Spike babies Options

[sk8bcn]

Ok I don't remember accurately, but there were some elf spike babies would were born before the awakening right? Who was the IE taking them and he had an association no? Who was he? Ehran?

And do we know more about spike babies?

[bannockburn]

You probably mean Prof. Xavier ... err. Laverty.

Spike babies is a term that was retroactively used to explain births of elves or dwarfs before the Awakening hit.
'Spike' in this context means a mana spike that enabled the metahuman genes to express before a sufficiently high ambient mana level was reached world wide.
Spikes could be limited to a location or a time and location.

In the sixth world, spikes are still possible, called mana surges. If you walk into one and have, let's say, dormant metagenetic qualities (SURGE), they might get activated and express on the spot. Or you might goblinize.

[hermit]

There are also known and canon recurring mana surges - th river anges is known for them - and irregular recurring ones, like the Slighe Roads in Tir na nÓg.

[sk8bcn]

You probably mean Prof. Xavier ... err. Laverty.

Spike babies is a term that was retroactively used to explain births of elves or dwarfs before the Awakening hit.

Yes I'm really onto that subject. Sean Laverty. Why was he doing that and is there and outcome of it?

[bannockburn]

Well, he's one of the immortal elves and previously one of Tír Tairngire's princes.
Basically he's a shameless rip-off of Prof. X and the X-Men, mentoring spike babies (like Dodger, who was born in the 90s, iirc) but also other gifted elves. This way he has ties to elven supremacists, but isn't necessarily one of them, following a rather egalitarian agenda, but favoring his own race.

It's very probably a screening process to find immortal elves in this cycle of magic, who are sometimes reborn into new bodies, between cycles.
A confirmation of this theory has never been forthcoming, as is the usual modus operandi of Shadowrun.

His current whereabouts are somewhere in Tír na nÓg (in another mansion, go figure), doing the same thing he always does, playing Professor X. Apparently he doesn't need much to be happy.

[hermit]

Actually, according to Rook's background, Laverty is indeed involved with the Elf Surpremacists. But maybe his university radical just claims this to be cool. Rook as such is canon, by the Elven themed missions pack.

[bannockburn]

I think this is what 'ties to, but not necessarily one of them' means (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Bigity]

Speaking of immortal elves, is there any SR material that covers how the blood elves became regular elves again? The immortal ones that is.

[bannockburn]

I don't remember any material, but since it was a magical ritual of immense power, that also required magic to be sustained, I always assumed that they changed back to their natural forms during the downcycle.

[Jaid]

I don't remember any material, but since it was a magical ritual of immense power, that also required magic to be sustained, I always assumed that they changed back to their natural forms during the downcycle.

some unfortunate SURGEd individuals have what appears to be remarkably close to what blood elves had...

so it being based on the magic levels has certainly at least been *hinted* at in SR canon...

[CanRay]

Too bad we can't use the Fourth World any longer. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[bannockburn]

It has merits and drawbacks.
Imagine having to sort through even MORE of background stuff before writing, and having even MORE people cry foul when something goes against established canon from "Obscure Earthdawn reference book, appendix C".

On the other hand, there's stuff about dragons there that is a pure gold mine. :-\

[hermit]

As opposed to what was recently written.

[Bigity]

I don't remember any material, but since it was a magical ritual of immense power, that also required magic to be sustained, I always assumed that they changed back to their natural forms during the downcycle.

Agreed, but since their true patterns were changed, you'd think they would have grown back by now, but maybe they just never got that far before the sundering of the connection.

[bannockburn]

Most blood elves would have died anyways. Alachia and Oakforest are probably the only surviving ones and both have enough magical clout to return themselves to their pre-prickly state, if they so desired at any one point in history. Furthermore, the act of living for that long could also have changed their patterns. After all, the thorns were only there for a few hundred years, and the downcycle was much longer. Who knows what their 'natural state' is by now?

[Skarablood]

Well, every child of two Blood Elves has to go through the Ritual of Thorns to become a Blood Elf him-/herself (merging his/her pattern with wood spirits and binding him/her to the Blood Wood). So, Blood Elves might just have disappeared when the last one died/Blood Wood disappeared and no more rituals were conducted (in fact, as the two-parted Ritual of Thorns requires both parts - Wood and Elves - to exist, the destruction of Blood Wood or a too small a number of Blood Elves would end it, destroying the whole ritual and all participants.

Also, it is heavily hinted in the rulebook "The Blood Wood", that the Ritual of Thorns is still an imperfect, temporary solution and something will have to happen at some point. Stuff like calling the wood "a horror itself", talking about how children that do not go through the Ritual of Thorns someday feel a strong urge to leave Blood Wood (and will go insane if forced to stay) and so on. So, maybe even before the end of the fourth world, all Blood Elves were already killed/healed/???.

Edit: Back on topic: spike babys! Another spike baby was Luther von Hayek, who appeared in thebook "Nosferatu" (http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Source:Nosferatu).

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Heh... we have a character not long ago that had re-discovered the Ritual of Thorns while looking into protective rituals. He mistakenly cast it upon himself, with drastic results. Now he is being hunted by the Tir Na nOg authorities for practicing forbidden magic. Quite entertaining.

[sk8bcn]

mmm

So there's nothing deep in that plotline, just a way to point on mysteries about elves.

Nothing like the spike babies went as the elite in a Tir or something alike.


Simply put, I can make anything out of it without contradicting canon stuff.

[Jaid]

is there some pressing need to not go against canon? if it makes for a more enjoyable game, just ignore canon. not much point in sticking with something that makes the game less enjoyable for you... the whole point of it all is to have fun.

[Nath]

So there's nothing deep in that plotline, just a way to point on mysteries about elves.

Nothing like the spike babies went as the elite in a Tir or something alike.

Considering Tir Tairngire was established in 2035, the oldest "regular" elves would have been 24 at the time. At its beginning, Tir Tairngire must have looked a lot like the Summer of Love or Occupy movements, with a young population overall. So spike babies may well have been in position of running things as the minority with advanced degrees and/or professional or military experience. It's likely immortal elves posed as spike babies when establishing themselves as rulers.

According to Tir na nOg, the existence of spike babies became public as early as 2013, as IRA figure Liam O'Connor was outed as an elf born in 1979. So the leadership of spike babies in Tir Tairngire wouldn't be such a secret. Unless people truly believed that spike babies was a phenomenon somehow limited to Ireland.

[sk8bcn]

is there some pressing need to not go against canon? if it makes for a more enjoyable game, just ignore canon. not much point in sticking with something that makes the game less enjoyable for you... the whole point of it all is to have fun.

Nope but before doing so, I prefer to know the canon version.

For exemple, I think I'll involve somehow the PC into Dunkelzahn's death. Which would not be canon.

But before bending a plotline to my needs, I like to know the whereabouts. Wouldn't it be disappointing to learn that the plot is covered and better than what you did with it?

[sk8bcn]

Considering Tir Tairngire was established in 2035, the oldest "regular" elves would have been 24 at the time. At its beginning, Tir Tairngire must have looked a lot like the Summer of Love or Occupy movements, with a young population overall. So spike babies may well have been in position of running things as the minority with advanced degrees and/or professional or military experience. It's likely immortal elves posed as spike babies when establishing themselves as rulers.

According to Tir na nOg, the existence of spike babies became public as early as 2013, as IRA figure Liam O'Connor was outed as an elf born in 1979. So the leadership of spike babies in Tir Tairngire wouldn't be such a secret. Unless people truly believed that spike babies was a phenomenon somehow limited to Ireland.

Interesting. I have some tools to play with. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Sengir]

Given that the last pass of Halley's Comet coincided with several magical events on earth, you could also set a lot (relatively speaking) of spike births in 1986 or 1910.

[sk8bcn]

That's a nice one too. Make the PC that want to be a second generationnal elfe be actually a 3rd generiational one. His grand-father (born 1986) could belong to 2050's Tir's princes. Spikes would have close ties into Tir's arising. He would have fragments of the keys that could prove they conspired for it (If he wanna unfold it). Somehow I may try to link it with the Council changement in the 70s.


Still unclear but something great could come out of this.

[Freya]

Actually, according to Rook's background, Laverty is indeed involved with the Elf Surpremacists. But maybe his university radical just claims this to be cool. Rook as such is canon, by the Elven themed missions pack.

Where did you find that, Hermit? I just did a quick glance-through of the book and didn't see any references to that. Laverty seems to be the least racist of the Princes, so it sounds a little weird that he'd be in deep with the xenophobes. Maybe you're thinking of Ehran and the Paladins of the Great Hunt?

@sk8bcn: One of the earlier-edition Princes was Maria Cinebal, listed as a spike baby born in 1998 and brought up by Laverty. As far as I know, the only place that went out of their way to collect spike babies was Laverty's Xavier Foundation; they were around in Tír na nÓg, but I don't think there was ever any canon reference to the spike babies banding together somehow. It's possible that a spike baby character could just have been overlooked by Laverty or whoever, especially if they weren't Awakened. ("Why are his ears pointed?" "Birth defect.") Personally, I'd think you could easily find spike babies anywhere with a relatively large elven population: Tír Tairngire, Tír na nÓg, the Zulu tribes, Pomorya, the Algonkian-Manitou Council, and so on.

As an aside, I've been writing some fanfic that features a character with strong ties to Laverty and the Xavier Foundation, so I've been picking away at the subject of spike babies and a couple related things for a while now. I don't want to completely derail the thread, but feel free to send me a PM if you're interested in blabbing/comparing notes sometime.