Ettin (eh-tin)
Ettins, commonly called two-headed giants, were the conjoined twins of the giants, degenerate brutes whose names translated to "ugly giant" in ancient Common and "runt" in Jotun. They bridged the gap between true giants and giant-kin, only being classifiable as the former by virtue of relation to Annam and Othea, but with no terrain granted to them by the All-Father.
They are also the most well known and studied Giant on Jormunheim, as their dim wittedness often led them to go on long tangents.
At first glance, ettins appeared similar to relatively short members of other giant races at about 13 feet (4 meters) tall. Beyond their two heads, ettins often resembled hill or stone giants, but upon closer examination even hill giants seemed civilized compared to them. They were hulking creatures with exceptionally broad shoulders, long arms, and great weight. Reports of their heaviness ranged from around 1,000 pounds to exceeding 5,000 pounds, although either way the earth shook when they ran. Strangely, they were slightly lop-sided, the right side being slightly more muscular and well-developed than the left, although not enough to detract from their barbaric image.
In regards to their savage aspect, one of their most notable traits was their skin; if given a choice, ettins never bathed, and so their already thick skin was crusted over with a thick layer of dirty grime, giving them a horrid stench and a gray-dark brown complexion. Underneath the filth, ettins had skin tone ranging from pink to brownish, with yellow-tinged hands and feet marked with callouses.
Even ignoring their unwillingness to clean themselves, ettins had no concern for their appearance and lacked any kind of grooming habits, even negative ones. Atop their ugly heads was a hanging, unkempt mess of long, stringy hair, and inside their large, reeking mouths were crooked, yellow, and all too often rotten teeth. Notably, ettins had crude, orc-like traits in the form of a large, watery eyes, porcine snouts, and shovel jaws with lower canine teeth that protruded out like boar tusks, tusks that, for all their easiness to reach, were as revoltingly rotten as the rest of their teeth.Aggressive, ferocious and unpredictable, ettins were a brutish race that loved and admired power. They were natural bullies that oppressed those incapable of defending themselves, victimizing the weak through straightforward pain and intimidation. It was possible that they held a traditionally "muscle-brained" view of the world, perceiving mental prowess and good looks as inferior to raw size and strength.0 Despite their two heads, or perhaps as a result of their two heads, ettins were generally stupid, their two weak brains doing little to enhance their overall intelligence.
With that in mind, trying to take advantage of an ettins feeble mind was risky; if either head of an ettin were to see through an illusion for example, they would not stand slack-jawed and bewildered by the event but immediately and angrily conclude they were being tricked and seek out the one trying to deceive them. It would also be a bad idea to assume all ettins were equally dim-witted, as the lowest of them were more akin to wild animals while the smartest members of their kind had been known to surpass the average human. Ettins also weren't universally mean and destructive, the circumstances of their lives playing an important role in shaping their instinctual savagery. Some ettins were known to be curious, imaginative, humorous, and even kind, with friendly, or at the very least non-aggressive behavior, being more likely among those with comfortable lives and an ample food supply.
Ettins had a concept of value, keeping things like corpses as trophies and collecting gems, coins and art objects to ogle at.0 They also knew the basic principles of trade, though they were suspicious of all beings, including each other, and might bargain with potential prey if more could be obtained by doing so, such as something to ensure their safety or the obtainment of more food. Generally ettins only bargained to get as much of what they wanted with the least possible risk, unbound by their deals and willing to abruptly stop discussion if it proved frustrating or annoying. Despite their wariness and greed, ettins understood gratitude and had been known to take substantial risks for those who managed to earn their trust, those willing to risk their lives to help them for example.
It was commonly known that each head of an ettin was a distinct individual, each with their own identity, personality, memories, preferences and quirks. The iconic image of the two-headed monster arguing with itself that was commonly seen in folk tales and ballads however, was of suspect accuracy. On one hand, some reports found that ettins were discouraged from seriously fighting with each other. The right side of an ettin was always the strongest one meaning that the right side would always be the dominant of the relationship while the left would always be the submissive. Besides that, an ettin that lost one of its heads, assuming it survived, would be at a severe disadvantage, at least for a long period of time, so for the sake of mutual survival the two had to generally cooperate.
While ettins did seem to bicker, they did so less as two hated foes and more as brattish brothers and sisters being forced to perpetually share. Serious dispute was rare in times of combat, because like selfish and squabbling siblings they were able to put aside their feuding to perform mutually beneficial actions. When this was not the case, they took constant offense towards each other and fought to assert themselves in their never-ending sibling rivalry. Part of this contempt for one another seemed to be a result of familiarity, as the two were conjoined from birth and so could only rarely appreciate privacy and solitude when the other was asleep.
Already without privacy or isolation throughout all of their lives, ettins violently sought solitude, crushing any trespassers in their domains without question nor warning. The last thing most ettins wanted was another individual to deal with, much less another member of their kind, as a shouting match between four pugnacious primitives was even more intolerable than the ordinary state of affairs. Only rarely would they gather together into small groups, as gangs of living mates or bands of wandering destroyers, if an ettin of particular power, intelligence, or strength of will presented itself. These groups, anywhere between a - in numbers, cooperated with one another only so long as there was some perceivable benefit in doing so and if the leader stayed alive and undefeated. The death, departure or discrediting of that leader, or really any major loss suffered, was often enough to shatter group cohesion and break up the band.
Despite placing little value in currency outside of its aesthetics, ettins collected it regardless because other, lesser creatures found it desirableBefitting their hermit lifestyle, the typical ettin shunning of company did not exclude them from keeping certain animals as pets, though such animals were generally dangerous and self-sufficient. Animals like bears, including owlbears, and creatures like wyverns were known to be found with ettins,0 and they sometimes existed in symbiosis with the similarly solitary otyughs. Ettins were rather similar to their companions in terms of behavior, their "society" producing little of value and their lifestyles being akin to those of ogres.
Ettins were also known to use the currency they collected to supply goblins or orcs with treasure. Through this an ettin could, in addition to making them tolerate the ettin's nearby presence, compel them to build it a wall or trap or to fight along side them. Orcs in particular, likely because of the visual similarities between the two, treated the ettins as distant cousins, bribing the creatures into tenuous alliances with food, treasure and promises of plunder in exchange for their services as scouts, marauders and guardians.
Even if not approached, ettins might come to other humanoids seeking to sell themselves as watchmen and protectors, and they sometimes worked under the more powerful hill, frost and fire giants. On the other hand, some ettins tried to carve out savage fiefdoms where they would be brought tribute by their bullied subjects.Females were the dominant gender among ettins, responsible for initiating their crude courtship rites. They wore treasures taken from prey to signify their hunting ability, and thus increase their attractiveness in the eyes of males, and gave such items to males as gifts to woo them.
Otherwise, courting among ettins boiled down to a female hunting down a male and subduing them in a show of dominance, after which the male stayed around and cared for the female.The chosen god of the ettins was Grolantor, but rarely did they make any sacrifices or other religious gestures towards him as they didn't truly worship him. Ettins merely revered Grolantor, paying him homage not as a deity but as an ettin of great strength, size, knowledge, and wisdom, whose eternal vigilance protected them from those who would dominate or destroy them. This two-headed aspect, which granted, Grolantor was known to take on at times as an avatar, was referred to as Grolettinor or Grelinor. Not only did they not worship Grolantor as a god, but they had been known to give similar reverence to ettins with supernatural powers. Grolantor was a stupid and willfully ignorant deity whose pride outmatched his good sense, which combined with the ettin's attitude towards him led him to not grant them spells, although very rarely ettins would become his shamans and possess weak divine powers caused by their faith in him.
However, ettins not being a historically inclined race, were known to have various religious habits based on the legends that made their way to them. The two-headed Prince of Demons, the legendary Demogorgon, was credited for the creation of the ettins in many tales and those ettins who believed these stories often regarded him as the father of their race. Demogorgon was a paragon of power and so ettins favored being associated with him, the claim of being chosen by him greatly increasing an ettin's status among its peers. Those ettins who worshiped Demogorgon also worshiped other demons, believing them to be closer kin than other giants, and demon-worshiping ettins were even more savage and cruel than the normal variety, many of them being either demonically possessed or driven mad by abyssal energy.
They are also the most well known and studied Giant on Jormunheim, as their dim wittedness often led them to go on long tangents.
Description
At first glance, ettins appeared similar to relatively short members of other giant races at about 13 feet (4 meters) tall. Beyond their two heads, ettins often resembled hill or stone giants, but upon closer examination even hill giants seemed civilized compared to them. They were hulking creatures with exceptionally broad shoulders, long arms, and great weight. Reports of their heaviness ranged from around 1,000 pounds to exceeding 5,000 pounds, although either way the earth shook when they ran. Strangely, they were slightly lop-sided, the right side being slightly more muscular and well-developed than the left, although not enough to detract from their barbaric image.
In regards to their savage aspect, one of their most notable traits was their skin; if given a choice, ettins never bathed, and so their already thick skin was crusted over with a thick layer of dirty grime, giving them a horrid stench and a gray-dark brown complexion. Underneath the filth, ettins had skin tone ranging from pink to brownish, with yellow-tinged hands and feet marked with callouses.
Even ignoring their unwillingness to clean themselves, ettins had no concern for their appearance and lacked any kind of grooming habits, even negative ones. Atop their ugly heads was a hanging, unkempt mess of long, stringy hair, and inside their large, reeking mouths were crooked, yellow, and all too often rotten teeth. Notably, ettins had crude, orc-like traits in the form of a large, watery eyes, porcine snouts, and shovel jaws with lower canine teeth that protruded out like boar tusks, tusks that, for all their easiness to reach, were as revoltingly rotten as the rest of their teeth.
Personality
With that in mind, trying to take advantage of an ettins feeble mind was risky; if either head of an ettin were to see through an illusion for example, they would not stand slack-jawed and bewildered by the event but immediately and angrily conclude they were being tricked and seek out the one trying to deceive them. It would also be a bad idea to assume all ettins were equally dim-witted, as the lowest of them were more akin to wild animals while the smartest members of their kind had been known to surpass the average human. Ettins also weren't universally mean and destructive, the circumstances of their lives playing an important role in shaping their instinctual savagery. Some ettins were known to be curious, imaginative, humorous, and even kind, with friendly, or at the very least non-aggressive behavior, being more likely among those with comfortable lives and an ample food supply.
Ettins had a concept of value, keeping things like corpses as trophies and collecting gems, coins and art objects to ogle at.0 They also knew the basic principles of trade, though they were suspicious of all beings, including each other, and might bargain with potential prey if more could be obtained by doing so, such as something to ensure their safety or the obtainment of more food. Generally ettins only bargained to get as much of what they wanted with the least possible risk, unbound by their deals and willing to abruptly stop discussion if it proved frustrating or annoying. Despite their wariness and greed, ettins understood gratitude and had been known to take substantial risks for those who managed to earn their trust, those willing to risk their lives to help them for example.
Two Heads
While ettins did seem to bicker, they did so less as two hated foes and more as brattish brothers and sisters being forced to perpetually share. Serious dispute was rare in times of combat, because like selfish and squabbling siblings they were able to put aside their feuding to perform mutually beneficial actions. When this was not the case, they took constant offense towards each other and fought to assert themselves in their never-ending sibling rivalry. Part of this contempt for one another seemed to be a result of familiarity, as the two were conjoined from birth and so could only rarely appreciate privacy and solitude when the other was asleep.
Society
Already without privacy or isolation throughout all of their lives, ettins violently sought solitude, crushing any trespassers in their domains without question nor warning. The last thing most ettins wanted was another individual to deal with, much less another member of their kind, as a shouting match between four pugnacious primitives was even more intolerable than the ordinary state of affairs. Only rarely would they gather together into small groups, as gangs of living mates or bands of wandering destroyers, if an ettin of particular power, intelligence, or strength of will presented itself. These groups, anywhere between a - in numbers, cooperated with one another only so long as there was some perceivable benefit in doing so and if the leader stayed alive and undefeated. The death, departure or discrediting of that leader, or really any major loss suffered, was often enough to shatter group cohesion and break up the band.
Despite placing little value in currency outside of its aesthetics, ettins collected it regardless because other, lesser creatures found it desirable
Relationships
Ettins were also known to use the currency they collected to supply goblins or orcs with treasure. Through this an ettin could, in addition to making them tolerate the ettin's nearby presence, compel them to build it a wall or trap or to fight along side them. Orcs in particular, likely because of the visual similarities between the two, treated the ettins as distant cousins, bribing the creatures into tenuous alliances with food, treasure and promises of plunder in exchange for their services as scouts, marauders and guardians.
Even if not approached, ettins might come to other humanoids seeking to sell themselves as watchmen and protectors, and they sometimes worked under the more powerful hill, frost and fire giants. On the other hand, some ettins tried to carve out savage fiefdoms where they would be brought tribute by their bullied subjects.
Courtship
Otherwise, courting among ettins boiled down to a female hunting down a male and subduing them in a show of dominance, after which the male stayed around and cared for the female.
Religion
However, ettins not being a historically inclined race, were known to have various religious habits based on the legends that made their way to them. The two-headed Prince of Demons, the legendary Demogorgon, was credited for the creation of the ettins in many tales and those ettins who believed these stories often regarded him as the father of their race. Demogorgon was a paragon of power and so ettins favored being associated with him, the claim of being chosen by him greatly increasing an ettin's status among its peers. Those ettins who worshiped Demogorgon also worshiped other demons, believing them to be closer kin than other giants, and demon-worshiping ettins were even more savage and cruel than the normal variety, many of them being either demonically possessed or driven mad by abyssal energy.
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