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Morg
12-19-1998, 06:50 PM
I thank Jules, Gary and Bryan for their thoughts, and I agree with much of what
they have all stated. However, the question here is not so much a game mechanic,
as it is a game 'philosophy'. I agree that the Lands Choice should be rare, and
that if a DM needs a commoner to gain a bloodline, then it can happen. But
setting aside the game mechanics, there remains a mystery in the very nature of
the blood line that cries out for explanation, or at least, investigation. Since
the first time bloodlines were realized, and blood theft discovered, I'm sure
there have been a few scholars in Cerilia who have tried to explain the phenomena.

If you were a Cerilian noble, how would you describe the nature of the blood line?

What if you were a priest?
A commoner?

What is it that bonds a man to the land?
How is this accomplished? Is it a magical effect? Destiny? Divine will?
How is this power passed on?
How can the will of the land over ride the power of a God?

I'm certain that every cultural and economic stratification would have a differing
outlook and explanation. However, just as the RL question of evolution vs.
religion, I'm sure there would be one or two theories which would be commonly held
as the most accurate and probable.

Here is a thought I had last night after my original post. I have not cross
referenced this with any canon, so it may be easily denied.

Perhaps the divine power inherent in a bloodline does not actually render the
regent in question the ability to gather RPs, but rather permits the mortal to
become so attuned to the land, that he is actually able to manipulate varying
amounts (based on the bloodline strength) of the very essence of the earth.
Instead of being the 'chosen leader of the Gods', the regent is actually not
chosen at all. The manifestation of his blood line simply permits him to gather
strength and might from a certain sphere within the earth. Investiture could then
be considered akin to tuning an instrument. If the regent's blood line is 'out of
tune' with the land, he cannot gain RPs from it. He must first become 'tuned' to
the land. (ie. Invested).

Now, this changes the outlook of Investiture. It is no longer a holy ritual (in
the strict sense of the word), but rather is a lengthy ritual of refining and
re-aligning the regents 'aura' or 'personal harmonics' to that of the region in
question. This act could easily be confused as a religious ceremony, and
something ordained by the Gods. IIRC, the BoP states something to the effect that
the lengthy ceremonies may not even be necessary, but instead have become
customary, and that no one wants to take a chance by dismissing the ceremony
outright.

This would seem to fit the nature of the bond between regent and land, and could
lend credence to the act of 'land's choice.' Since the divine essence is not the
key element to regency (only permitting the bond to be formed), the land can now
'reject' the person who is attempting to bond with it. (Perhaps the inverse
takion beam just wasn't compatible with the betazoid polar brain scan......)

Know what I mean???


Keith


- --
"I hate it when my brain stem hurts."
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Craig Greeson
12-19-1998, 07:32 PM
Morg wrote:

> Here is a thought I had last night after my original post. I have not cross
> referenced this with any canon, so it may be easily denied.
>
> Perhaps the divine power inherent in a bloodline does not actually render the
> regent in question the ability to gather RPs, but rather permits the mortal to
> become so attuned to the land, that he is actually able to manipulate varying
> amounts (based on the bloodline strength) of the very essence of the earth.
> Instead of being the 'chosen leader of the Gods', the regent is actually not
> chosen at all. The manifestation of his blood line simply permits him to gather
> strength and might from a certain sphere within the earth. Investiture could then
> be considered akin to tuning an instrument. If the regent's blood line is 'out of
> tune' with the land, he cannot gain RPs from it. He must first become 'tuned' to
> the land. (ie. Invested).

If I'm understanding you correctly, what you've described is largely how I
view the bloodline issue. Individuals who have a bit of "godly essence"
(ie a bloodline) are able to tap into powers of nature that mere mortals
simply cannot. The only powers granted to them by their bloodline are the
blood abilities. However, the bloodline also allows them to tap into the
much more powerful forces of nature in general. Thus, humans with a
bloodline gain access to the massive natural power of mebhaighl, and
regents are able to somehow bend nature [including influencing
human/dwarven/elven/etc... subjects, who are also a part of nature] to
their will. The more godly essence they have, the more they are able to
tap into the massive power that nature possesses.

I've always felt that nature, or "the land", is much more powerful than the
gods themselves. IMO, the BR god of magic doesn't create magical power, he
is simply a custodian of the massive forces of mebhaighl already present.
Likewise, the god of nature didn't create the natural world, he is simply
the guardian of nature. IMC, the gods of Cerilia are massively powerful,
but they are nothing compared to the overall power of nature.

Regards
Craig

Gary V. Foss
12-20-1998, 12:19 AM
Morg wrote:

> I thank Jules, Gary and Bryan for their thoughts, and I agree with much of what
> they have all stated. However, the question here is not so much a game mechanic,
> as it is a game 'philosophy'. I agree that the Lands Choice should be rare, and
> that if a DM needs a commoner to gain a bloodline, then it can happen. But
> setting aside the game mechanics, there remains a mystery in the very nature of
> the blood line that cries out for explanation, or at least, investigation. Since
> the first time bloodlines were realized, and blood theft discovered, I'm sure
> there have been a few scholars in Cerilia who have tried to explain the phenomena.

> If you were a Cerilian noble, how would you describe the nature of the blood line?
>
> What if you were a priest?
> A commoner?
>
> What is it that bonds a man to the land?
> How is this accomplished? Is it a magical effect? Destiny? Divine will?
> How is this power passed on?
> How can the will of the land over ride the power of a God?

Oh, your looking for an esoteric explanation.... What does a bloodline FEEL like, how
does it WORK, etc.

Hmmm. Well, that's pretty much in the realm of free speculation, I guess. From my
POV (the most dreaded acronym on the BR Message List) a bloodline and its relationship
to the land is mostly described in terms of your last question. A bloodline is the
living embodiment of the power of a god. A human with a bloodline can simply FEEL it
in a way that we probably cannot just describe. A commoner who was invested with one
would somehow gain that perspective as a sort of weird revelation. You know the scene
in _Interview with the Vampire_ when Louis gets turned into a bloodsucker? Suddenly
he sees things as he never saw them before. He looks at the moon as if he'd never
seen it before, he sees life pulsating in the trees, in the air, even in the statue
whose eyes follow him around like the ones in the second room of the Haunted House at
Disneyland....

Now, I'm not saying blooded people see THAT. I'm saying that the experience would
parallel that kind of experience. Suddenly they can sense their new blood abilities
and the power contained in the bodies. A person with the Animal Affinity blood
ability might suddenly sense his affinity with the totem animal, knowing intrinsically
that he can empathically speak to them, etc. Those with Heightened Abilities would
suddenly feel stronger, smarter, quicker, whatever.

I'm of the opinion that a blooded character knows what his abilities are and how to
use them instinctively. If s/he must learn to use them they are less than godlike
powers, aren't they? They would be more like the skills of a character class or even
non-weapon proficiencies. Similarly, I think blooded characters must sense their
mystical link with the land and the potential to create holdings, provinces, etc. from
which to collect regency. I think they sense the amount of regency they have "stored"
up and can manipulate that energy to influence events in a "psychic" or magical way.
A commoner who suddenly gained a bloodline from a regent would also instinctively know
what holdings/provinces were under his control.

The gods get their power from their embodiment of some aspect of nature or human
ideal. The power that they generate comes from the energy generated by the belief of
their worshipers or from the natural power of that force of nature. I think this is
very much the same for regents, who collect regency from the hopes, belief, desires,
etc. of the people under them or from the natural sources under their control. All
holdings and provinces have physical manifestations. Guilds have buildings and
markets, law holdings have constabularies and guard houses. There must be some
measure of connection with those people, physical structures or sources that occurs
when a regent gets control over his domain.

That's not to say her knows every single thing done or said within his domain. But if
someone were to route all the priests/monks in a province and sway the people away
from the worship of a particular god (a contest action) the temple ruler should know
about it because he has the option of using his psychic energy to combat that action
by applying RP to oppose it.


> I'm certain that every cultural and economic stratification would have a differing
> outlook and explanation. However, just as the RL question of evolution vs.
> religion, I'm sure there would be one or two theories which would be commonly held
> as the most accurate and probable.
>
> Here is a thought I had last night after my original post. I have not cross
> referenced this with any canon, so it may be easily denied.
>
> Perhaps the divine power inherent in a bloodline does not actually render the
> regent in question the ability to gather RPs, but rather permits the mortal to
> become so attuned to the land, that he is actually able to manipulate varying
> amounts (based on the bloodline strength) of the very essence of the earth.
> Instead of being the 'chosen leader of the Gods', the regent is actually not
> chosen at all. The manifestation of his blood line simply permits him to gather
> strength and might from a certain sphere within the earth. Investiture could then
> be considered akin to tuning an instrument. If the regent's blood line is 'out of
> tune' with the land, he cannot gain RPs from it. He must first become 'tuned' to
> the land. (ie. Invested).

> Now, this changes the outlook of Investiture. It is no longer a holy ritual (in
> the strict sense of the word), but rather is a lengthy ritual of refining and
> re-aligning the regents 'aura' or 'personal harmonics' to that of the region in
> question. This act could easily be confused as a religious ceremony, and
> something ordained by the Gods. IIRC, the BoP states something to the effect that
> the lengthy ceremonies may not even be necessary, but instead have become
> customary, and that no one wants to take a chance by dismissing the ceremony
> outright.
>
> This would seem to fit the nature of the bond between regent and land, and could
> lend credence to the act of 'land's choice.' Since the divine essence is not the
> key element to regency (only permitting the bond to be formed), the land can now
> 'reject' the person who is attempting to bond with it. (Perhaps the inverse
> takion beam just wasn't compatible with the betazoid polar brain scan......)
>
> Know what I mean???

That's a good explanation. I've had for some time bouncing around somewhere the the
transom of my mind the basic premise that the land itself in Aebrynis is alive. The
explosion of the gods as Deismaar infused not only the people in attendance with
divine energy, but the land too, giving it magical power and some measure of free will
and living energy. The land, however, is infused with the energies of all bloodlines,
so it is inherently torn between good/evil, law/chaos, etc. Sometimes the land makes
its own choice for regent, but this choice is based upon it maintaining its own,
completely unfathomed agenda. Maybe the land needs to maintain some sort of balance
in the regents of Anuire. Maybe when the land makes it's choice it makes that
decision using criteria that scholars have yet to determine. Who knows that that
basis might be?

Gary

JulesMrshn@aol.co
12-20-1998, 02:47 AM
In a message dated 12/19/98 1:00:29 PM Central Standard Time,
morgramen@home.com writes: