Fate Fatigue

Question: I have a question about your Prophecy boon Voice of Fate - firstly, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing it's inspired by the Delphic oracle. My question is, if it is based on Delphi, why is it the scion who takes the fatigue/damage? It was the priestess who suffered making the prophecy, not Apollo, so shouldn't the target take the penalty?

Actually, Voice of Fate is meant to be much wider in scope than the Pythia, though I can totally see why you would make a connection there. There are many cultures around the world that have myths of gods of prophecy granting visions to mortals or other gods, from the oracular centers of Apollo and Zeus at Delphi and Dodona to Orunmila and Eshu sending inspiration through the African diviners of the Yoruba. Such mortal recipients of prophetic visions are universally awe-stricken and often frightened or confused, but while they often experience fatigue, it's never at a level comparable to the great prophets of myth; the Pythia's fairly singular in that regard, as far as mortal prophets around the world go.

Regardless of the Pythia's problems, though, the major point of the Voice of Fate boon is the ability to send your own prophecies through your worshipers, comrades or others in the area, and in mythology this most often takes the form of a mortal receiving a prophecy from a divine source. Unfortunately, pretty much any mortal that has to take the fatigue and damage of a god-level prophecy will simply instantly die; the best Stamina + Fortitude roll they can hope for is around a 5, and our oracular PCs, not even Legend 12 yet, regularly break 80 on their Prophecy rolls. The boon should also never cause injury to its target, even if they aren't mortal, because that could be easily abused and used as a weapon, which is clearly not the intent of that particular boon or indeed the purview at large.

So no, the target should never take the penalty; it's not balanced for the game, and only applies to a single mythical instance instead of the broad scope of worldwide prophecy. Voice of Fate doesn't allow you to make other people have random prophecies, but rather allows you to share a prophecy you are having, thanks to your awesome godly prognostication powers, with others if you wish to. The power of the prophecy is still coming through you, so you're the one taking the fatigue, and that fatigue is magnified by your extending yourself to send that supernatural power into other targets.

As for the Pythia, in Scion terms, her exhaustion might have a few different explanations. She might be a Scion (probably of Apollo, who always makes sure one of his daughters is on the tripod) who is actually receiving prophecies herself, suffering from hallucinatory drugs or nervous disorders as has been suggested by various scholars looking for a historical explanation over the years, or even just theatrically feigning it in order to impress those asking for visions.

But whatever she is, she's definitely not a mortal taking the fatigue damage of Apollo's prophecies, or he'd have had to get a new girl to replace her twitching corpse every single time the oracle was called upon to make a pronouncement.