Hi Lorebane, welcome aboard!
Lorebane wrote:
I just picked this game up, and was wondering how typical it would be for a val to deviate from their mandate to guide humankind towards greatness?
... ah. I. can't. breath.To be fair, yes - it's the norm that vals generally live respectable lives of responsibility in some position of power. But you don't get good stories out of that. I assure you if you scratch the surface you can find NPC val villains who have been corrupted by their power. Perhaps more interesting are the NPCs who are in some way misguided. If I can ask, just *what* do you think leading humankind towards greatness entails? How do you define greatness? What sacrifices are acceptable along the way? I think that people on this forum won't perfectly agree on those points, and the NPC leaders of the world won't either. There are plenty of val NPCs who can and do generate a lot of conflict based on their (very different) answer on how to lead humanity (to a good place).
Lorebane wrote:
Would it be feasible, for example, to create a val who abandoned his family and responsibilities and joined the Shining Patrol, and is now just sort of bumming around the continent as a mercenary? Would such a val still be able to utilize bloodline talents?
Yes. All those concepts are perfectly feasible. Congrats - you're thinking about joining the ranks of the black sheep. My main character is the son of a val who essentially did just that, and has to live with some of the consequences. Just be aware that far more than most Organized Play campaign, I think you'll find that choices have consequences. So if you're a black sheep, the appropriate family isn't going to be all that happy with you.
And yes, you get your bloodline abilities regardless of whether or not you are a paragon of virtue or weasel & poltroon of the highest magnitude. (They come from your "genes" not some divine benediction that can be revoked on an angel's whim).
Again, welcome aboard!