The original famangomadans were a pair of brothers, Albadan and Gandalue, two knights who fought over a mountain territory called the Rock of Azufre. Gandalue beheaded his wicked brother Albadan, who cursed Gandalue with his dying breath. Gandalue, made wretched by the curse, turned to a Serpent for help. The Serpent bid him drink the blood of his dead brother. In doing so, Gandalue was transformed into a giant. This story is told at feasts every midwinter, celebrating the longest night of the year.

Famangomadans live in ranches in the mountains with territorial family units. Each family is its own community with its own customs, and they guard their territories fiercely. They kill most who try to take their territories, but they enslave others. When they decide they need more room, they set out to conquer their neighbors. This has led to complex alliances, rivalries, and betrayals throughout their history. Every suriving family has at least ten slaves, mostly other famangomadans, though they do not hesitate to enslave non-giants.

Families are hierarchical and autocratic. The eldest male rules the entire family. His wives and children are his property. His brothers are (or should be) his closest allies and next in line for ruling the territory. Their wives and their children are their property. When a child becomes an adult, they are either sold off as wives or tested to see if they are fit to have their own families. (Children or adults who show signs of gender noncomfortmity are killed or used as sex slaves.) Adulthood is reached at the last growth spurt (somewhere between 16 and 20). If a final growth spurt does not happen, the famangomadan tries to hurry it along with blooddrinking in secret. If they are caught stealing blood or if they do not have their final growth spurt before they are 21, they are killed as unfit or relegated to permanent slavery, even if the growth spurt finally comes.

Those adult males who pass the test are given a section of the territory to tend and a slave to help them tend it. After a year, they may buy more slaves. After three years, they are allowed to buy a wife and begin having children.

When a family becomes too large for a territory or if there are betrayals or splits, the family goes to war.

Famangomadans celebrate four festivals: the longest night (midwinter), the night of terrors (Halloween), the darknest night (the first new moon after the summer equinox), and the night of blood (early summer). The Longest Night is a feast where they tell the story of their origins and wives are expected to bed their masters. The Night of Terrors is a night where the famangomadans hunt their slaves for sport. The Darkest Night is when they feast on the first harvest. And the Night of Blood is when they take the blood they have saved specially over the year and prepeared and bathe in it. Only the family patriarch is allowed personal feasts during his life, usually his birthday and any day he finds special. Families sometimes have their own celebrations, but these vary greatly.

Ranches usually featured dozens of lodges, dining halls, bleeding rooms, and slave pits. They are hellish encampments where the patriarch does as he pleases, and all others do as he says. The landscape is warped to his desires and the needs of his herds.