Utgard and the Sky Giants

Thunderhold

There are many types of giants in the Realm. Some are common. Before the Orcish Wars, the plains and forests of the northern Reaches teemed with hill giants. While their numbers have dwindled, these ferocious creatures are still found in the backwaters of the region. Their larger cousins, the stone giants (mountains), fire giants (deserts), and frost giants (tundra) are also found in small communities far removed from civilization. Even the rarest giants, the enormous mountain giants are reported from time-to-time.

It is, however, the tales of the floating castles of the "sky" giants that have caught the imagination of poets and storytellers for generations. Legend holds of a sky giant city, Utgard, hovering atop the endless cloud cover of the lands north of the Frozen Sea, although no proof of this metropolis has ever been shown. Floating castles, however, are not objects of myth as several have been reported in the last hundred years in the Reaches.

The rulers of these sky castles are always storm giants - the most powerful of the true giants - who are never found outside their floating strongholds. Serving these giant lords are cloud giants - sometimes found in terrestrial strongholds perched in the highest peaks of the mountains but always dreaming of finding their way into the stormy skies.

One such floating castle, Thunderhold, floated west from the Shadowyarn Mountains into the Western Reaches leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The castle and its giant lord, Clouddrifter, were destroyed in late 828 TA.

The most recent sky giant castle passed over Dragonsford on November 16, 907 TA having detached from the dissipation of the Great Storm of 907 TA. Dragonsford Castle was spared the destructive effects of the Storm of Vengeance. Rindr's Storm Hall (so named after the matriarch of the castle) was last seen moving to the northeast over the Inner Sea.