Remember this: Every Val has the CAPACITY to become psionic, but only a relative few have the mental discipline to pull it off.
Speaking as a fan(boy) and general scholar of this fictional work (I can only theorize as, alas, I do not have any special knowledge of the master plan), I always viewed Bloodline powers to be much the same thing. Here, every val manifests at least some of the 'lower level' powers, like val'Ossan growing gills or val'Assante' being able to produce balls of light. The BL powers which are physical in nature (like the gills) might manifest in birth, while other BL talents (like the Assante' lightshow) probably require at least some training to master even if TECHNICALLY the power is in them all along, and likely would begin to manifest in childhood (I see a lot of these more 'learned' powers being similar to Harry Potter removing the glass from the snake enclosure: he can do it, but doesn't know how or why he can do it it).
Further Bloodline powers beyond these very basic powers require discipline and the plumbing of ones own soul through meditation, practice, or spontaneous generation. Going back to the Harry Potter analogy, at age 10 Harry had the CAPACITY to cast Avada Kadavra, but lacked the magical training or the conviction to actually CAST the spell. He needed to master (like any apprentice) the basic skills, and then he had to power it with his hate, conviction, and force of will. Alternatively, you could have powers manifest more X-men style, surfacing only after your personality/personal faith/power/traumatic event/etc has reached a certain level (more akin to the concept of the Spontaneously Awakened Psion).
In this game, this 'growth' of character is represented by the Tier system. The overwhelming majority of people in the world of Arcanis are Tier I minions: They are not trained in combat, and don't have the stamina or pain tolerance to take more than a single hit in combat before tapping out. Most people lack the mental focus to train to become more than their basic selves, and will remain Tier I creatures until their death. How many people that you know who show no ambition in their lives beyond surviving or pursuing only trivial matter and not caring about 'wider' issues? In our society, we tend to label such people as 'shallow' or 'lazy' (rightfully or wrongly), and in terms of Vals, these are the ones who don't care about delving deep into their souls because they (for whatever reason) do not see the need or have the ability to be introspective and disciplined. Those who show ambition in the world are those that tend to be 'higher tiered' in the world of Arcanis: Those who seek education, those who seek to master a craft such as weaponsmithing, those who delve the greater mysteries of the arcanum or the gods, those who seek to become great warriors, ambitions politicians, thieves of renown (instead of simple cut-purses), etc. These are the people who seek to, if not better themselves seek to become more than they are.
_________________ Cody Bergman Legends of Arcanis Campaign Staff Initial Author Contact/Adventure Vetting
Haakon Marcus val'Virdan, Divine Holy Judge of Nier Ruma val'Vasik, Martial Crusader and Master of the Spear Jorma Osterman, Arcane Coryani Battlemage
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