Godbound/Scion: The Titans, Part 2

A continuation of last month's expansion/rework of the Titans. These include Titans from not one but three different pantheon and Titanic Realm/origin, united by the common thread of their role within the setting.

The Progenitor Of Monsters

The most simplistic and obvious role for a Titan is to act as a direct or indirect source for monstrous antagonist. There is nothing inherently wrong with such a 'simple' feature and role, however. Mythologically speaking, monsters play an important role. They also happen to be quite iconic, always interesting, weird and most importantly very cool for people to use in their games. Monsters inspire both awe and terror in equal measure. Even in the 20th and 21st century we remain obsessed with monsters, our popular culture replete with supernatural monstrosities, alien terrors, demented slasher and the byproduct of science gone wrong. The monster is both an 'other' and a force of nature, primeval and terrible.

Some Titans are particularly tied to the birthing of monsters. It simply is in their very nature to be these dreaded forces of primordial fertility, giving birth to uncountable terrors. As some of the Titans have stirred, they have started to cast a shadow on the world. Their offspring have begun to slip through the 'cracks in the world' to terrorize a new generation of mortal and heroes alike.

Tiamat

Associated Realms: Beast, Water

Godbound Word: Beast, Fertility and Sea

Art by Victor Adame

The ever-fecund and primordial Tiamat is among the most archetypal of the Titans-as-progenitor. She is called the 'Mother of all Monsters' and is hideous to behold, an impossible amalgam of all traits which both exist and do not exist in nature. Tiamat's form is that of all beasts and monsters who ever threatened mankind and the Gods. With the Titans stirring, Tiamat's influence has crept back and her brood has begun to encroach upon the world and domain of the gods alike. In time she may seek to resurrect her husband, Apsu, but for now the direct threat she pose to any Scion is through the proliferation of her broods.

Limitless in their forms and permutation (but with a slight preference for predatory animals and sea monsters, naturally), the myriad offsprings of Tiamat run the gamut of small (relatively speaking) predatory monsters with limited intellect to much more dangerous beasts with shocking mental capacity, albeit ever predatory and primal. The greatest of her spawns are more akin to being likened to great dragons but this nomenclature is purely a side effect of modern popular culture associating great, vaguely reptilian beasts as 'dragons'. Her brood is truly limitless.

Spawns of Tiamat

As previously mentioned, Tiamat has an endless variety of Titanspawns of all shape and size obeying the will of their great mother. Her offspring are creature of primal aspects of beasts and ancient chaos, with maws filled with row of teeth, great wingspan or coiling tails which encircle entire buildings. Many of them display poisonous traits in some capacity.

• The least of Tiamat's Spawn are analogous to not only Thralls, but also the Chimera and Nemean, even if some argue that Tiamat's equivalent to such creature are a breed apart from the 'baseline' Nemean, if such a thing is even possible. Tiamat does not create human-derived Thralls (her essence is too distinct and opposite to humanity) and instead her 'primordial mud' or 'ichor' infuse animals of all kind.
• The ranks of Tiamat's Titanspawns lacks Giants in the traditional sense. While many of her spawns are indeed gigantic creatures, very few if any are of a humanoid body plan.
• Tiamat does not and cannot create Scion. Her nature is fundamentally opposite to humanity.

Echidna

Associated Realms: Beast, Earth

Godbound Word: Beast, Fertility and Might or Alacrity

Art by Genzoman

On the surface, Echidna is very much like Tiamat. Both are primordial creatures and bear a title of 'Mother of Monsters'. The devil is in the details, of course: for one thing Echidna is the child of Gaia and an ever so slightly less primordial monstrosity than Tiamat. Her form include human elements and she is a much more seductive entity: beautiful, fecund and rapacious. She is the monstrous mother of the greatest and most iconic of mythological beasts, such as the infamous Chimera. Each of her children became such a myth that they became a byword for all later monsters.

Tiamat's brood is endless but Echidna is a crafter and nurturer. Her monstrous children are quality over quantity. She doesn't really love her children in a traditional sense and can be a harsh parent but her spawns which survive their short childhood and her dangerous tutelage are dangerous beasts. She nurse a powerful grudge against the Gods, especially the Greek ones, who have treated her offspring as almost of a diversion to challenge and amuse their Scion.

Spawns of Echidna

Echidna's children tend to be less chaotic and nightmarish than Tiamat's mishmashes monsters. They tend to combine features of two or more animals into an amalgamated whole, with the Chimera being the most famous example of these. Like a cross between a mad scientist and an obsessives parent with expectations too high for their children, the modern Echidna is obsessively breeding 'the next big thing'. A new monster for the new era, the modern Chimera.

• Like Tiamat, Echidna mainly produce Chimeras (fittingly!) and Nemean. Its only fair, given these two terms come from two of her infamous children. Unlike Tiamat, who prefer predatory animals, Echidna has no particular preferences and anything non-human will do. Her most mundane creations compensate any lack of power with sheer ferocity and vigor.
• The Titanspawns of Echidna are all animalistic amalgamation. She has never directly recreated her 'classics' (such as the original Chimera) but some of the lesser descendants of these original spawns may still exist.
• The rare Scions of Echidna are all born Scions. Echidna is quite capable of taking the form of a beautiful woman with rapacious sexual appetite and she often mate with mortal men, only to devour them. She doesn't control completely what is born as a Scion and what is born as a Titanspawn and in some cases she has birthed twins, one which is human-like and one which is a monster completely removed from humanity.

Shuten-Doji

Associated Realms: Destruction(?), Chaos(?)

Godbound Word: Might, Endurance and Sorcery

Art by Christian Villacis

Some Titans and their Avatars are well defined things. Others are somewhat more complicated to ascertain, as their identities and mantles have been passed down through the ages. Both Shuten-Doji and Ibaraki-Doji have been associated with the status of being 'Leaders of the Demons in Japan' but where exactly they come from and what Titan they are associated with is a bit unclear. Having once faded into myth following its defeat by the potential Scion Minamoto Raikou, a new Shuten Doji has emerged with the stirring of the Titans in the modern day. As with all beings labelled as 'Oni', they are a dangerous creature of immense physical power. This new Shuten-Doji is just as much an agent of chaos and destruction as the original.

Unlike Tiamat and Echidna, Shuten-Doji doesn't directly birth its minions. Instead, styling itself as a power hungry warlord, it recruit most of its minion to its cause. Power, pleasure and more drive the various agenda of Shuten-Doji rather than true political or ideological cause. They are hedonist in the purest, simplest and most barbaric form: they enjoy good food, good wine (well, any alcohol really) and women. Or, men, too as the Oni hordes of the modern Shuten Douji include folks of all sex and tastes. In his own twisted way, Shuten-Douji is an egalitarian. Only might, cruelty and dedication to mayhem really matters to his minions. Anyone who disagree is free to disagree and let their fists decide.

Spawns of Shuten-Doji

A sizeable portion of Shuten-Doji's minions are miscellaneous Oni, as well as semi independent Giants from different mythologies which have flocked to his banner. Those minions which Shuten-Doji creates aren't born directly from him but, rather, he empower hordes of Thralls and mold men and beast into monsters more akin to himself: larger, powerful and rapacious. While Tiamat and Echidna represent monsters and beasts born of nature itself, it could be said Shuten-Doji's hordes are monsters born of mankind. Humanity reduced to its most petty self.

• Titanspawns of Shuten-Doji are rare, but generally created through indirect means rather than directly from Shuten-Doji itself. Their form is, invariably, that of Oni. Which is to say they are large and monstrous, ogre-like creatures. Horns, brightly colored skins and tusks are the norm. In addition to those he create, Shuten-Doji also 'adopt' rogue Giants and Titanspawns into himself.
• There are Scions of Shuten-Doji and most are Chosen, from those mortals who would be best suited to be Shuten Doji's generals rather than mere thralls. Given the sexual appetite of Oni, there are also born Scion of Shuten-Doji but his chaotic nature mean they are just as likely to rebel against him as they are to obey him.

Godbound/Scion: The Titans, Part 1

Recently I've finally gotten the chance to give a decently thorough reading of Scion's Second Edition and its lore. As is typical and expected of White Wolf Onyx Path, just about everything in there is seriously quite the mixed bag. For every idea expanded and reworked into something better suited to developing a campaign and characters there are ten more terrible ideas. In particular, the Titans have seen a fairly massive chance: their nature and roster, in particular, have been both expanded and yet also contracted. Titans have gained in variety and what is defined as a 'Titan' as well as gained new and interesting ways to interact with the world. Yet, at the same time, they have become smaller (pun intended). Gone are the massive Titan Realms and the idea that Titans are these vaster, more primordial beings, at least in comparison to 1st edition lore.

This is my own rework of the Titans, combining what I personally consider to be the best part of either version of the lore, as well as notes and scraps which survived from John's Scion Resources. There will be quite a bit of incoherence where the old lore meet the new lore. This is perfectly intentional, as this gray area of where the lore changed between version of the games add further gray areas to what Titans are as well as what they could be.

A lot of these ideas also overlap with my Urban Fantasy concepts. This is because I've taken quite a bit of cues over the years from games such as Scion. Unsurprisingly a lot of material could end up reused in some capacity for either games and, as such, these posts are also tagged as 'Urban Fantasy'.

The Nature of Titans

Marduk vs Tiamat by Christian Johnson

Defining what a Titan is will be a complicated matter, as previously mentioned, due to the fusion of 1st and 2nd edition lore. Some of them are truly massive, primordial beings, less of an individual and more of an aspect of a greater concept, as these often were in the game's first edition. Others are more classified as such due to their action and nature in opposing the gods of a pantheon. Then there are beings which would be Titan by nature, but aren't because they aren't directly opposed to the gods of a pantheon. The Titans are beings which can/must include on or more the following traits in order to be classified as a Titan:

• Some Titans are Titans by Nature. All Titans share a connection with one or more concept of the natural world. This doesn't always make a being a Titan, as there are obviously Gods tied to such concepts, but the Titanic beings whose nature is Titan-like tend to embody these concepts on a less 'human' level and more of a 'conceptual' level which makes them appear more alien to the Gods and mortals alike.
• Some Titans are by Calling, which make them beings whose archetypal nature make them enemies of the Gods. They are adversarial, destructive and/or tyrannical beings which the Pantheon have held at bay, defeated and/or locked away.
• Some Titans are simply Titans because they are Monstrous. There may be gods with monstrous traits, yes, but some Titans are monsters on an archetypal level. This is the natural state of beings such as Jormungandr, Apep or Typhon. These also include beings which are Titans-like or Titan-derived through their own nature, even if they seemingly defy taxonomy.

This slightly contradictory nature does mean that the Titan roster include both the vast, cosmic beings of 1st Edition (which were called Titan Avatars) as well as the more oddball beings of 2nd edition which are always tied to a specific element or concept. Some Titans are tied to the Titanrealms (which are both a location and part of their body/essence) while others are more akin to rogue agents.

• Titans can create Titanspawns, which is the somewhat catch-all term for their minions. How exactly they are created varies, ranging from actual physical birth to more abstract creation as well as the infusion of a Titan's power into another being, such as creating massive Nemean beasts or deliberate twisting of a mortal into a semi-divine monstrosity.
• A rare few Titans can create Scions. This is not a common ability, especially not for the more primordial of the Titans but the 'lesser' of the Titans, those singular beings of great power and destruction often posses the ability to create Scions. Generally most posses only a single mean/type of Scion they create, such as creating them the 'old fashioned way' (such as the rogue being and enemy of the Shen, 'White Eyebrows' impregnating a woman) or through slightly more arcane creation means. A rare few Titans have taken up the concept of Chosen or Incarnation, but this is a somewhat slow and abstract process where a mortal is slowly remolded, through their actions (accidental or deliberate) into a Scion/incarnation of a Titan.

Godbound/Scion: Titanspawns

The Titanspawns are monsters and enemies of the Gods. In practice however, the lower ranks of Titanspawns are enemies of the God's children, meaning they are the primary major threat that a Scion will fight. They are creatures like the Hydra, the Kraken or the rank and file Giants of Norse mythology among other things. Some are unique, one off monstrosities while others are whole races of Titan worshipers and servants. Titanspawns are dark creatures, filled with evil intent and devotion or dark virtues as the Scion rulebook calls them. Ambition, Malice, Rapacity and Zealotry are what drive and define the Titanspawns.  Some are nothing but animals and brutes while others are exceedingly intelligent.

Giants by Greg Danton

Chimeras & Nemean

Named after the Greek monster, the term Chimera is a catch-all term for Titanspawns which are an amalgamation of two or more things. The most obvious and common forms of these are either a mixture of different animals or animals+human body parts but in modern times it also include machinery. Nemean, on the other hand, named after the Nemean Lion are any form of mundane animal which has been infused with the power of the Titans making it grow in size and aggression. Mechanically these creatures are the easiest to stats as they are well-represented with the various stats for particularly large animals, such as the Big Hunter or Predator King. Larger Nemean would be similar but with more HD while Chimera are likely to posses one or two gifts befitting their bizarre nature or, in some cases, completely at odd with it!

Giants & Thralls

The being most often associated (and conflated) with the Titans are the Giants, or Gigantes in Greek. They are most recorded as Titanspawns in Greek and Norse myths but in truth they are quite universal, unfortunately. A giant physically resemble a large humanoid, most between eight and fifteen feet. Some look like perfectly formed human, albeit very large and muscular. Most....don't. Giants tend to be ugly looking brutes which would remind people of cavemen, what with their beetle brow, hunched shoulders or even more deformities. Most of them are just big, dumb, ugly and smelly brutes. Their ranks also include Frost Giant, Fire Giants, Cyclops, Oni, Trolls and more.

A Thrall is the byproduct of a mortal being fed a Giant's blood, or Eitr. The transformation make them into battle-crazed, hulking brutes with little regard for fear or wounds. These angry bastards are the primary minions of Giants and are used muscles to reinforce their ranks.

Giants have HD, high attack and damage but are somewhat slow and easy to hit (being quite large). Generally the higher the HD the larger the Giant's stature and the more powerful it is in terms of having Gifts. More powerful Giants may require magical weapons or Gifts in order to harm.

GIANT	HD	AC	Atks	Dmg	Move	Morale	Saves	Effort
Thrall	3	7	+3	1d8	30’	11	14+	1
Lesser Giant	6	10	+6 x2	1d10	20’	11	12+	3
Giant	10	9	+10 x2	1d12	20’	11	10+	4
Greater Giant	14	8	+10 x2	2d6	20’	11	8+	5

The Gifts of most Giants are straightforward ports from the Words of Might and Endurance, with a few from Earth perhaps for Giant spawned from the Greek Titan Avatars. Fire Giants obviously are immune to fire and Frost giants are immune to cold. Trolls are a bit trickier and have various odd powers, including possibly those of Sorcery while Cyclops can have gifts of Artifice.

Godbound/Scion: Foes and Monsters

Scion has a lot of monsters taken from all the mythologies of the world. Of course, there is a bit of an issue when it come to mythology and pre-made monsters: in the myths, very very few creatures were part of a coherent 'species'. There were only three Gorgon, for example and Grendel was a unique creature unless you assume his mother to be a similar monster. When it come to Scion monsters, there need to be a tightrope where the GM walk between recognizable myth and usability in game, especially since monsters which players are familiar with tend to lose their impact because everyone already know what they are.

As with most tabletop RPG, Scion 1st edition classified monsters into somewhat coherent categories. That's just the nature of tabletop, one could argue. Players and Game Masters like the way things just make a certain sense. Except mythology, by nature, does not make sense. Far better writers than I have written about this issue.

Lesser Immortals

Art by Helen Rusovich(?)

While they might take issue with the term, the 'Lesser Immortals' refer to any manner of sapient divine being which is kind of like a god but not a 'capital-G' God and member of a pantheon. They are creatures usually bound to the World (as in the mortal world) rather than the Overworld (the world of the Gods). These beings are often (and sometimes mockingly) called 'elves' or 'fey' but this is not always completely accurate, as the only truly elvish beings in this category would be the Alfar of Norse mythology.

Major categories of Lesser Immortals include:

• Alfar: The 'light elves' of Norse mythology are classified in Scion as lesser fertility deities, with the Vanir having members of their ranks in the Norse Pantheon proper. The Alfar are all blessed with superhuman beauty, charisma and just presence in general as well as a connection to the land and fertility. They are vulnerable to iron, as per the myths on fairies.
• Kitsune: These beings are humanoid foxes and natural-born tricksters generally associated with Japan and, to a lesser extent, Korea. While ostensibly on the Gods' side, they are fickle and self-serving beings as one would expect of tricksters.
• Kunitsukami: These beings are the 'land gods' of ancient Japan. They are very tied to their own Pantheon and people, although a few beings similar to them might be extremely ancient and associated with the ancient people of prehistoric Japan, such as the Ainu or Emishi.
• Nymphs: These beings are either whole groups or unique/semi-unique Lesser Immortals tied to a specific location, object or landmark. The Greeks classified them in specific groups such as location type (Oreads for mountains) or even specific locations (Acheloides for the Achelous River). There are non-Greco Roman creatures which are very Nymph-like, such as Nixies or Chaneque. The key feature of these beings if that they weaken (and maybe even die) from being away from their landmark for too long.
• Peri: Associated with the Persian pantheon, the Peri are beautiful winged Lesser Immortals. They are very similar in appearance and function to the Alfar, safe for different focus when it come to their gifts.

Lesser Immortal as Antagonists

Each Lesser Immortal is an individual being, with its own name and a very long history unless they are, somehow, relatively young by their standard which isn't implausible if these beings can reproduce. Because they (usually) have such autonomy and free will it is entirely possible that one could become an antagonist to a band of Scions for a variety of reasons, from perfectly logical to completely stupid and petty. Some of them might also be motivated by ancient grudges toward the Scion's divine parent and might want to enact revenge by proxy. This could be an event recorded in myths or it could be something which is more recent and has gone unrecorded.

Some Lesser Immortals could very well end up joining with the Titans, too. This may very well be bad news, since a Lesser Immortal is still a lesser divine being. Assuming it is not too corrupted by the Titanic essence and powers and retain its full sanity it can be a truly dangerous foe, combining its human-like appearance/shape shifting, age, wisdom and the might of the Titans.

Most Lesser Immortals are beings in the 4-6 HD range (with their more powerful kin with more HD, obviously), with attack bonus and AC which is appropriate to their power level. They have a variety of 'lesser abilities' which may or may not have any mechanical effect, such as being able to assume a near-human or completely human (but very striking) form at will and being immune to mundane problems such as mundane diseases and poisons. Aside from Passion, Command or Desire (very common Words for them in general) their choice of Word could include:

• Alfar: Fertility or Light. In addition, remember Alfar are weak to 'cold iron'. Vanir, meanwhile would have Fertility or Earth as possible Words.
• Kitsune: Shapeshifting or Deception. Kitsune receive a penalty to Saving Throws exploiting their hedonism.
• Kunitsukami and Nymphs: Variable, but can include Fertility, Sea, Earth, Fire or other 'elemental' Words. Kunitisukami could also replace their Passion/Command/Desire Word with Sword or Bow. Nymphs are weakened and cannot regain Effort when separate from their landmark while Kunitsukami receive a penalty to Saving Throws which involve manipulating their sense of duty and honor.
• Peri: Light or Fire. They can fly and have the Alfar weakness to 'cold iron'.

Undead

Art by Zelldweller(?)

Ah, a classic of this shitty blog: undead monsters. They have been a staple when it come to quick and easy but still terrifying monster. The mythological and cultural significance is fairly obvious: we all fear the inevitability of death, something which gnaws at us. In the case of undead it might literally gnaw at us. Scion is no different and feature its own menagerie of the undead.

Obviously, ghosts and undead monsters have their roots in mythology and Scion has its own way of classifying them. The explanation for their sudden rise is that when the Titans broke free of their prison they shattered the walls and paths to and from the Underworld, basically making the whole process of travel to the afterlife a mess while also basically breaking the walls which kept the ghosts inside it. The common categories of Undead are:

• Ghosts: These are regular vanilla incorporeal undead. They are dead people. Some of them are aligned with the Gods and can even act as allies and guides to Scions. A quick and dirty run down on Ghosts could use the work I have already written for my own Urban Fantasy game as the basics would probably still apply.
• Spectres: Taking some cues from other White Wolf games, the Spectres are essentially stronger and meaner ghosts which have abandoned/lost their humanity and aligned themselves with the Titans. These beings are generally those with the suite of freaky powers like poltergeist, possession and filling mortal minds with visions of dread and despair.
• Zombies, Skeletons and Mummies: While the name has very different connotation in Voodoo, 'zombies' is a common name used in modern pop culture for all animate and dumb undead that shambles around.
• Hungry Corpses: Mythologies are rife with the type of Undead with a wicked intellect, strong purpose and/or a strong desire to eat the flesh of the living. These category cover a wide variety of beings such as Draugr or Civateteo.

All in all, one could say that what applies to my Urban Fantasy game mostly applies to Scion, just scaled to Godbound and with the addition of the connection to that game's arch villains, the Titans. Refer to these various posts for a basic on the core ideas. Of particular note are the Nephwracks of Exalted (and other White Wolf games) which are described here: these being, within the lore of Scion, would be the corrupted ghosts of extremely powerful mortals, of past religious figures or even of dead Scions who have wholly dedicated themselves to Titan Avatars tied to particularly destructive forces.

Because the Titans are actively trying to build their armies for the day when they finally destroy the Gods, such beings are likely on the rise. The most desperate people or the worst of scum, or rather their ghostly forms, are infused with the power of Titan Avatars such as those of the Drowned Road, Soku-No-Kami, Xibalba (The Titan of Death, see the fan-made Mayan Pantheon supplement), Zrvan (The Titan of Time, see the Persian Gods supplement) or Crom Cruach. However in theory any Titan who isn't banned from the Death purview could have started assembling such monstrosities under their banner.

Godbound/Scion: Divine Knacks, Tricks and Refluffing

Seems my crude work on Godbound+Scion had made one of my players (and sometimes GM) want to run something which take cues from Scion with the Godbound system. Now obviously, not everything in one game translate perfectly to another so here are some random thoughts on Gifts being refluffed to be used with another Word to vaguely emulate some Scion knacks and boons.

Remember, as per the Godbound core book on page 12. "You may only learn gifts from Words you have bound, with one exception; you can spend 2 points to learn a lesser gift from another Word if you can explain how your own powers are creating that effect."

Epic Appearance

Helen of Troy by Genzoman

There isn't an 'Appearance' stat in D&D or derived systems, at least not usually. Yes, Charisma might include great beauty or eye-searing ugliness but this is not the only focus of Charisma. There is no Word of Beauty or Word of Ugly in Godbound but in Scion multiple deities are tied to the Epic Appearance Attribute, such as Aphrodite (more on the 'beauty' side) or Tlaloc (on the 'fugly' side). Generally, the two closest Words for both options are either the Word of Desire and the Word of Fear embodying the two opposite ends of the Appearance spectrum; the former so beautiful that it compel desire and love while the latter is a horrific atavism which draws upon primordial fears.

• Fair Mortal Mien (Shapeshifting): As Scion with epic appearance, they can likewise reshape and control said appearance to suit their needs.
• Love Me And Despair (Faerie Queen): Turn lesser foes into drooling thralls through either sheer beauty or sheer fear.
• Liar's Perfect Grace (Deception): As perfect actors, Scion with Epic Appearance can spin lies as much as they want.
• Mantle of Quietus (Death): To assail such a paragon of beauty and to mar its flesh inflict spiritual wounds. On the opposite end, the fear which the ugly Scion exude can damage attackers.
• Queen of Air and Darkness (Faerie Queen): Make lesser foes unable to even strike you out of pure presence.
• Royal Grace (Faerie Queen): Self-explanatory for beautiful Scions. They can never appear dirty. awkward or incapable.
• Sans Merci (Faerie Queen): A damage power of using one's own presence and gaze to cut into people's hearts.
• World Greatest X (Peak Human): Anything related to beauty or uglyness works.

Epic Appearance in Scion covers interesting ground, with a mixture of manipulation and shape shifting. This is presumably because the attribute is called appearance and covers not only static ability of being of impossibly striking appearance but also manipulation of one's own appearance.

Epic Perception

Likewise, there is no Perception stat: that usually come under the purview of Wisdom. As such, these refluffed Gifts are a good choice for anyone who wish to focus upon the power of Perception. These powers can be considered an expansion of the sense of mere mortals and the ability to process said information. There is also a Word of Sight: a homebrew of the Word of Sight in the Librum de Verbis. It is well suited as the baseline Word to apply these refluffed Gifts to.

• Bolt of Invincible Skill (Bow): Superhuman senses mean superhuman accuracy. One doesn't need to be magically gifted as an archer to be really deadly, especially not with perfect visions. Now obviously combining both is overkill.
• Eyes of the Cat (Beast): Perfect night vision.
• Feathered Tempest (Bow): Nothing can escape a Scion with Epic Perception. See the other Bow gifts.
• The Storm Break (Alacrity): While this is obviously a power associated with raw speed it does not need to be. Scions with epic Perception are just that good at reacting to what they perceive around them to act first.

Epic Perception isn't as far-reaching in thematic as Epic Appearance but it definitely has more application than just 'see well'.

Epic Wits

Epic Wits in a nutshell.

If intelligence cover knowledge and the ability to retain it, then Wits is the speed and efficiency in applying it in the proper situation. Intelligence and social grace are great but with Epic Wits the Scion gain the ability to think at a speed and to a level of detail which is simply impossible for mere mortals. "They react to trouble almost before the trouble occurs, compressing the line of causality into an instantaneous flash point" is how Scion: God describes the highest level of power of this Epic Attribute.

• Furious Counterstrike (Vengeance): The Scion guess they are going to be hit this time and cannot avoid it in that specific time, thus turning this into a situation where they can at least set up a chance to counter attack, turning a bad moment into a chance to defeat their foe.
• Immediate Foresight (Time): Remember when was written above about 'compressing the line of causality'? Yeah good luck surprising someone with Epic Wits.
• Reflex of Regret (Time): The Scion is so good that, for all intent and purpose, they can mechanically undo actions. These actions are not rewritten out of reality, mind you. They just represent predictions the Scion had on the coming actions and their course correction.
• Unbreakable (Endurance): Quickly think up a way to counter an attack made against the Scion, negating damage.

Always remember, whenever a character with Epic Wits alter an event which happen during a battle, they are not reshaping reality. That's not what they do. Their ability to undo or change actions represent them being so good at predicting stuff that it allow their player to 'cheat'.

Godbound: Thoughts On A Scion Conversion, Part 2

Some more thoughts on a Scion conversion for Godbound. Still nothing mechanically complete, as that would require far too much work not to mention I do want to wait for the Second Edition to show up to see what good parts can be salvaged of said mess.

Mistakes Were Made

The last post I realized there are three Pantheons I forgot:

• The Yazata (The Persian Pantheon): These guys had their own expansion but somehow I forgot to mention them last time.
• The Inue (The Inuit Pantheon): A rather obscure Pantheon with nonetheless a large role when it come to expanding the lore of the Titans, as Ymir is/was an Aspect of their associated Titan.
• The Contentious 'Native American' Pantheon: Oooh boy. This is one which I recall the fanbase long argued over because of the debate if there should be a universal Pantheon for these incredibly varied cultures or if there should just be one representing a specific major cultural group. Right now I'm not 100% sure what I'd do if I ran Scion when it come to handling Native mythology. They do have Gods in the Overworld as any culture does to some extent. I'm just not enough of an expert to delineate how said Pantheon would be organized. It is a very complex subject matter and one I'd need to handle to the best of my ability if/when the time come.

And with that, the Pantheon roster is mostly complete, at least as far as some loose draft of all the major and minor players. Is it a list which cover every possible option? Hardly. But at some point one need to make the cut.

On The World Of Scion

A generally-agreed consensus when it came to Scion 1st edition was that it wasn't really a setting. Yes, you had rules for all the gods and monsters and you had an overall massive conflict of the Gods vs Titans (as well as Gods vs Gods and Titans vs Titans) but outside of the (very railroady) adventures there wasn't really much of a world. Scion books presented and front loaded a ton of information on how the various myths and legends existed in seemingly our modern world but never really gave much thought or explanation on how this was actually handled. There was this big, overwhelming sense that the setting at times lacked purpose, direction and most damning of all applicability. This was often the case with the White Wolf games but Scion in particular often left you wondering "What the flying fuck am I supposed to do with this game?". It is a very damning trait for a Tabletop RPG to leave a Game Master unable to figure out what the flying fuck do to with its world and characters.

My take on how the world of Scion would work is what I call World Plus. The world of Scion, and by that I mean the material and mortal world part of (which the Norse Gods call Midgard) is much like our early 21st Century Earth but bigger, cooler, louder and scarier. It is a world more akin to pulp and action movies at times, a world where the general malaise and banality of our dreary soul-sucking social media life has sucked away all meaning of human interactions. A world where there is still a place for larger than life people with great ambition rather than a world of petty mean girls and corporate bullies (even if such things would exist just as badly!). Cities are bigger, more vibrant and the rural areas are rugged and still retain that sense of being the frontier between civilization and the wilderness. Calling it an 'improved' version of our world is wrong, however: because when it reach the darkest and most cruel, uncaring parts it gets so much worse. Catastrophic 'natural' cataclysm can break apart countries and turn a once peaceful location to chaos just as much as it will spur epic deeds of self-sacrifice as people risk their lives to save those trapped in the debris. The roads, at night, become darker places and at the edges of the picket fence, where the woods still exist, monsters lurk in the shadows.

Ten, twenty or thirty years ago it could have been a better place than our world in some aspects but that reality is no more. There are primordial forces at work, forces embodying the ancient enemies of the Gods and mortals alike. As the Titans stir in their shattered prison, things are taking a turn for the worst. Some of the catastrophe were not forest fires nor flood nor earthquake but rather merely appeared to be these things: in truth something from the ancient world of myths and legend crawled up back to the mortal world and (hopefully) was defeated by one of the Scions, the offsprings of the Gods.

The way I see it, the world of Scion is a lot like the world of Marvel and DC: an apt comparison, given that superheroes are often compared to modern mythology when they just flat out aren't Gods from the get go. The slow reveal of the existence of the mythical in this larger-than-life world is comparable to the transformation undergone by the world of, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When we are first introduced to it, in Iron Man it is basically a slightly-more-futuristic version of our own world circa 2008. However as more and more supernatural beings appear it begin to deviate more and more from our history and, eventually, even the very history we thought we knew is called into question as all these amazing things such as magicians and aliens were under our noses all this time. Of course, the main different here is that Scion wouldn't really delve into the scifi elements: there would be no super soldiers, no highly advanced power armors and no robots and aliens. However the idea remain the same: the gradual transformation of our modern world into one where the impossible become a known factor and where Gods walk the Earth.

Godbound: Thoughts On A Scion Conversion, Part 1

Fairly early in the blog's history, I wrote about using Scion as a basis for modern-day Godbound. These are a few thoughts and expansions on the ideas there. It is still not a full blown conversion document as that has yet to be something which is being worked on. These are more loose thoughts on a Scion 'remake' using Godbound, much like the previous Exalted material on this blog.

The Pantheons

A key and important feature of any Scion game is which Pantheon of divinities would be feature in the game itself as well as what options they offer to players when it come to creating their characters. Every Scion need some form of divine parentage (if going by the setting rules of 1st edition, anyway, as 2nd edition is a bit different).

The Aesir (The Norse Pantheon)

Introduced in the core book, the Norse pantheon is one which generally command quite the presence in the game. While not the most famous of the 'main' pantheon, it is the one of those which hold up a sizable portion of the core lore of Scion nonetheless alongside the Greek Pantheon. In Scion, their specific purview is called Jotunblut: it represent the fact that the Norse pantheon interbred with Giants and allow them to enhance their power and stature. Under the original Scion rules, it allowed to turn people and animals into giants but for the sake of Godbound rules I would count that as a miracle and use of Dominion. Rather, personally I'd take cues from John's Scion Resources and use it more for the 'buffing' of the Scion's physical might and stature. Jotunblut, with its theme of gigantism, would likely easily mechanically double as some Giant/Titan 'Concept Word' for vanilla Godbound which is neat. Lore-wise, there isn't much to change to the Aesir.

The Dodekatheon (The Greco-Roman Pantheon)

Easily the most famous of any of the old Pantheons of gods, the Greek Pantheon would be expanded to become the Greco-Roman Pantheon: meaning that aspect of the lore added/changed from the Greek sources by the romans would be considered part of their overall mythos. Their fame combined with being, for a sizable period of time the main pantheon of one of (if not the most) powerful civilizations of the ancient world combine with the sheer amount of demi-gods found in myths would very much make it one of the most prolific, potent and active pantheon...which would not necessarily make them the strongest however, as the Greek gods are easily the most dysfunctional family ever. Any advantage from their size and scope would be negated by how fucked up they are as people. Their Purview in Scion is Arete, which was the most boring-yet-efficient Purview as it provided passive bonus to everything. Rather, if I was to run Scion using Godbound I would loosely base it off the Peak Human Concept Word.

The Daeva (The Vedic Pantheon)

While the Greek Pantheon has fame and influence in human history through the impact of Rome on civilization as a whole, the Daeva are unique in that they've never really gone away and are still worshiped to this day by a very much active religion: Hinduism. Not only that, but through the influence of Hinduism on Buddhism and other faiths such as Jainism the Daeva would be a Pantheon with connections stretching all across Asia. While they were not a core book Pantheon in Scion, this would be something easily rectified and I firmly believe they should be considered one of the core Pantheon of any Scion game. Their legacy of creating demigods and divine avatar easily rival that of the Greeks. Their purview, Samsara, would likely be a reworked version of the Fate Word. As a whole the Daeva have a form of local power which no other Pantheon can ever hope to match in term of longevity and sustained worship.

The Tuatha Dé Danaan (The Celtic and Arthurian 'Pantheon')

On the surface, the Tuatha would not appear to be good material for being considered a 'major pantheon' Celtic mythology, after all, is obscure to most people and filled with characters whose name nobody knows how to read. However, the same Celtic myths which form the basis of their identity were also at the core of a much more famous modern mythology: Arthurian legends. Under this version, the Tuatha Dé Danaan would incorporate many elements of Arthurian mythology with the loose 'retcon' that many key figures were in fact Scion of the Celtic gods albeit those of a later era. This would be more similar to the earlier Arthurian portrayal where he was less of a medieval King and more of a pagan Dux Bellorum. The Tuatha, in Scion, had the purview Enech which is related to the concepts of Geasa. I'd argue this one is a type of Concept Word which would bestow powerful, often passive Gifts at the cost of them being permanently lost if a taboo is broken.

The Shen/Celestial Bureaucracy (The 'Chinese' Pantheon)

Oh boy, this is a weird one. The Chinese Pantheon is a complicated one: arguably 'Chinese Mythology' isn't quite as clearly defined as Greek or Norse, as it has incorporate many ideas and characters from different people and different religions crossed with a sizable body of folklore and popular culture. The previously-mentioned detail that the Daeva overlap with other Pantheon? This is one such example due to the influence of Buddhism. Generally-speaking to be a Scion of the Celestial Bureaucracy would mean the character is the offspring/creation of a Deity with a defined role in this system but it is very plausible for a character to be aligned/allied with the Shen and being the offspring of an Indian, Japanese or Korean deity or some figure of Buddhist mythologies. Conversely there are also Scion of Chinese descent who are member of other pantheons due to the spread of the Chinese diaspora: some of them are on good term with the Shen and might act as cross-Pantheon diplomat, such as a Chinese-American Greek scion while others might incur distrust from the Shen because they associate more with the ideals of their foreign divine ancestry. As the tension between China and the Western world slowly grows, who knows where this might lead?

The Orisha and The Loa (The 'West African Diaspora' Pantheon)

While it has roots in the ancient West African people, the Orisha-Loa pantheon is a cross-cultural one born of the African diaspora which resulted from the African slave trade. Much like the Chinese Pantheon (but for very different reasons) it incorporate quite a bit from other faiths. In the original Scion only the Loa were available, while John's Scion Resources presented the Orisha as their own Pantheon which tied into the Loa. Finally, Scion 2nd edition simply has their version of the Orisha be a default Pantheon. Personally I simply consider them an expanded pantheon much like the Greco-Romans combine Greek, Etruscan, Roman and more while the Shen and Daeva overlap with each others (and to a lesser extent the Japanese Pantheon) when it come to Buddhism. Taking cues from the JSR version and the core book Loa, the Orisha would have two potential purviews, which are Ori and Cheval: the first has power over one's destiny and the other allow the 'riding' of humans. How this would work in practice I'm not sure but it isn't beyond possibility for me to consider that some Pantheon have wider and more conflicting signature abilities.

Lesser Pantheon

'Lesser' here is...relative. These aren't necessarily weaker or smaller (or less important), merely pantheon with far less of a foothold in the modern world for a variety of reasons. In fact this isn't even related to my personal tastes as many of these are my absolute favorites its just they have smaller roles and there is generally not much to say about them than which isn't just 'they exist'. They simply have less of a grip upon the world and less active Scion.

• The Aliha (The Arabic Pantheon): Pre-Islamic gods of the Arab lands, the Aliha are almost a dead Pantheon which has faded nearly entirely from history. The fan-made supplement for them even flat out admit they are among the least known or understood of the pantheons of old.
• The Amatsukami (Japanese Pantheon): This one is an oddball among the lesser pantheon as it remain very strong within its own country, much like the Indian pantheon. The difference, however, is that the Japanese are an insular people. They assimilate ideas from others but rarely spread their own insular beliefs and myths to others. As a result, this is a strong pantheon with a strong local base but lacking in the reach of the Daeva and Shen which they are tied to.
• The Annuna (The Mesopotamian Pantheon): One of, if not the oldest Pantheon. While their lust for life may not have faded completely they remain very poorly known today, safe perhaps for their most famous Scion: Gilgamesh.
• The A'pu (The Incan Pantheon): Of the three Meso-American Pantheon they are the less-known but it is worth remembering that the Incan Empire was indeed once the mighty ruler of the Andes.
• The Atua (The Polynesian Pantheon): Much like the Greco-Roman and Shen they are a cross-cultural Pantheon.
• The Aztlanti (The Aztec Pantheon): The most war-like of the three Meso-American Pantheon and the strongest of the three if only because of their connection to the still-existing modern Mexican culture which has Christianize some elements of their pre-existing mythology.
• The Bogovi (The Slavic Pantheon): One of the more 'faded' of the European pantheons alongside the Nemetondevos.
• The Elohim (The Canaanite Pantheon): Almost as faded from history as the Aliha, unfortunately. Their founder (and Titan Avatar) El bear an uncomfortable resemblance to a 'certain someone'.
• The Kuh (The Mayan Pantheon): The Mayan Gods are the sometimes-allies, sometimes-rivals of the Aztec Gods.
• The Nemetondevos (The Gaul Pantheon): One of the more forgotten Pantheon of the older days of Europe.
• The Pesedjet (The Egyptian Pantheon): While iconic, the Egyptian gods are also quite misunderstood and not as well known compared to the Greco-Roman Gods. Like other Middle-Eastern Pantheons they've waned in power, albeit not as much as others. Such is the mark Ancient Egypt left on the world.
• The Tengri-Mongol Pantheon: Currently this one doesn't have a name, as it was not one someone else wrote about in the 1st edition days but rather one born of my own idea on what to add to and expand upon.