The Oculus

I've thought about the name and abilities of the blood-line powers occuring during the 9 year Summer, The Estaoculus - the summer of eyes. I think I will simply call it The Oculus. Simple name and pretty much straight to the point.

I am taking it as that some families of all races who lived around 180 years ago during this 9 year summer are the origin of this ability. For whatever reason they were effected while others were not. Stayed in the perpetual light too long, ate the wrong things, whatever. Some of these families have since died out, some have proliferated. I would say the ability is probably about as rare as an albino is today, ~0.3% or a couple for every thousand people. Just because a family is known for the trait it does not mean they have it. It only develop for those with the trait and have activated it through some sort of trail by fire. IE - I am saying when they first gain XP, so really any adventurous means would activate it, even in a child.

The actual powers I am still mulling over and it will be somewhat hard to balance correctly. Also the reaction to the general populace will probably vary wildly, from respected and feared to hunted down like a dog. Note however that The Oculus is only obvious when it is used and the eyes change in appearance while doing so. It otherwise is not apparent and easy to hide. I figure I will dot down 20 or so lines and give them a short write up. I can make up others as we go, in particular for npcs, villains and the like. In general I picture them as a cross between vampire clans and bloodlines in birthright. These families will clearly be tight knit because of their differences with the other population, and because of rival Oculus families. A full gambit of politics will be involved since many such Oculus folks are kings, judges, warlords and so forth.

In particular it should be used with noteworthy NPCs. A legendary thief, a white-beard Dwarf, a zealous Halfling Sheriff, a well loved king, and so forth. I am thinking it will also be a big factor in what delineates the PC from the rest of the crowd and also an ace in the pocket should they need it. Perhaps then a villain may think twice about meeting this person again or have some sort of unholy agenda for them. When two of these individual clash, it should likewise be a very memorable event, and expect as I do some of the recent history it will be some of the crux events that have shaped the world.