On the Gigas and Their Descendants
On the Gigas and Their Descendants is an Official GemStone IV Document, and it is protected from editing.
On the Gigas and Their Descendants
by Chronicler Hazelnut Honeybrook, 5125
The First Days
"So came Orobris the Devourer, called the Silver Dread, to a place green and rich. The land was far from where others of his kind had come. He rested there for a time, his scales glowing in the warmth of the sun even as he languished in the cold waters of a wide river. After slaking his hunger on fish, he came to slumber in the shadows of tall trees.
When he woke, he found them waiting, as if they had been born from the stuff of his dreams. They were long of limb and bright of eye, and they stirred in him a pride. Orobris resolved that he would keep from his own kind the truth of these things that he had made, and so he secreted them away in this distant wood, shrouded by the fullness of his spellcraft and cunning. These things, his children, would be his alone."
–Translation of a tablet found in Crystalhall, Northwatch
As more ruins from the apex days of gigas civilization have come to light, so, too, do conflicting accounts of the people's ancient origins. Some speak with certainty of the gigas springing forth, fully formed, from the womb of the world. Others credit their birth to the whims of a rogue drake, though the name and particulars of the creature vary among tellings. A few accounts even suggest that the gigas were among the first creatures willed into being as the world was formed, naming them "Skyfinders."
Whatever the truth, gigas civilization flourished in the lands now known as the Hinterwilds. There is evidence that these northernmost reaches of the world were not always as they are now. Archaeological digs near the safety of Cold River have revealed fossils of ferns and other plants that could not have thrived there in the current cold climate.
It is remarkable that gigas civilization developed at all during the Age of the Drakes. There is near-universal agreement among cultures that the drakes were tyrannical in their rule, quick to snuff out even the most rudimentary hints of early society. Somehow, be it through fortune, cunning, or the intervention of a powerful benefactor, the gigas flourished.
As they advanced from hunting and gathering to a mature society of villages and small cities, the gigas developed a remarkable affinity for magic. This does not seem to be a skill innate to their race. Rather, it appears to have been the result of outside intervention.
Gigas legends tell of the Lunar Shard, an immense crystal said to have fallen from the heavens in prehistory before crashing into the Hinterwilds. The gigas believe its impact was the origin of a vast crater lake near Elanthia's northern pole. Gigas skalds tell tales of pilgrimages to the Shard where their earliest forebears were struck with magical and technological inspiration, as if the great gemstone's very presence spurred their people's advancement. The same tales name the Shard a fragment of the egg that birthed the first drakes, though the veracity of such a claim is impossible to verify.
That the Shard itself existed is likely. Beyond its prominent place in gigas legends, the recent discovery of gemstones purported to be remnants of the Shard have similar crystalline structure and mystical resonance to one another. The gigas of Nivelhaart, far in the northeast of the Hinterwilds, house in a large shrine a colossal jewel that is kin to these lesser gems.
As the gigas continued their societal growth, they discovered methods to mine the shard, developing the skills to shape its fragments into gemstones that they empowered through spellcraft. With these jewels enhancing their wielders' command over the mystic arts, gigas spellcraft reached extraordinary heights.
Though they were confined to the Hinterwilds by fear of the jealous drakes, the gigas conquered their rugged woodland. Their villages grew into towns, then cities. They connected these with roads that were as much a marvel of engineering as magic. The gigas instilled the very stone with power and memory, raising sprawling highways that defied the encroach of vegetation and wildlife, and were said to guide travelers to safety. Trade fueled the growth of lofty cities of pale stone.
Prophecy, too, flourished among the gigas. They grew adept at reading possible futures, using foresight to anticipate and circumvent consequences. This gave them a considerable advantage over their environment.
The use of divination and prophecy among the gigas had become widespread by the twilight of the Age of the Drakes. It was, therefore, especially terrifying when the foretellings of gigas diviners abruptly ceased, detailed visions giving way to only dark and overwhelming feelings of foreboding. Gigas prophets debated what had caused this sudden failure of their magic. Even in their darkest imaginings, none could have guessed that they were experiencing one of the first warnings of the impending Ur-Daemon War.
The Ur-Daemon War
"Even the spellweavers cannot keep the war at bay forever. For a fortnight, the world trembled as if palsied, and the skies knew no light, choked by clouds gravid with ash. The land has stilled and the clouds have thinned, but neither the sun nor the moons bless the land with their radiance, and all is as night. Yet there is a new light in the skies, fell and strange, green and gold and brightest blue. It is as a battle banner: a ceaseless reminder that all the world is torn by conflict."
–Translation of a tablet found in Angargreft, The Hinterwilds
The coming of the Ur-Daemons was felt across Elanthia. Drakes and Ur-Daemons battled in the skies, on the land, and at sea, and the world itself twisted in torment at these titanic forces as they clashed.
The Hinterwilds were largely untouched by the early stages of the conflict. By this time, the gigas had such mastery over magic that they had constructed vast wards that shrouded swathes of their civilization. If either Ur-Daemon or drakes ever fought over the Hinterwilds, there is no record of such a battle.
That is not to say that the gigas were not impacted by this strife. The scale and duration of the battles between the Ur-Daemons and drakes were such that a people as advanced as the gigas could not help but fear being crushed between the two forces. Over the millennia of warfare, gigas society developed a pronounced fixation on death: specifically, how to avoid it.
They first turned their mystical research toward studies of death itself. It was during this era that the first disir came to be. The disir are understood to be spirits transfigured into psychopomps at the moment of death. Whether they must be gigas souls is unclear, but the phenomenon holds no analogue among other cultures. No accounts offer clear indications as to the origin of the disir, whether it was the result of powerful magic, a pact with Gosaena or Lorminstra, or some natural process.
This millennia-long dalliance with death magic culminated in thoughts of how the gigas themselves might end the war. A powerful cabal of gigas spellcasters worked in secret to create two great tablets that were intended to command the primal forces of life and death. Their creators hoped that, with these devastating artifacts, they might end the war themselves. However, there were numerous disasters during the tablets' creation, as attested to in historical fragments found in the ruins of Crystalhall. These complications led the gigas to believe that using these weapons represented too great a risk, and they were sealed away.
Later in the Ur-Daemon War, several groups of gigas began to explore valence-based magic. Though their efforts were rudimentary during this period, they did have some successes. One such triumph was the discovery of the River of Color.
This is the colloquial name of a valence remarkably close to Elanthia's own. It presents as a space occupied only by multihued skeins of energy. Though inhospitable to long-term habitation, the River of Color does possess physical laws that lend themselves to other purposes. Travel there is drastically faster than on Elanthia. A single step in the River might be the equivalent of a dozen or a hundred on this valence. Though accessing the River requires a considerable expenditure of mana, the gigas eventually learned to create stable gateways into and out of the River, which they used to further unite their civilization.
Toward the end of the Ur-Daemon War, the conflict finally impacted the Hinterwilds directly. According to tablets found within Angargreft, the skies filled with ash for weeks and the earth shook. It is likely that some battle between the Ur-Daemons and the drakes drastically altered Elanthia's orientation. As a result, the Hinterwilds were plunged into near-endless night. The land grew colder and less hospitable. Gigas cities were lit by magic at all hours, but even their prodigious magics could not bring back the light of the sun.
Soon after this cataclysm, the Ur-Daemon War ended. The invaders themselves were driven back to places beyond this world, and their foes, the drakes, relinquished their dominion over the world. If any drakes survived, they were diminished creatures, fearful and solitary. At last, the gigas were free to expand beyond the cradle of their civilization.
Rise and Fall
"I stepped forth from the River of Color. The light blinded my eyes, for they had grown used to seeing nothing in the sky but the aurora and the stars. But when I could see once more, I realized that I stood on sand as white as snow and as soft as velvet. I decided that this place would be mine, and I would never go back to Sveitalhaart."
–Translation of a tablet found on the Treasure Beach of Talon Isle
At first, this expansion took the form of outposts and satellite cities. During this era of expansion and exploration, the gigas spread to the south and west. There is evidence of cities buried beneath what is now the Long Snow, along with ruined outposts like Crystalhall and the ruins on Talon Isle on the Spicers' Sea.
During these millennia of expansion, the gigas developed considerable mastery over magics meant to bridge valences. They used these powers to colonize other worlds, harvesting their resources while learning their secrets. It seemed that the reign of the gigas might last forever.
It is remarkable that fewer firsthand accounts exist from this time than from more ancient eras. It is possible that the gigas had simply progressed past carving their histories into stone tablets to use of less durable media such as books and scrolls. Historians such as the late Caiathas Athan Illistim surmised that the magical development of the gigas had grown to such a point that they were entirely reliant upon mystical means to communicate and store information. Whatever the reason, we know very little about the particulars of gigas society across the Second Age.
Some time after the Undead War, gigas legends hold that their astronomers spotted a celestial body unlike any others they had seen. This comet evidenced colors that were said to have no names, hues that even gigas who had traveled far beyond the world had never seen. Its descent was not especially notable, causing their cities little damage, but the aftereffects were devastating. Some gigas skalds call it the Calamity.
As the years after the impact marched on, a strange cold began to creep over the Hinterwilds and the once-fertile lands to the south. Crops withered and died. Winters stretched longer and longer, until all other seasons were driven out.
With the cold came the wyrms. Some scholars have concluded that these draconic creatures may have originated from the Calamity itself, citing their obvious shared affinity for cold. However, one need not look to exotic origins to explain wyrms. They have outward similarity to wyverns and even to depictions of drakes of old, though they are larger and more cunning than wyverns and lack the astounding might of drakes. It is possible that they were simply attracted to the Hinterwilds by the omnipresent cold, wherein they prefer to lay their eggs and foster their undansormr young.
The aftereffects of the Calamity were not purely elemental in nature. Soon after the comet's fall, gigas began to grow suspicious, first of the outside world, and then of one another. Their explorations into magic grew clumsier, and one by one, they lost contact with colonies on other valences. It was as if they were slowly losing the capacity to understand the arts that once were their birthright.
What Remains
Ours is the sky. Ours is victory.
–Empyrean Battlecry
Modern Gigas
Modern gigas occupy the Hinterwilds. They predominantly occupy villages and towns carved out of the boreal forest, though there are unverified reports of some settlements on the ice sheets near Elanthia's northern pole. These communities bear similarities to other humanoid townships, save that they are built to a colossal size.
Gigas stand anywhere between 30 and 40 feet tall, and evidence a variety of skin tones, hair colors, and eye colors. Although their ancestors were said to favor extremes, having skin the color of ebony or ivory or gold and eyes in jeweled tones, current gigas could easily be confused for humans or giantman, save for their extraordinary size.
Their culture is considerably more primitive than that of their forebears. They hunt for much of their food, subsisting on diets of hinterboar, wild warg, and other giant Hinterwilds fauna, though some along the coasts fish and whale for food. In spite of the intense cold, they also farm, using simple cantrips to hold back the cold and provide ersatz sunlight, which permits some grain crops. The gigas affinity for honey also necessitates the raising of bees. Though comparatively normal sized, gigas-raised bees thrive in the cold.
Culture varies among gigas settlements. Some, like the western communities of Ojandhaart and Eldurhaart, appear to observe similar customs, but the gigas of Nivelhaart are decidedly less aggressive toward non-gigas and have even expressed the desire to trade with the folk of Northwatch.
Barriers in communication with such hostile beings makes a more thorough exploration of their culture difficult, but this hostility is not entirely reserved for smaller species. Clashes between gigas of different villages have been observed by the folk of Cold River, most notably a decade-long feud between the communities of Fjallarhaart and Eyerdalhaart that began in 5110 and culminated in the destruction of the latter settlement.
Not all gigas live in villages. Zerroth, most notable for being one of four leaders of the Dark Alliance, led a tribe of nomadic, warlike gigas for years before his fealty to the Arkati V'tull led him southward. Members of a sect practicing blood magic fell under the sway of the demilich Zeban for a time, and still occupy the ruins of Angargreft.
This has brought them into regular conflict with another group known among gigas as the Wyrmcult. Having fallen under the telepathic sway and glamour of the wyrms who roost in Angargreft and other such ruins, these gigas have been fundamentally transformed by their prolonged contact with wyrms and their young, the undansormrs. They have been observed tending to undansormr eggs and cocoons, and seem entirely devoted to this end. These fallen gigas bear the stamp of their allegiance in grotesque, reptilian alterations to their bodies.
Giants
Some scholars believe that rapid dissolution of the gigas empire may have been the genesis of the various elemental giants that populate Elanthia. Certainly, there are tribes of giants that believe this to be true. As mentioned before, the early gigas had modified themselves with magic to be more resistant to elements, a quality visible in their modern counterparts to some extent. It does not require much imagination to see how this ability may have resulted in more extreme adaptations to elemental forces over time.
Goliaths
As gigas civilization collapsed, one group of mystics surmised that, should other fragments of the Lunar Shard be discovered, they might be used to uplift their society once again. Exposure to the vast jewel had, after all, accelerated the progress of gigas society immeasurably. Using divination magic, they detected another such crystal many leagues to the west, far across the ocean.
Using the River of Color, a great force of gigas departed toward the west around the time of the Elven Empire's fall. They failed to make contact with their kindred and were presumed lost. It is now known that they succeeded at their goal.
On a strange continent far beyond the reach of Elanthian ships, these gigas discovered a vast crystal that they dubbed the Skyheart. To their dismay, the colossal gem did not hold back the spreading decadence that had infected the gigas after the Calamity. They still felt creeping paranoia and suspicion dogging them, and found the higher magics of their forebears increasingly beyond their grasp.
The Skyheart inspired them down different avenues of thought. They developed new technologies, most notably powerful airships and weapons powered by sunlight. They learned new ways to harness the powers of their ancestral gemstones. Enthralled by the Skyheart's power and potential, they chose to take it for themselves, and intentionally severed their ties to the failing empire they had left behind.
Today, the descendants of these betrayers call themselves goliaths. They have not the massive stature of their ancestors, standing on average not much taller than giantmen. In goliath civilization, the arts of gemcraft are elevated above all other forms of magic.
Almost all surviving goliaths are members of the Empyrean Syndicate. This organization, operating off of the labor of captives and willing converts from other species, has a vast fleet of airships and powerful spellcasters at their disposal. Having denuded their western lands of their riches and exhausted the benefits of the Skyheart, they have turned their eyes back eastward, driven by ancient tales of riches and promise waiting in Elanith.