Lines of Succession

Question: If a Scion had kids before his Visitation - what is the deal about their own status? Are they slightly less powerful Scions waiting for activation? Are they mortal as they were sired before their parents' divine side was active? Or does some measure of ichor get passed down that also kicks in when their parent has their visitation?

If a Scion has children while still mortal, those children will also be mortal. They won't have any special powers or magical attributes, though they may turn out exceptionally good at some things (by human standards) as a result of being so closely related to the divine, just as their parents probably did while they were mortal. They certainly won't "activate" when their parent does or anything; if left alone, they'll live out fully mortal lives.

But if the parent does become a Scion and eventually a god, he can still grant that child a Visitation to in turn make him a Scion; there's no rule saying that you have to be a Scion before the child's birth for that to work, and it's more interesting, in my opinion, if you let new gods deal with their children however works best for them. The grandchild Scion doesn't suffer from any diminished power level; he or she is every bit as Scion-y as any other.

Scion's rules also allow for the grandchildren of a god to be given Visitations to become Scions; it doesn't matter if your dad wasn't a Scion yet when you were born, since your grandfather was already a god. Technically, if the god in question visits his grandchild and not his child, you could be a Scion one generation removed without your parent ever being a Scion themselves. The god could also choose to give both his child and their child a Visitation, making them both his Scions, which could lead to some interesting plots and friction between parent and child.

Grandchildren is as far down as it goes, though; if you're the child of a god, and you have a child, both you and the child are eligible for Scionhood, but any children your child has are not (unless he becomes a god himself, of course). They're too far away from the original god and their ichor is too diluted.

That all seems like it's totally clear to me but about as clear as mud in writing. So here's a direct example instead!

Apollo has a son named David. David, before he knows anything about the divine world, gets married and has a son named Marco.

Apollo can choose to make David a Scion, Marco a Scion, or both, if he's so inclined. If David becomes a god, he can make Marco a Scion on his own if Apollo did not.

If nobody does any visitationing, neither David nor Marco will ever know they were anything but very talented mortals.

I'd totally enjoy seeing a story wherein a character was actually the grandchild of the god and, for some inscrutable divine reason, was chosen to become a Scion instead of his parent. Sounds like a source for lots of fun-filled family drama.