Grautain

The Grand Realm

Inhabitants: Dinosaurs, Dragons, Giant-Kin, Golems

Description

Grautain is the world of Giant-Kin and Dragons, monstrous beasts, spiritless automatons, and living dreams. Unlike the other realms, Grautain is in a constant state of flux between being a physical realm and being a dream world. The fundamental nature of the realm of Grautain, affects its inhabitants in the most amazing of ways. Anything born of the realm grows to an incredible size, the likes of which has never been seen on any other realm. At the same time, everything in this realm seems lighter, even the air. This is caused by weaker gravity that can be found across the realm. This makes it easier for natives of other realms to move about but it is also harder for them to breath. With everything in this realm growing to such extremes, it would only make sense that the land itself has much more space.

Cycles This realm does not have a typical day/night cycle like the other realms. Instead the realm shifts between a physical state and an ethereal state on a cycle that perfectly matches that of Oleun's Day/Night cycle. During Oleun's daytime period, the realm is in it's physical state. The sky is bright, and the colors are incredibly deep and vibrant. During Oleun's nighttime period, the realm is in its ethereal state. Movement requires inner strength and is no longer a matter of simply being physically capable. The sky becomes filled with a haze of vibrant greens, blues, purples, and pinks. The twinkling of yellow and white motes can be seen both near and far, though as you approach them, they fade and disappear.

Fauna/Flora The inhabitants, plant and animal alike, across Grautain appear to grow to incredible sizes. It seems that something about the realm allows a creature or plant to continue to grow in size indefinitely. A creature known as a Talis, which looks very similar to that of a squirrel, has been sighted at the size of a normal human of Oleun. This means that the older something is, the larger it becomes, assuming it keeps eating enough to maintain its growth. The deadliest of the beasts of Grautain, would be creatures known as Dinosaurs. While not all dinosaurs eat meat and would consider us food, they are all incredibly dangerous and territorial. Because of their size, the plants and animals make for great sources of food supply for settlements, especially to those that are not native to Grautain and thus unaffected by the continued growth the native inhabitants experience.

Native Inhabitants

There are three different sapient "races" native to the realm: the Dragons, the Giant-Kin, and the Golems.

Dragons Everyone knows the classic tales of Dragons and the dangerous, stupid, and terrible monsters they have been exaggerated to be. These are merely stories though. Dragons actually appear to have incredible intelligence and mastery over the raw magic of the ley lines. Because of the few that have been found across this realm, it is believed that there is little need for a concept of civilization and society when there are so few that exist. Though there are few in number when compared to almost any other race, it seems that Dragons appear to have possess natural abilities that few other creatures have. They can fly at such unprecedented speeds, and move with incredible agility when in an environment they are accustom to. Their strength can rival that of a Giant-Kin and their mastery of magic was only surpassed by the Artesians. Finally, the scales that coat their bodies can be harder than most armors. You never want to anger a dragon.

Giant-Kin Again the stories told on Oleun, do not give justice to the giants, cyclops, and various off-spring, collectively known as GIant-Kin. Giant-Kin look very similar to that of the Humans of Oleun, with the exception that they tend size around 30 feet tall, before their growth finally comes to a stop. While the Giant-Kin are typically peaceful and tend to act kindly towards most beings, they are an incredibly fearful enemy, should you have the misfortune of such a thing being true. It is believed that the heavier gravity and air, found on the other planes, makes it much harder for Giants to live within their bounds, and is the main reasons that Giant-Kin do not travel across the realms often.

Some legends say that the Giant-Kin are the guardians of the Dream World and continuously protect all the realms from the Nightmares that would lay siege to them, given the chance. These are believed to be merely stories, and there has been nothing found that may verify the truth to their claim.

Golems The Golems of Grautain come in nearly all shapes and sizes, and are made of a vast range of materials. Stories conflict about the creation of the Golems. Some claim they were created by the Dragons during a war with the Giant-Kin, while others claim it was the Giant-Kin that created them to fight against the Dragons. While it is said Golems have souls, it is also said they do not have spirits, lending to the idea that on Grautain, there is a distinction between the two. There is no telling what a golem is capable of or how to appropriately interact with one, due to the incredible diversity found among them. It has been found that golems can indeed use magic with incredibly potency.

Lore & Mysteries

Dragon's Hoard Many famous stories tell of the daring thief that steals from the dragon's hoard, a grand pile of gold, silver, and gems. Some scholars believe that Dragons only really care for Gold and Silver because they are Leyd Metals. Others like to think that dragons are simple beasts and only hoard these, along with gems, because they are beautiful to the eye. Finally others believe these are only gathered as trophies from would-be adventurers that dare challenge the Dragon's power. Whatever the reason, a Dragon's Hoard is a thing to behold, even for the wealthiest of Empires.