Third Eye Blind

Question: As if you haven't heard enough about Hindu Mythology for the rest of this blog - what do you think Shiva's terrible third eye would be in Scion terms? A very powerful relic he wields? Just some cool aspect of him he has as an Unusual Alteration, but uses knacks such as Divine Splendor and his Death boons to stunt with it?

Well, normally we'd just go ahead and tell you what we do with it, but in this case we can't. Shiva is heavily involved in certain things happening in some of our games, and we can't go ruining his many mysteries for our players. Instead, we'll talk about all the things it could be, and you can run wild from there!

Shiva's third eye has to be a decision for each Storyteller to make, because, as you note, it's ambiguous in its mythology and could be expressed in a lot of different ways.

The easiest way to treat it is as a relic; the eye of Shiva could itself be an extraordinarily powerful magical item that he just happens to wear on his head. Of course, third eyes aren't entirely uncommon in Hindu mythology, but third eyes that can vaporize other gods and cause spontaneous genitive creation when they hit the wrong ingredients are in considerably shorter supply, so Shiva might be rocking a relic even if everyone else is not. It would certainly be at the top end of the scale in terms of dots and powers, probably either augmenting the shit out of his boons or allowing infrequent but mortally dangerous attacks to be made (probably at great cost). It's an especially good option because Shiva's third eye is spoken of in the kind of reverent tones that are often reserved for particularly badass weapons; if it weren't a body part, I doubt anyone would be thinking of doing anything but relic-izing it so that it could rain down righteous ascetic death lasers on everyone. (Don't irritate Shiva. Or surprise him. Or bother him. Really, just staying away from Shiva is everyone's best bet.)

On the other hand, as you note, it's very easy for anyone to give themselves a third eye with Unusual Alteration, meaning that Shiva could easily have one - a very impressive-looking one, at that - without it being a relic on its own. There are plenty of powers out there that, with creative stunting, other relics or combination effects, can simulate death lasers perfectly easily; if Shiva wants to pop Strike Dead, Divine Splendor or any other massively injurious power, it could be done through the eye without having to give the organ any special properties other than badass imagery. We've got PCs in our games that always involve specific tattoos, bodily fluids or items when they do things; there's no reason gods can't, too.

A third option is to treat the eye as a living thing of its own, living symbiotically in Shiva's head and answering or responding to his commands and behavior. It might be a Birthright Creature or Follower, a minor Hindu god riding his coattails to success, or even a captured Titanic creature, only able to unleash its devastatingly destructive potential when he allows it. It's easily the creepiest option, but if there's anybody among the Devas batshit enough to carry some flavor of Titanic monster around in their brainpan, it's Shiva.

Past that point, things get into the real of So Weird It's Only a Good Idea if Your Plot Demands it (it's one of the many eyes that cursed Indra, given malevolent life! It's the Eye of Balor! It's just an illusion!), but even those three basic options give Storytellers a wide range to choose from when deciding what's up with the Destroyer and his ocular trifecta. As always, choose what best suits your game's vision of the god, and keep him away from heavy machinery and living things.