Probably a dozen or more giant cradles were recording going down the River of Cradles during the Second Age. Since Godtime, the river was used by giants to send their children to the sea in immense cradles. The Jrusteli God-Learners would intercept these cradles for the magical knowledge they contained. Eventually, tired of depending on the vagaries of currents and winds in the ocean, the Jrusteli established a settlement far up the River of Cradles, called Robcradle. This drew the wrath of the Giants, and was soon smashed, but its foundations provided the start for the great city of Pavis, which still maintains a precarious existence on the Plains.
After the devastation of Robcradle, the Giants slowly learned that their cradles were no longer reaching their proper destination and the cradles ceased to come down the river which still bears their name. Ancient God-Learner writings suggest that this was the end of the great Giant race of the Elder Wilds, and it was from this time that they ceased bearing young and became sedentary, growing into the mountains that are known as the Eleven Big Giant Mountains.
Giants are still breeding and bearing young, which seemingly gives the lie to this theory, but the God-Learners speculated that there were actually several species of giant, all of which looked alike from the low viewpoint of most sentient beings, and that the cradle giants were quite distinct from their barbaric brethren. They were magicians and philosophers, in their own way far closer to the wisdom of the gods than the so-called God-Learners, but the greed of the Jrusteli had destroyed the race and indirectly caused the great Closing of the Seas, presaging the end of the Second Age.
We know that these immense cradles were filled with magical items and knowledge intended to teach their children cosmic secrets during their journey to Magasta’s Pool. These treasures proved very useful to the God Learners and helped them in formulating the Monomyth. It should be of no surprise that the Golden Age of God Learner cradle robberies is roughly contemporaneous with their defeat of the Arkat cult, the conquest of Kralorela and Teshnos, and the establishment of the Empire of Land and Sea. This is also roughly contemporary with the draconic movement in Dragon Pass.
With the destruction of Robcradle in 800, access to the giant cradles moves over to the newly established city of Pavis in 830. The secrets of the giant cradles enrich that city and aid the newly established Empire of the Wyrms Friends.
