Shadow giant

From PathfinderWiki
Shadow giant
(Creature)
SFW compass rose 150.png

This article might have further canon details available on StarfinderWiki.

Shadow giants are a race of nomadic giants native to Mitheeriak, a vast swath of territory in the Shadow Plane, but that can also be found in small numbers on Golarion.123

Appearance

The typical shadow giant is dark-skinned, grey-haired, stands 15 feet tall, and weighs 2,400 pounds. Shadow giants often wear elaborate, golden breastplates, headdresses, and bracers.453

History

Shadow giants are descended from the shadow gigas who once walked the Shadow Plane. They puzzle over their ancestors' fate, and reply to any questions about gigas on the Shadow Plane with an eerie silence, even for the standards of their kind. They refuse to respond to the claim that shadow gigas were wiped out by the velstracs when they fled Hell and settled in the Shadow Plane.6

Society

Shadow giants build no permanent settlements, preferring to live in tight-knit nomadic families. In times of war, multiple families band into clans that fight others over wealth and territory; such great wars are spoken of often in Mitheeriak. Other times, shadow giant families convene to trade and seek mates.12 They bathe in the blood of enemies, including rival shadow giants and velstracs who seek to subjugate them.7

Shadow giants have a reputation of being fierce and pugnacious, so most other residents of the Shadow Plane fear them and planar travellers usually avoid them, but some have managed to earn their respect and fair treatment due to a combination of deference and prowess.1

Religion

Shadow giants practice a mysterious religion involving sacrifice and cannibalism. Their shamans, adorned in bones and feathers, preside over the rites atop dark basalt, short-stepped pyramids. Some shadow giants have relocated to Xovaikain to serve Zon-Kuthon, and are viewed by their kin as traitors, but they are too well-funded and organised for the bickering shadow giants of Mitheeriak to strike at.42

On Golarion

Several shadow giant families migrated to the Ombrefell in Nidal in -92 AR to serve the Umbral Court. They serve as elite operatives and are only deployed when their employers seek to leave behind no survivors.48 These shadow giants tend to be isolationist, only interacting with proven warriors who show them proper respect, and they have become assimilated into Nidalese culture to such a degree that their cousins who remained on the Shadow Plane would not recognise them.7

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Robert Brookes, et al. “Chapter 3: The Great Beyond” in Planar Adventures, 107. Paizo Inc., 2018
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Robert Brookes, et al. “Chapter 3: The Great Beyond” in Planar Adventures, 110. Paizo Inc., 2018
  3. 3.0 3.1 David Schwartz. “Giant Primer” in Battle of Bloodmarch Hill, 63. Paizo Inc., 2015
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Jim Groves, et al. Inner Sea Bestiary, 15. Paizo Inc., 2012
  5. Paizo Inc., et al. “Monsters A to Z” in Bestiary 6, 135. Paizo Inc., 2017
  6. Patrick Renie. “Ecology of the Gigas” in Shadow of the Storm Tyrant, 74–75. Paizo Inc., 2015
  7. 7.0 7.1 Lyz Liddell & Ron Lundeen. “Adventure Toolbox” in Tomorrow Must Burn, 79. Paizo Inc., 2019
  8. Liane Merciel, et al. “Living in Shadow” in Nidal, Land of Shadows, 11. Paizo Inc., 2018