Jotuns

The Jutons are the giants of Dúnamhar, and there is no mistaking one for anything else when it crosses a horizon—shapes that tower close to twenty feet, broad enough that a single Juton's shadow can swallow a farmhouse whole. Where other races were shaped with grace or subtlety in mind, the Jutons were clearly built for endurance and force. Their bodies are dense with muscle wrapped in thick, weathered hide, their hands large enough to crush stone into gravel, their bones—by every account of those who have studied Juton remains—closer in density to bedrock than to the bone of smaller folk. It is said a Juton can uproot a tree as easily as a human might pull a weed, and more than one border dispute in Dúnamhar's history has been settled the moment a Juton simply stood up.

This tremendous strength has earned them a reputation, not entirely undeserved, for brutishness. Juton temperaments tend toward the direct: they meet problems with force before finesse, and the race is not known for cultivating patience. Diplomacy, when it happens with Jutons at all, tends to happen carefully, and often at a distance.

Yet to call the Jutons simply brutish is to miss something the tome insists on recording accurately: intelligence among the Jutons varies as wildly as height does among humans. Some Juton subspecies are little more than instinct wrapped in enormous strength, prone to simple hungers and simpler solutions. Others are shrewd, methodical, and possess a cunning that unsettles those who assume size and subtlety cannot coexist—Juton war-chiefs and, in rarer cases, Juton scholars have humbled more than one army or academy that made the mistake of underestimating them. This range is wide enough that no single account of "the Jutons" can be trusted without first asking which Jutons are meant.

What unites them, whatever their subspecies, is scale; not merely of body, but of consequence. A Juton's temper, once roused, reshapes landscapes. A Juton's word, once given, is rarely broken, for pride runs as deep in their kind as strength does. And a Juton's grudge, should one be earned, tends to outlast the grudge-bearer's enemies by a considerable margin.

The Juton Subspecies

Though all Jutons share the same towering scale and prodigious strength, the tome must record them as several distinct peoples rather than one, for the differences between them run deeper than height or hide color. Where they dwell seems to shape not only their bodies but the sharpness of their minds—a pattern the watchers have puzzled over for an age, without settling on a satisfying answer.

Stonebrow Jutons (Coill-Spine Mountains) The most commonly encountered of the subspecies, Stonebrow Jutons have hide the color of granite and weathered slate, and skulls ridged with heavy brow-bone that gives them their name. They are among the more even-tempered Jutons, favoring territory and routine over conquest, and are known to claim a mountain pass or valley as their own for generations, defending it with a stubbornness that borders on geological. Their intelligence sits solidly in the middle of the Juton range—capable of simple tool use, rough trade, and enough guile to set an effective ambush, but rarely inclined toward anything more elaborate than that.

Ashgorge Jutons (Wyrm-Tooth Mountains) Leaner than their Stonebrow cousins, though no less tall, Ashgorge Jutons have hide the deep grey-black of cooled volcanic rock, veined faintly with dull orange where old heat still lingers close beneath the surface. They are the most volatile of the known subspecies—prone to sudden rages that can level a hillside—and sit at the lower end of the intelligence range, driven largely by hunger, territory, and instinct. It is the Ashgorge that most travelers picture when they hear the word "Juton," and it is the Ashgorge that has done the most to earn the race its reputation for brutishness.

Fenwrought Jutons (Brine-Root Fen) Smaller than other Jutons by a few feet, though still towering over any human, the Fenwrought have adapted to the swamp's black water and tangled roots with a wiry, almost hunched build and mottled green-brown hide that renders them unsettlingly difficult to spot until it is far too late. Whether by necessity of their treacherous home or some quirk of their bloodline, Fenwrought Jutons rank among the more cunning of the subspecies—patient ambush hunters who understand the Fen's currents and false paths better than any Slíogach scout, and who are known to set traps sophisticated enough that scholars debate whether "brutish" can fairly be applied to them at all.

Choróin Jutons (Choróin Mountains, the northern range) The rarest and, by most accounts, the most intelligent of the Juton subspecies, the Choróin are pale-hided, nearly white, suited to the northern cold, and are the only known Jutons to have developed anything resembling settled society—crude but genuine strongholds carved into the northern peaks, a spoken tongue distinct from the guttural signals other Jutons use, and, if certain traveler's accounts are to be believed, a tradition of war-chiefs whose tactical cunning has humbled more than one army from Glenmaura foolish enough to test the northern passes. It is the Choróin that the tome's authors suspect may, in time, be capable of far more than the other subspecies—for good or for ill, we do not yet know.

Society Despite the Divide

That the Jutons have never united under a single banner is, in the watchers' long estimation, the only reason the younger races have fared as well as they have against them. A Stonebrow feels little kinship with an Ashgorge, and a Choróin regards both as beneath its notice—territory, temperament, and intelligence divide the subspecies as surely as the mountain ranges divide their homelands. What society exists among Jutons tends to be local and immediate: a Stonebrow clan answers to whichever among them can win a contest of strength or will, a Fenwrought band moves as an extended hunting-family with no chief at all, and a Choróin stronghold answers to a war-chief whose authority is unquestioned only so long as their cunning continues to prove itself.

Should the Jutons ever set aside their divisions, dear reader, the tome suspects the shape of Dúnamhar would change considerably. We hope, for the sake of all who dwell here, that such a day remains far off.

BIG: Jutons subtract two when using equipment designed for smaller beings, and cannot wear humanoid armor or clothing. Equipment, armor, food and clothing cost double the listed price.
OUTSIDER (Major): Jutons folk are terrifying to most humanoid races. They subtract 2 from Persuasion rolls and may not have basic rights outside their own familial clans.
CLUMSY: Jutons subtract 2 from Athletics and Stealth rolls.
SIZE +3: Jutons are 10’ tall, towering over most humanoids. This adds +3 to their Toughness.
VERY STRONG: The Jutons’ size increases their starting Strength to d8 and their maximum Strength to d12+2.
VERY TOUGH: Jutons are tough, hardy beings. Their starting Vigor is d8, and the limit increases to d12+2.