Gargantuans are one of the sub-types of the Ogre seeming. Captured by giants, these changelings had to grow to a greater stature, perhaps being stretched on racks or forced to drink noxious potions. As humans, they appear less freakish, though many purchase the Giant Merit. Theirs is the blessing of Spurious Stature.
Overview[]
Faerie is a place of tremendous scale. Impossibly slender mountains reach out like daggers to slash at a wide sky. True Fae palaces hang like hornets’ nests in the branches of trees the size of skyscrapers. Causeways built by giants cross fathomless seas. Gargantuans are imbued with a portion of that massive scale, even though their stature is a temporary thing. Gargantuans come in a wide variety of fae miens. As their most distinctive kith characteristic is temporary in nature, they can sometimes be difficult to tell apart from other Ogres when Gargantuans aren’t using the Spurious Stature blessing. However, they do tend toward the large side, and most have permanently gained a few inches from their durance. This height difference is also notable to those who see the Mask, which may cause further troubles with those who would otherwise recognize the Gargantuans after their absence.
Durance[]
Gargantuans were made what they are because size was necessary. Some were stretched on Procrustean racks in order to better fit the tremendous homes of their overlarge Keepers. Others were fed strange potions to bring them up to a “proper stature” for their labors, then dosed with another potion to return them to a more conveniently stored-and-cared-for size. Some were given Atlas-like duties, compelled to bear tremendous weights on their backs, or to serve as massive litter-bearers for entire mobile palaces. Interestingly, some Gargantuans remember being perpetually of great height and strength in Arcadia; their return to the mortal world seems to have returned them to mortal stature, with their former size available to them only in bursts. Though it’s not something they discuss openly, some wonder what it would be like to walk the mortal world as a true giant once more.
Folklore[]
Giants are a ubiquitous presence in folklore. The English countryside alone is virtually littered with tales of monsters such as Jack-in-Irons, Blunderbore, Cormoran and Galligantus. These giants sometimes have multiple heads, though obviously changelings reworked in their mold do not. The African hero Makoma bested many giants that were capable of making mountains and riverbeds with their mighty hands. The Greeks spoke of the Gigantes and Titans, and the Norse told of earth, fire and frost giants that could challenge the very gods. Judeo-Christian lore tells not only of Goliath, but of giant men that walked the earth before the Flood. The massive Kumbhakarna from Indian myth slept 100 days for every day he was awake, such was the gods’ fear for his immense appetite. Some giants were even given the role of a town’s protectors, in the manner of Gog and Magog (said to defend London) or Druon and Antigonas of Antwerp. Interestingly, the spriggans of Cornish lore were said to be small and bent faeries that could grow to tremendous size — and that had a tendency to steal children, leaving their own offspring in the cradle.
Frailties[]
Loses strength when chained, frightened by trumpet music, cannot wear leather, may not injure mice, riddling compulsions, may not shave.
References[]
- CTL: Changeling: The Lost Rulebook, p. 118
- CTL: Winter Masques, p. 87-88
