Jaffgorn Giants

The Jaffgorn are giant humans of the high Amandal Plateau. Claiming descent from the ancient Titans, the Jaffgorn are distantly related to the Geddamin of the Ephysgæes. They hold many oral traditions about the the Age of Titans and use little if any titancraft technology.

The have existed in the high Amandal Plateau alongside the Amandal Dwarves since ancient times and their numbers persist into the modern age. They are remembered especially by the High Shadevan Tribes and the Thracians with whom they waged colorful battles in the epic past.

Appearance

Adult Jaffgorn are avg 9’ tall (adults range between 8’ and 10’ tall with medium to heavy builds). Their builds are medium stocky to athletic. They have dark, straight hair, and rarely brown hair with pale skin. Their eyes are dark brown, brown, dark grey, and rarely dark green. Their facial features are broadly similar to Asiatics of the western Steppes.

Jaffgorn men have long, braided hair and thick, long beards. Jaffgorn women have long, straight hair

Economy

Jaffgorn hunt, herd, and fish for their well-being. They do not farm, but have been known to collect wild herbs. They do eat grain when given as tribute from subject tribes. The kings and chieftains of the Jaffgorn own their wealth in the form of livestock, human slaves (in ancient times), and precious items like gold bars. They do not use coins as they regard them as too small to count.

Herd animals of the Jaffgorn include the patchudeek, [mountain goats] for their hair to create textiles, gontha, and gamudhs (woolly mammoths).

History

The Jaffgorn consisted anciently of nine tribes that formed a league of kings. Before the migration of the Gwenyan tribes to the Jaggudorns and the Vale of the Shadew, the great lord of the Jaffgorn was Oomash’aw’eetch, the priest who presided over the league.

The Jaffgorn held their own and occasionally exacted tribute from the High Shadevan Tribes until the latter learned how to gain magic from the Elamahti to win their freedom. The Gwenyan tribes also suffered privations from the Jaffgorn until the Thracians learned the art of skycraft which spread over the following centuries to all the intelligent humanlikes of the Jaggudorns. The Jaffgorn did not regain their ascendancy until the early Middle Ages of Chaos when humanlikes and giants most everywhere subjected humans and others to their power.

When the Thracians, under the leadership of the Kalikán arose in power, the Jaffgorn chose to make common cause with them rather than fight them directly. This was the beginning of the alliances between the giants and the Kalikán that later included the powerful Gorcorumbese Geddamin.

Nine Tribes of the Jaffgorn

Lumatal: known for their powerful shamans. They live in a very cold part of the plateau in deep caves where they make cave art. Nangudamik: live in the area around Nahugolin and Igidumaikok; they are known for their love of wealth and ostentation

Gods and Religion of the Jaffgorn

The Jaffgorn honor the gods of the earth, the elements and the numina, and venerate the ancestors. There is some overlap between the gods of the Jaffgorn, the gods of the High Shadevan Tribes, and the gods of the indigenous tribes (Orcs, Goblins, Yeti, Ogres, Mountain Giants, Trolls).

Jaffgoru

Jaffgoru (alternative Jaffgorun) eponymous forefather of the Jaffgorn, his name means “Son of the Mountain,” specifically Mount Jave, highest peak of the Jaggudorns. He is married to Iduma, Goddess of the High Earth. The priestly king of the Jaffgorn tribes is his representative and “incarnation.” His birthplace is a holy site on the slopes of Mount Jave.

Iduma

See also: Iduma

Goddess of the High Earth, she is also mother and wife to Jaffgoru. Her earthly representation is wife to the priestly King of the Jaffgorn Tribes and presides in the holy temple of the same goddess. The temple is perched aside a steep mountain. She has long, straight, white hair (most Jaffgorns have black or dark brown hair).

Aboru

the wandering one, son of Jaffgoru and Iduma, he does not have an earthly counterpart, but visits the mortal counterparts to aid them. The High Shadevan Tribes attribute his existence to the Elamahti. Aboru is a powerful giant in manifestation and sometimes fights on the side of one of the tribes against the other or on the side of the Jaffgorn against their enemies.

Nifsidji

priestesses of Iduma, they are the daughters of the temple and bear children in the re-enactment of the temple union with male Jaffgorn supplicants at the temple of Iduma. These priestesses are sorcereses also who wield great magical powers.

Maatch’i

The Patchudek mount of Aboru, he is a divine being and considered the father of all the Patchudek.

T’usala

The shamans of the Jaffgorn are the T'usala. They are are with rare exception men as women who seek mystical power of the gods choose to be nifsidji.

On some occasions, legends tell of encounters between the Jaffgorn or their gods and the gods of these other races.

Relations with other Humanlikes

The Jaffgorn have had hostile and peaceful relations with the other humanlikes of the Jaggudorns. Their legends recount their contentions with the dragons. They have warred with humans and dwarves who are the two most powerful political forces in the Jaggudorn Mountains.

Jaffgorn Language

The Jaffgorn speak their own language. Human scholars in modern times have proposed theories that relate the language of the Jaffgorns to the Issathazite humans, but there is no consensus among scholars. The language of the Amandals is used as a lingua franca in southern Jaggudorns before the ascension of the humans to the east and before the arrival of the Gwembic tribes. Noble Jaffgorn and their heralds speak Amandal dwarven as well as Jaffgorn.

Phonology

p’ b; t’, d; k’, g; q’, x; f, v; s’, z; ch, gh; h sh’, zh; tch’, dzh; w, y r, l m, n, ng

a, aa, o, oo, e, ee; i, ii; u, uu;

Strongholds and Sites

Jaffgorundjala

Holy site of the birth of Jaffgoru

Nahugolin

The site of the Temple of Iduma in the Amandal Plateau

Igidumaikok

The capital of the league of the Jaffgorns is near to the site of the Temple of Iduma. It is also on a mountain side, but not as high up.

Ondop’eeha

royal stronghold of an autonomous Jaffgorn tribe

Hegemony

Before the Gwenyan tribes, the Jaffgorn often were the overlords who exacted tribute from the other tribes. They received homage from the Amandal dwarves who did so more to keep the peace than out of necessity as the dwarves could simply retreat to the depths of the earth. The Jaffgorn also received tribute from the mountain orcs, the ogres, and the High Shadevan Tribes. The goblins were too wild and subterranean to give tribute regularly and the mountain giants were too great and rare to regard the Jaffgorn with any awe. The Trolls also gave tribute of stone and labor to the Jaffgorn, but their loyalty was tenuous at best.

Mounts and Beasts

Patchudeek

The Jaffgorn ride yaks of the high plateau that they call p’aatch’udeek’ (Patchudek). The p’aatch’udeek’ are related to the other great bovid creatures of the Jaggudorns and the Eloarian Plains.

p’aatch’udeek’ are very massively shouldered, thick-furred yaks that are 9’ to 10’ tall and 7’ to 8’ tall at the shoulders. Their fur is dark brown and they have short, curly horns and long furry tails. They are about ten to twelve feet long. They are strong enough to bear a single Jaffgorn and his heavy gear. They have a heavy mane similar to a lion.

The Jaffgorn can fight with great lances from the backs of the Patchudeek.

Mountain Goats (make name for them) that provide milk and hair for textiles.

Art and Architecture

Jaffgorn art employs geometric enrichment. The Jaffgorn reserve depictions of living creatures (and they consider mountains and lakes to be animate and thus living) for sacred sites and magic. Temples have stone and wooden sculpture, but houses only have geometric patterns. The use of images of living creatures could summon the same, so the Jaffgorn are careful with their application.

Jaffgorn Strongholds

The Jaffgorn use boulders and trees to construct walled cities in the high mountain ledges of the Jaggudorns. These strongholds have gates that are 30’ high and 10’ wide per door. The cambered arch is common in ancient Jaffgorn architecture. The cambered arch is simply

Jaffgorn strongholds have 40’ high walls made of stone or wood, depending upon what is available and the relative permanency of the stronghold. The gates are doubled, two doors, each 30’ high and 12 or 15’ wide.

Costume and Textiles

Jaffgorns wear furs, patchudek hides, and woollens made of goat hair. The woollens of goat hair are considered the most luxuriant and dyed with brilliant colors. Jaffgorn tapestries

Legends

Havekulaimat

legend of the creation of the world, the titans, and the creation of Jaffgoru

Legend of Iduma losing and regaining her hair

legend of how Iduma lost her hair and regained it

Half-Gorns

half-gorn: mildly disparaging term for half-Jaffgorn and half-human. They are average 7’ 3” tall (6 ½’ to 8’ tall).

See Also

• Amandal Plateau
• Holy Sites of the Jaggudorns
• Jaggudorn Mountains