The following is an excerpt from the lengthy correspondence between Timoleon and an unnamed Scholae praetor.

You have long been familiar with the Promethean and Hephaestian giants of the City States, and you may have also heard legends of their northern kin, the Jötnar. It will come as no surprise to you to discover that they all belong to the same extended family. However, what might surprise you, despite the incontrovertible similarity between the two species, is the depth of their shared history and origins with mankind: Jötnar were not only once men but for centuries, even millennia, represented the future of mankind.

In fact, when Hazlia rose to prominence among the First Tribe, countless other tribes had been living beneath the regard of their Giant overlords, who the myths have now turned into Gods and demons. The battle for the soul of mankind that Hazlia waged against the darkness, fighting to redeem us from our fallen state, may not have been an apocryphal tale, but a literal contest for supremacy between the nascent theocracy and the tribal order of the Giants.

Written records of the conflict are non-existent, but a careful study of what legends have survived the Fall amongst the scripture of the Hundred Kingdoms, the poetic eddas of the Nords, and the ancient mythologies of the City States reveals a number of similarities that are echoed time and again: the defeat of Mammon and his consort Lillitu, the Titanomachy, Ymir and Audhumla.

There are common themes among all the stories, but a few stand out as relevant in a historical sense. The first is that the Giants or Titans or Demons represent an older, more primordial order of man. This has often been inferred as the evolution of man and the abandonment of his impulses for a system of conduct and ethics, but it could also represent something as simple as an ancient system of governance.

The second theme revolves around the battles being brutally fought with the god or gods only gaining the upper hands when the leadership of the Giants is defeated. This one seems simple on the surface: for once the king falls, his army falters after all.

Further reading, however, has prompted me to dig deeper into this matter; the fact that the Jötnar in Nord myth are each named in the Oath, and those names have been the same since time immemorial; that those Prometheans or Hephaestians who interact with the Scholae have all been recorded extensively, and no new names or mention of children has ever been recorded; that the leaders of the Giants are also universally viewed as their creators. All of these details and a hundred more lead me to the conclusion that giants are incapable of reproduction and were instead dependent on their leadership to increase their numbers. Given the physiological similarity between both species – size notwithstanding – and the penchant for human abduction and consumption commonly represented in all myths, I wonder if perhaps man himself was not somehow instrumental in the creation of new Giants.

Lastly, and perhaps most ominously, one must consider the ultimate fates of the Giant leadership in the myths: Mammon and Lillitu were cast into the pit, the Titans bound in Tartarus, and Ymir’s own body reforged into his prison – the Asuras were cast out… but none have ever been confirmed killed, just imprisoned… somewhere.