Giants of Apia

# Apia Giants

## **A Brief History of Giant-Kind**

### **The Before Times**

In the before time there was nothing. A swirling void of chaos energy that rolled and rushed in the emptiness of the nothing that was the Prime Material Plane. The aboleths alone swam in the void of nothingness, content in their dominance. Then, for reasons we can only fathom, the gods came into being, forming from the nothingness of the void. Alongside them came a pair of beings, Annam All-Father and Biora All-Mother. This mated pair were like the gods in many ways, but different in others for they were divine beings, but apart from the Divine Family. They were the first giants, as divine as the gods but separate from them. Annam and Biora loved each other dearly and the fruit of their union were the Titans, divine primordial giants nearly gods themselves. Time flowed differently in the early days and before long, Annam and Biora had many titan children who themselves had titan children.

When twins were destined to the All-Father and All-Mother their joy was complete. Yet, it was the desire of Lolth, she who has nothing but hatred in her heart, to bring down the unity of gods and titans. She poisoned Biora. This caused the divine mother to birth her twins early before they were fully developed. The babies ripped their way out of Biora's womb, killing her in the process and driving Annam into deep grief. The younger of the two twins, by grabbing his brother's heel and dragging himself to the front was being born before the elder brother and thus became the elder. That younger brother was the first storm giant and the elder, now younger, the first eldritch giant. No longer would Annam All-Father's children be near divine titans, instead they were the giants, powerful, but without that spark.

### **The War Against Gods and Aboleths**

Annam and his many titan children raged over the tragic death of Biora and, with Loth's cruel manipulation, grew to believe that Corellon Larethian was responsible for that death and the stunting of Annam's twin sons. When the gods went to war with the aboleths, the enraged titans attacked battling both sides in the devastating conflict that would shake the foundations of Apia. Many titans fell, as did many of the young gods. The aboleths grew ever weaker and betrayal by their mind flayer servants sealed their fate. With the aboleths retreating to the depths of Apia, gods and titans prepared for one last great battle on the southern content of Apia, at the plains now called “Godsbrawl.” Fortunately, in those moments, Eilistraee, eldest daughter of Corellon and Lolth, was able to prove her father was not responsible for Biora's death. Corellon swore an unbreakable blood oath to prove his innocence and so peace was reached. The remaining titans and giant-kind would rule Apia and the gods the heavens. Some of the titan children of Annam refused this agreement and fled into the Abyss, becoming the dreaded thanatotic titans. Some of the other titans moved up to the plane of Elysium, becoming the elysian titans with Annam and his other children remaining behind.

### **Othea**

Annam was not happy with Apia. His heart hurt deeply and nothing could replace the wounds left by Biora's death. The bickering between storm and eldritch giants was growing tiresome and even the news that the gods were warring among themselves did little to life his spirit. (Though some of the elysian titans did go on to fight in that conflict on the side of the good gods and the thanatotic on the side of the evil ones.) A passionate fling he had with Aaëe a titan of air, led to the race of cloud giants but still his heart was empty. Ultimately, Annam felt he was destined for solitude.

Othea was a storm giantess of epic proportion, great power, wisdom and legendary beauty. She longed in her heart to mend the progenitor of all giant-kind and so she presented herself before him. Her vigor and beauty charmed Annam and the pair were happy, for some time. Their marriage produced many of the giant races. Never again would there be titans born from Annam's loins, but, perhaps he'd be happy with the new races of giant she bore.

However, that was not to be. Othea discovered that Annam was cold and distant, constantly disappointed with his giant children and hardly affectionate towards her. He, in turn, found her flighty, spiteful and, most of all, shameful. This led to constant affairs, with each cheating on the other regularly, Othea first with Vaprak, the arch demon of trolls, and then conducting a regular affair with Ulutiu, a god of ice, whom she fell in love with. Annam was no more faithful, consorting with giantesses, elementals, even a dragon. While this rocky relationship was a loveless one, tradition and the stability of giant-kind ensured its continuity, until the fateful war with the dragons.

### **War with the Dragons**

While the gods battled among themselves in the heavens to determine who would rule, the land of Apia below was becoming crowded. Mortal races took up space that was previously lorded over by the giants. However, it wasn't the mortals that proved so difficult for the giants to deal with, but rather the semi-divine offspring of Bahamut and Tiamat. The dragons and the giants knew such competing empires could not last. The mind flayers were rising in power and, tragically, could have been stopped had the dragons and giants put aside their differences but alas, it was not to be.

None can know who started the battle that left a brass dragon and three fire giants dead but the end result was the destruction of two great empires. The war between giant-kind and dragon was long and bloody, with mind flayers steadily emerging from the Hollow to claim more and more of the above ground territory.

Annam All-Father watched with growing disgust as his giant children failed to meet the dragons as well as he'd hoped. They were more stalemated than conquering. To make things worse, he discovered Othea's long running affair with Ulutiu, which had blossomed into love and multiple children, including the wood giants he had believed were his. This was something the proud king could not allow, regardless of the hypocrisy. Threatening to strike Ulutiu dead, the All-Father demanded his true blooded children attend him. Othea summoned hers and, for one day, giant-kind was locked in civil war, slaying one another in a violent brawl. This spelled the end of the empire that Annam's children had built and gave the beleaguered dragons the opportunity to finally gain the upper hand, despite great cost to their lives. In the end, Ulutiu willingly entered a state of perpetual frozen hibernation beneath the Great Northern Sheet. Annam left to wander the cosmos, but not before laying down the The ordning, a hierarchy of giant-kind and a set of codes they were to follow so that, in Annam's words, *“You disappointing offspring of mine, who cannot best mere flying lizards, may some day prove yourselves worthy to call yourselves my blood.”*

Othea was heartbroken, vanishing into the great frozen wastes of southern Druzi and her fate is unknown.

### **Modern Day**

The Everlasting Kingdom of the giants is gone, shattered and beaten by time. Giants were involved in the war against the beholders, fighting alongside Latrell's rebels, one of them, Angraboda Star-Eye was numbered among the legendary five companions. Giants are mostly solitary, dwelling in small families or tribes, with a few exceptions. The frost giants have built for themselves a mighty empire in both the Great Northern Sheet and southern Druz. Storm giants rule from on high, as kings of the ordning, living in great palaces in the highest mountains and deepest seas. Ettins, ogres and hill giants have flourished, their brutal nature ensuring there is always room for them in the wild places. Still the ordning is upheld, with giants being placed as more or less valuable depending on their connection to Annam. Despite constant struggling, particularly from the eldritch giants who claim they should rule over all giant-kind and not the storm giants, going so far as to crown their own “Arcane King,” the order is relatively set. Even within the individual races of giant, there is a mini ordning with each frost giant knowing exactly where he stands in the place of his own tribe. That exact order is described below.

## **Maat and Maug**

While all giants respect the ordning as well as can be expected, a large portion of honoring that rule is the concepts of Maat and Maug. Maat means “good” or “correct” and Maug means “bad” or “incorrect.” As all giants are waiting for the return of Annam for one reason or another, seeing him as the pinnacle of their race. They follow these rules closely in the hope that someday, Annam will recognize their value and return to them, restoring their place of high honor and kingdom once again.

### **Maat Behaviors:**

* Honoring Annam
* Bravery (only Fire & Frost giants consider this virtue to be this high; other giants rank it between "honor the giant gods" and "honor family members"
* Showing a maat giant mercy or charity
* Honoring any of the other giant gods
* Honoring family members.
* Showing another sentient being mercy or charity (only Storm giants consider this maat behavior)

### **Maug Behaviors:**

* Betraying Annam
* Violating the ordning
* Betraying one's tribe
* Betraying one's family
* Cowardice
* Killing another giant (only applies if that giant is considered maat)
* Betraying a trust
* Stealing from another giant
* Forcing another giant to leave his or her geographical domain (because the territories of giants are considered a divine gift from Annam)
* Being giant-kin or ogre (being bastard children of Othea makes these races inherently impure)

## **Rankings of the Ordning in Descending Order**

The rankings are divided by blood purity and your connection to Annam. Height is usually a rough indicator of one's place in the ordning. While the storm giants and eldritch giants are near constantly locked in a war for dominance, most giants respect their place and the authority of those above them in hopes Annam will recognize their loyalty and return.

***The Ordning***

**Children of Annam and Biora**

Titans

Storm Giants

Eldritch Giants

**Children of Annam and Aaëe**

Cloud Giants

Fog Giants (Cloud giants who descended into banditry and sank in the ordning)

**Children of Annam and Othea**

Salt Giants (Most salt giants are now gone in a catastrophe, forming the modern Ash Giants and Death Giants)

Fire Giants

Frost Giants

Stone Giants

Desert Giants/Sand Giants

Marsh Giants

Hill Giants

Cave Giants

**Children of Annam and Various Lovers**

Void Giants

Jungle Giants

Dusk Giants

Gegenees (Despite their smaller size, compared to many lower giants, they are well honored due to their noble linage and honorable attitudes)

Thin Giants

Cyclops'

Ettin (Despite being a pure blooded child of Annam and Othea, Ettins are low in the ordning because of the circumstances of their birth.)

**Children of Othea and Ulutiu**

Wood Giants

Ocean Giants

Verbeeg

Firbolg

**Children of Vaprak and Othea**

Fomorions

Ogres

**Offshoot Giants Descended from Other Giants**

(Note that the places these giants are all nebulous. They are somewhat outside the ordening, or considered lesser parts of the parent giant race. Goliaths are in an odd place as they may be children of prophecy, though giant scholars debate it.)

Shadow Giants (Storm giants who became trapped in the Shadowfell.)

Death Giants/ Ash Giants (From The Salt Giant catastrophe)

Mountain Giants

Snow Giants (Descended from Frost Giants)

Flab Giant (Descended from Hill Giants)

Jack-In-Irons Giants (Descended from Hill Giants)

Goliaths (Possibly should be much higher as they may potentially be the descendants of the legendary “Hartkiller” but that's not been proved.)

Jovians (As half-breed giants they are not “truly in the Ordening” but worthy of more respect than “small ones.”