak the giant tongue in a hard to understand accent, and are known to constnatly bicker and fight with each other. Said to be related to trolls due to their acidic nature, they also possess a lesser healing factor like the trolls.
• Eotin: Eotin are brutish, hirstue humans that tower at 12 feet tall. Said to be more similar to cave dwelling savages than giants, they are quick to anger and use rocks and sticks to bash their victims into paste. Curiously, they are calmed by soft music, but stopping the music early may cause the giant to enter a rage. Highly solitary, they live in remote caves and prefer to be left alone. While some have at one point theorized them to be the union of giants and humanoids, this theory has long since been dispproven with the existance of other half giant races.
• Ettin: These creatures are the conjoined twins of giants, resulting in a two-headed giant known as runts in the giant community. They stand about 13 feet tall, they are hulking brutes, they are highly aggresive and violent, covered in thick stinking skin, and they typically wear uncured, dirty animal skins, or nothing at all. Commonly seen as slightly gaunt and wiry, they are unpredicatble and admire power and strength. Described as natural bullies, they like to heckle and harrass their prey before killing and devouring them, and loved to steal shiny things. It is also known for the two heads to argue and bicker with each other, less as foes and more as brattish brothers being forced to share at all times.
• Fachan: Perhaps one of the most unsettling looking creatures of the giant community, they are 8 feet tall and only possess one leg, one eye, and one arm potruding from their chest. Said to be the result of eldritch energies, they are disturbing giants that love to eat citrus, and avoid contact at all cost. Said to have some strange aversion to being looked at, they are highly suspicious of other humanoids and take great care in avoiding their homes from being found.
• Fear liath mòr: Appearing as thin giant humanoids covered in gray hair, they are often mistake or claimed to be ghosts rather than living creatures from their blurry apperance. They love to make fog and stalk prey before pouncing. If a fight is going badly, they can turn into a gaseous form to escape into the mist. They can be discovered by a high-pitched humming sound, seemingly a compulsive habbit they can't stop, they love to live in natural caves along mountain passes.
• Jentil: Perhaps the tallest giants known, they are 30 feet tall and covered in thick, knotted hair with long lanky arms that reach their knees. Despite their imposing size, they are some of the friendliest giants, known as lovers of history and stories, they are said to be the most knowledgable of their kind. Keeping to themselves, they live in costal areas, and do not mind some travelers approaching their homes to ask them for knowlege. Also known as enjoyers of boulder/rock throwing competitions, they also have a love various sea food dishes.
• Ojáncanu: Standing at 12 to 13-feet tall, theese giants have reddish hair and known for their large manes and long beards. Their hands end in ten digits, and have two rows of jagged teeth, with a singular eye resting at their forehead. Known as brutal and cruel, they love to throw boulders at opponents, and are both raging barbarians but also known to whimper and surrender if wounded. Curiously, they have a single white hair in their beard, and if pulled it makes them vunerable to all forms of damage. They also curiously love brown bears, and regulary wrestle with them for fun. Said to also be born from the guts of older Ojáncanu.
• Dust Hulk: Perhaps the strangest of the giants, they are nothing more than towering beings of clouds of gravel and dust. Said to be descended from stone giants subjected to the winds of the plane of air, their history is barely known if at all.
• Mist Hulk: Said to be the result of cloud giant ancestry and mixed with the plane of air and water. They are figures made of dark rain clouds, with transparent bodies that constnatly leak clouds. They are constnatly moody and gloomy, and howl in misery when threatened. This species of giant kin has not been seen in some time, some arguing that they may be entirely extinct.
• Mud Hulk: Mud hulks are said to have been hill giants that somehow got so isolated, they could only eat the dirt itself. This, bizzarely led to them having bodies of wet mud the constantly sloughs off around it. They still retain the great appetitie of their hill giant cousins, and are still highly aggresive and deadly.