Hat wrote:
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.