Question: How would you explain one of the big loud heroic gods (Thor, Marduk etc.) having a trickster Scion? Or what about an intellectual, how would you explain one of those big jock gods having a nerdy kid?
No explanation necessary, my friend! In Scion, just as in real life, children are not carbon copies of their parents. They don't always have the same interests, priorities or personalities. When you play a Scion, he or she can literally do or be anything you want - and while many players choose a parent that closely matches their concept, there's absolutely no rule that says you have to do so. So what if dear old dad is a smith-god extraordinaire and you'd rather use magic to grease the wheels instead of technology? My father has a degree in saxophone performance, and I assure you that this did not result in me being born with a reed in my mouth.
Besides, mythology's rife with examples of children who are their parents' opposites. Hermes, the incorrigible trickster, is the son of stern, rules-with-an-iron-fist Zeus. Uller, god of skiing, cursing and wrecking people in combat, is the son of gentle wife-and-mother goddess Sif. Sweet-tempered, fair-minded judge Sin is the father of batshit insane troublemaker Ishtar. Ascetic Shiva is the father of gluttonous Ganesha. The creator patriarch Izanagi is father to the destructive chaotic mess that is Susano-o, and so on and so forth.
So when you want to play a bookish sorcerer, you never have to limit yourself to only the Thoths and Quetzalcoatls of the world. Any concept can fall under any parent - it's all in how the story of your relationship with that god unfolds after that.
so the descriptions of the general personalities of a gods scions as given in the corp book are loose guidelines at best.
ReplyDeleteEhh...at worst? Id generally ignore them completely.
DeleteThey might represent a common thread among the God's offspring, but shouldn't ever limit concepts.
DeleteExactly. Those descriptions are of things a Scion of a given god might typically be, but there's no rule that says you have to play a typical Scion. It might be a lot easier for you to - after all, if dad has Strength associated, it's easier to be a fighter than to buy unassociated Intelligence - but you can do whatever you want.
DeleteThose little paragraph suggestions irritate me because some of them do make it sound ironclad, and it shouldn't be. I've actually seen people put off of playing Scion entirely because they thought they had to make their characters clones of the divine parent and didn't want to be confined.
As I said in another, similar topic: "How many muscle-bound sky Gods does one Pantheon need?"
Delete(Three, btw. Three.)
Four, if they're the Anunna. Crazy sky-worshipers.
Deleteso scions can stick with the associated powers of his parent but have a completely different personality and way of doing things. Like having a scion of Ares has strength and combat skills, but also intelligence and discretion in the way he fights (though that would probably have him passed off to Athena despite the hatred the two parents have for each other). playing a scion opposite his parent can be fun, but either you will spend twice as much xp developing him, or you can have fun with a character struggling not to be shoved into a mold opposite her world view. And for Gods like Odin and Tezcat with a butt load of different powers you can make almost any scion you want.
ReplyDeleteI have that situation in my game, actually. Both our Scion of Chernobog and our ex-Scion of Lugh despise their parents and yet are very heavily invested in the Purviews and Attributes their parents favor.
Deletei'm surprised that they haven't been squashed or had there birthrights taken away.
DeleteThe ex-Scion of Lugh destroyed all his Birthrights (fed them to a Zmey) and went through a series of trials that culminated in him renouncing his divine ties to Lugh and being Reshaped into a new form, a fatherless Scion with no bonds to any parent. Lugh's been sending assassins after him ever since.
DeleteThe Scion of Chernobog is still alive, but on VERY rocky terms with his father. He still obeys Chernobog, but tries constantly to twist his way around his father's evil orders and stay true to his own morality. So far, mostly so good. His Birthrights (a blood-thirsty axe, a bunch of dead KGB agents and the above-mentioned man-eating Zmey) are actually all designed to make him MORE evil, so Chernobog is all too happy to leave them in place. The Black God is patient, after all. Eventually Boris will see that evil is the best way.
But, despite their violent differences, the ex-Lugh Scion is heavily invested in many of Lugh's traits and is a world-famous musician and Bard. If it wasn't for their disagreements, they'd get along famously.
The Scion of Chernobog is just as invested in Death, Fear and Darkness, and goes around chopping off heads willy-nilly. He just does it for good (he's a murderous batman) instead of evil.
It really depends on the god whether or not they care if their Scion is fractious. For some, as long as the kid is still basically doing what they want, they may not care if he has an attitude; for others, they may kick him around until he shows what they feel is the proper respect.
DeleteTezcatlipoca just tends to bitchslap Jay Ortiz into submission when he starts getting uppity with him (usually about silly ideas like democracy or not killing people for power) - he lays down the smack when his son is misbehaving and doesn't tolerate his antics. Odin, on the other hand, could not give even the tiniest of damns that Aurora hates him - she still does most of the things he wants her to do (mostly because he's great at manipulating her into them), so she can think whatever she wants. No skin off his nose.