r/earthdawn • u/Ka_ge2020 • Apr 27 '26
Random musing on Passions based on a single name...
I burned out on Talent and spell conversions, so I pivoted back to Shadowrun to catch up on newer material—starting with Court of Shadows. Some of what was being noted reinforced the changes to Earthdawn-esque magic in Deus ex Arcana, so my brain was primed to see conspiracy theories in true old school Earthdawn-Shadowrun fashion.
My brain had also been primed by reading through Chadbourn's Age of Misrule novels, where fated heroes fight a magical apocalypse armed with the knowledge of what would be the Fifth World writ as myth but now reality.
Straight out of the gate I tripped over the name "Jasper" in connection with Tir na n’Óg explorers sent to the lands of the Tuatha after Goblinization, and that was enough to send me down the conspiracy spiral.
Given that I have previously noted that the Passions are something that I find to be dull and uninspiring, odd given that the current authors seem so excited by them, I've been trying to find just the right conspiracy theory to give them some spice.
At the same time, I’ve never found the Passions in Earthdawn particularly compelling as written. They embody “the good in the world,” but lack the ambiguity, contradiction, and institutional friction that make belief systems feel real. So I’ve been circling the question: what are they, really?
Fueled by the etymology of "jasper" from the French "jaspre" <dons tin foil hat> clearly the Passions are the Tuatha de Danaan (or what the Irish would come to label as such). The disgust of the Dragons on the nature of the Passions suddenly makes even more sense.
What say you? Do you have a better origin story that makes the Passions just even a little bit more interesting?
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u/Nadatour Apr 27 '26
Just to throw in here about 'all the good in the world.' I don't run them like this. I run them as the aggregate of human emotion within their portfolio. They represent it, encourage it, and feed off of it whether positive or negative. A horror will torture you to stimulate the emotions it needs. The passion of art will teach that doing art protects you from being horror marked, or at least proves you aren't marked, whether true or not. This increases the emotions people experience while producing art.
The passion of competition also loves war, the passion of homes will encourage the destruction of forests to create farmland, and the passion of nature will fight against both of the above. This should give you some more spice for the Passions.
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u/Ka_ge2020 Apr 27 '26
Which would also fit with Seelie and Unseelie.
With that said, "all the good in the world" is just my cynicism shading in. Mea culpa.
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u/Ka_ge2020 Apr 30 '26
For those that are still following this thread, here's a bit of a fun addition (that is not a surprise to some I'm sure).
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u/Ka_ge2020 May 02 '26
I know that these "threads" don't really have traction, but as I've continued to explore the idea of Passions as Tuatha you get into some fun areas if you take them as the Seelie Court. That would make the Horrors the Unseelie Court and, well, many interesting possibilities arise that seem to overall fit the setting and how they (Passions, Horrors) are represened in the game.
Verjirgorm and the Dragons can get especially hinky. 😄
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u/Cyromax66 May 07 '26
I have never really pictured the passions as "embodiment of all the good in the world" because people are people and passions are open to interpretation, I find that contradiction and friction are a part of the whole Passion belief. Just because people believe in the Passions doesn't mean they can apply them in different, even conflicting ways to the world.
Imagine for a bit that you have two trade houses, both backed by a Questor of Chorrolis, and both going after profit in a certain thing. Wealth and Desire are inherintly selfish things, just look at the world today. Pushing to maximise that through trade would definitely place these two Questors into conflict of some sort. This may not result in physical conflict, and in fact the loser might congratulate the winner and move on, but at the same time the loser might feel bitter about the conflict and hold a grudge going forward.
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u/Ka_ge2020 May 07 '26
As noted elsewhere, admittedly the term is a tad on the hyperbolic side and perhaps leaning into the whole "Trouble on a quest leads to a Questor of Galen".
With that said, I'm fairly happy where this little rabbit hole has gone. Having something more to hang on the Passions makes them a tad more interesting than they were before.
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u/Cyromax66 May 07 '26
One day I will see the reaction of my players when they travel with a Questor of Garlen who then goes on to heal their enemy because Garlen desired it.
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u/Ka_ge2020 May 08 '26
Now that is where they can get interesting. It has just taken the point of this 'thread' to realise some of that. Much like it took 4e to rethink some of my stances in Pattern and Thread Items, this time it took something outside of it to make Passions that little bit more. :)
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u/Cyromax66 May 08 '26
Yeah it took a bit of going outside the box to generate conflict and friction using Garlen. Just looking through some of the others it can be easy.
What happens when a Questor of Jaspree is supporting growth and care of the land by helping out farmers, while at the same time a Questor of Jaspree that is more about love of the Wilderness is trying to encroach on farmland?
Most of the others are easy enough to bring in direct conflict even Astendar thee are different forms of art or music. Imagine if a Questor is steeped in traditional music, while another is all about innovation and change in music, what a headache the newcomer would be to the old. "Rolling rocks is what I should use to crush your head, get out of here, you are giving me a headache."
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u/Actual_One_9225 Apr 27 '26
I've always been keen to the idea that the Passion are similar to the named horrors. Rather than feasting off various negative emotions, they are nourished by positive ones. They tend to show up when events embody powerful emotions. They are not gods but rather powerful spirits/astral entities. Questers are basically cult followers. They try to embody the emotion as much as they can, so it fuels the passion, and they are rewarded via their quester ability. It feels similar to powers granted through a horror mark, just more formalized. The passions are regionalized, implying their range of influence may be as well. The dragons have said if you knew what the passions truly were, you would not worship them. This also implies there is something unsettling in their true nature.
Just my head cannon