Full Description
The aegir are an ocean loving race of giants. They are pale and red haired, with wind blow faces that squint in the cold northern sun. From afar they look as their Keirn neighbors do in furs and leather working the waters for fish and hunting the plains for game. They have superb night vision, having grown accustomed to the dark star filled skies; their vision at night surpasses that of their giant kin. They can see up to 60’ in near total darkness with no difficulties. Their day vision is a little poor however due to the glare of the northern sun. They live to be about a hundred and fifty years.

While being too large to have a huge fleet of ships, they live in the northern wastes that line the ocean. They have a respect for their neighbors the Keirn and have learned to build their ships in a manner to carry their heavier weight but match the Keirn’s Knarr style cargo ship. These ships were enlarged to suit the larger sailors but still only could accommodate four of the aegir comfortably. This they have learned in the past two hundred years and have exploited these large ships to hunt the large sea whales of the icey waters.

Their love of the sea transcended simple survival. They fished the ocean for food, as well as hunting the larger whales for their blubber for oil and other uses. They felt and believed that they were born of the ocean, and while their birth god Kiamana lay lost in the icy depths of the foaming sea, they still pray that one day Kiamana would return and bring her children to their palatial paradise under the waves.

Three times a year the whole tribe holds a two day nightly ritual prayer to the lost god Kiamana and prayers for his return so they might at last be shown the way to Himmerige, their heaven of the sea.

They are not a malicious group, but tend to be of a selfish virtue toward those they do not know. They have worked hard for their relationship with the Keirn and respect the hardships they have gone through. They love family over friends, and will protect their homes to the death. They build their homes with stone and slate from the cliff faces by the ocean, given them a protection to the forces of nature.

They have little use for magic but they respect their shamans as one of their ruling caste. While they pray to Kiamana they also pray to Aduivo, who they view as Kiamana’s son. The shaman is seen as a spiritual leader, but also chooses the tribal leaders. Each tribe consists of a family. These families average about thirty members and are under the rule of single leader and one to three shamans.

They use armor and weapons like other intelligent races and prefer to use large hammers, mauls, and axes. They will wear nearly any type of armor that is available to them and have often been known to trade extensively with trolls for their superior weapons and armor.

Aditional Information
They are roughly ten feet tall and are relatively heavy for their size. But what they have in weight is usually toned from the harsh nature of the north. They constantly work to build better family values and fight off the dangers of the north to include the cold as well as the horde of the corrupted that populate the north.

Full Description
The jotun are a malicious race of giants that life in the depths of the Greenbone Forest. They are light skinned with dark hair that they keep long and braided. They sport long beards that they keep neat and braided as well; they see this as a status symbol than for function. They have very good night vision but do not see as well as the derevo or other races that can see in the dark. They can see up to 30’ in near total darkness. Their day vision is just as good however. They live to be about a hundred and thirty years.

They are uncaring for others and tend to see the smaller races as nothing more than a food source. Unlike some of their giant cousins, they have been warped by a seed implanted in them by the devious Sethalis.

Ages ago, during the fall of Kadinhool, when all the giants were as one, peace reigned over the different tribes. That is until the two gods Caedmon and Sethalis entered the picture. Peace is never able to last forever, and when the gods Caedmon and Sethalis began manipulating them like deific marionettes, that world of relative peace would come crashing down. It is lost to the histories of what really transpired, but fighting erupted among the giants and the city was lost and ruined.

Now among the rare texts of the ancient Surtur it speaks of the Jotun striking the first blows against their kin, which is apparently why still today if either of the other giant races sees a Jotun they are attacked on site. Some books lead on to tell of a time of their change, when the Jotun went from a carefree, yet naive race to a malicious and murderous one. Many entries in these volumes tell of the Jotun speaking publicly about the righteousness of their new patron Sethalis.

Sethalis whispered honey and poison in their ears, twisted their vision and their morals from what they once were. No longer were they the pure Jotun, but a darker, seedier race of individuals that longed for a thirst that could not be slacked no matter what the drink. With Sethalis whispering in one ear, and Caedmon in the other, their minds broke under the strain of the two gods fighting for the claim of the Jotun.

This pulling eventually broke their resolve and their mind, sending them into a rage crazed frenzy that began the original fighting that shook the foundation of the giant’s homes. In the wake of this frenzy, the towers of Kadinhool fell and crumbled into history shattering the tribes of the giants and sending the broken minds of the Jotun to the forests of the north.

When the jotun were fighting there way to the top of the giant hierarchy, he planted a dark seed into their soul that forever warped their view of the world. Now, they survive by fighting and taking what they wish. Due to their chaotic nature, very few of them develop an ability to use magic. One family member a generation will learn to speak with their god, but one shaman a family tribe is all that is usually possible.

The will only follow strength of rule as opposed to an inherited ruler, which can change hands rapidly within the chaotic nature of their society. They have no love of art but songs of deeds and conquest are loved by everyone, the more graphic the better. They do not settle in a single place for more than a few weeks, and stick to small family tribes of about fifteen at the most to keep down on competition and a higher food demand.

The reason why the jotun are most feared is their desire to eat meat. When hunting food, they are very patient unless they are raiding a village or town. They have a preference of humanoid, but will eat animals as well should the need arise. They are commonly found raiding villages and towns that border their roaming lands for people to use as food. The sweep in during the dark of night and use their size to overwhelm those they wish to take. They have no desire to have their way with the women of those that they take, they have a purpose and that is survival. They will take weapons and furs if near winter, but take little else other than food stuffs.

They wear armor and use weapons like other intelligent races but have a preference for the larger two handed blades. They will seldom wear anything heavier than maille when wearing armor due to the humid environment of the forest and swamplands.

Additional Information
They stand rougly twelve feet tall and are an imposing race. They cover themselves with ritual tattoos and scars that they claim has meaning to their religion and afterlife. They make a tattoo ink that is from a combined mixture of blood, tree sap, and a sundew plant. The ink made from that is a bright red, almost and orange in color, that seems to glow by firelight.

Special tattoos are made from this ink and given to the holiest of warriors to show respect and their divine favor. A special ingredient is placed in the mixture however to make it permanent. The jotun mix in the fluid from a torch spider and add it to their ink to make it glow without the aid of a fire light.

A ritual quest of warriors to gain a divine favor ends with the capture of a torch spider. They must bring this spider back to their shaman priest alive so they can extract the fluid. Once they extract the fluid they set the spider free. Strangely enough the spider does not fight back after they remove the fluid.

Full Description
The surtur are the closest to the original mentality of the giant race. They are red skinned and fair haired, the sun nearly bleaching their hair white. They usually have their hair cut shoulder length but keep their head covered in cloth wraps to keep their face and head cool form the desert heat. They have very poor daytime vision. They prefer to travel at night, but they hunt only during the day when their prey is most active. At night they can see up to 40’ in near total darkness.

They have stayed on in their forsaken home as penance for their ancestors faults. They travel the desert in nomadic tribal families in search of Ammath, their mothers’ ancestral home. The ruins of Ammath lay somewhere in the sands of the Etolin Desert and the surtur are bent on finding it to unlock their history and their future. It is said among their tribal shamans that should they find Ammath, the cousins shall unite once again into one family and take back what was rightfully theirs. When that happens, the Onnikkuka shall begin and the giant races will again be the Kadinhool and will walk the land and cleanse it and reclaim it as their own.

Of the giant races, the surtur are the most malicious. Not in a sense of enjoyment, but they are strict and brutally structured. They see the world as having been taken from them, stolen from the gods they once worshiped. The dark veil has been lifted from their eyes and they see the truth for what it was and what it should be. They follow the calling of Sceleris and her infinite wisdom, knowing that she speaks the truth of the past that their ancestors were split apart so that the infidel races could walk in their place could rule the land in their stead.

In their society, the strong rule and survive. They have no time to wait for the weak or carry them on their shoulders. The life expectancy of the surtur is a heartbeat compared to that of their kin. They can live to be about a hundred years old but on average they live to about sixty years. This is because of their harsh lifestyle. They will hunt the sandstalker in threes and fours, but if a surtur wants to make a name for themself, they hunt one alone. Usually if a warrior can hunt and kill a sandstalker alone they can challenge the ruler of their tribe for status. This fight for leadership is to the death.

Additional Information
They average at be about fifteen feet tall and are an imposing site to see even when relaxing. They do not like outsiders, but respect fortitude and resilience. While they do not like the Lemieans personally, they silently give them honor for their ability to survive in the harsh desert were others would fail and leave. They will not open trade with them, and instead sweep in to raid their villages and caravans, but they do respect them for survivors.