Giff

The giff are a species of spacefaring hippofolk, most known thoroughout the Known Spheres for their mercenary services. Despite their spacefaring nature, giff are both distrustful and almost entirely unable to make use of magic, leaving them generally unable to pilot spelljammers and reliant on other species to shuttle them around.

Basic Information

Growth Rate & Stages

Though giff can live up into their 70s, they do not age gracefully. Older giff are often overtaken by a desire to prove that they haven't slowed down, resulting in a tendency towards recklessness. Whether this is a social or biological trait is debated.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Giff society is organized akin to a traditional military, with all citizens given ranks and sub-ranks to denote their standing and purpose. This strict hierarchy serves a purpose, as giff are almost universally spacefaring nomads, earning coin and gold for members of their group through lending their services as mercenaries to others. Though it is not required for advancement, giff greatly enjoy wrestling and fighting each other for sport.
Giff generally prefer the presence of other giff to other races. Though giff are often hired by opposing sides of a war, they will never fight one another. Should two giff platoons come across one another in a battle, both sides will retire from the fighting and take the opportunity to catch up.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

While most giff travel in small communities, know as platoons, there is also a small group of giff that have settled on Geb in Nilespace. Having been mistaken for chosen representatives of the goddess Taweret of the Pharaonic Pantheon, the Gebian giff have comfortably settled in to their favored position, even adopting a racially uncharacteristic deference for worshipping Taweret.

Average Technological Level

While giff are nearly entirely unable to use magic, they make up for this inability with an impressive understanding of smoke powder firearms. Giff platoons are nearly always outfitted with enough arquebuses for around 1 in 5. Rarely, officers are equipped with wheel lock pistols. While many races worry about misfires, these rarely faze the implaccable giff.

Common Myths and Legends

The giff have been exploring wildspace for so long that their homeworld has been entirely forgotten. Knowledge of their home sphere has faded in to legend. Tales describe it as a verdant jungle planet covered in swamps, mangroves and fruit trees. The planet's few mountains are rich in metals, perfect for smithing and for crafting the smoke powder needed for their firearms.
Giff have no diety or pantheon they worship, though sometimes they may show deference to the war god of their employer.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

As a widely traveled race, giff have interacted with nearly all spacefaring races, being employed by most of them at one point of time or another. The only races giff refuse to work for are neogi and beholders, two species that are unlikely to hire giff in the first place, preferring enslavement.

Lifespan

70 years

Average Height

8 - 9 ft.

Average Physique

Standing at nine feet tall and powerfully muscled, giff are among the strongest humanoids currently active in wildspace, a fact that they do not let non-giff forget.