Jotunburg

Also known as "The Spearpoint", Jotunburg is an island deep within The New World. True to its nickname, it resembles a conical spearpoint being thrust out from the waves. Few have made port on the island on account of the frequently frozen sea that surrounds it, and those that do seldom come back, even the most fearsome of pirates. This island is the long forgotten stronghold of the giants, Loxodons, and Goliaths.  

Peoples

 

Giants

Giants follow a strict caste system, in which each giant has a place in the pecking order, or Ordning. Hill giants are at the bottom, followed by stone giants, frost giants, fire giants, cloud giants, and finally storm giants. Each type of giant lives on Othrys Mons according to their position in the Ordning, the higher a giant lives on the mountain, the greater their standing. This is with the exception of the storm giants, who left Jotunburg in the hands of the cloud giants long ago. Hill giants live in the foothills, higher up than the goliath villages, with the lowliest hill giant families mingling with the goliaths. Stone giants live on the rocky barren midsection, working on their stone smithing and contemplating giant kind's place in the world. Frost giants live in ice castles in the perpetually frozen upper levels of the mountain, where it snows all year round. Fire giants live at the mountain's peak, inside a caldera. The residual heat from the volcano's activity fuels their forges and leaves the top of the mountain untouched by snow. The cloud giants live in a rich manor suspended on a cloud at the very top of the island's titanic beanstalk. They reach so high that they even occasionally trade with Palanquin Majora on the rare occasion it passes by.   Some giants wish to capture the glory days when they were feared by other races and as such many hill and frost giants form pirate crews to sail the seas. Interestingly enough, any semblance of the Ordning goes away once on the ship, with hill giant captains sometimes commanding stone or even frost giants.

Goliaths

With the number of giants whittling down over centuries, the remaining giants that banded together realised that their days of reading, pillaging and mastering the runes would be greatly numbered as the many required jobs to keep a civilisation going would leave no room for giant passions. So at some point during the Forgotten Age, a group of elder giants sculpted a set of 'small' humanoids out of clay in their own image. The stone and hill giants gave them their bodies, the frost gave them a cold and tough disposition, the fire giants provided the flames of their souls, the cloud giants gave them guile and thought, and the storm giants provided the spark of life to animate their new creation. The giants called their creation Sveinur, or "servants". The sailors that encounter them in the new world instead call them "goliaths".   Although built to be small helpers (partially to get into small areas, partially to prevent rebellion), goliaths are anything but by most peoples' standards. Ranging from 7 to 8 feet tall, they easily tower above most other races, a fact that would come as a surprise for any goliath since they are much smaller than their giant masters & loxodon neighbours. Their mottled grey skin and lack of body hair are indicative of the clay that forms their bodies.   Seeing as they were created by them, goliaths view the giants as a mixture of gods and landlords. They raise their young to revere and express gratitude to the giants who created them. Any goliath is expected to unthinkingly obey the commands of either the giant who is their specific master or a giant chieftain but is encouraged to be as helpful as possible to any giant they meet. This respect even extends to goliath family building - when two goliaths wish to have a child, they must first confer with a giant chieftain who approves or disapproves of the pairing. If approved, then the goliaths work together to build a new child out of clay, that the chieftain turns into flesh and blood with their magic. Due to this unusual method of reproduction, goliaths have little concept of gender, although some are modelled after male or female giants, goliaths have no such concepts.   Goliaths live simple lives either in small villages out in the lowlands or as live-in servants to giant masters. Servant goliaths are a whole family that unquestioningly serve the family of the giant they live with, with many giant homes having a series of small tunnels twisting through the walls to allow their servants maximum mobility throughout the household.   Villages goliaths don't have direct masters but are still called upon to serve giant kind under certain circumstances. Every month the giants demand homage from the various goliath villages, who must share a portion of their harvest and food with the giants. Giants are notoriously big eaters, meaning that a goliath village must ration carefully if they are to survive, made worse by the cold climate of Jotunburg. They do require less food than their size would indicate, their bodies being much more efficient than most other races. Goliaths need to eat only once per day, and will never drink at all if their food is fluid-rich.   The harsh taxation by the giants has caused many goliaths to go elsewhere and take the food they need as payment to the giants from others. Goliaths will regularly raid Loxodon farms to take advantage of the mammoth people's out-of-season bumper crops. Meat is favoured more highly by giants, and so goliaths will sometimes even dare to poach a loxodon family's prized mammoths. Such raids are risky and often end in failure due to the sheer size advantage of the loxodon elders. In the event that these raids kill a loxodon, entire villages have been reduced to rubble by the loxodon's rage.

Loxodons

Huge hulking mammoth folk, loxodons are a surprisingly gentle race. They heard mammoths for their milk, and use druidic magic to sprout giant crops. They are a technologically primitive and nomadic race, preferring to keep to themselves when necessary. This is not always possible, as their large crops and mammoth charges make perfect prey for reavers, particularly giants and goliaths. This rough life has led to loxodon becoming accomplished warriors, with some even learning to use runic magic to enhance their size even further, evening out the size advantage most giants have.   Some most pillaging giants that are killed by loxodon are usually goliaths, lowly hill giants and the occasional frost giant, the giants up on Mount Ophrys normally let any deaths by loxodon families slide and choose not to retaliate.      

NWTC Occupation

A new addition to the peoples of this island, a small colony of NWTC employees made port on the island in order to research the strange properties of the earth there. The colony is in a small corner of the island and heavily fortified against the mighty natives of the land. The humanoids within seldom venture out, except for the odd heavily defended expedition. During their decade or so of occupation, there have been many tense interactions with the locals, particularly goliaths who attempt to steal supplies and food, and loxodons for the occasional poor researcher who wanders too close to a mammoth.   Unbeknownst to most of the researchers, a Seraphim from Aegis also has a hidden compound here, using it as a boot camp for prospective Cherubim.

Earth Genasi

When the first new generation of humans was born among the NWTC researchers, a mysterious phenomenon began to occur. Some of them were born with grey skin that became harder like stone as they aged, with precious stones growing out of their skin. These humans have a natural talent for earth manipulation and are far more durable than most humans their age as if they were one with the stone itself.   Theories abound as to why these children are so different abound. Naturally, many of the men believe this to be the result of human and goliath mating, something that the women of course fervently deny. Some of the researchers believe that there is a strong source of nature magic here that alters some of the children conceived here. As for why it's specifically human children, that remains a mystery. Naturally, the elements of Aegis that are positioned here are very interested in the prospect of super tough human children...