Giants

## Giant

(Left to Right) A Female Savannah Giant, a Male Mountain Giant, and a Male Steppe Giant respectively.

### Average Height

16’0 (Steppe)13’0 (Mountain)

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10’0 (Savannah)
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### Max Height

21’0 (Steppe)18’0 (Mountain)

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15’0 (Savannah)
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### Average Weight

4000 lbs (Steppe)3200 lbs (Mountain)

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2500 lbs (Savannah)
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### Life Expectancy

~175 Years (Steppe)240 Years (Mountain)

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120 Years (Savannah)
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### Place of Origin

Ludwag

The earth shakes with the arrival of the Giants. Their great power is known to many across Ludwag in their many shapes and forms. Depending on who you ask you’ll get a different response on how Giants act. The Avians and Elves believed them to be crude and simple, dangerous if provoked by something they didn’t understand. Humans of Amnisica thought of them as monsters and hunted them vigorously during their invasion of Pyrosi land. Impolo generated a different set of ideals. Their relationship with Giants is tenuous, one of delicacy as to get where they are now certain events occurred which appear as bloody memories. Though their Giant’s history is broad and detailed, their origin is less so. No one is really certain where they come from besides their believed nativeness to this continent as they’re so far removed from any other hominid that they appear primordial by comparison.

#### Physiology and Anatomy

Besides the Ent, Giants are one of the largest humanoids -and largest hominid- currently recorded by any bestiary. Superficially they’re very similar to elves and humans with a couple notable divergences. Their feet are broader and rounder in order to displace their weight and shock over a more evenly spread distance. This makes their general walking more reliable and keeps them balanced despite a higher center of gravity. Their legs are thickened at the base in order to keep them upright and make toppling them over quite difficult. Their arms are also comparatively longer than other hominids so that they may manipulate objects closer to the ground without having to bend over to reach them. While Giants have comparatively mundane eyesight, their sense of hearing and smell are acute. Giants are able to hear sounds at a lower frequency than any sapient race, allowing them to communicate at long distances through the stomping of their feet.

Due to their enormous size they have some obstacles they need to overcome. One of these is heat, their enormous size meaning they produce an immense amount of body heat. As a Giant matures and ages, their old skin isn’t shed but rather is pushed forward to form a wrinkle. Older giants are covered head to toe in these wrinkles which allow a greater surface area through which heat can escape. Another effect of these wrinkles as it increases the thickness of the skin. Biting insects, darts, and small blades like daggers can’t pierce a Giant’s hide. Thicker skin is concentrated around the ankles and wrists to provide additional protection from heavier weapons, able to take one or two strikes from conventional arrows or blades before ripping.

Giants mature at roughly the same rate humans do but such is a huge energy sink. The ordeal is lengthy and could spell doom should the Giant be injured. It is with this notion that Giants have very few -if only one- calf to their names during a typical lifetime. While Baby Giants might appear as large as a man they’re considerably more vulnerable and require the constant attention of their mother in order to survive. Baby Giants lack the large size needed to retain heat so Giants that reside in the more southerly ranges of Amnisica often allow their progeny to cling onto them so that they don’t freeze.

#### Subspecies

Giants have no close relatives beyond themselves. There is however a divergence between Giants themselves. Since the Great Storm’s receding these three subspecies have once again intermingled though their distance from each other for thousands of years has come to alter their forms considerably.

##### Steppe Giant **(Staff-Only)**

The larger and more bestial of the three, Steppe Giants are far more common in Amnisica than their smaller cousins. They’re primarily folivorous, feeding on the canopies of trees which other creatures cannot reach. Steppe Giants are generally paler with grays and brown hues making up the majority of their pigmentation. Steppe Giants are almost totally hairless besides a sparse coating of tiny hairs to trap water. Steppe Giants are exceptionally strong, able to fell trees with a strike of their fist and send a grown man flying through the air. Their immense power is often used to break down foliage to feed on the parts they cannot reach, in turn allowing other creatures to feed. They move slowly -only about as quick as a human trot- but can walk for days on end.

##### Mountain Giant **(Staff-Only)**

An intermediary form between the Steppe and Savannah Giants on either side of the continent, Mountain Giants are exclusively native to the Mt. Ludwag range. They’re larger than their southern cousins but smaller than their more northerly relatives. While Steppe Giants are more herbivorous, Mountain Giants preferably feed on just about anything they can get their jaws around; chiefly bark and meat. They are of palest grays and fairer skin as to acclimate to their colder and snowier habitat. Unlike the Steppe Giants, they possess great amounts of hair which form thick coats and beards along their neck, chest, and limbs. They too have immense physical strength, able to pulverize chitinous armor and pound rocks to form weapons. Though Mountain Giants are only about as fast as their Steppe counterparts, their greater grip makes them more proficient climbers in the oftentimes perilous mountain range.

##### Savannah Giant **(Faction-Exclusive)**

Smallest of the Giants and more closely resembling a typical person, Savannah or ‘Umbusan’ Giants are a dwarfish form of their larger cousins. They’re omnivorous, though much of their diet is made up of vegetation. Savannah Giants generally have tan or maroon skin to protect themselves from the harmful savannah sun. They have more hair than their northerly counterparts, known for hairstyles analogous to their Umbusan compatriots. While not as strong as a Steppe or Mountain Giant, Savannah Giants are still capable of great feats of strength; they can bend plate with a strike and reliably restrain a grown man with a single hand. In their native ranges Savannah Giants use their strength to break open nuts or the sides of trees in order to drink the water held within. They’re not as fast as smaller hominids but are able to keep up with a human sprint over short distances.

#### Psychology

Readily regarded as dim-witted, Giants couldn’t be further from the case. While not as intellectually sound as their smaller distant cousins, Giants are capable of modest intelligence. Giants of either subspecies are able to fashion tools and clothing using skills such as weaving. Both are capable of reason though Steppe and Mountain Giants are quick to anger if provoked. Traditionally, Giants dwell in matriarchal communities with males orbiting groups in the interim between seasons. Female Giants are generally caring and motherly, supporting each other in the process of child rearing. Mature males are generally loners who prefer the company of the birds over anything else. They often come to blows with other males and sapient races -who they view as pests- over territory, fights often prove lethal for at least one of the aggressors. Steppe and Mountain Giants on occasion have been used in sapient race armies, though these situations are hardly voluntary for the Giant.

Outside of practical intellect, Giants are equally emotionally intelligent. They are capable, empathetic creatures who utilize a number of communication forms to determine intent. Giants of a larger size are typically respected as their stomps grant them a greater voice amidst the low frequencies Giants can hear as well as having a greater canvas upon themselves from which to draw. Giants often mark themselves with sedimentary paints to commemorate previous events and triumphs to help distinguish individuals.

Savannah Giants were once much like their Steppe and Mountain cousins and equally detested the sapient races. The means through which the Umbusan Empire won over these Giants is mired in murky rumor. Certainly, it is a tale drenched in strife and blood. Savannah Giants can be cooperative with sapient races, with many joining the ranks of the Umbusan Empire directly.