While trying to distract myself from the vicissitudes of my particular coordinates within the greater "trapped animal gnawing off its own leg to escape" stage of the capitalist hellscape, I've been working on another TTRPG project that's difficult to fully describe, but I had a fun idea that I think stands on its own.
Imagine a world where cruel and merciless Giants once reigned from castles floating above the clouds. Among the revolutionaries of the surface world a specialization of warrior-assassin emerged who trained to peak athletic condition so they could scramble up the twisting magic vines that the giants used to descend from their domains. This is a world with strong ambient magic, and all "mundane" arts still draw on the elemental energy around them, and these particular warriors became adept at wielding the energy of Wind and Cold and especially Lightning that was abundant in the cloud kingdoms. And their preferred weapons? Well, if the only part of an enemy you can reliably reach is a tree-trunk thick ankle, there are few tools better than a heavy felling axe.
The giants are long dead (although rumors persist of survivors who may some day return from exile in foreign skies), and the beanstalks that once ascended to their castles are withered, rotten, and unreliable for transit. But the practical skills of the Thunderjacks turned out to be valuable for fighting all kinds of other titanic-size beasties, and frankly overkill for fighting most regular size foes, so the fighting style has persisted even as missions into the cloud kingdoms have become less common. Thunderjacks are in particular demand as one-person siege weapons, since it's very difficult to build a castle wall that can't be scaled by someone who trained to climb to the heavens, and the same brutally powerful strikes that work with their famous axes are easily adapted to a pick or a sledge and directed against a wall. Their numbers are dwindling though, since initial training requires them to find a way into the sky to meditate within the storm clouds, and the means of doing so become rarer and rarer as the old magical infrastructure the Giants left behind falls into disrepair.
As mentioned, Thunderjacks are particularly adept at channeling the elemental energy of storms. Their movements are swift as a gale, precise as a lightning strike, and devastating as a crash of thunder. They operate with little or no armor though, and rely on extraordinary mobility for defense - when one expects to have to climb for hours, acceptable weight loads becomes a much tighter calculation. To supplement their evasive maneuvers, advanced Thunderjacks may learn to sheath their bodies in a layer of protective frost or a vortex of arrow-deflecting wind. Their athletic prowess is second to none - no one runs faster, leaps further, or especially climbs more nimbly than a veteran Thunderjack. And since great heights are such a core occupational hazard they either learn an array of tricks to lessen the impact of a fall, or else don't last long in this career. Finally, because they've historically had access to so much Giantish Plunder, Thunderjacks have developed special brawn-enhancing magics that allow them to wield oversize weapons with ease.
End result - is this just Final Fantasy Dragoon minus Dragons and Spears and plus Giants and Axes? Maybe! But I dig it, and I'm working on stats.
