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Giant Pantheon
The Giant Pantheon is also known as the Ordning, which also refers to the social system the giants use. The creator-god of all giants is Annam All-Father, who sits at the absolute top of all Ordnings, and all giants see something of themself in him. But they do not directly pray to him, because Annam abandoned giantkind and retreated to the Outlands after the giant empire of Ostoria fell, swearing not to return until his children reclaimed their rightful place as rulers.
Annam All-Father (pronounced ON-urn) sits atop the Ordning. Rumored to be the son of a conjunction of Chaos and Law, he is the progenitor of the Ordning and all the giant breeds. All that giants are and will become is owed to his influence. All that giants do is in his service.
Annam is the Prime, the Great Creator, the fertile progenitor of worlds. He fathers other gods, creates worlds, and provides the tools for others to create upon his substrates, and he is even said to be the creator of the elements themselves. Far across all times, planes, and worlds, Annam's greatness unfolds itself. His merest passing thoughts have given birth to worlds and the god is seen as being without peer.
Annam has a conflicted nature which proves to be his undoing. On the one hand, he is an all-knowing god of learning, philosophy, and deep meditations, Annam is omniscient, but he chooses not to know certain things, in his wisdom. But, against this vastly cerebral nature, one must set Annam's instinctual, even lustful nature. He is not a god for whom contemplations hold endless attraction. Annam is fertile and vigorous, and he makes a considerable number of mistakes when governed by his instincts. Thus, his son Stronmaus makes him proud and contented, but his other sons have been distinctly less of a blessing to him. Their endless schisms and bickering weary Annam and bring him depression and loneliness since he has no mate who is his equal. Hiatea makes him realize that his exclusive preference for male offspring was a mistake and that he realized his mistake too late. Perhaps the coming of evil to his creation was related to his fathering too many sons, among whom envy and jealousy were bound to give rise to evil, hatreds, and warped nature and bodies.
Annam personifies his sons' defining traits to an almost unbelievable extreme. He is remarkably selfish, sees all others as hopelessly inferior to himself, and remains wholly uninterested in the passage of time (he has been known to take a thousand years to ponder the simplest of queries). Once he has made up his mind, he will never change his opinion, even in the face of new evidence or further developments.
Annam has largely retreated from events in the Prime Material Plane, grown weary of having to watch over countless worlds and conflicts. Several thousand years ago, Annam promised Othea that he would leave Toril and his Ysgardian palace until his sons restored the glory of Ostoria. So far, he has honored this agreement. As a consequence, he cannot grant spells to his priests, he is usually unavailable for commune, and he cannot normally manifest omens. So great is Annam's power, however, that he is sometimes capable of reaching out to his flock from his distant realm of exile (believed to be located among the tranquil landscapes of the Outlands). All giant priests (not only those dedicated to Annam) who attain at least the 10th level of experience will receive a single precognitive vision from the All-Father at some point in their lives. Normally, this vision comes during a holy festival and reveals a coming truth of great importance to the giants as a whole. Priests who experience the vision have no doubt as to where it came from and why it is significant.
Annam originally resided in Gudheim, a vast crystal palace located on the plane of Ysgard. At its center is a splendid orrery, a model of the planes, stars, and planets that endlessly spins in silent perfection. The model was crafted by the sons of Masud, the first fire giant, to honor the All-Father at the outset of the war against dragonkind.
Although Annam has not set foot in Gudheim since he made his pact with Othea, the palace is still occupied by his celestial children, the remaining members of the Ordning. Although it certainly lost something of its luster with the All-Father's departure, the mighty crystal palace is still a sight of almost unimaginable beauty and majesty. Giant priests believe that just before their deaths, particularly pious clergymen are invited to visit Gudheim for one evening to share a repast with the Ordning.
Surrounding Gudheim is Jotunheim, the home of the giant heroes. According to ancient legends, the spirits of all giants who die in battle are carried off to Jotunheim by Muspel and Muznir, a pair of Annam's servants who often take the shape of enormous owls. There, they are allowed to pursue their chosen virtues and defend the Ordning for all eternity.
Annam is currently believed to reside in the Hidden Realm, an endless domain which is not found on any map. The realm is said to be cloaked by magic, or maybe even sit in some parallel demiplane with a gate to the Outlands. This area is rather like a demiplane or pocket dimension in that no other being can locate or enter it without Annam's permission, and Annam permits precious few visitors. No other beings, not even petitioners, live within the Hidden Realm, and a deep sense of loneliness permeates the place. Annam's great mansion sits at the top of a huge mountain and features a crystal tower in which models of stars and planets whirl in perfect, silent motion, simulating the movements of the multiverse. Annam sits in the crystal tower, watching over the clockwork of the multiverse.
- The Ace: Giants consider him to be the peak of the Ordning, and thus the ultimate champion of every Ordning talent, and different giant tribes frame their worship of Annam as looking up to the greatest superior of their talent.
- Hill and Frost giants worship Annam as the strongest being in creation, though in different ways. Frost Giants see him as a fighter, reveler, and wrestler. Hill Giants aren't very interested in theological peculiarities; since the only thing they can think of to do with power is to get food, they see Annam as the ultimate glutton whose great size came with an insatiable appetite, and whose great strength allowed him to take food to sate said appetite.
- Stone, Fire, Cloud, and Storm giants all focus on different interpretations of Annam as The Maker; to Stone and Fire giants he is a craftsman whose creation of the world was an act of ultimate artifice (though fire giants' views also overlap with frost giants, as they see him as a war god whose craft was best suited for weaponry and other such tools of war), Cloud giants don't care how the world was created but emphasize that this made Annam its ultimate king, and Storm Giants see creation as an act of magic and demonstration of ultimate wisdom.
- Achilles' Heel: Annam has a peculiar weakness, a damaging blow struck directly on the crown of his head will stun him for one round, plus one-half round for each damage bonus point the striker has for exceptional strength, rounding down.
- Awful Wedded Life: Annam and his wife Othea were both unfaithful to each other, although her infidelity tends to be emphasized and condemned more by giants. Othea's affair with Vaprak resulted in the ogre race, and her later affair with the glacier god Ulutiu produced the giant-kin races. After Ulutiu's death, Othea was so upset that she refused to give Annam another child, but Annam tricked her to get her pregnant. They reached a compromise where Annam agreed to leave Toril until the child called for him, and in return Othea would not terminate the pregnancy.
- A Deadly Affair: When Annam eventually found out about Othea's affair with Ulutiu, he sought revenge upon Ulutiu. Although accounts of the All-Father's retribution vary, with most giants believing that Annam killed Ulutiu, causing a massive tempest, another version instead states that Ulutiu bargained with Annam, agreeing to go into a slumbering exile in the Astral Plane on the condition that Annam would spare Othea.
- Didn't Think This Through: A major problem of his, caused by the conflict between his domain of knowledge and his instinctual behavior. Annam probably could have known better than to do a lot of the things he did, but he often ignores both his divine knowledge and his common sense in favor of what he wants in the moment.
- Fatal Flaw: Lust, both in the classic sense and in the sense of being completely ruled by his immediate desires. Despite his nature as a god of knowledge, he is very prone to letting his penis do the thinking instead of his brain.
- Fertility God: Annam is, among other things, the giant god of fertility. He is the fertile progenitor of worlds and possesses a lustful, instinctive, and unpredictable nature, which causes him to make a considerable number of mistakes when governed by his instincts. Following his departure from the Prime Material Plane, his daughters Diancastra and Iallanis has taken over some of his role as a fertility god.
- Godzilla Threshold: Annam will very rarely send an avatar to the Prime Material Plane. If he does, it is because of some epoch-shaking event that will affect the course of history for an entire world, or at least a continent. In different worlds, Annam's avatars have observed the Rain of Colorless Fire, the Storms of Undeath, the passing of Netheril, and the Zephyrs of Unbecoming. If Annam had a role in them, he does not speak of it, and sages are left to devote their lives to documenting just a little of what has happened when the avatar has walked in their world.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Annam's favored weapon is an unarmed strike or slam, although he sometimes prefers using a spear.
- Grandpa God: Annam appears as a giant with flowing white hair and a regal beard.
- Have You Seen My God?: Annam has largely retreated from the Prime Material Plane, and there are many myths of his withdrawal from active involvement with his creation, ranging from the tragic (despair at the schism between his sons) to the comic (fleeing to escape the wrath and constant nagging of his many wives and concubines). Another version instead states that Annam retired to heal his wounds from his epic battle with the evil god Memnor. However, the most popular theory involves a betrayal by his wife Othea. After Annam impregnated Othea through trickery after she had refused to bear him more children, the two reached an agreement which involved Annam promising to turn his back on Toril until the day the child called his name and restored the failing giant kingdom of Ostoria in exchange for Othea promising not to expel her unborn child prematurely. Unfortunately, Othea was eventually poisoned by her son Lanaxis, and her death stunted the growth of her final son with Annam, known as Hartkiller, who attempted to pursue his destiny of restoring Ostoria. However, he was rejected by the other giants due to his stunted growth, eventually being slain in a war he provoked between the giants and his human and giant-kin allies. As a result, Annam remained bound by his word, for the most part unable to interact with the world, and his avatar never comes to Toril.
- Large and in Charge: Annam appears as an enormous (100'+ foot) giant. A widely accepted belief among giants is that taller giants are inherently more holy and powerful than smaller giants. According to the general ethos of the Jotunbrud, Annam made sure his sons towered above the other races in order to insure that they would always stand closer to their father's heavenly throne than any of their rivals.
- Magic Staff: The only magical item that Annam always carries with him is his ever-present staff of power, charged with 1d4 wishes (in addition to its normal complement of charges).
- The Maker: Annam is accepted by all giant races as a great creator god. However, his role in creating the giants (and the worlds) is very differently interpreted by different races and in different worlds. In some myths, Annam is the Creator of Worlds, the true Prime Power, and the other gods merely establish their races on the worlds he makes. Frequently, such myths tell of a pre-history in which giants were the first and only sentient race in the multiverse. Some versions tell of a fall of the giants (a fall from grace is sometimes mentioned by the good giant races). In other myths, Annam works with human and demihuman gods to create worlds together, but usually he keeps his creations separate and aloof. In subtle mythologies, Annam is the Creator-By-Thought, a "sleeping god" whose dreams form the substance of reality and the enabling principle which permits creation by other deities. This view is often held by storm giant shaman-priests much given to deep philosophical reflections.
- Parental Favoritism: Annam favores Stronmaus, Hiatea, and Iallanis over his other children, whose endless schisms and bickering weary him and bring him depression and loneliness. Thrym and Surtr in particular have long rivaled for Annam's affection and pride. Because Annam was swayed more by Surtr's well-crafted gifts than by the trophy heads Thrym laid at his feet, frost giants bear more ill will toward Annam than most other giants do.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Annam sometimes reaches out to his flock from his distant realm of exile by sending once-in-a-lifetime omens to his priest-kings. All giant priests (not only those dedicated to Annam) who attain at least the 10th level of experience will receive a single precognitive vision from the All-Father at some point in their lives. Such a priest may once in his life call for a precognitive vision from Annam after a period of ritual meditation not less than one month in duration. Normally, this vision comes during a holy festival and reveals a coming truth of great importance to the giants as a whole. In these visions, the broad course of future history of the priest's race (or community, warband, etc.) is revealed to him. Priests who experience the vision have no doubt as to where it came from and why it is significant.
- Really Gets Around: Annam is a polymorphous, libidinous god who has had many wives and concubines, although Othea was regarded as his main consort. As a result, he fathered a lot of demigods with various other goddesses and mortal giantesses that caught his eye.
- Top God: Despite the diversity and multi-faceted nature of Giant religion, the one thing that all giants agree upon is that Annam stands over all other gods in the Ordning. All that giants are and will become is owed to his influence, and all that giants do is in his service. However, since he disappeared from Gudheim, few giants are directly devoted to the worship of Annam, though all giants revere him. One notable exception is the stormazîn, who acts as a spiritual father to the priests dedicated to all other giant deities.
Diancastra is a trickster goddess with many faces and wiles. Her father is Annam and her mother a giantess of unspecified race (but assumed to be a storm or cloud giant). Thus, she is half-divine in origin.
Diancastra sought, as a young goddess, to claim her divine inheritance from Annam, but unlike Hiatea, she used wit and wile to do this rather than striving to perform heroic feats in battle. Several aspects of her character are revealed in mythic tales told of her youthful career. She is brave to the point of foolishness, although she prepares and disguises herself carefully. Thus, she stole a magical necklace from Blibdoolpoolp by disguising herself as a kuo-toan and carefully watching the changing of guards at the kuo-toan goddesses' palace. Once inside the palace, she used illusions and magical aids to swiftly grasp her prize.
Diancastra is also impudent, even arrogant. She taunts stupid but proud enemies, enraging them and driving them into snares of illusion. Her taunting of a nameless demigod servitor of Surtr allowed her to lead him through a merry dance of illusions while her magical owl stole his spellbooks, which she in turn exchanged for illusionist spellbooks with a powerful human illusionist. She added a little something to that bargain, however, which brings us to another of her characteristics.
Diancastra considerably enjoys worldly pleasures, but this enjoyment also has the happy knack of furthering her own fortunes. She drinks to excess and won a famous drinking contest at the Seelie Court (sylvan gods), which further won her some admiration and tutelage in bardic skills. Like Freya the Norse goddess (with whom she is on good terms), she is disposed to lavishing her favors on males who reward her with magic, knowledge, and skills. The mark she has on her shoulder comes from her rising from the watery bower of Deep Sashelas, who gave her the gift of water breathing and stretched out one exhausted hand to touch her as she left.
This aspect gives Diancastra a burgeoning role as a minor fertility deity among the non-evil giants, some of whom invoke her name if they wish their partnerships to be blessed with children. This is a double-edged invocation, though, for it is thought that it invites the birth of a cheeky, willful, naughty child. Her cult is still very small and she has no priests or shamans. To invite one of "Diancastra's brood" into one's life is also to hazard the child being strange or fey in some way, according to giantish lore, but this may be superstition.
Diancastra travels in search of proving herself to Annam by the use of her wits in solving sphinx riddles, making solemn sages laugh with her punning and loquacity, deciphering an infamous and lethal "crossword maze" filled with cyphers by a long-dead lich-king who, in his boredom, had filled its inner recesses with magic (and elementals which had to be fought), and much else. When she presented herself to Annam, citing Hiatea's presence among the gods as a precedent for her own divine ascension, the Creator told her to circle the earth in an hour or less and he would grant this, knowing well she had no magical talents or items to aid her. Diancastra simply retrieved an atlas of the worlds from Stronmaus' library, opened it at the appropriate illuminated page, tore it out (making the gods gasp) and drew a circle around the picture of the world. Annam made her a demigoddess, and it is said that he only did this because the one back into the world for him would be for his despair to be lifted by further demonstrations of her spunk and wit. But she is still keeping him waiting, willful as she is.
Diancastra has no realm of her own, and she instead simply wanders.
- Charm Person: Diancastra can cast charm person or giant 6/day by gaze to 240'. Any sentient creature looking directly into her eyes is affected as by a rainbow pattern, which also allows her to telepathically implant a suggestion.
- Deity of Human Origin: Or rather, Deity of Giant Origin. Downplayed, however, as she was already semi-divine due to being Annam's daughter prior to her formal ascension.
- Distinguishing Mark: Diancastra has a streak of sea-green skin along her left shoulderblade, which was given to her by the elven sea god Deep Sashelas when he gave her the gift of water breathing and stretched out one exhausted hand to touch her as she left. The streak of sea-green skin is always present, even when Diancastra appears in a different form.
- Expy: Strongly based on the mythological Aslaug.
- Fertility Goddess: Diancastra's more amorous side has resulted in her gaining a minor if burgeoning role as a fertility goddess among non-evil giants, some of whom invoke her so that their couplings will be blessed with children. Yet these blessings are said to come with a potential cost, as there is a chance the resulting spawn will be born as one of "Diancastra's brood". Such a resulting child is thought to be rude, strange, willful, naughty, or fey in some way, though this is perhaps mere superstition.
- Flying Broomstick: She owns a broom of flying.
- The Gadfly: She's essentially goddess of this trope for giants.
- Guile Hero: Diancastra seeks to prove herself to Annam with her cleverness and guile, and her travels involved her using her wits to solve puzzles and outwit enemies. Notable tales include her solving the riddles of sphinxes, making solemn sages laugh through her loquaciousness and skill in puns, and deciphering an infamous and lethal "crossword maze" filled with ciphers by a lich-king who had long since passed and, in his boredom, filled the inner recesses of the dungeon with magic, elementals to fight, and much else.
- The Hedonist: She enjoys worldly pleasures and physical gratification, such as drinking to excess for example, and these enjoyments generally had the additional benefit of furthering her own success.
- Impossible Task: When Diancastra presented herself before Annam and requested divine ascension citing her sister Hiatea's ascension as precedent for her own, Annam challenged her to circle the earth in an hour or less, knowing she had no magical abilities or items that could help her. The young giant then headed to Stronmaus's library and pulled out a page from an atlas of worlds before drawing a circle around a picture of the planet. Impressed and amused, Annam ascended Diancastra to godhood.
- Loyal Animal Companion: She owns a serpentine owl.
- Magical Accessory: She has a magical string of black pearls from which she can create 2d4 randomly generated types each week, the magic of each lasting for 20 + d20 days (but she can have no more than 8 magical pearls on the necklace at any one time).
- Seeker Archetype: Diancastra is always attracted by the opportunity to learn more magical illusion, acquire bardic magical items and very obscure lore, and the like. If such opportunities are provided by reasonably handsome males, so much the better.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Diancastra can breathe underwater freely, an ability which was gifted to her by the elven sea god Deep Sashelas.
- Trickster God: Diancastra is the giant goddess of trickery and is viewed as an impetuous and arrogant trickster with many faces and wiles. Mythic tales of her youthful career showcase her using her wit and wile to trick enemies with illusions and steal important items from them. Although she is brave to the point of foolishness, impudent and even arrogant, she does make preparations and disguises herself carefully.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Diancastra can appear in various forms, from a four-foot slender elf-maiden to a 25' tall giantess, as she wishes. She is always recognizable by two physical characteristics, however, her green-flecked amber eyes and a streak of sea-green skin along her left shoulderblade.
- Walk on Water: She can water walk freely.
Grolantor (pronounced GRO-lan-tor or Gro-LÆN-tor) is the evil deity of hill giants, but he also has a ragtag following among frost giants, ogres and ettins. He refuses any title but his given name. Grolantor is strong, and while he can be cunning and dangerous in ambushes, he is willfully stupid. Grolantor refuses to accept stronger giants as superiors, and this stubborn pride forces him into pointless confrontations. He has had to flee, his backside turned into a pincushion from the arrows of a wrathful Hiatea, on more than one occasion. He has enemies among the goblinoid gods, too, and above all among the dwarves, for whom Grolantor has an arbitrary hatred. The deity himself is a miserable specimen, dividing his time between the Abyss and Tarterus, scheming and muttering about slights which are mostly imagined rather than real.
Many years ago, the pair's treachery prompted Annam to prohibit Grolantor and his brother Memnor from involving themselves in the affairs of the Jotunbrud. Now that the All-Father has fled Gudheim, however, his decree is no longer applicable.
Once free to roam Toril in the wake of his father's exile, Grolantor started sending his avatar amongst the Jotunbrud, hoping to persuade the giants to accompany him on his mischievous outings. Naturally, he received the warmest response from the hill giants and frost giants, who most admire the godling's pride, courage, and skill in battle. Neither Stronmaus nor Hiatea is very pleased with Grolantor's activities, though neither feel empowered to put a stop to them.
Grolantor is wholly dedicated to his own conceit. He absolutely refuses to admit that any other being or deity is his superior and tries to instill this attitude in his followers. Without such pride, he believes, Ostoria can never be reborn. Needless to say, such impetuousness has made him a number of enemies, particularly the gods of the dwarven pantheon, most of whom attack Grolantor on sight.
Grolantor frequently sends his avatar amongst his followers in an effort to goad them into venturing out in search of military glory. Unfortunately for the faithful, however, the god is known to lose interest in these battles just as they are reaching their climax, withdrawing the avatar and abandoning his followers in their time of greatest need. Of course, to a true devotee of Grolantor, such occasions are not desertions at all but glorious opportunities to prove one's own mettle.
Grolantor rules the Steading, located in Carceri in the layer of Cathrys. He's one of the more dangerous deities of Carceri, but he's too foolish to use this to his advantage. Though he has access to abilities that'd make any mortal quake in their boots, he seems determined to destroy himself with his willfully stupid schemes. Grolantor splits his time between this plane and the Abyss, where he's got another set of steadings, but he prefers the grim moods of Carceri to the mindless chaos of the Abyss.
The realm of Grolantor encompasses a vast number of hill giants and their petitioner villages. It's set in the savannah, with an obvious dividing line between the realm and the rest of the layer. The scarlet grass ends, giving way to earthy brown hills that watch over the realm like surly sentinels. They cluster in chaotic order, but their inevitable focus is the hill in the middle of the realm, the Steading of Grolantor. The huge Steading itself literally covers miles of territory with its rambling wooden halls. It's all connected, and it's only a single giantish story tall.
Roaming bands of giants scour the realm, bringing down the lions and mammoths that roam here, seeking food for their god's insatiable appetite. If the patrols encounter intruders, it's a toss-up as to whether they kill the interlopers, leave them alone, or bring 'em into Grolantor's steading. If a person's taken to the steading, there's no telling what'll happen to them, they might be food for the god, granted treasure in hopes of winning non-giants to Grolantor's cause, or simply slain outright. If a person's a dwarf, they might as well forget about making it out of here alive, the hill giants of the Steading seek nothing more than the utter extermination of all dwarves.
- Black Sheep: Grolantor is considered the least of Annam's six sons, the black sheep of the family who is scorned by his siblings and his parents. Most of Grolantor's problems, however, are of his own doing. Proud of his great strength (his only redeeming quality), Grolantor refuses to recognize the superiority of his older, smarter, stronger siblings, and insists on being treated as their equal. He complains constantly of his endless hunger, but rather than hunt for himself, he snatches food from the plates of his siblings and his parents. This behavior has caused many fights between Grolantor and his siblings, most of which Grolantor has lost. Tales about Grolantor invariably end with his gaining yet another scar on his back, received as he escaped the wrath of a family member who had been pushed too far by Grolantor's insulting boasts and selfishness.
- Carry a Big Stick: Grolantor wields a huge club named Dwarfcrusher that hits for 4-40 points of damage and automatically inflicts double damage upon dwarves.
- Church Militant: Grolantor's priests take it upon themselves to search for and eradicate perceived weaknesses in their societies. Wherever they hold positions of respect, the clergy constantly urge their chieftains to launch invasions and raiding parties, sometimes in the face of astronomical odds. A priest of Grolantor is never allowed to back down from a battle or challenge. Failure to observe this dictum divests the priest of all powers until he or she undergoes atonement (which usually involves plunging oneself headlong into an even more dangerous battle).
- Dumb Muscle: Grolantor's great strength is regarded as his one redeeming quality, since he's a vain and foolish god, one who could be intelligent if only he let himself think about things. Instead, he's said to be willfully stupid, trying to drive home with force what he could've accomplished more effectively with subtlety.
- Ethnic God: Grolantor is the god of the hill giants. Some myths suggest that Grolantor created the hill giants by collecting and interbreeding the runts of many earlier giant broods, and then personally polluting this degenerate stock by producing offspring with a series of earth-bound monsters, such as serpents, medusa-like hags, and the hag goddess Cegilune. Similarly, his mating with a monstrous serpent which had a head at either end of her coiled body is often considered to have given rise to the ettins. However, these accounts are not entirely true, as these giant races actually originated from Grolantor's brothers, the hill giants from Ruk, and the ettins from Arno and Julian. That being said, it is nonetheless believed that Grolantor was at least responsible for the degeneration of the modern hill giants and ettins.
- Fantastic Racism: Grolantor has an arbitrary hatred of dwarves, and most of the dwarven deities attack him on sight. He usually wears several belts of woven dwarfbeards, and any dwarves caught in his realm are immediately killed.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Grolantor stubbornly refuses to accept his siblings and stronger giants as his superiors, instead insisting on being treated as their equal. He also instills this attitude in his followers, with his creed instructing them to never admit weakness or treat other giants as superior. Even though hill giants are ranked dead-last on the Ordning, hill giant shamans refuse to admit that other giants are actually larger than they, preferring to think of them as equals.
- Spell My Name With An S: Among the ettins, Grolantor's name is usually spelled slightly differently as Grolettinor or Grelinor.
- Stupid Evil: Grolantor is usually represented by other giant races as evil second and stupid first. Although he possesses a certain cunning, Grolantor is willfully stupid to the point of being self-destructive. His stupidity and pride causes him to engage in pointless confrontations and stupid schemes that don't benefit him or his followers.
- Villainous Glutton: Grolantor has an endless hunger, and the only thing close to a formalized ritual his priests regularly observe is their unrivaled penchant for gluttonous revelry. Grolantor's hill giant clerics feel it is their duty to regularly prove that they are capable of out-eating any member of the tribe, while the frost giant clerics routinely attempt to outdrink the tribe. Hill giants who become sick are called mouths of Grolantor and are revered as holy objects that embody Grolantor's eternal, aching hunger. Such giants are confined and starved to the point of emaciation before being unleashed during a battle or a raid, and their bile is examined by either a priest or chieftain in an effort to read portents from Grolantor, albeit to no avail, as Grolantor does not grant any form of omen to his priests.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Depending on who he's visiting, Grolantor can appear as a 25' tall hill giant, frost giant, or ettin.
- War God: Grolantor is the giant god of war and his creed instructs his worshipers to never admit defeat and crush the weak (i.e. all those smaller than hill giants) underfoot. He often sends avatars to lead hunting and skirmishing bands of hill giants (and much more rarely, ogres), but only for a short time. In any confrontation with a strong enemy, the avatars are cowardly and are known to abandon battles shortly before they conclude. However, if challenged or mocked, his avatars will fight to the death.
Hiatea (pronounced Hee-AH-tee-uh) is a dual-aspect goddess, as her mythic history befits. Her father Annam originally always valued sons over daughters, and if he was able to divine that one of his consorts was bearing his child, he would use magic to ensure that its gender was male. Because of this, Hiatea's mother concealed her pregnancy from Annam and, fearing his wrath, had her child hidden and raised by firbolgs, ignorant of her divine parentage. Hiatea thus has a strong affinity with community, agriculture, and the upbringing of the young, especially with her firbolg priests. However, on learning of her father's identity, she vowed to present herself to him as worthy of his acknowledgement. She undertook a series of arduous trials and quests, mostly in the woodlands where she honed her hunting skills. Thus, she has a much wilder (and more neutral-aligned) aspect as a goddess of nature, wild places, and hunting. Joining the two is a powerful concern with the balance of agriculture and settled communities with nature, wild things, and hunter-gatherers. Firbolgs often have this concern as a basis for their ecology as befits her most important servants and worshipers.
After she and her siblings developed an interest in the Jotunbrud, she claimed dominion over its hearths and fields, developing a strong influence over both agriculture and family life in the Jotunbrud society. Hiatea also has a small but deeply loyal following among the small giant-kin voadkyn and is happy to take these smaller folk under her wing. She has a genuine fondness for this race and, as a result, has begun to develop friendships with some of the elven deities, notably Solonor Thelandira, with whom she enjoys archery contests by her home in Elysium.
Hiatea is also the mother of Grond Peaksmasher, the god worshiped by the firbolgs of the Moonshae Isles. It is believed Hiatea gave Grond dominion over the firbolgs of the Moonshae Isles to teach him some responsibility while she turned her eye to other worlds.
Just after the war with the dragons reached its bitter conclusion, Stronmaus taunted Hiatea about her uselessness during the affair, prompting her to undergo a stunning transformation. To establish the might of her domain, Hiatea reinvented herself as an avenging huntress, capable of employing nature as a powerful weapon of destruction as well as a peaceful source of bounty. Though Stronmaus has since apologized for the incident, Hiatea has never forgotten it. She is now fiercely committed to maintaining a dual nature: nurturer and destroyer, reaper and sower.
Hiatea does not often send avatars to the Prime Material Plane, but she will certainly do so to protect small communities of firbolgs or voadkyn groups under attack from evil enemies (especially if these are evil giants or giant-kin). She may also send an avatar to hunt some monster of exceptional size or great cunning or which in some other way presents her with an unusual challenge (it is hard to find, hard to get to, etc.). She does however, communicate unusually often with her priests and shamans in the form of highly distinctive omens, most of which are somehow linked with fire. Such omens are usually dispatched to warn the wicked.
Hiatea's realm is Woodhaven. It is located in Eronia, the second layer of Elysium, in the heart of a great forest where oak trees grow larger than terrestrial redwoods. There her petitioners hunt with their patron, returning in the evenings to great longhouses where her gift of community and family is celebrated every night.
- Action Girl: In order to prove her worth to her father, Hiatea performed a series of daring and heroic feats, which culminated in an epic battle with a great monster, variously identified as either a fifty-headed lernaean hydra or a massive tarrasque of singular size and strength. She ultimately overcame and defeated the monster so that she could bring it as a trophy to her father, who then accepted her valor and worth. From time to time, she manifests herself in the Prime Material Plane to hunt some notoriously ferocious creature.
- Amazonian Beauty: Hiatea appears as a tanned, lithe, long-legged giantess who wears leather armor and always carries a spear, bow, and quiver of arrows. Her golden-red hair is tied back from her face, clearly exposing her large brown-hazel eyes.
- Classical Hunter: Hiatea is the giant goddess of hunting, and all of her priests must be capable of hunting. She's an exceptional huntswoman, as her sojourns in the Beastlands impress on all who dwell there. Approximately once per month, the priests of the steadings accompany the sentinel priests and the faithful on a ceremonial hunt. Once per year (usually in the spring), the party selects a particularly challenging creature to hunt in this fashion.
- Ethnic Goddess: Hiatea is the patron goddess of the firbolgs and voadkyn, two giant-kin races, and will on rare occasions send an avatar to dispatch assistance to her devotees, such as protecting small communities of firbolgs or voadkyn groups under attack from evil enemies (especially if these are evil giants or giant-kin). Firbolgs are regarded as her most important servants and worshipers, as she was raised by them and was thus instilled with a strong affinity with community, agriculture, and the upbringing of the young. She is the only member of the Ordning still worshiped by the voadkyn after they fled the Ice Spires several centuries ago, and is happy to take these smaller folk under her wing. As such, she has a small but deeply loyal following among them. Her creed instructs that, although giant-kin are not of the blood and can never claim an equal status in Jotunbrud society, they are of the faith and should always be welcome in the steadings.
- Forest Ranger: Followers of Hiatea who specialize in the role of "protector priests" spy around the edges of their communities, patrolling natural woodlands and forests and especially keeping an eye on other races (with voadkyn, this means in part going out of their way to maintain relations with wood elves). They live alone (or in small groups), and act as sentries and guardians for the various giant steadings. Though there is no disgrace in joining the "urban" faction (known as "community priests", who tend to agriculture and the raising, protection, and education of children), the wilderness priests are considered closer to the goddess. Hiatea is said to select these sentry priests herself, subtly steering them into her service.
- Goddess of Fire: Hiatea is the giant goddess of fire and most of her omens are commonly in the form of pyromancy. Burning buildings, flaming spears, fiery auras encircling familiar objects, and flame beetles are all commonly employed. The sign of a flaming sphere within dying embers is a cardinal pointer to some important and imminent event. One special messenger of Hiatea is unique and worthy of note: to priests practicing pyromancy, she may send a unique yellow-gold moth (with a wingspan of some 2 feet) that will spiral around the flame, and from its path of flight the priest can decipher a message from Hiatea. If the priest is of at least 5th level, they can capture and swallow the moth alive, and if they do this they will be invisible in woodlands for 1d4 + 2 days.
- Green Thumb: Hiatea can cast entangle, plant growth, plant door at will. She can also use the priest spells from the druidic spheres.
- Hunter of Monsters: Hiatea originally vowed to prove her prowess and worth to her father by performing heroic feats in battle, which culminated in her killing a great monster (either a fifty-headed lernaean hydra or a massive tarrasque) and presenting its head or heads to Annam. From time to time, she manifests herself in the Prime Material Plane to hunt some unusually challenging monster.
- Inescapable Net: Hiatea also carries a number of magical nets which she can throw up to 120'. Victims caught within a net must make a successful saving throw versus spell at -4 or be affected by the magic of the net (typically, she has nets of feeblemind, weakness (reverse of strength), and petrification).
- Multiple-Choice Past: Hiatea's mother is usually identified as an unnamed sky goddess, who also gave birth to her younger sister Iallanis after Annam permitted the birth of daughters after Hiatea had proved her worth to him. However, at least one other tradition instead stated that her mother was a mortal giantess, and that Hiatea first learned of her divine parentage from a messenger sent from her mother's death bed.
- Nature Hero: Hiatea's creed teaches that nature is both creator and destroyer, and all of her priests must be capable of hunting and surviving in the wilderness. Any priest who loses these capabilities due to age, injury, etc. must immediately stand down.
- Playing with Fire: As the giant goddess of fire, Hiatea is proficient in pyromancy and most of her omens are somehow linked with fire. She can set her spear aflame on command, and her symbol is believed to be derived from the great battle in which she slew the vast hydra by cauterizing its severed stumps in order to prevent its heads from regenerating.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: One of her omens involves sending messages into the dreams of children, which are then received by her "community priests".
- Statuesque Stunner: Hiatea is an approximately 70' tall giantess, which makes her the third tallest member of the Ordning, behind only her brother Stronmaus (80' tall) and father Annam (100'+ tall).
Iallanis (pronounced EE-uh-lan-is) is the goddess of love, forgiveness, mercy, and beauty who never turns away a giant of good nature or who has repented their evil from her flock. She despises no part of her father's creation and her ultimate ambition is to reunite the giants in harmony. She is said to have a close friendship with Fionnghuala the swanmay goddess, although why this is so is unknown. Among giant races, she is particularly beloved among cloud and storm giants, small groups of firbolg, and a scattering of voadkyn, but she is also accepted among stone giants for her fairness of face and kindness of being.
Iallanis often stands in the shadows of her older sister Hiatea. Certainly her birth is said in myth to follow Annam's acceptance of his eldest daughter and consequent willingness to allow female offspring subsequently. Iallanis is one of her father's favorite children, and was introduced to the Jotunbrud and their struggles while still an adolescent. She assumed her spot in the Ordning shortly thereafter.
Iallanis often dispatches an avatar to celebrate an occasion of great joy and delight among the Jotunbrud: the wedding of a chieftain or king, the consecration of a great temple or magnificent building, the completion of a grand work of art, or the end of a war. She sometimes sends omens to her faithful in the form of tinkling winds, pleasant scents, rare flowers, and similar gentle signs.
The realm of Iallanis is Florallium, a place of quiet gardens and crystal springs located in Arvandor, the first layer of Arborea. When the elven deities arrived in Arborea and challenged the giant deities, they took the plane in a titanic battle, and the giant deities fled to the lands of Ysgard that the elven deities had abandoned. Because Iallanis had stayed at the hearth-side when her siblings went to war, she was allowed to remain in Arvandor. However, although the glory-seeking elven gods didn't toss her out when they drove the others out, they don't much respect her either. By unspoken consent, Florallium has become neutral territory for the deities and petitioners of Jotunheim, a place where peace can be negotiated in times of conflict and joyful occasions can be celebrated in quieter times.
- Charm Person: Iallanis can cast charm person or giant at will. All victims of this ability save at -4, except for giants, who save at -8.
- Earthy Barefoot Character: As with many other love goddesses, Iallanis is recognizable for always being bare legged and bare footed.
- Garden Garment: Iallanis appears as a graceful, fair-skinned giantess wearing a short green dress from which living flowers grow.
- Goddess of Good: As the giant goddess of love and mercy, Iallanis turns away no giant who is of good nature or who has repented their evil. She will accept any good-aligned true giant as a priest or shaman on equal terms, and would even accept giant-kin as equals if given her choice, but her father and Stronmaus have both forbidden such a policy as a violation of the ordning. She ever seeks to reunite all of the Jotunbrud in harmony, and her priests chiefly concern themselves with uniting the Jotunbrud into the fold of good, dispersing mercy and absolution to those in need, creating things of beauty, and cooperating with all other good creatures.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Her favored weapon is an unarmed strike or slam. Certain sources instead listed her favored weapon as a battleaxe, but this
was actually a mistake made by writer Sean K. Reynolds, which he has since explained and corrected. - Love Goddess: Iallanis is the giant goddess of love, and her priests conduct nearly all of the marriage ceremonies that take place between two members of the Jotunbrud, even those involving priests of other deities or giants of evil alignment. Each year, on the first day of spring, all of Iallanis' priests assemble in one of the giant steadings for a grand revelry. If possible, a marriage is performed at the height of this celebration. Since a marriage performed under these circumstances is considered a great honor among the Jotunbrud, most of the important members of Jotunbrud wait until the spring ceremony to wed.
- Odd Friendship: She has a close friendship with the swanmay goddess Fionnghuala for an unknown reason.
- Truce Zone: Her realm serves as neutral territory for the deities and petitioners of Jotunheim, where peace can be negotiated in times of conflict and joyful occasions can be celebrated in quieter times.
Karontor is a wicked, misshapen god whose hatred of giantkind reflects his own deep self-loathing. He associates with the equally wicked and warped fomorian giants, but evil verbeeg also carry his mark and prove superior spellcasting servants, given their higher mental capacity. In fomorian/verbeeg myths, he has a constant form, but other non-evil giants often have myths in which he is a fair and radiant god who grows jealous of Stronmaus, and his bitter envy begins to twist his form into the hideous shape he now possesses. This twisting is often associated with a descent into an underworld where Karontor learns dark magical secrets from a race of ancient subterranean hags. He uses this magic to twist and warp some of the fairest of the giants on his return to the surface world, and they become the ancestors of the fomorians (and the verbeeg to a lesser extent, although his magic twists their nature only).
Karontor is seemingly uncaring of the Prime Material Plane because of his endless introverted reflections. He sends avatars only in unpredictable fits of rage, to slay and murder. He does not send omens to his priests.
Long ago, Karontor actively recruited followers in all the largest verbeeg tribes and directed his priests to force the verbeegs to follow the dictums of the mysterious stranger who occasionally came to visit bearing treasure in exchange for promises of fealty. Only the priests are aware that the stranger, who takes a slightly different form in each settlement he visits, is actually Karontor's avatar. For hundreds of years now, spies dispatched by the avatar have been keeping Karontor informed of the comings and goings in many of Faerûn's most prominent Jotunbrud settlements. Recently, the avatar has also started dispatching some of his verbeeg servants to collect specific artifacts scattered all across Toril's surface. Exactly what Karontor has in mind for the verbeegs and how they are assisting him remains a mystery.
Karontor dwells in the Rack of Injustice, a mausoleum of beast and giant bones in a desolate, frozen wind-swept plain of Minethys, the third layer of Carceri, where his pack of ever-hungry winter wolves await his signal to rage across the miles beyond. Here he grows ever more embittered by his banishment by Annam, which stripped him of his own spellcasting powers. Annam did not truly detest Karontor, he simply grew weary of the endless sibling fights and dispatched Karontor because it was the easiest thing to do. Thus, this evil god's grievance has some justification.
- The Beastmaster: Karontor has a pack of ever-hungry winter wolves at his command, and his priests are similarly urged to use trained beasts (especially wolves) for the purpose of fighting all good creatures.
- Carry a Big Stick: Karontor carries a humble giantish club.
- Ethnic God: Karontor is the patron god of fomorians and verbeegs, two giant-kin races who feel a kinship with this twisted god. Some myths suggest that Karontor created the fomorians by twisting and warping some of the fairest giants using dark magic that he had learned from a race of ancient subterranean hags. Similarly, albeit it to a lesser extent, he is often considered to have twisted the nature of another group of giants to create the verbeegs, while leaving their physical forms unchanged. In reality, the fomorians and verbeegs originated from two sons of the goddess Othea, the wife of Annam, produced through her affair with the glacier god Ulutiu. In his realm, Karontor leads his fomorian petitioners to battle and vengeance for the wrongs done to him. The petitioners also sally forth from their god's realm to take vengeance in his name. By contrast, the verbeegs are considered his superior spellcasting servants, given their higher mental capacity. The verbeegs worship Karontor because they hope he will bring them into the ordning, rather than because of any true faith, and even their priests would abandon him if they found a better option.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: Karontor is said to have once been beautiful, but his hatred and envy of Stronmaus was so much that it deformed his body. Averted in fomorian and verbeeg myths, in which he is believed to have always had his current appearance.
- The Exile: Karontor was exiled into darkness after he lashed out at his siblings by his father Annam. However, Annam did not truly detest Karontor, but instead had simply grown weary of the endless sibling fights and dispatched Karontor because it was the easiest thing to do.
- God of Evil: Karontor is the giant god of hatred and deformity, and is seen as evil first and anything else second. He sends avatars only in unpredictable fits of rage, to slay and murder.
- Religion of Evil: Karontor's vicious priests are urged to fight all good creatures, using trained beasts (especially wolves) for this purpose. They constantly urge their own groups to conflict and war.
- Spell My Name With An S: In Giantcraft, his name is spelled Karantor.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Karontor can appear as either a uniquely hideous fomorian giant clad in rotting, stinking furs, or as a huge winter wolf. Changing form takes one round.
Memnor is subtle, charming, intelligent, cultured, and deeply, intensely evil. His sin is pride, the desire to usurp Annam even in the prime god's withdrawn aspect, and to rule all of the affairs of giantkind. His chosen instruments in executing these plans are evil cloud giants, the only priests he accepts. To most members of the Jotunbrud, Memnor is a proud and determined servant of his father. Only his priests know the truth, and they share his ambition. He corrupted them by constantly telling them of their superiority, stressing their first-born status in the worlds, and by belittling other giant races. He taught his evil followers the secrets of harnessing wyverns and dominating them through force of will, and he ever bends his will toward increasing the power of evil giantkind.
When Memnor and his brother Grolantor were just children, their "play" resulted in a mischievous plot that ultimately thrust the Jotunbrud into a minor war against the ogres, As a consequence, Annam forbade the children from interfering in the affairs of the giants for as long as he sat atop the Ordning.
Once Annam exiled himself from Gudheim, however, Memnor and Grolantor managed to convince Stronmaus and Hiatea that the All-Father's decree was no longer valid. Since that day, the brothers have incessantly meddled in the affairs of the Jotunbrud, sometimes forcing Stronmaus and Hiatea to put an end to their shenanigans.
Memnor is subtle and wily and does not send avatars into the Prime Material Plane to fight, although the avatars will fight rashly if their pride is challenged. His concern is to increase the prestige and power of his strongest priests. Omens take the form of horrible visions accompanied by splitting headaches, but they are powerfully veridical.
Memnor's realm is Thraotor, an enormous thunderhead with a great palace of adamantine at its highest point, miles above the ground in Chamada, the second layer of Gehenna. Thraotor floats across the landscape, bringing destructive storms wherever it goes. At a whim, Memnor can turn the ordinary rain or hail beneath his realm into a storm of vengeance effect.
- Ambiguously Related: Memnor is usually identified as a son of Annam and an unnamed sky goddess, but some myths instead regard him as Annam's brother.
- The Beastmaster: Memnor was responsible for teaching his followers the secrets of harnessing wyverns and dominating them through force of will. Each of his priests must have a trained personal wyvern to progress beyond 8th level.
- Cool Mask: Ancient depictions of Memnor often show him wearing a two-faced mask. Because of this, cloud giant nobles seldom show their faces, but instead wear exquisite masks made of precious materials adorned with gemstones. Each noble has a collection of these masks that they wear to conceal their face but still reflect their current mood. An individual might change masks many times during the day as their emotions shift. Similarly, the smiling ones, cloud giants who honor and emulate Memnor's craftiness and deceit above all else, take their name from the strange two-faced masks they wear. The smiling half of the face often looks more like a smirk or a triumphant sneer than a pleasant grin. The frowning half represents the displeasure smiling ones feel about their place in the ordning, second to the storm giants. The masks serve as symbols of their devotion, but they also conceal their wearers' true facial expressions.
- Ethnic God: Memnor is the patron god of cloud giants, who have two distinct aspects of him to admire and emulate. Those of a benign disposition revere him for his charm, intelligence, and persuasiveness, while those of a more malign bent take Memnor's self-interest to heart and imitate his trickery. Cloud giants that take a particular interest in trickery, known as "smiling ones", wear two-faced masks as they practice their deceptions and prey on those who are susceptible to their charms.
- Fantastic Racism: Memnor's priests must proclaim the superiority of giants in general and cloud giants in particular, belittling other giants save for storm giants (who outrank them in the Ordning), who are hated and hunted.
- Manipulative Bastard: Memnor is regarded as the cleverest of Annam's offspring, and is not only clever, but also sly and deceitful. Tales of his exploits emphasize his charisma, his smooth manner, and his ability to manipulate and mislead his siblings and other legendary figures into doing exactly what he wants, usually to their great detriment.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Although Memnor is generally regarded as a son of Annam and an unnamed sky goddess, his mythic history and place in the pantheon are shady. In some myths, he is actually the brother of Annam and is weakened by him in an epic battle, which resulted in Memnor being banished to Gehenna and Annam having to retire from the Prime Material Plane to heal his own wounds from this terrible confrontation. In others, Memnor is born from the head or guts of a vast, barely sentient world-devouring monster that is destroyed by Annam (or, rarely, by Stronmaus).
- Path of Inspiration: Memnor's desire to eventually usurp Annam's throne atop the Ordning and become lord over all the affairs of giantkind is known only to the handful of evil cloud giants he has accepted into his priesthood. Keeping Memnor's true ambitions a secret is perhaps the most important duty of his servants, and, as a result, most members of the Jotunbrud view him as a proud and determined servant of his father. While operating within the mainstream of Jotunbrud society, Memnor's clerics play the role of wise counselors and advocates for the underprivileged. In reality, they are always looking for an opportunity to ascend the ordnings of the various giant societies, where they'll be more useful to their master.
- Religion of Evil: Memnor and his priests desire to take over the Ordning and rule all of the affairs of giantkind. In order to accomplish this goal and ascend the ordnings of the various giant societies, his servants keep his true ambitions a secret and present themselves as wise counselors and advocates for the underprivileged. Just after the stormazîn accepts them into the clergy of the Ordning, Memnor's own high priest visits each of the new recruits and subjects them to his own secret ceremony. During this shocking rite, the initiates pledge to aid their master in his bid to seize Annam's throne and swear to keep their true plans secret from the uninitiated.
- Savage Spiked Weapons: Memnor's favored weapon is a morningstar, which strikes with a feebleminding effect 3/day, as Memnor chooses.
- The Starscream: Memnor plots to overthrow Annam and rule all of the affairs of giantkind. His creed proclaims that Annam has grown old and weak, and that his ineptitude was the cause of Ostoria's collapse.
- Villain with Good Publicity: To an extent. While giants are generally aware of his evil and deceitful nature, they nonetheless believe that Memnor is a proud and determined servant of Annam, unaware of Memnor's desire to usurp Annam's throne.
- Wicked Cultured: Memnor is subtle, charming, intelligent, cultured, and deeply, intensely evil. His priests are required to be similarly proud, well dressed, and regal of manner.
Othea was a demigoddess native to Toril, who manifested herself as a vast mountain located on the edge of the region now known as The Cold Lands. She married Annam shortly after he was attracted to Toril, and soon bore him several sons. Although he had already sired several immortals, Othea's sons were Annam's first terrestrial children, and for that reason he was particularly enthralled by them. When the last of his terrestrial sons came of age, Annam favored them all by establishing a great kingdom, Ostoria, in their honor.
However, Othea and Annam were both unfaithful to each other, and she pursued a series of unsatisfying affairs with various deities such as Vaprak, father of the ogre race. Shortly before the giants' war with dragonkind came to its bitter conclusion, Othea developed an interest in a minor sea god known as Ulutiu. During the last few years of the war, while Annam was preoccupied, the pair carried on a passionate affair they hoped to conceal from the jealous All-Father. Ultimately, the union of Othea and Ulutiu produced four sons, who later founded the four giant-kin dynasties: firbolg, verbeeg, voadkyn, and fomorian. To this day, the enmity between giant and giant-kin stems from the illegitimacy of Ulutiu's offspring in the eyes of Annam and his sons.
Despite Othea's best efforts, Annam eventually discovered her dalliance and sought revenge upon Ulutiu. Although accounts of the All-Father's retribution vary, most giants accept that he slew Ulutiu, causing a massive tempest, and cast his body down into the Cold Sea. However, another version instead states that Ulutiu bargained with Annam, agreeing to go into a slumbering exile in the Astral Plane on the condition that Annam would spare Othea.
Othea was so distressed by Ulutiu's death that she refused to bear the All-Father more children. However, planning to sire another son capable of restoring Ostoria to its former greatness, Annam refused to be denied and tricked Othea by appearing to her in the form of a divine wind that blew uninvited across her rocky slopes. Knowing immediately that the son she carried in her womb was sired by Annam, she initially refused to bear the child. Eventually, she and Annam ended their struggle in a stalemate: In return for the All-Father's promise to turn his back on Toril until the day the child called his name, Othea promised not to expel her unborn child prematurely and allow the ogres to feast on its flesh and blood. Although the compromise would delay the child's birth for a very long time, this delay became a part of Othea's plan.
When the creeping ice of the Great Glacier threatened to engulf Lanaxis' citadel at Voninheim, the remains of Ostoria's capital, Annam's sons quickly uncovered the secret of the creeping ice, Ulutiu's amulet, and learned how they might halt its progress. However, Othea forbade her children to set foot upon the glacier. To her, the ice was Ulutiu's just revenge upon a cold-blooded murderer. Though the ice doomed Ostoria, Othea loved Ulutiu's children better than Annam's. All the ice really threatened was Annam's dream of a Toril ruled entirely by giantkind.
But Lanaxis, de facto "leader" of the giants, was so devoted to his father and Ostoria that he refused to accept his mother's will. After failing to urge his brothers to help mount an expedition after Ulutiu's amulet in defiance of Othea, Lanaxis was forced to modify his plan, and resolved to poison Othea, removing the only obstacle to Ostoria's salvation. Unfortunately, his plans went awry. Lanaxis poisoned not only Othea, but almost all his brothers (save Dunmore and Arno/Julian) as well. Just after she drank his poison, Othea cursed Lanaxis and the ettin, saying that should Lanaxis leave her shadow, he would lose his immortality. Seeing this measure as the probable end of Ostoria, Lanaxis' progeny, the titans, fled Toril altogether for the plane of Arborea. The moment Lanaxis' poison touched her lips, the mountain that served as her manifestation on Toril grew cragged, brittle, and moss-covered. For the next several weeks, Annam's final son remained trapped in the womb caves located far beneath the mountain's surface. When the son, known as Hartkiller, finally freed himself from Othea's lifeless womb caves, his stunted growth, caused by his mother's death, resulted in him being rejected by the other giants and eventually being slain in a war he provoked between the giants and his human and giant-kin allies.
- Awful Wedded Life: Othea and her husband were both unfaithful to each other, although her infidelity tends to be emphasized and condemned more by giants. Othea's affair with Vaprak resulted in the ogre race, and her later affair with the glacier god Ulutiu produced the giant-kin races. After Ulutiu's death, Othea was so upset that she refused to give Annam another child, but Annam tricked her to get her pregnant. They reached a compromise where Annam agreed to leave Toril until the child called for him, and in return Othea would not terminate the pregnancy.
- Betrayal by Offspring: Othea was ultimately poisoned by her son Lanaxis after she had forbidden her children from venturing onto the Great Glacier and halt the creeping ice.
- A Deadly Affair: When Annam eventually found out about Othea's affair with Ulutiu, he sought revenge upon Ulutiu. Although accounts of the All-Father's retribution vary, with most giants believing that Annam killed Ulutiu, causing a massive tempest, another version instead states that Ulutiu bargained with Annam, agreeing to go into a slumbering exile in the Astral Plane on the condition that Annam would spare Othea.
- Dying Curse: Just after being poisoned by her son Lanaxis, Othea cursed him and the ettin, saying that he would lose his immortality should he leave her shadow. While Lanaxis' offspring, the titans, fled Toril altogether for the plane of Arborea, what exactly happened to Lanaxis himself remains something of a mystery.
- God Is Dead: Othea was poisoned and killed by her son Lanaxis, and the mountain that served as her manifestation on Toril grew cragged, brittle, and moss-covered the moment that the poison touched her lips. Ulutiu's worshipers believe that Othea drifts alongside him in the Astral Plane.
- I Have Many Names: Othea was also known as Sonnhild (in ancient Thorass) and Deronain (in Auld Dwarvish).
- Mother Goddess: Somewhat downplayed, since Othea isn't credited with creating the world, and was in fact a minor demigoddess. She did, however, give birth to the progenitors of all giant races and giant-kin, and her infidelity has been a major source of conflict between them for thousands of years.
- Parental Favoritism: Othea loved the children she had with Ulutiu more than the ones she had with Annam, and giants believe that Othea had tricked Annam into accepting Ulutiu's children as his own so she'd always have a sort of "spy" among the elders of the Jotunbrud. She also prohibited her children from venturing onto the Great Glacier because the creeping ice only threatened Ostoria, the kingdom founded by her children with Annam, and by extension Annam's dream of a Toril ruled entirely by giantkind. The voadkyn, one of the giant-kin races, in particular believe themselves superior to most of the Jotunbrud because they still regard them as the betrayers of Othea.
- Plot-Inciting Infidelity: A lot of the problems the giant pantheon faced began when Othea cheated on Annam with Ulutiu. When Annam learned of the affair, he is said to have killed Ulutiu (another version says that Ulutiu instead willingly went into slumbering exile), and Othea was so upset by his death that she refused to give Annam more children. After Annam tricked her into becoming pregnant, the two reached an agreement that Annam would leave Toril and not return until his son called out to him in exchange for Othea not terminating the pregnancy. However, Othea's death resulted in her last son, known as Hartkiller, having his growth stunted. Unable to convince the giants that he was Annam's chosen ruler, Hartkiller rallied an army of humans and giant-kin to his side and ultimately forced the giants to leave his new kingdom, known as Hartsvale, and begrudgingly respect the kingdom's territory, although Hartkiller himself was killed at the conclusion of the war. Due to Hartkiller's inability to restore Ostoria, Annam remained bound by his word, for the most part unable to interact with the world, and the giants, due to their refusal to accept Hartkiller as their king, were punished by having their former territory be occupied by the human kingdom of Hartsvale, which also serves as a constant reminder of their insolence.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Othea had a passionate affair with the glacier god Ulutiu behind her husband's back. She loved her children with Ulutiu more than her children with Annam, and planned to reunite with Ulutiu after Annam's departure from Toril, but was slain by one of her sons sometime afterwards.
- Together in Death: It is believed by Ulutiu's worshipers that he and Othea are adrift alongside each other in the Astral Plane. If a way could be found to resuscitate Othea, it is said that Ulutiu would likely return to Faerûn.
Skoraeus Stonebones (pronounced Skor-AY-us) is one of Annam's "second generation sons", alongside Surtr and Thrym. Unlike most of his siblings, he is generally disinterested in the affairs of the Jotunbrud as a whole, though he is obsessed with the stone giants in particular and often intervenes in their affairs in order to guide their development. He acts as an observer, a confidant to the other gods, and a keeper of secrets that he must be forced or tricked into divulging. He is generally expressionless, dour, and something of a loner, although he does occasionally deal with gods of the dwarves and svirfnebli (of necessity rather than desire). Skoraeus is deeply knowledgeable about banes, magics, and wonders buried in the cores of worlds and in the Underdark, but he keeps this knowledge strictly to himself. His chosen sphere is artistic achievement.
Although he often intervenes in the affairs of the stone giants, Skoraeus dispatches avatars to the Prime Material Plane only very rarely (stone giant legends speak of Skoraeus occasionally leading stone giants to new homes or fabulous magical treasure). Instead, he prefers to exercise his influence through omens of natural beauty, brightly colored rocks, strange stalactite patterns, and sparkling fountains, that his priests are capable of recognizing and interpreting. In fact, the raw caverns of the Underdark are often alive for Skoraeus' priests, communicating reams of information (location, direction, distance) with their every geographical feature.
Skoraeus has no fixed dwelling, and instead simply wanders. He favors the roots of the mountains of Jotunheim and the great caverns that yawn within them. He's also known to wander the ever-changing mountainous regions of the Elemental Chaos.
- The Aloner: Skoraeus is a withdrawn god, although his reasons for this are more introverted and self-absorbed than those of Annam. Skoraeus has evaded the schisms in the giant pantheon by withdrawing below the world and concerning himself solely with the affairs of stone giants, ignoring the evils without and repulsing any attempt at invading his home. Although Skoraeus has been known to occasionally consort with the gods of the dwarves and the svirfnebli, even that is out of necessity rather than desire. Skoraeus' priests emulate this attitude, tending to isolate themselves from the remainder of their tribes and creating an inward-looking, stifling orthodoxy that repulses attempts at contact by other races most of the time, and they especially avoid contact with others of giantkind.
- The Blacksmith: Skoraeus is a master craftsman, and his priests spend most of their time creating intricate sculptures and friezes. They feel it is their duty to guarantee that the stone giants constantly progress to greater works of art and craftsmanship. The hands of the best stone carvers, held among stone giants as the highest form of art, are seen as holy, said to literally become the hands of Skoraeus Stonebones as they work.
- Ethnic God: Skoraeus is the patron god of stone giants, who worship him as the Great Creator, second in skill to Annam, but master of the other deities in his father's absence. He appears in stone giant art in two ways: as a pair of hands, one holding a chisel and the other a hammer, and as the largest statue or relief carving of a stone giant in a tribe's caves. Typically, Skoraeus is depicted twice as tall as any other stone giant. He is solely concerned with the affairs of stone giants, and sparingly deploys avatars to protect stone giants, lead them to new homes, or lead them to, or away from, some secret buried magical caverns or very rich veins of prime stone or ore.
- The Smart Guy: Skoraeus is often seen as the wisest of all the giant gods, and is considered the most knowledgeable of the giant gods about magic, wards, banes, hidden treasures, and the secrets of the earth.
- Team Switzerland: Skoraeus often sits on the sidelines during the schemes and battles of his siblings. He acts as an observer, a confidant to the other gods, and a keeper of secrets that he must be forced or tricked into divulging.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: Skoraeus is regarded by stone giants as a master craftsman second only to Annam in skill. He is credited with giving the secret of smelting to Surtr, showing Thrym how to carve runes on his old weapons to imbue them with magic when Surtr refused to forge new ones for him, crafting spears for Hiatea so she could complete her ten tasks of valor, and tapping with his hammer on the stone under the sea, so that Stronmaus could find the chain-tunnels that allowed him to pull the tarrasque down to the bed of the ocean where at last it would drown. Skoraeus was also responsible for creating Annam's massive handaxe called Sky Cleaver.
Stronmaus (pronounced STRAWN-mawz) is the eldest son of Annam, and among his children is also the most joyful and the most prone to laughter and enjoying fellowship with his siblings. Shortly after he came of age, Stronmaus adopted the skies as his purview. With Annam gone, however, he is now responsible for the affairs of the entire Ordning and may call the giant gods to account for wrongful actions, damaging dissension, and the like. However, Stronmaus certainly doesn't covet his father's power. The moment Annam returns, Stronmaus will happily relinquish the throne.
Stronmaus is a god in whom the power of life itself flows very strongly. Like his avatars, Stronmaus cannot help but be ever-smiling, and it is hard for him not to express his powerful energy in dramatic form. He delights in creating powerful storms in the Beastlands, revelling in the lightning and driving rain, whooping to the thunder he creates from his own magical hammer. This can be a terrifying spectacle for the unprepared, for the god is a very strong and powerful one and sometimes his joy in the elements makes him forget his own strength.
Because he is so adventurous, Stronmaus tends to send more avatars to visit the Prime Material Plane than many of his divine peers. Often, these avatars are disguised as ordinary storm giants traveling between the steadings, to meditate with storm giant shaman-priests of great power who always recognize the avatar for who he is. Though he would never dream of blatantly and directly intervening in the affairs of the Jotunbrud (he and his siblings made certain rules against such vulgar interventions eons ago), he frequently intervenes indirectly to enjoy adventures aside his favored nephews. He will also send avatars to restrict the efforts of Memnor, for whom he has great antipathy. Stronmaus also enjoys sending an avatar to walk in isolated mountainous terrain, possibly visiting cloud giants and storm giants there, but mostly for the pleasure of walking in refined air and enjoying the elements. Stronmaus may send an avatar to help the good non-human sea creatures and sea gods who he has befriended if their people are in serious danger. Finally, Stronmaus has some of his father's traits and is quite capable of despatching an avatar to woo and seduce some very comely giantess who has attracted his (certainly fickle) attentions. Omens from the god take the form of storms and lightning, strangely shaped clouds which partly obscure the sun, and direct warnings of impending evils.
Stronmaus' realm is Stormhold, where he lives in a spectacular cloud palace in Karasuthra, the third layer of the Beastlands, crafted from gold, platinum, gems, and marble, at the center of which he has a magical opal pool which appears some 500' long to a viewer, but is of endless size to anyone swimming within it. Despite its ominous name, Stormhold rests on a magnificent white cloud that only rarely brings rain or storms to the land beneath. Though it casts an enormous shadow on the land, the sun always shines brightly at its top, glittering on Stronmaus' palace. In the skies above his home, he rides the air currents with Aerdrie Faenya of the elves and Syranita the aarakocra goddess. Stronmaus takes pleasure in consorting with good deities of skies and seas, and he has many friends among them.
- Big Fun: Stronmaus is the giant god of joy and is an ever-smiling, reveling, and friendly god. Among his cloud giant worshippers, his creed instructs them that merriment is the milk of life. Ironically, his demeanor strongly contrasts with that of the storm giants, who are commonly regarded as aloof and dour and view their god's ever-present smile as a form of mockery.
- Ethnic God: Stronmaus is the patron god of storm giants, whose temperament and interests are similar to his own, and he is often depicted as a storm giant in carvings and other art. He is also the patron of non-evil cloud giants who have rejected Memnor. The storm giants worship their patron by organizing great ceremonies designed to demonstrate their ability to overcome earthly obstacles (such as a great quest, hunt, or survival walk). Often, these rituals press the giants to the limits of their abilities and place them in great mortal danger.
- Flight: Stronmaus is the giant god of the sky, and he rides the air currents above his home.
- God of Thunder: Stronmaus is the giant god of the sky and weather, and his cloud giant worshipers in particular view him as a thundering god of storms. He is frequently depicted as a reveling god who enjoys crafting his powerful rainstorms and lightning bolts from his own magical hammer. Regardless of their breed, priests of Stronmaus always stop to pray during or immediately after a rainstorm or thunderstorm (even such a storm summoned by the priests themselves).
- Heal It with Water: The waters of the magical opal pool at the center of Stronmaus' cloud palace can heal any creature who bathes in them and effect both a restoration and a regeneration. Many thousands of years ago, after the titan Lanaxis finally united all of Annam's sons on Toril, Stronmaus gave Lanaxis a sample of his waters as a gift, allowing the titan to create a smaller version of the pond at the center of Voninheim. In fact, Lanaxis delivered his poison to Othea by fouling waters drawn from this magical font. Whether or not the fountain still exists at the heart of Voninheim's ruins, of course, is unknown.
- The Leader: In the absence of his father Annam, Stronmaus is functionally the leader of the giant pantheon.
- Lord of the Ocean: Downplayed, as Stronmaus is more commonly associated with the sky. That being said, he's the giant god of seas, and his hill giant and frost giant worshipers in particular view him as a mighty fisherman and bold sailor/explorer respectively. Stronmaus is known to sometimes send an avatar to help the good non-human sea creatures and sea gods who he has befriended, and no non-evil aquatic creature will attack him, regardless of magical control, and any attempt to magically coerce such a creature to attack automatically breaks the magical effect.
- Mood-Swinger: Although he's primarily known for having a sunny personality, Stronmaus is subject to gray moods and deep brooding that are just as intense as his moments of good humor.
- Shock and Awe: Stronmaus may call lightning once per turn and is immune to electrical magic. Three times per day, he can cast a 20-die lightning bolt that is 10' wide, up to 160' long, and exhibits the chain lightning effect.
- Thunder Hammer: Stronmaus always carries a hammer of thunderbolts with all available special powers (+5 enchantment, strikes any evil giant dead with no saving throw, etc.).
- Weather Manipulation: Stronmaus is the giant god of weather and controls weather in a 10-mile radius at will. On learning of his sister Hiatea's existence, an overjoyed Stronmaus celebrated her existence with mighty storms that flooded the worlds and washed away great evils.
Surtr is both the lord and deity of the fire giants. He can control any fire in Midgard. Surtr resembles an immense fire giant, with crackling flames for hair and eyebrows. The Lord of the Fire Giants is concerned primarily with his people's fortune and fate in the world. Like all giants, Surtr hates the Aesir and is anxiously awaiting Ragnarok. He will lend his aid to any plan that troubles the Aesir.
Surtr stands ever alert in Muspelheim, brandishing his sword that shines brighter than the sun. At Ragnarok he will be responsible for setting the world on fire, burning it down to make room for the new one. Prophecies say that he will even destroy Bifrost under his weight and that of his subjects.
Surtr's realm is known as Muspelheim, which is located in, and is the namesake of, the second layer of Ysgard. Muspelheim is made from ribbons of floating earth, some continent-sized or larger. Here, the ground smokes and burns, earning this layer the name "Land of Fire". It's a hostile layer where even the ground is sharp volcanic rock. Muspelheim's ground rolls toward a ridge of fierymmountains at the highest point. This range, called the Serpent Spine, is home to hundreds of clans of fire giants. Watchtowers and citadels defend the mountain passes against rival clans and unwanted visitors. Just below the highest point lies the land of of the Golden Mist, one of the few fertile grounds in Muspelheim. The giant farmers are said to cultivate the Golden Mist valley, growing fireweed, verdobba, and a variety of black, edible wood. The only liquid in Muspelheim is the "water" of the Lake of Lead, a dull silvery body of molten metal where the giants drown their criminals. How the giants determine which of them are criminals and which are innocent is their business, and confusing business, surely.
The Spire of Surtr (also known as the Iron Mountain), located in the midst of the Serpent Spine mountains, is a towering, needle-thin citadel of dark stone supported more by giantish magic than by stonecraft. The Spire is tended by soft, devout giant maidens from Muspelheim and elsewhere, who also serve as Surtr's clerics.
A few cults of Surtr thrive in Mannheim, often cooperating with Loki's cult. These cults teach respect for fire, its use as a tool, and its danger when uncontrolled. They teach that fire is a cleansing agent, and point to the new growth after a forest fire as proof. Members of Surtr's cult seek every opportunity to undermine Thor's cult, and they have plenty of help and expert advice from Loki's cult. While Thrym has a similar cult, fire and ice never mix.
Surtr rarely grants divine power except to giants. However, a rare few individuals in Mannheim have earned his approval. They conceal their devotion to the giant destined to burn down the world.
Surtr's temples in Mannheim are hidden affairs, much like Loki's. In Muspelheim, they are enormous fortresses that ring with the sound of the forges day and night. Surtr's Muspelheim temples are centers for preparation for Ragnarok. Temples in Mannheim secretly store weapons in preparation for the cult to fight alongside the giants.
Visitors to Surtr's temples have only a few seconds to prove their devotion to Surtr before the members of the cult attack. The clergy and the members of the cult in Mannheim do not leave witnesses alive to report their activities.
- The Blacksmith: Surtr is the giant god of craft and is viewed as an excellent blacksmith, although the secret of smelting was originally given to him by his brother Skoraeus Stonebones. Fire giants emulate his unsurpassed skill at creating and building things, and his Muspelheim temples are enormous fortresses that ring with the sound of the forges day and night, serving as centers for preparation for Ragnarok. Surtr can use Craft (metalworking) or Profession (metalworker) as a free action if the DC for the task is 25 or lower. He can perform up to ten such free actions in a round.
- Destroyer Deity: Surtr is the giant god of destruction and is destined to burn down the world during Ragnarok.
- Ethnic God: Surtr is the god of fire giants, who emulate his unsurpassed skill at creating and building things. Because of the destructive power of fire, the worship of Surtr is tinged with an apocalyptic air. Some observers suspect that priests of Surtr maintain clandestine workshops and armories where they manufacture and stockpile battle gear in preparation for a final, all-encompassing battle that will decide the fate of the world. If the suspicions are true, these sites are expertly hidden and kept secret even from most fire giants.
- Fire Purifies: Surtr teaches that fire is a cleansing agent, as evidenced by the new growth after every forest fire.
- Flaming Hair: Surtr appears as an enormous fire giant with red-orange flaming hair and eyebrows.
- Flaming Sword: In keeping with his mythological namesake, the D&D version of Surtr wields a fiery greatsword. It is a 15 foot flaming iron sword with which he can strike twice per round, inflicting 6-60 points of damage on a hit. His holy symbol is likewise a flaming sword.
- God of Fire: Surtr is the giant god of fire and teaches respect for fire, its use as a tool, and its danger when uncontrolled. In the fire giants' world, fire is strength. It burns away impurities and leaves behind only what is strong enough to withstand the heat, such as the best steel from the forge. When fire is controlled, it is the giants' most powerful tool; when it rages unchecked, it can bring down forests and lay waste to cities.
- Immune to Fire: Surtr is immune to fire and fire attacks of any kind.
- Kill It with Fire: Surtr teaches about the danger of fire when uncontrolled, and prophesies say that he will burn down the world during Ragnarok.
- Playing with Fire: Being the giant god of fire, Surtr can cast fire spells as a 24th-level caster. Among others, he can cast burning hands, elemental swarm (as fire spell only), fire seeds, fire shield, fire storm, flame strike, incendiary cloud, produce flame, resist elements (as cold or fire spell only), and wall of fire. Additionally, Surtr is immune to fire, can summon fire elementals, and automatically senses events related to fires greater than 10 feet across regardless of the number of people involved, both in the present and up to fourteen weeks in the past.
- Public Domain Character: Surtr is lifted wholesale from Norse Mythology, being heavily based on the fire giant of the same name.
- Related in the Adaptation: Surtr and Thrym had no relation in Norse myth, whereas their D&D counterparts are brothers.
- Set the World on Fire: Surtr is prophesied to burn down the world during Ragnarok, which will make room for the new one.
- Sibling Rivalry: Volo's Guide to Monsters paints Surtr and Thrym as having been rivals from the moment they popped out of their mother's womb. They compete constantly, sometimes coming to blows on the battlefield, other times trying to outdo one another in other areas, always with the goal of impressing their father Annam.
- Spell My Name With An S: His name is sometimes written as Surtur, particularly in sources related to the Forgotten Realms, suggesting that it's considered the primary spelling on Toril.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: Surtr can create any magic weapon or armor, any wondrous item related to metalworking, or any item that produces or uses fire, as long as the item's market price does not exceed 200,000 gp.
- War God: Surtr is the giant god of war, and it is suspected that his priests maintain clandestine workshops and armories where they manufacture and stockpile battle gear in preparation for a final, all-encompassing battle that will decide the fate of the world. Surtr's Muspelheim temples are enormous fortresses that ring with the sound of the forges day and night, serving as centers for preparation for Ragnarok. Temples of Surtr's human followers secretly store weapons in preparation for the cult to fight alongside the giants.
Thrym is both the lord and deity of the frost giants. He can plunge any part of Midgard into a state of extreme cold. Like all giants, Thrym hates the Aesir and is anxiously awaiting Ragnarok. He will lend his aid to any plan that troubles the Aesir. Thrym often grants the frost giants of Midgard the ability to use wizard magic at up to the 12th level of proficiency.
Thrym traces his lineage back to Ymir, the first giant and the creature from whose body Odin, Ve, and Vili made the world. The death of Ymir is a grudge the frost giants in particular hold against the Aesir. Thrym once tried to win Freya as his bride by holding Thor's hammer hostage. Unfortunately for him, the gods disguised Thor as the bride and Loki as the bridesmaid. When Thrym ordered the hammer brought in to hallow the wedding, Thor snatched it up and laid waste to every giant present, including Thrym.
Thrym's realm is called Fibulwinter, located in Jotunheim on the first layer of Ysgard (which is also called Ysgard). A region of endless frost, snow, and ice, Thrym's realm is more mountainous than similar divine realms (such as Loviatar's Ondtland and Auril's Winter's Hall). From his stronghold and grim festhall, Nyfholl, Thrym rules a vast tundra lit by glittering icefalls. He commonly wanders the mountains and glaciers with a band of giant jarls (ruling lords), and his court makes occasional stops in the city of Utgard.
A few cults of Thrym thrive in Mannheim, often cooperating with Loki's cult. These cults teach that the world will end in the Fimbul Winter, and that cold will triumph after Surtr's fire burns the world. Members of Thrym's cult seek every opportunity toundermine Thor's cult, and they have plenty of help and expert advice from Loki's cult. Though Surtr has a similar cult, fire and ice never mix.
Thrym rarely grants divine power except to giants. However, a rare few individuals in Mannheim have earned his approval. They conceal their devotion to the giant destined to freeze over the world.
Thrym's temples in Mannheim are hidden affairs, much like Loki's. In Jotunheim they are enormous fortresses that ring with the sound of the forges day and night. Thrym's Jotunheim temples are centers for preparation for Ragnarok. Temples in Mannheim secretly store weapons in preparation for the cult to fight alongside the giants.
Visitors to Thrym's temples have only a few seconds to prove their devotion to Thrym before the members of the cult attack. The clergy and the members of the cult in Mannheim do not leave witnesses alive to report their activities.
- An Ice Person: Being the giant god of cold and ice, Thrym can cast ice spells as a 24th-level caster. His very breath functions as a cone of cold to a range of 100' for 10d10 damage (save versus breath weapon for half damage). Additionally, Thrym is immune to cold and ice, can summon frost giants, automatically senses events related to snow or sleet storms regardless of the number of people involved, both in the present and up to fourteen weeks in the past.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Thrym once tried to force the Norse goddess Freya to marry him by holding Thor's hammer hostage, but failed when Thor disguised himself as Thrym's bride and disrupted the ceremony.
- Badass Crew: Unlike his brothers, Thrym is seldom depicted alone. He is usually accompanied by up to ten shield-brothers and shield-sisters, heroic frost giants that won such great glory during the war between giants and dragons that Thrym granted them the honor of fighting forever at his side.
- Endless Winter: Thrym has a dedicated clergy that travels the multiverse preaching about Fimbul Winter, an enduring cold that heralds the end of the world. Thrym teaches that while Surtr's fire will presage the end of the world, it will end with a cold, endless winter.
- Ethnic God: Thrym is the god of frost giants. His priests are destructive and cruel and have little patience for diplomacy. When frost giants plan a raid on a nearby settlement or outpost, they time it to take place under the cover of a blizzard, believing the storm to be a sign from Thrym that the weak-boned humanoids are ready to be plundered. Unlike other racial deities, he has been known to approve clerics of other races if they personify his ideals and beliefs. A human with the might to hunt polar bears bare-handed as frost giants do, or wrestle a frost giant into submission, is honored as one blessed by Thrym and welcomed into the frost giant group, although such a human could never become the chieftain of a tribe. Thrym teaches that while Surtr's fire will presage the end of the world, it will end with a cold, endless winter. Thrym's temples are hidden affairs for the most part, while the non-hidden ones are enormous fortresses that ring with the sound of the forges day and night. His temples store weapons in preparation for the final battle at the end of the world.
- Interspecies Romance: Thrym once had a dalliance with the human winter goddess Auril, which resulted in them having a daughter, the empyrean known as Nalkara.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Aside from his siblings in the Ordning, Thrym also has ten frost giant brothers, who are in most ways like normal frost giants. However, they might instead be the same figures as Thrym's ten shield-brothers and shield-sisters, deified heroic frost giants that were granted the honor of forever fighting at Thrym's side.
- Public Domain Character: Thrym is based on the giant of the same name from Norse Mythology, with some creative liberties taken.
- Related in the Adaptation: Surtr and Thrym had no relation in Norse myth, whereas their D&D counterparts are brothers.
- Sibling Murder: Thrym fought and beheaded his sister Shax, the giant goddess of the sea, after she had refused to call off her storm giant worshipers from invading his territory. During their battle, Shax scratched off some pieces of Thrym's flesh with her nails, which have since become icebergs that float in the sea as constant reminders of the storm giants' debt to him. However, the strength of Shax's spirit gave her the power to resist the pull of the Astral Plane, allowing her to become a vestige instead.
- Sibling Rivalry: Volo's Guide to Monsters paints Surtr and Thrym as having been rivals from the moment they popped out of their mother's womb. They compete constantly, sometimes coming to blows on the battlefield, other times trying to outdo one another in other areas, always with the goal of impressing their father Annam.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In contrast to Norse myth, Thrym was not killed by Thor, but was instead only beaten up and humiliated by him.
- War God: The more chaotic type, as opposed to Surtr representing soldiers and organized war.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Thrym's rivalry with his twin Surtr is born out of a desire for his father's respect and admiration. Unfortunately for Thrym, Annam looks more favourably on Surtr's craftsmanship than on Thrym's battle trophies and feats of strength. For this reason, frost giants bear more ill will toward Annam than most other giants do.
Giant Progenitors
The progenitors of the giant races are the sons of Annam and Othea. Although he had already sired several immortals (most of whom are still worshiped by giants and giant-kin), Othea's sons were Annam's first terrestrial children, and for that reason he was particularly enthralled by them.
When the last of his terrestrial sons came of age, Annam favored them all by establishing a great kingdom in their honor. This kingdom, ultimately known as Ostoria ("father's seat" in the language of the giants), stretched across Faerûn from the Cold Lands to the Vilhon Reach.
However, Annam eventually discovered that Othea was having an affair with the glacier god Ulutiu, and that four of her sons were actually fathered by Ulutiu. Annam was infuriated by Othea scorning him for Ulutiu, and destroyed Ulutiu's mortal form. This proved to be poor move, as when the barge the body was on sank, a medallion that Ulutiu wore began freezing the seas, engulfing the remains of Ostoria.
Annam and Othea's children knew how to stop the glacier's spread, but Othea forbade them from interfering. In her eyes, this was just retribution for the murder of Ulutiu. After all, the only thing the glacier directly threatened was Annam's dream of a giant-run empire. Her son Lanaxis attempted first to rebel against and then to poison her so that he would not be bound by her edicts. This, like Annam killing Ulutiu in the first place, was a bad idea, as along with her he killed nearly all of Othea's other children (only Dunmore and Arno/Julian surviving), leaving Annam's bastards to take over the job of guiding the giant races.
Several weeks later, Othea's final son with Annam, known as Hartkiller, finally freed himself from Othea's lifeless womb caves. However, his mother's death stunted his growth, and resulted in him being rejected by the other giants and eventually being slain in a war he provoked between the giants and his human and giant-kin allies. Due to their refusal to accept Hartkiller as their king, the giants were punished by having their former territory be occupied by the human kingdom of Hartsvale, which also serves as a constant reminder of their insolence.
Lanaxis is the eldest son of Annam and Othea and the progenitor of the titans. When Annam subdivided the kingdom of Ostoria into several regions, Lanaxis claimed the cold, vast plains as his own and constructed Voninheim (also known as the "Bleak Palace"), a sturdy citadel that served as the Ostorian capital for the next thousand years. Lanaxis was responsible for uniting all of Annam's sons on Toril, and was accepted as a natural leader by the others due to his great size and strength.
When the creeping ice of the Great Glacier enveloped countless dwellings, villages, and strongholds in Ostoria, and even threatened to engulf Lanaxis' citadel at Voninheim, Lanaxis and his brothers quickly uncovered that the creeping ice was caused by the enchanted amulet of the glacier god Ulutiu, which began freezing the waters of the Cold Sea after Ulutiu's body had been cast into the it. Although Annam's sons learned how they might halt the ice's progress, their mother Othea forbade them to set foot upon the glacier, viewing the ice as Ulutiu's just revenge upon a cold-blooded murderer and not caring for the fate of Ostoria.
However, Lanaxis was so devoted to his father and Ostoria that he refused to accept his mother's will. As the glacier drew uncomfortably close to Voninheim, he summoned all of Annam's sons to his citadel and urged them to help mount an expedition after Ulutiu's amulet in defiance of Othea. When Dunmore, progenitor of the wood giants, refused to disobey the demigoddess and threw the meeting into chaos, Lanaxis was forced to modify his plan. This time, he resolved to poison Othea, removing the only obstacle to Ostoria's salvation.
Unfortunately, his plans went awry. Lanaxis poisoned not only Othea, but all his brothers (save Dunmore and Arno/Julian) as well. Just after she drank his poison, Othea cursed Lanaxis and the ettin, saying that should Lanaxis leave her shadow, he would lose his immortality. Seeing this measure as the probable end of Ostoria, Lanaxis' progeny, the titans, fled Toril altogether for the plane of Arborea.
Just after the death of Hartkiller and the end of War of the Hart, Lanaxis, conceiling his identity and calling himself the "Twilight Spirit", visited all the giants in the vicinity of Hartsvale and told each of them that by refusing to accept Hartkiller as their king, they rejected the will of Annam. The new kingdom of humans would serve as their punishment and a constant reminder of their insolence. However, the punishment would not last forever. Eventually, a young king born of Hartsvale's royal line would claim Hartkiller's legacy and re-establish Ostoria, paving the way for Annam's return.
Centuries later, Lanaxis orchestrated the kidnapping of princess Brianna Burdun, the only child of King Camden of Hartsvale, in order to have her be impregnated by Arno and Julian, believing she would then give birth to a future king of the giants who would lead the giants back to their former glory. However, Brianna's husband, the firbolg ranger Tavis Burdun, successfully managed to rescue Brianna and her child, and subsequently managed to defeat Lanaxis with the use of the mythical axe Sky Cleaver.
- The Chooser of the One: Lanaxis chose Prince Kaedlaw Burdun of Hartsvale as the future king of the giants who would re-establish Ostoria, and was actually responsible for Kaedlaw's conception by arranging the kidnapping of his mother Brianna. This ended up failing as Brianna's husband defeated Lanaxis and freed Kaedlaw of his destiny.
- The Dutiful Son: Lanaxis is strongly devoted to his father and his dream of Ostoria as the capital of a giant ruled Toril. This devotion compelled him to defy his mother's will and try to stop the creeping ice of the Great Glacier, which ultimately culminated in him poisoning his mother and most of his brothers. As the Twilight Spirit, he continued trying to enact his father's will by making sure a future king of the giants would be born to the royal family of Hartsvale, although his plan for the child was ultimately thwarted.
- Large and in Charge: Due to the widely accepted belief among giants is that taller giants are inherently more holy and powerful than smaller giants, Lanaxis was accepted as a natural leader by his brothers due to his great size and strength.
- Matricide: Lanaxis poisoned his mother Othea due to her prohibiting him and his brothers from mounting an expedition to the Great Glacier to stop the creeping ice. However, he also inadvertently poisoned most of his brothers as well, and Othea cursed him with her dying breath, stating that he would lose his immortality if he left her shadow.
- Mysterious Stranger: Just after the War of the Hart ended, Lanaxis visited all the giants in the vicinity of Hartsvale in the form of a mysterious being of purple mist. Within the last few centuries, Lanaxis, calling himself the Twilight Spirit, has started summoning the Jotunbrud to a sacred valley known as Twilight's Vale in order to enlist their aid in seeing the prophecies of the Hartkiller's heir to fruition. Once per year, the chiefs of most of Faerûn's largest giant tribes make a pilgrimage to the Vale to consult with the Spirit, who appears to them in the form of an exceptionally large giant with features cloaked in shadow.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He killed Othea in a desperate attempt to prevent the Great Glacier overtaking Ostoria's capital. This ended up solving nothing and just making the Giants' situation even worse; he couldn't stop the glacier because he was confined to one mountain and his other siblings were too dead to do it for him, and Othea's death stunted Hartkiller, the son who could've called for Annam to return. Hartkiller, having been rejected by giants and accepted by humans, never did call for his father before dying in battle establishing the kingdom of Hartsvale, so Annam remained banished from Toril for good.
- Our Titans Are Different: Lanaxis is the progenitor of the titans, who are the largest of the true giant races and are ranked highest on the Ordning.
- Sibling Murder: Lanaxis inadvertently poisoned most of his brothers when he fouled the waters of the magical pond at the center of Voninheim in order to poison his mother Othea. Only Dunmore and Arno/Julian survived.
Arno and Julian were the two heads of one of the sons of Annam and Othea, and the progenitor of the ettins. Unlike their brothers, Arno, Julian and the ettins were not granted their own region in the Kingdom of Ostoria by Annam. However, the ettins still played a role in the kingdom by competing with the other giant races in creating wonders, in their case by tending gardens with pools that reflected the faces of viewers from other pools.
Arno and Julian acted as the servant of their oldest brother Lanaxis, and resided with him at Voninheim, the capital of Ostoria. When the creeping ice of the Great Glacier drew uncomfortably close to Voninheim, Arno and Julian's brothers were summoned to the citadel by Lanaxis, who urged them to help mount an expedition after Ulutiu's amulet in defiance of their mother Othea's wishes. However, Dunmore, one of Othea's children fathered by Ulutiu, refused to disobey their mother and threw the meeting into chaos, which forced Lanaxis to modify his plan and instead decide to poison Othea.
After pouring poison into the Well of Health, Lanaxis ordered Arno and Julian to carry a chalice of water to Othea. However, a suspicious Othea declared that Lanaxis' brothers would drink with her. Reluctantly, Lanaxis decided to sacrifice his brothers, and ordered Arno and Julian to bring chalices for the others, which the ettin reluctantly carried out. As a result, Lanaxis poisoned not only Othea, but nearly all his of brothers as well, with Arno and Julian being spared due to them not drinking the poisoned water, and Dunmore surviving due to being absent. Just after she drank the poison, a dying Othea cursed not only Lanaxis, but also Arno and Julian due to their complicity, stating that they would lose their immortality if they ever left the Twilight Vale.
Centuries later, Arno and Julian were tasked by Lanaxis to impregnate princess Brianna Burdun, the only child of King Camden of Hartsvale, believing she would then give birth to a future king of the giants who would lead the giants back to their former glory. Although reluctant to do so, since it would involve leaving the Twilight Vale and losing their immortality, Arno and Julian ultimately agreed to carry out their task. Wearing a suit of magical armor that disguised them as a handsome human prince named Arlien, and carrying a vial of powder that would make Brianna fall in love with them, Arno and Julian successfully managed to infiltrate Brianna's court and then drugged and raped her. However, they were discovered shortly thereafter, and Arno was killed by the firbolg Tavis Burdun, who shot him with a rune-arrow. Although Julian initially managed to avoid death by making the arrow meant for him explode before Tavis could fire it, he was later killed by Brianna herself, who was freed of the enchantment.
Although Arno and Julian had succeeded in their task of impregnating Brianna, the resulting child, Kaedlaw Burdun, was also miraculously the son of Tavis as well, meaning that he literally had two fathers. Shortly after Kaedlaw's birth, Tavis successfully defeated Lanaxis, freeing Brianna and Kaedlaw from their intended destiny.
- Double Standard: Rape, Divine on Mortal: Arno and Julian magically seduced and raped princess Brianna Burdun of Hartsvale on the order of Lanaxis.
- Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi: In order to impregnate Brianna, Arno and Julian used a vial of powder to make her fall in love with them.
- God Is Dead: Having lost their immortality due to leaving the Twilight Vale, Arno and Julian were ultimately killed by Tavis and Brianna Burdun respectively.
- Large Runt: Arno and Julian were the shortest of the sons of Annam and Othea. As a result, their twisted brood were ultimately known as ettin ("runt" in the ancient form of the giant tongue).
- Lie to the Beholder: Arno and Julian were given a suit of magical armor by Lanaxis that disguised them as "Prince Arlien", a handsome human male, for the purpose of infiltrating Brianna's court.
- Mortality Ensues: Like their brother Lanaxis, Arno and Julian were cursed by their dying mother Othea to lose their immortality if they ever left her shadow. This did indeed eventually happen when Lanaxis ordered them to leave the Twilight Vale in order to impregnate Brianna with a child who would be destined to restore Ostoria. Although they were reluctant to do so, Arno and Julian ultimately agreed to carry out Lanaxis' order, becoming mortal in the process.
- Multiple Head Case: Arno and Julian were a two-headed giant, a trait that they passed on to their descendants, the ettins. Both heads have their own mind and personality, with Arno, the left head, being ugly and having poor grammar, while Julian, the right head, was handsome and well-spoken.
- Spell My Name With An S: In The Titan of Twilight, Julian's name was spelled Julien.
Masud was one of the sons of Annam and Othea, and the progenitor of the fire giants. When Annam subdivided the kingdom of Ostoria into several regions, Masud received the fiery peaks to the south. He was the first khan, the title of the rulers of fire giant tribes. In order to survive in the fiery mountains located in Faerûn's southern sector, Masud and the fire giants were forced to take advantage of the one natural edge their environment afforded them: the incomparable power of the forge. Masud was also engaged in a bitter rivalry with his brother Ottar, the progenitor of the frost giants, that flared for 10,000 years.
When the creeping ice of the Great Glacier drew uncomfortably close to Voninheim, the capital of Ostoria, Masud and his brothers were summoned to the citadel by Lanaxis, their leader and elder brother, who urged them to help mount an expedition after Ulutiu's amulet in defiance of their mother Othea's wishes. However, Dunmore, one of Othea's children fathered by Ulutiu, refused to disobey their mother and threw the meeting into chaos, which forced Lanaxis to modify his plan and instead decide to poison Othea. Unfortunately, Lanaxis poisoned not only Othea, but nearly all his of brothers as well (except for Dunmore and Arno/Julian), including Masud.
Masud was buried in a drumlin outside of Voninheim along with his brothers. About 3000 years later, Masud and his other deceased brothers were reanimated as zombies by Lanaxis when he was challenged by the firbolg Tavis Burdun. Although the undead giant kings initially attacked Tavis with the full fury of their magics, he and his companions were protected by Annam's axe Sky Cleaver, which Tavis then used to reveal their older brother's betrayal to them, causing Masud and the others to attack Lanaxis instead. However, Lanaxis ultimately killed each of them, including Masud, a second time with his sword.
- The Blacksmith: Masud was a master craftsman and metallurgist, a skillset that he and the fire giants developed in order to survive in the fiery mountains that they inhabited. The khan is required to be the very best craftsman in the tribe, and is usually viewed as being somehow "holier" than the lower-ranking giants.
- Flaming Weapon: Masud wielded a flaming spear that could shoot forth intense bursts of fire.
- God Is Dead: Masud was accidentally poisoned alongside most of his brothers by Lanaxis when he poisoned Othea.
- Non-Human Undead: Masud was reanimated as a zombie alongside his other deceased brothers by Lanaxis in order to fight against the firbolg Tavis Burdun. However, when Tavis convinced them to turn against Lanaxis, they were all killed by him for a second time.
- Sibling Rivalry: Masud and his brother Ottar, the progenitor of the frost giants, were engaged in a bitter rivalry that flared for almost 10,000 years. This has resulted in their respective descendants not particularly liking each other either.
Nicias was one of the sons of Annam and Othea, and the progenitor of the cloud giants. When Annam subdivided the kingdom of Ostoria into several regions, Nicias was ceded the skies. He was the first dynast, the title of the rulers of cloud giant tribes. Nicias and his brother Vilmos were the first runecasters, which was bestowed upon them by their father Annam after he had won the secret of rune magic by defeating a high modron in an epic game of lots in the plane of Mechanus. Over the course of the next several hundred years, Nicias and Vilmos revealed the secret of the runes to many apprentices, who in turn passed the secret down to the generations to come.
Nicias and the cloud giants floated across Toril in an enormous cloud palace. The cloud palace was a smaller duplicate of Stormhold, Stronmaus' domain, and Nicias had won it in a wager with Stronmaus. However, after Nicias' death, the entire palace ultimately plummeted to the ground, and its ruins are said to litter the Great Desert of Anauroch.
When the creeping ice of the Great Glacier drew uncomfortably close to Voninheim, the capital of Ostoria, Nicias and his brothers were summoned to the citadel by Lanaxis, their leader and elder brother, who urged them to help mount an expedition after Ulutiu's amulet in defiance of their mother Othea's wishes. However, Dunmore, one of Othea's children fathered by Ulutiu, refused to disobey their mother and threw the meeting into chaos, which forced Lanaxis to modify his plan and instead decide to poison Othea. Unfortunately, Lanaxis poisoned not only Othea, but nearly all his of brothers as well (except for Dunmore and Arno/Julian), including Nicias.
Nicias was buried in a drumlin outside of Voninheim along with his brothers. About 3000 years later, Nicias and his other deceased brothers were reanimated as zombies by Lanaxis when he was challenged by the firbolg Tavis Burdun. Although the undead giant kings initially attacked Tavis with the full fury of their magics, he and his companions were protected by Annam's axe Sky Cleaver, which Tavis then used to reveal their older brother's betrayal to them, causing Nicias and the others to attack Lanaxis instead. However, Lanaxis ultimately killed each of them, including Nicias, a second time with his sword.
- God Is Dead: Nicias was accidentally poisoned alongside most of his brothers by Lanaxis when he poisoned Othea.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Nicias is credited with teaching the cloud giants that life is a series of obstacles to be overcome through the application of skill. However, these obstacles are never to be met with sorrow, only joy, as each provides another opportunity to experience the thrill of victory, the ultimate reward. That being said, the cloud giants don't attach any sort of shame to defeat. Loss is nothing more than the absence of victory. As a result, the cloud giants have built a complex etiquette around the ideas of victory and loss. Skilled winners should know how to share their victories with all. Losers must be gracious and humble. Contests should always be accompanied by an exchange of wagers. A contest without a wager is unfair to both parties: It denies the loser the glory of rewarding his better and denies the victor a trophy of his triumph.
- Non-Human Undead: Nicias was reanimated as a zombie alongside his other deceased brothers by Lanaxis in order to fight against the firbolg Tavis Burdun. However, when Tavis convinced them to turn against Lanaxis, they were all killed by him for a second time.
- Runic Magic: Nicias was one of the first two giant runecasters, the other being his brother Vilmos. The two revealed the secret of the runes to many apprentices over the course of several centuries, who in turn passed the secret down to subsequent generations.
- Savage Spiked Weapons: Nicias wielded a great pearl-colored morningstar that could shoot forth bursts of intense steam.
Obadai was one of the sons of Annam and Othea, and the progenitor of the stone giants. When Annam subdivided the kingdom of Ostoria into several regions, Obadai claimed the cold caverns of the Underdark. He was the first ruler of the stone giants (his title was presumably thane, which is the title of the rulers of stone giant tribes).
When the creeping ice of the Great Glacier drew uncomfortably close to Voninheim, the capital of Ostoria, Obadai and his brothers were summoned to the citadel by Lanaxis, their leader and elder brother, who urged them to help mount an expedition after Ulutiu's amulet in defiance of their mother Othea's wishes. However, Dunmore, one of Othea's children fathered by Ulutiu, refused to disobey their mother and threw the meeting into chaos, which forced Lanaxis to modify his plan and instead decide to poison Othea. Unfortunately, Lanaxis poisoned not only Othea, but nearly all his of brothers as well (except for Dunmore and Arno/Julian), including Obadai.
Obadai was buried in a drumlin outside of Voninheim along with his brothers. About 3000 years later, Obadai and his other deceased brothers were reanimated as zombies by Lanaxis when he was challenged by the firbolg Tavis Burdun. Although the undead giant kings initially attacked Tavis with the full fury of their magics, he and his companions were protected by Annam's axe Sky Cleaver, which Tavis then used to reveal their older brother's betrayal to them, causing Obadai and the others to attack Lanaxis instead. However, Lanaxis ultimately killed each of them, including Obadai, a second time with his sword.
- Cool Crown: Obadai had a magical crown which had the power to create undead.
- God Is Dead: Obadai was accidentally poisoned alongside most of his brothers by Lanaxis when he poisoned Othea.
- Non-Human Undead: Obadai was reanimated as a zombie alongside his other deceased brothers by Lanaxis in order to fight against the firbolg Tavis Burdun. However, when Tavis convinced them to turn against Lanaxis, they were all killed by him for a second time.
- Seeker Archetype: Obadai is credited with having instructed a group of stone giants to contemplate the surface world and all that laid within it. He also tasked his second son Illsenstaad documenting both the tangible and religious history of the giant race, which resulted in the latter sculpting the vast friezes at Hotun-Shûl, an enormous underground temple located somewhere beneath the Ice Spires.
Ottar was one of the sons of Annam and Othea, and the progenitor of the frost giants. When Annam subdivided the kingdom of Ostoria into several regions, Ottar was granted the cold wastes to the north. He was the first jarl, the title of the rulers of frost giant tribes. Ottar was also engaged in a bitter rivalry with his brother Masud, the progenitor of the fire giants, that flared for 10,000 years.
When the creeping ice of the Great Glacier drew uncomfortably close to Voninheim, the capital of Ostoria, Ottar and his brothers were summoned to the citadel by Lanaxis, their leader and elder brother, who urged them to help mount an expedition after Ulutiu's amulet in defiance of their mother Othea's wishes. However, Dunmore, one of Othea's children fathered by Ulutiu, refused to disobey their mother and threw the meeting into chaos, which forced Lanaxis to modify his plan and instead decide to poison Othea. Unfortunately, Lanaxis poisoned not only Othea, but nearly all his of brothers as well (except for Dunmore and Arno/Julian), including Ottar.
Ottar was buried in a drumlin outside of Voninheim along with his brothers. About 3000 years later, Ottar and his other deceased brothers were reanimated as zombies by Lanaxis when he was challenged by the firbolg Tavis Burdun. Although the undead giant kings initially attacked Tavis with the full fury of their magics, he and his companions were protected by Annam's axe Sky Cleaver, which Tavis then used to reveal their older brother's betrayal to them, causing Ottar and the others to attack Lanaxis instead. However, Lanaxis ultimately killed each of them, including Ottar, a second time with his sword.
- God Is Dead: Ottar was accidentally poisoned alongside most of his brothers by Lanaxis when he poisoned Othea.
- Non-Human Undead: Ottar was reanimated as a zombie alongside his other deceased brothers by Lanaxis in order to fight against the firbolg Tavis Burdun. However, when Tavis convinced them to turn against Lanaxis, they were all killed by him for a second time.
- Sibling Rivalry: Ottar and his brother Masud, the progenitor of the fire giants, were engaged in a bitter rivalry that flared for almost 10,000 years. This has resulted in their respective descendants not particularly liking each other either.
Ruk was one of the sons of Annam and Othea, and the progenitor of the hill giants. When Annam subdivided the kingdom of Ostoria into several regions, Ruk claimed the kingdom’s rolling hills. He was the first chief, the title of the rulers of hill giant tribes.
When the creeping ice of the Great Glacier drew uncomfortably close to Voninheim, the capital of Ostoria, Ruk and his brothers were summoned to the citadel by Lanaxis, their leader and elder brother, who urged them to help mount an expedition after Ulutiu's amulet in defiance of their mother Othea's wishes. However, Dunmore, one of Othea's children fathered by Ulutiu, refused to disobey their mother and threw the meeting into chaos, which forced Lanaxis to modify his plan and instead decide to poison Othea. Unfortunately, Lanaxis poisoned not only Othea, but nearly all his of brothers as well (except for Dunmore and Arno/Julian), including Ruk.
Ruk was buried in a drumlin outside of Voninheim along with his brothers. About 3000 years later, Ruk and his other deceased brothers were reanimated as zombies by Lanaxis when he was challenged by the firbolg Tavis Burdun. Although the undead giant kings initially attacked Tavis with the full fury of their magics, he and his companions were protected by Annam's axe Sky Cleaver, which Tavis then used to reveal their older brother's betrayal to them, causing Ruk and the others to attack Lanaxis instead. However, Lanaxis ultimately killed each of them, including Ruk, a second time with his sword.
- Carry a Big Stick: Ruk wielded an ebony club.
- God Is Dead: Ruk was accidentally poisoned alongside most of his brothers by Lanaxis when he poisoned Othea.
- Non-Human Undead: Ruk was reanimated as a zombie alongside his other deceased brothers by Lanaxis in order to fight against the firbolg Tavis Burdun. However, when Tavis convinced them to turn against Lanaxis, they were all killed by him for a second time.
Vilmos was one of the sons of Annam and Othea, and the progenitor of the storm giants. When Annam subdivided the kingdom of Ostoria into several regions, Vilmos claimed dominion over the seas and lakes. He was the first paramount, the title of the rulers of storm giant tribes. Vilmos and his brother Nicias were the first runecasters, which was bestowed upon them by their father Annam after he had won the secret of rune magic by defeating a high modron in an epic game of lots in the plane of Mechanus. Over the course of the next several hundred years, Vilmos and Nicias revealed the secret of the runes to many apprentices, who in turn passed the secret down to the generations to come.
When the creeping ice of the Great Glacier drew uncomfortably close to Voninheim, the capital of Ostoria, Vilmos and his brothers were summoned to the citadel by Lanaxis, their leader and elder brother, who urged them to help mount an expedition after Ulutiu's amulet in defiance of their mother Othea's wishes. However, Dunmore, one of Othea's children fathered by Ulutiu, refused to disobey their mother and threw the meeting into chaos, which forced Lanaxis to modify his plan and instead decide to poison Othea. Unfortunately, Lanaxis poisoned not only Othea, but nearly all his of brothers as well (except for Dunmore and Arno/Julian), including Vilmos.
Vilmos was buried in a drumlin outside of Voninheim along with his brothers. About 3000 years later, Vilmos and his other deceased brothers were reanimated as zombies by Lanaxis when he was challenged by the firbolg Tavis Burdun. Although the undead giant kings initially attacked Tavis with the full fury of their magics, he and his companions were protected by Annam's axe Sky Cleaver, which Tavis then used to reveal their older brother's betrayal to them, causing Vilmos and the others to attack Lanaxis instead. However, Lanaxis ultimately killed each of them, including Vilmos, a second time with his sword.
- Cool Sword: Vilmos wielded a great magic sword with the power of lightning.
- God Is Dead: Vilmos was accidentally poisoned alongside most of his brothers by Lanaxis when he poisoned Othea.
- Non-Human Undead: Vilmos was reanimated as a zombie alongside his other deceased brothers by Lanaxis in order to fight against the firbolg Tavis Burdun. However, when Tavis convinced them to turn against Lanaxis, they were all killed by him for a second time.
- Runic Magic: Vilmos was one of the first two giant runecasters, the other being his brother Nicias. The two revealed the secret of the runes to many apprentices over the course of several centuries, who in turn passed the secret down to subsequent generations.
