The Age of Giants began about eighty thousand years ago, when a civilization of giants emerged on the continent of Xen’drik, enslaving the native elves there. Giant society quickly flourished, creating arcane wonders unmatched by the greatest archmages of today. The quori invaded Xen’drik some forty thousand years ago, however; only a dragon-aided cataclysm destroyed the connection to Dal Quor—and great swaths of Xen’drik as well. When the giants turned to such cataclysmic magic again to crush an elf rebellion, the dragons turned on the giants and brought their society to ruin.
Today the giants have devolved from their civilized state and live in feudal or barbaric groups amid the wreckage of their once powerful society. Much of Xen’drik is uncharted to this day, and rumors abound of lost cities brimming with the magic of the ancient giants.
Giants favored extensive ornamentation on almost every item that they crafted—everything from eating utensils to greatswords to temple edifices. Artists employed a stylized realism, but the “message” of most giant art is overwhelmingly symbolic. For example, a bowl with a cacao-leaf pattern around its edge might carry a symbolic meaning of “prosperity,” “mountain-born,” or “belonging to the Haikautal family”—or maybe it has all three meanings. Likewise, the number of leaves around the rim has a symbolic meaning that would be readily apparent to any giant that saw it.
Unfortunately, neither present-day sages nor the barbaric giants of Xen’drik fully understand the symbolic language of giant art and decoration. The study of giant artistry can be rewarding, however, for the explorer. If you know that a cloud-shrouded moon is often a symbolic analog for “poison,” you might cast neutralize poison before entering a chamber with such a moon on the door.
The ancient giants of Xen’drik prized gemwork greatly and used gems as currency as often as they used precious metals. Almost every valuable antiquity from the ancient giants has a gem on it somewhere. When randomly rolling for a treasure in a site built by the ancient giants, convert coin treasure to gems of equal value. Present-day giants use coins, especially when they’re trading at Stormreach or other humanoid settlements.
The ancient giants had a caste-based society with both Large and Huge members, so they took pains to ensure that the items they made would resize to fit the user. Magic items made by the ancient giants will also resize up to fit Gargantuan creatures or down to fit Medium or Small creatures. Even though the ancient giants had little reason to make items that large or small, it remains as a side effect of the arcane techniques they used.
Treasure Preferences: The ancient giants can claim credit for discovering arcane magic, so they’re more likely to have magic items in what treasure troves remain. Magic weapons and armor almost always date from the final days of the giant civilization. The ancient giants enjoyed four hundred centuries of relative peace before the quori invaded. When the giants girded for war, they favored adamantine armor with the fortification special ability, as well as the mindarmor and vanishing abilities (found in the Expanded Psionics Handbook). Weapons were likewise made of adamantine and often have the evil outsider bane, keen, and ghost touch special abilities, as well as the mindcrusher ability (also found in the Expanded Psionics Handbook).
The arcanists among the ancient giants used charged items such as staffs and wands extensively. Almost all are made from eldritch whorlwood.
Many of the ancient giant castes favored elaborate dress rich with the same symbolic meaning that infuses their art. Robes, vestments, and other clothing-based wondrous items are common in the treasure troves of ruined giant cities.
Finally, the ruins of the ancient giants sometimes have magic components that warforged characters can easily incorporate into their bodies. The presence of warforged components among the ruins of the giants mystifies historians, since there’s no evidence of warforged themselves. Some suspect that House Cannith used schemas from Xen’drik to design the forges that birthed the warforged. If true, the present-day warforged are compatible with the giants’ components because of that heritage.
In addition to the suggested treasures above, the following items make good additions to the treasure troves of the ancient giants.
| Item | Market Price |
|---|---|
| Onyx statuette of eagle clutching branch | 40 gp |
| Scorpion-shaped bronze amulet | 80 gp |
| Vestments embroidered with animal shapes | 110 gp |
| Golden belt buckle studded with aquamarines | 140 gp |
| Carpet runner with gold-thread tassels | 200 gp |
| Brass cup with inset opals (size of a bucket) | 400 gp |
| Huge masterwork greatsword | 500 gp |
| Golden armband engraved with stag image | 600 gp |
| Eldritch whorlwood wand (1st-level spell) | 788 gp |
| Large masterwork two-bladed sword | 800 gp |
| Solid gold idol of two intertwined dragons | 1,000 gp |
| Electrum chalice set with rubies | 1,200 gp |
| Mask-shaped pendant with emerald eyes | 1,500 gp |
| Diamond studded torc (wide as a belt) | 2,000 gp |
| Platinum ring engraved with leaf pattern | 2,500 gp |
| Vanguard treads | 3,000 gp |
| Robe embroidered with platinum-thread angel | 3,500 gp |
| Disc of absorptive negation | 4,000 gp |
| +1 twilight light steel shield | 4,159 gp |
| +1 twilight leather armor | 4,160 gp |
| Disc of absorptive negation (+4 dispel check) | 4,500 gp |
| Eldritch whorlwood wand (2nd-level spell) | 4,725 gp |
| 15-foot-by-10-foot tapesty depicting bound demons | 5,000 gp |
| +1 twilight mithral heavy steel shield | 5,009 gp |
| +1 twilight mithral chain shirt | 5,100 gp |
| +1 twilight mithral breastplate | 8,200 gp |
| Drake-helm (one socket) with 2nd-level shard | 10,000 gp |
| +2 twilight mithral chain shirt | 10,100 gp |
| Eldritch whorlwood wand (3rd-level spell) | 11,813 gp |
| +1 twilight mithral full plate | 14,500 gp |
| +3 twilight mithral chain shirt | 17,100 gp |
| Lesser monocle of the ebon hunter | 18,000 gp |
| +2 twilight mithral full plate | 19,500 gp |
| Necklace of the phantom library (100 spell levels inside*, max 5th) | 20,000 gp |
| Robe of arcane might +2 | 21,000 gp |
| Eldritch whorlwood wand (4th-level spell) | 22,050 gp |
| Necklace of the phantom library (200 spell levels inside*, max 6th) | 25,000 gp |
| +4 twilight mithral chain shirt | 26,100 gp |
| +3 twilight mithral full plate | 26,500 gp |
| Drake-helm (one socket) with 4th-level shard | 27,000 gp |
| Necklace of the phantom library (300 spell levels inside*, max 7th) | 30,000 gp |
| +1 titanic hammer | 34,772 gp |
| +4 twilight mithral full plate | 35,500 gp |
| +5 twilight mithral chain shirt | 37,100 gp |
| Greater monocle of the ebon hunter | 38,000 gp |
| Robe of arcane might +4 | 38,000 gp |
| Drake-helm (two sockets) with 2nd-level and 4th-level shard | 43,000 gp |
| +2 titanic hammer | 44,772 gp |
| +5 twilight mithral full plate | 46,500 gp |
| Robe of arcane might +6 | 58,000 gp |
| +3 titanic hammer | 58,772 gp |
| Drake-helm (two sockets) with 4th-level and 6th-level shard | 80,000 gp |
| Robe of arcane might +8 | 86,000 gp |
| +4 greater titanic hammer | 131,852 gp |
| +5 greater titanic hammer | 153,852 gp |
| Drake-helm (three sockets) with 4th-level, 6th-level, and 8th-level shard | 174,000 gp |
*Use the arcane scroll tables on page 239 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide to determine which spells are stored inside.
