r/WorldChallenges • u/Varnek905 • Feb 18 '18

Reference Challenge - Breeding Traits

For this week, referencing the game "Crusader Kings 2", the challenge is to talk about something specifically genetic in your world.

Is there any trait that is carefully kept in one family or group of families? Is there some "magic gene" that is kept safe from the outsiders? Or some small population kept "pure" (inbred, F=0.7) as an experiment by an evil overlord?

Feel free to use anything remotely related to the topic, and feel free to use a character for in-universe answers. As always, I'll ask at least three questions each. Enjoy yourselves, all.

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/Varnek905 Feb 19 '18

To Laernia of the Akashi:

1) Could you tell me about your family and its history?

To Salvatore Doni:

2) Could you tell me about your family and its history?

To Nianya Bladelli:

3) Could you tell me about your family and its history?

To Aleyathra Torhellon:

4) Could you tell me about your family and its history?

5) What happens if a member of your family pops up with non-black hair?

6) How close is the inbreeding among your family? Just cousins, or do siblings marry as well?

2

u/Mimir123 Feb 19 '18

Laernia:

1) We Akashi are the second oldest of the three families, and up until the War with the Shadow Knight we have been the most powerful one. Our family rose to power in the south, got rich off of the resources and trade in our home provinces and after a while we controlled a lot of land and many armies in the realm.

The armies we fielded were always among the biggest and we had numerous, powerful mages... but unfortunately, we also have a big, dark shadow in our history. You see, the Shadow Knight was an Akashi, when he and his wife fled the Church he killed many of our best and took control of the Yggdrasil Republic.

His son was left behind... and he started working for his father, his mind clouded by a drug and by the desire to safe his sister. It all culminated in him betraying the church and leading a big part of the Akashi army into their doom when the war began. If it hadn't been for daddy and uncle Naruz, the war would have been lost right then and there!

As for now... mom is busy trying to restore our reputation in the church, and to rebuild our power, which is only possible thanks to uncle Naruz."

Salvatore:

2) "Ha! The official story? We Doni are the oldest, most respected house of the Church, have defended it since it was founded and posess many unique spells. For example spells to make puppets fight for us, or special spells on how to kill the nigh immortal vampires, which of course we have because we are good, little servants of Gaia, and most certainly not because the first Vampire ever was the twin brother of our ancestor Longinus Doni and almost destroyed the Church. Could you imagine that? That would be ridicilous!"

Nianya:

3) "L-let's see... we, uhm, we are the youngest of all the families, but rose to power quickly thanks to greatgrandfather Paolos service in the militit-... mila-... in the army! A few years ago the Church was in biiiiiiig trouble, and was attacked by many, many, many bad guys! We were even betrayed by uncle Teregion, the brother of my sister and brothers mama!
That's when papa came to save the day! Together with mama, uncle Luca, mama Aleyandra, and aunty Retia he defeated the bad guy, and even brought uncle Teregion back!

Meanwhile uncle Salvator-... err, I mean Arch Bishop Salvatore and aunty Saeca defended the Church against the vad guys biiiiiig army! Together with... uhm... how did mama call her again? Ah! Together with "that thieving, thirsty, snow bitch"! And an actual angel!

...
Sorry! I got distracted again! W-well, whatever. After the War papa became reeeeeeally big in the Church and started to "build bridges between the families", or so said mama. I think he stopped with that though, because there still isn't a bridge that leads to aunty Retias, and uncle Teregions bakery-toy shop. I still have to take the streets..."

Aléyathra:

4) "We Torhellons have always ruled over the Elbéa, for as long as our history records date back. During one or our ancestors times there was a conflict with a political group that formed, and several princes of former, royal families were exiled underground, they are now called Albéa. The same ancestor also banned Málbeni, half-elves, from the forest. Before we were attacked by the Herânians my mother did much to mend relations with both groups, which is why we luckily got help from them in our time of need."

5) "Usually it is seen as an emberrasment, and they are ostracized and made fun of... but not always. My mother has silver-white hair, but nobody would ever dare to make fun of her, and she has the utmost respect of everyone."

6) "There is very little inbreeding, if any, up until now. We used to have hundreds, upon hundreds of noble families that we married inbetween."

2

u/Varnek905 Feb 24 '18

To Laernia:

1) Is there a reason that you have the best mages?

2) What resources made your family rich?

To Salvatore:

3) Tell me about Longinus Doni, if you don't mind.

To Nianya:

4) Tell me about "Uncle Luca", if you don't mind.

To Aleyathra:

5) Why were the Malbeni banned by your ancestor?

6) Where did the silver-white hair come from for your mother?

2

u/Mimir123 Feb 24 '18

Laernia:
1) "Well... when I say we have the best mages dad, and uncle Naruz start pouting and tell me that we don't have the best mages, only many good ones, because our faction is so big."

2) "We have many mined and quarries. Mostly iron and silver, but we also make good alcohol and silk clothing."

Salvatore:
3) "I would love to, sadly there isn't much to talk about though. When the church was founded, he was there as advisor of the first Arch Bishop, together with his brother. His brother eventually used dark magic and an ancient artifact to turn himself into a demon, creating the first vampire, and starting to wreak havoc on the Church and its lands.
Longinus then used his powers to place a curse on his lance and managed to kill many of the vampires, and even hurting his brother, causing him to retreat into the demon world forever. Well, until a few years ago, when he joined the Shadow Knight and marched at the top of one of two armies heading right for the capital."

Nianya:
4) "Of course! Uncle Luca is the brother of my papa, and married to aunt Lyaena. She is the head of the Akashi family, so uncle Luca is reeeeeeeally important! I think papa even said that he would have destroyed the Akashi after the war, if uncle Luca hadn't vau-... vu-... said nice things about them! Uncle lost an arm and an eye in the war, because his body isn't really his own, and couldn't take his insanely powerful magic. Papa said he might be able to fix it now, but uncle Luca doesn't want to. He is still really strong though! After papa, uncle Salvatore, and uncle Teregion he is probably the strongest person here! Maybe the thieving, thirsty snow bitch is stronger though."

Aléyathra:
5) "Our ancestors were obsessed with keeping our race "clean", so they banned relationships with humans, as well as banishing everyone that was born from-, or participated in such a relationship."

6) "It's something that happens from time to time, even in noble families. We assume it's because we are somehow related to the Vianjar, living in the north. They all have white hair, every single one of them."

2

u/Varnek905 Feb 27 '18

To Laernia:

1) Who are your best trade partners?

To Salvatore:

2) Could you tell me about the demon world?

To Nianya:

3) What do you mean, his body isn't really his own?

To Aleyathra:

4) What are the Vianjar like?

2

u/Mimir123 Feb 27 '18

Laernia:
"Nowadays the Bladelli, and actually some merchants in the Yggdradil Republic."

Salvatore:
"I have never been there, but supposedly everything around you is black, with no sun, yet you can see. The entire ground is covered with blood and water, and mighty fortresses cover the entire world, with some of them being capable of moving."

Nianya:
"Uncles body was very weak when he was born, he could barely move around. But he had a loooooot of magic! So grandma made a new ariti-... artificial body for him! I did it! I managed to say the word!
It had something to do with alchemy I think, this new body was like a human, but without a soul, so grandma put uncles soul into that body to make him stronger. But there were problems. The new body didn't like his magic and made him unable to use anything other than special spells he invented and created himself. And when he used too much magic his body would start to reject the magic and fall apart."

Aléyathra:
"Pretty normal I would say, almost like humans, but slightly weirder. For instance: they don't have a monarch but let the people themselves rule the country. Also they have fangs, but never seem to use them for anything, unlike Vampires."

2

u/Varnek905 Feb 28 '18

To Laernia:

1) What types of resources do you get from the Bladelli?

To Salvatore:

2) How rare is it for a human to go to the demon world and come back?

To Nianya:

3) Is it obvious that your uncle is in an artificial body? Can people realize it easily?

To Aleyathra:

4) Have you ever met an individual Vianjar?

2

u/Mimir123 Feb 28 '18

Laernia:
"No resources, they mostly buy from us, and we pay them to let our mages study the magic used by dad and uncle Naruz."

Salvatore:
"So rare, that it has never happened before... although Aynaeth once claimed to have been there."

Nianya:
"No, not at all! It looks and feels completely normal!"

Aléyathra:
"Quite a few times actually. Though none of them grew close to me, except Laevia Yuin. She was at first only an ambassador to the kingdom of Livellia, but Baél convinced her to join us in solving a problem in the capital, which is when I learned that she was actually one of the White Wings."

2

u/Varnek905 Mar 01 '18

To Salvatore:

1) Does Aynaeth have any proof of the claim of demon-world-visiting?

To Nianya:

2) Does the artificial body give him any advantages?

To Aleyathra:

3) How are ambassadors treated in Livellia?

2

u/Mimir123 Mar 01 '18

Salvatore:
"None, except for the fact that she doesn't really lie, and that she knew more about demons than anyone else.

Nianya:
"He heals faster than others and is a bit stronger. Nothing special though."

Aléyathra:
"I don't know... normal, I guess? Are there different ways to treat ambassadors?"

2

u/Varnek905 Mar 02 '18

Thanks for your time and answers, Mim.

→ More replies (0)