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Throw in other races and such to taste.
Well, I will polish the Giant Idea a bit. Based on what you said. (sry for the bad english)
Giants - The Giants are mighty Creatures. Originally from the northern mountain regions they are no home to most ranges in the world. During its lifetime a giant will change lot in appearance. Younglings and infants are almost ball like at birth at the size of 3-6 meters (birth size depends on the size of the mother). The older a giant gets the more slender she will become. They will also not stop growing, but growth speed will drop considerably after the age of forty. At which a giant is appointed as an adult. Hight strongly varies but typically a hundred year old giant is about 16 meters (~ 52 feet) tall.
Giants can get really old. The oldest giant found was over 300 years old. But most die a lot younger from illness or injury. The average is at 160 years. Females are larger than males and tend to get a bit older. While born like mammals they don't breastfeed and are born with teeth (Which means both have no nipples or breasts).
Their intelligence is more or less the same as a human or dwarf. They are organized in families. Nowadays these groups consist of two to eight individuals.
In ancient times, before the elven-dwarf war, a giant group could easily be more than 40. They would roam the northern regions for food and trade. This changed after a war with elven settlers. Which came to this lands for hunting whales and capturing young dragons. These dragons would sell for a high price at homelands and where a subject of worship.
The conflict arose about a incident where a group of giant younglings came to the coast areas to hunt some young dragons. they found some hatchlings to feast on, not knowing that they belong to a elven farm. the farmers quickly followed the dragons death screams only to find weird large creature attacking their livestock. The guards came and cut down the confused younglings with superior skill and experience. If the elves didn't knew what they were doing or just didn't care is not clear. But after that the conflict quickly escalated.
The giant family found the missing younglings not much later. They came to the correct conclusion that it was the handiwork of the elven settlers. Furios of the loss the group raided the village and killed and ate every one of them.
The news spread like wildfire and the settlers hired more guards and started hunting parties to wipe out ginat presence near the cost. In return giants raided and killed more settlers and after a few incidents the settler called homeland for military help.
The public was shocked of the grim news of elf eating monstrosities and demanded a swift military operation. An subjugation force of 18.000 Soldiers was formed and made landfall only two month after the call for help. The elven troops had a high number of battlemages and war engines. The campaign became a one sided slaughter with giant families scouted, surrounded and them finished off. Through this method the giant casualties raised into thousands. A hard blow for the overall slim population.
As mostly smaller families were picked by the elven forces. Giant Families began grouping together and started to gather even more of them from all of the lands. The Gintas never fought on this scale and never had an organized opponent. For the final battle they gathered nearly all of the northern groups together.
Giants where nomadic and even kids would gather, hunt and fight alongside the adults. That lead to a fighting force of ten thousand giants (including infants - that were carried into battle).
On the day of the battle the giants crossed the northern border of the plains. While the elves inhabited the lonely small hill in the south. The giant army marched south and began a wild charge upon gazing at the elven banners. Ballistas opened fire and massive bolts hit the storming horde. While effective against the smaller groups now it wa completes useless. The archers opened fire as fast as possible but the giants crossed the distance so fast that only one volley was possible until the frontlines clashed.
The impact was devastating. Leaping over the first frontrows giants crashed into elven spears. Buried under fallen enemies or trampled over the battle quickly deteriorated into chaos. Luckily for the Elves the Giants were completely unorganized and exhausted from running all the way to the battle.
At first it possible for the defenders to reorganise and start to single out the giant attackers but more and more slower and smaller giants joined the fight. And the casualties increased fast. The lack of any magical support helped the giant stampede.
At the moment the elven battellines began to crumble. The mages unleashed their spell.
Magical clouds gathered and blocked out the sun. Flashes illuminated the unnatural storm and then like at an order. Thousands of lightning hit the battlefield.
Every single one of them struck a giant.
With this spell they killed off the whole giant army. Nobody escaped it and they all fell lifeless to the ground. The giants were not the only casualties.. Half of the mages died through the magical feedback and lots of soldiers got struck by smaller undirected lighting or were buried under dead giants.
This costly victory led to an elven dominance over the area for next 600 years. The remaining giants mostly fled the lands and spread over the world. The defeated led to a lot changes in giants society.
First, due to the low population, children gained even more importance. Which led to a strong matriarchy.
Second, out of fear of similar loss. The giants families split into even smaller groups and gathering became disdained. To this day giant society is spread thin and gatherings are still something that is not common.
Third, they began developing military tactics and combat training. En emphasis on ranged combat and heavy armour in combination with hit and run tactics.
For this they utilized slingshots or just throwing rocks at the enemy. With the height and strength of giant thrown rocks are as effective as a cannon. Every Member of the giant society is trained and at least once part of a watch group that patrols the local area.
Since the war between elves and dwarfs the giants are slowly merging into dwarven society.
During the war a few giants fought in dwarven armies. After the retreat behind the battier the giants even further anstrengend the bond.
Nowadays it is not uncommon to see giants working in the city. They are helping with construction and in manufacturing. The good life in the city attracts even more of them and slowly the nomadic lifestyle begins to vanish.
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OK, that was fun! again sorry for the crappy english. I will correct some of it. But not today.
You can use it, let it be or modify it in what ever way you want.
Cheers
