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Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-22, 06:06 PM
Some of you are probably aware that I asked about the possibility of making a Scion character based on the Perseus myth. That mainly ended up being an exercise in character building, and while I think it was a valuable experience, I'm thinking about making something different.

In an upcoming Scion game I'm hoping to join, there seems to be a lack of interest in the Aesir, so I've decided to make an Aesir scion. The problem is I have no idea what kind of character I would like to build. I only know the cool toys that I want him to have (relics):

A sword that grants the Sun and War purviews
A shield that grants the Moon and Guardian purviews
A cloak that grants the Sky and Darkness purviews
and a mask that grants the Justice purview

I have absolutely NO idea how to go about creating an Aesir scion that would have access to these kinds of purviews and gifts. While I'm aware that a scion is capable of selecting purviews not covered by their parent (this is especially true of the Moon purview, which none of the Aesir seem to have), but at the same time I'd like to make a charater that at least would make sense having an Aesir for a father or mother. A number of different Aesir offer the Sun and Guardian or War purviews, like Baldur, Freyr and Heimdall, but these gods probably wouldn't have anything to do with Darkness, Sky or Justice. Sky seems to be almost exclusively Thor's domain (though Frigg offers it too), but again, it wouldn't make sense for a scion of Thor to have these other purviews. Odin seems pretty reasonable, and at one point I imagined the Darkness/Sky cloak to be made of raven feathers to connect it with him, but out of all of these, Odin only has a connection with the War purview.

Another issue that worries me is that this is simply too many purviews to be able to juggle with a single character. The idea I had in mind was a sort of celestial scion, who might eventually become a god of the heavens. The Sun and Moon purviews are obvious shoo-ins for this, since they're heavenly bodies. Darkness came from the idea of the night sky, and Justice because I saw a boon that pertains to stars. Sky is also in there for the fact that it IS the heavens. War and Guardian were put in place because, as an Aesir scion I wanted to be able to fight well, and these purviews, combined with others, seem rather paladin-like, which is always a plus for me.

Finally, even if I was to figure out which god to parent my scion, and were to be able to handle all these purviews successfully, there's still the fact that I have no idea what he'd be like. The first thing you do when you create a scion is pick their Calling and their Nature, and I can't imagine what kind of Calling would connect to this grab-bag of concepts. The Aesir aren't very big on things like astronomy, so I'm not certain what kind of person to make him.

Is there a way to make a scion of the Aesir that appears credible, despite having so many different purviews? The reason I'm picking the Aesir is to ensure every pantheon has some representation in the group, since most of the players seem to be leaning strongly towards the Dodekatheon and the Pesedjet. Any advice or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much. :smallsmile:

Draxar
2010-04-22, 06:52 PM
Firstly, I do think you're after too many purviews. You'll probably be more effective if you take a smaller number at higher levels, and combine that with epic attributes.

You might find what you're after somewhat easier in the Azlanti pantheon, since you haven't spoken of an overabundance of that. Unless the game is somehow predicated around such, it's not neccessary to have one of each (there's no Captain Pantheon that pops out by your powers combined. Sure, don't play the 17th Greco-Roman, but don't let 'there's only one of these' dictate stuff either.

I would pick one of Hemidal or Freyr, probably Freyr as your parent. With Freyr, you can have the sword of sunny-war from daddy himself. Freyr is a god of prosperity, have him actually have bought a relic or two from another pantheon.

Horus could provide you with Moon, as well as Sky and Justice (and sun if you wanted), Tsuki-Yomi provides Moon and Darkness.

Then going back home for the rest...

Thor can provided Guardian, and Sky if needed. Vidar provides Justice.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-22, 07:10 PM
Someone's already playing an Atzlanti though. I'd rather all the pantheons be represented somehow, otherwise the band will have no reason to get involved in Aesir matters, since they don't owe the Aesir anything.

I was actually intending NOT to put anything into actual boons at character creation, just have the relics and then focus on Epic Attributes, building power in the purviews through EXP alone.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-22, 08:11 PM
So...no further advice?

White Blade
2010-04-22, 08:41 PM
Go with Baldur and have them be gifts from his family. Hod (Baldur's killer and brother), for instance, killed a legendary bird of some kind (providing the Sky) and gave it the darkness domain (as the Blind God, he should have reason), giving it to Baldur as a future-apology (I'm sure Hod does a lot of that). Nanna (Baldur's wife) provided the Moon purview and Baldur the Guardian for the shield. Foresti (Baldur's son) provides a mask for Justice for his little brother. And Sun and War, I think Baldur provided the sun and Odin the War, for some as of yet unforeseen benefit. So, your Scion will have to be a favorite of the family, but besides that, it should be fine.

EDIT: For Calling put in "Golden Boy" (or Baldur's Favorite, same difference. Maybe "Heir In Mourning" from a parental death, with the double meaning of Baldur preparing him as a potential replacement.). And Nature, since you like Paladins, "Gallant" though maybe "Bravo" or Judge

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-22, 08:56 PM
Okay, that really makes sense. That was kind of my idea when I was thinking it up, some sort of champion for the Aesir. So the guy should be exemplary of everything the Aesir stand for, I assume. What'd be a good profession for that? I'd assume military careers always impress them, but that seems kind of stereotypical, and I know nothing about how the military works anyway.

EDIT: Also, I think this'd be a perfect theme song for him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esJE_VzEbF4&playnext_from=TL&videos=WBchG0answU

White Blade
2010-04-22, 09:07 PM
Okay, that really makes sense. That was kind of my idea when I was thinking it up, some sort of champion for the Aesir. So the guy should be exemplary of everything the Aesir stand for, I assume. What'd be a good profession for that? I'd assume military careers always impress them, but that seems kind of stereotypical, and I know nothing about how the military works anyway.

Police or FBI or similar would work. Gives reason for him to have Justice, makes him a better fit for Baldur, who was slightly less violent anyway. But only slightly.

EDIT: Firefighter might also work well.

EDIT2: If he's an heir to some rich or profitable estate, he might be a member of a larger private security family or he could be a hostage negotiator for the wealthy, if he went into the family business.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-22, 09:10 PM
Yeah, I think that'll work. He was a police officer and a shining example of what a policeman should be, but eventually one of his colleagues got jealous of him and conspired with a local gangster to ruin him, and it was at this point when he had his Visitation, pulling him out of despair and giving him new purpose, to protect people from the dangers of the titanspawn.

Justifies the purview AND provides some connection to Baldur's story.

White Blade
2010-04-22, 09:11 PM
Yeah, I think that'll work. He was a police officer and a shining example of what a policeman should be, but eventually one of his colleagues got jealous of him and conspired with a local gangster to ruin him, and it was at this point when he had his Visitation, pulling him out of despair and giving him new purpose, to protect people from the dangers of the titanspawn.

Justifies the purview AND provides some connection to Baldur's story.

Sounds good. Anything else or you got it all clear in your head?

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-22, 09:19 PM
Just the name, I think. I want something that fits him and can easily converted to a Norse-sounding name when he hits God level.

Also, I had a bit of a wierd idea, but it involves his face getting ripped up by some beast, and then when he takes the Epic Appearance, taking that one knack that lets you shift between ugliness and beauty. When he wants to be pretty, his scars vanish and he looks the picture of health. But if he wants to terrify his opponents, he lifts up his mask and reveals his horrible scars. How would I swing that in the story though?

White Blade
2010-04-22, 09:30 PM
Just the name, I think. I want something that fits him and can easily converted to a Norse-sounding name when he hits God level.

Also, I had a bit of a wierd idea, but it involves his face getting ripped up by some beast, and then when he takes the Epic Appearance, taking that one knack that lets you shift between ugliness and beauty. When he wants to be pretty, his scars vanish and he looks the picture of health. But if he wants to terrify his opponents, he lifts up his mask and reveals his horrible scars. How would I swing that in the story though?

I recommend Pholson as a last name (as Phol is one of Baldur's alternate names, apparently) and for a first Dyre, Gisli, or Niel (Dear Heart, Ray of Sunshine, or Champion, respectively). But I'll be straight with you, I got those off of Baby names (the website), which I recommend to you if none of those work out. They're all Scandinavian names.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-22, 09:39 PM
I recommend Pholson as a last name (as Phol is one of Baldur's alternate names, apparently) and for a first Dyre, Gisli, or Niel (Dear Heart, Ray of Sunshine, or Champion, respectively). But I'll be straight with you, I got those off of Baby names (the website), which I recommend to you if none of those work out. They're all Scandinavian names.

Actually, thank you for mentioning that site. I had forgotten about that possible resource. I think Niel Pholson sounds awesome. Any thoughts on the Appearance gimmick?

White Blade
2010-04-22, 10:02 PM
Actually, thank you for mentioning that site. I had forgotten about that possible resource. I think Niel Pholson sounds awesome. Any thoughts on the Appearance gimmick?

If you already have it? Maybe your guy got mauled by a wolf. That's classic Aesir. Wolves do all kinds of nastiness at Ragnarok (including killing Odin and Tyr). Of course, having it be a special wolf is simply part of the cycle.

Or maybe the wolf is metaphoric and your character was actually attacked by another scion, maybe the gangster the officer conspired with (or the officer himself). "Rolf the Wolf" or similar who specializes in the animal (Wolf) purview. When he reaches the demigod level he can actually turn into a wolf, and then you have a classic Ragnarok nemesis (and he can go up in power at the rate you do, which is an added bonus.).

Of course the obvious choice of a parent would be Loki, but Loki has too much subtlety for the job and it might be fun to run against a child of Vidar.

If you're going to do it later, talk to your ST.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-22, 10:34 PM
I was intending for it to be in the backstory, and I hadn't thought of the source being another scion. Wolves don't really scratch though. They bite. Not sure how bite-marks on a face look. That's just nitpicking though. Maybe the Scion of Vidar was MANIPULATED into it by Loki, him sparking the rival cop's jealousy which led him to contact the thug scion in the first place. Fate set us up to be at cross-purposes, me as a cop and he as a criminal, to set up a Let's You And Him Fight (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitlenfhgfvh962l5) scenario, after which we come to some kind of understanding, maybe having him testify against the corrupt cop and serving some time before turning his life around. So the guy who scarred me becomes less of a complete monster and more like a misguided dupe.

White Blade
2010-04-22, 10:41 PM
I was intending for it to be in the backstory, and I hadn't thought of the source being another scion. Wolves don't really scratch though. They bite. Not sure how bite-marks on a face look. That's just nitpicking though. Maybe the Scion of Vidar was MANIPULATED into it by Loki, him sparking the rival cop's jealousy which led him to contact the thug scion in the first place. Fate set us up to be at cross-purposes, me as a cop and he as a criminal, to set up a Let's You And Him Fight (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitlenfhgfvh962l5) scenario, after which we come to some kind of understanding, maybe having him testify against the corrupt cop and serving some time before turning his life around. So the guy who scarred me becomes less of a complete monster and more like a misguided dupe.
Fully doable, though not typically Aesir. Some form of wergild would probably be appropriate.

EDIT: If you do take wergild, the mask would make sense for it.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-22, 11:00 PM
Fully doable, though not typically Aesir. Some form of wergild would probably be appropriate.

EDIT: If you do take wergild, the mask would make sense for it.

That actually makes it work even better! The mask was wergild from Vidar for Niel's maiming!

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-23, 12:16 AM
Okay, here's my buildup:

Niel Pholson

Basic Information

Calling: Golden Boy
Pantheon: Aesir
God: Baldur
Nature: Gallant

Attributes

Physical:
Strength 5
Dexterity 3
Stamina 5

Social:
Charisma 3
Manipulation 3
Appearance 3

Mental:
Perception 3
Intelligence 2
Wits 2

Abilities

Athletics 3
Awareness 3
Command 3
Empathy 3
Fortitude 3
Integrity 3
Investigation 3
Melee 3
Politics 3
Presence 3

Birthrights
Sóleilert ∙∙
(Sun and War purviews)
Mániliv ∙∙
(Moon and Guardian purviews)
The Black-Winged Cloak ∙∙
(Darkness and Sky purviews)
The Arbiter’s Mask ∙
(Justice purview)

Epic Attributes
Epic Strength 1: Holy Rampage
Epic Strength 2: Holy Bound
Epic Dexterity 1: Untouchable Opponent
Epic Stamina 1: Self-Healing
Epic Stamina 2: Damage Conversion
Epic Charisma 1: Charmer
Epic Manipulation 1: God’s Honest
Epic Appearance 1: Visage Great and Terrible
Epic Perception 1: Subliminal Warning
Epic Intelligence 1: Fight With Your Head
Epic Wits 1: Instant Investigator

Virtues

Courage 2
Endurance 3
Expression 1
Loyalty 3

Legend 2
Willpower 6
Legend Points 4

How's it look?

And here's his story:

Niel Pholson seemed to have everything in his life handed to him. He had it all: looks, smarts and athleticism. He breezed through school and police academy, eventually becoming the darling of the city police. This, coupled with his nauseatingly friendly demeanor, made him as many enemies as it did friends. One of these was Alan Lederer, an senior man who had been the best on the force until Niel showed up. They'd worked together for a time, Niel playing the good cop to Alan's bad cop, but the fact that Niel managed to do everything and make it seem so easy planted a seed of jealousy in Alan, that took root and festered for years, until one year when Niel was about to recieve a promotion that Alan had been angling for for months.

This was the last straw.

Alan was had more experience, more cases under his belt, and was a better fit for the position than Niel was, and yet the higher-ups thought it was only natural that this spoiled rookie get the job. Alan decided to put Niel out of the picture, just temporarily so he'd miss his chance for the promotion. He got in touch with Rolf the Wolf, a petty criminal who, in what could only be described as a cruel joke by Fate, was also a scion of Vidar. In exchange for taking down Niel during a key drug bust, Rolf would become a "plant" from the police, exempting him from charges.

The day of the sting came, and as soon as Rolf spotted Niel, he attacked. One of the gifts his father had given him was a pet wolf named Gelert, and Rolf sicced him on Niel. The wolf mauled Neil's face and the sting began to go bad, until Alan arrived with "reinforcements." The sting was salvaged, and now that his rival was humbled, Alan betrayed Rolf, having him arrested for his involvement in the gang and with added charges for his wolf maiming an officer. For his heroism in the sting, Alan was given the promotion, while Niel was recovering in the hospital.

As he lay in the bed, Niel almost seemed to feel that Alan had betrayed him, and he became intensely angry and depressed. It was then that his divine father, Baldur, came to call. Baldur comforted his son, telling him that this was just a temporary setback. After answering his questions, Baldur called in a group of more strange figures, who revealed themselves to be Baldur's divine family, Nanna, Hod and Forseti, along with Odin and Vidar. Baldur explained that the Aesir had found Niel to be a worthy scion to champion them, and thus felt it was only fair to arm him. Baldur had commissioned the dwarves to craft a mighty sword for Niel, with a white blade that glittered in the dim light of the hospital room, the hilt forged in the shape of a sunburst. Odin idly commented that the materials for the blade had been supplied by him. Nanna and Baldur had a shield commissioned, with a silvery boss that changed with the phases of the moon. Hod granted him a coat made from the feathers of a great dark bird, as a strange pre-emptive apology for the death of Baldur. Vidar stepped forward last, gave Niel an equisite mask, but said nothing. Forseti explained to his little brother that Rolf was Vidar's son, and the mask eas wergild for Rolf's maiming of Niel.

Despite the shock of what he was just learning, Niel was overjoyed to meet his true family. As soon as he recovered, he turned in his badge and left the force "to think things over." His superiors told him that if he ever needed anything to just give them a call. Alan, on the other hand, couldn't waste an opportunity to gloat. Niel kept his temper, but promised Alan that he'd get his comeuppance for betraying not just Niel, but the entire police department, the whole city and the justice system too. With that, Niel left his hometown and started drifting, righting wrongs and protecting people from the machinations of the titanspawn wherever he travelled, until he found his band.
Any way this could be improved as well?

EDIT: You know, despite the fact that Baldur's influence is in Epic Charisma and Appearance, I could say that the Epic Stamina and Dexterity knacks Niel has are a result of his father's own invulnerability. Like father, like son, right?

White Blade
2010-04-23, 12:48 AM
Vidar shouldn't talk unless absolutely necessary (though he'd come. He isn't rude). He's quiet and represents the oaths of vengeance that were normally carried out in silence. Foresti could be the arbiter of the Wergild and therefore the one to explain that Rolf was Vidar's son, giving him an excuse to greet his little brother. Odin is generally much more distant, so just a side remark about how Odin gave the materials to the dwarves to make the sword would probably be best.

I'm not sure an upstanding police officer is the representation of Aesir virtue (which are largely seen in light of Ragnarök, a huge MAD war). But he is brave and I figure that Baldur dotes on most of his children. A bit of RP advice that did me wonders: Don't forget to be on the lookout for potential conflict between your character's modern ideals and the old-fashioned ideals of the Aesir, because generational conflict is an essential part of the game. It doesn't have to be high key, but the tension of old and new is a large part of Scion.

I think your sheet is fine, though I'm not the best at ferreting out such things.

Response to EDIT: Yes, you could. I don't think it would affect the actual ease of acquiring them, but it would make sense thematically.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-23, 10:48 AM
Okay, thanks for the advice! This is awesome! :smallsmile:

NeoVid
2010-04-23, 01:59 PM
Statwise, I'd say that if you've got any points to spare, you should try and get some more dots into Birthrights, so the ones you have will do something ueful for you besides get you access to Purviews you won't actually use for a while. Aside from that, you should decide which Epic Atts you want to focus on. Spreading them around like that early on isn't such a bad thing, but you need to specialize as time goes on.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-04-23, 02:02 PM
I was told that it's better to front load on Epic Attributes, since they're more expensive in the long run than Boons. Also, I spread them out mainly because I'm not sure what everyone else in the Band is going to do, so I wanted to be the jack-of-all-trades kind of character who could fill in any sort of gap. I get the feeling most people will tell me to specialize in Epic Stamina, since its knacks are apparently essential if you want to survive in combat.