Goliath

A giant on the plain I see,
doing battle with the host,
holding in each of his two hands
four short quick swords

… Whole hosts he will destroy,
making dense massacre.
In thousands you will yield your heads.
I am Fedelm. I hide nothing.
~ Prophecy of Fedelm, the Táin


The goliaths are a people of custom and tradition. In the forests of the Feywild they represent some of the most stubbornly traditional and the most radically revivalist forces among the fey races. They have dark skin, ranging from gray to black to brown, and they are born with lighter-toned markings over their whole bodies. The goliaths claim that the ogham script used by druids and spellcasters is based on these markings, or perhaps the other way around. When a goliath is born, his whorls and stripes are read by a seer (a fear feasa) to determine the destiny of the child. In this way, a goliath is steeped in the tradition of his people from the moment of his birth to his death, hopefully in glorious battle defending his tribe and kin.

The Giantish Races

The giants of the Feywild are a divided lot, with complicated geneaologies which make the triple fracture of the elven races seem simple. There are two major groups of giants, one (the Tuatha Dé Nemhidh) which inhabits the ancestral homeland of the giantkin and one (the Tuatha Dé Danaan) which has traveled to new lands which they now share with the other fey.
A millenia ago, it is said, the giants were restricted to a vast and fertile plain where they raised great herds, built magnificent cities, and amassed mountains of gold and other jewels. While the other fey were founding their first cities, the giants already had a strong empire which seemed poised to take over the whole of the Feywild. As happens with many, however, they overextended themselves and nobility gave way to arrogance. As worshippers of the primal spirits, the giants had long benefitted from pacts made with these guardians but they grew tired of the sacrifices required of them from the spirits. If they were masters of the physical world, why not be masters of the spirit world as well? This simple proved to be the disastrous death knell of giantish society. When they attempted to subjugate the primal spirits, the very land erupted in revolt in an event called the Ré Tromluí. The land roiled underfoot and swallowed cities whole; oceans rose to hungrily tear down ports; winds lifted giants off the ground and into the sky, never to be seen again.
Tens of thousands died and the settlements of the giantkin were reduced to rubble. They might have been killed outright if it were not for two merciful forces who offered them rescue. Nemhed the Favored was a broker who fostered pacts with the spirits before the Ré Tromluí and was only too happy to forge the most important pact of all with the desperate giants. In return the giants who stayed in their kingdoms could build no cities, claim no borders, and live among the works of the primal spirits rather than shaping it to their will. An alternative pact was also forged by the Mother Danú by which some giantkin pledged to protect the primal spirits' interests, to be servants of their will and perpetually faithful. The followers of Danú left their ancestral lands, coming to the Mountains of Ard Speir near the homeland of the elves, and left the ruins of their ancient kingdoms to the forsaken of Nemhed.

Tuatha Dé Nemhidh

The Tribes of Nemhed are sometimes called the forsaken (tréigthí) by the Tuatha Dé Danaan since they must live existences of enforced primitivism. Among the ruins of the lost kingdoms the stone giants, hill giants, and others erect tents and hunt wild game as shadows of their former greatness. Some of these tribes send emissaries to the lands of the elves and gnomes, but a paranoid fear of other lands where there are no protect pacts to hold back the potential wrath of primal spirits keep most of the Tuatha Dé Nemhidh in their ancestral lands.
Though these tribes have pledged themselves to Nemhed, he is a figure of much contention. None of the Tuatha Dé Nemhidh think that the Favored's motives during the Ré Tromluí were altruistic, but in the centuries since he has stuck to his pact and not tried to push for more restrictions. As part of the agreement, all future pacts must be passed through Nemhed and over time he has become a patron spirit of the giantkin and fairly represents them to the rest of the spirit world. He is still a primal spirit, however, and his motives are both unfathomable and unpredictable.

Tuatha Dé Danaan

The giantkin that most of the fey are familiar with are the Tuatha Dé Danaan or Tribes of the Deified Danú. This mother spirit commands her followers to be servants of the primal spirits and to protect the balance of the world. The three tuatha who came west with Danú are the fomorians, the firbolgs, and the goliaths. The fomorians are dark and brooding creatures, giantkin led to favor the cthonic spirits that lie behind the dark rituals of the hags. The firbolgs favor the wild and carefree spirits of rivers, winds, fire, and stars which drive them constant push themselves towards battle and raiding. The most balanced are the goliaths who follow the word of Danú most closely and attempt to serve all spirits equally. Holy men of the goliaths constantly speak to all of the local spirits, often acting as mediators between them as well as between the spirits and goliaths.

Goliath Lands

The Mountains of Ard Speir are divided into five parts, cúige, each claimed by a different high lord. Meath is the smallest of the cúigí and the one with the most foreigners living there. Connacht is the richest with thick pine forests covering the steep slopes of the foothills (cnoc in Giantish) which cover the plateaued shoulder of the mountains they claim. Mumhan is riven by steep canyons full of impassable cataracts which nevertheless lead to traversable rivers fit for waterborne trade. Laighdean is an agressive cúige which covets the lands of the more prosperous Meath which it would love to add to the territory of mostly icy peaks which it claims. Finally, Ulaidh, the most nothern of the cúigí, is directly on the border with the firbolgs' thick forests and so are most at odds with the Wild Crows.

Lexicon

Visitors to Ard Speir and those with frequent contact with the goliaths may find the following words helpful.

  • Ard-Thiarna: High Lord. The ruler of a cúige.
  • Bradhbhallta: Wild Crow. A common term for a firbolg. (Plural: bradhbhalltaí).
  • Cúige: A fifth. A territory claimed by an ard-thiarna, or the goliath families of that territory. (Plural: cúigí).
  • Drochshúile: Evil-eye. A common term for a fomorian. (Plural: drochshúilí).
  • Searbhónta: Servant. A term for the Tuatha Dé Danaan. (Plural: searbhóntaí).
  • Tréigthe: Forsaken. A term for the Tuatha Dé Nemhidh. (Plural: tréigthí).
  • Tuath: Tribe. This is traditionally used even in Elvish to differentiate it from the Seven Tribes of all the fey. (Plural: tuatha).
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