Species Toell
Order Giant
Classification Humanoid
Family Massive Giant
Sphere War
Origin Haurkan challenged giants to a battle and those who survived became toell
Lifespan 70-100 years
Habitat Islands or steppes
Food Large amounts of human fare, mostly seafood or meat.
Description Toells stand 23' tall.
Procreation Follows the mother with other giants. With other humanoids or pseudohumans, mixed nations people are possible if size permits.
Esoterica Toells are beings of the Damaskian power of d'qiarsea, the energy of conflict, and mijjit. They also commonly use other Damaskian energies, rubedian and pattern aether, currents and winds aether, infernum, arnum, mana, fate, kor, mashoaab, hegnh, and Foundation.
Body

The body of a toell is imbued with mijjit and d'qiarsea, making it ideal for combat. Supernatural size, strength, agility, and toughness are always present. They do not have the supernatural regenerative properties of other giants, but instead have innate fighting abilities. Their powerful constitutions are entirely given over to their immense capacity for alcohol. They have acute senses of sight and hearing, and they have supernaturally loud voices.

Toells practice sooma, a special series of exercises combining mijjit and d'qiarsea. This involves rock (200 lb per rock, 20 rocks per day) tossing and lifting exercises, running for 800 miles a week, combat practice, and eating merevaik, a special combination of horse meat, seafood, special grains and spices. This is capped off with sparring every weekend, during which their bodies change if they have done enough sooma. Commonly chosen features are more muscles, more agility, horns, tougher skin, better vision or hearing, sharper teeth, sharper and harder nails, bladed nails, spiny tails, or extra arms.

Very powerful toells have so much mijjit power, they can recover from decapitation, though they do not always like to.

Farming Toells are either fishermen or horse-herders. They innately understand what these animals need and are skilled at caring for or catching them. They are also skilled riders. Their skills with nourishing make their horses huge and powerful, and their skills with catching make them able to spot the best fish to catch for their families. Their horses are also known for their wide variety of shades of red.
Special Powers Toells are warriors. Their bodies are attuned to fighting. They have the aforementioned supernatural size, strength, agility, eyesight, hearing, alcohol resistance, vocal chords, toughness, and fighting skill. They also have one of three d'qiarsean arts that are culturally shared: moriny num (using horse-bows), kivide viskamine (rock tossing), and bokhiin (wrestling). These arts give them incredible skill in these methods of fighting. During times of scarcity, toells fight amongst themselves in ritual manner to generate energies to strengthen them.
Weaknesses

Calm resonance or iremia hegnh can harm them.

Island Culture

Toells live in two very different societies: their original island societies and the steppes where they were adopted by the steppes nations.

Island society is a simple one. They live in farming and fishing communities where they protect their territories fiercely. Their king is a common farmer who has equal rights in the community with all others, but special duties in protecting the island. He is usually the one with the greatest rock tossing skills. He has a massive spruce tree as his staff of office. Toells in island communities are kind and helpful, but they are quick to anger. They farm cabbages, make beer, and have massive public saunas.

On the island, young toells are raised communally. They start mock-fighting at a very young age and begin proper training before the age of six. They have four major milestones in training: the rock tossing contest at age ten (winners graduate to the next stage, losers must continue training and combine it with the next stage); the wrestling contest (similar to the rock tossing contest) at age 14; the sailing course (not a contest but a special training course) at age 16; and finally, the graduation tournament at age 18. Each of these is celebrated by a community-wide festival.

Toells have their final growth spurt around the age of 18. Those who don't are tested in trial by combat until they succeed, die, or lose a limb. Those who lose a limb are retired and cared for. Toells with disabilities are honored and cared for, but often treated patronizingly, in the islands.

Other festivals in island society include special anniversaries of victories in battle, repulsing invasions, and honoring the lost toell (those in the steppes). Their other major festival is the annual beer festival, celebrating at the tapping of the year's brew. The king's birthday is another common feast day. Toells' personal feast days include birth, personal victories, and marriage. Courtship is always a series of fighting contests, mostly ritualistic, ending in the toells who wish to marry being treated to a beer-feast.

Toell ships are massive, but they are designed to rove close to home. They are not long-voyage vessels. Toell farms are huge, focusing on sheep, goats, and hearty crops that survive the cold, rocky climate. Every farm has a training yard for warriors and a beer hall. Breweries are honored and proteced as almost sacred amongst the toell islanders.

Steppes Culture

In the early years of toell society, the island was conquered by a human nation from the southeast. Many toells joined this nation and became a part of it, but when the nation faced problems in their farflung provinces, the island was liberated. Many toells remained with the nation regardless. The toell won the admiration of these warrior folk and were taken into their nomadic tribes. In the years following, the toell came to be a major part of their societies and rose to greatness among them. They became honored warriors of the khanate.

The khanate is a nomadic culture. They were formed by five powerful tribes united under one banner and a leader called a khan. Their culture is centered on their massive horse herds and continual conquests. Horses are used not just for riding, but for meat, blood (which is drunk), and fermented mare's milk (called airag). Every tribe has a territory and lands that extend vast distances, which they expand with conquests and trade. They travel seasonally with their herds. Conquered nations are afforded extensive rights.

Every family within the khanate owns horses. Cattle and camels are kept as beasts of burden (mostly), and goast and sheep are used for food, milk, and clothing. The wool of sheep plays an important role in the tribes' lives, used as insulation, clothing, saddle blankets, and more.

Woolen caftans are the most common clothing. The style of a caftan reflects the rank of the wearer. Warriors wear two belts with their caftans, one slender and leather, the other a wide silk sash across the belly. Unmarried women dress the same, and married women would not have the sash, instead covering with a jacket. High ranking women have collars with brocade and sleeves. Silk, brocade, cotton, furs, leather, wool, and felt materials represent status in descending order, though variations occurr due to weather and necessity. They wear boots with pointed toes and multicolored leather.

The toell society is a patrirachal autocratic society. Sons inherit from the family herds and lands. Daughters are sold as wives to other tribes. A tribe that sells daughters is considered older and more powerful than one who buys them. The eldest sons inehrit the lands and herds furthest from the central lands of the family, the second son next to that, and so on til the youngest son, who inherits the central lands and tent and his share of the herds. Daughters are sold for herds and servants, but bring a dowry of clothing and household materials with them. If a family is too poor for a dowry or bride price, they can exchange daughters or have the groom work for the father-in-law. Husbands gain a portion of the daughters' families' herds. As families expand, they remain close and form protective alliances until an internal conflict separates them into new tribes.

Polygamy is common among men. The first wife has seniority, but all wives and concubines are honored. Wives have their own ger, a special wooden-framed tent sometimes called a yurt. The first wife's ger is on the eastside of her husband's ger, but the rest ofthe wives are on the west. All gers face south. After the consumation of each marriage, the wives gather to drink with the couple. Every bride gets a headdress.

Women toells are involved in the military, in herding, and in making felt. They also sew and cook for the wider community. They are often advisers for the male leaders and have seats on councils and in courts.

Toells celebrate many festivals, and each one is color-coordinated. Wearing the wrong color at the wrong time is forbidden. Every festival has a ritual slaughter of a horse, which is cooked and eaten, served by order of social rank. The seven major festivals each year are the khan's birthday (red), the anniversary of the first conquest of the tribe (violet), the shearing season ending (white), the founding of the khanate (green), the anniversary of the death of the great khan (black), the midwinter feast (blue), and the return feast (gold; when the tribe returns to their home territory). During the life of a toell, they have many feasts: celebrating birth, marriages (which bring them into adulthood, regardless of growth spurt), promotions in rank, military victories, and death. When a toell dies, their horse is buried with them.

The food of toells is very meat-based (red food) and milk-based (white food). Horse, goat, and sheep are most common. Toells save all the blood from an animal for making sausage or drinking. They also hunt, mostly deer and wild boars (their human counterparts in the steppes nations also hunt marmot, squirrel, and rabbit). Ice fishing is a common gathering practice in the winter. Meat is always saved to be slaughtered in winter.

The gers are large, round wooden-framed tents made of felt. They have an iron ring in the center of the roof that holds it together and can be left open for light or ventilation. Wooden or felt doors, dirt or felt rug floors, and beds or hides are used by different families. There is a fire pit in the middle of the ger. Toell gers are much larger than human gers. The gers are designed to be broken down easily and transported.

Disabled toells in the steppes are considered warriors in their own right and have the same responsibilities and roles within the tribes as their abled siblings, unless it is completely impossible for them to meet them.

Notables  
Sample statistics PRO 14
ATH 12
STR 30
AWA 9
WIL 8
ROG 8

Herding/Fishing 11
Special Powers [See Above]
Topic revision: r10 - 10 Feb 2020, SallyJaneBlack
This site is powered by FoswikiCopyright © by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding Foswiki? Send feedback