From: owner-7thsea@darkedge.com on behalf of Chad Underkoffler [chadu@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 1999 9:35 AM Subject: Re: [7th Sea RPG] Vodacce Genetics > Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 21:12:19 -0700 > From: Eric R Sylwester > > Chad Underkoffler wrote: > > Ahoy the List! Interesting thing in my head:> > > 1. It takes 2 Full-Blooded Sorcerors to make a Full-Blooded > > Sorceror. > > 2. Only Vodacce women do magic. > > Thus, > > 3. There are Vodacce men, who are Full-blooded Sorcerors, but > > don't/can't do magic. > > I wrote this once before, but here it is again: Sorcery may > not be genetic. We are told that the noble families made > pacts with otherwordly beings in exchange for power. It is > entirely possible that the inheritance of sorcerous powers is > more akin to a legal inheritance rather than a genetic one. > In each generation it is the contract that is honored, rather > than the Gift being a "one shot" genetic trait that then > propagates through generations. Interesting view. I like it. I may not use it, but I like it. > The nice thing about this view is that it allows GM's a bit > more leeway. Genetic inheritance of single, primary genes > follows pretty well known rules. Legal inheritance, OTOH can > allow for a lot of wierd oddities (future generations growing > in power as well as losing power, technicalities, sorcery in > one sex without any 'passive' sorcery necessary in the other > sex, the relationship of Glamour to the graal,etc...) True. The only thing I dislike about this legalistic view is that it disallows (so far as I can see) magical bastards and hedge-sorcerors. I had this idea that the bastard children of the nobility (say, on the winsome tavern wench) could rise to be the witch/warlock of their village. Granted, a witch/warlock would probably be Half-blooded, and wouldn't have access (or necessarily knowledge of) the higher order Knacks. And I'm much more into the sort of animal husbandry/alchemical inheritence of qualities for 7th Sea rather than strict Mendelian (or any scientific, for that matter) theories on genetics. Sort of like "I inherited my artistic abilities from my mother, and my father's temper" sort of things. I also like-- as evinced in my other posts on this subject-- the concept of having to trace bloodlines and geneology. Though you still have to do that legalistically for land-inheritance and so forth. > It can also put some bite into your sorcery; for example, with > Porte, genetic powers relegates the 'beings in the mists' to > sideline actors- just a side effect of the power. But with a > legal Gift, perhaps they are the ones that GAVE montaigne > noble the gift- and as price they are allowed to take any > sorcerer who opens his eyes as tribute. This, to my mind, is > far more sinister. And of course the obvious bite for any > sorcery is, if you break the contract, you are in deep deep > trouble. I do really like it. Has a very Goetic (and Goethe-etic *grin*) feel. The fun part would be coming up with the contract. Maybe the Gift grantors agreed to something like the grantee saying "any descendant of mine bearing my name" or "any descendant of mine with blue eyes" or "any descendant of mine who kisses the Blooey Stone" or something. Think of the ramifications there for each of those concepts. Maybe all Voddace witches must have "Maria" as a name (either first, last, or middle); perhaps all Pyeryerem have striking blue eyes; mayhap all Avalonese mages must perform some especial ritual to gain Glamour. Freaky. > > What do you all think? > > Your idea sounds like a good one for a campaign. I just > pointed out another. Good luck! Yes, you did! And a spiffy one at that! It's a different way than I had been looking at it. Neat thread; I'm glad I started it! === Chad Underkoffler [chadu@yahoo.com] http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/5751/index.html "Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever." -- Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymous von Munchausen __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com --- To unsubscribe, send a message to "majordomo@darkedge.com" and put "unsubscribe 7thsea (or 7thsea-digest)" in the body of the message. Contents Copyright (C) 1997,98,99 by ALDERAC ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, INC.