Following up on my recent queries on giants, I thought I'd present what the PCs in my campaign found out when they ventured into the Rockwoods with the intent of finding the giants and hopefully conversing with them without being eaten (eek!). After many obstacles (some apparently meant to make the little folk prove their trustworthiness to giantkind) journeying through a hidden pass, a friendly (and severely brain-damaged) giant named Pain led (well, actually carried) them to a misty plateau far into the mountain peaks; well beyond the capacity of any munchkin to reach on foot. There lay a vast, crumbling walled ruin...similar to one they knew all too well; but older and silent. Pain seemed to have a seizure (possession), and then spoke to them for the first time in actual sentences, saying they had reached the city of Glory Long Gone where they would be judged.
What followed next I can't really describe briefly here, but the end result was that they went on a heroquest, visiting several different events in the history of giantdom, defending the giants from various ancient (and new) enemies, and became giantfriends - a vague term since the common giants have little concept of "friend". I defined the two subraces of giants as the common type simply referred to as giants, and the Elder Giants (including Gonn Orta, Thog, Paragua, etc.), which pretty well fit Sandy's helpful description (#298).
IMVHO, the largest of the common giants (c.16 meter) occassionally, for some unexplainable cosmic reason, are able to produce an Elder Giant child (a difficult procedure since the babies can be as large as the mothers!!!). This is the one event in which giants show some magical ability and cultural unity - they are able to perform arcane rituals to create their cradles, muster guardians, collect treasures, and otherwise prepare the child to journey into the Underworld and undergo a series of preparations (taking decades if not centuries). If successful, the Elder Giant will return to the surface and is then able to act in service of giantkind - for only the Elder Giants are capable of making the largescale changes in the world to better it for their lesser kin (that's why the giants haven't done anything since Robcradle times; basically no one is left to do anything). Gonn Orta is the oldest and one of the last Elder Giants; his plans are finally coming to fruition in the Hero Wars, after centuries of waiting. Accoridng to KoS, that's where Argrath comes in. Okay, that's how I see it. I think the giants are a seldom explored and interesting facet of Glorantha, and worthy of further inquiry. Nuff said. Opinions? Additions?
--JR Hutchinson
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End of Glorantha Digest V1 #299
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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