Annam
| Annam | ||
|---|---|---|
| Two hands with wrists together and fingers pointing down | ||
| Aliases | The All-Father, the Great Creator, the Prime, Progenitor of Worlds | |
| Alignment | True Neutral | |
| Divine Rank | Greater God | |
| Pantheon | The Ordning (Giant) | |
| Portfolio | Giants, Creation, Learning, Philosophy, Fertility | |
| Domains | Knowledge, Magic, Plant, Rune, Sun | |
| Home Plane | The Hidden Realm (Outlands), Ysgard | |
| Worshippers | Giants | |
| Favoured Weapon | Halfspear | |
Annam the All-Father is the Neutral creator of the giants in the Greyhawk setting and the head of the Ordning, the giant pantheon. He seems to be your typical "Sky Father" type god; a stern, commanding, wise and knowing patriarch, but in reality is a lustful buffoon who constantly gets himself into trouble by thinking with his heart. or whatever blood-filled organ is throbbing so loudly. In this, he can be seen as a pastiche of Zeus, who was also a Sky Father type god whose lusts led him to make foolish mistakes - and who was even directly descended from the Titans, divine beings whose name gave us the word for "fuck-off huge".
History & Realm
As the creator of giants, Annam is a really huge god. Standing up to 100', or about 30 meters, the Progenitor of Worlds towers above all. Giants believe he created the Prime Material Plane, while others claim he worked alongside the other deities to create the world in cooperation. Storm Giants however believe that all of creation stems from his dreams; that Annam is the godhead of reality.
Annam is all-knowing and has a degree of foresight. While this would mean a "I win" button for any other god, Annam is a lustful and instinctive individual who often acts against his own interests because "it felt right". He rarely shares his knowledge with his followers: only the greatest may be his clerics and only if they will excel they will receive a vision, once. He rarely sends an avatar to the Prime Material Plane, only when history is defined will the All-Father be there.
Annam used to live in the realm of Gudheim in Ysgard. Here there was his orrery from which he could watch the worlds and their going-ons. But he grew tired of watching the countless conflicts on the countless worlds, and eventually left for the Outlands. Gudheim still exists; tended to by the faithful who sometime serve as the hosts to pious clerics of Annam who get to see Gudheim just before they die. The souls of giants who die do not go to Gudheim: instead they go to Jotunheim, which is on Ysgard as well.
Followers
Annam is worshipped by almost all of giantkind, who each see part of themselves in their creator. Annam teaches to honor the hierarchy of the society of giants, not to raise one's hand against a fellow giant (failing this results in immediate forfeit of one's clerical rank) and to not underestimate other races or impede their goals. Annam's clergy is ranked high in giant society, but they have to be of the line of the elder giants in order to qualify for this position. As said before, they receive at best once in their lives a vision from their god, but far from all of them do so.
Father of Giants
While his creation of the race of giants might have given him the metaphorical title of "Father of Giants", for the rest of the pantheon of giants this is to be taken literally. Annam has a nasty case of being unable to keep the dick inside of the pants: as such he has sired many children with gods and mortals alike. They are:
Diancastra
| Diancastra | ||
|---|---|---|
| A sea-green streak | ||
| Alignment | Chaotic Good | |
| Divine Rank | Demigoddess | |
| Pantheon | The Ordning (Giant) | |
| Portfolio | Trickery, Wit, Impudence, Pleasure | |
| Home Plane | Wanders | |
| Worshippers | Giants | |
Diancastra is the Chaotic Good demigoddess of trickery, pleasure, and fertility. She can be recognized by a combination of her green eyes and a streak of green skin along her left shoulderblade. Born from the union of her father and a mortal giantess, she was granted her place amongst the gods through a series of tests given by her father. She won them all: not by force or heroic feats but through guile and wit. One of these tests was to circle the world in less than one hour; she did this by taking a map of the world and walking around it. Everything she does she does for the lulz: from trolling the Seelie Court to stealing from Blibdoolpoolp (try saying that three times fast) and the servants of her brother Surtr. Diancastra is a traveling goddess: she does not stay long in one place and lives off her wits, guile and the generousity of her lovers. And while she has no clergy or official worshippers yet, she has started to be invoked by non-evil giants as a fertility goddess; the children that come from a union that involved invoking Diancastra often are just as free-spirited as the demigoddess herself.
Grolantor
| Grolantor | ||
|---|---|---|
| Wooden club | ||
| Alignment | Chaotic Evil | |
| Divine Rank | Intermediate God | |
| Pantheon | The Ordning (Giant) | |
| Portfolio | Hunting, Strength, Combat, Hill Giants, Ettins | |
| Domains | 3E: Chaos, Competition, Death, Earth, Evil, Madness, Mysticism 5E: War |
|
| Home Plane | The Steading (Carceri) | |
| Worshippers | Hill Giants, Ettins | |
| Favoured Weapon | Dwarfcrusher (Club or Javelin) | |
Grolantor is the Chaotic Evil god of competition, strength, Ettins, and Hill Giants. Originally banished to Carceri by his father Annam for allying with his brother Memnor, the ban has been revoked ever since the All-Father left. Grolantor is a stupid and weak-willed but very strong god who demands that his followers persecute those smaller than them: everything shorter than a Hill Giant or Ettin is fair game. Along the way they willfully deny the fact that the Hill Giants are the smallest of the giant races: to admit weakness is considered anathema to the followers of the Runtherder. He created the Hill Giants by breeding all sorts of crazy shit together: a combination of castoff giants of all races, all sorts of serpentine monsters and even the Hag goddess Cegilune. Ettins on the other hand were created when Grolantor impaled his love lance in a bizarre serpent monster with heads on both ends of her snake-like body. Gorlantor is a hands-off deity: as long as you never admit weakness or fault and you oppress those smaller than you you're fair game: he has no holy days aside from an occasional eating contest.
Hiatea
| Hiatea | ||
|---|---|---|
| Flaming spear | ||
| Alignment | Neutral Good | |
| Divine Rank | Greater Goddess | |
| Pantheon | The Ordning (Giant) | |
| Portfolio | Nature, Agriculture, Hunting, Women, Children | |
| Domains | Animal, Community, Fire, Good, Plant, Sun, Weather | |
| Home Plane | Woodhaven (Elysium) | |
| Worshippers | Female Giants, Firbolgs, Voadkyn | |
| Favoured Weapon | Spear | |
Hiatea is the Neutral Good goddess of Nature, Agriculture, Hunting, Women, and Children. Like her sister Diancastra she is the result of a union of her divine father and her mortal mother. Annam originally intended to use magic to ensure Hiatea was male; when her mother learned of this she sent her to be raised by Firbolgs. When her mother died Hiatea learned of her divine parentage and presented herself to her father. Like her sister she was tested; instead she opted to show that she was a warrior to be reckoned with by killing the Tarrasque and presenting its head to her father. He was impressed and elevated her to divine status. She is popular with Firbolgs and Voadkyn, who hold her in high esteem. There are two kinds of clerics to Hiatea: the community priests (who tend to the land and people) and the protector priests (who patrol the woodlands to protect the community). Hiatea often communicates with her priests and holds that good relations with the neighbouring races (often Wood Elves of some kind) are important. All of Hiatea's priests are required to be able to hunt; during regular hunts and the ritual monthly or annual hunt. Those who cannot are forced to retire.
Iallanis
| Iallanis | ||
|---|---|---|
| Garland of flowers | ||
| Alignment | Neutral Good | |
| Divine Rank | Lesser Goddess | |
| Pantheon | The Ordning | |
| Portfolio | Love, Beauty, Forgiveness, Mercy | |
| Domains | Community, Good, Healing, Strength, Sun | |
| Home Plane | Florallium (Arborea) | |
| Worshippers | Cloud giants, Storm giants, Stone giants, Firbolg, Voadkyn | |
| Favoured Weapon | Battleaxe or Unarmed Strike | |
Iallanis is the Neutral Good goddess of love, beauty, forgiveness, and mercy. She appears as a graceful and bare-footed giant wearing a green dress from which flowers grow. She is willing to accept all good-aligned giants into her priesthood, but because of a decree by her father she must limit the powers of giant-kin such as firbolgs and fomorians. Her clerics strive to bring peace to giantkind and bring them all to good, showing mercy and cooperate with other good creatures. They preside over marriage rituals and are expected to become married themselves once they attain a certain rank. While she preaches mercy she also believes that punishment will come to those who do evil and reward to those who do good. She lives in a realm called Florallium on Arborea. Her realm is made of quiet gardens and clear springs, a neutral ground where terms of peace can be arranged. When the elven deities drove the giants from Arborea they allowed Iallanis to stay within the boundaries of her realm on the grounds that she did not fight against them.
Karontor
| Karontor | ||
|---|---|---|
| Head of a winter wolf | ||
| Alignment | Neutral Evil | |
| Divine Rank | Lesser God | |
| Pantheon | The Ordning (Giant) | |
| Portfolio | Deformity, Hatred, Beasts, Fomorians | |
| Domains | Animal, Cold, Evil, Madness, Strength | |
| Home Plane | Rack of Injustice (Carceri) | |
| Worshippers | Fomorians, Verbeeg | |
Karontor is the Neutral Evil god of deformity, hatred, and beasts. He resembles a particularly hideous fomorian, sometimes taking the shape of a wolf. He is said to be the creator of the fomorians and verbeegs. Once looking beautiful his jealousy of Stronmaus caused him to be twisted by the evil in his heart. He sought out a race of Hags who taught him powerful magic that corrupted some of the most beautiful mortal giants into fomorians and verbeegs as hideous and evil as he was. His continuous fighting with his siblings reached its end when his father Annam banished him to Carceri, where Karontor has set up a mausoleum made of the bones of giants and great beasts. He is filled with self-loathing and spends most of his time brooding and sitting on his ass. When he gets angry he sends avatars to kill and destroy the forces of good. His priests preach this same dogma, doing this themselves and using trained wolves for this purpose.
Memnor
| Memnor | ||
|---|---|---|
| Thin black obelisk | ||
| Alignment | Neutral Evil | |
| Divine Rank | Intermediate God | |
| Pantheon | The Ordning (Giant) | |
| Portfolio | Pride, Mental Prowess, Honor, Control, Cloud Giants | |
| Domains | Death, Domination, Evil, Knowledge, Mind, Sky, Trickery | |
| Home Plane | Thraotor (Gehenna) | |
| Worshippers | Cloud giants | |
| Favoured Weapon | Morningstar | |
Memnor is the Neutral Evil god of pride, honor, mental prowess, and control. He resembles a gold-skinned giant, wearing a deep blue robe. Nobody is sure of his exact relation to Annam and the other giant gods. Some say he was part of first generation of Annam's children, others that he was Annam's brother, and others that he was born from the severed head and entrails of a plant monster, slain by either Annam or Stronmaus. What is known is that he's constantly scheming to overthrow Annam and Stronmaus to become the head of the Ordning, believing that the reason the giants ancient kingdoms fell was due to Annam's ineptitude.
Skoraeus Stonebones
| Skoraeus Stonebones | ||
|---|---|---|
| Stalactite | ||
| Aliases | King of the Rock, the Living Rock | |
| Alignment | True Neutral | |
| Divine Rank | Intermediate God | |
| Pantheon | The Ordning (Giant) | |
| Portfolio | Stone giants, Buried things | |
| Domains | 3E: Cavern, Earth, Healing, Knowledge, Protection, Summoner 5E: Knowledge |
|
| Home Plane | Prime Material Plane | |
| Worshippers | Stone giants | |
| Favoured Weapon | Warhammer | |
Skoraeus Stonebones is the Neutral god of stone giants and buried things. He appears as muscular stone giant with granite-like skin. Skoraeus is considered wisest of the giant gods, after Annam, having great knowledge of crafts, magic, and wonders buried underground, as well as the most isolated, often remaining as an observer, helping only if asked by his half-siblings, and ignoring all the races but the stone giants. He resides within the center of the world, where he gains all knowledge by feeling the vibrations that eventually reach from above.
Stronmaus
| Stronmaus | ||
|---|---|---|
| Forked lightning bolt descending from a cloud that partly obscures the sun | ||
| Aliases | The Smiling God, the Storm Lord, the Thunderhead | |
| Alignment | Neutral Good / Chaotic Good | |
| Divine Rank | Greater God | |
| Pantheon | The Ordning (Giant) | |
| Portfolio | Sky, Sun, Weather, Seas, Joy, Storm Giants | |
| Domains | Air, Good, Protection, Sky, Sun, War, Weather | |
| Home Plane | Stormhold (Beastlands) | |
| Worshippers | Giants | |
| Favoured Weapon | Mace, Warhammer | |
Stronmaus is the Chaotic Good god of the sky, sun, seas, weather, and joy. He appears as enormous (up to 80', or about 24 meters) giant with blue eyes and flowing, auburn-red hair, wearing a simple gold-edged white robe. Eldest of Annam's divine children, he is the defacto head of the Ordning after Annam left. Often depicted smiling, as he is so attuned to nature and the energies of life, that he cannot help but smile and revel. He also has Annam's problem of being unable keep it in his pants, often sending his avatars to woo and seduce beautiful giant women.
Surtr
| Surtr | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Aliases | Lord of the Fire Giants | |
| Alignment | Lawful Evil | |
| Divine Rank | Intermediate God | |
| Pantheon | Norse, The Ordning (Giant) | |
| Portfolio | Fire, War, Destruction, Fire Giants | |
| Domains | 3E: Destruction, Evil, Fire, Law, Purification, Strength, War 5E: Knowledge, War |
|
| Home Plane | Muspelheim (Ysgard) | |
| Worshippers | Fire giants | |
| Favoured Weapon | Greatsword, Javelin | |
Surtr, alternatively spelled Surtur, or Surt, is the Lawful Evil god of fire, war, destruction, and fire giants. He appears as a fire giant with a hair, eyebrows, and beard of fire, wearing a red hot suit of iron armor.
Thrym
| Thrym | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Aliases | Lord of the Frost Giants | |
| Alignment | Chaotic Evil | |
| Divine Rank | Lesser / Intermediate God | |
| Pantheon | Norse, The Ordning (Giant) | |
| Portfolio | Cold, Ice, Strength, Frost Giants | |
| Domains | 3E: Chaos, Cold, Destruction, Evil, Strength, Magic, War 5E: War |
|
| Home Plane | Jotunheim (Ysgard) | |
| Worshippers | Frost giants | |
| Favoured Weapon | Greataxe | |
Thrym is the Chaotic Evil god of cold, ice, strength, and frost giants. He appears as a mighty frost giant with whitehair, blue eyes, and a constant snarl on his face.
History
Thrym has a track record of trying to marry everything. He stole the hammer of Thor and held it to ransom for the hand of Freya (yes, he still did that in D&D). Thrym was foiled when Thor showed up to the wedding dressed as a woman, stole the hammer back and bashed the giant over the head with it.
Thrym still wanted a beautiful wife, so when a Hill Giant sorceress called Haagenti found out she shape-shifted into a beautiful woman and got pregnant by him, but ran away before the children were born. When Thrym eventually came looking and found out he had been duped into knocking up a hideous, low-caste hill giantess and fathering her two ugly sons, he cursed them all to become minotaurs and cautioned his Frost Giant followers against being deceived by beauty in future.
Later, another giant divinity called Shax started invading the realms of other gods with an army of Storm Giants. Annam could not deal with her so sent Thrym to look into it. When Thrym realised it was his sister, he became enamored by her and proposed on the spot. But she refused and fought him. Thrym won the fight by killing her, but the flesh from his wounds dropped to the sea and became icebergs.
Worshippers
Thrym stands out amongst the rest of the giant pantheon in that he is fairly tolerant of non-giants as worshippers, particularly amongst barbaric cultures who admire strength and tenacity. Like Surtr, his cult is an apocalyptic one, though the saying goes "fire and ice never mix" so they have very little to do with one another, despite similar goals. Thrym's followers constantly prepares for the end of the world by stockpiling weapons and creating safe boltholes for his worshippers to conceal themselves in; and when they don't need to hide they build great fortresses to protect themselves instead.
Thrym's premier followers are the Disciples of Thrym. They are not necessarily clerics, but do have some measure of divine capability. They focus heavily on Thrym's preferred weapon (the Greataxe) which they learn to enhance through magic. Their duties are to preach of the coming Fimbulwinter which they believe only the strongest will survive, so they prepare for Surtr's coming fires by learning how to detect, resist, and dispel flames in the hope of enduring the fiery apocalypse whilst also preparing themselves for the eternal winter that is expected to follow.
The biggest religious enemy that Thrym's cult faces is, ironically, not the followers of Surtr, but the followers of the Demon Prince Kostchtchie, who yearns to usurp Thrym's place.