Age of the Sorcerer-Kings, and it was Abalach-Re, if memory serves.
Where is this stated exactly, I never found anything specific on who did it, just speculation that it was a curse, or the SK's created them as super soldiers, never exactly who did it and when.
I personally always thought it was Sielba who created them. Once she had these new super soldiers she got it into her head she could easily take out the other SMs. Hamanu was the first to take notice of her ambitions and realize just how powerful they could be in an army. Hamanu wanted them, and he took her out in order to get access. To bad he couldn't get his hands on a copy of the spell that allowed thier creation. That only exsisted in Sielba's head... or did it?
I had/have a 5th level Earth Cleric HG named Corgano from Gulg. I always thought about the idea of a running an independant non-imitator half giant, with his own opinions and beliefs, who does not emulate others.
After all my HG is a relatively strong and wise, 16 Wisdom, 22 strength, full of hit points and can cast spells, wouldn't he be more of an inspiration than anyone around him, sure there are people more powerful but he is not the stupidest half giant.
It's just too bad once I tried to pass through an iron gate to Nibenay's subcity and got transported to the Abyss where I lost some stats permanently, until they were restored by Nibenay when we rescued him.
Where is this stated exactly, I never found anything specific on who did it, just speculation that it was a curse, or the SK's created them as super soldiers, never exactly who did it and when.
I honestly forget. I could just be thinking of some of the various speculations on such things mentioned before in this forum, but I could have sworn that it was something laid out in a book or two, something about that the Half Giants were originally created to be bodyguards & soldiers, trying to breed the strength and size of the Giants with some of the cunning of Humans, and an unfortunate side-effect was the personality quirks of the Half-Giants that made them more or less a failure and discarded. I want to say it was one of Abalach-Re's little expiraments, I don't think Sielba was attributed to it (but it could have been her, I know it wasn't Lalai-Puy, but it was a sorcerer-queen). But, as I said, this could just be me thinking of past dicussions/speculations...
If half-giants were created by the SK's (and let's assume once one developed them, others either stole the process, or stole bredding stock), what happened to the half-giants based on beast-head giants?
Did they ever exist?
Here's a thought:
If half-giants were created by the SK's (and let's assume once one developed them, others either stole the process, or stole bredding stock), what happened to the half-giants based on beast-head giants?
Did they ever exist?
I'd not be surprised if the process required a certain breed of giants, and not just "any old giant" -- plus as other have mentioned, Beastheads are a bit smarter. And Psionic.
what happened to the half-giants based on beast-head giants? Did they ever exist?
The beast head had shown itself to be a recessive character.
And one more thread is tainted with that biological stuff...Nope, just checked. Your window of opportunity for halfgiants to appear opens once dregoth is dead. At that point both sielba and kalid-ma were still alive. So it could have been any of the 4 (or 3, if you think kalid-ma was male).
The only city-state were they mention half-giant use in the Sorcerer king guard and army.
Nibenay;
The core of Nibenay's armies consist of a thousand half-giant armed with agarafi lances and clubs
Tyr
The Royal guard consists of two thousands mercenaries led by five hundred half-giants and Kalak loyal templar.
Urik
Hamanu can personally send more than ten thousand slave soldiers led by a thousand lance-carrying half-giants into battle.
It has never been stated who created them. Abalache-Re is a good bet, however. They did not appear until after dregoth was assassinated (according to city by the silt sea, were he to encounter them in the course of the adventure he would be greatly surprised). They were also mentioned to have been created by a sorcerer-queen. By that point (i dont have a timeline easily handy), AR and LP may have been the only active women. Pretty sure Sielba and Kalid-Ma were already dead at that point.
Nope, just checked. Your window of opportunity for halfgiants to appear opens once dregoth is dead. At that point both sielba and kalid-ma were still alive. So it could have been any of the 4 (or 3, if you think kalid-ma was male).
For Dark Sun materials, Kalid-Ma was male. It was actually a mistake by the Ravenloft team that made Kalid-Ma female. :P
world of the Dark Sun. Ages ago, the sorcerer-queen Kalid-Ma developed the creatures as a biological
weapon to use against her enemies. It seems likely that she journeyed to another plane
where they are common and contrived a way to capture the tiny creatures and transport them
back to Athas.
--Merchant House of Amketch (Part 4, The Beetle Trade, DM Booklet)
It continues to call her a her throughout that page, first reference to name Kalid-Ma when searched. pg 83 of 120 on my pdf. Other then this page, the only time she is named at all in the adventure is The Palace of Kalid-Ma, no gender references used there.
I always thought she was a she, never could remember where from but never played in Planescape, thanks for pointing out where to find it.
It continues to call her a her throughout that page, first reference to name Kalid-Ma when searched. pg 83 of 120 on my pdf. Other then this page, the only time she is named at all in the adventure is The Palace of Kalid-Ma, no gender references used there.
I'll have to double check when I get back home, but I could sware that very adventure contradicts itself by having it describe Kalik-Ma as both female and male - in seperate references throughout. Might be thinking of a different product, though.
world of the Dark Sun. Ages ago, the sorcerer-queen Kalid-Ma developed the creatures as a biological
weapon to use against her enemies. It seems likely that she journeyed to another plane
where they are common and contrived a way to capture the tiny creatures and transport them
back to Athas.
Fortunately, Kalid-Ma possessed the wisdom to never unleash the parasites. She preserved
them in magical cylinders of brass, and kept them deep in her secret armories. She also
enchanted the cylinders so that the parasites they imprisoned (and all their descendants) could
be recalled and re-sealed by the use of a powerful spell. Kalid-Ma intended to use the cylinders
to create a psionic plague that she could end whenever she wanted to-but she never got the
chance. The mysterious destruction of Kalidnay swept her and her people away, leaving the
cylinders behind.
Several years ago, a party of adventurers led by Tethrades was exploring the ruins of Kalidnay
when it discovered the armories and the cylinders. The defiler carefully identified the ancient
weapons and came up with the idea of using the cerebral parasites to control psionicists when
necessary. Shom guards the ruins now, removing cylinders as needed to keep up with the
demand for parasites. The ancient traps and guardians of Kalid-Ma are also a deterrent to
casual exploration of the ruined city.
Those there are the only references of Kalid-Ma in all of the adventure with the exception of:
The Palace of Kalid-Ma. While this structure is still intact, hundreds of years of looting has
removed anything of value. The winding corridors and empty chambers would make an excellent
place to camp and rest, though.
Those are all instances of Kalid-Ma in Amketch. I'm currently running searches on all the pdf's I have for Kalid-Ma up to the release of Amketch. Dragon Kings and the novels are the only ones up to there that I don't have pdf's for. About half my hard copies disappeared a few years ago and got replaced by pdfs. Have about half in each format now, can make some searches a bugger to do :-)
Psionic Artifacts of Athas is the first accessory that I have a pdf of that continually calls Kalid-Ma a he. In fact the Orbs of Kalid-Ma is where he's described as a he and is consistantly called a he throughout the passage deaing with the Orbs.
Athas.Org releases:
Terrors of the Deadlands: Kalid-Ma is named in the Morg entry, but it does not mention a gender there.
Those are all the mentions of Kalid-Ma I can find. If somebody can check the products I don't have in pdf that will limit and other inconsistancies to mispellings of Kalid-Ma as well. I did a quick check on Kalidnay to see if they continually spoke of a SK or a SQ but the wife is badgering me to come to bed so it wasn't very thorough.
I'll have to double check when I get back home, but I could sware that very adventure contradicts itself by having it describe Kalik-Ma as both female and male - in seperate references throughout. Might be thinking of a different product, though.
Maybe she/he's a hermaphrodite; that stuff always happens in mangas, why not DS. :D
Maybe she/he's a hermaphrodite; that stuff always happens in mangas, why not DS. :D
I'll just say four words: Belt of Gender Change.
Aah...good ol' crappy 2nd Edition items...
I'll have to double check when I get back home, but I could sware that very adventure contradicts itself by having it describe Kalik-Ma as both female and male - in seperate references throughout. Might be thinking of a different product, though.
Here's an idea... what if kalid-Ma was actualy a he/she and depending on ''it's'' humor of the day the city folks whould see ''it'' as a she or a he. This would explain why ''it's'' gender his contradictory through out the history of athas.
Just a thought and NO I'm no pervert
EDIT: OOPS JUST READ THIS:
Maybe she/he's a hermaphrodite; that stuff always happens in mangas, why not DS.
Oh! well...
So the question in my mind is - if they did exist, do they still exist? if so, how are they different from normal half-giants?
As they aren't mentioned (which doesn't rule out thier existance INMHO) perhaps they simply went and founded thier own culture somewhere away from the table lands? maybe they don't suffer the same lack of culture as the 'norma' half-giants?
Anyway, anyone up for helping me develop a beast-head half giant? :D
OK. I've been stewing over half-giants. The idea of beast-head variants has really... intrigued me. I totally agree that they would be harder to control, but i can also see why some egocentric SM would have a shot at making them as the ultimate psi-warrior army... only to have the rebel.
So the question in my mind is - if they did exist, do they still exist? if so, how are they different from normal half-giants?
As they aren't mentioned (which doesn't rule out thier existance INMHO) perhaps they simply went and founded thier own culture somewhere away from the table lands? maybe they don't suffer the same lack of culture as the 'norma' half-giants?
Anyway, anyone up for helping me develop a beast-head half giant? :D
You could put them in Eldaaritch and have them be the insane creation of Daskinor.
You could put them in Eldaaritch and have them be the insane creation of Daskinor.