Vardh of Mountain Giants

The Mountain Giants, the Clan of the Vardh

"In the mountains, you always see the stone before the giant."Mountain giants live in small clans inside a vardh, a vast cave fitted out with gigantic bones and whole tree trunks. A clan usually numbers four or five giantesses, three or four giants and two young, and the work is divided by an old rule: the giantesses hold the home, the giants feed the clan. Like everything that lives slowly, they count their strength, and every trap, every throw, every step is weighed against what it brings back.

The stacks

Around the vardh, stacks of rock adorned with bones and horns mark the territory. Their message is meant for other giants: each one tells the strength of whoever raised it, and the size of the block hoisted on top is worth every threat. That message is lost on other peoples, but giants know that any creature with reason recognizes a boundary when it sees one. A giant who spots you near his home therefore assumes you crossed the line knowingly, whether that is true or not. So it is an angry giant who comes for you, and the conversation, if there is one, will come after.

The giantesses

They are the ones who build the traps, and they build them well: pits covered with packed snow, snares wide enough for a houm, wedged stones that a single cord sets rolling. They seldom leave the vardh and defend it from among their works, so that approaching the home means walking through their minds. A giantess waits for you to come to her.

The giants

They hunt far from the vardh, sometimes for days on end, and bring back enough to feed the whole clan. Javelin thrown flat and hard, endurance nothing wears down: they follow a herd until it gives way. Their favorite prey is the houm. They rarely go after dwarves, but a houm tied up near a camp is a meal served, and the camp stands in the way. At night, leave your houms loose: they know how to run, and a rope stops them.