GIANT

Giants are roughly 18-19 feet at the shoulder. Shy and very rare, giants are scattered across the world. They feed on branches and leaves. Giants for the most part have a very mellow attitude towards their smaller brethren, and are sometimes used as beasts of burden and as transport.

Giants are not simply plus-sized ponies, but instead have a wide variety of adaptations that help them support their size. This not only applies to "true" giants such as the Giants and Ice Giants, but also to other massive land-dwelling equines such as the Eldjötnar alicorn subspecies, the Sea Gorgons, and even towards massive partially-terrestrial sea ponies such as the Sjórisar.

Comparative to their size, these equines are fairly stocky, with limbs that are somewhat thick compared to their body in order to help support their weight. This is even evident in the sea-dwelling Sjórisar, who, while living in an environment which helps support their bulk and being two-limbed like most sea ponies, make occasional overland sojourns.

Interestingly, these equines also tend to have reinforced bone structures, with the Eldjötnar even having some sort of organic metal surrounding the actual bones (this "living metal" trait is actually common among most of Muspelheim's fauna, usually manifesting as metallic armor).

Additionally, their hearts are massive, comparable to those of elephants or giraffes, and their cardiovascular systems have various failsafes, all designed to prevent potentially fatal mishaps which could be caused by simply being so large.

These giants are usually organized into ethnic groups, a few of which seem to be on the way to adapting into new subspecies:

Hill Giants- the most nomadic of the giants, Hill Giants prefer temperate climates, but will travel far from their preferred environment so long as food is plentiful.

Stone Giants- Stone giants prefer living in enormous caves in high-altitude, rocky peaks. They rarely live more than a few days' travel from other bands of stone giants. Older stone giants tend to wander away from the tribe for a significant period of time in their later years, either living in seclusion somewhere or attempting to merge into other civilizations. After decades of this self-imposed exile, those who return do so as stone giant elders.

Taiga Giants- actually crossbreeds of common giants and ice giants, Taiga giants wander endlessly to keep from depleting the food supply of any one area. Taiga giants are also deeply spiritual, worshiping their ancestors.

Wood Giants- Wood giants are slow to anger, peaceful, and artistic, and display an infinite patience. They are an isolated race, only rarely meeting to trade with other tribes or the occasional elven settlement. While primarily good-natured, wood giants are distrustful of outsiders and prone to great melancholies. Small clans claim enormous tracts of wooded land, but rarely build permanent homes. Members may spread out over their entire region by day only to gather and bed down, exposed to the elements, after sundown. In harsh weather, tribes cluster close together in the densest thickets with their backs turned outward.

Desert Giants- Smaller than many other giants, desert giants stand 15 feet tall on average, but have slender builds and rarely weigh more than 2,000 pounds, a fact that greatly contributes to their grace and speed. Desert giants rove the stark and majestic sands of Saddle Arabia and Camelu, rarely dwelling in permanent camps. They roam from oasis to oasis, sleeping beneath the stars or in easily dismantled yurts, breaking camp as whim strikes or when food sources grow scarce. The giants favor loose robes with keffiyehs for protection from the scouring desert winds, as well as traveling leathers worn beneath the robes. They require little water, and are able to survive for as long as 2 weeks on food alone. When such goods are available, they drink water, milk, and juices in prodigious amounts, but they spurn beer, wine, and stronger spirits. The bulk of their diet comes from figs, olives, and similar bounty of the oases.

Jungle Giants- Rarely-seen denizens of the Zebrican Jungle, found near the Okalo tribe, these reclusive giants distrust the ways of civilization. Jungle giant tribes are matriarchal, ruled by an elder female warrior. Males traditionally defend the village, gather food, and raise children. These giants are also fairly small, at only 17 feet in height.

Cliff Giants- Cliff giants are benevolent but reclusive creatures that dwell in deserts and badlands, carving out snug cliffside caves or building stone huts on top of mesas. Although kind, cliff giants prefer solitude and spend their lives in seclusion from other sapients to form a stronger bond with the natural world. This bond often leads them to see large expanses of land as their responsibility and all living things within as their charges. Many track cycles of the weather, animal migrations, and the lairs of dangerous monsters by painting elaborate pictograms on high cliff walls. Cliff giant family units stay together for about a decade, after which time children live with one parent or the other until fully grown and able to survive on their own (at about 20 years old). Marital bonds between cliff giants are strong despite their inclination for solitude, and when living apart they communicate with each other on a monthly basis using animal messengers. Cliff giants respect their elders, and some pairs living together are an adult giant with an old parent or grandparent.

Ocean Giants- Boat-building coast-dwellers, ocean giants decorate themselves with the treasures of the sea, wearing shell jewelry or scrimshaw, and clothing woven from underwater plants, or even salvaged sails. Each ocean giant carries a hoof-crafted musical horn made from a conch shell, an object of cultural significance representing its family history and travels on the vast sea.

Slag Giants- Among the foremost artisans and crafters of giantkind, slag giants usually evince a cold, detached attitude about everything other than their work. Small families of slag giants often ally with clans of other giants, providing masterwork armor and weapons in exchange for ore and the freedom to practice their crafting skills in peace. Slag giant settlements usually consist of several stone homes (built from or surrounded by forge slag) with built-in forges and large, smoking chimneys. Most are in hills or mountains, but they can be found anywhere there is a ready supply of iron ore. Although they prefer creation to combat, slag giants are brutal and efficient fighters, capable of destroying an enemy's weapons or armor in a few precise blows. They often let opponents retreat if it gives the giants the opportunity to collect any broken weapons and armor as salvage. If approached peacefully, they are willing to barter or sell their goods, though they usually don't have pony-sized items. Trespassers who carelessly or wantonly destroy a slag giant's work or foul its forge usually end up in the fire. Most settlements have several giant-sized breastplates the residents can don if they expect a serious fight.

Echidnaen Giants- Evidence points to giants existing on Echidna well before the eruption that sent most of its inhabitants adrift elsewhere. But when the eruption came, the giants were the ones who lived closest to the disaster and in the aftermath it seemed that the giants had all but disappeared, wiped completely from existence by the fury of the Sundered Peak. It was assumed that the giants had gone extinct, and when the cyclops ponies were exiled abroad they could find no trace of their lost companions. But as cyclops pony scouts began exploring the northern regions of Echidna following their return, they discovered something remarkable: entire herds of giants, alive and well, scattered across the mountainsides of Echidna once again. No one, not even the princess herself, quite knows how they might have survived all this time, or whether they might have escaped and returned later as the cyclops ponies had. Still, the return of the giants was seen as a welcome sign by the cyclops ponies, for if the giants could survive in the harsh alien landscape their home had turned into, then perhaps the cyclops ponies could too.

ICE GIANT

Now recognized as a distinct subspecies, Ice Giants are massive ponies that can command the ice and snow at will and live in roaming herds in the north. They also cover their bodies in thick, jagged coats of ice armor to protect them from their natural enemies-the even more massive and terrifying waheela. They feed mostly on moss and lichen as well, but their favorite treats is a rare and, apparently delicious flower that grows in the most remote parts of the tundra. So rare and valuable is the plant, they often use it as a gift to the one they wish to marry.

EXTINCT AND CRYPTIC GIANTS

While there are only two giant subspecies today, at one point there were four others: the Fir Bolg, Jovians, Si-Te-Cah, and the Lastrygonians. Of these, the Fir Bolg and Jovians are confirmed to be extinct, the Si-Te-Cah are a cryptic race with unconfirmed sightings in the modern day, and the Lastrygonians have been reduced to 10 stallions, believed to be magically altered.