Grolantor

Grolantor is a giant deity, and patron of Hill giants and ettins as well as some Frost giants and ogres.

Description
Grolantor normally appeared as a giant somewhere between tall, clad in furs and/or dragon hides. Depending on the breed he was visiting, he was known to resemble a hill giant, frost giant, or ettin.

Possessions
Grolantor was known to wield an oversized club named "Dwarfcrusher", and in some artistic depictions the greatclub he wielded was made of bone. Grolantor also usually wore several belts of woven dwarf beards.

Realm
Grolantor's realm in Jotunheim was called the Steading. His realm was little more than an enormous wooden house, and hill giant petitioners roam around its hills, preying on all they encounter.

After the Spellplague, the Steading became part of the Elemental Chaos.

Relationships
Grolantor is one of the third generation of giant gods, disdainfully called the "runts" by their elders - the other is Karontor. His mother is an unnamed sky goddess. He was banished to Fury's Heart by his father Annam All-Father for allying himself with treacherous Memnor, but now that Annam has retreated from the rest of the multiverse, the ban no longer applies. He now splits his time between Fury's Heart and the Abyss.

Grolantor is evil second and stupid first, disowned by his brothers for his foolishness and relative weakness. Some say he created the race of hill giants by collecting and interbreeding the runts of earlier giant broods, then further polluted this stock by mating with various serpents, medusa-like hags, and the goddess Cegilune.

The god has had to flee the wrath of his sister Hiatea on many occasions. He also has many enemies among the goblinoid and dwarven deities.

Worshipers
Grolantor is strong and willfully stupid. He teaches his followers to persecute "lesser races" - that is, those smaller than hill giants. His hill giant shamans stubbornly refuse to admit they are smaller than any other giant breeds.

Ettins worship Grolantor in a dual-aspected manner, and their dogma differs from that of the hill giants in many crucial respects, often preventing alliances between the two races.

The most important thing for a follower of Grolantor is to never admit weakness, and to crush the weak.

Dogma
They regularly organize hunting parties and skirmishing warbands, and take it upon themselves to root out what they perceive as weakness among their kind and elsewhere. They are not permitted to ever back down from a challenge.

Clothing
Grolantor's priests wear dark brown armor made from horn, and adorn their heads with skulls.

Rituals
Grolantor has no particular holy days, and is unusual among evil deities in that he demands no sacrifices. The closest thing to formal ritual among his worshipers is eating and drinking contests.

Behind the Scenes
Grolantor was created by James M. Ward for the Deities and Demigods Cyclopedia (1980).