Frost Giant

Frost giants dwell in the remote, frozen places of the world. Anything warmer than the flesh of a recently killed elk is as flame to them. As a sailor fears the howl of the wind heralding a storm, the denizens of ice-capped mountains and northern steppes shudder at the war horns that presage the arrival of Thrym’s blue-skinned, icy children.

Culture

Ordning of Might

Position within the frost giant ordning is determined by sheer, brute strength. Frost giants know that those that use cunning, agility, and magic are dangerous foes and can sometimes overcome pure strength, but never in a straightforward, fair manner; enemies that act that way are maug, and strength alone is maat.
Doubt or disagreement between frost giants over which is strongest is settled by a trial of strength. Such a contest typically involves wrestling but can also be a rock-throwing competition, a hunt, or one-on-one combat.
To show proof of their superiority, frost giants keep and display trophies of their victims. Mammoth tusks, griffon beaks, and manticore tails adorn the walls of frost giant lairs. Formidable humanoid enemies are memorialized in trophies, too, but only rarely do giants put the heads or bodies on display. A human hero’s greatsword or a wizard’s staff is a more appropriate trophy in such cases.
A frost giant’s armor and weapons are as much a record of its battle honors as its trophy collection is, for those who know how to read the signs. Notches carved into the haft of a weapon show the number and type of foes it has brought down. Horns, feathers, claws, and tusks affixed to helmets and armor serve as decorations commemorating the giant’s greatest feats of strength.
The ordning is determined by strength and strength alone, and there is no difference in physical prowess between the genders of frost giants. (Most child-rearing duties are handled by the elderly of both sexes, not solely by females.) It is considered highly maug to attack or challenge a pregnant female, even to improve one’s standing, just as it would be to attack a frost giant as it slept.
A frost giant that is innately weaker than its kin has a low rank in the ordning and practically no chance of rising any higher. At times, when a giant becomes intensely frustrated with that situation, it turns to clandestine worship of other giant god. An individual touched by another god’s favor is transformed into an everlasting one — a giant with enough strength to rival the leaders of the clan, but destined to be cast out or destroyed if its secret allegiance becomes known.
Because strength is their only standard of measurement, frost giants are more likely than other giants to welcome a non-giant into their group. The might of a human who hunts polar bears bare-handed as frost giants do, or who wrestles a frost giant into submission, can’t be denied. Such a human could never become the chieftain of a tribe but could earn a place of honor as one blessed by Thrym.

Ruthless Raiders

Frost giant society has no industry to speak of. It takes what it needs from others, and if it can’t take something, it has no need for it. Frost giants do make leather, clothes, and bone tools and adornments from the animals they hunt, but those activities account for almost all of their craftwork.
When frost giants plan a raid on a nearby settlement or outpost, they time it to take place under the cover of a blizzard, believing the storm to be a sign from Thrym that the weak-boned humanoids are ready to be plundered, in the same way that a farmer might look at a rainstorm as a blessing from the harvest god.
Frost giants recognize two kinds of loot: rod and kvit. Rod (“red”) plunder consists of living creatures, either livestock or slaves. Kvit refers to material goods, the most prized being objects of steel, alcohol, and large gems. Frost giants like to grab gems for adorning their clothing, but ordinary currency is usually left behind after a raid. Tiny, round coins simply have no worth to a frost giant.
Thankfully for humanoids, frost giants, like every other giants are now banned on the Giant Island and can't raid humanoid town anymore.

Craftmanship

Because frost giants can’t stand the heat of a forge, they don’t mine their own metal or craft their own weapons and armor. The fire-forged items of steel and iron that they wield and wear are prized as though they were made of gold. The giants are always on the lookout for such booty on their raids, but they don’t often come across gear that is large enough for them to wear. Many of the giants in a tribe boast arms and armor handed down from their ancestors; others make do with items cobbled together from smaller parts. Shields sized for a human, for example, can be lashed together into a crude suit of scale armor; an anvil riveted onto a log serves as a Warhammer.

Masters of Beasts

Frost giants dominate wild creatures both as evidence of their strength and to use them as hunting companions. They don’t, however, have much grasp of animal husbandry, so their “pets” are bullied and beaten into submission more than they’re trained. When a frost giant commands a beast to attack, it’s less a command than an acknowledgment to the creature that the giant won’t beat it for satisfying its hunger. A creature that proves willful or that resists “training” is fated to end up on the giant’s dinner table.
The roster of creatures in a frost giant lair can include polar bears, winter wolves, and mammoths, but the giants’ most prized living possessions are remorhazes. Adult remorhazes are untrainable by anything short of powerful magical compulsion, but one taken as an egg can be trained as it is raised. In fact, remorhaz hatchlings are surprisingly pliant to the frost giants’ manner of teaching by bullying.

General Information

Scientific name
/
Geographic Distribution
Giant Island
Languages
Giant

Physiologie

Average Lifespan
250 years
Size
Huge

Others