Factions
Kromrif
The Kael giants. Rallos Zek-aligned, primary Velious evil faction. Covers both Kromrif and Kromzek on this wiki.
Kromrif is the Rallos Zek-aligned giant faction based in Kael Drakkel — the primary evil-aligned Velious faction and the standing political and military enemy of the Coldain dwarves of Thurgadin. The giants hold the central Velious uplands, control most of the Great Divide and Eastern Wastes overland surface, and run the only Rallos Zek-aligned army on the continent.
This wiki page covers both Kael factions: the lesser Kromrif frost giants (rank-and-file) and the elite Kromzek greater giants (leadership and raid tier). Both factions check together for Ring War alignment and for Kael Drakkel access, and grinding one almost always moves the other.
Lore
The giants of Velious are the surviving Rallos Zek host on Norrath — the same pantheon-aligned warrior race that fought the original Plane of War campaigns and that retains a direct theological line to the Warlord god. Kael Drakkel sits at the political center of that culture, with King Tormax ruling the Kromzek nobility from inside the citadel and the Kromrif rank-and-file garrisoning the surrounding uplands.
Kromrif and Kromzek are not separate cultures — they are the two castes of one giant nation. Kromrif are the soldiers and the broader population; Kromzek are the elite, the officer corps, and the named raid encounters. The Kromzek caste includes the Statue of Rallos Zek encounter at the back of the citadel, the inner Kael raid targets, and Tormax himself.
The giants' standing fight is with the Coldain dwarves of Thurgadin, encoded into Velious geography as the Ring War — a major raid-tier event with a binary alignment choice. Players who side with the giants gain Kromzek and Kromrif standing and unlock the giant-aligned content; players who side with the Coldain gain Coldain standing and unlock the Shawl chain. The giants' second standing fight is with the Claws of Veeshan — the good dragon council of Skyshrine — which is partly tactical (territory) and partly theological (Veeshan's dragons versus Rallos Zek's giants).
Why grind it
For raid-tier characters, Kromrif/Kromzek alignment is the gate to giant-aligned Ring War rewards and to unaggro'd access through Kael Drakkel as a clearing zone. Tormax-tier raid progression and several Kael named encounters are reachable only with the correct standing. For non-raid characters, giant alignment is a path-of-least-resistance way through the Great Divide and Eastern Wastes overland tundra — a meaningful quality-of-life unlock during the Velious leveling tier.
Note that Ring War alignment is binary. Pursuing Kromrif standing tanks Coldain standing on the same axis, and the Shawl chain is unreachable once Coldain falls below Ally. Make the choice deliberately.
Notable NPCs
- King Tormax — Kromzek ruler at the citadel, raid-tier endgame for giant-aligned content
- Statue of Rallos Zek — encounter representing the Warlord god's direct presence inside Kael
- Kromzek named officers — the elite caste's named encounters distributed through the inner Kael tiers
- Kromrif patrol leaders — frost giant officer NPCs running the Great Divide and Eastern Wastes overland patrols
- Kromrif rank-and-file — frost giant garrisons forming the bulk of the Kael-tier and tundra-tier kill targets
Faction path
+faction
- Killing Coldain dwarves in Great Divide and Eastern Wastes
- Killing Claws of Veeshan-aligned dragons in adjacent zones
- Aligning with the giant side during the Ring War
- Specific Kael Drakkel hand-ins and giant-aligned task chains
-faction
- Killing any Kromrif or Kromzek giant
- Aligning with the Coldain side during the Ring War
- Coldain Shawl chain hand-ins (these explicitly tank giant standing)
- Claws of Veeshan-aligned hand-ins at Skyshrine
The Last Camp any-race-class adjustments
The Last Camp's any-race-any-class doctrine doesn't change the giants' faction math — every race and class takes the same standing per kill, and the Ring War alignment choice works identically regardless of the character running it. The notable wrinkle is that the server's class flexibility means a Coldain-aligned Ogre Cleric or a giant-aligned Halfling Shadow Knight is mechanically valid; the standing line cares only about the kills, not the lineup running them.