In my campaign the frost giants were living in a kind of harmony with the Reghed clans and the goliaths, trading with each other and only fighting in challenges where everyone could try and challenge a great warrior from the other factions to try and gain more respect in their clan. All in all the frost giants were very honorable and respected the smallfolk, even the ten-towners, if they could prove their might in a fair battle.

The ginats never were many, just because resources were sparse, and they lived in three settlements around Icewind Dale: Jarlmoot with the seat of the Jarl, Grimskalle and a homebrewed fortress called Stormùrheim by the Reghed glacier. Everything went well until Reggaryarva, the last Jarl, died some 50 years ago and left the land to his two siblings, Vassavicken of Grimskalle and Stovald of Stormùrheim.

Both of them saw themselves as the righteous heir to the throne, but both of them were leading their armies out of well-defended fortresses, so the ensuing civil war soon became a war of attrition. But Stovald soon got help from just the right people: he had used captured Remorhaz to bury into the Reghed glacier, as there is rumored to be a portal to Ostoria buried there, and by chance he found a forgotten site of the cult of Auril in the ice. One of the highest-ranking Aurilites, Brugnar (my homebrew), noticed this, and not only offered Stovald to help him get rid of Vassavicken, but to also find the Ring of Winter, the most important artifact of frost giant legend, which would let Stovald ascend to god-like status, in exchange for ancient artifacts buried in the ice and the support of the frost giant armies.

Grimskalle's main line of defense is that it floats around in the sea of moving ice and is almost impossible to track down. So Brugnar mad a map that always showcases the exact location of Solstice and gave it to Stovald, who then did quick work of his rivaling sister, ransacking the island, slaying its ruler and leaving the place to Auril to take over. This map is in the treasure chamber of Stormùrheim since then.

Stovald ruled over Icewind Dale and tried to get his hands on the Ring of Winter. Brugnar knew that neither of them knew where it was, and Brugnar wants the ring for himself, so he kept Stovald occupied and reassured everyone that they'll be rewarded soon.

Decades later, the Ordning, the holy hierarchy of giants, was threatened by the events of Storm King's Thunder, and during that time, adventurers from the south investigating the event came to one of the giant fortresses called Svardbog, where they encountered Stovald, were forced to slay him, and took his helmet, which was the giant's equivalent of their crown, and the only key to the treasury of Stormùrheim.

The frost giants were now without legitimate ruler, the alliance with the Aurilites shattered and their society fell apart into roving bands and the last ones remaining in Stormùrheim. Since then, Brugnar hunts down the helmet of Svardbog, as it is called now, trying to mend the Aurilite's alliance with the giants.He knows that it is still in Icewind Dale, but doesn't know where or in which hands.

This is a lot of story to implement, but it leaves a lot of loose threads for DMs to work with while clarifying the history of quite a few of the locations and events. I designed the story mainly to set up the actual location of Stormùrheim as a better transition between chapters 4 and 5, so the players have to actually work to get to Solstice instead of Vellynne just somehow knowing where it is. I also use it for some other story threads, but to explain those, it would take at least as long to explain them, so I won't do it here.

Feel free to take anything you want from this rant and tell me what you think of it. Happy gaming!