Grolantor (gro-LÆN-tor)
Grolantor is revered as the Giant deity of hunting and warfare and holds a significant position as the foremost patron among hill giants. Within the Giant Pantheon (potentially rivaled only by Annam and Stronmaus), Grolantor stands out as a notorious figure. He rejects any formal title, preferring his given name, embodying a self-centered demeanor that prioritizes his ego over the welfare of his worshippers.
Grolantor is evil second and stupid first, disowned by his brothers for his foolishness and relative weakness. Some say he created the race of hill giants by collecting and interbreeding the runts of earlier giant broods, then further polluted this stock by mating with various serpents, medusa-like hags, and the goddess Cegilune.
Grolantor spends his divided time in Carceri and the Abyss concocting his willfully stupid schemes, muttering to himself about various slights, most of which exist more in his head than in reality. He is an uncaring god who only rarely went to check on the state of his worshipers, although if something begins killing his petitioners in their outpost, he might decide to descend upon it to ensure that it never bothered them again.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Clergy, Temples and Worshippers
The Steading Lord's church is widely disliked among followers of other giantish deities, viewed as crude, unintelligent, and unpleasant companions. Grolantor's priests seldom integrate into tribes devoted to other Jotunbrud gods, except those dedicated to Memnor, though even among them, Grolantor's clergy receive minimal respect, albeit discreetly concealed. Within their own tribes, these priests serve as advisers to chiefs, yet they refuse to acknowledge any subservience, maintaining a stance of detachment from the power hierarchy. Priests devoted to Grolantor must never retreat from a direct challenge, facing divestment of their clerical abilities until undergoing atonement, often through engaging in perilous combat. They refuse to acknowledge any giant as superior, deeming themselves equals even to the mightiest storm giants, and are inclined to confront any giant who treats them as inferior or as mere servants. Grolantor's priests seize any chance to incite gluttonous revelry, especially following victorious battles and hunts. Hill giants and ettins often engage in eating contests within their tribes, while frost giants indulge in drinking competitions. Followers of The Steading Lord pride themselves on their culinary skills, relishing in consuming a variety of foods within their hunting range, favoring robustly flavored and heavily spiced dishes over the "bland" human fare. They frequently vie to create new culinary delights, with the victor earning admiration from their peers.Priestly Vestment
The clergy of The Steading Lord wear trophies for ceremonies, lacking formal attire. Dark brown is common due to hill giants' preference. If in contact with other giant races, they may mimic their priests by using patchwork robes made from victims' clothing. Instead of small icons, priests use full-sized wooden clubs as holy symbols. Priests of Grolantor blend with their tribe in combat or adventuring, wearing similar adornments as chiefs and powerful warriors.Temples
Grolantor's priests do not build temples; their only religious sites are small shrines within their steadings and encampments. These shrines are private affairs and only The Steading Lord's priests are allowed to worship at them. Grolantor's priesthood is too disorganized to have an overall hierarchy; individual priests receive titles based on their individual exploits (or lack thereof). There is no distinction between novices and full priests, as each priest's status is based solely on whom amongst the existing clergy they can best in whatever sort of challenge the tribe prefers. Priests are known by a name in the Jotunhaug tongue that roughly means "those who thump their foes' skulls with their great clubs," but that is quite a mouthful, and the lazy hill giants usually simplify it to "thumper".Rituals
Grolantor has no particular holy days, and is unusual among evil deities in that he demands no sacrifices. The closest thing to formal ritual among his worshipers is eating and drinking contests.Tenets of Faith
Never show weakness. Crush the weak underfoot and smash them with your club. Feast on the spoils of your hunts. Eat to grow strong, and the more eaten, the more strength is gained. Never back down from a challenge. The sons of Annam have the right to rule all the worlds, with none subservient to another.
In different Cultures, the priests allow to speak differenty:
For Most Giants, They teach his followers to persecute "lesser races" - that is, those smaller than hill giants. His hill giant shamans stubbornly refuse to admit they are smaller than any other giant breeds.
Ettins worship Grolantor in a dual-aspected manner, and their dogma differs from that of the hill giants in many crucial respects, often preventing alliances between the two races.
Physical Description
Identifying Characteristics
Grolantor normally appears as a giant somewhere between 18 to 25 feet (5.5 to 7.6 meters) tall, clad in furs and/or dragon hides. Depending on the breed he is visiting, he is known to resemble a hill giant, frost giant, or ettin.
Special abilities
The great strength that Grolantor is proud of was his one redeeming quality. His avatars can hurl rocks up to 1,200 feet (370 meters) away, and would catch rocks and other large missiles thrown at them around 70% of the time.
Specialized Equipment
Grolantor is known to wield an oversized club named "Dwarfcrusher", and in some artistic depictions the greatclub he wields is made of bone. In any case, his avatars wields an enchanted club that was twice as effective against dwarves as it was against any other being. Grolantor also usually wore several belts of woven dwarf beards.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Grolantor belongs to the third generation of Giant deities, often disparagingly referred to as the "runts" by their predecessors; the other member of this generation is Karontor. His mother is an unnamed sky goddess. Currently, he divides his time between Carceri and the Abyss.
In the year 2,950 BB, the deity Grolantor engaged in a conflict with dragons, believing that their magical difficulties stemmed from their abilities. Unbeknownst to him, Menas had been tracking him for years, seeking dominion over the hunting portfolio. Menas extended an offer of assistance to Grolantor, only to end up merging with his essence. This event served to definitively establish Menas as the ultimate predator in the eyes of the greater powers and gods of the world.
Rumors and Legends
The degeneration of hill giants and cyclops over the ages is often attributed to Grolantor. He is accused of gathering and interbreeding earlier Giant breeds' runts, further tainting this racial lineage in certain legends by mating with terrestrial monsters. One such myth suggests his union with a monstrous serpent, characterized by heads at both ends of its coiled body, led to the emergence of ettins. In contrast to his father's diverse offspring from various beings, Grolantor's actions mimic a degenerate imitation. The ancestors of hill giants may have possessed greater capabilities, as evidenced by their creation of an oracle in the ancient giant empire era. However, the modern hill giants are widely regarded as products of Grolantor's crossbreeding endeavors, to the extent that both hill giants and ettins are thought to share a common origin from this interbreeding.Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Grolantor divides his time between Carceri and the Abyss, engrossed in his deliberately foolish schemes and grumbling about perceived offenses, many of which are products of his imagination rather than reality. He displays indifference towards his worshippers, seldom bothering to assess their condition. However, if a threat emerges and starts harming his followers, he may intervene to eradicate it and safeguard their interests.
Grolantor is a truly miserable specimen of a god, one who constantly complains about his bottomless hunger, but would sooner snatch food from a family member's plate than hunt for it himself. Though possessed of a certain cunning and skill for ambushes, he constantly undermines himself, the blame for most of his problems laying squarely at his own feet as the result of his own selfish behavior and sheer hubris. Most giantish breeds portray him as a wicked being, but even the evil-tempered deity's own well-being is represented as second in priority compared to sating his pride.
Grolantor often dispatches avatars to his followers, urging them to seek out opportunities for glory. These avatars lead groups of hill giants (or occasionally ogres) on hunting or skirmishing expeditions, albeit briefly. However, to the dismay of his faithful, Grolantor quickly loses interest in battles, even as they reach their peak, indifferently leaving his followers during their most critical moments. Yet, true devotees perceive this not as abandonment, but as an opportunity granted by the god to demonstrate their own courage and skill.
Grolantor epitomizes absolute dedication to his own vanity. Despite possessing abilities that would intimidate any mortal, this conceited deity foolishly underutilizes his powers due to his stubborn ignorance. While not devoid of intelligence, Grolantor's idiocy lies in his willful ignorance and refusal to acknowledge reality, opting for a self-destructive path. He consistently chooses the path of brute strength over subtlety, disregarding more effective approaches.
Refusing to concede superiority to anyone, even his own kin, Grolantor instills this attitude in his followers, believing that pride is essential for the restoration of the Old Giant Empire. Proud of his strength yet lacking respect for the greater intellect or strength of his siblings, he boasts of his own greatness while disparaging his peers. These grandiose delusions often lead him and his followers into futile conflicts beyond their capabilities. When manifesting an avatar, he displays impulsive behavior, initially behaving cowardly in the face of stronger opponents until provoked or ridiculed, at which point he becomes aggressive.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Grolantor is evil second and stupid first, disowned by his brothers for his foolishness and relative weakness. Some say he created the race of hill giants by collecting and interbreeding the runts of earlier giant broods, then further polluted this stock by mating with various serpents, medusa-like hags.
Grolantor is the child of Annam and the unnamed sky goddess that gave birth to most of the Giant Pantheon. He is the least of Annam's sons (at the very least those tied to a true giant breed), yet not the youngest. He is part of a third generation of offspring known by other giants as "the runts", with his younger brother being the fomorian deity Karontor.
Grolantor is generally scorned by all his family members, siblings and parents alike, and has been specifically disowned by his brothers for his stupidity and relative weakness. He insists on being treated as their equal despite their obvious superiority, and has gotten into many fights with them on account of his pride, most of which he lose. Stories regarding Grolantor invariably ended with him getting another scar on his back when he pushed a family member too far and had to escape their wrath.
When they are children, the treacherous shenanigans of Grolantor and Memnor (the wicked cloud giant deity) resulted in Annam banning them from interfering with Jotunbrud affairs. However, after Annam's self-imposed exile, they convinced both Stronmaus (the storm giant deity) and Hiatea (goddess of nature and hunting) that the decree was no longer valid. Though neither Stronmaus nor Hiatea were pleased with Grolantor's behavior (several times had an angered Hiatea filled his backside with arrows) neither felt empowered enough to stop him, but both the nefarious gods sometimes left them with no other choice but to put an end to their meddling.
Grolantor's reckless behavior had doubtless made him many enemies, particularly among the dwarven pantheon, most of whom would attack him on sight. Though he hated all the evil giant gods, Marthammor Duin, dwarven god of wanderers and those that traveled beyond their enclaves, had a particular loathing for Grolantor. Similarly, Clangeddin, the dwarven god of battle, held Grolantor and his followers to be his most hated enemies. Grolantor himself had an arbitrary hatred for dwarvenkind.
Grolantor has other enemies among the goblinoid gods (goblinoid in this case including goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, orcs, kobolds and similar creatures). Solonor Thelandira, elven god of hunting and wilderness survival, also considered Grolantor (specifically, rather than simply hating the evil giant gods as a rule) to be his foe.
Grolantor has managed to turn several of the shator demodands of Carceri into his servitors, although less out of loyalty and more out of terror regarding him and his army of giant petitioners. They are weak-willed and obsequious, and while some shator ruled areas in Carceri as his vassals, some demodands had taken up residence in his outposts.
Titles:
The Everlasting Hunter;The First Hunter;
The Steading Lord;
Dwarf Smasher;
Alignment
Chaotic Evil
Realm
Children
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Ruled Locations
| LG | NG | CG |
| LN | N | CN |
| LE | NE | CE |
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