Children/Infanticide and bloodl

[Gary V. Foss]

James Knevitt wrote:

> I) What happens when a blooded person and an unblooded person have a
> child (I cant remember if this was in thge BR rulebook) ? I'm guessing
> the child would have the blooded person's derivation but the strength
> would be diluted (by about half) by the unblooded person.
>
> II) Here's an interesting dilemma:
>
> If you kill a blooded person with a blow to the heart, you get
> yourself some bloodline points. Sweet.
> Now, what's there to say a blooded character couldn't get himself a
> whole harem of blooded women (under duress) dedicated to producing
> children for him so he could kill them and steal their bloodpower when
> they're born ?
>
> Any thoughts ?

I've always thought that a person who wanted to do this kind of thing would be
recognized pretty quickly by the people in his own nation for the horrifyingly
brutal, sociopathic scumbag that they are, and he would probably not stay in
power very long. Even in BR, rulership comes from a mandate of the masses and
if the people find themselves ruled by such an obvious madman they would
rebel. Not even goblins or orogs would endorse this kind of behavior. Some
cultures don't have any trouble with multiple spouses, but killing off one's
own children is pretty much one of the most heinous things someone can do.

Assuming that the ruler still wanted to try this kind of thing, as a DM I
wouldn't let it get that far. If he wanted to have a harem I would subject him
to the full brunt of "realities" that situation entails. A dozen women held
under duress means eight dozen pissed off husbands, brothers, cousins and
boyfriends out looking for blood. If one wife is troublesome, twelve wives
would be that much more.... My relationships lead me to the conclusion that
one girlfriend is trouble, but two is not just twice the trouble, it is
exponentially more. Twelve would be Trouble to the twelth.... and nobody
could handle that much trouble believe you me, brother.... How does being
nagged in quadraphonic stereo times three sound? I'd have a regent who tried
to pull something like this kicking out his wives long before the first child
was born.

If I child was actually born, I'd probably have it squirreled off by a
conspiracy between the mother and midwife a la the movie Willow to save it from
death, and the regent in question would begin to find those under him working
to undermine his authority in general not just to save the infants.

Gary

[Even =?iso-8859-1?Q?S=F8]

At 20:52 27.10.98 -0800, you wrote:
>I) What happens when a blooded person and an unblooded person have a
>child (I cant remember if this was in thge BR rulebook) ? I'm guessing
>the child would have the blooded person's derivation but the strength
>would be diluted (by about half) by the unblooded person.
>
That is the way I play it. It is the solution that uses common sense, if not
there would be too many blooded people after a few generations. i.e if all
blooded regents married unblooded persons, and their children had a the full
bloodline score there would be a huge number of blooded children running around.

>II) Here's an interesting dilemma:
>
>If you kill a blooded person with a blow to the heart, you get
>yourself some bloodline points. Sweet.
>Now, what's there to say a blooded character couldn't get himself a
>whole harem of blooded women (under duress) dedicated to producing
>children for him so he could kill them and steal their bloodpower when
>they're born ?

As I see it, the bloodline does not manifest itself before the children
reach their adolesence. So it would indeed be a long term plan for the
regent if this was to work. As previously mentioned the wives would most
certainly object, and I think the children would have a few things to say as
well.
>
>Any thoughts ?

I strongly disagree about the problem with several wives. It happens to be a
usual custom in several eastern cultures on this planet to marry several women.

And by the way: What SICK mind thought the plan up anyway? I know just the
right treatment, go consult the excellent psyciatrist dr. Raesene!

>
>James Knevitt
>Critical Mass Studios
>(Makers of the Soothsayer multi-genre RPG)
>

[Pieter Sleijpen]

James Knevitt wrote:
> II) Here's an interesting dilemma:
>
> If you kill a blooded person with a blow to the heart, you get
> yourself some bloodline points. Sweet.
> Now, what's there to say a blooded character couldn't get himself a
> whole harem of blooded women (under duress) dedicated to producing
> children for him so he could kill them and steal their bloodpower when
> they're born ?
>
> Any thoughts ?

Sure, it is possible. Though as Even told, the blooded character would
have to wait till the childeren are around 18 years old. It would be
much simpler to rule a large domain and use the earned regency to raise
the bloodline.
As for multiple wives, the only culture on Cerilia that accepts this
custom are the Khinasi. They also accept multiple husbands, but this
creates some stranges things (two men and two women forming a maried
group?!). The prerequisite is that the husband or wife earns enough to
take good care for multiple partners. Else it will be a serious breach
of sayim and an insult to the all the partners and their family.
It raises an other question though, do you think awnsheiglien and
ersheighlien can get childeren? When completely changed certainly not,
but where do you draw the line?

[DKEvermore@aol.co]

In a message dated 10-27-1998 10:58:08 PM Central Standard Time,
jknevitt@yahoo.com writes:

> If you kill a blooded person with a blow to the heart, you get
> yourself some bloodline points. Sweet.
> Now, what's there to say a blooded character couldn't get himself a
> whole harem of blooded women (under duress) dedicated to producing
> children for him so he could kill them and steal their bloodpower when
> they're born ?
>
In my game, I'd rule that you can gain no additional blood power originally,
immediately derived from your own. In other words, the children got their
line from their parents, so the parents get nothing by killing their own kids
and stealing their bloodline, since it is derived from the parents,
themselves. And this would work in reverse. I.e. the children could not
steal the bloodline from the parents. They would gain nothing.

However, grandpa better watch himself if little Johnny gets to be awful
admiring of grandpa's divine aura. hehehe

- -DKE

[Gary V. Foss]

Even Sørgjerd wrote:

> I strongly disagree about the problem with several wives. It happens to be a
> usual custom in several eastern cultures on this planet to marry several women.

Try it sometime.

Gary

[gingerprince]

>In a message dated 10-27-1998 10:58:08 PM Central Standard Time,
>jknevitt@yahoo.com writes:
>
>> If you kill a blooded person with a blow to the heart, you get
>> yourself some bloodline points. Sweet.
>> Now, what's there to say a blooded character couldn't get himself a
>> whole harem of blooded women (under duress) dedicated to producing
>> children for him so he could kill them and steal their bloodpower when
>> they're born ?
>>
>In my game, I'd rule that you can gain no additional blood power
originally,
>immediately derived from your own. In other words, the children got their
>line from their parents, so the parents get nothing by killing their own
kids
>and stealing their bloodline, since it is derived from the parents,
>themselves. And this would work in reverse. I.e. the children could not
>steal the bloodline from the parents. They would gain nothing.
>
>However, grandpa better watch himself if little Johnny gets to be awful
>admiring of grandpa's divine aura. hehehe
>
>-DKE


Didn't the Gorgon try something like this a while back, have a bunch
of children with human women, then when they matured and learnt to use their
blood powers sent them out to cause trouble. I guess he planned to claim
their bloodlines presumably enhanced by bloodthefts of their own.

Isn't the Warlock of the Stonecrowns one of the Gorgon's progeny?
He's pretty paranoid about the Gorgon coming after him, so I guess Old
Stoney's plan worked in some way.

Nick.

[Mark A Vandermeulen]

On Tue, 27 Oct 1998, James Knevitt wrote:

> I) What happens when a blooded person and an unblooded person have a
> child (I cant remember if this was in thge BR rulebook) ? I'm guessing
> the child would have the blooded person's derivation but the strength
> would be diluted (by about half) by the unblooded person.
>
> II) Here's an interesting dilemma:
>
> If you kill a blooded person with a blow to the heart, you get
> yourself some bloodline points. Sweet.
> Now, what's there to say a blooded character couldn't get himself a
> whole harem of blooded women (under duress) dedicated to producing
> children for him so he could kill them and steal their bloodpower when
> they're born ?

I've always played in the terms you indicated: the offspring of a blooded
noble and an unblooded kitchen wench (or a blooded noble and an unblooded
stablehand, although that is probably rarer in medieval cultures), is a
blooded offspring with a one-step reduction in bloodline strength (minor
to tainted, major to minor, etc), and half of the BL score of his blooded
parent. Blooded bastards can be wonderful fun (particularly when you
didn't even realize that you HAD a sister).

As for BL-raising stables of wives, the Warlock of the Stonecrowns
adventure mentions that this is exactly what the Gorgon did for a while.
He captured a bunch of women to provide him with offspring, and ended up
killing most of them (the Warlock so mentioned is one that escaped). If I
recall correctly, his original purpose was to create lieutennants which
are loyal to him, but he eventually decided that his offspring would not
in fact be particularly loyal to him and would more likely be always
looking to turn on him with half a chance, and so gave up the idea, but
that in fact was the evenutal outcome. (I could be misremembering part of
this, it's been a while.)

Mark VanderMeulen
vander+@pitt.edu

[DKEvermore@aol.co]

In a message dated 10-30-1998 4:19:06 AM Central Standard Time,
gingerprince@easynet.co.uk writes:

> Didn't the Gorgon try something like this a while back, have a bunch
> of children with human women, then when they matured and learnt to use
their
> blood powers sent them out to cause trouble. I guess he planned to claim
> their bloodlines presumably enhanced by bloodthefts of their own.
>

Correct. He did dabble with heirs (any via the Tara the Black Princess? who
knows...) and establishing a dynasty for a time. It soon became clear to him
that he would not die, and instead viewed his heirs as threats, challenges to
his throne and killed them. Only the Warlock escaped alive.

Clearly, this was not an attempt to harvest his own children for increased
bloodline power, and no mention is made that he gained personally by it.
Instead it was a simple removal of a possible threat to the claim of his own
throne.

> Isn't the Warlock of the Stonecrowns one of the Gorgon's progeny?
> He's pretty paranoid about the Gorgon coming after him, so I guess Old
> Stoney's plan worked in some way.
>
> Nick.
>

It worked in the sense that he found he could have children. But turned out
to be a totally useless venture for him. The Warlock (who the Gorgon would
have killed if he knew the Warlock's whereabouts and to get his stolen
property back -- the cauldron) is paranoid worm, but paranoid with reason.

- -DKE