Aesir

The aesir are a giant people of certain hills and mountain regions, believed to descend from the Jotun but smaller and brighter than their savage forebears. Most follow the warrior's life, yet they are not evil. They love the sea and make fine sailors.

Most top seven feet and weigh up to four hundred pounds (the appendix gives 6'8" to 7'10" and 260 to over 450 pounds). Often called wild-eyed, they look fearsome when angry, and their strong emotions swing to extremes. Their hair runs from light brown to auburn, their skin from tan through dark brown to black.

They live in clans of 10-40 in big lodges of timber and packed earth roofed with long strips of turf, and their villages are usually ringed by an earthen wall against beasts and other threats. Magic mostly eludes them, but their shamans serve as warriors, healers and storytellers. Kind-hearted at bottom, they despise necromancers and practitioners of black magic. Like every giant race they add +1 damage to each attack for their size and gain +2 on saves vs Strength. In play they advance like human characters, as Warriors, Corsairs, Gladiators or Shamans, but are usually too rough-handed for bows, crossbows and other refined missile weapons.

Aesir dearly love dwarves, their so-called little brothers; they detest goblins, ogres and trolls, mistrust the Nethermen, and they particularly loathe the Jotun and Fomorians, who raid their villages and attack their ships. They will not strike at the weak or helpless, but they delight in battle and love to sing and tell of their greatest victories.