Yesreni

Some say that the Sister-Moons created the treants, and that after millions of years in a world dominated by treants and their awakened creatures, the gods decided to create life of their own. In those days, the gods of the fey, the dragons, and ausrani had not come to the world yet. At that time, the Sister-Moons and the The Old Gods were the only divinities in Ancathra. There were more Old Gods than there are now. And it is known that all they all came together to create life -- even dark and evil gods now long forgotten. Inspired by the elder treants, the The Old Gods created life in their image. A hundred feet tall and shaped like a treant - though made of animal muscle, bone and blood. The first giants were beautiful, powerful and glorious to behold.
In the two million years since the primordial giants were created, their descendants evolved to inhabit every ecosystem on Jehaan. Some became the various giant types, some became giantkin, and some became dwarves and gnomes. Today's giants, giantkin, dwarves, and gnomes refer to themselves collectively as the yesreni or "people of the gods." The yesreni lived among themselves for two million years, from the creation of the giants until about 800,000 years ago - when a rift opened to another world. No one knows where the rift was, or how long it stayed open, but at that time the fey began to arrive on Ancathra.
Half a million years ago, an invasion of draconic armies ushered in the Age of the Five Emperors. Many giants died fighting the invaders, and many fled to undersea strongholds or remote mountain complexes.
During the millenia of draconic domination, the great dwarven cities (and gateways to the Underdark) sealed their gates and hid the roads leading to them. They are still rarely seen on the surface. 
Ogres are common in the mountains, especially the Tanatrans - as are half-giants, or goliaths. Both are somewhat rarely encountered outside their historic territories.
More common are the firbolgs. Part giant and part fey, they are an ancient people descended from fey-giant parents. Their ancestry traces back to the earliest years after the fey arrived. 
The most common yesreni descendant of those first elder giants are the gnomes. Their city of Tanatra is one of the greatest, richest, and most powerful cities in the world.