Lexicon

SCION TERMS

• Band: A group of Scions, whether from a single pantheon or multiple.
• Birthrights: Gifts showered on the Scions by their parents. These can include weapons, armor, followers, and equipment featured in myth, or access to the advice of a knowing guide, either a wise mortal or a benign supernatural being.
• Boon: A supernatural power inherited from a Scion’s divine parent. The types of Boons available at character creation are limited by the patron God’s Purviews.
• Calling: Ur-archetypes in Fate, describing the channels from which the powers of Scions and Gods will flow. Callings determine both Fatebindings and Knacks.
• Fate: A powerful, unseen narrative force that acts as a counterweight to the Deeds (and misdeeds) of Scions and their patrons.
• Fatebinding: The power of a Scion’s Legend that allows her to catch individuals up in her particular narrative. Fatebinding can create boon companions that follow a Scion through thick and thin, or it can spawn nemeses who dog his every step. Fear of Fatebinding is one of the main reasons modern Scions work to avoid the fame one might expect them to covet.
• Fateful Aura: The nature of a Scion’s Legend that causes events to repeat and unfold. As Heroes, these events often resemble the myths of their parents playing out.
• God: A divinity, often born of the Titans but tied to The World. The Gods once blatantly interfered in the development of human civilization and, in turn, were shaped by the beliefs of man into the deities we recognize from classical mythology. The Gods long ago retreated from the mortal World to avoid the dangers of being drawn into conflict via Fatebinding to their mortal followers.
• ichor: The golden, divine fluid that flows through the veins of Scions, giving them their power. When a Scion is suffused with power, their blood turns to ichor.
• Knack: A minor natural or supernatural benefit tied to a Calling.
• Legend: A measure of divine power and renown, the Legend score determines the strength of the Fateful Aura, the progression of a Scion’s power, and the general outcome of any dice rolls. It also determines Legend points, which can be imbued or spent to affect the outcome of actions during play and to power certain Boons and Knacks.
• Legendary creature: Any non-human being related to the mythic World, such as a satyr. Can on occasion be applied to humans touched by myth, such as prophets, Amazons, or berserkers. The issue of Legendary creatures are also known as Denizens or Offspring.
• magic: The use of proprietary powers stems from cultural and mythic circumstances — Greek Gods invoke powers, Norse Scions cast the runes. Many other powers in Scion are less magical and more miraculous.
• Overworld: A realm of power into which pantheons project Terra Incognitae, and where narrative logic prevails. Primordials may manifest freely here.
• pantheon: A grouping of Gods, typically with an attitude and customs derived from and influencing a specific culture.
• Primordial: A God of overarching concepts or Purviews, such that they are a manifest part of The World. Primordials may only personify themselves within the Overworld.
• Scion: The half-divine offspring of Gods and humanity. Sometimes termed a demigod, but this is more often applied to Scions of a particular Tier and power level.
• Terra Incognita: A land of incarnate myth that may follow different laws of nature than The World, existing at a slight geographic “remove.” Pantheons may “raise” or “sink” Terra Incognitae into the Over- and Underworlds.
• Titan: An archetypal being of an incarnate Purview. Though not necessarily evil per se, such deities are driven only to follow their primal, typically destructive, urges and to revenge themselves on their rebellious offspring.
• titanspawn: The monstrous offspring of the various Titans. The most powerful titanspawn are equal in power to the Gods themselves. Currently only the weakest of the titanspawn can force their way into The World, but these tirelessly strive to pave the way for their mightier brethren.
• Underworld: The various Terra Incognitae housing the shades of the dead who believed in the Gods of the various pantheons. As the Titans rouse, many of the souls of the dead have been released to haunt The World of the living.
• Virtues: A set of polar but not necessarily diametrically opposed values dictated by the pantheon to which a Scion belongs. By their nature, the Gods of a specific pantheon espouse the Virtues that are central to their mythology.
• Visitation: The moment when a Scion’s true nature and divine lineage is fully revealed to her, typically by her divine parent, though occasionally through a divine herald such as Hermes, Legba, Huginn/Muninn, etc. Also the occasion where the Scion is gifted with her Birthrights.
• World, The: The main divergence from our own world is that The World of Scion has experienced all of its ancient myths, and these reflect real-world events. Many of The World’s ancient sites of power have again become supernaturally active. In addition, a large number of these ancient sites have been stripped of their contents, which now reside in museums and private collections around the globe. In the ancient sites and in the places where relics from those sites are held, links to the Overworld exist that the Titans, the Gods, and the minions of both may use to more easily access The World.