Giants

### Traditional Names

Unlike other races, Giants tend to pick their own names, rather than be given them by their parents. This is partially because Giants reproduce by carving one another out of stone, so no Giant has any true blood family and the belief amongst them that it is more comfortable to choose their own names rather than being assigned one. A "newborn" Giant may remain nameless for years while others still continue to change their name occasionally. Giants, though naturally sexless, may still identify with masculine or feminine genders. As such, those that identify as male tend to choose names that end in consonants while Giants that identify as female tend to pick names that end in vowels.

Not all Giants utilize surnames, but those that do tend to be those with partners or those that live among non-giants (such as those in Dlohenots). Giant surnames tend to be a combination of their favourite mineral/metal and tool or a noun/verb that pertains to forging or minerals.

When written out, names follow the order: First name | Surname

#### First Names

Veltan, Rholurn, Kolent, Donrahn, Zroktun, Akaina, Rhantaua, Zasrezi, Nagrivele, Inku

#### Surnames

Sandstrike, Calciteforge, Steelanvil, Coppercart, Garnetpunch, Pyriteforge, Zincvise, Marblechisel, Onyxrail, Obsidianhammer

### Lifespan

Giants live **Indefinitely**. However, after a certain time alive, Giants will enter a sort of slumbering state where their bodies erode leaving behind their Soul Gem and Soul Weapon. After another period of time, their bodies regenerate. Many mistake such a state for the death of a Giant.

### Physical Description

Giants are gargantuan beings made entirely of stone. Giants are bipedal humanoids, most often sculpted to have muscular builds and sharp facial features, and are mostly androgynous. Members of the race often grow crystals and gemstones all over their bodies that may be any colour with any sort of gradient or pattern befitting of a gemstone. These growths may be made of any known mineral that can be taken from the earth, but some are mineral compositions unique to Giants. They tend to be small, but some Giants have been known to develop larger structures, some even resembling horns or blades. Additionally, all Giants have a fairly large stone referred to as the Soul Gem located somewhere in the centre of their chest or abdomen. The appearance of a Soul Gem varies, but they all resemble a cut gemstone, most often in a rhombus, square, oval, circle, or triangle shape.

Giants tend to have "human" skin tones, such as pales and various shades of brown ranging from light to dark, and many Giants have skin tones that resemble stone, such as greys, white, and black. Nearly all Giants have a stone-like texture to their bodies and some have a marbling or ore vein-like effect. The marbling/vein effect may be any colour and additionally, may be metallic or glow. All Giants have a metallic sheen to their hair, though it ranges in noticeability. Their hair can be any colour, but the most common colours are copper, brass, silver, gold, reds, browns, and greys. Any other colours are very rare. As for their eye colours, a Giant's (again) eyes may be of any colour, though black and any shade and vibrancy of grey, blue, green, orange, amber, and gold are the most common. It is fairly common for their eyes to have a metallic or gem-like quality to them, and the rate of heterochromia among Giants is notably higher than other races.

Finally, Giants are incredibly large, being the largest race to live on land in Novrayth.

### Abilities

* The patron magic type of Giants is Lightning
* The body of a Giant is nearly indestructible. First carved of regular stone, the Soul Gem that grows from their bodies transforms that material into another form of stone found only in Giants. Such stone is inconceivably stronger than any stone readily available
	+ A Giant can withstand any temperature and can take incredible amounts of impact or pressure before their bodies begin to break
* Giants do not need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe
	+ Though they don't need to eat or drink, many Giants will do so as they do experience the sense of taste. Giants are more likely to eat or drink while in the presence of Non-Giants, especially at social events where such things are made available to them
		- Giants experience tastes differently. Many things that Non-Giants won't even touch are consumed without issue by Giants. Because of this, many are not fans of their cooking as dishes put together by a Giant are off-putting to most due to unorthodox combinations of ingredients. Giants can and will eat anything, so long that it isn't rotten or a creature's waste product
	+ Unlike Elves, the Giants do not often desire to sleep on top of not needing sleep. Also unlike Elves, they can remain awake perpetually rather than needing less sleep. On the rare occasion a Giant does sleep, it is usually because they were asked by a Non-Giant partner or to simply pass the time while waiting
	+ Giants have no need to breathe to remain alive, but they must intake air in order to speak. Giants living among Non-Giants often develop the habit of breathing as they do and may become uncomfortable if they stop, though they won't be harmed. The discomfort can be "unlearned", however, given time
* The Soul Gem in a Giant's body can be used to store objects, which tend to be tools, valuable materials, and sentimental things. Objects are sent to a pocket dimension of sorts that may be retrieved at any point in time. To be eligible for storage in a Soul Gem, the thing must be non-living, cannot be a structure such as a building, and must be able to be held comfortably by the Giant
	+ If a Giant were to die (in which their Soul Gem is destroyed), any items stored within the Soul Gem are sent to Kebbral, the God of the Giants. At that point, he will decide what to do with them. Although such an event has not happened yet, Kebbral is most likely to distribute items among family and close friends to the deceased
* All Giants have a weapon unique to them. The weapon is formed by the Soul Gem shortly after a Giant first gains consciousness (i.e. their "birth"). These weapons are called Soul Weapons
	+ In the event a Soul Weapon is lost, discarded, or broken, it will return to the Soul Gem. Broken Soul Weapons cannot be used for some time, but will reform on their own
* They are completely immune to toxins
* Giants can increase and decrease in size. They cannot increase their height beyond what they were carved as, and a Giant can shrink to 8'0". Giants tend to only decrease in size to walk in town among Non-Giants, to forge things for Non-Giants, or to move through buildings or other tight spaces. After leaving such a space, they return to their normal form (after attaining sufficient distance so as to not cause destruction)
* All Giants by nature are exceptionally skilled at forging, especially with weapons and armour. Things forged by Giants bear some of the greatest durability and sharpness in all the realm

### Origins

⠀⠀⠀⠀Giants are the oldest of the races in Novrayth and among the oldest in all of Aryayth, being created nearly five thousand years after the land was formed.

⠀⠀⠀⠀The Great Dragons had arrived not long before and had made their homes in the Emrinthe Mountain range, but had not yet started thinking of creating the Drekar (and the dragon-folk would not be thought of for centuries yet). The Demons had begun to swarm from the Under-Caverns in droves after a mysterious comet had crashed and were devastating the wildlife.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Getting an idea from the (then) Goddess of Life, Yamitala and the animals she created, Kebbral thought of creating something of his own to help defend against the Demons. There were too many Demons for the Gods (especially Kebbral) to deal with without causing catastrophic damage themselves as they were too powerful.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Kebbral raised huge chunks of rock from the ground. He carved the chunks into huge statues of figures that somewhat resembled himself, though not exactly in an act of being vain. He was the only God with a particularly powerful body, and they needed their new creations to be as powerful as a Non-God could be. Additionally, Kebbral took care to ensure they had unique features of their face and hair.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Kebbral then went to Yamitala for help with bringing the statues to life as such things lay outside his area of expertise of forging and fighting. At first, Yamitala struggled to give life to the stonework as her Life magic was only meant for organic flesh. After a while of trial and error, she and Kebbral tried to infuse a crystal with magic; Kebbral provided the gems and Yamitala filled it abundantly (nearly overflowed it, in fact) with Life. These precious stones came to be known as Soul Gems.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Kebbral inserted the Soul Gems into the bodies of the statues, and the magic swiftly brought them to life, becoming the source of their vitality. For most, their skin, eyes, and hair gained colour. Some developed metallic or even glowing ore vein-like patterns and marbling. Though initially few in number, Kebbral taught the new folk how to forge weapons and armour, and how to create more of their kin with what little time they had. Additionally, Kebbral had prepared weapons for each of these first-generation Giants and also ensured that future generations would form weapons of their own.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Finally, with a few dozen colossal (in comparison to the Demons, at least) beings standing by, Kebbral instructed the Giants (that which they named themselves) to fight the Demons until there were none left. And the Giants truly did their best on following through on the orders. The Giants fought unendingly against the Demons until the infernal creatures' population dwindled significantly, and eventually recruited the help of the Drekar once they appeared.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Now with no need for constant warfare and lasting disdain for speaking of the events, the Giants split up and wandered all over Novrayth on their own.