Curse of the Cyclops
by Jesper AndersenFrom the journals of Iscar Demetorion, Thyatian sage:
"The cyclops are a race of lesser giants living in mountains and on remote islands all over the Empire and around the rim of the Sea of Dawn. They are an evil, brutish lot, famous for their one eye in the middle of their foreheads. They live mainly off their sheep herds and are very territorial. They have been know to raid human settlements and eat captives.
Although cyclops have a reputation of being savage and crude, they are by no means stupid. Their cunning rival that of the goblinoid races and they are known and feared for their ability to set up ambushes with rockslides or falling tree logs.
On a recent expedition to the island of Sclaras, I was able to uncover a series of ancient caverns where I found cavepaintings - apparently the legacy of a long-lost clan of cyclops living on the island before the coming of Thyatians, Hattians and Kerendans over 1000 years ago.
I was able to decipher some of the markings and learn the remarkable story of the Curse of the Cyclops.
Millennia ago, the race of the cyclops prospered all around the Sea of Dawn. In those days they were a superior race, powerful in their knowledge of metallurgy, architecture and sorcery. It is safe to say the extend of their knowledge rivalled that of even the elves and the dragons. Because of their insatiable thirst for knowledge, the cyclops undertook ever more dangerous pursuits for more. This led them to contact the entropic Immortal they knew as Faucar - we know him today as Faubartides, the Norse as immortal Loki. Faucar promised the cyclops the greatest knowledge of all but demanded a terrible price: that the cyclops forever give up one of their eyes!
In their quest for power the fool giants agreed to this dark bargain. It is not know what Faucar gave them in return, but it was of such a dark and horrible nature that many cyclops were driven insane by it. The cyclops cursed Faucar and their own thirst to know more. They radically turned from the pursuit of science and sorcery and in little less than five generations the entire cyclop culture had collapsed and reverted to a barbarian, cave-dwelling civilisation, which exists until this day."