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the gifted.
Aug. 14th, 2013 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smithereensThe Idrise call them Gifted, but the Renoysans call them Touched--Touched by the hand of God is what the say, but Touched in the head is what they really mean. In the Renoysan tradition, people with the Touch are treated almost like curiosities in a circus--useful and foreign, but ultimately harmless. In many ways, they are--the vast majority of Touches amount to minor conveniences, such as a Touch for flower arrangement or playing the lyre.
Legend speaks of far more powerful and abstract Touches, like scrying and seeing into the future, but no one has claimed such skills in hundreds of years--even if they did, it’s not guaranteed they’ll be met with acceptance and admiration. Though on the surface it might seem lucky to be blessed with a gift from God, the Renoysan mindset is rigid and suspicious, and those with known Touches are usually given a wide berth, as if they can never truly be trusted. The Touched with useful abilities usually end up pressed into the service of the king or the local lord, rarely given the choice to refuse--those with strange or morbid abilities are sometimes given up by their parents, to the local monastery or convent if they’re lucky.
The Idrise see the Gifted much differently--as truly blessed by the gods and goddesses, worth admiration. Before the conquest of the Renoysans, nearly every Idrise was Gifted, from everything to cooking to extreme strength or speed, and their Gifts were celebrated. Widespread hunting of these extraordinarily Gifted people was a hallmark of the Renoysan conquest, eliminating any of the Gifted who posed too much of a threat--many families were completely wiped out, and those Gifted who did survive, either by chance or because their Gifts weren’t considered dangerous, were reviled on an even higher level than than the regular natives. Those that could be of some use to the Renoysan king were immediately subjugated and taken to the capital, many of whom were never heard from again.
Eventually, the smart ones learned to hide their Gifts, so that some of the old Gifts still survived through the Renoysan colonization, secreted away by individuals, families, and even entire communities, those that were far enough away from the new Eldrys province capital that the Renoysan presence rarely touched them. Mixing of Renoysan and Idrise blood either strengthened or dulled some Gifts--now Touches--and it was sometimes a war within families that determined the fate of the child. Most Gifted children now lived in fear of their Gift, or because of it--fear for their future and fear for their family’s future, for a Gifted child could bring suspicion on an entire family.
Gifts or Touches usually manifest in childhood all the way up to puberty--in some rare cases, even after puberty. The vast majority see their Gift flourish as children, though the nature of the Gift itself might not always be apparent, as some are things not commonly done or so subtle that they may be taken as mere talent. Some of the Gifted or Touched don’t discover their Gifts until much later in life, when they finally do the thing for which they are Gifted--a few never know they are Gifted at all.
It’s not possible to look at a person and know if they are Gifted, nor is bloodline a surefire way to predict a Gift, though Renoysan superstition holds that Gifts run rampant in families. Most Gifts are simply a preternatural abundance of talent in one thing or another, without requiring the hard work or practice that the un-Gifted would have to put in, though some are just preternatural. All Gifts reach only a certain limit, though the Gifted person usually isn’t the master of it right away--even Gifts can be improved upon and mastered.
Legend speaks of far more powerful and abstract Touches, like scrying and seeing into the future, but no one has claimed such skills in hundreds of years--even if they did, it’s not guaranteed they’ll be met with acceptance and admiration. Though on the surface it might seem lucky to be blessed with a gift from God, the Renoysan mindset is rigid and suspicious, and those with known Touches are usually given a wide berth, as if they can never truly be trusted. The Touched with useful abilities usually end up pressed into the service of the king or the local lord, rarely given the choice to refuse--those with strange or morbid abilities are sometimes given up by their parents, to the local monastery or convent if they’re lucky.
The Idrise see the Gifted much differently--as truly blessed by the gods and goddesses, worth admiration. Before the conquest of the Renoysans, nearly every Idrise was Gifted, from everything to cooking to extreme strength or speed, and their Gifts were celebrated. Widespread hunting of these extraordinarily Gifted people was a hallmark of the Renoysan conquest, eliminating any of the Gifted who posed too much of a threat--many families were completely wiped out, and those Gifted who did survive, either by chance or because their Gifts weren’t considered dangerous, were reviled on an even higher level than than the regular natives. Those that could be of some use to the Renoysan king were immediately subjugated and taken to the capital, many of whom were never heard from again.
Eventually, the smart ones learned to hide their Gifts, so that some of the old Gifts still survived through the Renoysan colonization, secreted away by individuals, families, and even entire communities, those that were far enough away from the new Eldrys province capital that the Renoysan presence rarely touched them. Mixing of Renoysan and Idrise blood either strengthened or dulled some Gifts--now Touches--and it was sometimes a war within families that determined the fate of the child. Most Gifted children now lived in fear of their Gift, or because of it--fear for their future and fear for their family’s future, for a Gifted child could bring suspicion on an entire family.
Gifts or Touches usually manifest in childhood all the way up to puberty--in some rare cases, even after puberty. The vast majority see their Gift flourish as children, though the nature of the Gift itself might not always be apparent, as some are things not commonly done or so subtle that they may be taken as mere talent. Some of the Gifted or Touched don’t discover their Gifts until much later in life, when they finally do the thing for which they are Gifted--a few never know they are Gifted at all.
It’s not possible to look at a person and know if they are Gifted, nor is bloodline a surefire way to predict a Gift, though Renoysan superstition holds that Gifts run rampant in families. Most Gifts are simply a preternatural abundance of talent in one thing or another, without requiring the hard work or practice that the un-Gifted would have to put in, though some are just preternatural. All Gifts reach only a certain limit, though the Gifted person usually isn’t the master of it right away--even Gifts can be improved upon and mastered.
