Swgrclan 2635 Share Posted May 13, 2016 The Old Race of Giants Precursors of Ents In the beginning, Man came, Dragons were conceived, and then, far from the center of the world, the Giants rose. Willed into existence in those ancient times by the once-incongruous and meddlesome Aspects, not yet aware of the true consequences of greater deeds, the Giants started as seeds -- endless sums of seeds, planted innumerous across the expanse of a craggy isle set in the middle of an ocean far from Aegis’ waters. From the soils of this gray place rose titanous oaks, taller than any tower Man could forge and rivaling the mountains in their stature. After this grand, sprawling wood flourished, the Aspects set fire upon it, and suffocated the lands in soot. From the ashes of fallen Elder Trees rose the Giants, the elder sons of the Aspects, whom would come to embody the very cycle that the Keepers of Balance covet so dearly. Forged with the flesh of warm life, the ashes of trees and the souls of Men, the Giants came to quickly inhabit the once-wooded land of Alghaast. Alghaast, the land of ashes and fallen elder trees, was abandoned by Aspects soon after the Giants converged upon its expanse, for they recognized the destruction needed to procure the Giants, and thus left their children in fear of the havoc that would ensue should more of them come to rise. The towering Giants felt this abandonment deep within themselves, and both mourned the loss of their beloved Mother and Father the Aspects and spited them, for they knew that they were not needed to achieve greatness. Isolated upon Alghaast, the Giants were forced to contend with harsh conditions, for their homeland was still contorted by the ash that blanketed upon it. Nonetheless they strived -- not by constructing walls to obstruct invaders, or discovering some innate ancient power, but by the struggle for progress; yearning to prove that the Aspects were wrong in their decision to depart, that they were wrong to doubt their firstborn children. Thus the Giants enjoyed an age of peace and prosperity, for they were deeply intune with the earth they were born upon, and had not yet truly conceived the concept of conflict yet. The Giants, in the beginning, were not warsome and violent; they were wise and they were knowing, and gave unto Balance what Balance gave them. On Alghaast, they acted as both the apex predators and the caretakers of nature. When ash-choked winters came, and threatened their tribes with insufferable cold, they hunted greatwolves for furs, and innumerous elk for meats; but when clear-skied summers came, they gifted these beasts with mercy, and allowed them to repopulate. When the rare time came that another tree would sprout from ashen soils, the Giants would celebrate and covet it dearly, for they could not find it within themselves to forgive the sin of being born from the ashes of such glorious, towering titans of stillness and silent peace. The greatest discovery of the Giants was flame. The catalyst for their birth, fire kept their primitive domains lit in the darkest of nights, warded off the most ravenous of beasts from their young, and brought them warmth and comfort. Though they hated their means of origin, the Giants could not deny the role of flame in the greater cycle of Balance, and thus coveted it much like one would a god. With fire, they endured suffering and prolonged their prosperity. This was right and this was good. But from the north came the stirring of the high winds and roars that cut through the clouds; signs of a storm that would batter the mountains, a harbinger of dark times to come. It was not a maelstrom that converged upon Alghaast, Land of Giants, but Dragons -- wayward Dragons, whom after being jarred by the malformation of Aegis into the Abyss, fled toward the vastness of the sea that surrounded the realm of ashes and fallen trees. Bestial in nature, they brought to the peaceful Giants a savage plight of antagonism where the towering Men were forced, in their bewilderment, to compete for their blood right as the true inheritors of Alghaast. For over two hundred years, the Giants and Dragons waged a terrible war. Spurned by conflict, the Giants became militarized and savage in their hatred for the children of Dragur, and from their coveted flame they discovered the art of smithing. Amid this war, they became masters of it despite having little to work with; and thus blades wrought of the raw iron of Alghaast were gifted only to the greatest of their kind. With the flame of Dragons incessantly bathing the land of ash, it was as if the origins of Giants was retold, for black soot and smoke came to ensnare the isle once more. But the fire of Dragons was powerful and searing, and thus the crags were forever blackened and the skies, plagued by smog and fumes, were darkened - stealing from the Giants the blessing of sunlight eternally. Desperate during this age of dark, the Giants spun a prophecy that when a true lord among them rose with the power of fire, the sky would be restored, and the demons above would be expunged. But they could not find this flame upon their dying land -- it was beyond they had to search, far away where the rest of the world resided. Thus, fashioned from the flesh and bones of slain Dragonkin, swathes of Giants departed from Alghaast while the rest of their kindred remained to protect their birthright. Only one returned. Bearing a peculiar attunement to the element of fire, claimed by this surveyor of the unknown beyond as a gift given by a godless, wise entity amidst an undying flame, he took the wrought-iron crown of his kind and rose as the King of Giants. With fire, he struck the Dragons from the heavens and cast them into the Valley of Effluvium, a plane of black soot and decay where no life lingers, only the shallow graves of fallen Giants and the charred remains of Dragonkin. The sky, still black from the war for Alghaast, cursed the craggy isle with an age of darkness even after the Dragons were defeated. But the Giant King, whom held a dominion of fire, dedicated a decade to the construction of ten massive braziers atop the highest peaks of Alghaast, before igniting within them flames said to never die. With these sacred braziers, known to the Giants as the Altars of Light, or the Ten Suns, the skies were brightened once more, banishing dark from Alghaast and returning to it warmth and light. Yet the Altars were no true suns; merely the false fabrications of a lord of flame. Tepid, drifting smoke kept the sun from ever shining upon the Land of Giants ever again. The Forms of Giants The Giantkin, born from the misjudgements of the Aspects in the ancient times, are towering beings that hold Superior Souls similarly to mortal descendents and higher Dragonkin. Standing at a height of between fifteen and twenty feet, Giants are lumbering and weighty creatures whose strength are unmatched by many sheerly on behalf of their natural forms. The Giants are strong, and they have wills of steel, and thus they are known in sparse legends mentioning them that their physical prowess easily surpasses that of normal men. Yet, unlike similar Giantlike races, Giants are not brawn-brained and foolish; they are wise and understanding beings, whose natural ties to the Aspects, and by extension the Balance, gives them a strong grasp on the world around them. Before the arrival of Dragons, Giants enjoyed an age of peace where they exercised their role as apex predator on Alghaast with mercy, for what they took from Alghaast they always gave back. As said in their histories, even the direwolves who seek to devour their young are given mercy; for it is unjust to bring death to an entire race of natural beings for their sole nature. The only exception to this rule of mercy is for Dragons, whom the Giants hate vehemently almost to a point to their spite being inherent. Their flesh is leathery and tough, and their features are brawny and defined. Very often do Giants accent their appearances with elaborate displays of facial hair, and with hair tied into braids to prevent deterrents when amid hunts or other duties amid the land. Peculiarly, the Giants have for a long time adopted the tradition of obscuring their faces on a daily basis -- masks and helmets are often worn by those who don’t prefer growing warming beards, and each cranial accoutrement is designed in a way to distinguish one Giant from another. They consider their masks and helmets as their “second faces”, and wear these obscuring apparatuses because they covet the tradition of remembering the shame of their origins. Bitter of the abandonment of their great Mother and Father, the Giants seek to hide who they are behind these masks, and thus hide what they truly are in spirit. In comparison, one may link Giants and the treelike race of Ents closely together. Though one takes after the visage of mortal Men and the other quite literally trees themselves, they are similar not only in form but in spirit, for the Giants were fashioned in the beginning to take the same role as the Ents later would. Though there lies no direct physical relation besides both being born of Elder Trees, Giants hold a connection to the Aspects just like Ents do, and thus are intune with nature to the point where they may “understand” what troubles it. Thus, just like Ents, Giants are prone to act as guardians of nature where it flourishes naturally. This innate gift is little understood by the race of Giants, however, and no attempts to evolve it into something akin to Druidism have been made. It is said that when Giants die, they become one with the ash they originally rose from. This is because the Aspects designed them with the intention to make them embodiments of the cycle of life; just as the first of their kind rose from the ashes of scorched Elder Trees, they slowly become ashes in the end, and from their remains scattering upon the earth life may flourish anew where they perished. Long have the Giants considered this process of petrification and ashen decay a means to “once more become one with the mountains and the trees”. Giants that somehow defy this natural cycle are feared among the Giantkind, for Giants whom die and then awaken into undeath return as mindless, savage creatures, where they spread death and rot bringing soot wherever they roam. The Giants call these creatures “Wrothkiin”, or Wrath-Ken in common, and keep vigil over the Valley of Effluvium, for that is where Wrothkiin solemnly wander from. They are especially feared because the Giants believe them to be akin to Drakes, whom also prowl the ashen valley, and thus become as they are because they were afflicted with the essence of Dragons. The Ten Altars keep the Wrothkiin away, and tucked in the shadows of the valley of death, for they despise light and the warmth of life. The Ways of Giants As those closely attuned to the natural way of things, Giants are creatures who carry with them a very calm and understanding perception of the world. They can be considered as “in the present”, for not often do they burden themselves with the agitations of the future, but rather put equal value in the past as they do the present. Much do they confide in the history of things, for it teaches them what is right and what is good. Though they were designated as the apex predators of Alghaast, Giants have long exercised mercy in their hunts, and thus have inherited it into their very beings. Though they may be reclusive and wary of others, Giants express kindness to others even in battle, for war and conflict are not in their nature. Very rarely do Giants slay their enemies like savages, though like in all things there lies an exception for Dragons. Giants are fond of purpose and drive, and this is exemplified through their peculiar mastery of smithing. Giant smiths that come to mortal domains in folklore are said to gift mortals with master-crafts in metalworking and sometimes even weapons. The only aspect to their practices that keep them from being matched with the skills of Dwarves is likely the fact that they have a knack for using more raw, rough materials, which they nonetheless fabricate grand crafts with. Coveting warmth and life, it is no wonder Giants hold an allure to flame. With fire, they enjoyed an age of peace, and by taking control of it, they defeated their prime enemies the Dragons, and returned light to their stoney domain. Smithing, a practice aligned with the use of flame, is considered among the Giants as a tradition that would have eventually come to them if it hadn’t when it did, as their creative applications of the blazing element of light and warmth lead to much intuition among their kind. Unlike mortal races, Giants do not value sprawling urbanization of their territories or the galore of grand, titanic walls. They believe such things impede upon the land which they live on, and instead of raising walls they act as walls themselves. Tribes of Giants that fail to secure their lands and protect it from the dangers of Alghaast are viewed distastefully by the rest of their kind, not because of a brutish take on weakness, but because they act as examples of how the bloodright of Giants being deemed “apex predators” can be incorrect. The Giants take their bloodrights very seriously. Though they are not warlike, their hatred for Dragonkin is everlasting, and they satiate this hatred by going on Dragon hunts in Alghaast once every decade. The practice of mercy in their hunts is only ever applied here because it gives the remaining Dragons of Alghaast time to repopulate, as to prevent them from becoming extinct. This may seem surprisingly malicious, as it suggests the Giants keep them alive only to hunt them, and likely so as a form of eternal punishment. Magic is a foreign concept to Giants, and though they are capable of using it, they have never discovered the means to utilize it. Only their Giant King, inheritor of fire, has been known to wield the element of flame at will, which only heightens the opinion of Giantkin of their leader - he who exists as the only one to wield flame, and thus the only one to practice the supernaturalism of magic. The Giant King His name unknown, the King of Giants is one among their kind that is said to have left Alghaast on a boat fashioned from the flesh and bones of Dragons to discover the “True Flame” that exists beyond his homeland. With this True Flame within him, he bore the ability to manipulate fire at will, and thus used this power to end the war for Alghaast and defeat the Dragons. This power of True Flame came from the Old Lord Dhurzumkal who exists still in the ruined land of Athera, for he embodies an undying fire and thus is able to impart a fragment of his being unto others. As the creator of the Altars of Light, the Giant King is praised as practically a god among his kind, for he alone returned with fire to banish darkness and Dragons from the Land of Giants. He rules from a throne carved into the last living Elder Tree in the isle, and presides over ten other Giant Lords who were selected by the sovereign himself to rule over and protect the Altars of Light as the Ten Sons of the Ten Suns. It is said when the Ten Sons are slain and the braziers are left unattended, the undying nature of their blaze shall dwindle, and they shall all fade to bring shadow to Alghaast once again. It is whispered among the Giantkin that the undying nature of the Ten Suns is actually a falsity, and that the Giant King feared the inherent nature of flame - that it eventually dies - enough to fabricate false prophecies regarding it. This is only reinforced by the fact that every Dragon hunt in Alghaast concludes with the sacrifice of ten Dragons to the eternal braziers, thus suggesting they are given satiation in order to burn furthermore. The Giant King has been known to be the one among his kinsmen to enforce mercy in these Dragon hunts, for little do others know that without Dragons to sacrifice to the flames, there will lie no other fuel besides the Ten Sons themselves - whom, by the order of their venerable monarch, are wholly willing to cast themselves into the ardor of their braziers in order to keep them alive and kindled. Giants & The World Beyond When a fraction of the Giantkin set out into the world beyond to search for the one True Flame, none of them returned besides the one that would come to be crowned as king. This is because a majority of them either perished in their search in the lands beyond, or merely came to settle in the lands that they found. Giants are known to have wills of steel, so for them to merely give up on discovering the prophesied True Flame would be unlike them. Thus, it may be assumed all Giants that still linger the lands beyond Alghaast had either discovered their “own” True Flame or still search for it, for the True Flame was never given actual definition -- it was merely foretold by Giant sages that it is what all Giants seek, and by finding it in whatever form that they may, they may find contentment and purpose. This is enough for some of them to abandon the mission of saving Alghaast, for these wayward Giants need nothing else other than their one True Flame. The Giant King merely retained the innate desire to protect his homeland and his people, so even before being gifted the power of fire by the Old Lord Dhurzumkal, he knew well his drive and purpose. An example of this is of a legend speaking of a companionship between a reclusive Giant and a delicate Yultharan woman who departed from her eastern homeland in search of a means to expunge the demonic scourge from her people’s godless domain. This Giant, enamored by the desire to protect this woman, had found his one True Flame within her; she gave him purpose and drive, and thus Alghaast no longer became a burden. Congregations of Giants beyond Alghaast are very rare, and individuals among them are more common than groups. Most wayward Giants, if they do not continuously trek still in search of the True Flame, unbeknownst that it had been already found, settle down as smiths or overseers of nature, closely mimicking the duties of their Entish brethren. Written by: Swgrclan 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narthok 9213 Share Posted May 13, 2016 (( Seeing a lot of dark souls influence in this lore, 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swgrclan 2635 Author Share Posted May 13, 2016 Art, primarily. I couldn't find good art for regular Giants. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris1612 1174 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Love it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandNewKitten 2789 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Shadow of Colossus!!! Also it's strange that giant lore hasn't been added yet but this is clearly a welcome addition to LOTC. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekkore 641 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Only if I can get giant souls so I don't have to poke Vendrick in the butt many times. I'm joking this is good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Equinox 245 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Good lore, good job, we both know this. I want this to happen, and I want it now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jentos 6926 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Wow, excellent, what I want is chimera lore :3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDPR 014 24 Share Posted May 14, 2016 3 minutes ago, Jentos said: Wow, excellent, what I want is chimera lore :3 There is tho Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jentos 6926 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Just now, ArcanicFable said: There is tho Really? Link perhaps? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky 0 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I don't get how they are precursors of ents, or have anything to do with ents, apart from being birthed from seeds? Also from the sound of it, they have flesh and bones, do they or are they made up of wood and nature? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonesOfTheEarth 1599 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Is this going to be playable creature or event creature? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swgrclan 2635 Author Share Posted May 14, 2016 1 minute ago, Sky said: I don't get how they are precursors of ents, or have anything to do with ents, apart from being birthed from seeds? Also from the sound of it, they have flesh and bones, do they or are they made up of wood and nature? They're precursors in spirit and vaguely in form, as both Ents and Giants are massive, both hold an attunement to nature, and both are born from the will of the Aspects. The Giants were merely just a failed prototype of their more woodly brethren, who preform much better as guardians of nature. They also have flesh and bones, yes. Just now, Fury_Fire said: Is this going to be playable creature or event creature? Event creatures. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky 0 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Just now, Swgrclan said: They're precursors in spirit and vaguely in form, as both Ents and Giants are massive, both hold an attunement to nature, and both are born from the will of the Aspects. The Giants were merely just a failed prototype of their more woodly brethren, who preform much better as guardians of nature. They also have flesh and bones, yes. Event creatures. Aight, I feel you. Was just confused a moment, and you cleared it all up. Good lore, just one more question. Are they sentient in the way that a druid can commune with it, or are they able to speak regularly? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swgrclan 2635 Author Share Posted May 14, 2016 1 minute ago, Sky said: Aight, I feel you. Was just confused a moment, and you cleared it all up. Good lore, just one more question. Are they sentient in the way that a druid can commune with it, or are they able to speak regularly? They are very sentient, yes. Just as sentient as any other mortal race. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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