Jotun

The Jotun are giants from icy Jotunheim. Though mostly of below-average wit, they are fairly civilized, with a culture on a par with many human nations. About twelve feet tall, blue-skinned, with mostly white or yellow hair and long beards, they dress in hides and armor. Though many call them barbarians, they are great builders of imposing castles and forts, and their warriors carry Hyperborean-style gear such as chain mail, axes, swords and warhammers.

Kullervo the Wanderer, landing in Jotunheim, found them warlike, proud, quarrelsome and unwilling to bow to anyone. The weakest attach themselves to a Great Lord, exchanging loyalty for protection, and the Great Lords mostly go their own way, rarely cooperating and often feuding. The city of Utgard likes to call itself capital of a Jotun kingdom, but only the strongest kings ever rein in the Great Lords, and never for long.

Jotun are known for rudeness and a cruel sense of humor. A few study Enchantment, but most lack the brains or interest for magic and prefer plain, brutal fighting; every Jotun is a Warrior or a Corsair. They build raiding ships, though each raid is one Great Lord's venture with a handful of vessels. Jotunheim's outer wilds hold savage Jotun, alike in body but without civilization: clad in rough furs, carrying crude clubs and living in caves, alone or in small hunting bands, and even more hostile to outsiders; these savage kinds are generally chaotic, while Jotun as a whole are either lawful or chaotic evil. Jotun are immune to cold, but fire does them half again its normal damage. Kullervo warned that a stranger's welcome among them could just as easily end in bloodshed.