Fomorians

The Fomorians rule Anostos, seagoing giants who are distant kin of the Aegir and Jotun, long a menace to northern shipping and infamous as pirates and slavers of the worst kind. They live in walled villages of rough stone along the coast's winding inlets and fjords. Several thousand dwell on the continent, split into over 100 quarrelsome clans of 30-300 each; brawls between clans are common and often bloody, but full-scale clan wars are very rare.

Village life is harsh and dull. Females and children, about two thirds of each clan, do all the work, helped by any slaves the clan has taken, and those too old or frail to work are killed outright or sent into the Fells. Ashore, adult males mostly lounge, squabble over loot and drink vast amounts of the potent brew called fomor; the bolder ones sometimes head inland to hunt or gather brewing ingredients. A clan rich in slaves may send a mining expedition to the Iron Mountains, at least twenty strong with one guard to every four slaves, lasting up to six months.

Piracy is the males' real trade. Their ships, up to 200 feet long, carry twice the cargo of a large merchantman and are mostly centuries old, built from the hardwood forests that are now the Fells. Though huge, they are fast enough to outrun most merchant ships, with a single mast, oars, a heavy catapult, an iron ram and grappling poles; only giants can sail them, and a full crew is sixty Fomorians, or roughly triple that number of human-sized sailors. Herbal treatments make hulls and masts resist fire, which does only half damage. Fomorians chase almost any vessel, fight like corsairs and try to take victims alive: the fit become slaves, while the weak or defiant usually die by torture, end up cooked and eaten from a great cauldron, or meet some similarly cruel fate. They hate their giant kin, the Aesir, who have thwarted their invasions many times, and the Jotun, who have failed repeatedly to raid Anostos.