Half Giant People
Standing almost nine feet tall and covered with muscle, the sight of a Half Giant is unmistakable. Towering above any crowd, Half Giants have broader faces than Men, with pronounced brows, deep set eyes, and thick, massive chins. A Brute may be born into any of the six nations of Men, and bears the same skin tone as his parents. The overwhelming majority of Half Giants are born to the fair Northmen, but over the years the Giant blood has spread to all the Human lands, so that Half Giants have come to be born even among the dark-skinned Irydnu of the far South. The skin and hair of Half Giants are as varied as their Human parents, although Brutes tend to be hairier, with thick, coarse beards. The blood of the Giant ancestor has been so diluted over time that no hint of the Giant's variety remains - beyond their massive strength and endurance, Half Giants have none of the special qualities or powers of any of the Giant breeds. Whether born of Fire, Ice, or Swamp Giant blood, only the height and bulk of the Giant ancestor remains.
For reasons not even dimly understood, only Human sons grow to be Half Giants. There are no women Half Giants, and no Half Giant has ever been born a Shade. Unlike the Aelfborn, Half Giants are capable of siring offspring, though many a Half Giant father has been disappointed by the stature of his children. The Giant blood is fickle and elusive, and has been known to skip as many as a dozen generations before manifesting itself again. No one can say why one son of ten is born a Half Giant, and why some families will be graced with many and others none at all. Astrologers, diviners, and mystics have been trying for millennia to devise a foolproof means of predicting or engineering a Half Giant birth, but none have met with success.
Of all the Children of the World, Half Giants are easily the strongest, and their endurance is second only to that of the Dwarves and Centaurs. Here the list of their virtues end. Massive though they may be, Brutes are also the least agile of all the World's peoples, and the mixture of bloods also tends to blunt their intellects and Spirits. Half Giants show almost no magical aptitude whatsoever, and while some show a brutal form of cunning, none have ever been considered clever. Many Magi believe that their Hybrid blood is inherently unstable, for many Half Giants are prone to violent rages and fits of temper, especially when they feel confused or baffled. Half Giant tempers range from merely grim to outright belligerent, and most become convinced that they are naturally superior to the "little people" that surround them. Few Half Giants ever know true friendship, and most are consumed with contempt for the weakness of all other beings.
