Giant Overview [Al-Qadim]

The giants of the desert lands descend from tribes older than most kingdoms. Once they held the richest country; now, outnumbered by smaller folk, they cling to the margins. Most made peace with that and found enlightenment, though a few still dream of forcing the little races back into service.

They are neutral, not evil, and far more polished than the oafish giants of other lands. They keep apart from humans out of a sense of superiority rather than rudeness and do not meddle in human matters. Hill giants are the exception: they mix freely with people and live comfortably in many great cities. The various kinds may share one ancestor, but long separation means they rarely meet, though each knows the others exist.

Giants here live 200 to 600 years, with generations spanning 60 to 100. Children are precious and raised by the whole clan. Striking any child is a grave crime, and mistreating one, yours or another's, brings the clan's fury down on the offender.

These giants dress like any civilized folk, in silk and cotton robes, tunics and turbans, and hill giants wear armor when they can afford and need it. Porters and dock giants wear whatever is decent and comfortable. They disdain grabbing a rock or a tree; they want finely made wood and metal arms such as huge bows, tridents and lances, and giving a giant such a weapon is a sure way to earn trust. Poor miners, they cannot make metal weapons from scratch, so they earn metal as mercenaries, caravan guides, jungle hunting partners and divers for sunken treasure, while some simply seize it.

They trade furs, jungle blooms, sea riches and desert opals for coffee, cloth and spices. Stone giants may set up as masons, jewelers or quarrymen, and the odd fire giant works a smithy's bellows. Reef and desert giants dwell so remotely that a city visit is rare and seldom goes beyond the bazaar; only hill giants truly take to town life. All this commerce has made them good linguists: each knows its own dialect, the giants' trade tongue, the common tongue and 1d4 more languages, and humans near them sometimes speak giantish fluently.

Their culture is a written one, rich in verse and learning. Reef and desert giants read and write the most, and humans value their historians for histories that span centuries. Everything has a correct method, from brewing tea to curing meat to readying a clan for war, and breaching protocol can earn violent punishment or banishment from giant company. They will not be hurried, trust old ways absolutely, and their learning is accordingly slow and conservative.

Haughty yet fair-minded, they expect obedience from those they consider lesser but are quick to honor real skill. In a few places giants have slowly come to rule whole tribes or towns, first as hired swords or hunters, then extending their reach into justice, commerce and the minting of coin. Such rulers mostly appear on the frontier and in forgotten corners of old empires and trade routes.

Every adult giant here may take up a spellcasting class: any one of them has a 25% chance to be a caster, equally likely priest or mage. Priests reach up to 9th level and lean toward ethical or moralist teachings, with some mystics. Mages reach up to 11th level and may be elementalists or sorcerers, but never genie-binders. Each level a giant caster gains adds 3 hit points.

The two proud peoples do not mix. Genies will not concede the giants' power or traditions, and giants will not pay genies tribute, offer sacrifice or call them superior. This rivalry may lie behind the giants' long decline, though neither side discusses the other, and they never work together.

Among themselves giants follow an ancient code built on restoring what a crime took. Assault, extortion and theft draw surprising mercy: the offender returns the goods and may serve as an indentured worker until the balance is restored. Murder, treachery, rape and child abuse cannot be undone, so the punishment is branding and exile, never execution.

Outsiders fare worse. Convinced their law outranks the young codes of other races, giants refuse to let a non-giant brought before their court, for breaking protocol perhaps, appeal to any other system, and they claim to be doing the world a kindness by spreading their law. Where giants share a community with humans, they follow human law, while making their objections very clear.