Griddrir

Category	Cities
Continent	Brucrumus
Region	Cinazan
Owner	independent city-state
Population	40,000+
Races	?? 50% Goblin (Azure) 20% Harpy 10% Cloud Giant 5% storm giant 5% other 10%
Deity	Talos
Founded	15 War March 2432 LE
Map	Fylfhild

Built during the Lith-Crillion Era by storm and cloud giants, the city of Griddrir is situated atop the Gurnskolf Earth Mote. In the Horgon Era, it served as the seat of power for the Titan Empire of Aslauthroa ( 9 HE - 1891 HE ) .

From the Moonstone Throne, in a grand throne room where two hundred giants could convene with ease, the empire's leaders governed from the heavens. At the height of their reign, they surveyed a populace of 10,000,000 subjects across Gurnskolf's expansive 5,000 square miles, gazing down upon a land four miles below spanning an area a hundred times their elevated island domain. Their authority also encompassed the subterranean realms, where peoples dwelled permanently in a world unto itself far beneath the surface.

Griddrir, the renowned cloud giant historian, penned the esteemed work "Moonstone Throne," a masterful chronicle of the era.

After the fall of Aslauthroa in 1891 HE, Griddrir became an independent city-state. Though its power was waning, Griddrir persisted in demanding tribute and fealty from the peoples of Cinazan. In 1487, Griddrir's Storm Duke, angered by Okrungknot's refusal to pay tribute, hired mercenaries to punish the place. For several subsequent years, Okrungknot dutifully paid tribute. This arrangement ceased once Okrungknot realized Griddrir lacked the capability to compel its continued compliance.

Today, the city still maintains a sizable population of storm and cloud giants with ancestral lineages tracing back to the inaugural storm giant and cloud giant families - a group referred to as the Heinjar Sorgny. The city's leader holds the distinguished title of Storm Duke, a designation that evokes the bygone era of Aslauthroa when the kingdom was governed by a storm king and queen, with storm dukes overseeing the nation's five principalities.

Griddrir is constructed upon Bal-Kriav's expansive earth mote, a colossal floating landmass known as Gurnskolf. Consequently, the sole means of reaching it are via skyship, magical transportation, or traversing the perilous Kernsking Koils. The latter pathway can prove exceptionally treacherous without safeguards against the indigenous wildlife or roaming bands of giants.

The longstanding animosity between Griddrir and the Khazarkar Empire dates back to the early part of the Second Epoch, when the slave skiffs of Gurnskolf raided the land below, capturing captives and looting whatever they desired. At the time, the Khazarkars were expanding westward across Cinazan, leaving them vulnerable to these raids. The growing might of the empire eventually brought an end to the Griddrirs' raiding and slave-taking activities - the Khazarkars issued an ultimatum, demanding they "face genocidal destruction or change their ways." The giants complied, but their desire for more servants continued. They resorted to interbreeding their slaves, allowing them to cohabitate and granting them greater freedom, effectively making them the lowest class of citizens on meager "near-slave" wages. This enabled Griddrir to sustain and increase their population, actively encouraging these unions with monetary incentives. This interbreeding of Khazarkars was a grave affront to the Khazarkars, a violation of the Khazarkar Purity Edict, which they have never forgiven. When the Khazarkars acquired their own skyships, they compelled the Griddrirs to cease the practice and free all the Khazarkars, a demand they were forced to comply with under the threat of vastly superior skyship numbers.

The interbreeding of the Griddrir slave population resulted in the creation of the Mongrelfolk. The giants classified them as a new race, so they were not considered part of the Anti-Slave Treaty. After nearly two centuries of using them as their new slave pool, the storm titan Queen Kjadval was confronted once more with the wrath of the lowlanders. Unwilling to see Griddrir reduced to ruin by four Pyramids of Set and her escorts, she set the mongrelfolk free. They were removed from Gindinâth, transported to Ânul, and left to fend for themselves.