Are the Veins of Creation a source of Mythic Power?

[Arkat]

The reason I ask is because they sure sound like it.

If anyone who had a bit of their soul placed into the Kumaru tree in the Sacred Mountain in Xopatl is reborn after the Whispering Tyrant blows them and himself up, do you think it's reasonable for them to be reformed/reborn with Mythic Power?

The way I'm picturing it is their little bit of soul is placed into a cocoon-like structure that's part of the Kumaru tree. After so long (days, weeks, months, years?), the PC in question has been soaking up all that power/energy from the Veins of Creation and is then "born" (hatched?) from the cocoon with an appropriate amount of Mythic power.

Does that sound reasonable?

[Azothath]

Veins of Creation which refers to a magical tree and its roots, the tree died along with Aroden due to his tampering.
There's no mention of creating cuttings or budding clones of the original tree which is what gardeners and botanists do when they find a sport or variant they want to grow. This is how you get improved fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. They would have done this to the kumaru tree long before Arazni showed up. Wood would have been harvested from the tree (as lore suggests) and crafted into magic items. Due to lore one assumes the shredded bark, sawdust and such would have some use as alchemical or magical power components. Normally when a tree dies it quickly gets turned into lumber and/or mulched as otherwise it'll rot and harbor diseases/fungus/etc as wood ants, termites, and fungus are nature's clean up crew. I just assume the writer isn't familiar with gardening. FYI in the Real World fungi were late developers and trees used to just die/fall over and sit there then get subducted in geological processes. I assume you've heard of coal and oil?

[Arkat]

Azothath wrote:

Veins of Creation which refers to a magical tree and its roots, the tree died along with Aroden due to his tampering.

There's no mention of creating cuttings or budding clones of the original tree which is what gardeners and botanists do when they find a sport or variant they want to grow. This is how you get improved fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. They would have done this to the kumaru tree long before Arazni showed up. Wood would have been harvested from the tree (as lore suggests) and crafted into magic items. Due to lore one assumes the shredded bark, sawdust and such would have some use as alchemical or magical power components. Normally when a tree dies it quickly gets turned into lumber and/or mulched as otherwise it'll rot and harbor diseases/fungus/etc as wood ants, termites, and fungus are nature's clean up crew. I just assume the writer isn't familiar with gardening. FYI in the Real World fungi were late developers and trees used to just die/fall over and sit there then get subducted in geological processes. I assume you've heard of coal and oil?

There's a new Kumaru tree as of Book 5 in the Whispering Tyrant AP.

It is tied to the Veins of Creation just like the previous Kumaru tree was.

One of the NPCs, Miraina Olviris, made an offer to take a tiny piece of the PCs' souls and implant them into the new Kumaru tree.

In my group's playthrough, only one PC took her up on her offer. She "removed" his sense of humor and implanted that into the Kumaru tree.

Yes, all the PCs died at the end of book 6 of the TG AP, but the other PCs suffered a different final fate than the one PC who had a piece of his soul removed and placed into the new Kumaru tree.

[Azothath]

Gorillion lore is not my thing as it is a mishmash of various things.

That's the one AP I don't have. It was part of the send off to PF2.

In my experience with later stage PF1 writing, parts of a soul(soul shards) were distinct and not harmful to the donor (see Soulbound doll creation). So they disconnected that symbolic connection of a soul shard to the owner (one down for PR). Of course a writer is going to want to have some emotional impact with their scenario to add import to the event in the minds of the players. How far that goes?...
The other question is are the veins(VoC) an effect from the tree or a separate effect connected to by the tree. The tree & veins were around and in use before the soul implant incident so the soul implant does not create the veins and is a separate interaction.

It's just creative writing and actual rules mechanics. What it means is up to the writer at the moment. I don't think anything is a source of mythic power other than the GM (LoL).

There is the trope of redemption through (self sacrifice &) death. For the most part the character moves on but may leave a token or symbol of their trial behind. Storywise you don't want them hanging about as it foils closure and creates problems or an authorial source.
The aggrandizement of ego only goes so far in adult fiction...

[Arkat]

Thank you for the writing tips Azothath, but that's not what I was looking for.

Still looking for an answer to my question about the Veins of Creation from someone more versed on Golarion lore.

[Lord of Conflict]

f I remember correctly, the Veins of Creation were created from the second biggest piece of the Star Stone, and the first ones to use it became "hero-gods" with some of them ascending to full divinity later on. So I would say yes to Mythic. Just my 2 cents, and I could be wrong, it has been while sense I read about it.

[Arkat]

Lord of Conflict wrote:

f I remember correctly, the Veins of Creation were created from the second biggest piece of the Star Stone, and the first ones to use it became "hero-gods" with some of them ascending to full divinity later on. So I would say yes to Mythic.

Hmmm...thanks for this tidbit of info. Now I have a specific road to travel down - the Starstone road.

EDIT: Bingo! There it is! On page 62 of Borne by the Sun's Grace in the Xopatl Gazetteer it says:

Quote:

At the center of the forest was a mystical stone not unlike

the Starstone. Albeit significantly less powerful, this stone
still had enough potency to grant these explorers great
mythic power and elevate them into hero-gods.

Then there's this (also on page 62):

Quote:

Freed from their oppressors, the new hero-gods sought

to learn more about the mysterious stone fragment,
and some settled in the new forest. They soon learned
to control the plants around them—a foundational
knowledge that later became a unique form of arcane
botany.

So the implication is this fragment of the Starstone allowed the hero-gods to manipulate plant life like it is established a little later (page 68) in the Borne by the Sun's Grace book that the Veins of Creation can do:

Quote:

Arcane botanists used their abilities and the power of

the Veins of Creation to manipulate the plant life in and
around the city to create a settlement that can function
independently from the rest of the region.

I am convinced there is Mythic Power within the Kumaru tree which powers the Veins of Creation. Of course, it helps that Tumbaja Mountain (where the Kumaru tree grows in Xopatl) is made up of shards of the Starstone. See page 41, Borne by the Sun's Grace. I'm guessing the Kumaru tree "wicks" up Mythic Power from the makeup of the pyramid itself which then power the Veins of Creation.

[Arkat]

Actually, it's probably not the Veins of Creation that are the source of Mythic Power.

It's probably more accurate to say the Kumaru tree is the source of Mythic Power because of its close proximity to (inside) Tumbaja Mountain which was made with remnants of of the meteorite that contained the Starstone.

It is the Kumaru tree that channels Mythic Power into the Veins of Creation which gives them their ability to control plant life as well as provide magical energy to forges, magical defenses, and even simple lighting in homes all across Xopatl.

Therefore, I think it's perfectly plausible that any soul "grown" within the Kumaru tree in Tumbaja Mountain will be born (hatched?) with Mythic Power.

The longer these souls take to re-develop into the creature to which the soul originally belonged, the more Mythic Power they are exposed to and will have when their development is complete enough for the tree to release.