Goliath

Personality

Goliaths are known for their almost foolhardy daring. In their mountain homes, they leap from precipice to precipice, heedless of the fatal consequences of a misstep. They place great stock in clan and family; life in the mountains teaches even the youngest Goliath to rely completely on his fellows for a hand across a crevasse. Because most Goliaths are hunter-gatherers, they tend to be inquisitive, always curious about whether better hunting lies over the next ridge or a good water source can be found in the next canyon.

Physical Description

A typical Goliath is large, most stand between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 280 and 340 pounds. Unlike with most other races, there is no appreciable difference in height or weight between male and female Goliaths.

Goliaths have gray skin in the northern lands, and those of the iles in the south are normally a tan to light brown, both are mottled with dark and light patches that goliath shamans say hint at a particular Goliath's fate. They have whats called Lithoderms which are coin-sized bone-and-skin growths that are as hard as pebbles. Lithoderms typically speckle their arms, shoulders, and torso. Their skulls have a jutting eyebrow ridge, wide jaw, and occasional lithoderms as well. Female Goliaths have dark hair on their heads, grown to great length and are always kept braided. Male Goliaths generally have hair only on their limbs. Goliaths' eyes are a brilliant blue or green, and they often seem to glow a little from underneath their furrowed brows.

Because their skin mottling has cultural significance, Goliaths generally dress as lightly as possible, displaying their skin patterns for all to see. A Goliath's lithoderms are also common places to embed a gem or two, since they have few nerve endings and stand out on the Goliath's body already.

Relations

When encountered in the mountains, Goliaths are outwardly friendly to anyone who doesn't threaten the tribe and can keep up with them as they climb from peak to peak. Humans who brave the mountains, like rangers and druids, most often, can earn a tasty meal by helping a team of Goliath hunters.

Goliaths hold dwarves in particularly high regard, wishing their tribes had the dwarven aptitude for weapon crafting. Some of the bravest Goliaths climb down into the tunnels and natural caverns under a mountain, seeking a dwarf community to trade with.

The smaller-than-human races are regarded as curiosities, but many a nimble-climbing gnome or halfling has earned respect by beating a Goliath in a race up a cliff. Goliaths view the extended life span of an elf as vaguely frightening, finding it hard to imagine a person who could have known one's great-great grandfather.

A Goliath tribe's attitude toward any nearby giants varies widely. Some tribes eagerly trade with giants; the giants' weapons aren't up to dwarven standards, but they are made in larger sizes which goliaths greatly prefer. However, giants have a bad habit of trying to turn Goliaths into their slaves, using them for menial tasks they're too big or too lazy to do themselves. Conflict inevitably ensues, and soon either the giants are dead, the Goliaths have fled, or the Goliaths are chained up as slaves to a giant-lord.

Goliaths tend to hold goblinoids and orcs including half-orcs at arm's length, noting that the "downlanders" they trade with regard such races as troublemakers. But because goblinoids rarely stray into the high mountains, they are usually someone else's trouble, so Goliaths don't bear them any actual malice.

Alignment

Goliaths have a slight tendency toward chaotic alignments, which is reflected in their wanderlust and the small, mobile communities in which they live. Still, each Goliath tribe has one or more adjudicators that settle disputes within the clan, and such Goliaths are generally lawful. Goliaths have a slight preference for good over evil, since among the high mountain peaks, survival becomes much easier when one aids a fellow Goliath without insisting on recompense.

Goliath Lands

Because they don't support large-scale agriculture or extensive settlements, the mountain ranges where goliaths live are home to few other intelligent races. Most tribes of Goliaths wander from peak to peak, tending their goat flocks and foraging for alpine roots and tubers. Typically, a tribe sets up a temporary village in an alpine meadow and remains there for a month or two, then moves on when the season changes or better hunting can be found elsewhere. Larger tribes tend to follow a similar trail from year to year, retreating to lower elevations in midwinter and when they need to trade, then ascending to the highest peaks once the snow melts.

Religion

Kavaki the Ram-Lord is the primary deity of the Goliaths. As the Chief of All Chiefs, he watches over the Goliaths and their mountain homes. His clerics say that Kavaki created the Goliaths when he found a bush bearing gems in place of fruit growing atop the highest mountain peak in the world. When Kavaki plucked gems from the bush, those gems became the first tribe of Goliaths. Kavaki instructs his followers to seek out the hidden bounty of the mountains and keep the tribe safe from harm.

Language

For millennia, the Goliaths have had only a spoken tongue, Gol-Kaa, which has only thirteen phonetic elements: a, e, g, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, u, th, and v. Recently, the Goliaths have picked up the alphabet of the Dwarven language, though the concept of a written language hasn't spread to all the tribes yet. Those tribes that have learned the Dwarven alphabet are busily transcribing the Goliaths' vast oral tradition into carvings, cave paintings, and even books.