Blooded Animals

[Halvor2]

I recently ran across a reference to blood hounds and it got me thinking what other blooded animals could be out there. Clearly any animals that would likely be on a battle field could have absorbed divine essence and passed that down to its offspring. A selective breeding program like those used in kennels for blood hounds could preserve the other animals bloodlines. Is there anything canon out there on blooded horses, blooded falcons, etc.

Edit: Here is a clarification of my post.

Blood Hounds are a canon creature found in the Blood Spawn sourcebook. They are blooded dogs breed in at least three kennels on Cerilia and sold for about 2 GB each. I am looking for other canon sources of blooded animals. Presumably other blooded animals would have similar origins to Blood Hounds. Blooded Mounts such as horses and varsks would be consistent with the canon lore on blood hounds.

[Fizz]

Yes there is precedent. The most prominant example is the awnshegh known as The Boar. Further, Pegasus and the Stag of Sielwode from Blood Enemies are both blooded beings that began life as normal animals.

Though i think managing bloodlines through kennels would be difficult, as i would expect blooded creatures to not do well in captivity- bloodlines usually result in ambition, and have a tendency to break out and do their own thing.

-Fizz

[AndrewTall]

I think that most animals in the canon with a bloodline are linked to Azrai - the basilisk, the sea awnies and so on. That ties in with Azrai's bloodline being more 'contagious/corrupting' than the others.

I would expect that as each god had sacred animals, those would be more likely to reflect a bloodline than animals not linked to the deity.

As Fizz notes however I would expect any breeding of bloodlines to be highly risky or unsuccessful - milking bloodlines is a player staple but thematically doesn't work, though arguably the Gorgon's guidance of bloodlines could be seen as a canon example of such a breeding program, and one of th ebooks notes that bloodlines are rare amongst the karamhul/sidhe due to low amounts of breeding since Deismaar.

[Fizz]

I think that most animals in the canon with a bloodline are linked to Azrai - the basilisk, the sea awnies and so on. That ties in with Azrai's bloodline being more 'contagious/corrupting' than the others.

Those ones though all started out as humans. I think the OP was referring to blooded beings that began life as animals.

To your point, you're probably right that most man-to-beast awnshegh have been of Azrai. But there is precedent for others. Borelas the Badger and the Golden Unicorn come to mind, both ersheghlien.

-Fizz

[geeman]

I recently ran across a reference to blood hounds and it got me thinking what other blooded animals could be out there. Clearly any animals that would likely be on a battle field could have absorbed divine essence and passed that down to its offspring. A selective breeding program like those used in kennels for blood hounds could preserve the other animals bloodlines. Is there anything canon out there on blooded horses, blooded falcons, etc.

I don't think there are a lot of examples of actual animals from Deismaar other than blood hounds, but there are examples of "animals" that have a bloodline, or would according to the rules. Some creatures appear to gain a bloodline in "non-traditional" ways. That is, bloodtheft doesn't seem to only work by stabbing through the heart. Some creatures gain a bloodline by devouring a blooded individual or otherwise being exposed to that bloodline, and they gain powers in a way that is comparable to bloodtheft. In addition, some awnsheghlien are specifically described not only as animals "elevated" by a bloodline, but also as mating with animals and having progeny. In fact, there are several awnsheghlien in the original canon who have spawned quite a few offspring, and those offspring might be more or less animals, depending on how one reads that source material. In particular, I'd take a look at Blood Enemies as it has a few that might suit your purposes. For instance:

The Hydra. His realm, the Harrowmarsh, is described as "infested with" among other things, awnsheghlien, his offspring. The "hundreds or even thousands" of hydrakin in particular are "random results of the Hydra's asexual reproduction" which should make for all kinds of possible degenerate forms, and even offspring (asexually produced or not...) of those degenerate forms.

Similarly, the Sphynx is specifically described as mating with both humans and felines. "The Sphinx's progeny from both human and leonine mates are a mixture of semi-sentient felines that can speak, albeit in broken sentences, and slightly feral humanoids that are intelligent though dangerously temperamental." That first category sounds much like what you're describing.

Several other creatures might have such offspring. In addition to those already mentioned here by other posters, the Spider, the Serpent, the Wolf could all easily be spawning whole broods of "blooded" animals. Others are maybe less likely such as the Kraken, Seadrake or the Minotaur all of whom seem, based on their descriptions, less inclined to mate, but could be reinterpreted/revised to suit such a theme. Any of the female awnshegh seem similarly less likely candidates simply because of the time necessary to gestate, but also because as a group they don't tend to be as animalistic a theme/inspiration as the male examples. The Harpy, however, seems like she could be interpreted to create some sort of blooded falcon/eagle/hawk progeny, though that description specifically lists the harpies and war birds that make up some of her military as not blooded.

[Halvor2]

Yes there is precedent. The most prominant example is the awnshegh known as The Boar. Further, Pegasus and the Stag of Sielwode from Blood Enemies are both blooded beings that began life as normal animals.

Though i think managing bloodlines through kennels would be difficult, as i would expect blooded creatures to not do well in captivity- bloodlines usually result in ambition, and have a tendency to break out and do their own thing.

-Fizz

The reference to Blood Hounds I can across comes from the Birthright Sourcebook: "Blood Spawn" It mentions Blood Hounds as descendants of war dogs and such that were at Mount Deismaar. It also references the existence of three kennels in Cerilia with the possibility that wealthy regents may have set up their own as well.

According to the source 95% of blood hounds have tainted bloodscores with a blood mark that appears on their fur and the ability to track blooded individuals. 5% of blood hounds are exceptional and may have a limited pool of other blood abilities such as long life.

Costs of bloodhounds are listed as 2 GB+ and the source refers to them as something of a status symbol. They are one master dogs that will only accept a blooded individual as their master. There are some interesting bonuses if the dog and and owner share the same bloodline derivation.

[Fizz]

The reference to Blood Hounds I can across comes from the Birthright Sourcebook: "Blood Spawn" It mentions Blood Hounds as descendants of war dogs and such that were at Mount Deismaar. It also references the existence of three kennels in Cerilia with the possibility that wealthy regents may have set up their own as well.

According to the source 95% of blood hounds have tainted bloodscores with a blood mark that appears on their fur and the ability to track blooded individuals. 5% of blood hounds are exceptional and may have a limited pool of other blood abilities such as long life.

Costs of bloodhounds are listed as 2 GB+ and the source refers to them as something of a status symbol. They are one master dogs that will only accept a blooded individual as their master. There are some interesting bonuses if the dog and and owner share the same bloodline derivation.

Ah yes, i recall that. I think i misinterpreted your initial post- i read it as though there were kennels that were breeding in order to build up bloodlines- slowly breeding the dogs to have increasingly stronger blood scores, not just preserving the line.

Breeding such critters, even with a tainted bloodline, is clearly a rare and highly specialized chore- only 3 kennels in Cerilia and 2GB per pup- not something the novice can start up easily. Perhaps because most dogs have tainted bloodlines they can be controlled. So i think my initial skepticism is still justified. :)

As for other animals, while there are several examples of animals gaining a bloodline, the only one i know of as definitely being at Deismaar was Haelyn's charger, Pegasus. So i don't think it's a leap to say any animal that was at Deismaar could have descendents with a bloodline, though like the hounds, likely very diluted.


-Fizz

[Magian]

I agree with Fizz. I think you can tie in any species to Deismar that you want.

However, you could also give them a stronger bloodline if you want as well. This is not a Birthright example, but in "A Song of Ice and Fire" Arya's dire wolf Nymeria (named after a Warrior-Queen) is the alpha of a super-pack of wolves in the Riverlands that is speculated to be a formidable force, so much so that literary analysis suggests that it will prove to be an influential device in a coming battle. We can easily connect the lines to some form of pack/tribal domain for a blooded wolf that leads a group and passes it's bloodline through their own alpha pups. Perhaps this is stretching the domain rules too much. It does give an idea of how to explain why an animal bloodline isn't so diluted.

[Hawkfeather]

What about blooded animals and bloodtheft? Could an animal close to a successful bloodtheft attempt receive excess bloodline strength as the power goes to the closest, next powerful creature? I could see this happening with familiars or animal companions that are close to their partner as blood theft occurs..

[Fizz]

What about blooded animals and bloodtheft? Could an animal close to a successful bloodtheft attempt receive excess bloodline strength as the power goes to the closest, next powerful creature? I could see this happening with familiars or animal companions that are close to their partner as blood theft occurs..

I don't see why any rule that applies to the standard races can't apply to any animal.

A transfer of bloodline to a familiar or companion could set up some interesting storylines. For instance, consider a familiar or companion, with his new powers, out to avenge its slain master.

-Fizz

[geeman]

What about blooded animals and bloodtheft? Could an animal close to a successful bloodtheft attempt receive excess bloodline strength as the power goes to the closest, next powerful creature? I could see this happening with familiars or animal companions that are close to their partner as blood theft occurs..

I don't think there would necessarily be a "daisy chain" of bloodtheft, if you will, even between beings that are as closely connected as wizards and their familiars. Animal companions of druids/priests of Reynir and rangers seem even less directly associated than wizards/familiars. You could, of course, make a particular DM fiat exception in your campaign or background materials, but there's not much in the canon to support such an idea. For instance, you could have an exceptional situation to explain the existence of a particular kind of blooded animal. A familiar whose master committed an act of bloodtheft and somehow died in the attempt, or what if a wizard stabbed himself (by some freak accident, suicide or bizarre act of desperation) while his familiar was perched on his wrist? That then familiar becomes a sort of blooded animal, free to develop and live on its own.

That said, I like to think of awnshegh as going through a sort of supervillain origin story with a particular theme. Rather than just any old life & death situation activating their mutant powers, awnshegh powers come about as a result of blood, death and betrayal. You can do blood and death, or you can do blood and betrayal, or you can do all three concurrent or consecutive, but you can't do death and betrayal without blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see. (With apologies to Tom Stoppard.) If one sticks to that kind of thematic system, then there are other ways blooded animals could come about as a result of something like a bloodtheft. The whole "stab through the heart" issue has always been somewhat game mechanically abstract to begin with, and I've personally always thought that other types of killing blows or deaths could make as much sense. So, I've written up awnsheghlien descriptions in which the origins of the creature come from a scion's blood seeping into the sand to animate as a kind of spirit. The Vulture ate the heart of a vulture that had, in turn, been feeding on the bodies of executed Vos nobles, which awakened his awnshegh nature. The Flayed Man came about after bleeding to death on the piles of bodies in a mass grave. Kettil the Leech was the result of a blood transfusion gone wrong.

So, I'd argue that you could come up with blooded animals in any number of thematically valid methods. They could be the result of experimentation/breeding by a wizard or group of scions. Any of the temples might be breeding their totemic animals using stock that was somehow infused with a bloodline (particularly a god whose priests have access to shapeshifting abilities....) They might come about as a result of an awakened animal stealing a bloodline in a way identical to the way humans do it and then passing it along to its progeny. The spell that is in 3.5 called Baleful Polymorph has all kinds of possible ramifications. Consider the historical (but probably anecdotal) story of Caligula wanting to make a senator of his horse. In BR, he could at least make an attempt at such a thing....

[AndrewTall]

There is a question I suppose about whether a scion could make an animal their heir - or if the bond between the scion and animal could be so strong that the land's choice could transfer the bloodline to the beast, we normally think of land's choice as a regent sort of thing, but I'd presume that it could occur at the lower end of the blooded spectrum, I suspect that this would be an extraordinarily rare event either way though - and probably deemed a heinous crime by society in most cases.

Animals can eat/etc scions of course to satisfy Geeman's 'death' & 'blood' requirements, I would however widen 'betrayal' to 'exemplifying the characteristics of the deity from which the bloodline flowed', so 'betrayal' would be fine for Azrai, along with 'wrath', 'pride', etc, but for Anduiras I would lean towards 'courage' or 'loyalty' and so on. That said, as the 'corruptor' deity Azrai should have more blooded animals than the others put together in my view.

I would be marginally happier in having the animals associated with the old gods as scions, though I vaguely recall expanding the list of those a lot.

I admit to having some blooded, or at least 'blood tainted' plants, in the dhoesone PS that I wrote I had some plants tainted by Azrai grow, starting from the site of where a scion died from recollection. Those were less properly 'blooded' than just 'twisted to suit the bloodline' though.

Mebhaighl stones and sielshegh suggest that even unliving inanimate objects can absorb bloodline as well.