Visiting Hours

Question: How does a Scion 'awaken' her children? Does she simply spend a Legend point and make the ichor boil in the youngster, or does it involve a ritual or protocol filled with symbolism? I couldn't find in the book the answer to this, but maybe I misstepped over it.

Don't worry - it's not you! The books don't really discuss how Visitation of new Scions works in-depth, and they definitely don't really talk about how PCs, as new young gods, go about creating their own Scions other than saying that they now can. The only guidelines given by the book are that the god must reveal the new Scion's parentage to him, and that he must bestow the new Scion's first Birthright on him.

This actually isn't really much of a problem, though, because Visitation is something that every god should get to tailor to their personality, circumstances and the child in question, so the fewer rules, the better. You don't actually have to spend any Legend to activate a Scion, although you certainly can if you want to and it's probably going to happen if you're using any godly powers to impress them; all you have to do, pretty much, is decide that you're activating them and give them a Birthright, thus setting them on the path to great deeds. The books stress revealing the Scion's divine parentage, but I'm not sure that's entirely necessary, actually; a god might not explain who he was or what the connection between himself and his Scion was, but still be reasonably said to have awoken the divine connection between the two of them.

In fact, a god doesn't have to go in person at all; he could easily activate his Scion any number of ways from afar, whether by appearing to her in dreams, using long-distance powers like Fateful Connection or Fire's Eye to communicate with her, or even sending an emissary - some other god, lesser immortal or other creature - to get her started on her way. Every god's style is different, and Scions who have become gods should feel free to perform Visitations however they deem most appropriate as long as they get that starting Birthright to their child.

Birthright, incidentally, are much more complicated to design, acquire and bestow than the actual Visitation itself is, so new gods may find that to be a more major part of the process. We allow any PC with at least a level 8 boon in a purview to create a relic that channels that purview by paying ten points of Legend and bleeding on an item - essentially infusing it with their own ichor, which carries that power strongly - so it is always possible for a god to create relics for their kids that will at least allow them to use their most favored purviews. If they want any more complicated or fancy items, however, they'll most likely need the help of a crafting god if they aren't able to build them themselves, and furthermore they'll need the help of a god skilled in Magic in order to use the Birthright Bond spell to make the relic actually belong to the new Scion they're granting it to. This is not necessarily difficult - after all, the pantheons can always use new Scions to help in the war effort, so they probably won't refuse - but it may be costly and time-consuming, depending on how readily available those things are.

But once you've got the Birthright to hand off, the hard part's over. It's up to you to decide how you want to tell your new Scion about their divine heritage, in what way you choose to appear to them and what instructions you decide to give them. Just as you were once the tool of your divine parent, so they are totally yours to mold with your powers; enjoy your ascension to the role of divine parent, and bask in the excitement of granting your children Scionhood while you can (before they start ruining everything, getting killed or accidentally getting you in hock to other gods to help them).