Really quick: SPOILERS. I want to do a bit of theorizing on their origin, and will try to keep it spoiler free, but a few bits and pieces are inevitable to go by.
Moving away from the kidnappings, death, suicides, and disappearances (in that order). We move onto the origin of the val'Holryn Bloodline: That is to say, their unknown origin. We have three clues regarding this:
1. Status as an "outsider" family (if you know, you know). 2. Relationship with the Kio. 3. Their Gift of Mimicry.
Starting with the first one, it basically means that they have an origin like the val'Inares and one other particular family whose name I won't mention. That is to say, they weren't created with familiar methods. The val'Inares are, to avoid beating around the bush, snake-people. The other family. . . well, I can't go into detail, but but it should come to light here soon. Val'Ossan are a runner-up, but they have started turning into fish-people just yet, so we'll leave them alone. That leaves the val'Holryn in the same position.
Next, the relationship with the Kio. Often referred to as their "Little cousins", they have a lot of similarities: their code of honor, their curious interaction with bloodline powers, and their habit of adopting other races (i.e. Undir and Ss'ressen). Beyond that, they have almost no interaction, and Kio are banned from joining the Order of the Phoenix. Talk about akward family gatherings. Makes me wonder: should a Kio breed with a val'Holryn, would it be a val'Sungha mimicking val'Horlyn mimicking another Bloodline? A matryoshka doll's worth of conditions, to be certain. Or, perhaps, some new Bloodline Talents will be created. As of now, we don't know.
Finally, their gift of mimicry is curious. They can only mimic the Major 13 Bloodlines. . . and only them. So you can mimic the Abedi, Assante, Borda, Dellenov, Emman, Inares (I find it hilarious), Ishi, Mehan, Mordane, Ossan, Sheem, Tensen or Virdan. To this day either they can't manifest other Bloodlines or it's very, very rare. As in, rarer than that steak you got at Outback Steakhouse at 3:44 A.M on a Monday, when the chef was drunk on Russian Vodka. But why these 13 Bloodlines specifically? Why not the other 20+ original Bloodlines? Nierite has a few of his own theories, and I'll quote one of them (Musings of a Canadian Nierite, page 2), along with my own, more extreme theory.
1. The Antenna Theory. 2. The Degenerate Valinor Theory.
The Antenna Theory states that val'Holryn manifest Bloodline Powers proportional to the size of other families. This allows for the 13 Major Bloodlines to be the most common, and also allows for val'Holryn to manifest Minor Bloodlines very rarely. Extinct Bloodlines are taken out of the equation. I like this theory, but there are two problems: The Ul Families, and the fact we haven't seen any Minor Blood val'Holryn. Assuming that the val'Holryn don't have an Ul equivalent (assuming they don't, as we would probably know by now), this means that they ignore more that half of the Major living Bloodlines. Second, the game system disallows val'Holrym mimicking Minor Bloodlines. It also doesn't explain the Holryn-Kio connection. All three points are heavy blows to the theory, and essentially kill it unless some new information appears.
Second is much, much worse: The val'Holryn are descendants of Umor. This, for the most part, would be a revelation that could tear Milandir, perhaps even other nations, apart. We can also tie them into the Kio: Umor had non-Valinor servants, who were either Human, or of dubious Humanity. The Kio Sky Kingdoms of Yhriwhon were torn apart in a religious dispute by the Crescent Moon Cult, who's imagery of the blood-red crescent moon signified the apocalypse. Perhaps this radical group worshiped Umor, and explains the current Kio's disdain for religion. Additionally, during the God's War, many Valinor betrayed the Pantheon to serve Umor. After the war, at least 13 Valinor, or one very powerful Valinor who absorbed the power of others, survived to create the val'Holryn. This means that the Umoric Family Tree has two branches: Those descended from his Servant, and those descended from his Valinor. By combining these traits, we can speculate that Umor was at least a Wind God. This would explain the Holryn-Kio connection, the Kio's affinity for Wind, and the val'Holryns power of mimicry, respectively. It would also explain their status as an Outsider Family. If Umor was their progenitor, we could also guess that he's not an Entropic creature, seeing that neither groups can be identified as Entropic by Hunters of the Silence, or the fact that they don't go out drinking with Voiceless Ones every weekend. This is slightly better than the alternative of both groups infiltrating mortal society to tear it apart from the inside out. Still bad, but not as bad as it could be. Of course, if Umor is not Entropic, it means that he could potentially be bargained with, or wholly rejoin the Pantheon against the Silence. Theoretically, of course, and they still have the feud with the other families. I doubt both sides will be able to coexist if this theory is true.
All that done? No PCI death squads? No major spoilers? That went better than expected actually. Of course this is just a theory, and I might end up redacting some of it if people request it.
Don't want people to know the truth, after all.
_________________ With regards, signing out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sigismund Jupiter val'Holryn von Tralia
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