Reef giants were a species of giant from Zakhara who lived among tropical reefs and islands.[1][2]
Description[]
Reef giants had white hair and coppery skin. They normally stood 16 feet (4.9 meters) tall and weighed 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms). They were more barrel-chested than other giants from swimming through the ocean water. When on land they wore clothes made of either hide or braided hair, but when underwater they wore only a belt to carry their weapons and pouches.[1]
Abilities[]
Reef giants were able to make a whirlpool with a radius of 10 feet (3 meters) around them once a day. This ability was able to suck in other creatures and drown them, but was not powerful enough to affect ships. Additionally, the giants were immune to water- and ice-based magic.
Combat[]
All reef giants preferred fighting underwater. Their favored weapon was a giant trident, but they would use their fists if necessary. They also threw boulders when attempting to sink ships, although they did not bother to do so when fighting individual enemies.[1] Some were known to fight with giant bolas, a weapon originally developed by jungle giants but that they had personalized by using massive chunks of razor sharp coral in place of wooden balls.[3]
History[]
During the Time of Troubles, many told of a large mass of reef giants emerging from the seas of Zakhara and marching northward, bearing a monstrous turtle on their backs. Some believed this was in fact the zaratan that the Temple of Endless Waves and Wind rested upon in the Sea of Fallen Stars.[4]
Society[]
Reef giants mated for life but led solitary existences most of the time. Upon reaching puberty, most young reef giants left home to find a home of their own. They usually settled along a reef, but would also build in the hills or a gorge on an island. From the outside their homes looked like massive huts, however the inside was well-furnished. These mansions were usually passed from parents to a daughter who has been groomed to take care of them when they aged and all of the parent's belongings passed to the daughter, resulting in many of the items within such a reef giant home being several generations old. Daughters who inherited these older homes were eagerly pursued by reef giant suitors.[1]
Reef giants had an extremely diverse diet and would fish, forage, and scavenge from dozens of different food sources. Due to their size they were able to net entire schools of fish at once. Older giants who could no longer forage effectively kept herds of goats or sheep as an alternative source of food. Reef giants would also use their impressive diving skills to collect massive amounts of pearls, corals, and sponges from the ocean. While these goods were commonly traded to surface races for cloth, metal goods, and sweets, their wholesale plundering of the ocean drew the ire of local merfolk, tritons, and other underwater races.[1]
Reef giants generally dwell far from human settlements and did not often enter them. When they did, they generally remained within the marketplaces. As with other Zakharan giants, they had a tradition of writing, poetry, and scholarship, though they, like desert giants, were the most highly literate of them. Human scholars sought out the work of their reef giant counterparts, because of their quality and their long view of history.[5]
Homelands[]
Beyond the seas of Zakhara,[1] reef giants could occasionally be found living in the Sea of Fallen Stars,[6][7] including its northwestern fjord the Dragon Reach.[6]
Religion[]
Some reef giants were known to worship Istishia, going so far as to become waterwalkers.[8]
Notable Reef Giants[]
- Coral, a female reef giant who lived on her own island in the Dragon Reach south of Ravens Bluff.[6]
- Coralton, a male reef giant who lived in the Sea of Fallen Stars in the 14th century DR. He had turned to the ways of necromancy in order to plot and act against his fellow reef giants.[7]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Card Games
Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
A Gruesome Faerie Tale
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Wolfgang Baur, Steve Kurtz (1992). Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix. (TSR, Inc), p. 36. ISBN l-56076-370-1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Doug Stewart (June 1993). Monstrous Manual. (TSR, Inc), p. 144. ISBN 1-5607-6619-0.
- ↑ Paul F. Culotta (December 1998). “...The Harder They Fall”. In Dave Gross ed. Dragon #254 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 36–46.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd (September 1997). Powers & Pantheons. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 74. ISBN 978-0786906574.
- ↑ Wolfgang Baur, Steve Kurtz (1992). Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix. (TSR, Inc), p. 33. ISBN l-56076-370-1.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Gary Labrecque (March 2000). And the Deep Blue Sea. Living City (RPGA), pp. 3, 6.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Daniel S. Donnelly (July 1996). A Shipwreck for Kassy. Living City (RPGA), p. 9.
- ↑ Julia Martin, Eric L. Boyd (March 1996). Faiths & Avatars. (TSR, Inc.), p. 80. ISBN 978-0786903849.
Connections[]
Cloud • Ettin • Fire (Fire titan ) • Fog • Frost • Hill (Earth titan • Mouth of Grolantor) • Mountain • Stone • Storm • Titan
True Giant Offshoots
Ash • Craa'ghoran • Maur • Phaerlin
Giant-Kin
Cyclops (Cyclopskin) • Firbolg • Fomorian • Ogre (Oni) • Verbeeg • Voadkyn
Zakharan Giants
Desert • Island • Jungle • Ogre giant • Reef
Other Giants
Abyssal • Eldritch • Fensir • Death • Sand
Goliath • Troll (Fell • Giant troll)