The Giants have long been a languishing kind. As mankind spread and swallowed the wild places of the world, little space remained for those noble and introverted folk to roam, shepherd their herds, or rule their ancient territories. Whilst many fled north into the frozen reaches, some yet remained, hoping for uneasy accord or at least a companionable distance with the smallfolk. Such hopes were rarely vindicated.

Many Giants were taken as slaves, for they were loadbearers without equal: living engines of immense strength and surprising intellect, capable of following complex commands and learning swiftly beneath lash and threat alike. Countless great edifices across the realms were raised upon the sweat, anguish, and broken bodies of giantkind.

Long-lived even under terrible duress, enslaved Giants often passed between countless owners over the centuries: stonemason guilds, mercenary companies, pit-fighting rings, and worse besides. Inevitably, the ceaseless toil and casual cruelty took their toll. The iron will of these once-proud beings would finally shatter, leaving behind only a hollowed shell of sapience. Once broken, their value as labourers or war-beasts was spent, and ownership of such a prodigious creature became little more than an expensive burden to the masters who had ruined them.

For most, this is where the tale ends. A blade driven through an immense temple, a draught of poison, or slow starvation within some cramped and forgotten cell. Yet within the seedy underbellies and shadow-markets of the realm, there are always those who can find value in suffering. Men such as the Anatomists.

Ever eager for new canvases upon which to practice their gore-drenched art, the Anatomists regard a creature as vast and resilient as a Giant as a rare prize indeed. Capable of surviving torments that would annihilate a common mortal many times over, the harrowers transformed this ruined being into a living engine of agony. The process itself was enough to tear the Giant from its catatonia, replacing numb surrender with unrelenting, anguished violence.

A cold fate for a once noble being.