Pantheon: Giant Deities

Pantheon: Giant Deities

Giants have a large (heh) pantheon (also known as the Ordning) in D&D. Most of the info was taken from Wikipedia and some dogmas were taken from another impressive blog.

Annam

Greater deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: a pair of crossed hands, held palms together with their fingers facing downward

Home plane: Outlands

Domain (-10%): knowledge spells, meta spells, plant spells, light spells, language spells

Portfolio: giantkind, magic, knowledge, fertility, philosophy

Worshipers: giants

Annam is the giant deity of Magic, Knowledge, Fertility, and Philosophy. Also known as the All-Father, is the creator god of the giant pantheon. Annam takes the form of a 60' or 100+' tall giant with white hair, wearing a robe of midnight blue.

Annam fathered the gods Stronmaus, Grolantor, Iallanis, and Skoraeus Stonebones on an unnamed sky goddess. Surtr, the dead goddess Shax, Diancastra, Hiatea, Thrym, and Karontor are also said to be his children, but perhaps with different wives or concubines. Memnor is sometimes said to be his son with the sky goddess, and other times said to be his brother, or the spawn of a world-devouring monster that Annam or Stronmaus destroyed. An enormous, hideous ogress is said to have seduced Annam, with Vaprak as the result. Annam’s Hidden Realm is on the plane of the Outlands. He originally lived in Ysgard, in a realm called Gudheim. Annam is worshipped by almost all giants, who see him as the greatest example of their own subspecies, personifying the traits that they value the most. To hill giants, he is an enormous glutton; to stone giants, he is the greatest of artists. To frost giants, he is a mighty warrior and reveler.

Dogma: Leading and guiding other giants is the prime duty of Annam’s clergy, wherever they are found. Many are driven to greatness and status, as well as the creation and acquisition of magical prowess and powerful magical items. They are expected to have grand but achievable goals and inspire their fellow giants to greatness. They are also seen as wise guardians of knowledge, and hold deep counsel for those in search of answers. Striking another giant except in self-defense is considered a grave offense for the clergy of the All-Father; doing so is grounds for divestiture. The taboo against striking a fellow giant is so strong that most members of the clergy undergo the divestiture process willingly. If magical compulsion is responsible for the physical blow, divestiture is still the most common result, although lengthy periods of atonement are occasionally required instead.

Diancastra

Demigod

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Symbol: a sea-green streak

Home plane: none

Domain (-20%): body control spells, mind control spells, knowledge spells

Portfolio: trickery, wit, impudence, pleasure

Worshipers: giants

Diancastra is the trickster-goddess of the giant pantheon. Her symbol is based on the mysterious mark she bears on her shoulder. Diancastra has many faces and wiles, from a 4-foot-tall, slender elven maid to a 25-foot-tall giant. Two traits remain constant in all her forms: her green-flecked amber eyes and the streak of sea-green skin along her left shoulderblade. She is sometimes accompanied by a magical owl. Diancastra is both impudent and arrogant. She often defeats her enemies by taunting them until they are enraged beyond reason, and then ensnaring them in illusions. She enjoys worldly pleasures and drinks to excess. She can charm people, especially males, merely by gazing at them.

Diancastra is the daughter of the creator god Annam and a mortal giant, most probably of the storm giant or cloud giant breeds. Like her half-sister Hiatea, she won divinity from her father through great deeds, but she did so through wit and guile rather than heroic feats in battle. Her father demanded that she circle the Oerth in an hour or less, and she did so by tearing a picture of the world from one of Stronmaus's atlases, walking around the image instead. Some believe the only reason Annam accepted this trick was that he believed that his only way back from his despair and ennui would be Diancastra and her wit and humor. Her other half-siblings include Grolantor, Iallanis, Karontor, Skoraeus Stonebones, Stronmaus, Surtr, and Thrym. Memnor and Vaprak are also sometimes named as her relatives.

Diancastra's adventures and misadventures are long and storied. She has stolen a magic necklace from Blibdoolpoolp, snitched spellbooks from a demigod servitor of Surtr, won a drinking contest at the Seelie Court (who trained her as a bard), and solved the puzzles of Lyzandred. She has been the lover of Deep Sashelas, who gifted her with her sea-green mark and the ability to breathe in water. She often takes on lovers for the things they can teach or give her.

Diancastra is a wandering deity, calling no plane her home for long. She lives by her wits, solving riddles, making grim sages laugh. She searches for knowledge of illusions, bardic magic, obscure legends and lore, and handsome men. Diancastra is slowly becoming recognized as a minor fertility deity among non-evil giants, who invoke her name if they wish their romances to be blessed with children. The result is often children, called by the ominous name "Diancastra's brood," as cheeky and willful as Diancastra herself. Her cult is still very small, however, and she has no priests or shamans as yet.

Dogma: Seek always the pleasures of life; neglecting neither the pleasures of the body nor the pleasures of the mind. Beware overindulging in either, for doing so atrophies the other. Seek to experience new things, see new places, and learn new things, and share such experiences with others. Liberate trapped or hoarded knowledge or experiences, freeing them for all the world to know. Those who keep such things from the world are fools, and should be made to be seen as the fools they are.

Grolantor

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: wooden club

Home plane: Carceri

Domain (-30%): earth spells, spells that improve physical characteristics, spells that decrease mental characteristics

Portfolio: hunting, combat

Worshipers: hill giants, ettins, ogres

Grolantor is the deity worshiped by the hill giant race, as well as ettins, and some frost giants and ogres. He refuses any title but his given name. He is a god of hunting and combat whose willful stupidity gets him and his followers into more confrontations than they can handle. His sacred animal is the dire wolf.

Grolantor looks like a 25-foot-tall (7.6 m) hill giant, wearing several belts of woven dwarf beards. He wields an oversized club named Dwarfcrusher.

Grolantor is one of the third generation of giant gods, disdainfully called the "runts" by their elders - the other is Karontor. His mother is an unnamed sky goddess. He was banished to Carceri by his father Annam for allying himself with treacherous Memnor, but now that Annam has retreated from the rest of the multiverse, the ban no longer applies. He now splits his time between Carceri and the Abyss.

Grolantor is evil second and stupid first, disowned by his brothers for his foolishness and relative weakness. Some say he created the race of hill giants by collecting and interbreeding the runts of earlier giant broods, then further polluted this stock by mating with various serpents, medusa-like hags, and the goddess Cegilune. The ettins are said to have descended from Grolantor and a monstrous serpent with a head on both ends of her coiled body.

Dogma: Grolantor is strong and willfully stupid. He teaches his followers to persecute "lesser races" - that is, those smaller than hill giants. His hill giant shamans stubbornly refuse to admit they are smaller than any other giant breeds. Ettins worship Grolantor in a dual-aspected manner, and their dogma differs from that of the hill giants in many crucial respects, often preventing alliances between the two races. The most important thing for a follower of Grolantor is to never admit weakness, and to crush the weak.

Hiatea

Greater deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: flaming spear

Home plane: Elysium

Domain (-20%): animal spells, light spells, plant spells, spells that ease childbirth

Portfolio: nature, agriculture, hunting, females, children

Worshipers: female giants

Hiatea is the giant deity of nature, agriculture, hunting, females, and children. She takes the form of a tanned, lithe giantess with long legs, wearing leather armor and carrying a spear that flames on her command, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. Her hair is red-golden, and her large eyes are hazel-brown. She is sometimes said to have used her spear to slay an enormous hydra, preventing its heads from regenerating by cauterizing them with fire. She is strong, confident, and an exceptional hunter.

Hiatea has two aspects. From her firbolg upbringing, she has an affinity for community, agriculture, and family. Once she discovered her true patrimony (another myth said it was due to Stronmaus' teasing), she reinvented herself as a mighty hunter and protector.

Hiatea is a daughter of Annam. Her mother was an unnamed sky goddess or, according to some myths, a mortal giant. Annam originally preferred sons over daughters, and used magic to ensure the gender of his offspring was male. Hiatea's mother hid her pregnancy from Annam and had her daughter raised by firbolgs so that Annam would never learn of her existence. When she came of age, a messenger was sent from her mother's deathbed to tell Hiatea of her true parentage. Hiatea proved herself with a series of daring feats, cumulating in an epic battle with a great monster, sometimes named as a Lernaean hydra with fifty heads and sometimes as the Tarrasque. She brought a trophy of her kill to her father, who recognized her valor and worth, accepting her as one of his own offspring. Upon learning of her existence, her brother Stronmaus celebrated by creating mighty storms that flooded the worlds and washed away great evils.

Hiatea's other siblings or half-siblings include Skoraeus Stonebones, Surtr, Thrym, Grolantor, Karontor, Iallanis, Diancastra, and possibly Vaprak and Memnor.

Dogma: Hiatea teaches that Nature is both creator and destroyer, and that admitting defeat is the worst shame a giant can bear. Still, some prices are too high to pay even for victory, for Hiatea is a goddess with tendencies toward good.

Iallanis

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Good

Symbol: garland of flowers

Home plane: Arborea

Domain (-30%): healing spells, light spells, spells that improve physical characteristics

Portfolio: love, mercy, beauty

Worshipers: cloud giants, stone giants, storm giants, firbolgs, and voadkyn

Iallanis is the giant deity of love, mercy, and beauty. Her symbol is a garland of flowers. She appears as a graceful giant, 25' in height with fair skin. She wears a short green dress from which grows living flowers. She is always bare-legged and bare-footed.

Iallanis will accept any good-aligned true giant into her priesthood, treating every race as equal to the others. She would treat giant-kin such as firbolgs, fomorians, verbeegs, and voadkyn as equals as well, but this was forbidden by her father; thus, they are limited to places of lower status in her clerical hierarchy. Her clerics strive to bring the whole of giantkind into the ways of good, to show mercy to all, and to cooperate with other good creatures. Her clerics and shamans are expected to become happily married if they are to attain high rank. She sends omens to her priests in the form of floral scents, tinkling sounds, and similar gentle, pleasant events.

            Clerics of Iallanis concentrate on uniting the races of giantkind, bringing mercy and absolution to those who need it, and creating beautiful things. They forgo worldly possessions beyond those they require to do their duties.

Iallanis is a daughter of Annam and the younger sister of Hiatea. She is an ally of the swanmay goddess Fionnghuala. Her other siblings and half-siblings include Diancastra, Grolantor, Karontor, Shax, Skoraeus Stonebones, Stronmaus, Surtr, and Thrym. Memnor and Vaprak are also sometimes named as her relatives. Beautiful, loving Iallanis is one of her father's favorite children.

            Dogma: Iallanis teaches that mercy is to be honored above all else, save the gods themselves. Beauty is to be honored above all else save the gods and mercy. Punishment will naturally come to those who do evil and rewards will naturally come to those who do good. "Kindness is the milk of might; passion is the milk of life."

Karontor

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: head of a winter wolf

Home plane: Carceri

Domain (-20%): animal spells, cold spells, spells that improve physical characteristics, madness spells, malign body control spells

Portfolio: deformity, hatred, beasts, fomorians

Worshipers: fomorians, verbeeg

Karontor is the giant deity of deformity, hatred, and beasts. He manifests as a uniquely hideous fomorian giant dressed in rotting, stinking furs and wielding a club. He may also appear as a winter wolf.

Karontor, like his brother Grolantor, is one of the third generation of the giant pantheon, one of the so-called "runts." He is far more evil than his brother, and far more intelligent.

Karontor despises giantkind; this reflects his own deep self-loathing. He spends much of his time in introverted self-reflection, sending avatars to kill and destroy during his infrequent fits of rage.

Dogma: The injustice of the other members of the giant pantheon (also known as the Ordning) will one day be their downfall. Crush their followers whenever possible, and obey his commands to the letter. When he brings final justice to the villains who unjustly exiled him, he will reward his true followers with great power. Vicious beasts are to be admired and used, as they channel the rage and hatred the Karontor feels towards his jealous kin. Deformities are the mark of jealousy left on Karontor and his servants by Annam and his other children; when justice is returned to the Ordning, all will be returned to what they should be. Seek out and hoard magic for the day of Karontor’s return to the Ordning, for he shall make use of it.

Memnor

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Symbol: thin black obelisk

Home plane: Gehenna

Domain (-30%): knowledge spells, mind control spells

Portfolio: pride, mental prowess and control

Worshipers: evil cloud giants

Memnor is the giant deity of pride, honor, mental prowess and control. He appears as a kindly, golden-skinned giant with piercing eyes, wearing a deep blue robe. He is subtle, intelligent, charming, cultured, articulate, and cruel beyond words. Many giants consider him to be a loyal servant of Annam, but this is a lie. Memnor, in his arrogance, wishes to usurp Annam and Stronmaus and become the new leader of the giantish pantheon.

Memnor is variously said to be the son, brother, or enemy of Annam, the giant god of creation. One myth says he was born from the severed head or ripped-out entrails of a titanic, sub-sentient, planet-eating monster slain by Annam or Stronmaus.

Memnor is allied with Grolantor. Of all the gods, Stronmaus is Memnor's greatest and most implacable foe.

Dogma: Memnor teaches his followers that Annam has grown old and weak and that the fall of the ancient giant kingdoms was due to the creator god's own ineptitude. The sharpest weapon ever forged is cunning; used with surprise and secrecy, cunning will win the day.

Skoraeus Stonebones

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Neutral

Symbol: a stalactite

Home plane: Prime Material Plane

Domain (-10%): earth spells, healing spells, knowledge spells, protection spells

Portfolio: stone giants

Worshipers: stone giants

Skoraeus Stonebones is the deity worshiped by the stone giant race. He is also known as "King of the Rock" and "The Living Rock". His sacred animal is the cave bear. He manifests as a huge stone giant with muscular limbs and skin like granite. He knows much of the secret banes, magics, and wonders buried in the core of the world. Skoreaus regards both Law and Chaos with suspicion.

Skoreaus is part of the second generation of giantish gods, born at about the same time as Surtr and Thrym. It is said that his brothers' evil drove him to hide himself below the world and ignore everything apart from himself and his people. When he absolutely has to, he'll deal with the gods of the dwarves and svirfneblin.

Skoreaus is the son of Annam. His siblings and half-siblings include Diancastra, Grolantor, Hiatea, Iallanis, Karontor, Stronmaus, Surtr, and Thrym. Memnor and Vaprak are also sometimes named as his relatives.

Skoreaus cares for nothing except for that which directly concerns his people, the stone giants. Stone giants, as far as he is concerned, would be better off if they never came in contact with other races at all. Skoreaus teaches his followers that beauty is truth and knowledge is power; a secret is the ultimate power and the Underdark is filled with secrets.

Dogma: Skoreaus cares for nothing except for that which directly concerns his people, the stone giants. Stone giants, as far as he is concerned, would be better off if they never came in contact with other races at all. Skoreaus teaches his followers that beauty is truth and knowledge is power; a secret is the ultimate power and the Underdark is filled with secrets.

Stronmaus

Greater deity

Alignment: Neutral Good

Symbol: a forked lightning bolt descending from a cloud that partly obscures the sun

Home plane: Beastlands

Domain (-30%): weather spells, protection spells

Portfolio: sun, sky, weather, joy

Worshipers: storm giants, non-evil cloud giants

Stronmaus is the giant deity of sun, sky, weather, and joy. His avatar appears as an enormous (up to 80' tall) giant with blue eyes and flowing auburn-red, wavy hair, wearing a simple gold-edged white robe. He is far more youthful and carefree than his father Annam. He is normally depicted smiling and reveling. He cannot help but smile, for the energy of life flows through him so strongly that it is hard not for him to express his continual exuberance. He revels in the storms he calls up and in the thunder that booms from his magical hammer.

Stronmaus has inherited some of his father's fickle lusts, and may send avatars simply to woo and seduce beautiful female giants.

Stronmaus is the eldest son of Annam and thus the default leader of the giantish pantheon since Annam's withdrawal, though he does not covet his father's power. He will happily defer to Annam the moment the creator god returns. Stronmaus' closest relationship is with his sister Hiatea; the two are commonly seen as a pair, the oldest and most powerful of Annam's children. His other siblings and half-siblings include Diancastra, Grolantor, Iallanis, Karontor, Skoraeus Stonebones, Surtr, and Thrym. Memnor and Vaprak are also sometimes named as his relatives. Stronmaus despises Memnor above all others, and will send avatars to restrict the evil cloud giant god's activities.

Dogma: Stronmaus's faith stresses the cleansing and redeeming effects of rain, and the joys of freedom. Cloud giants stress the epicurean merriment of the deity, while storm giants are a fatalistic, though passionate, folk who believe life is a test of will and that most actions are futile in the face of the great elemental forces.

Surtr

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: flaming sword

Home plane: Ysgard

Domain (-40%): fire spells

Portfolio: fire giants, fire, war

Worshipers: fire giants

Surtr is the lord of the fire giants. His animal is the hell hound. Surtr looks like an immensely large fire giant with crackling flames for hair and eyebrows. He wears armor of blazingly hot iron and wields a flaming iron sword 15 feet in length.

Surtr, a son of Annam, is part of the second generation of giantish deities, born at about the same time as Skoraeus Stonebones and Thrym. While Surtr's cult is similar to that of Thrym's, fire and ice do not mix.

Nearly all of Surtr's worshipers are giants, but a select few members of other races have earned his approval. They conceal their devotion to the giant destined to end the world.

At Ragnarok, the battle at the end of the world, Surtr is destined to set the world on fire, burning it to ashes to make way for the new world to come. He will destroy Bifrost, the rainbow bridge, beneath his weight and that of his subjects.

Dogma: Fire is pure, cleansing, and strong. The weak and impure burn, while the strong survive. Fire is useful as a tool, but must be respected. It is dangerous when uncontrolled.

Thrym

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: white, double-bladed greataxe

Home plane: Ysgard

Domain (-30%): cold spells, ice spells, meta spells

Portfolio: frost giants, cold, ice, war

Worshipers: frost giants

Thrym is the lord of the frost giants. He is a god of cold and ice, as well as a deity of magic. Thrym is a hulking menace, appearing as a mighty frost giant with white eyes, blue hair, and a constant snarl. He can plunge any part of the Prime Material Plane into a state of extreme cold. His animal is the white dragon. Like Surtr and Skoraeus Stonebones, Thrym is part of the second generation of giantish deities. Although Surtr's cult is similar to Thrym's, fire and ice do not mix. Thrym is credited with creating the first minotaur from the vestige Haagenti, and with creating the first icebergs during his battle with his sister Shax.

            Dogma: Thrym's cults teach that the world will end with Fimbul Winter, and that cold will triumph after Surtr's fire burns everything. Frost giant shamans are responsible for helping frost giants of their tribe claim their spot in the afterlife, which they do by holding regular prayer vigils and trying to incite frost giant warriors to undertake ever more daring adventures.

Vaprak

Lesser deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Symbol: a taloned hand

Home plane: Abyss

Domain (-30%): spells that improve physical characteristics, enraging spells, breaking spells, malign body control spells

Portfolio: combat, greed

Worshipers: ogres, trolls

Vaprak is the deity worshiped by ogres and trolls. Vaprak is also known as "The Destroyer." Vaprak has a humanoid form colored an exceedingly horrid mottled brown and green. He has an elemental, savage quality that endears him to ogres and trolls. Vaprak holds the other giantish gods in awe and respect, however, and fears that his race may abandon him to worship them. He is not a planner or a thinker; he merely destroys, ferociously, as quickly as he can, urging his followers to do the same.

Vaprak is an enemy of the giant pantheon led by Annam. One legend says that a vastly tall, hideous ogress disguised herself in order to seduce Annam, and that Vaprak was the result of this deceitful coupling. Vaprak himself has three sons: Anori (or Agmori), Hakuni, and Muaj, who are believed to have sired the three races of ogre magi.

Dogma: Vaprak urges his followers to combat, aggression, and frenzy; his own fears help fuel his anxiousness that they keep themselves busy.