True giant

True giants are jazuu individuals who have undergone the Titan Transformation ritual or have been transformed by some other runic power (see Other Methods below). They are sterile, which sets them apart from the giant-kin, but live very long lives (150+ years, with higher giant types reaching 500+ years). Generally, their psychologies get altered by the ritual as well as their bodies, leading to substantial similarity between giants of the same type, but there are exceptions.

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 oni
**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.

Other Methods

Some giants have been observed who could not have undergone this ritual. One known method is for a powerful giant (ie ex-titan) such as Isskap or Korokonolkom to invest power directly in them, effectively acting as a Titanwall. This is particularly common in the Plane of Ice, where many more frost giants are found than should normally exist.

Hierarchy of Giants

True giants all fit into a hierarchy based on how far they got in the Titan Transformation. They can be promoted by undergoing the ritual again, but this is rarely done due to the high risk of death, as well as the effect of the ritual making giants satisfied with where they ended up, even if that wasn't what they wanted ex ante.

Hill Giants

Hill giants are the smallest, weakest, and least-enhanced of the giants. Their only Imperative is to "Value Work". Strong and durable, they perform much of the brute labor in their areas, often working alongside other, higher giants. Notoriously averse to anything like study, they have an (not entirely undeserved) reputation for being dumb. This is especially true for those who left their home clans. As the most connected to their mortal roots, hill giants often enjoy eating (vast quantities) of food and drinking rivers of beer and other alcohol, even though they do not need it. This often leads to a...rotund...silhouette.

Stone Giants

The antithesis of the hill giant, the stone giant has received one additional Imperative: "Create Beauty". They are the artisans, creatives, scholars, and artists of the true giants--fire giants may be better smiths, but stone giants do most of the design work. Physically they are tall and slender as they pour their heart and soul into their work. Stereotypically, they exhibit traits of hyper-focus on a specific area of work, introversion, and lack of social skills. They prefer

Frost Giants

Frost giants have received the additional Imperative "Defend Kin". This transforms them into the combative, scrap-loving warriors of the true giants. They normally train with martial weapons and respond best to strength. Stereotypically, they are quick to anger and sometimes paranoid, and frequently seek power if they feel that their leaders aren't strong enough. While they will generally be loyal to a strong ruler, they will seek to overthrow a weak one. Stereotypically, if a frost giant is in command, their goals will turn towards conquest. This is less out of a desire to rule than out of a need to be "safe"--the presence of people not under their control is seen as a threat somewhere deep in their core.

Fire Giants

Fire giants have received the additional Ruling Command "Command Unliving Elements". Fire giants are elemental masters and smiths, working all kinds of metals into weapons and tools. They are also mages. They rarely seek for command, but are capable of it. They have the same "Defend Kin" Imperative as the frost giants, but tempered. They too, do better under the command of a higher giant.

Cloud Giants

Cloud giants, the highest kind of giant normally attainable, have received the Ruling Command "Command Kin". Other giants naturally bend the knee to them--a grasping, ambitious Frost Giant general will naturally defer to and be loyal to a cloud giant, even one with much less experience. This makes them frequently arrogant and "above it all". Very few cloud giants exist, at least in Noefra.

Storm Giants

Storm giants are failed titans--they achieved some but not all of the Command "Command Everything". They are vanishingly rare--no storm giants are known to exist in Noefra as of 252 AC.