Cyclops
Much like Giants, cyclopes are enormous bipedal creatures very similar to Human in form. What distinguishes cyclopes is the large, single eye in the center of their foreheads. They are few in number and possess great size and power. They are brute, solitary creatures who live in desolate mountains and swamps.
Basic Information
Genetics and Reproduction
Otherworldly patrons guided the magical and experimentation of cyclopes, which produced a few offshoots: the hulking, savage great cyclops; bestial ngogas; undead gholdakos; and sickly but prophetic oracular cyclops.
Ecology and Habitats
Cyclopes can live for up to 500 years. However, most either starve to death or are killed before dying of old age, except for the prophets that are protected and nurtured by their followers.
Cyclopes are voracious eaters capable of consuming more than a hundred pounds of food per day. Because of this, they usually live alone, as multiple cyclopes in the same area can quickly deprive themselves of food. They can eat almost everything, with a preference toward meat. Starving cyclops quickly become single-minded and bestial in their pursuit of food, while well-fed ones are surprisingly erudite, so most maintain a stable larder.
A cyclops' eye consumes nearly as much energy as its brain does. A jutting brow protects the arteries that feed it. Although cyclopes lack depth perception, the eye allows them to see from much farther and in darker conditions than humans can. The eye is also their source of their precognition. The greatest cyclopes can see someone or something else's entire fate with but a glance, but today most can only see a few seconds into the future with great difficulty.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Most cyclopes, though still intelligent, are usually too preoccupied with the pursuit of food to concern themselves with ambitions in the absence of a leader to guide them. They rarely plan, relying on their foresight instead. Today, mated pairs of cyclopes are rare; most mate infrequently, and cyclops children are raised by the parent of the same sex. Many cyclops boys are eaten by their fathers before maturing.
Some cyclopes have abandoned reason entirely, becoming truly savage, bloodthirsty beings, indulging their basest impulses. They can be distinguished from the normal thuggish (but still sapient) cyclopes by their dull, blood-red eyes. Their numbers are constantly on the rise.
Many cyclopes practice ritual cannibalism, which they adopted near the end of their civilization. They never eat the eye, which is buried or preserved. Injuries to the eye are taboo, being blinded is a fate worse than death, and poking the eye is seen as the greatest insult.
Except in a blood rage, cyclopes are often stoic and fatalistic, as they know that they cannot change what they see with their precognition. Obesity is viewed as a desirable trait, and ancient cyclops art often depicted rotund deities and heroes.
High cyclops
Some visionary cyclopes, known as high cyclopes, are driven by something higher than immediate needs and can command others to conquer territories or make great advances in a field of study. The rare few cyclopes that practice magic often find themselves with a natural aptitude, due to their precognition. A charismatic high cyclops warlord could incite a resurgence of cyclops civilization.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Scientific Name
Homo Gigantus Cyclopes
Geographic Distribution
Related Ethnicities
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