About the val’Holryn Family

Little bit of extra notes: we don’t know the origin of the name Holryn. Holryn has Finnish origins, if google is to be trusted, but that’s about it. We don’t know if Holryn was a person, like how the Original Families were named after a founder, or if it was a family of group, like the Baucisz. We don’t know any legends associated with the names, no records of their creation, unlike some of the other families which at least have folklore surrounding them. The val’Holryn are just. . . there. They’ve always been in Tralia since forever, they have always been characterized by their loyalty, nobility, and their willingness to stand up for what is right. They have never been Imperators, Kings, or otherwise lead nations. They have had their own little Duchy, and they’ve never moved out of it. The family has been so generic that it’s really hard to pin down what makes them special. Anyone could have done what they did, so why them? What makes them show up at every major turning point in history? The Imprisonment of Leonydas, the Auxunite Rebellion, the First Crusade, the Childrens’ Crusade, the Secession of Milandir. . . Why them? I assume, like everything in Arcanis, it has an answer, just not yet apparent to us. So, I’ll keep looking until we find it. And I hope that we solve it soon.

One thing I don’t recall at the moment is where the val’Holryn are trained at least in terms of their psionically awakened members. Do they have enough masters to be able to train all of the traditions of the major bloodlines individually or are those who are awakened sent to train with the respective families whose powers they manifest? I was under the impression that each family guards their secrets. If so, how does that interact with the val’Holryns?

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

Well, as the Codex of The Mind has not been released yet, I can’t say for certain, but as of 3.5 in Psionics Unbound when a val’Holryn trains under another family, the swear an oath (presumably a Sarishan Oath) of loyalty, and effectively become a member of that family. So a val’Holryn who trains to become a Hunter of The Silence becomes a member of the val’Virdan family for all intents and purposes. Now, nothing says that they can’t betray their oaths, but we haven’t seen this yet. I had an idea of the val’Holryn sending out indoctrinated members to all the Val Families, then utilizing the Sarishan Oathbreakers to cancel their oaths, then recall all of their members, effectively stealing all other family traditions to make into their own. I can’t speak for the consequences of such an action, but the option is there.

As for the Masters of Mimicry, it is an exclusively val’Holryn Tradition (whether or not they aren’t willing to share the Tradition, or that others can’t learn it is another story entirely). Any member of the family can train in this Tradition, regardless of their Bloodline Powers.

I assume that it works similarly for Bloodline Talents as well, with the younglings being trained either by an elder with the same Bloodline Powers or by the family they copy. As the val’Holryn haven’t manifested their own Bloodline Powers (yet), we can’t say that they developed their training regimes all on their own: antagonizing any of the Big 13 would cripple the families ability to train its members.

…For the val’Holryn to be able to manifest each of the major bloodlines fully would imply that either

1. the family was formed towards the end of the Blood War after the various consolidation happened or
2. the creation of the val’Holryn family was an integral part of how the bloodline consolidation was facilitated in the first place.

I fully expect there are other options not included in the above, and the second could manifest in a number of different ways.

One thing I don’t recall at the moment is where the val’Holryn are trained at least in terms of their psionically awakened members….As Vandom mentions we don’t know when the val’Holryn formed and took their place on the grand stage of Arcanis. Prince Volthar val’Holryn (who opposed the Sword of the Heavens) is still the earliest figure we have. But since he was a “Prince” we know that the val’Holryn family had prominence and power before he appeared in Arcanis’ history.

So where do they come from?

If the val’Holryn are descended from the valinor who sided with the Other, or are otherwise connected to the stolen power of the Pantheon of Man (by the Other) … then they could have slipped in anytime in the First Imperium after the Gods of Man departed. Probably they would have needed a period of chaos to slip through the cracks.

If the val Holryn are somehow the product of experiments during the Blood War we have their point of Origin. I would note that if you were the product of experiments in Nishanpur and escaped to flee southward, the Tares River makes an excellent natural boundary, which is where Tralia just happens to be located.

The val Holryn train their own members psionically. It’s unclear how much they know of other families techniques. As Vandom says, members of the val’Holryn do sometimes train with the other families but only after swearing fealty. The val’Holryn have an earned reputation for being honorable, but it’s possible over long years that some of their members do pass these secrets back to Tralia. Somewhat on point its with noting that Henry talked about Bloodline “archetypes” and his resistance to make a “pyromancer/firestarter” archetype solely be the province of any individual family. Henry expressed an interest that psionic powers have a different feel than just “more-ish” bloodline powers. So for example the secret style of the val’Borda is not going to be the manipulation of shadows but instead the ability to reach into a targets fears (exploiting their inner darkness as it were).

Eldora val’Dellenov was … a dangerous piece of work. What is it about the val’Dellenov? All the val families are power hungry to some degree. But the val’D always seem power-hungier. Even by Arcanis’ standards. I guess Aconia was nice. But she survived assassins so i bet she wasn’t a milksop either…

I hope Duke Konrad has a happy future…but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Apples and trees.

Hello,

Well, the val’Dellenov family have held the throne and that kind of power is intoxicating. I suppose the val’Borda or the val’Sheem would be just as power hungry if they had a history of ruling Coryan.

As for Aconia, she’s a tragic figure, imo. Taller and much less demure than her rivals for the affection of Calcestus. Think Gwendoline Christie.

Being pushed and manipulated by her mother and family to out seduce a seductive val’Sheem and then all of a sudden in comes the exotic Queen Alezha.

When the val’Dellenov matriarchy see their plans crumbling due to this outsider’s interference, they ensorcel Calcestus into seeing Aconia as Alezha, who proceeds to have intimate relations with her, as he’s done before, though to Aconia, she’s being raped in a dream, because she has been drugged herself. Even then, she puts up a fight and finally pushes off the Emperor, but not before being impregnated by him.

Then, she’s forced into hiding, from both her own family and Alezha’s assassin’s, and gives birth to Calmemnon.

Eventually, things turn around for her. She weds Emperor Scipio and bears him three more children, 2 boys and a girl. Then tragedy strikes when her first born, still a child, kills her daughter. Then, even as she is struggling with this devastating blow, she must plead for the life of Calmemnon.

It is here that her mind begins to erode and crack under so much pain, suffering, and pressure.

A woman who was never really her own person, as she was always the daughter, then the consort, the wife, and finally, the mother.

Then after many years as the grieving mad wife of the Emperor, she died, finally knowing peace.

Very sad. Poor Aconia deserved better than the part she played in our play.

Well, the Val’D are also the only matriarchal val family that we know of. The val’Holryn seem very Patriarchal. I wonder what their religious proclivities are, I assume since they don’t have a natural affinity toward a specific god that they don’t tend to be a power in any specific faith.

Well, in my opinion, the val’Holryn seem like they are patriarchal, but with the egalitarian nature of Milandir, if a woman of the ducal line were to set her sights on the Dukedom, I imagine that they could become Duchess of Tralia by simply being a better option than the other male heirs. Of course, I don’t have a genealogy of the val’Holryn family, so I can’t say whether it has happened before.

On the side of religious proclivities, we have seen val’Holryn priests and clerics before. Tralia itself was a center of religious power and authority for a very long time. Saint Theomund the Missionary was a val’Holryn cleric of Illiir. What I imagine goes on is the val’Holryn take a patron god based on their bloodline powers. Born with the powers of the Assante? Worship Illiir. Born with the power of the Mehan? Worship Sarish. Of course, I can’t say what happens to the val’Holryn who mimic Virdan, Emman, and Mordane, as Neroth and Nier are marginalized by the MoC, but I believe, personally, that the val’Holryn worship them somewhat more. Easier to accept a god when they blessed your bloodline. Of course, I dislike Sabinus and his teachings, so there’s that.

Earlier it was mentioned that if they were descended from val of Umor that might be the source of their copying ability. But that doesn’t really work, does it, because we now know from WoH (word of Henry) that they can’t copy Ul powers. If Val’H got their power from umor absorbing power from all the gods, then they should be able to copy any bloodline, including the Uls.

It is reported that Uls did not take part of the bloodwar. It is possible that taking part in the bloodwar may be a possibility for having your powers copied by the val’H. Additionally, it would seem to me that families that did absorb the powers of another family would be the “Major Families” and should have twice as many (or more if they absorbed more than one line) bloodline powers as the Uls.

Well. . . yes and no. You see, there weren’t 11 Valinor + Anshar that made the Val Families, there were multiple of them. Aside from House Virdan and House Emman, who were blessed by the same Valinor, all the Val Families can trace their lineage to a different one. The val’Sosi, while not an original family, show this. When the Serenity of Beltine blessed the Heroes, they didn’t become val’Ishi: they became a new family, because the Valinor who blessed them was different.

So if the val’Holryn are the descendants of The Other, they wouldn’t have the full suite of powers. Since The Other was able to steal the power of a few gods and even kill the Gentlest of The Pantheon, but this was merely a portion of their power. His few surviving Valinor, severely weakened, would have to wait until the Blood War for a moment of weakness. By stealing the Bloodline Powers of those that participated, they would be able to survive. Going by this theory, the val’Holryn can only mimic the families that participated in the Blood War because they were the only ones they could get. The other original families were out of reach, and thus they can’t possess their powers. Now, two things about this: one, the val’Cessari, for reasons I can’t go into, are left out, and two, nothing says that the other families can’t be added to the gene pool later. Of course, starting a Blood War 2: Electric Bogaloo is a bad idea on many, many levels, even for me. So, that’s my thoughts on it.

Also, as a side note: while working on my character (a val’Holryn, obviously) I was looking at the Reluctant No More Bloodline Talent, and it made me wonder: did the val’Holryn get affected by The Storm?

There is no mention of the val’Holryn in either The Storm or The Aftermath.