Best and Brightest

Question: What qualifies a human for Legendary Mortal status?

This is a question that the original books never really clarify fully, so we all have to muddle through on our own. Actually, we don't have a lot of Legendary Mortals running around in our games, but they are theoretically possible, so we have a few general suggestions for them.

There are only two times the books directly give us a way for a mortal to become a Legendary Mortal. The first is in Scion: Ragnarok on page 43, where it notes that a mortal who escapes death by willing his own survival after someone uses The Best Trick on him becomes permanently Legendary, and the second is in the Scion Storyteller Screen on page 8, where it says that any mortal who sleeps with the legendarily virgin goddess Epona becomes Legendary in his own right. Beyond that, mechanics for Legendary Mortals are never addressed; Scion: Demigod mentions that they exist, but never says anything about how they get to be what they are.

So it's sink or swim, Storytellers! We have actually never officially codified what creates a Legendary Mortal in our games (other than obvious things like the Bestow the Mantle of Fate boon). Mostly, we haven't worried about it because it's more of a setting issue than a game one; Legendary Mortals are out there in Scion's universe and useful for explaining the actions of a few rare legendary figures who don't make sense as either Scions or normal humans, but they don't make appearances in games much. Of course, some of you guys may have Legendary Mortals running in and out on the daily, but for us it's seldom a front-and-center issue.

However, while we don't have directly outlined rules for this, we do have general guidelines. The idea of Legendary Mortals is that, once in a great while, there may be a human who does something so incredible and myth-worthy that Fate itself notices her, and as a result she is woven into the story and remembered in a way that most mortals could never aspire to. She still can't ever rival the powers of the gods or their children, who are divine in their own right, but she has become a legend among humans and so impressive that even the gods might remember her name. Legendary Mortals must also be legendary in their own right - that is, they must be legendary because of their own actions or abilities, not simply because they're in close proximity to someone else who is already legendary (like a Scion). Average humans, or even extraordinary humans, are not made Legendary simply by doing things within the normal human scope, nor do they become Legendary themselves when their only claim to fame is the actions of a Scion or Titanspawn near them or involving them. However, in most cases a Legendary Mortal must also be in some way involved with or be able to affect the supernatural or divine. They must touch something that is already Legendary, but also be worthy of that Legend themselves.

This is all super subjective, of course, so different Storytellers will probably have different standards of what kinds of acts warrant a mortal being elevated to Legendary status. Normal feats, even though they are awesome for humans, don't cut it; lifting a car off a trapped friend, cracking an ancient language's code in spite of decades of failure from others before him, or managing to orchestrate a government's downfall with flawless manipulation and leak tactics are all impressive, but they are things that humans at the top of their game can do. A simple brush with the supernatural won't do it, either, or else every human who barely manages to survive a vampire attack or creates a work of art after being inspired by a Muse would be Legendary, too. But a mortal who defeats a Scion in single combat in front of his divine parent, and is rewarded by becoming his bosom companion is a Legendary Mortal; a mortal who catches the undying love of a god and marries him in spite of her human fragility is a Legendary Mortal; a mortal who destroys a divine treasure that had been hidden for thousands of years and is cursed with immortality as a result is a Legendary Mortal. Stuff like that.

It sometimes helps to look for figures in ancient myth that appear to be Legendary Mortals, and base your assumptions on them, as well. One of our favorites is Odysseus, who despite having some divine blood way back in his family tree is too far removed from it to be anything but human and has no special powers, but who still manages to turn the tides of a war fought by the gods themselves with his cleverness and escape many supernatural trials to find his way home. Another example might be Beowulf, who manages to fight and overcome supernatural creatures despite not being supernatural himself, and becomes a hero remembered in legend forever in spite of eventually dying at the hands of a monster he could not hope to defeat. Lugalbanda, the mortal father of Gilgamesh who married the goddess Ninsun and was posthumously said to live among the gods as a king forever because of the renown of his son, might be a Legendary Mortal, or Kunti, the mortal woman who through ritual managed to summon down the god Surya and then bear his child in spite of being a virgin.

Finally, the most important thing for deciding that someone is a Legendary Mortal: just like a Scion, his or her deeds must live on as myth. What they do must matter enough to be remembered - not just front-page news this week, not just remembered as a landmark case in education for a few years, but enduring, retold stories. That's how Scion measures Fate paying attention to and caring about someone, and a Legendary Mortal must do something that matters enough to become a legend. That's why they're so special, after all; even though they aren't themselves magical, they still did something that made them remembered along with the creatures and divine beings who are.