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  1. #1
    Pieter A de Jong
    Guest

    Bloodlines and Inheritance

    In recent discussions of inheritance and how bloodlines are passed
    on there has been a suggestion that John Roele, Bloodstrength 100 and Jane
    Doe, Bloodstrength 30, can get together and have 3 children, each of which
    will have
    a 65 bloodstrength. When John Roele dies and one child inherits, there will
    be 2 children with a 65 bloodstrength and 1 child with a 100 bloodstrength.
    Assuming Jane Doe also died (without passing on her bloodline) we are then
    left with a total bloodstrength of 230, having started with 130. It seems
    unreasonable that the total amount of godly essence around is steadily
    increasing without any connection to the power of the land (collected
    regency). My question is should bloodlines be conservative? (Like
    conservation of energy, the total amount of bloodstrength out there should
    not increase without added strength from an outside source, i.e. bloodline
    strength raised through accumulated regency)

    Pieter A de Jong
    Graduate Mechanical Engineering Student
    University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

  2. #2
    DKEvermore
    Guest

    Bloodlines and Inheritance

    In a message dated 98-03-24 11:06:35 EST, you write:

    > egency). My question is should bloodlines be conservative? (Like
    > conservation of energy, the total amount of bloodstrength out there should
    > not increase without added strength from an outside source, i.e. bloodline
    > strength raised through accumulated regency)
    >
    I think in a realistic sense the bloodlines are, overall, roughly conserved in
    spite of the evidence you gave to the contrary. We mustn't forget the acts of
    blood theft and regicide that happen with nail-biting regularity in the world
    of Aebrynis. Producing offspring with bloodlines whose total is much greater
    than the parents' totals are then necessary in order to achieve a balance.

    In other words, if there were an ever-increasing number of scions running
    around in the world, these scions would soon be going about with greater
    frequency sticking each other through the heart to absorb whatever portion of
    bloodline they could from their victims. And the overall gross amount of
    blood points would then decrease.

    It's therefore much faster to loose a great deal from the gross total of
    bloodpoints in Cerilia than it is to gain them, since it takes longer to
    conceive and give birth to new scions than it does to kill them. So let them
    try to multiply like rabbits. It's going to even out in the end anyway.

    At least, this is my take on the matter. ;)

    - -DKE

  3. #3
    Pieter A de Jong
    Guest

    Bloodlines and Inheritance

    At 12:04 PM 3/24/98 -0500, you wrote:

    >I think in a realistic sense the bloodlines are, overall, roughly conserved in
    >spite of the evidence you gave to the contrary. We mustn't forget the acts of
    >blood theft and regicide that happen with nail-biting regularity in the world
    >of Aebrynis. Producing offspring with bloodlines whose total is much greater
    >than the parents' totals are then necessary in order to achieve a balance.
    >
    >In other words, if there were an ever-increasing number of scions running
    >around in the world, these scions would soon be going about with greater
    >frequency sticking each other through the heart to absorb whatever portion of
    >bloodline they could from their victims. And the overall gross amount of
    >blood points would then decrease.
    >
    >It's therefore much faster to loose a great deal from the gross total of
    >bloodpoints in Cerilia than it is to gain them, since it takes longer to
    >conceive and give birth to new scions than it does to kill them. So let them
    >try to multiply like rabbits. It's going to even out in the end anyway.
    >
    >At least, this is my take on the matter. ;)
    >
    >-DKE
    >************************************************* **************************
    >>In general, such quasi-conservation would occur. I am just wondering how
    you keep evil PC's/NPC's from doing just what was ascribed to the Gorgon.
    (having a harem and committing bloodtheft on the offspring). The other
    question such quasi-conservation raises is what happens to the lost
    bloodstrength (godly essence) does it just evaporate? Is it absorbed by the
    land? Does it result in local lifeforms being changed by and infusion of
    godly essence?

    Pieter A de Jong
    Graduate Mechanical Engineering Student
    University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

  4. #4
    DKEvermore
    Guest

    Bloodlines and Inheritance

    In a message dated 98-03-24 12:31:58 EST, you write:

    > In general, such quasi-conservation would occur. I am just wondering how
    > you keep evil PC's/NPC's from doing just what was ascribed to the Gorgon.
    > (having a harem and committing bloodtheft on the offspring). The other
    > question such quasi-conservation raises is what happens to the lost
    > bloodstrength (godly essence) does it just evaporate? Is it absorbed by the
    > land? Does it result in local lifeforms being changed by and infusion of
    > godly essence?
    >
    Good questions, and I think these would have as many answers as there are DMs.
    I don't believe there is any specific rulings on the matter. IMC, alignments
    should limit the harvesting behavior. If a PC does have an alignment which is
    tolerant of slaughtering one's own offspring, then soon I believe this PC
    would have other problems... ;)

    I would also assume lost bloodstrength is absorbed back into the world of
    Aebrynis, but I'm interested in other people's ideas on this, too. And the
    question of it changing/transforming the local life is one I hadn't considered
    yet...

    - -DKE

  5. #5
    Adam Theo
    Guest

    Bloodlines and Inheritance

    This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
    - --------------14C48175B4C89474D381199E
    Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
    Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

    hello, Adam Theo here,
    well, all i have to say is that, sure, conservation of energy can work in this
    'bloodpoints' thing. after all, using the conservation of energy law, and
    einstein's e=mc^2, which together say that matter can be interchangable with
    energy and to get more of one you have to decrease a proportional amount of the
    other, we can easily say that:
    Bloodline Points used by mortals in BR are one side of the coin, and as the
    number of and strength of the scions in Cerilia increase, then some other factor
    has to decrease.
    let's say that as Bloodline Points increase across the world, then something
    else (the strength of the new Cerilian gods, the 'life energy' of nature, the
    barrier between the Shadow World and Cerilia) decreases. how's that?

    Pieter A de Jong wrote:

    > In recent discussions of inheritance and how bloodlines are passed
    > on there has been a suggestion that John Roele, Bloodstrength 100 and Jane
    > Doe, Bloodstrength 30, can get together and have 3 children, each of which
    > will have
    > a 65 bloodstrength. When John Roele dies and one child inherits, there will
    > be 2 children with a 65 bloodstrength and 1 child with a 100 bloodstrength.
    > Assuming Jane Doe also died (without passing on her bloodline) we are then
    > left with a total bloodstrength of 230, having started with 130. It seems
    > unreasonable that the total amount of godly essence around is steadily
    > increasing without any connection to the power of the land (collected
    > regency). My question is should bloodlines be conservative? (Like
    > conservation of energy, the total amount of bloodstrength out there should
    > not increase without added strength from an outside source, i.e. bloodline
    > strength raised through............................

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    org: Theorie WebWorks
    adr: 3101 Elwood Trail;;;Tallahassee;Florida;32308;United States of America
    email;internet: adamtheo@usa.net
    title: Owner, Webmaster, Internet Consultant
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  6. #6
    rad smith
    Guest

    Bloodlines and Inheritance

    On Wed, 25 Mar 1998, Adam Theo wrote:


    > well, all i have to say is that, sure, conservation of energy can work
    > in this 'bloodpoints' thing. after all, using the conservation of
    > energy law, and einstein's e=mc^2, which together say that matter can be
    > interchangable with energy and to get more of one you have to decrease a
    > proportional amount of the other, we can easily say that:

    you can easily /say/ it, but you can't necessarily say it correctly or
    justifiably.

    firstly, it's "magic" (or divine, which is the same but bigger) and is
    thus not necessarily susceptible to scientific analysis. (or indeed
    rational thought)

    secondly, there is no particular reason why the laws of physics are the
    same in adnd as they are IRL. in fact, if you take spelljammer as canon,
    they they are definitely *not*.

    > Bloodline Points used by mortals in BR are one side of the coin, and as
    > the number of and strength of the scions in Cerilia increase, then some
    > other factor has to decrease.

    as to this "conservation of bloodstrength" thing; bloodstrength appears to
    be highly non-linear. 5 random scions of 20 bloodstrength do not the
    gorgon make.


    - --
    rad

    just because something might be the case does not make it
    intrinsically worthy of investigation. the human navel
    might contain untold secrets of the universe; presumably
    that is why so many spend so long in contemplation of it.

  7. #7
    Pieter A de Jong
    Guest

    Bloodlines and Inheritance

    At 12:54 PM 3/26/98 +0000, rad smith wrote:

    >
    >as to this "conservation of bloodstrength" thing; bloodstrength appears to
    >be highly non-linear. 5 random scions of 20 bloodstrength do not the
    >gorgon make.
    >
    >
    >--
    >rad
    >
    This isn't really the point I was trying to get to. What I was asking is
    where does the extra bloodstrength come from? As in yes, bloodstrength is
    clearly a
    non-linear quantity, but more and more is generated with each passing
    generation. I used to believe that when the old gods died they released their
    godly life-force and this is what made up the bloodlines. However, this
    would be a finite (if large) quantity. This was then collected in various
    beings, with the gods champions collecting the large majority of it and
    ascending to godhood. The remainder is passed on from generation to
    generation. But, the example with John Roele and Jane Doe makes it clear
    that more godly life force/ bloodstrength is being generated. I would like
    to hear where people think it comes from.

    Pieter A de Jong
    Graduate Mechanical Engineering Student
    University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

  8. #8
    Gary V. Foss
    Guest

    Bloodlines and Inheritance

    Pieter A de Jong wrote:

    > At 12:54 PM 3/26/98 +0000, rad smith wrote:
    > >
    > >as to this "conservation of bloodstrength" thing; bloodstrength appears to
    > >be highly non-linear. 5 random scions of 20 bloodstrength do not the
    > >gorgon make.
    > >
    > This isn't really the point I was trying to get to. What I was asking is
    > where does the extra bloodstrength come from? As in yes, bloodstrength is
    > clearly a
    > non-linear quantity, but more and more is generated with each passing
    > generation. I used to believe that when the old gods died they released their
    > godly life-force and this is what made up the bloodlines. However, this
    > would be a finite (if large) quantity. This was then collected in various
    > beings, with the gods champions collecting the large majority of it and
    > ascending to godhood. The remainder is passed on from generation to
    > generation. But, the example with John Roele and Jane Doe makes it clear
    > that more godly life force/ bloodstrength is being generated. I would like
    > to hear where people think it comes from.

    I like to think of bloodlines as being something came from the gods, but can be
    expanded upon by the mortals. There is no "maximum" amount of bloodstrength in
    the universe, otherwise entropy would take over and the power of the gods would
    fizzle out sooner or later. The power of the gods is more like yeast. Put a glop
    of it in the corner with something to grow on and it will. Put another glop in
    another corner from the original sample and that will grow too. Theoretically,
    everyone could have some of the divine essence in them eventually.

    - -Gary

  9. #9
    veryfastperson@juno.com
    Guest

    Bloodlines and Inheritance

    >>as to this "conservation of bloodstrength" thing; bloodstrength
    >appears to
    >>be highly non-linear. 5 random scions of 20 bloodstrength do not the
    >>gorgon make.

    >This isn't really the point I was trying to get to. What I was asking
    >is
    >where does the extra bloodstrength come from? As in yes, bloodstrength
    >is
    >clearly a
    >non-linear quantity, but more and more is generated with each passing
    >generation. I used to believe that when the old gods died they
    >released their
    >godly life-force and this is what made up the bloodlines. However,
    >this
    >would be a finite (if large) quantity. This was then collected in
    >various
    >beings, with the gods champions collecting the large majority of it
    >and
    >ascending to godhood. The remainder is passed on from generation to
    >generation. But, the example with John Roele and Jane Doe makes it
    >clear
    >that more godly life force/ bloodstrength is being generated. I would
    >like
    >to hear where people think it comes from.

    hmm, i have always been led to believe that when the gods divine essance
    washed over those present at diesmaar, their /physical/ bodies were
    changed. i'm not sure, but i think that's mentioned in the boxed set.
    that is why people can keep having children that have bloodlines (in the
    John Roele and Jane Doe example). the "godly essance" was a one time
    deal... people today just have something similar to a mutiation of the
    blood that makes them different.

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  10. #10
    Mark A Vandermeulen
    Guest

    Bloodlines and Inheritance

    On Thu, 26 Mar 1998, Pieter A de Jong wrote:

    > where does the extra bloodstrength come from? As in yes, bloodstrength is
    > clearly a
    > non-linear quantity, but more and more is generated with each passing
    > generation. I used to believe that when the old gods died they released their
    > godly life-force and this is what made up the bloodlines. However, this
    > would be a finite (if large) quantity. This was then collected in various
    > beings, with the gods champions collecting the large majority of it and
    > ascending to godhood. The remainder is passed on from generation to
    > generation. But, the example with John Roele and Jane Doe makes it clear
    > that more godly life force/ bloodstrength is being generated. I would like
    > to hear where people think it comes from.

    It is well known that gods can reproduce (i.e. Laerme and Eloele), and
    presumably can do so without reducing their own power. Thus "godpower"
    acts more like a biological "substance" (like regular blood) rather than a
    physical "substance" subject to laws of conservation of mass and energy.
    That is, it is a product of certain living organisms, produced naturally
    as part of their normal functions. The addition of "godsblood" simply
    added that "part" or "module" of superhuman biology to normal humans,
    without fundamentally changing them in any other way. It might be more
    realistic to portray children as "growing" in bloodstrength as they reach
    maturity (and reaching "full strength" by age 14 or so).

    Mark VanderMeulen
    vander+@pitt.edu

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