Heavily armed and armored brute in a desert battlefield
Cyclops Brutes hold the flanks or stand vigil over their tyrant masters. Their prescient abilities make them ideal bodyguards, and many commanders will keep a Brute with their personal retinue. This practice also extends to skorne civil life. The ability to see an assassin’s killing blow before the knife is drawn serves as a powerful deterrent in the Skorne Empire’s day-to-day political conflicts. Their crude but undeniable cunning makes them particularly responsive to training, and they become tenacious and durable once outfitted with wide shields and encased in heavy armor.[1][2]
Though all cyclopes receive similar conditioning, paingiver beast handlers select certain specimens for distinct roles based on temperament. Those more reactive to threats become brutes and learn to emulate the disciplined march of the highly trained skorne soldiers they serve alongside. Armed with a heavy polearm and trained to fight with shields interposed, brutes can protect themselves from all but the most fearsome blows and then retaliate in kind. A brute’s unique vision allows it to see an incoming attack before it falls and shift its stance to deflect it. In combat, this uncanny precognition gives brutes a distinct and unsettling advantage over its foes.[1]