• Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!

Stone Giant World

Across the world there are numerous examples of giant stone statues. Some buried thousands of miles down, others partly exposed or excavated — a hand or head poking out of the ground.

Cloud Giants used to rule the world. Mankind created magic to defeat them. The cloud giants were turned to stone, still alive but unable to move. Naturally over thousands of years, the unmoving bodies have been covered up and integrated into the landscape. You might see a face carved into a mountain, but it is really a giant who's full body is hidden behind the geography.

Stone Giants are mostly indestructible, except by tectonic movements. These guys are stuck in the ground, sometimes very deep, if the ground starts moving, they can break.

The mind of a Stone Giant continues to psychically reach out to the surface world. They can affect the plants and animals of a region, creating a “hive mind” that seems to organize the actions and growth of wildlife.

------------

There are a number of questions I have trouble answering about this world.

1. How common are these Giants? Would you go to Yellowstone and see one famous Giant, or would you see plateaus and mesa formed from piles of Giants? Wouldn't you see them in clusters, such as families and cities?

2. Are modern Humans aware of the Stone Giants as monsters, or just curious structures? Their ancestors defeated them, but do they remember?

3. Is there folk lore surrounding the Stone Giants? The Cloud Giants? Are they even aware that Stone Giants used to be Cloud Giants?
 

Queshire

Auror
Mmmm.... In my opinion a good number would be maybe up to a dozen for special landmark locations such as Yellowstone and maybe one er town otherwise? They should know about them through myth and folklore, but what if they think the giants spoken of in legend weren't actual giants but something like another tribe of humans who merely carved all the giant statues in their likeness? The legends would speak of the giants as giants, but modern folk would just dismiss those as tall tales.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
If they have a hive mind to control an area...
I think those areas would be either special/venerated/protected/avoided. Or special/reviled/destroyed/sought-out.
If the humans found away to take down the cloud giants I think they would still had the drive to seek out the stone giants even if they don't know why they have that need...
 
Here are some pictures to help illustrate the idea.

Swamp

Mountain

I'm still thinking deeply about this setting. I have some cultures and magic to populate it, but don't have any idea of a plot.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
1. How common are these Giants? Would you go to Yellowstone and see one famous Giant, or would you see plateaus and mesa formed from piles of Giants? Wouldn't you see them in clusters, such as families and cities?

Depends on their condition and the stories associated with the giants of a given location.

2. Are modern Humans aware of the Stone Giants as monsters, or just curious structures? Their ancestors defeated them, but do they remember?

The defeat of the stone giants is incorporated into the worlds foundational mythology.

3. Is there folk lore surrounding the Stone Giants? The Cloud Giants? Are they even aware that Stone Giants used to be Cloud Giants?

Lots of folk lore. Probably an involved myth cycle told by bards (bards HAVE to learn the myth cycle as part of their training), recited during festivals and holy days. Of course, many of the legends are wildly inaccurate, incorporating latter events and things that never happened.

I'm still thinking deeply about this setting. I have some cultures and magic to populate it, but don't have any idea of a plot.

Put simply, somebody does something, works some ritual, finds some relic or artifact...and at least some of the giants come back to life as a result. Given them a goal beyond mere rampage...maybe they became aware of a cosmic Lovecraftian style menace (Stone Giant versus Cthulhu, maybe?)
 
I think it is an interesting idea. Off the bat I think that people would most likely fear these areas of stone giants, maybe deem those places as being cursed and dangerous (which they really are with the hive mind stuff!).

ThinkerX pretty well sums up the conditions for your questions, but with regard to plot I think it's always interesting to screw the reader over. So, the natural inclinination of the reader would exactly be that the giants will come back to life and start threatening the world, our hero searches for some artifacts or triggers the very event.

If that is the reader's expectation, maybe you want to have something completely different as the main plot and real story behind the setting. Their myths tell one thing: the truth is another. What do I know? Maybe there never existed giants and they are simply carvings from another era, but actually they function as landmarks to some hidden city or treasure or something.

In any case, I think it's a cool idea and you have lots of oppertunities to work out an interesting mythos and folklore regarding this.
 
Top