Behemoth: Land of Titans; Guardian Giants (v0.2)

Every village has a giant that protects it. If that giant dies a new one will be born into that village. They're a weird cross between a Shinto-style deity and a protector spirit with a bit of Elemental, empowering a human being. They require significantly less food than their size would indicate.

Giants are always born of normal parents. They achieve a growth spurt when "chosen", which is slightly different depending on cultures. The power of the growth spurt can also vary depending on the needs of the village, but at the very least a giant isn't likely going to fit in any houses. During their growth spurt they have trouble with appetite, but as time goes on this wanes to being virtually nonexistent. The appetite will return if they are gone from a settlement for too long, or if too many giants are at a specific settlement that can't sustain them.

The primary goal of a Giant is to protect their settlement. Giants without a settlement (either due to downsizing of the settlements rendering them superfluous or due to their settlement dying off), can go about doing other stuff, but will eventually die, sooner if they don't find a settlement.

A village equips their giant(s) as an indirect form of social competition or warfare between settlements. Periodically, giants in a related area would meet up in order to know each other in case of larger threats. On a normal day, however, standard giant equipment is usually fashioned out of bone, wood, and stone, with some giants utilizing the other body parts of Behemoths they slay.

Giants are traditionally just large humanoids, but regional variations in size and shape exist based on the needs (and potentially worship) of their people. This can change over multiple generations of giants in the same location. On the subject of magical power, it varies depending on the community's needs and location, but giants are almost universally better at magic on an instinctual level than Humans are, whereas Humans have to train themselves to cast even the most simple of spells.

The qualifications for a giant to appear in a settlement are:
>At least 100 people
>Village must be able to sustain the giant
>Village must be able to equip/clothe the giant

Primary foe of Giants is Dragons, but other gigantic creatures exist. These creatures, known as Behemoths, vary wildly, but usually take after various local fauna. There's nothing concrete to prove it, but Behemoths seem to be drawn towards civilization somehow. Behemoths also appear more often when a particular species of fauna is sufficiently threatened, as some sort of "last resort" of their species.

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Pitched Locales:

The Frostland Vanguard

In the frozen northeast is a small kingdom of bitter frontiers men and stout hunters. Their game? The last known gathering of the ancient dragons of old in the Star Scraping Peaks. They train, and prepare, as the very first line of defense against the ancient enemy. Their pride and joy is their Giants, weilding their legendary Redwood Longbows. Wrought from the mightiest trees in world, these bows loose missiles that can split Galleons in half, or so legend claims.

Most Giants belonging to the Frostland Vanguard very angular faces, and sprout eagle like feathers along the tips of their ears and jawline.

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The Magocracy of Molackh Doul.

The people of Molackh Doul are a twice cursed people. They live within the southern Isles, and while lush and verdant, the isles are perhaps some of the most dangerous lands to live, due to the abnormal amount of Behemoths living there.

What's more, the people's sea faring lifestyle has caused precious few giants to be born. However, necessity breeds innovation. The people have discovered the secret taming the Behemoths. A secret which they jealously guard from all foreigners. The secrecy and severe lack of and general distrust of giants the people of Molackh Doul have has causes strain on neighboring lands that would like to trade with them. While official conflict has erupted, rumors of territory disputes and skirmishes with otherwise peaceful settlements are wide spread.

There is even talk of giants made of wood and pulleys within their war stores. but such claims are quickly dismissed.

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Mechanical Foci:
-Needs to have a focus on location-based defense
-Short-term adventures are needed
-Progression should feel as if it is guided primarily by the community's needs, but smaller details can be left exclusively up to the PC. A couple of suggestions were made to give this weight: Use a "hat drawing" method of ability gains (X number of options are drawn out of a pool of needs/wants of the community, and the player chooses 1), and a "Reincarnation" system that gradually changes the giant over many different generations, while still letting new players be made.

Other stuff that probably needs work:
-Specific definitions of broader giant types, like earthen giants and frost giants and fire giants.
-Details on magic capabilities for both giants and humans.
-Specific designs for monsters, maybe? Probably best left until later.