Hobriland - Giant Country

Hobriland consists of mountains and valleys in the south, fading into foothills before becoming rolling grassland, dotted with small copses of trees.  On its western coast, the land drops away in large cliffs to the seas below, but in the north, long sandy beaches can be found.   Hobriland is conspicuous for its lack of large mammals, either grazing animals or predators that would prey upon them.  While some of the more civilized creatures have domesticated some animals, the plains and highlands are fairly clear of large wild animals.

The most important fauna in Hobriland are the monsters.   In the southern mountains, clans of ice and fire giants live and fight against each other for supremacy.  From time to time they also attack the dwarf settlement of Heim'Askorin, either alone or in rare moments of cooperation.  On Dragonfang Peak, the mountain closest to the coastline, the cyclops race have built a fortress.  Standing ten feet tall with one blinking eye, the standard cyclops is smarter than most of its neighbors in Hobriland, able to mine metals from the earth and fashion weapons, armor and tools from the ores they smelt.  The cyclopes trade regularly with the dwarves of Heim'Askorin.     In the foothills north of the mountains are families of ogres, hill giants and trolls, who all vie for supremacy over the others.  They generally live in caves in the foothills, either natural or dug out themselves.   The grasslands are the home of the minotaur herds, who aggressively attack any other sentient creature that invades their lands.  While extremely territorial, minotaurs have a rigid honor system they follow in how they treat strangers.    Finally, no description of Hobriland would be complete without mentioning the rumor of Grond Peaksmasher, the wanderer who claims to the Last Titan and ruler over the land of giants.  Reports describe Grond as twelve to fifteen feet tall, skin the color of marble, hairless, with colorless eyes and large hands.  He has been seen from one end of Hobriland to the other.  If he has a home, no one has reported seeing it.  Rumors abound that he is welcome among every race of monsters, either through friendship or fear.  While such reports have never been verified, enough people have claimed to have seen Grond to reject the notion that he is merely a myth or legend.  What his intentions are for Hobriland or the rest of the world is completely unknown.

Hobriland has been home to clans of giants since the start of the Second Age. While there have been attempts to either tame the monsters within, or wipe them out entirely, no one has succeeded in doing this. Instead, the number and variety of intelligent giant monsters seems to have grown with every incursion from the so-called "civilized races".   During the Second Age, invasions of Hobriland became fairly common, generally by either small groups of adventurers on a specific mission, or by armed companies of soldiers. The last known invasion was made by the Kingdom of Rosalind by King Berran the Eager (known after his death as Berran the Overeager). Grandson of King Brant the Unready, King Berran ordered a general incursion into Hobriland in an attempt to establish a foothold. His armies marched into the grasslands and attempted to build a small fort. However, lacking any natural local building materials, everything had to be carted into the territory. Minotaurs and hill giants, for perhaps the only time in history, allied together (or at least ceased fighting each other) to push the armies of Rosalind out of Hobiland. After several bloody skirmishes, the generals of the army ordered a full withdrawal, much to the chagrin of the king.   The only successful attempt to set up a permanent settlement within Hobriland occurred during the Second Age, by dwarves. Dwarf explorers found deep caverns in one of the mountains in the southern border of Hobriland and established Heim'Askorin, the Virk (hold) Perilous. Despite regular attacks by fire and ice giants, the dwarves of Heim'Askorin have remained and prospered. They trade primarily with Aurulant, but have had dealings with the clan of cyclopes in the mountains.

No one in their right mind would visit Hobriland as tourists.  The only people foolish enough to enter Hobriland are adventurers seeking treasure or criminals so desperate to avoid their just punishment that they will risk almost certain doom.