Blooded

The Blooded are the descendants of the nine bloodlines that participate in the Agon.

### Views on outsiders

Outsiders, also known as the Unblooded, are largely ignored and they are seen as having no place in the Agon. Miles, one of the few Unblooded to ever participate in an Agon, notes that Lore and Van are treating him as useless when discussing him in terms of the Agon. Lore is shown to have a higher opinion of Unblooded than other Blooded, especially Wrath, who is willing to burn the Unblooded world to the ground as if it were nothing.

### Views on women

Women are not treated well by the bloodlines. the interim Odysseos archon's attempted rape of Lore, a child, is ignored and covered up, as well as his poor treatment of her beforehand. Parthenoi are a large fraction of Blooded women, only a few are allowed to be Hunters, and parthenoi serve little purpose other than to be married and have children to enlarge the bloodline. Those who are hunters are conditioned not to scream or react even as bones break, but it isn't clear if this is the same for everyone. The expectation of even young parthenoi is to be beautiful and to fall into line. It is mentioned that they are groomed into this subservience and promised in marriage when they are little enough to be learning their letters. They cannot become archon and cannot vote.

### Combat

Everyone besides possibly parthenoi seem to receive combat training. Lore is never mentioned as being seen as aberrant for training, besides Aristos Kadmou's comments to her father that there was little point, if there was only ever one future for her. Aristos seems to have assumed that all of Demos'sdaughters were to be parthenoi to other bloodlines, which might invalidate his statements in combination with his misogyny being more severe than every other seen Blooded. Castor was to be a healer, but still underwent multiple years of combat training until his cancer made it near-impossible to.

## Power Structure and Roles

Generally, the bloodlines all follow a similar power structure.

### New Gods of the Bloodline

New gods sit above the archon in power, and are usually ascended archons themselves. They have sacrifices performed by the bloodline and art made in their honor, and tend to take an active role in the bloodline as well. Not all new gods were respected, however, as Tidebringer shows--her bloodline was massacred because of her existence.

### Archon

Archons are the male head of the bloodline, and when a bloodline gets hold of a god to kill, the archon is who gets to stab them through the heart and ascend. They are elected by all the male members of the house, and traditionally cannot be female. Lore was designated by Demos Perseous as his successor, implied to be regardless of her gender. The reaction of Aristos Kadmou and the rest of the Kadmides implied that the general assumption was that if Demos ever had a male child, he would automatically be the heir instead, as women couldn't be archons. Iro's reaction to Lore suggesting that she become archon of the Odyssides was to state that as a woman, it wouldn't be proper for her to. It is important to note that the Perseides archonship being passed from parent to child was because of the size of the bloodline, and is not standard.

### Messengers

Each bloodline seems to have a messenger, with the status granted by their archon. It can be revoked at any time by him. The messenger can travel without fear of being attacked by hunters, so can serve as diplomats and negotiators.

### Elders

Elders are highly respected older individuals, often retired older individuals.

### Hunters

Hunters seem to make up the majority of the bloodlines. They are loyal to the archon above all else, and are primarily male. There are some female hunters, the most elite of them, and their main role is to harry and weaken prey to be delivered to the archon to finish off.

### Healers

Healers treat wounds, and they seem to be any gender--Kallias is female and Castor is male, but Kallias was seemingly a respected healer. Castor's training let him remove glass from muscle safely, at bare minimum.

### Archivists

Archivists are in charge of the archives of each bloodline. Not much is known about them.

### Parthenoi

The majority of women seem to be parthenoi, women and girls kept hidden as breeding stock to produce children and to be wives. They were hidden away during the Agon, never to participate, shown off like trophies, had no agency, and were promised to others young.

1. ↑ Page 167
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 page 152
3. ↑ page 93