Does anyone have any info on the nature/ type/ or breakdown info on the giants within the Hellfurnaces or how they got there?
I'm working on a new adventure bit and I'm interested to see if anyone has a particular take on this area or if theres a source within canon (excluding Liberation of Geoff, G1-3, or the LGG) that might shed a little bit more light on their society and social/ military heirarchy.
based on U3 guantlet, fire giants and two headed trolls (considered giants in 3e, I do not know what system you are using) both dwell in the kampfult range which is a small arm of the hellfurnaces in the hold of the sea princes.
The 83 boxed set has fire giants listed in the wandering monster tables of the hellfurnaces.
I would say that fire giants would be the most populas giants in the hellfurnaces, but that other types, such as hill, stone and cloud probably dwell there in smaller numbers as well, ogres would be relativly common but trolls would probably be somewhat rare.
Migration would be my best guess for how they got there, probably from the crystalmists to the north, and possibly long ago before the hellfurnaces were as volcanically active as they are now.
There's an interesting entry in the massive history of Greyhawk timeline that I've pieced together from various sources (sorry I don't know exactly which one this came from).
-4666 CY "The last of the Faerie cities is discovered in the Crystalmist mountains and destroyed by an alliance of the Drow, Sueloise and Giantkind. The defences of the city were so great the Drow and the Giants suffer heavy losses and are almost exterminated. None of the Sueloise army which took the city survived and no word of them has ever been found. The surviving Faerie flee eastward to join others of their bretheren."
I would take this to mean that the Giants are a very ancient race, and like the elves, they migrated all over the world, but where gradually forced into more and more marginal areas (and thus issolated from eachother) by the encroaching humans.
Since the giants have been in the Crystalmists for some time, I'd probably play up their long history there. Very old cave dwellings carved out over mellinia, plunder from ancient societies, still being kept as trophies, etc.
But at the same time, the way things seem to work in WoG is a great culture can have it's back broken and then decend into barbarism, forgetting their past (e.g. the Suel barbarians, the Flan's decline after Vecna's war with elvenkind, etc., etc.).
Also, another entry in the timeline in 566 CY speaks of an alliance being formed between the drow and giants of the crystalmists. This, as you know, is the ultimate premise of the Against the Giant series, and is the answer behind the mystery of why the Giants have become increasingly organized in the incursions into human lands.
So I'd say the Giants probably have a barbarian-style (chaotic) military structure, but with many symbols of former greatness (that they might not even fully appreciate) lying around, and now (only in some areas) increasing levels of military organization, and production of weapons and fortifications.
I'm not so familiar without the timeline starting with From the Ashes and afterward, but don't the giants take over most of Geoff? It would take a great deal of organization, not just brawn, to accomplish such a feat.
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