Fir Bholg

Large, calm, and ruminative; ears flapping away tiny Sprites, the Fir Bholg impress at first with their size and then with their thankful calm.
These fey herdsmen and wayfinders are often thought of as the more caring side of the Weave-of-Thought, Marginalia, that strange nation shifting on the boundaries of dying paradigms.

by Ilya Salnilkov

In this kingdom, woven from the frayed margins of other realms, a place of continual change and interpretation, they are not only finders of the way but singers of the path, for in the Tangled Land, to find is also to create.
Since Marginalia shifts according to the storms of entropy that press against it, of its own accord and due to the thoughts and perceptions of those within it, the purpose and singular commitment of the Fir Bholg literally define their reality. They sing, and a path is found where perhaps no path existed before.
THE SONG OF THE FIR BHOLG
It is the song which shows the way, which shapes their path towards a home which they will never find. It is sounded deep in the chest, they would say it comes from the stomach, a low sorrowful lament. Even the chattering Jackenapes and Snarking I-See-U Birds fall silent at its call.
It is loud and easy to trace, not something which can be accomplished by stealth, and they have to be in the right mood. If you want to get a Fir Bholg lost - keep them happy. Happiness is the way to trap them for then they cannot sing to find or shape their path.
The Fir Bholg are no more sorrowful than other races, but they can react very badly to merriment and jokes as they may perceive these as Goblinish attempts to trap them.
The paradox of the song, a lament for a home that does not exist, but one strong and deeply felt enough to echo through the strands of the Shifting Kingdom and cause them to open or reveal the way to the Fir Bholgs secondary aim, some other location of mere material utility, comes from their strange origin.
HEARTH GODS
Marginalia is a land without time, where dreams and reality intermingle, ghosts and memories walk as men, where illusion is a constant, knowledge is a sword, and the wise are armored in secrets. Who knows what the "true" origin of any race of that strange land might be?
The story told is that they were Hearth Gods once, guardians of the Home. Or were they just imagined as such? Gods? Spirits? A species? Dreams? Real or unreal, in Marginalia it matters little, in the Land-Beyond-Lands ideation and imagining dissolves into form.
But, it is a dream of home they follow, though largely homeless themselves. Still, they are free to shape their own fate within the Shifting Kingdom. Perhaps Marginalia itself appreciates the paradox; faced with a demand for an unfulfillable dream, it cannot refuse what it has no ability to provide and so is "tricked" each time into revealing a lesser path. Is it in on the joke? It seems apt for that Quixotic place.
It must be their, likely, origin as hearth spirits that gives the Fir Bholg their second notable ability; the power to command Food!
SOUPOMANCY
All food will obey a Fir Bholgs spoken commands, or should, some food is rebellious (sandwiches), or simply ignorant (pies).
The ability to command food, while remarkable, is in many situations of rather limited utility, especially since most Fir Bholg are almost continually on the move and with limited preparation facilities. Almost all Fir Bholgs will carry with them a full cooking set, artfully stowed, and for many, their primary weapon is a cleaver, rolling-pin, or giant soup-ladle.
Part of the reason for this may be that Fir Bholg who settle down and have their own kitchen do have a very slight tendency to go completely and utterly insane and essentially try to cook themselves an entire kingdom of food. Sausage Golems, Lard Maidens, Vegetable-Men, Pie Dogs, and Pizza Castles staffed by Gingerbread Men and Soup Knights, all slowly rotting, curdling, and decaying around them, for nothing in their magic actually preserves the food.
Food, as a substance, is also rather tactically inopportune, for it is made to be cut and chewed and should a Fir Bholg go mad even a Goblin Knight riding an exceptionally stupid pig can probably cleave and chew their way through the Fir Bholg’s culinary battalions.
This, very slight and only rarely exhibited, tendency to gustatory insanity is less troubling to humanity, stillanders, specifically people from Blackwater or other stable realities, and those not of Marginalia, than the Fir Bholg’s ability to turn almost anything they can find into food. In their opinion, it is their absolutely sacred duty to do so.
Without limits.
In a way, this is a reflection of the Fir Bholg’s tolerance. They recognize no moral divisions between species and forms of life, treating everyone and everything with great equality, and are willing to guide anyone. Likewise, they are willing to eat anyone.
They are not murderers, at least no more or less than anyone else, but if you do die, they find it their sacred duty not to waste life by consuming the result.
As such, there are some amongst Humanity who perceive the Fir Bholg as great monsters - cannibalistic horrors who eat the dead.
The most commonly practiced, and the most useful, form of Fir Bholg magic is Soupomancy; spells brewed into a liquid coagulate and then drunk. The Fir Bholg’s ability to actually communicate with the soup during cooking seems to be the key to this skill, for, other than the special ingratiates used, there is no other thaumaturgy involved.
These soup-spells each require highly specific ingredients, some not easy to source and some entirely conceptual. They must be drunk hot and have a limited period of effect, yet they are a surpassingly reliable and effective form of enchantment, especially compared to the insanity of Goblin Magic.
Furthermore, the similarity between Fir Bholg Soupomancy and the cauldrons and cannibalism of witches has been noted by many.
GENTLE GIANTS
Fir Bholg often have a partial covering of extremely fine, but very dense downy soft fur. This makes them feel a little like a big plush toy, and Sprites will often try to sleep on them in the night.
When calm, the color of a Fir Bholg is made up from the shade of its skin seen through the fuzzing of its very fine hair, and from light refracting slightly on the fur itself.
When angered or brought to a pitch of excitement, skin flushed and steaming, hair matted by sweat, their cords of muscle and sinew pop in contrast beneath the blood-darkened and sweat-slicked skin. 'Gentle giants' they have been called, but not when their blood is up. This takes a while, but once it reaches its peak, it cannot be slowed.
They have huge ponderous hands, like a large man wearing work gloves with fingers the size of Somon thumbs. They are gentle, but it’s hard to forget their strength. Their mouths are also large, with huge square teeth, and thick purplish tongues.
"Beware the Fir Bholg’s yawn" as goes the old Sprite saying. For having fallen asleep on the Fir Bholg’s soft fur in the night, or curled up on its head, treating their hair like a sheet, when the Fir Bholg wakes and opens wide it’s huge mouth for deep low breaths, any nearby Sprite may be accidentally sucked in, and perhaps never seen again.
Fir Bholgs have a 'musing' habit, they can stand for an indefinite time if not disturbed and can even sleep standing up. It is easy to tell when one is thinking deeply, since, as they are usually taller than you, you can feel your hair waving and scalp warming; big deep breaths from their mighty lungs cascade down their chins and hit whomever stands below them.
The eyes of Firbolg are famously warm, 'like summer lightning', as it is often said.

GUIDES
The most desired life for a Fir Bholg is usually one of movement.
As guides, they are as comfortable with the dead as they are with the living and with the 'monstrous' as they are with the 'Human', though neither means much in the Tangled Land. They are largely tolerant and, crucially from the perspective of stillanders, they do not appear to be utterly and maniacally insane, obsessed with tricks and apparent trivialities, or strangely polite to the point of passive-aggression.
Of course, all these apparent oddities are simply the consequence of sane and adaptive behaviors in Marginalia, the Fir Bholg are unusual in that they can usually survive without them.
The Fir Bholg are pretty chill so long as they are not forced to settle down or made too happy, and so long as no-one messes with their cooking or herds. And so long as their companions are not utterly freaked out by their processing and consumption of. . . well. . . everything.
In many cases, they are the only guardians and guides to the darker strands and hidden gates, a wandering Somon would be lucky to bump into one. They have enough vestigial affection for the species that they usually don't mind them tagging along to somewhere safer.
Hopefully.
Unless you happen to run into one of the, very few, mad ones, who will guide you somewhere you do not wish to go.
Their unusually large size, for the Tangled Lands, does sometimes restrict their access to some of the less-accessible strands of the Great Weave and often a Fir Bholg will travel with a Sprite or Pixie who is a more natural fit for the Microverse of the filament lands, and who can often use their magic to shrink the Fir Bholg.
HERDERS
Fir Bholg are great keepers of herd animals and, on the down-low, massive thieves of other people’s herd animals. A Fir Bholg will never pick your pocket, but will avariciously eye your sheep.
But, as long as you don't arrive in The Weave with a herd of your own sheep, that should hardly be a problem.
Their herds can vary a great deal, from huge ignorant dodos guarded by moa, to small brontosaurs, miniphants, deer, long-limbed purple swine with upturned snouts, eloi, which can be disturbing for passing humans, giant grasshoppers, huge tortoises and snails, good for more contemplative Fir Bholg, and climbing stackable goats.
They travel light, accompanied by only the clanging of pans, wearing woven wool, and wielding a staff, often followed by a tame pack ape carrying their harp, or by a Goblin thrall bent under the weight of a stone harp - punishment for making them laugh.
Travelling Fir Bholg have an endless need for strong shoes of sufficient size for their large feet, locating and attaining such items is a continually unmet need. Many Fir Bholgs are frequently seeking particular Gnomes capable of making such shoes for their feet, either to request repairs or replacement or to take revenge for being tricked about a previous pair of shoes.
OTHER JOBS
For those unfit to work as wayfinders and fey herdsmen, either being not sorrowful enough to sing or perhaps having had their herd stolen by another Fir Bholg, their unusual size presents opportunities for lesser jobs.
Fir Bholg are one of the relatively few large creatures in Hyphos. This is something they are exceptionally careful with as, like all in the Tangled Lands, they view physical strength as a trap that causes the mind to dull.
Still, it does give them unusual physical power for this realm and they are often employed by fey rulers as Bodyguards, Riddle-Speakers, and Openers-Of-The-Door.
A radical few will even employ a Fir Bholg as a cook, with their own kitchen. The Fir Bholg are exceptionally good cooks, but as we have noted, this can be a high-risk occupation for them in psychological terms, and a military, and dietary, threat to anyone else.
DREAMS
There is less of a gap between the conscious and unconscious in Marginalia and, as the common phrase says; "A deal, death, or desire in dreams is as real as life."
The consequences of what is done in dreams can be severe.
Happily, most Fir Bholg dream quite simply of houses and food, or of checking their herd, counting them in their sleep or talking with them, for many animals will speak in dreams when otherwise they would not.
A lucky few dream of soup recipes and the locations of ingredients.