PROGENIES OF THE COMMONWEALTH

SELECTED EXCERPTS AND ENTRIES FROM LAURA LARSTEIN’S “BRINEHAVEN’S HIDDEN PARLIAMENT: THE PRESENCE OF PROGENIES IN THE COMMONWEALTH & AFAR” (1987).

  1. PROGENIES AS A PHENOMENON: FOUNDATIONS, DEFINITIONS, AND TERMINOLOGY
  2. APTITUDE VARIANCE, PROGENY CULTURE & KINSHIP
  3. PROGENIES OF THE COMMONWEALTH
  4. SATELLITE PROGENIES & BRANCHES

PROGENIES AS A PHENOMENON: FOUNDATIONS, DEFINITIONS, AND TERMINOLOGY

A progeny may best be described as a clan of sorcerers; individuals whose ability to harness their arcanic powers is inextricably tied to their bloodline.

In this respect, the sorcery—which indeed should and ought to be recognized as a different vehicle and means of power—cannot be learned or acquired. That is to say, the son or daughter born into a progeny is endowed with a particular set of abilities, indeed magical, and indeed unlearnable. Aspirants of the arcane and occult, perhaps of great merit, would never boast the capacity to make use of the sorcery specific to a progeny; it is neither a publically researched and practiced art such as kineticism nor is it a closely guarded form of magic falling under the classification of ritualism.

To critically analyze and discuss progenies as an observed phenomenon is to also accept that they are numerous, and that a great many progenies may, in fact, never be known or discovered. The Commonwealth of Brinehaven—and other chartered sanctuary cities, such as San Valencia1—are known exceptions to this, in that their local progenies are officially recognized by their respective governments. Progenies, even so, are considered to be rare occurrences. Historians estimate that the total observable number of worldwide progenies to be “no more than thirty or fourty, with the vast majority of them having gone extinct during what contemporary readers might regard as pograms, self-styled witch hunts and targeted executions spanning the annals of history at-large.” (Fraser 1957, 18)2

What unifies each progeny are scions, the first bearers of the progenic sorcery in which the rest of their ancestral line is endowed with. How scions are made is itself a mystery that remains largely unanswered, with no clear or defined source of power being singularly responsible or shared among the progenies. Theories are vast and varied insofar as what precisely resulted in the first manifestation of progenic sorcery among the aforementioned scions. What is known is that no progeny is made the same, and no scion acquired their abilities in a manner that similar to other scions. Ritualistic malfunctions may be the cause for some, spontaneous and accidental expressions of magic in the natural world may have affected others, and there is no shortage of scholars who argue that aberrant and unknown mixtures of fiendhood and the arcane have yielded others. Indeed, “the first emergent scions may best be considered products of synchronicities: meaningful coincidences of the the arcane, occult and esoteric source—mutants of magic as random as the first Homo sapien endowed with blue eyes.” (Towers, Norfolk, Brennan 1979, 209)3

APTITUDE VARIANCE, PROGENY CULTURE & KINSHIP

The exact conditions of what separates a sorcerer—that is, one born of a progeny with inherited magical abilities—from a student of the arcane or occult is widely contested. At the time of writing, the current agreed upon consensus among leading academics is that “there is as much variability to a progenic sorcerer’s powers as there is genetic variability between the children of two mundanes; it is a game of chance wherein some contrived factor of natural disposition and fate determine the potential of a sorcerer at the very moment of their birth” (Fontaines, Kaur-Freemont 1985, 104).4 The technical term for this is known as aptitude variance, which may best be defined as a progenic sorcerer’s capacity to make use of their inherited abilities. In this respect, a low aptitude variance would suggest a limited means of utilizing their inherited progenic sorcery, whilst a high aptitude variance would denote a greater deal of accessible power. This denotes yet another distinction between the progenic sorcerer and a prospective student of the arts, who, absent the restrictions of an aptitude variance, is restricted only by the passage of time and the years of formalized instruction required to express further power in their given field.

Aptitude variance is often observed within progenies themselves as a direct indication of succession. Progenies, as clans, seem to have a shared culture of regarding high aptitude variance as a means of selecting heir apparents. Indeed, progenies have little regard for whether it be a son or a daughter, or even the order in which children are born: a fourth son of six siblings may express their progenic sorcery with higher aptitude variance, thereby guaranteeing them the mantle of head of the progeny upon the death of the current leader. Hence, the historical approach for a great many of extant progenies is neither the embrace of a matrilineal or a paternal line, but a line which has been cultivated and curated to express the highest possible number of offspring with the highest possible aptitude variance.

Inbreeding, then, is common, if not encouraged, though the culture of this varies greatly between prognies. Some believe that the maintenance of a bloodline is paramount and will expressly seek to marry brother to sister, irregardless of the potential of birth defects which might otherwise, in hopes of both maintaining the purity of the progenic sorcery or to increase the chances of a high aptitude child. Notably, scholars agree that “aptitude variance seems to be an entirely spontaneous in its presentation among those born with the talent for progenic sorcery, and there is no direct evidence to suggest that inbreeding results in a greater chance of high aptitude variance” (Fontaines, Kaur-Freemont 1985, 129). Indeed, fewer and fewer extant progenies practice inbreeding, and many have adopted a unspoken rule of marriage-by-mundy so long as the progenic sorcerer in question is already of high aptitude variance, allowing the power of the progeny to be inherited and continued without risk of birth defects or congenital disease.

PROGENIES OF THE COMMONWEALTH

Balmore: a clan noted to express control over lightning and electricity to varied degrees, considered to be capable while outdoors. Balmores are unique in that their bodies function as lightning rods and they themselves bear a partial immunity to damage incurred by electricity; with one’s capacity to endure often directly related to their aptitude variance.

Drychus: a clan capable of transmuting and shaping dirt, stone, and gravel into a distinct metal for which the clan takes its name, Drychus steel, which has innate nullifying properties that have proven effective against all manner of fiends, as well as the occult, arcane, and esoteric. Low aptitude variance in Drychus often manifests solely as the ability to transmute, whilst their high aptitude counterparts express their progenic sorcery as being able to shape and mold this metal as well.

Montgrave: a clan of near-immortals, who bear a striking resemblance to the upir of old, albeit with the capacity to exist within sunlight; blood is not a prerequisite for survival, but a required component if clan members intend to delay their aging. Members bear fiend-adjacent abilities such as enhanced speed, strength, and a capacity for regeneration; aptitude variance (low vs. high) is directly responsible for how blood is metabolized, and proportionate to the boost Montgraves would then receive by consuming blood.

SATELLITE PROGENIES & BRANCHES

As previously mentioned, collective hunting, persecutions, and violence expressed against progenies over the centuries has resulted in a vast reduction in their numbers. Even so, there are instances in which progenies exist in hiding outside of the territorial bounds of the Commonwealth of Brinehaven, with the list cited below presenting an abbreviated view of what has been gathered over the years in regards to these non-direct branches; which best be known specifically as satellite progenies. Many satellite progenies, or branches, are known by different names in spite of their founding bloodlines, and often have distinct qualities—not in any observable distinctions of progenic sorcery, but in their function.

  • Branches of the Balmores
    • the Teagues: located in Boston, Massachusetts (USA). A small branch family, supposedly disowned by the main branch due to criminal dealings related to power grid sabotages.
    • the Cladeladens: located in Port Hope Simpson, Newfoundland and Labrador (CA). A moderate sized branch family. The Cladeladens maintain a tenuous relationship with the main branch are supposedly work in a limited, clandestine capacity with the local port authority to control and divert emerging thunderstorms along the coast.
  • Branches of the Drychus
    • the Drakes: located in Albany, New York (USA). A sizable household. Most function as clandestine fiend hunters and protect Albany from emergent threats as they appear.
    • the Kimbleys: located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). A small household, who utilize their progenic sorcery to create metal art; highly valuable and exclusive works among mundies without the wherewithal to understand their true function. The Kimbleys are looked down upon by the main branch, who view them as charlatans in the world of the mundies and believe their craftsmanship to be an affront.
  • Branches of the Montgraves
    • the Lièvres: located in Montreal, Quebec (CA). A small branch family namely composed of progenic sorcerers with high aptitude variance who have used their near-immortality to express control over various financial sectors. They contribute a great deal of funding to the Civic and Occult Authority within the Commonwealth by way of yearly donations.

Main branch progenies, historically, have been known to cull branch families in the event that their numbers grow too large. Scholars suspect that this trend is enabled by the lack of oversight, insofar as such actions would be ineligible for prosecution. Another sentiment that has been expressed among scholastic circles is the necessity of cullings to reduce the possibility of foreign interference, as branch family connections could point foreigners in the direction of the Commonwealth.

  1. San Valencia, established 1887, is a self governing city-state and sanctuary city for the occult located between the US state of California and the Mexican state of Baja California. ↩︎
  2. Constance Fraser, Sorcery Put to Rest: Organized Violence against Sorcerers Across the Ages (1957), 18. ↩︎
  3. Gordon Towers, Brittany Norfolk, Hikari Brennan, Emergence of Scions: Progenitors of Progenies (1979), 209. ↩︎
  4. Henry Fontaines, Aarohi Kaur-Freemont, Progenic Sorcery and Aptitude Variance (1985), 104, 129. ↩︎