Giff are tall, broad-shouldered folk with hippo-like features. Some have smooth skin, while others have short bristles on their faces and the tops of their heads. As beings of impressive size and unforgettable appearance, giff are noticed wherever they go.
Most giff believe they originated on one world, but their home world is now the stuff of legend, because no living giff has seen it or knows where it is. The divine beings who created giff have likewise been forgotten. Their titanic petrified bodies drift on the Astral Sea, isolated and unrecognizable in their current form.
Although they don't realize it, giff are drawn to the Astral Plane because, on a deep psychic level, they remain connected to their creator gods, who have just enough divine spark left in them to imbue giff with sparks of their own, which giff have learned to channel through their weapons. Most giff have no idea where this so-called astral spark comes from, but they feel its presence most strongly when they are in Wildspace or the Astral Sea.
Giff are split into two camps concerning how their name is pronounced. Half of them say it with a hard g, half with a soft g. Disagreements over the correct pronunciation often blossom into hard feelings, loud arguments, and head-butting contests, but they rarely escalate beyond that.