About Branded Mechanics

[Jingle Jangle]

So I know that branded are the offspring of a beroc and a Laguz. Then what would happen if a branded would had a offspring with a beroc, laguz or another branded? Could the child become a double branded, having two marks on their bodies? A Beroc?, Because the Laguz blood would cancel each other out, or the inverse? Also isn't becoming a branded strange? All that is needed to  be considered one is that some one in the family tree needed to be with a Laguz, regardless if it has hundreds of years ago, and be the first born?  So potentially anyone could be a branded if they can trace their family history long enough?

So what is with the deal when a Laguz gives birth to a branded, they lose the ability to transform? It is like a magical STD?

Aren't branded implied to be the future of Tellius? They were naturally resistant to Ashera's judgment,. And Yune hinted at the notion.  I could use some assistance in trying to understand fantasy genetics.

[Jotari]

No, you can't be double branded. Some people get the brand even when both their parents are the same species. You just need some mixed blood in your ancestry (which logically, as you point out, should end up with practically everyone in the world having branded potential). The Begnion royal family had their laguz ancstor like seven hundred years ago and have been breeding with beorc ever since yet still get brand on a regular basis (though they might be a special case, there is another example of it in Zelguis). Most likely two branded characters would have a branded child, a branded and beorc would have a beorc child with a chance of branding and likewise branded + laguz would have a laguz child with a chance of branding.

So far as the laguz losing their powers, it's really unclear how or when it happens. For women it would make sense as a side effect of pregnancy but for men it's kind of illogical. Maybe it's like an STD but would that mean a laguz father wouldn't lose his powers if he donated sperm? It makes a certain amount of sense when divine judgement is involved but Radiant Dawn throws that out the window with the goddesses not even knowing about the brand leaving the explanation as to what the actual brand is completely unexplained.

[Interdimensional Observer]

The male Laguz power loss is inexplicable, unless it just so happened that the biological agent leading to power loss just so happened to not show symptoms for a duration coincidentally as long a pregnancy. 

IS doesn't explain the Branded mechanics all that well, but fortunately it doesn't play that big a deal in the plot. It's comparable to Jugdrali Holy Blood, which is never fully explained how it works, but at least there we get the idea it is kinda randomly given.

The Tellius Recollections (which don't always align perfectly with the finalized Tellius games) has this peculiar statement of interest in it:

Children who are born between a beorc and laguz, commonly referred to as the branded, are also contained in the chart. According to what is written, even a mix with a powerful dragon will live only 3 times as long as beorc on average. If beorc and laguz become closer and mix from here on out, we can predict that the lifespan of the branded will become closer and closer to that of beorc. Will a day like that come? We can’t be sure."

Given Lehran's line has churned out full power Branded for ~800 years despite exclusive Beorc interbreeding, it must take an awfully long time to fade. Then we have Stefan, descendent of Soan, another long lived Branded lineage. Holy Blood in Jugdral was unnatural to humans, the gift of dragons, so I can understand it fading fast, but because there is genetic blending in the birth of a Branded, I can see it holding out for much longer.

[Jotari]

32 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The male Laguz power loss is inexplicable, unless it just so happened that the biological agent leading to power loss just so happened to not show symptoms for a duration coincidentally as long a pregnancy. 

IS doesn't explain the Branded mechanics all that well, but fortunately it doesn't play that big a deal in the plot. It's comparable to Jugdrali Holy Blood, which is never fully explained how it works, but at least there we get the idea it is kinda randomly given.

The Tellius Recollections (which don't always align perfectly with the finalized Tellius games) has this peculiar statement of interest in it:

Children who are born between a beorc and laguz, commonly referred to as the branded, are also contained in the chart. According to what is written, even a mix with a powerful dragon will live only 3 times as long as beorc on average. If beorc and laguz become closer and mix from here on out, we can predict that the lifespan of the branded will become closer and closer to that of beorc. Will a day like that come? We can’t be sure."

Given Lehran's line has churned out full power Branded for ~800 years despite exclusive Beorc interbreeding, it must take an awfully long time to fade. Then we have Stefan, descendent of Soan, another long lived Branded lineage. Holy Blood in Jugdral was unnatural to humans, the gift of dragons, so I can understand it fading fast, but because there is genetic blending in the birth of a Branded, I can see it holding out for much longer.

It's possible Lehran's line is unique in it's closeness to the goddess and the ability to sing the glaedr/see the future/sacrifice. Stefan being Soan's decendant is a little harder to explain but still doable. It's never said that soan sired a branded I believe. It could be Soan's grandson or something which given laguz enhanced ages would bridge the several century long gap somewhat.

[Jingle Jangle]

Oh I see, the genetic history of the branded history in the Tellius series is a result of mostly powerful laguz. But I wonder in another couple hundred years what would the inhabitants of Tellius, would most of them be branded? Or the countries are going to remain mostly the same. 

[Interdimensional Observer]

19 minutes ago, Jingle Jangle said:

Oh I see, the genetic history of the branded history in the Tellius series is a result of mostly powerful laguz. But I wonder in another couple hundred years what would the inhabitants of Tellius, would most of them be branded? Or the countries are going to remain mostly the same. 

Well if we look at the modern world, racial intermixing happens in this globalized society, but it isn't leading to the complete destruction of ethnicities (at least those not marginal/tiny). The majority of people with either never move around and get intimate enough with foreign populations to intermix, or just find preference for those closer to them without being xenophobic/racist in doing so. The weight of Laguz power loss means they'd be particularly hesitant to intermarry even with the discrimination removed.

 Nailah's boss convo with Dheginsea might be helpful here:

Dheginsea: In your country, are there only people of the wolf tribe?
Nailah: No, beorc live there, as well. There are also a number of what you call the “parentless.”
Children born of both laguz and beorc parents are still relatively few.. but they live normally among us.

This doesn't tell us the history of Laguz-Beorc relations in Hatari, so we don't know if they ever hated each other. But it sounds like for at least a few hundreds years the two have lived in relative harmony and the Branded taboo is does not exist or is limited. I'd guess that if everything was left to chance and natural human relations, in say 500 years the Branded could become a notable minority in Tellius, say 5-10% of the continental population at best. Significant, but far from the whole.

Laguz would be most likely subject to its demographic chunk declining (since we don't know if Branded + Laguz can produce Laguz), but as is I'd think Beorc already outnumber them significantly. Given longer lifespans and lower reproductive rates (particularly for the Dragons) and a hunter-gather lifestyle, the Laguz already probably number far less than the faster to breed and settled agriculture Beorc. We don't know much about Tellius's demographics, but Dragon Laguz are probably like 1% or less. Hawks and Ravens together might be (this is a big unsupported guess) 5% at most since they only live on some little islands. Gallia could have like 10-15%, given they have the shortest lifespans and probably fastest reproduction rates plus a vast forest of food. Leaving the remaining 79-84% Beorc.

[Shoblongoo]

On 11/24/2017 at 12:59 PM, Jingle Jangle said:

. But I wonder in another couple hundred years what would the inhabitants of Tellius, would most of them be branded? Or the countries are going to remain mostly the same. 

 

On 11/24/2017 at 7:05 AM, Jingle Jangle said:

 

Aren't branded implied to be the future of Tellius? They were naturally resistant to Ashera's judgment,. And Yune hinted at the notion.  

...This is actually something I would LOVE to see in a Tellius sequel, and an idea that I hope IS eventually uses as a central plot point in some future game. 

Like Fates already gave us a main-character that had both a dragon transformation and swords.

I'm envisioning a game where the avatar is a branded of unspecified parentage, in a next-gen setting where this one particular branded has inexplicably been born with the power to use the abilities of his Laguz heritage. 

Avatar customization lets you choose any combination of one (1) beorc weapon class and one (1) laguz transformation. You could make your avatar:

 ...a flying archer that transforms into a hawk
...an axe-wielding werewolf 
...a thunder mage that transforms into a lion (i.e. "Thundercats; Hooooooo!!!")
...a dagger-tosser that transforms into a dragon

The replay value and customizability there would be huge. And with Tellius-quality writing, you could actually work the avatar's identity into a compelling story (i.e. what does this represent in the broader context of branded evolving into the "future of tellius?" Beginning to appear openly and in greater numbers? Being reluctantly accepted by some factions, but still being met with dark suspicion or outright hatred by others?) Instead of going down the road of the Corrin circle-jerk.

Edited December 4, 2017 by Shoblongoo

[Jedi]

1 hour ago, Shoblongoo said:

 

...This is actually something I would LOVE to see in a Tellius sequel, and an idea that I hope IS eventually uses as a central plot point in some future game. 

Like Fates already gave us a main-character that had both a dragon transformation and swords.

I'm envisioning a game where the avatar is a branded of unspecified parentage, in a next-gen setting where this one particular branded has inexplicably been born with the power to use the abilities of his Laguz heritage. 

Avatar customization lets you choose any combination of one (1) beorc weapon class and one (1) laguz transformation. You could make your avatar:

 ...a flying archer that transforms into a hawk
...an axe-wielding werewolf 
...a thunder mage that transforms into a lion (i.e. "Thundercats; Hooooooo!!!")
...a dagger-tosser that transforms into a dragon

The replay value and customizability there would be huge. And with Tellius-quality writing, you could actually work the avatar's identity into a compelling story (i.e. what does this represent in the broader context of branded evolving into the "future of tellius?" Beginning to appear openly and in greater numbers? Being reluctantly accepted by some factions, but still being met with dark suspicion or outright hatred by others?) Instead of going down the road of the Corrin circle-jerk.

As cool as these ideas are, I'm not entirely sure we'll see anything related to Tellius besides a revamp of 9 and 10 down in the future.

[NinjaMonkey]

On ‎24‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 3:56 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Given Lehran's line has churned out full power Branded for ~800 years despite exclusive Beorc interbreeding

What about Sanaki? Considering her older sister, Micaiah, is branded, and Sanaki doesn't have the power of her ancestors, does that mean the branding skipped a generation or something?

Edited December 11, 2017 by NinjaMonkey

[Jotari]

9 hours ago, NinjaMonkey said:

What about Sanaki? Considering her older sister, Micaiah, is branded, and Sanaki doesn't have the power of her ancestors, does that mean the branding skipped a generation or something?

They're sisters, they're part of the same generation. Lehran's branded seem to work under some sort of monarch based system where the eldest child is always gauranteed to be branded. I'm not sure we can really use that as an example for the branded in general since Lehran was a special case as far as Laguz go.