From Tim Nutting;
Well, I play that Azrai's blood is the most potent of the seven
lines. Since
so little history is given of the dim and murky past of Deismaar
(with good
reason), I've gone my own way and placed the Adurians as being incredibly
powerful when compared to the other races. They had to be, else
they would not
have been able to chase six entire civilizations off the southern
continent.
By all rights and inference, the Adurian nations outnumbered ALL of the
Cerilian humans by about 2 to 1, at least.
Population ratio's aside, given what little history is available (or perhaps
I've just picked it up from someone's earlier post), IMC Azrai was the most
powerful of the gods not because he sat back and looked powerful and gathered
in followers through his priests like the other gods. But because he walked
among the people offering snippets of his power, spells, etc without appearing
overtly evil, gently seducing the people to his cause.

So, because Azrai had more worshipers, he had more power, and
thus more was
distributed when he "died." (The Shadow IS returning)
I have visions of Billy Crystal's Miracle Max shouting at the steps of a
temple to Haelyn "So Azrai's dead, huh. Look who's so smart, As it so happens
he's only mostly dead and mostly dead is slightly alive..." etc.....

I track Azrai blood
score seperate of everything else (the other lines are none
strong enough to
"absorb" each other, except in usurpation, when the line of the slayer
overcomes the line of the victim). Whenever BT occurs, I roll a
percentage
chance equal to Azrai Blood Score. Lower, they are consumed and
incompatible
powers are transformed, plus they instantly gain the Bloodform (trait?)
"ability" that creates an awnshegh's form.
That sounds really nasty, I must find a way of dropping that on my players as
a romour next session. That there is a slight chance of changing bloodline
each time they kill an awnshegh worries them. That the chance is cumulative
will terrify them.
As a side note, on the Netbook there is a blood trait called Migrant Blood by
Joao Medeiros that basically acts as a virus, kill the scion, get his bloodline
100% chance, plus get the blood ability to pass on to your children or whoever
kills you. IMC it is feared that Bloodform works in the same way although with
only a slim chance of bloodline change.

I agree with the Complete Systems mystery author (what IS your
name, friend?)
I'll get the hang of this e-mail system yet :-(, my friends call me
Dubhghaill or Doyle which is the Anglicised spelling.

...that Bloodtheft is evil, much to the chargin of my players. They want
the
power, and they want to be good, too. Kind of like wanting
forgiveness without
having to pay for it, a symptom of modern American culture.

I allow "Usurpation" by my PCs on a few notorious circumstances.
The first is
that they came up with a whopper of a good reason for it. One PC is a...
visionary, who believes that Azrai is returning from the dead.
He believes
that when the Shadow returns, it will claim all the power left in
the land,
taking it back from the corners of Cerilia it has seeped to. So,
by allowing
an awnshegh's bloodgift to seep back into the land, they allow
Azrai all that
much more strength when He comes back. The choices are simple,
then, take it
upon themselves, or leave it for the Enemy to regain.

You can understand why they are very eager to get their hands on
something that
will "purify one's bloodline". The perception is that a scion of
Brenna will
keep a Brenna bloodline, though this is far from the truth.
And I thought my campaign was going to be fairly dark =:-|
I think each of the temples would want to get hold of some item / research
some spell or ceremony that would convert derivations to one compatible with
their deity, or if nothing else, restore the derivation to non-Azrai.

I'd like some comment about the artifact itself, too.
For a 'low' magic world, this is a seriously powerful item. That it forces a
strict belief change however may be the 'safety switch' that prevents over-use.
If the artifact avoids being kept; "Always the Chalice escapes capture by the
armies of any established Church of Haelyn, no matter the source" - Given that
the wielder will eventually become a fanatical priest of Haelyn bent on
converting the world, he / she will early on establish an army.... only to find
that the chalice has been mysteriously misplaced.
If it is meant to balance out the Viper's Eye (not having the details at
hand), perhaps the Eye needs to be powered down a little, or perhaps only the
threat / promise of these items is used throughout the campaign until the
climactic stages of the campaign, where they can be used to draw the campaign
to a close.
Aside from that, I'm definitely adding the artifact history to my list of
legends to be quoted to the players :-)

Best Regards,

Dubhghaill (Doyle)
Victoria, Australia, 613 9563 5085
enq@completesystems.com.au
"I love large shields, I want all my opponents to have them" - Graewolfe