Wow, there's a lot to unwrap in there.
I do have some as-yet unpublished ideas about the cultures involve, but they are broad brush-strokes. And this concept actually dovetails in interesting ways.
Kumlar is a kingdom. But the monarchy is mostly hands-off, beyond a certain amount of tithe. So, regional and provincial duchies and other holdings are much more involved in the day-to-day laws. But "the Kings Law" tends to involve some very broad strokes. Key among them are:
- Human Sacrifice is outlawed
- Slavery is outlawed
I"m sure there's more, but that's kind of the level I'm thinking on... And this is all so very important because Kharse practices both slavery and human sacrifice. I'm also guessing sort of supposing that slavery & human sacrifice may be an outgrowth of the conflict that originally set the three kingdoms to war generations ago.
Also, the idea of human sacrifice technically goe against the Edict of Pantheistic Unity, which basically comes down to "so long as it harms none, do what you will"...
Of course, there are all sorts of "what if" arguments... what if the sacrifice is voluntary? Does this mean that a father cannot donate blood to his child if it means he might die? What about war-time? People get killed in war all the time. So, yeah, there's lots of room to move. Much of the proclamation and the monarchy's imposition of the Kings Law is necessarily a PR move. They might well turn a blind eye to Yisil's house practices if it's kept discrete. They certainly can't do anything if they're not actualyl aware of it.
What I was seeing for her background was a dynamic of a noble house who operates outside of the traditional power structures, both geographically and politically.
So, as a foreigner, we'd need t make a distinction as to whether she's in a diplomatic role (which would give her some legal protection, so long as she's discrete) or not (which, well, wouldn't).
The House exists outside of Kumlar, but work within it.
SO, like, they have trade-agreements and the like? Perhaps some sort of political agreement. The Tarenti Riders of the Norhtern Plain (nominally part of Kumlar, but very lightly populated) have a political agreeemnt of alliance and mutual defense.
Given the potential for human sacrifice involved in the magic, would it make sense for Cara to be from Kharse? Kharsians are not vilified. Those farthest from teh borders and fartherst from the Scar (former Khadid) may be a little more fearful and provincially racist, but that's a distance thing. There is currently NOT a state of unusual tension with Kharse. That, of course, will probably change over the course of the game.
It is a House of Mages, but they aren't College trained.
Easy enough. The primary concern of the College of Mages is the safe control of evocation-powers. If a evocateur is able to prove that tehy are not an undue risk to those around them... it's no big deal.
The
other concern of the College is the policing of magic use. Which involved investigating magical crimes and the pursuit and removal of "unsafe" ritual tomes. Since ritual magic is common, there is nothing to prevent the formulation of great rituals to curse an entire land or an entire people... These kinds of rituals will naturally take a lot of time and resources. And the College has convinced the monarchy that it is in it's best interest to remvoe such written works from the general populace.
They have wealth and privilege within Kumlari society, but exist apart from it.
Sorry. I'm having trouble parsing this. They have wealth & privilege but exist apart from their wealth and privilege? Or they have wealth and privilege, but exist apart from Kumlaren society? Each read will have very different associations.
Therefor they have power, but don't exist within the typical power hierarchies.
What does this power look like?
Rather than being a house of College trained Envokers, they had a set of debt and patronage with members of the house and dependents, people who tithe some of their magic to the House in a contract of protection.
An interesting set-up. If you're not interested in pursuing a Kharsian background, then perhaps a smaller holding in some region of former Khadid. Exposure to the...
things from the Scar would certainly be justificvation for people wanting such protection. Not to mention bandits, and political incursions from both Kharse and Kumlar.
Possible Mechanics
The First Boon: Someone makes a donation of blood, enough to leave them woozy for a day or two.
Fair enough so far. This practice could easily by a foundation for many Kumlaren's distrust of Kharse, if you were to choose to go Kharsian. Is there anything that prevents Cara or any other in the house from just kidnapping people and forcibly ex-sanguinating them to harvest their powers against their will?
If not, I imagine that the "taste" of the magic would be different if the blood was given voluntarily versus against one's will. I actually kinda like that. I would allow for another distinction between House Yisil and others... if they do the act only voluntarily, there is a sort of "fine line" they observe, and it sets them apart from how some others might act.
The Oathsworn
Like the title. What is nature the oath they've sworn? I think I missed that in the process.
Potentially, the Oathsworn could stockpile a tremendous amount of power in the form of free Invokes, but they could also completely run out of Evocation magic. Magic becomes a powerful resource in this regard. Something to be hoarded and spent sparingly.
That seems to play along nicely with how I see magic... It should allow a great many things, but all magic should have a
cost involved, and evocation even more directly.
There's a lot oof new stuff in my responses too... so I'm going to copy some of it to the world threads...
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:24, Sat 21 Mar 2020.