Re: Through the Mists: Out of Character Discussion
In the Birthright campaign setting, the divine right to rule is a literal and measurable thing.
Bloodlines are invested with the powers of the old gods and a blooded individual instinctively creates ties to the land and holdings that they rule.
When a regent wants, they can willingly transfer their bloodline powers to another (Investiture).
Alternatively, they can be stabbed through the heart and their bloodline powers pass on to their killer (This is called Bloodtheft. It's a crime, but it's done a lot. Wars start this way.)
If a ruler passes on without investiture or bloodtheft, then their power trickles out randomly to those nearby... and usually greatly diluted - leading to a splitting of the land's protection to the new inheritors, who must then argue about who controls what (Again, this leads to war)
So. Very often there are clear laws about how the bloodline is to pass on through the ritual of investiture, that occurs as a regent is usually lying on their deathbed.
In Hogunmark, and many area of civilised Rjurik, the Bloodline is to pass on to the eldest child of the current ruler. However, there are grounds for the matter of succession to be brought forth to a council of Jarls, who would vote to approve or disapprove the rightful heir.
In these cases, the Druids of Erik act as advisors to the Jarls, and sometimes a powerful druid will have a vote on the council as well. In Rjurik, the Druids are seen as the wisest of loremasters and speak for the hearts of the people and therefore they have a lot of influence on the Jarls.
TL
R - Yes, the Druids can through influence affect the result of a contested succession.
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On the subject of real life politics, if we disagree, then let's agree not to bring it up.
The Emerald Spiral is the conservative voice of the Rjurik people. They stand for the values that were important to them when they first migrated to Cerilia hundreds of years ago. Any move to accept the customs of other nations or peoples is a weakening of the values that have kept them going and in good stead with nature for all their existence. They fear that a move to "settlements and cities" will result in a weakening of their race and survival skills.
Malena, through no fault of her own, represents the need for a very progressive mindset to look past the fact that she's an elf, a sorceress, the granddaughter of a villain reviled by the entire nation, and a member of the social and intellectual elite who are out of touch with the common, traditional Rjurik nomad lifestyle.
The Oaken Grove are the druids who accept that Malena could be a boon to the kingdom if she is in control of her powers and if she accepts the teachings of Erik.
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Other non political questions answered:
Yes, take the snowball spell.
Distance Metamagic is pretty clear:
If the spell has a range of 5 or more feet, then you can spend 1 sorcery point to double it.
If the spell has touch range, then you can spend a sorcery point to give it a range of 30ft.
If the spell as a range of self, then there is no mention of any ability to affect it. So a self-targeting spell cannot be altered.
