I portray Sylvaeus, the gnome paladin that traces his bloodline back to the Alberian "Sruhos va Tlo'oe" gnomish clan- the 'Orphans of War' thought completely destroyed by the Ocular. He just might be the last! I have spent quite a bit of time reading up on elanthipedia on this and I would like to share some of the things RP-wise I have going on. I've never desired to step on any developers toes and I've tried to comply with previous lore to the letter but sometimes questions just come up that Sylvaeus should logically know the answers to. Here are some helpful links, first of all:
Sylvaeus' Origin Story: http://pastie.org/8660946
Ocular Basic Info: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Ocular
Races of Alberia: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Albaria
Throughout the RP I've engaged in throughout the past year and then some, many characters have asked Sylvaeus many questions and, barring any official lore, this is what I came up with as responses:
Ocular As Creatures:
- Sylvaeus research and education on the Ocular has lead him to believe that they are distantly related to Kermorian Cylcops, yet smarter and with shapeshifting abilities.
- The Ocular have a long hibernation cycle where large portions of their nation will hide away to recharge their energies for several years before waking up again to join the rest of their society. This cycle happens on a rotation- you won't find every Ocular hibernating at once, only the ones whose turn it is. This hibernation also grants them a longer life span than the Kermorian Cyclops.
- Yes, the Ocular are mentioned as having more than one eye.
- Size Matters: An Ocular can change shape and has some ability to compress and expand its flesh but it cannot change how much it weighs or true mass. Oculars slowly grow with age and a young Ocular might be able to assume the shape of a gnome, dwarf, or trollkin but not a sky giant. Conversely, an elder Ocular could assume the form of a Wyvern but not of an elf.
- Knowledge Matters: An Ocular must know a minimum amount about a creature's biology to mimic its species in general and must TOUCH a specific individual to memorize their specific features and form. Ocular soldiers tend to have several creature shapes ritualistically memorized that they can fire off as needed as part of their training. An Ocular spy, however, could not assume the shape of Senechal Morghena, specifically, without first touching her flesh at some point, for example. Some surface memories are also transferred through this touch, enough to impersonate someone through several conversations, but don't expect a disguised Ocular to know the name of Morghena's sixth favorite imaginary friend growing up. Some secrets are kept and some are not- its up to fate!
- Attunement Matters: Once an Ocular becomes attuned to a particular mana frequency, changing shape will not alter that attunement in any way. They are stuck like everyone else! (well, barring necromancers, of course....)
- Material Matters: An Ocular can only shift into a living form. They cannot impersonate a corpse, stone, dead wood, or metal.
Ocular as a society:
- Ocular are an organized, disciplined theocracy. Age, personal accomplishments, and religion-based bloodline determine status with these three things holding equal value. Religion will determine who any given Ocular's parents are. While they are no strangers to magic their strong religious beliefs denounce necromancy. Known necromancers are killed on sight but never eaten; instead those bodies are destroyed through ritualized burning.
- Everyone else is food. Ocular believe they are the apex predator race of Elanthia and this idea is highly encouraged by their one, currently unnamed god. After a successful capture of an enemy town these creatures will take no prisoners and will instead devour every man, woman, and child that has not escaped the conflict.
- Military Strength: The Ocular have already destroyed entire civilizations and have kept the militarized Gorbesh Empire in a stalemate for centuries. Sylvaeus has often said that Kermoria is not ready- he claims that if the Oculars decided to grow gills and attack the provinces en mass, we would lose. He warns that in his opinion most likely lightly-defended Ratha would be hit first and then used as a forward base to attack the other islands and the mainland. Throughout the RP he tries to convince others to be ready and he views the government and nobles as ignorant and completely unprepared for this enemy. He also compares a war with the Ocular to a volcano- you don't know when its gonna blow but you know its coming.
Finally, I'd like to talk about how I have answered questions about Sylvaeus' mysterious, lost clan:
- The Sruhos va Tlo'oe did not go down quickly. They were brought to (near) extinction through a very long, brutal war of attrition. Sylvaeus' grandfather watched every person he knew slowly fall, one by one, over the course of years until none were left. He did not flee to Kermoria a sane gnome.
- The Sruhos va Tlo'oe knew things about magic that they kept to themselves. It was largely this unique knowledge that allowed them to last so long against such a grossly overwhelming force. Given enough time they would have created a very advanced civilization... but then the Oculars happened.
- The Sruhos va Tlo'oe were soldiers- all of them. They had to be to survive. Three were plenty of knights and fighters in their number along with mages and healers. Since an Ocular can't shift into metal, instead of badges or clothing to show rank officers used body piercings of specific materials on specific locations to identify themselves and their authority. An ocular who just murdered a general would have to remove all the piercings and apply them to itself correctly to impersonate the leader.
I appreciate all the work that has gone into the lore behind this. I hope others will take the opportunity to RP some of this stuff with me. Enjoy! :)
- Nickolas
