Jotnar

The Jotnar, also simply called 'giants' are a species of large humanoids native to Haven. They are very powerful in their physical might and in their magic and while they are less numerous than in their ancient past, the rumble of a band of giants still crushes towns and cities in their march.

Biology

Jotnar are large humanoid creatures, of about 12-14ft height.
They look mostly human, but with notably dfferent proportions, their features being much more blocky and rectangular.
They possess great strength and an innate talent for elemental magic, as well as human-level intelligence. Despite their great size, their swiftness is no less than a humans.

History

The Giants of Haven were the world's first civilizations, thousands of years before Humans first arrived.

The First Kin
The First Giants to be known as such were the 'First Kin'. They were massive, as tall as trees, but they were savage, brutal, ravenous and stupid.
The First Kin were even stronger and bigger than their eventual descendants, yet were limited in mind and sophistication. They were aggressive and often lived in small bands, and often tried to become the undisputed rulers of any given area and thus came into conflict with Dragons and other great beast, where they often lost. They survived the cold of Haven's winters not through planning or storing food, but by eating so much that they would store enough fat to survive months of starvation.

The Scions
The fate of the first kin changed when the gods took pity upon them and offered them a blessing, to grant them the gift of language, as well as teaching them to build their own homes and to grow their own food. As part of this development their kind gained an innate talent for magic, though their physical size and their strength decreased much.

Those primitive giants that rejected the blessing of the gods were cast out into the wilderness and forever condemned to remain as savages, while the blessed declared themselves the Jotnar.

The Jotnar Civilizations rose, they spread all across Haven, conquering the lands as they went. Great cities were built across the far reaches of Haven and some of these remain to this day.
Eventually, the Giants even ventured beyond Haven, into the wider realms. This was when they became truly great, becoming a major player in the struggle for the Astral Sea, rivaling the Tu'vok and the Sidhe. Their empire endured for millennia.
Yet trouble arose within the heart of this great civilization.

The Sundering
The Empire of the giants led to unrivaled prosperitiy and technological advancement. However after many centuries the empire eventually started to stagnate, culturally and technologically.
The Giants stopped inventing, stopped expanding and contended themselves with holding onto what they had, even as it slowly crumbled. They worshiped their ancients without understanding them, and everytime a piece of knowledge was lost it was lost to them for good.
Eventually the continued insistence on holding outposts on distant worlds they could not afford lead to resource shortages. This caused unrest, which the empire suppressed violently. This state of affairs held for a time, yet it was unsustainable. Inevitably, the Jotnar fell into war. Petty warlords tore the empire apart in an attempt to become the new rulers of their own slice. One of the main battle-grounds was Haven, the Giant's home-world, a symbol of great political importance.

The Exodus
In the aftermath of the sundering, Haven was left a broken ruin of its former glory, most of the formerly civilized areas eventually reclaimed by nature. The few survivors of the conflict that didn't leave Haven before were pushed out by a newly arrived species: Humans, forced to leave or die.
These events are documented by the humans as the War of Tyrants.

In recent history, the amount of giants on Haven have become less and less. They occupy strongholds and ancestral lands far from human civilization and keep to themselves. Most giants have been forced into the frozen north, though small isolated communities and wandering giants can be found throughout the lands.
Even savage giants can still be found in small groupings.

In the far north of Haven, the last descendant of the royal line of the giants, Jagord the undying, still sits upon his throne of frost and adamantine and plots to rebuild his Empire and take back his ancestral homeland from the vermin that now inhabits it.

Culture

The Jotnar are nostalgic of their great empire and wish it to return. Because of this, they believe their best shot at reclaiming greatness is recoverign their cultural and technological artefacts, rather than once again trying to innovate. Tradition, or at least what the modern Jotnar believe to be tradition, is placed above all else.

Foreign species:
The moderns Jotnar hate humans and will kill them on sight. All other species are treated with general respect, and the Jotnar engage in trade wherever possible.

Society

Jotnar Society is shattered into small enclaves. These enclaves can be organized in a variety of political and cultural systems as they tend to be rather isolated from one-another, but they generally trend to be militaristic.
Whenever they are able, these enclaves try to build up great armies and reconquer their once great territories. They are generally expansionist and Tyrannical over those they conquer.

Warfare

In warfare the Jotnar have come to rely more and more on their pure physical might and base elemental magics.
While in the past the Jotnar made use of complex magical weapons and purpose-designed Golems, these items can no longer be manufactured by the Jotnar and are thus scarcely used.

Image WIP

Appearance

Jotnar look like massively oversized Humans, however their facial features look very blocky and their skin colors are mostly some shade of gray or light blue.

They are usually about twice as tall as the average person with proportional strength.
Jotnar usually live for about 200 years