Sky Titans
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The Sky Titans were an Ancient and Technologically Advanced Race that used to live in the Mountains of Mourn long ago before the age of man who would herd mammoths. They were driven to extinct after the Great Migration drove the Ogres Westward in hunger, with the few surviving leading to such selective breeding that it caused the surviving Giants were pygmy compared to their ancient sizes and considerably less intelligent and more prone to drink or travel Northward to join the intoxicating powers of chaos
It is not mentioned if they were apart of the Great Plan of the Old Ones or not, but given Ogres were made by the Old Ones, if the Sky Titans were meant to still be around it could be a major issue that they're not.
Overview[edit]
Early History[edit]
Long ago, while Nehekhara was still in her infancy, before the great Dwarven Empire fell, and before Grand Cathay was fully unified under the Dragon-Emperor, the Darklands and the Mountains of Mourn held a great nation of city-states and seminomadic farmers called the Sky-Titans. Towering over even the mountains themselves, the holds of the Ancient Giant Lands were grander in size than entire Dwarven Karaks and they were able to produce blackpowder) far earlier than any other race recorded in the annuals of history. Entire flocks of mammoths were raised as cattle by their beneficent caretakers and life was good for centuries.
And then the Great Migration happened.
Driven from their homes due to a certain emperor deciding it was a good idea to crash a warpstorm meteorite into the planet, the Ogres, devastated by the sudden and drastic loss in population, began to move westward, driven by a desperate hunger that plagued them with no rest nor respite.
Heretofore, the hermitic and largely isolationist Sky-Titans spent their time peacefully caring for their flocks of cave-beasts and mammoths, living together in large-extended family units They knew of the Ogres, but cared little for they had withstood the Great Catastrophe, and even the most ambitious Ogre tribe new not to mess with them. And then, one by one, the isolated fortresses fell silent, as once great and bountiful holds fell without warning. It could have been simple: a mammoth braying in the middle of the night from the onslaught, leading to a farmer going out and never being seen again. Rumors began to circulate, and the suddenness and desperation in which the Ogres ambushed their foes made it impossible for such a isolationist species to endure. By the time they finally joined together to hold out against the tiny vermin eating them piecemeal, it was too late.
The Great War in the Sky[edit]
Stripped of food and now in-for a giant-relatively claustrophobic and overpopulated conditions, the holds of the Sky-Titans used everything in their power to hold off the ensuing swarm of locusts descending upon them, including summoning thunderstorms and causing mighty avalanches which killed hundreds of Ogres. Unfortunately, their faith was not enough and soon the ogres would surround their castles, as they would slowly starve and shrink from their diminishing supply of food. As each day came, the Ogres became hungrier and hungrier and so did the Sky-Titans.
As supplies ran low, the desperate defenders began to use everything at their disposal: Giant cannons decorated with friezes used piles of gunpowder the size of some cities, great and favored war-beasts and loyal creatures of the herd were sent out to expel the cantankerous and ravenous hordes, and the Gods were called upon to protect the Sky-Titans, believing the Ogres to be a judgement drafted upon them for their arrogance and conceit.
Unfortunately, despite the thousands upon thousands of Ogres killed through brutal attrition and constant warfare, it was never enough, as soon the Ogres formed a stronger devotion to their own burgeoning deity who represented their ravenous appetite more than any mortal ever could. For each Ogre that was stomped, scattered, smashed, shattered or sent soaring through the skies, ten dozen more could take their place.
The war was bitter, but for each day that passed, each hold came closer to falling, and one by one, inch by inch over thousands of years, these mighty fortresses fell, and the voracious interlopers soon desecrated their homes, and began to tear raw meat off of still warm carcasses. If the titan was lucky, they would have been dead before the Ogres entered the hall, but few were so lucky. A single corpse could feed a Tyrant's tribe for months-no small feat in itself, but still after time, the ogres felt their stomachs rumbling as the voice of their God commanded them to march forth once more to the next hold.
According to legend, one of the Titans-as ancient as he was gifted in the art of magic-ushered a curse upon the Ogres to punish them for their gluttony, so that no matter how much they may eat, no matter what they eat, and not matter how long they eat it, they will never be satisfied nor full. If the story is true, then the Sky-Titans brought the curse upon themselves, for it only served to invigorate the Ogres in their quest more.
Although the Sky-Titans seem to have disappeared completely, the Ogres still whisper of their existence as with every defeat they suffered the mountains themselves seemed to grow, as if peering over them in silent judgement for their actions. For every palace raided, every castle reduced to rumble and scattered stone that remains, the Mountains looked evermore imposing and taller, reaching high into the heavens. In fact, once the Ogres found not more Sky-Titans, they reckoned they ate them all down from the bones of their toes to the tops of their heads, but some still insist the most ancient sky titans fused into the mountains themselves and became one with their resting places, or were mountains in their own right. Given Dragon Ogre Shaggoths are said to have similar properties, one does shutter to think if the two, perhaps are closer than one may realize.
Even now, there is a solemnness to the remains of their old holds, and-although the safest part of the Silk Road to travel-often merchants traveling to and from Gran Cathay report seeing the mountains moving ever so slightly out of the corner of their eyes or the dancing of faded images and shadows where they should not be in the howling winds carrying the snow.
Aftermath[edit]
Although content for some time in the new lands recently depopulated, dining on the dwindling delights of the Sky Titans and their hordes, the Ogres felt their instinctive wanderlust calling and some began to venture onward. The feeling became common, as the top of the world was inhospitable as soon the Great Maw began to spew a toxic green vomit high into the skies, and great clouds carrying the toxic fumes of his creation that were sent high into the atmosphere still remained, causing a green, incandescent aurora to remain in the night sky that was brighter than even Morrslieb. And so, slowly, the vast majority of the Ogres made their way West to the lands that would be known as the Mountains of Mourn, far past the Ancient Giant Lands, where they would begin to make contact with the more civilized races and learn what a contract was-most likely from learning the Chaos Dwarfs will pay them to eat Greenskins. Those that did not remain, although Ogres are naturally resistant to Chaos and its twisting effects, the centuries made them grow out white fur, elongate their hands into talons, grow sharp fangs, and an ability to channel the harsh cold they live in with a prepetual aura of coldness. Thus the abominable Yhetee was born, a creature so vicious that anything that ventures into its realm dares not venture out again.
Sky-Titan Descendants[edit]
By the end of the war, there persists a rumor that a few giants unfettered the tops of mountains and sailed the clouds into far off lands to call home, free of the Ogres. This is unlikely for several reasons including logistically being stupid, having serious questions about how a giant can be in anything that can be lighter than air long enough to get away and why they didn't do this earlier. However, given the existence of Giants even as far as Albion, there may be some truth to this claim given it is known to house the most ancient giants outside of the Chaos Wastes. In fact a Gotrek and Felix novel has them team up with Teclis to kill a Giant who claims to be the eldest of their species-which if true may suggest Albion was the ultimate destination as the secluded Island where the last remaining sky titans could live peacefully.
The realm of Chaos also has the skull of Arghus who is claimed to be the greatest of the sky-titans, acting as a moon orbiting the Land of the Plaguelord. There's some kind of poetic justice here, I'm just not smart enough to get it.
Age of Sigmar[edit]
Sky-Titans did exist at one point in AoS, but as a brood of Gargants from the Age of Myth who were the first to be vomitted out of Behemat, similar to how Giants are descended from Sky-Titans in the last universe. Like everyone else, they got fucked over in the age of chaos and now they come out in the Age of Sigmar-however unlike the last time around, we actually have a named character for once named King Brodd who is leading an assualt again Archaon and his host. They roam the mortal relams seeking the one who slew Behemat and reap vegeance upon them. (Hint hint it's Sigmar's Shiny Boys.)
No word on why or how the Sky Titans came back, or if the Ironblasters in this world are the same as the last or if they just so happened to invent exactly the same technology as the ones in the old world with the same motiffs an visuals.