Goliath

Goliaths are descendents of the dying race of giants. They are huge, study creatures who dwell in the mountains in tribes. Their bodies look carved from stones and are an imposing form. They often wander. Some work as mercenaries while others choose more violent paths acting as pilagers and bandits. Most view them as fools and idiots who are there for brainless muscles, others view them as violent creatures and live in fear. 

History: 

The origin of the goliath is one of the most mysterious and called “the most interesting” part of their history. Some claim that they are the scions of giants and humans or dwarves, others say the descend from the earth genasi. Yet most agree that they must have something to do with giants which are now dwindling in numbers. 

It was said that the first goliath’s served the mountain giants as they fought against the dragons, mountain dwarves and against the goblin kingdoms. Yet as the giants began to die out the goliath’s began to form their own society and grow.

Goliath’s formed tribes which did as they pleased. Notable events include the sacking of Lardin when goliath’s attacked and sacked an Imperial city in the year 1318AE which caused the Empire to attempt to strike back and began a brutal campaign to exterminate goliaths. It would take fifteen years before peace would be made by a Golaith named Zaman Athunai who brokered a treaty with the Empire.

Another incident was the breaking of the Itzil’drim when a goliath tribe was hired by dwarves to assist and destroy a goblin incursion. Once done however, the dwarves invited the goliath’s for a toast, only for a goliath to accidentally insult the dwarves when he broke one of the dwarves' mugs, a goliath tradition. The result was a torrent of insults and fists followed by bloodshed. The dwarves killed the visiting goliath’s after a brutal battle but found their hold destroyed and every last dwarf murdered by remainder of the tribe in a brutal battle. This resulted in a sense of untrusting placed into many dwarven holds following the incident.

During many wars such as the dragon wars, the many Elven wars and the war of the jewels, goliath tribes were often employed by both sides as mercenaries. In rare occasions they were compelled to fight without price and reward alongside forces of either of the three alliance in 

situations of great crisis such as great alliance war and the crisis of the far realms. In those such wars they did fight with insane bravery, with legend telling of heroes such as Rodrak Ironcleave who during the final battle of second great alliance war led his band of goliath known as the bloodborne of ten who helped secure the Imperial’s beachead by cutting a devastating path through swarms of undead and cutting down their vampiric masters, thus ensuring more Imperial troops could land.

Biology

Goliath’s are hardy and strong beings. They stand tallest among the mortal races of Allurian higher than orcs and dragonborn. They also boast formidable strength and resilience that many believe they inherit from the giant blood. However, they lack somewhat in intelligence compared to the other races/ 

Culture and Religion

Goliath’s are some of the most non religious people in Allurian for they rarely worship any deity. This varies from tribe to tribe but goliath’s often do not care about the affairs of the gods. 

Goliaths' most notable characteristic was their competitiveness. They kept track of their accomplishments and saw everything as a challenge. Those not familiar with goliath psychology would often get annoyed when goliaths constantly reminded them how many times a certain thing had happened, thinking them arrogant or self-centred. This was not the case however. To goliaths, score-keeping was a natural and integral part of life, not meant to belittle or demean anyone

Goliaths had little time for cheaters, gloaters, and sore losers. Goliaths never held grudges if they lost a fair fight, and would often repeat the goliath maxim that "Today's rival is tomorrow's teammate."

Trust and honour were the key aspects of most goliaths.This tradition of honour and trust meant that goliaths tended to be good overall. This combined with their competitive nature often led goliaths to valorous heroics. Goliaths were also notably daring and fearless. Feats of physical strength and agility, like jumping chasms or climbing cliffs, held no fear for goliaths. Goliaths were naturally curious beings and loved to explore

Goliath’s are fiercely loyal to their tribes and do as the tribes pleased. Goliath tribes were nomadic in nature, often trading with settlements they passed by or acting as mercenaries for hire. Many Goliath tribes have helped protect villages from monsters or bandits, however other tribes have been known to pillage, murder and rape. Thus there has been countless times when war has broken out between opposing tribes. 

Tribes were led by Chieftains' who were chosen by a contest of strength. Chieftains often chose the other members in the tribes’ key roles.  Goliath tribes found food through farming and hunting equally but varied from tribe to tribe. 

There were no gender roles in goliath society. Goliath’s are considered to be mature at the age of twenty. 

When a goliath was too old, goliaths would be exiled from the tribe.

Goliath’s live in the mountain ranges of the world and as such have come into conflict against the mountain dwarves who live there. The goliaths are known to generally avoid such areas but nevertheless bloodshed has occurred over such differences. 

Military

Goliath’s often avoided large-scale warfare for tribes lacked the numbers to fight in large wars and battles.  Goliath’s prefered small scale skirmish warfare instead an open field because of this.. Individually goliaths were terrifying warriors with unmatched strength and resilience, goliaths were known to be fighting still despite being riddled with arrows and pierced with blows. They favoured a variety of melee weapons along with javelins.

Opinions towards the races:

Human: “Humans are everywhere and interact with almost all tribes,  they hire us, they trade but even then you can sense their caution towards us. It is a balancing act, they can be pushed around but not too far.” 

Dwarf:  “Pride and stubborn folks, they have a million rules no goliath can remember.  Our mountain or not they do not care for even the slightest slight will rouse these folk. For being less than half our size, they make for formidable opponents.”

Elf:  “Pretty pointy eared folks, it’s rare if you see them, more often you see their half-breed kind. They are often willing to trade and hire but do not hurt their kind or trespass without cause ; however, their wrath is matched only by the dwarves.”

Halfling : “A delight to have, they do not care so much like humans. They interact happily with us without a single care!”

Gnome “Some are wary of us others make for excellent partnerships. They like to keep us away however and see us as a nuisance.”

Dragonborn: “Their clans seem to think of us as tools. They are almost as proud as dwarves but are willing to trade and take our presence. Their pride can be easily taken care of.”