Giants of Albion

The Druids of Albion say that the race of mighty Giants that inhabit their island were put there by the Old Ones to guard the island from invaders. Whether this is true, who can say? Yet the Giants prowl the rugged coasts to this day. They wander along the fog shrouded cliffs and hurl boulders down onto hapless ships which come too close to the shore, taking a childlike joy in   watching them splinter into matchsticks and the doomed crew struggling in the fierce waves. The Druids have a strange power over the Giants and can goad them into lifting up and carrying huge boulders and monoliths. With the help of the great strength of the Giants, these huge stones are arranged in rows or circles in order to measure the sun, moons, and stars.

Greatest of all the Giants is Bologs. He is worshiped as a god by some of the primitive, cave-dwelling tribes of Albion, who have carved his image into the chalk hills of their land, brandishing his mighty chopper. Awesome though he is, Bologs' intellect is dim, even for a Giant of Albion. The only thing that he can say is his own name. One day he was roaming the cliff tops when the mist for a moment to reveal the murky gray sea and pebbly beach. Bologs spied a landing party of Elves upon the shore far below. They also saw the Giant towering above them on the cliff top. The leader of the Elves shouted up to him in the tongue of the Druids of Albion, "We come in peace! We seek only trade!" On hearing the words he could not understand, the Giant grinned and replied "BOLOGS!" Then he hurled down a great boulder, which flattened all the Elves as it embedded itself in the shingle.

The next greatest Giant in Albion is Cachtorr, twin of the mighty Bologs. He is slightly more intelligent than Bologs and is able to understand the speech of the Druids. It was Cachtorr who fought against the mighty Dong and, his mate, Mea-Dong, two terrible Giants from the far north of the Albion. This legendary fight lasted for several hundred years and involved hurling huge boulders whenever the mist cleared long enough for one Giant to see the other. Most of these missed, but wherever they landed, they stuck into the ground to remain their forever as menhirs, marking out the territories of the feuding Giants.

Albion remained shrouded in the dark mists of legend until the renowned Tilean General, Curious Geasar, first citizen of Remas, set foot on the island, leading his invincible army. Geasar sought fame and power in Remas and how better to win it than to conquer misty and mysterious Albion, rumored to be full of gold and pearls and the treasure of the legendary Triton himself. As the galleys ploughed through the surging surf onto the shingle on the beach, Cachtorr and Bologs stood on the cliffs, hurling rocks down onto the ships, smashing them to pieces. The men were filled with horror and were scared to wade ashore. So Geasar heaved the army's pay chest over the side of the ship in to the surf, scattering the gold among toe pebbles and jumped ashore after it. Seeing this, the entire army did likewise until the pay chest was safe behind their battle line.

Ignoring the boulders of the Giants and stepping over the fallen, Geasar and his army marched up the beach. Soon they found themselves confronted by all the savage tribes of Albion, a number of Giants, and demented Druids uttering dire curses, formed up in battle array on the cliffs, and then it rained. The mercenaries stubbornly refused to go any further! Curious Geasar was enraged. How could he return to Remas in triumph now? What exotic booty could he bring back to awe the multitudes? How could he boast his conquest of distant and mysterious Albion?

Angrily Geasar strode forward and harangued the multitudes of savage tribesmen. "Oh foolish barbarians! I offer you all the benefits of civilization: roads, hot baths, money, public buildings and Tilean poetry. Submit and all these things can be yours!" The tribes of Albion just glowered at him. Them he heard a single word bellowing back at him out of the fog and driving rain: "BOLOGS!" All at once the Giant's battle cry was taken up by the tribesmen banging their clubs and stone axes against their shields and the sides of their chariots and chanting "Bologs, Bologs, Bologs!"

Geasar was dismayed and ordered his men to charge. The battle was fierce with victory going to neither side. After a day's fighting, with the mist-shrouded sun descending into the sea, the two sides paused a few yards apart, utterly exhausted. Geasar tried one last gamble to save face. He could not return to Remas humiliated, in order to win popularity with the mob. Geasar strode forth and shouted: "Give me Giants as hostages and I will go away." The Druids who knew Tilean from their occasional contacts with merchants considered his offer. They knew that their stone axes were no match for Tilean steel. At long last old Hengus volunteered to go and chose two smaller Giants to go with him. As they strode forward, Geasar shouted, "I want the big ones!" and pointed to Cachtorr and Bologs, greatest of Giants. Despite the protests of the tribesmen, the Druids sent forth the two mighty Giants to be hostages in Remas in order to save old Albion from conquest and the tribes from enslavement or worse, the decadence of luxury and civilization.

Geasar repaired half his fleet and sailed away with his Giant hostages wading in the sea behind him, tied by anchor chains. The moment Geasar's fleet arrived in Remas, word spread throughout the city. Geasar's political opponents had waited this very moment and hastily made way to the harbor. They gathered around the mighty conqueror as he came ashore and showered him with the usual groveling praises. This was just to put him off guard for instantly he was horribly done to death with many daggers. Up came the cry "Geasar is dead, long live the republic!"

Geasar's battered and seasick soldiers panicked and scattered, seizing what gold they could in the confusion. One of them, out of spite against the city rather then pity for their plight, broke the chains that bound the Giants and released Hengus from the hold. Moments later Cachtorr and Bologs stormed ashore and went on a rampage through the streets of Remas, causing the citizens to flee in abject terror. Soon the Giants were in open country, spreading fear and panic throughout Tilea with Hengus close behind.

Since that day, Hengus and the Giants of Albion have lurked in the landscape, lost and confused, seeking shade from the hot sun and pining for the fog. Not surprisingly, various mercenary generals have sought them out to hire them as dogs of war. Hengus, willingly agrees to fight in the hope that the campaign will lead him near to the great ocean and ultimately to Albion.

Source

 * Warhammer: Regiments of Renown