Giant Kingdoms

Formally the Rephaim — see Rephaim document for the people themselves: physicality, culture, diet, the Bone Sigil, and religion. This page covers the political layer: territory, government, the Four Kingdoms, and the war-era engineering legacy. Non-playable — monstrous humanoids rather than a player race

Territory: Morocco, Gibraltar, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Belgium, and Hungary.

Government: No single Giant nation. Four kingdoms, each built around a founding tribe and bloodline rather than a fixed border — kingdoms are traditionally named for their founder, in keeping with real-world naming customs for tribal-founded nations. They are loosely allied at best — a shared feast-day, a common enemy, an old marriage pact between royal lines. Absent a reason to stand together, Giant kingdoms are just as likely to go to war with each other as with anyone outside their people. Outsiders who treat "the Giants" as a single actor are making a mistake that has gotten diplomats killed.

The Four Kingdoms: - Chorakim — the Levant heartland (Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria). - Ashtakim — the Atlas/Strait territory (Morocco, Gibraltar), bordering the Monster Kingdom. - Zephakim — the Ardennes (Belgium). - Zumakim — Hungary. Settled Giant territory, taken very early in the Long War around the same time as the sea-draining and the Catfolk Diaspora — see Geography document. No longer contested; the Imperium's old claim to it is a schoolbook grievance, not a live dispute.

The Treaty of Tallas: Chorakim and Ashtakim signed. Zephakim and Zumakim did not, and are bound to its terms in practice by the weight of the signatories rather than by their own agreement. See World History document.

Ashtakim and Ares: Late in the war, Ares, the Tekna of War, was invoked against the Rephaim and drove Ashtakim back to the Pillars of Heracles. The Treaty of Tallas gave some of that land back, so Ashtakim holds more of the Morocco analog now than it did when the fighting stopped. Its Rephaim hold a grudge against Ares, and a small degree of respect. See Religion document.

The people themselves — physicality, skin and tribe, culture, diet, the Bone Sigil, origins, and Shemazar — now live in the Rephaim document. What follows here is the political and territorial layer specifically.

Engineering legacy: The Giants dried the sea between the dinosaur continent and Azlotl very early in the Long War, with the Caldrian Imperium's help — the mechanism was redirecting Azlotl's own rivers to empty into the open ocean on the landmass's far side instead of into the enclosed sea. This wasn't infrastructure maintenance, it was an act of war: draining the sea took the Catfolk out of the Long War entirely, scattering them into the Catfolk Diaspora rather than defeating them militarily — a staggering scale of coordinated power for a people most human nations still underestimate as "big and simple." Unlike most Giant business, this isn't held as a tight secret anymore — it's known, or safely assumed, well beyond whatever small circle used to guard it, though exactly how open varies by nation. See Geography and Catfolk documents. The Dwarves were never involved in this.

Goblins: With the Catfolk gone, goblins spread to fill the vacuum across Azlotl — a development the Giants more or less expected, if they didn't outright intend it. See Goblins document.

Borders: Share Gibraltar with the Monster Kingdom — the single most tense border location on the map, two non-human powers in direct contact.