King Fafner

King Fafner I of the Grey was the first entity to unite the entire continent of The Greylands under one banner, and he has been the only king since able to do so. (Not included several descendants who ruled his pre-existing kingdom.)

Pre-Fafner
Before Fafner was born, there were ten kingdoms in the Greylands. While they often battled for power, they were largely evenly matched, and these kingdoms existed for hundreds of years. To this day their lands are considered part of the 10(now 11) de jure kingdoms.

The only lands not claimed by any king were The Hills as they were inhabited by giants and other beasts terrifying to man.

Traditionally, the giants were very stupid by nature as years of inbreeding and lack of established teachings took their toll. However, a few generations before Fafner, a member of his clan obtained an Amulet of Knowledge, that granted him highly advanced thought process for a giant.

Seeing their lackluster community through knew opened eyes, Krushnak started a plan. He formed "noble families" of giants based off the human hierarchy. He bred the smartest and strongest of the giants together for years, and eventually started to obtain intelligent warlord-level leaders. These leaders joined mercenary companies and became trusted advisers and friends to many of the companies in the Greylands.

Young-Adulthood
Fafner, whose family name doesn't translate to common, was one of the best tacticians bred out of Krushnak's program. He grew up as a ward in a human court, learning their culture. The hatred he received as a giant caused him to enact his plan of conquest.

Gathering his "banner-men" (the other 'noble' giant families), Fafner conquered The Hills and created the 11th and final de jure kingdom. From here, he sought to conquer all known lands. His army was padded with both the goblins within his lands, but also large swathes of mercenaries his kin had made bonds with.

Besides a growing force of elite soldiers, and many giants to easily crush dozens of foes each, Fafner also established the most powerful-to-date Royal Navy, and granted the legendary Elroar Tidesbane the reins. The elf led naval battles as well as raids with make-shift crews of marines. With Fafner on land and Elroar at sea, the two tacticians were unmatched.

King of the Greylands
King Fafner of the Hills conquered one kingdom after another throughout the Greylands, and absorbed them into his own kingdom. Eventually, there was noone left to conquer. He settled a great castle within The Hills, and from there ruled his Kingdom.

Fafner never named, or acknowledged any name given to, his kingdom, and instead had it officially referred to as the Grand Kingdom of Lord Fafner and other such variations.

While king, Fafner instituted many valuable aspects of society. He started a dating system, starting year zero as the year he claimed the entire continent. The years were posthumously renamed A.G. for After Giants conquered. Additionally, he pushed for the development of public schools in societies, something largely unheard of before as nobles were appalled at the idea of educated plebeians.

Legacy
Due to giants having grey skin, the originally satirical name the "Greylands" emerged in Fafner's kingdom. Fafner ignored such rumors, but his successor, King Stiech I took the insult with pride, and officially decreed the kingdom The Kingdom of the Greylands. The name stuck, and as such, to this day the continent as known as the Greylands.

To this day, Fafner is the only king to have united the continent since his fell several generations after his passing.