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Firbolg

"We were here before the city. We will be here after. The hard part is the in-between."
— Vellgrim Cloud-Shoulder, Firbolg elder of the Outskirts groves

The quiet forest-people of the Lanever peninsula — large, slow-spoken, deeply druidic humanoids who predate Cadwallon by a long, uncounted span, retreated from the founding-era encroachment, and have, in the past century, begun trickling back into the city's grove-edges. Most Cadwës have seen Firbolgs and mistaken them for unusually tall hermits, magical-grove caretakers in the Voyagers' employ, or creatures of the Outskirts. They are none of these. They are people, and they are paying attention.

What They Are

  • Large humanoids, 2.2-2.6m tall, with bovine or cervine features — broad shoulders, short curling horns or antler nubs (longer in elders), wide-set kind eyes, and a slow, deliberate physicality
  • Pre-Cadwallon natives — the Firbolgs were here when the Cynwäll arrived. They were here when the Ophidians withdrew. They are not as widespread as the Katari (who stayed near the coast); the Firbolgs went inland, into what is now the [[Outskirts]], when the founding-era Cadwës began building.
  • Druidic by lineage — Firbolgs have a constitutive affinity for Magical Groves. A Firbolg can feel a grove the way a Cadwë can feel a hot wind. They do not "cast" magic so much as participate in it.
  • Slow, peaceable, deeply patient — Firbolg violence is the violence of mountains: rare, catastrophic, and fully reasoned. The peace is the default. The peace is also the better warning.
  • Long-lived — 150-200 years; their elders span the entire founding-to-present arc personally

Where They Live

  • The [[Outskirts]] — the largest Firbolg population in the peninsula, perhaps 1,500 individuals living in dispersed grove-villages between the city wall and the wilder interior; the militia treats them as a protected feature of the landscape rather than a population
  • Petropolis (Ghieronburg) — a quiet community of perhaps 80 Firbolgs lives in and around the Cal Ka Dum orc worship grove, co-tending the sacred space with orc shakas and a small Faun community. The arrangement is centuries old and unwritten.
  • The Garden of Desire approaches — the few Firbolgs who can stand to be that close to Desire live in the lake-edge groves; they are the first warning system for anything Desire-related, and they have been agitated for five years
  • Scattered through Trophy — a handful of Firbolg elders live alongside Faun shepherd communities, offering druidic counsel that Cadwës mostly mistake for weather advice

In Cadwallon

  • Voyagers / grove-mage relationships — the Voyagers have known about Firbolgs the entire time and treat them as the senior partners in any grove-related question. The Voyagers' grove-cycle records were compiled with Firbolg consultation. Most rank-and-file Voyagers do not know this.
  • Magical Groves census stewardship — when a new grove appears in the city, a Firbolg knows. Within a few weeks, which Firbolg knew has reached the Voyagers, who then arrive to formally register the grove. The chain of custody is invisible to Cadwës.
  • The orc shaka alliance. The Cal Ka Dum grove in Petropolis is co-led by an orc shaka and a Firbolg elder — both are recognized priests of the same nature-grove tradition by both peoples. This is the only multi-species priesthood in the city.
  • No guild membership. No legal status as a peerage population. No vote in the Free Assembly. The Firbolgs have not asked for any of this. They are watching the city decide what to do about Desire before they decide whether they want a seat at the table.

What They Sense

The warm outfall

The Firbolgs of the Garden of Desire approaches have felt the warm outfall under the Garden for five years, growing each year. They know what it means: Desire is waking. They have been waiting to see how the Cadwës would respond. The Cadwës have, so far, not responded at all. Vellgrim Cloud-Shoulder and the elder council are now debating whether to speak directly to the Duke — a step they have not taken in eight generations. A free league brought into the Outskirts groves at the right time may be the first Cadwës told.

What the Coiling Emissaries are

The Petropolis Firbolg-orc shaka community has seen the Coiling Emissary rituals from below. Not the ducal palace ceremony — the parallel motion the Emissaries make in the magical groves on the same day, every Day of Ashes. The shakas have a name for it. The name predates Cadwallon. The Firbolgs have been quietly waiting for someone to ask what the name means. They will tell free leaguers who arrive at the grove on the Day of Flowering bringing a gift of grove-blossom.

Relations

  • Daïkinee — the Firbolgs and Daïkinee share a forest-cradle reverence, treat each other as peers, and have deeply coordinated stewardship plans that span both Quithayran and the Lanever Outskirts; Yalin Aoue's forest animae is a Firbolg-recognized phenomenon
  • Fauns — sibling sylvan people; the two communities work the Trophy Fields alongside each other and consider themselves family in a way the Cadwës do not formally see
  • Orc shakas — the Cal Ka Dum priesthood; the deepest formal alliance Firbolgs have in the city
  • Voyagers / The Tarot-Mages — institutional ally
  • Magical Groves / Garden of Desire / Desire — the metaphysical taproot

The elder council request

Vellgrim Cloud-Shoulder asks a free league to escort a delegation of three Firbolg elders to the Ducal Palace for a formal audience with Duke Den Azhir. The Firbolgs have not requested an audience with a Duke in eight generations. The elders will not speak before they arrive. Cadwës who see large horned strangers walking up to the Palace will react badly. Akkylannian observers may attempt to intercept. The escort job is half ceremony, half assassination-prevention. The reward is the Firbolgs' direct testimony, which the Duke will share with the free leaguers afterward.

See Also