The First Law, The Final Straw
Date: 22 Years Before the Burning of Haugaeldr (22 BH)
Key Figure: Vigg Giantsong, Law-Speaker of the Unified Clans
In the centuries following the Great Growing, the nascent giant clans found themselves in constant, bloody conflict. The world was a patchwork of contested territories, where disputes over hunting grounds, geothermal vents, and fresh water were settled with axe and fist. This period, known as the "Time of Clashing Shields," threatened to shatter giant-kind before they could even establish a lasting civilization. Into this chaos stepped Vigg Giantsong, a human-giant skald and visionary who believed words could be stronger than weapons.
Vigg traveled for years between the scattered clans, listening to grievances and learning the customs of all. He then called a Great Moot at the neutral grounds of Haugaeldr, the still-growing library-fortress. There, he presented his Code: twelve simple, unyielding laws designed to be understood and honored by all giants, regardless of lineage.
The core of the Code dealt with tangible, immediate conflicts:
The Edict of the Hearth: A heated vent claimed and worked by a clan is theirs by right. To steal another’s warmth is to declare war.
The Edict of the Hunt: The great herds are for all, but the kill belongs to those who make it. To steal another’s kill is to forfeit your own.
The Edict of the Moot: Any grievance between clans may be brought before a council of neutral jarls. Their judgment is final.
For all its wisdom, the Code of Vigg contained a catastrophic blind spot. It was a law for giants, by giants. It recognized clans, jarls, and warriors, but it made no provision for the Lítillfólk. In the eyes of Vigg's law, they were possessions, part of the "worked vent" or the "hunting party," with no rights or voices of their own. A giant could not steal another's warmth, but could they displace the small folk living around it? The Code was silent.
This failure institutionalized the growing divide. The Stone-Shield leaning clans saw the Lítillfólk as protected dependents. The more ruthless Frost-Fang inclined clans saw them as property. The Code, meant to unite, had legally codified their inequality.
For a generation, the Code of Vigg brought a fragile, golden peace. Trade routes were established, and the great library of Haugaeldr flourished as a neutral ground for learning and diplomacy.
But the flaw festered. The first open schism occurred during the Dispute of the Sunken Spring, when a Frost-Fang chieftain drove off the Lítillfólk tenders of a hot spring, claiming that under the Code, his clan was now "working the vent." The spring’s original giant protectors, bound by the Code not to attack, were forced to either break the law or abandon their people. They chose to break the law.
This single event shattered the peace Vigg had built. The War of Broken Oaths had begun, sparked by a code that saw everyone, and in doing so, saw no one at all. The Code of Vigg is remembered today not for its peace, but for the devastating war its silence caused. It stands as a timeless lesson: a law that does not protect the smallest among us, protects no one at all.