Cyclops
Aug 9, 2018 0:23:10 GMT -6
Post by Amanojyaku on Aug 9, 2018 0:23:10 GMT -6
The cyclopes are small, lean humanoids, best known for the single eye that dominates each face. They hail from a somewhat humid world neighboring the Wall of Fire, where they were among the first races to make contact with the advancing Tau. The cyclopes mostly keep to themselves, though they're often contracted for artistic and certain mercenary work.
For all that their homeworld is most assuredly not Théah, cyclopes resemble humans to a disturbing degree, and even more closely resemble their myths of one-eyed beings. Exactly why this is so remains unknown, though some greybeards seem to think they're distant relatives, similar to the elves and eldarin.
Physical Characteristics
Average Height: 1.4-1.7m
Average Weight: 30-55kg
Languages: Trade, Giant
Common Personality Traits: Aloof, observant, patient, photophobic, sensitive about eye contact
Common Physical Traits: Single eye, slender build, watery eye, nimble, androgynous
Example Names: Jian, Iris, Likho, Leela, Zargon
Racial Statistics
Characteristic Bonus: +1 to Constitution or Wisdom
Skill Bonus: +1 to Crafts and Perception
Power: Cyclopean: Begin play with Heightened Senses (Sight) and a free Perception specialty (Sight). The only penalty you take for having one eye is that losing it renders you Blinded.
Size: 3
Racial Feats
Divine Blacksmith [Cyclops, Paragon]
The old human myths about one-eyed giants who forged weapons for the gods might not have been too far off the mark. Gain +2 Size, +1k1 to all Strength-based tests, and +1k0 to melee damage rolls. In addition, you can use Strength instead of Wisdom for Crafts tests involving stone- or metalworking.
Farsight [Cyclops]
The Cyclopean eye is a wonder of biological development, capable of adjusting to distance far more easily than those of any other race on the Wheel. Double the range of any ranged weapon you wield, and any target less than 5m away from you is at Point Blank Range.
Gazer [Cyclops]
The two-eyed races often try to avoid eye contact with a cyclops. Some cyclopes give them a reason... or force the issue. You can cast the spell Charm Person, using your Level + Charisma instead of the usual magic test. If you can make eye contact, you gain a free raise on the magic test. Your Cyclopean eye can be treated as an implement for the purpose of feats or class abilities.
Spectral Eye [Cyclops]
The Cyclopean eye is sometimes sensitive enough to pick up on wavelengths beyond the visual. Gain the Dark Sight trait and +2k0 on Perception tests involving sight.
Physical Qualities
Cyclopes are slender, sinewy folk slightly shorter than humans. Their skin colors run the gamut of natural shades, from the pallor of a shut-in to varying shades of brown from the sun and the swarthy complexion of a metalsmith. Their hair is generally dark in color, if they grow it out at all; cyclopes are religious about trimming their bangs if they don't shave their heads completely. All in all, they strongly resemble humans built small and wiry, but for the single, enormous eye that dominates the cyclops's face. Cyclopes' eyes can be almost any color, most commonly a rich brown shade, and almost invariably look wet and teary, as the cyclops's tear ducts are similarly much more massive.
Cyclopes, like humans, mature quickly and crash hard, living for about a century and a half before age claims them. Unlike humans, cyclopes tend to become tauter and stronger with age; their muscles don't atrophy, but when their systems finally fail in the last decade or so of life, they do so catastrophically. Their great sense of sight, unfortunately, is almost always the last to go, so the cyclops must endure the looks of pity to the end.
Playing a Cyclops
As first impressions go, cyclopes don't seem to account for much. Their single eye means depth perception suffers a bit, so they come off as somewhat clumsy as they walk into things that most others can avoid instinctively. That single eye is sensitive, so they flinch more readily than others would, and their tears flow so readily that they seem weepy as a rule. Most cyclopes traveling among other races have to keep a large stock of eye medications, making them appear frail.
Of course, one should never judge a book by its cover. The single eye of a cyclops is perhaps the greatest visual organ in existence, and weighs heavily in their society. Cyclopes are scary good at picking up visual tells and imperfections, and their apparent clumsiness goes a long way toward obscuring their affinity for marksmanship. Eye contact is very important to a cyclops; a refusal to make eye contact indicates scorn, an inability to keep it indicates that you've seen some embarrassing facial flaw. Cyclopes tend to find themselves on the receiving end of the latter among the two-eyed races, and often develop complexes regarding their appearance as a result.
This emphasis on visual appearance means that a cyclops will practice at anything with a visual aspect until they can do it perfectly. A cyclops artisan will continue at a single piece for months if not years longer than any other, his single eye picking up miniscule flaws in color or texture that no one else could. A cyclops teaching martial arts will correct his students if so much as a finger is bent incorrectly. Fortunately, this means that only the best will pass a cyclops's inspections, giving their race a reputation for quality.
Cyclops Heroes
Brontes is a hulking brute of a cyclops with a liking for the goremaul. Renowned for his work fabricating parts for battlesuits and powered armor, he often finds himself wandering every which way but home, inspecting ore and taking commissions for parts.
Ai is more famed for her ludicrously precise sniping than for the daemon blood in her veins. However, her eye seems a bit more sensitive than the norm, as she's been known to tear up just at the thought that being left to her blind means her allies don't like her... and at most holovid programs, commercial advertisements, the muzzle flash of her own rifles, and being told she cries too much...
Zargon hates. Everything. From the moment his allies abandoned him to die on some Modron tomb world, to the catastrophic awakening of the C'tan shard in his breast, he's grown increasingly fed up with the Wheel in general and himself in particular. Now, his arms replaced by clusters of razor-edged mechadendrites, he schemes his revenge...