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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cam Banks" data-source="post: 205195" data-attributes="member: 3817">The Colonel (and rounser) are right - the setting is deliberately structured to allow the PCs to begin as the movers and shakers of the world. In the campaign background, individual rulers who are described are assumed to be replaced by any PC who is given that domain by the DM at the start of the game, or else they could represent the previous ruler, or remain the current ruler until the DM wants the PC to move up to regency, etc.And the way I run Birthright, all the PCs are blooded. They are, in essence, the inheritors of a legacy of divine power that has been handed down through the generations and by conflict from a great battle thousands of years ago, where the Gods sacrificed themselves to defeat the Shadow (aka Evil, aka Azrai the God of Darkness, etc etc). Their blood rained upon the armies present at this battle, divesting some of their divine power upon the mortals who were there. The gods' champions ascended to take their place, while those who did not found they had a divine connection to the land and to the people.What's been really interesting thus far is that scions - blooded characters - can take on the power of scions they kill, which explodes out of them much as the Quickening does with Highlander's immortals. A killing blow to the heart, or one made with a weapon forged from "bloodsilver", will cause that power to go directly into the slayer rather than being shared among all the scions present. Much like in Highlander, though, if you're not careful that divine power may be more potent than yours and twist your own bloodline (determined by the God whose blood it was gave your ancestor power in the first place) into that of the bloodline of the one you killed. The party's Paladin of Cuiraecen (the CG God of Thunder and Battle) found to his dismay that his warhorse has become a scion of Azrai after he killed too many Azrai-blooded monsters in the horse's presence.Cheers,Cam</blockquote>

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