Taiga giant
From PathfinderWiki
| Taiga giant | |
|---|---|
| (Creature) | |
| Type | Humanoid (giant) |
| CR | 12 |
| Environment | Cold mountains and forests |
| Alignment | |
| Source: Bestiary 2, pg(s). 131 | |
Taiga giants are enormous nomadic hunters who roam the harshest northern reaches of Avistan following the herds of aurochs, mammoth, and elk found there.[1]
Contents |
Appearance
The taiga giants range between 17 and 20 feet tall. Women tend to be about a foot shorter than men. Their skin is colored brown, and usually extensively decorated with tattoos. Taiga giants often dab their skin with dried mud and foliage to create a kind of camouflage.
Habitat & Ecology
Taiga giants are nomads, constantly seeking large prey and avoiding civilization. They will occasionally raid villages for supplies, and believe that there is nothing immoral about this. They prefer hilly or forested habitats, but occasionally their wanderings will take them into colder northern domains.
They are extremely patient while hunting their large prey, and fight along side their animal companions (dire wolves, dire bears, and smilodons) for good effect.
Taiga giants are contemptuous of any humanoid greatly smaller than themselves, are friendly with hill giants and stone giants, and will tolerate ogres.
History
Taiga giants believe that they are the original giant tribe, and that the various giant tribes descend from them. This is a a belief that modern Avistan scholars largely reinforce. In their own tongue they call themselves "Urganta", which translats to "People" in the Giant language.
Culture
Taiga giants possess the remarkable ability to summon their ancestral spirits to do battle with them. More than any of the other giant races, they regard these spirits with great fear and reverence, and feel that the ghosts of their ancestors bestow great wisdom and power.
Hunters and warriors of taiga tribes wear enjoy wearing jewelry and fetishes, crafted to represent ancestor spirits are animal totems. In battle they beseech the many spirits to aid them, and do not see it as offensive to any single spirit if they seek the aid of dozens of spirits represented by their carved pieces of jewelry.
Taiga giants are great lovers of song, and spent their evenings in camp filling the air with their unique music.
Finally, taiga giants cover themselves head to toe with scars and tribal tattoos. These tattoos are narratives of epic battles and tales from taiga history, and serve as a name for the inked individual. Receiving the scars and tattoos is a coming of age ritual for young giants, painfully inscribed upon them by the tribe's eldest shaman or bard.
References
- ↑ Wolfgang Baur. (2007). Fortress of the Stone Giants.Fortress of the Stone Giants, p. 84-85. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-039-1
