23) This is less of a universe question than possibly a player question: Were did the name "val'Sosi" come from? Was the name of that family chosen by the campaign staff, or the players who became members of that family? Is there a history or significance to the word "Sosi" within the universe?

I can provide a partial answer, though others could complete the answer. I spoke with the players of the val'Sosi team. The players did not choose the name. One of them told me that they were told the name, but I don't recall whether they were told that name in-game by the dying Serenity of Beltine or merely out-of-character by Henry Lopez.

I inferred [and mistakenly thought Cody did as well], that there may have been prior val'Sosis. Alternatively, "Sosi" could be a word with meaning in some language or could be related to the name of the Serenity of Beltine.

I didn't think I was inferring that there were previous val'Sosi's in the world before this crop arrived, though it that WERE the case it would raise many more questions! The biggest one would be "how did the val'Sosi's come to power before?" as the Serenity of Beltine wouldn't have been around at the time of the creation of the Vals as (s)he was trapped in a flask in Arkosia when Illiir commanded the creation of the Vals. If there were any val'Sosi before that, that means another Valinor created them, which means that the Val family's powers are independent of the paternal/maternal Valinor, which brings up many questions re: why there is variability between even 'like' families of Val (Emman/Virdan, Assante/Vasik, etc).

Good point about the Serenity of Beltine’s having been captured back during the Godswar and thereby unable to produce any progeny.

Kind of an addendum to 23, but worded for a more general question:

24) How common is knowledge of the various Val families among commoners? For example, how familiar would a common-born (and likely illiterate or only functionally literate) person be with Val families which do not rule in their given area? Would a Milandisian from Sylvania have even heard of the val'Sungha or val'Baucisz? Would Coryani Nova Cormata even have seen a val'Mordane outside of maybe the local Nerothian cleric? Would an average val'Assante' even know anything about the val'Borda beyond basic family history taught to them by their parents (similar to how ancient foriegn nobles would study family trees of rival families)?

The addendum of the val'Sosi: Do the common people even know that this family exists?

I've met quite a few players who don't know the val'Sosi exist. I'm going out on a limb here, but they are so rare, it is likely that only those commoners who have met them (or in close proximity) would have any chance of knowing about that specific family.

I know that there have been other conversations on the forums regarding literacy and the dissemination of information on Onara. No need to rehash that, but I would think that people in the cities would have better access to information (and hence know more about the val), while there would end up being remote, rural areas where the populations are isolated and generally lacking in knowledge about anything distant.

I doubt there would be any populations on Onara who are entirely unaware that vals exist (although it seems like there might be a module plot in there somewhere), and it is likely that in some places all they would know are a couple of the local names. I would expect that information on bloodline powers and mentagi would be held fairly close to the chest by the val.

My continued effort to balance IC knowledge with OOC. . .

I would think that my Nova Cormata val'Virdan Patrician-born Priest would be pretty 'up' on his Val families--including basic info on some of the more obscure families like the Bausicz and Sungha--but I can also see it that he would only have been schooled in the most superficial aspects of their histories. For example, by education before leaving home, he probably knew who all the 14 Major families were, who they were dedicated to, their symbols and mottos, and basic lineages. He would also have been taught (though, I have a IC reason for him not to be) that the val'Emman were trash and that he should hate them. That said, he would likely never have heard of the val'Vasik before heading to Bastion, nor the val'Sosi (even my 3.5 character never met one) outside of the few Ss'Sosi kicking around out there, nor even more obscure families like the Trisin (of which we have almost no information) or the Hamen (of which we have more info, but are even more obscure in universe).

How much you know about the world (in character) is a combination of mechanics and story choices. I don't think there are hard and fast rules. I think all people (and most dogs) know that the Val's have grey eyes, magical powers from "the divine" and that they were appointed as the guardians of mankind. On a more pragmatic level I think everyone knows the vals tend to be "haves" and you don't want to anger one anymore than you would a noble (often the same thing).

Can every peasant rattle off all the major families? Maybe not. But they can certainly rattle off the ones that are important to thier country.

If your education involved books then I would think you would need to know all the major and regionally important minor names as part of cultural literacy.

25) The val'Ishi are known to have Khitani heritage, but it is described as a 'hint,' usually related to them having almond eyes and epicanthal folds. My question: Did First Imperium val'Ishi look MORE Khitani than they did today, or were they always only a 'hint' Khitani? Basically, compared to appearances in paintings, sculpture, etc, have the Val families of today noticeably changed in appearance from their First Imperium ancestors?

26) All the ul famillies we have their names (and sometimes, stats) for all bear asian names (Zheng, Tang, Tai, Jaya, etc). Are there (to a Coryani POV) any obviously non-asian Khitani? For example, would a Milandisian be surprised to see a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Khitani merchant passing through on their way to Censure as something very strange?

Along these lines, I've wondered whether the ul'Wei (of Althares) have the dark brown skin common to val'Abebi and other Altherians.