Scion: Difference between revisions

[[File:Scion.jpg|frame|Meet the children of the gods, someday to be gods unto themselves.]]

 

 

Player characters are the offspring of such unions, making them technically demigods, though in game terms they are referred to as Scions. They grew up unaware of their nonhuman heritage, until one day they received a visitation from their divine parent, and were told the truth about their origins.

The rulebook includes six possible pantheons to choose from, using the time-tested White Wolf concept of [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|making members of different groups team up into a motley crew]]. They are: the Pesedjet (Egyptian), Dodekatheon (Greek), Aesir (Norse), Amatsukami (Japanese), Atzlanti (Aztec), and Loa (Voodoo). Game extensions include the Tuatha De Danann (Irish), the Celestial Bureaucracy (Chinese), and the Devas (Hindu) from ''Scion: Companion'', as well as nationalistic pantheons of America and the Allies in the same sourcebook for running games during [[World War Two]], and it's implied that yet more pantheons exist as well (indeed, there's a PDF covering the Yazata, the Persian pantheon (''Yazata: The Persian Gods''), as well as a supplement not available in English detailing the Gaulish pantheon; several fan-made pantheons can be found on the net as well). There is also the Atlantean pantheon, although they are canonically dead after having been corrupted by the Titans; details on the actual Pantheon and their Cosmology are in ''Demigod'', while the Pantheon's original Virtues (Duty, Intellect, Order, Piety) and Purview (Scire) are in the Scion ''Companion''.

 

 

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Out of the six sample "evil" Scions, only two - [[Big Bad|Kane Taoka]] and [[Complete Monster|Seth Farrow]] - are truly nasty. Sly's a pawn, Orlandu's a victim of [[Love Makes You Evil]], Marie's just egotistical (and pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]] in ''God''), and Victor's just following orders (he ''is'' a soldier).

** ''God'' also offers another group of antagonists, the "Keepers of The World", the group of gods who pissed at their pantheons and want to seperate the mortal world from other realms. None of them are truly evil, and considering their background story, their goal is rather justified.

*** Not to mention all the fan-produced writeups.

* [[Dark Is Evil]]: Soku-no-Kumi. However, it more embodies fear and concealment than actual light-absence darkness - even if you have powers that let you see in the dark, you ''still'' can't see in Soku-no-Kumi.

** It's also worth noting that the majority of evil crap that happens in the official setting is not instigated by Death Gods, but by Trickster Gods (particularly Loki) and the Titans (who are just as likely to be examples of [[Light Is Not Good]]).

* [[Depleted Phlebotinum Shells]]: Certain boons (specifically Fire 4: Flamin' Bullets, Sky 6: Levin Fury, and Sun 4: Flare Missile) allow a player to use the elements themselves as projectiles for ranged weapons. In addition, relic weapons can be supernaturally enhanced (with increased accuracy, responsiveness, and stopping power).

** About the only major exception is Miclantecuhtli of the Aztlanti, who is pretty much a [[Jerkass]] -- ''Hero'' describes him as "suffering a permanent case of schadenfreude". Then again, with the possible exceptions of Quetzalcoatl and Tlazolteotl, none of the Aztlanti are really portrayed in a flattering light. This extends to the Scions; of the three official examples, one is a psychotic self-mutilator, one is a male-to-female transsexual who uses the flayed skin of a woman to change sexes, and the other, after ascending to godhood, is pretty much disgusted with his own pantheon.

* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]: Greater Titans are so unable to comprehend ''anything'' - least of all why their children, the Gods, are so interested in saving the World - that they had to create avatars to even start getting it. And the avatars ''still'' don't understand all of it.

* [[Finger-Poke of Doom]]: The "Making It Look Easy" knack for Epic Strength is all about this.

* [[Five-Bad Band]]: The Shinsengumi, at first.

** [[The Brute]]: Victor Fingers, Scion of Ares. What more need be said?

** [[Dark Chick]]: [[Dark Magical Girl|Orlanda]] [[Love Makes You Evil|Elliot]] and [[Femme Fatale|Marie]] [[Rich Bitch|Glapion]] both fit this in spades.

** The Keepers of The World fit here as well.

*** [[Big Bad]]: Imhotep, the mastermind behind the Great Working.

*** [[Dark Chick]]: Himiko, a chief financial backer for the group.

*** [[Sixth Ranger]]: [[The Atoner|Hernán Cortés]], only Imhotep know about his part in the group.

** [[The Hero]]: [[Cowboy Cop|Horace]] [[You Killed My Father|Farrow]], the [[Eyepatch of Power|one-eyed]] son of Horus

** [[The Lancer]]: [[Perky Goth|Bridgette]] [[Dark Is Not Evil|de la Croix]], the mortician daughter of [[Dem Bones|Baron Samedi]]

* [[God's Hands Are Tied]]: There is a good reason gods no longer openly manifest themselves to humans, and in fact shun worship. It ties them up to Fate, and they don't like it. Except for the Devas, who seem to accept it, possibly in return for the fact that, as the pantheon with the largest extant worshiper base, they have greater power.

* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: The Aztláni are described this way in the introduction to their section in the core book:

* [[Homosexual Reproduction]]: The sample Scion of Kali, Annie X, is revealed to have been created when Kali took on a male form and impregnated her mortal mother. This was the first and last time the possibility Gods could do that was raised in the setting.

** Actually, ''Scion: God'' introduced the Epic Appearance Knack Undeniable Resemblance, which lets a [[Gender Bender|character switch genders]] while retaining full functionality and fertility.

* [[Humongous Mecha]]: The Collossi. Also the "true form" of Surtr's fortress in Muspelheim.

** The Atzlanti are the only pantheon to still require human sacrifices, to the point that their pantheon purview is fuelled best by it. The Aztec Death God is also the biggest jerk of all the canonical death gods, even compared to Hel or The Morrigan.

* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Akhetaten, full stop.

* [[A Load of Bull]]: The Minotaurs are a [[One-Gender Race]] of humanoid bulls likely to be encountered as opponents (and, possibly, followers) of demigods. It turns out that, in the Scionverse, the Cretan Bull actually '''raped''' first Pasiphaë and then any Cretan woman it could find after emerging from the sea, as none of the Cretans would even dare to try and corral it for fear of Poseidon's wrath. Poseidon made no effort to stop it; they were saved from its rampages only when Heracles came and took the Cretan Bull as his Seventh Labour.

* [[Lovecraft Lite]]: Very much so. The closest things to truly unknowable beings (the Greater Titans) aren't truly malevolent (hell, a possible ending to ''Ragnarok'' involves convincing Muspelheim that it's in his best interests to only burn away the toxic parts of the Earth), and much of the theme involves taking the "chaotic, dark power" and either kicking it across the room or turning into something useful.

* [[The Lost Woods]]: The Dark Woods is literally the embodiment of this trope, an archetypal forest in the Overworld that's only real defining geography is "lost".

* [[Mayincatec]]: The Aztec pantheon is included.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Scions tend to have these, as Fate likes to make their origins clear.

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: The [[Incredibly Lame Pun|painful puns]] of the characters names and backgrounds don't really mix well with the gritty setting and storyline.

* [[Mother of a Thousand Young]]: Gaia and Kamimusuhi.

* [[Shout-Out]]: "When your character is incapable of taking action, because he is unconscious, paralyzed, ''[[Star Wars|frozen in carbonite]]'' or whatever . . ."

** Title of a sidebar in the first game's included story: "What's in the Egg?" First line of the article: [[Se7en|"Gwyneth Paltrow's head!]] Just kidding."

** [[The Mighty Thor|"I thought Thor was a blond."]]

** Freyr bears a striking resemblence to [[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys|Kevin Sorbo]].

** Athena could easily stand in for a [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|certain Chosen One]].

* [[Sliding Scale of Turn Realism]]: Action by Action.

* [[Take That]]: In ''Ragnarok'', the game discusses alternate ways to cue Fimbulwinter rather than the default meteor strike. The title of the sidebar is "But ''[[Armageddon]]'' Sucked".

** Only Demigods with Epic Stamina are capable of surviving by drinking virtually any liquid and treating it as water, "even such distasteful liquids as gasoline, blood, pine-scented disinfectant or [[Take That|diet cola]]."

* [[Timey-Wimey Ball]]: As the Greater Titan of Time-but not of ''causality''-Zuvran ''is'' this trope. Places under his influence become temporally screwy themselves (an example adventure features the Scions encountering Coyote...as he was in the Wild West, and he quickly realizes he shouldn't be there as if that's nothing strange).

* [[To Hell and Back]]

* [[Trickster God]]: Loki, Baron Samedi, Hermes and Susano-o are in there, what do you expect?

** *Ahem* And Odin.

** As if that weren't enough, ''God'' adds '''Coyote'''.

*** And the Scion Companion adds Manannan mac Lir, Nezha, [[Journey to the West|Sun Wukong]], and Br'er Rabbit to the mix. In fact, it's heavily implied that Br'er Rabbit ''is'' Coyote, under an alias.

** Hel is described that way in several Norse Eddas.

*** Most of the time. They were all agreeing upon that half her body was dead. Now, there was argument if the split was vertical, leaving her left side dead, or horizontal, leaving her dead from the waist down.

* [[Values Dissonance]]: In-universe, it's noted that gods of one pantheon often don't get on with another pantheon because of their very different views of the world (the highly law and discipline-focused Pesedjet or Amatsukami compared to the wilder, more chaotic Aesir or Tuatha, for example). Even individual gods can have values dissonance from their fellows depending on how they prioritize their Virtues.

* [[Weaponized Landmark]]: Some believe the Statue Of Liberty, Christ the Redeemer and other large statues could be a giant war automaton if the right key is found. The statue of Vulcan in Birmingham, Alabama is ''confirmed'' to be one, but the key's still missing.

* [[Weirdness Magnet]]: Thanks to Fate, a Scion's life is never boring.

 

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[[Category:Tabletop Games]]