Jazuu

When the First Wish broke the Titans' runic reign and caused them to degenerate, two major peoples resulted from choices made. The dwarves are the more common (at least in Noefra) of the two; the giant kindred are the others. The name the learned use for the giant kindred is the jazuu, the Written People. While most people in the Federated Nations believe that the jazuu belong to multiple races, the truth is more complicated.

Regions and Cultures

Oelfra

The Oelfran continent is home to the vast majority of jazuu. They dominate the southern portion and have constructed major cities. As of 250 AC, nothing is known more about this content or its cultures; what is known comes from fragmentary records indicating that the continent is home to jazuu, dwarves, goblinoids, and a very few humans who migrated during the 3rd Age. The records speak of the seemingly-ageless Storm Emperor who rules from a floating palace above the clouds and cities housing peoples of gigantic proportions carved out of mountains.

Nocthian Caldera

On Noefra, there are two regions with significant Jazuu populations. The first is in the west on the Nocthian Caldera. Frost giants have been encountered as part of the Hungering Frost, so the Federated Nations believes that a significant populace of jazuu serves the master of that frigid host. Expeditions into the caldera in 211 and 212 AC discovered significant jazuu populations, as well as scattered true giants. The Night's Children also have no records of a Titanwall (see below) in that area, so how they're creating more (if they are) frost giants is unknown, but it is believed that Isskap created them in her icy kingdom.

Giant Spine Mountains

Main Article: Tuura Adam

The second (and more well-known) population is in the Giant Spine Mountains on the north-eastern border of the Sea of Grass. Here a nation that calls themselves the Tuura Adam (True People) inhabits the valleys and peaks of this harsh land. Friendly relationships have been maintained with this group, especially between this group and the rulers of Zhapai Karmap and Shinevog.

The Titan Transformation

When a jazuu attains high enough status (including having fathered/born multiple children), he or she may be eligible for gigantification. This is the process whereby a set of runic commands and powers is imposed on the individual, transforming them into a true giant. This ritual process has several requirements:

It can only happen at a Titanwall. These huge, semi-circular arcs of stone are covered in runic writing dating back to the Titans and the First Wish. Very few intact specimens remain--there is only a single complete Titanwall on Noefra (plus maybe 6-8 incomplete or damaged walls, some of them much too hazardous to use).

The ritual requires the willing participation of four individuals of the same station as the candidate (so jazuu for the first transformation, etc). These candidates are forever ineligible for the transformation ritual, although they can stand as ritualists for future candidates. Doing so increases the risk of a faulty transformation, however. This limit puts strong barriers to the number of true giants that can be created.

The ritual requires extreme endurance, both from the candidate and from the ritualists. This is especially true of the first transformation. Failure to complete the first block of "code" results in a malformed creature (an ogre, a troll, an ettin, or something else) or simply results in the death of the candidate. The code is presented below--text after # marks are comments.

**START PHYSICAL BLOCK**
GROW IN STRENGTH, SIZE # failure here results in an ogre or ettin. Big, strong, dumb. 
LIVE FOR LONG DURATION # failure here tends to be fatal
HUNGER BE SATISFIED # failure here results in a troll. Big, strong, long-lived, always hungry.
BECOME # success here results in an ettin
**END PHYSICAL BLOCK**

**START IMPERATIVES BLOCK**
VALUE WORK
BECOME # hill giants
CREATE BEAUTY
BECOME # Stone giants end here
DEFEND KIN
BECOME # Frost giants end here
**END IMPERATIVES BLOCK**

**START RULING BLOCK**
COMMAND UNLIVING ELEMENTS
BECOME # Fire giants
COMMAND KIN
BECOME # Cloud Giants
COMMAND EVERYTHING
BECOME # no one has succeeded in this stage since the Titans. Storm giants came close and are seriously powerful, but seriously rare
**END RULING BLOCK**

True giants gain extended life, increased size and strength, and freedom from the hunger/physical drives that would normally accompany such an increase in mass. While they do eat, they don't need much food (only slightly more than a regular jazuu) and mainly do so for taste and pleasure. The higher giants don't eat much at all; they are sustained by the runes and their imperatives. One side effect is that true giants are all sterile and generally (but not always) lack sexual urges. Those that retain such urges are considered strange by their peers. Giant-kin (the failed ones) are not sterile and breed true (hence the plague of ogres and the like). Those that fail are exiled or killed.