#FYI around 78% of the Heartlands' population is human and only around 3% of that population would qualify as white

[y-rhywbeth2]

Previous mini rant brought on by me trying to make sense of how a Bhaalspawn can carry a divine essence, be stripped of that divine essence, and still be tainted by Bhaal but no longer have his divine essence or qualify as a Bhaalspawn anymore.

The definition of Bhaalspawn is a bit odd. The qualifier seems to be that you have a fragment (of varying size) of Bhaal himself hitching a ride within you, latching onto your soul like a parasite. When that's removed, you no longer qualify. Bhaal no longer whispers in your ear or haunts your dreams, or threatens to pilot your body. You can't become his avatar, or harness his divinity and channel it into divine magic. You cannot hijack that fragment and claim the Throne of Blood.

When Bhaal is removed, you are no longer a Bhaalspawn.

But you still fall into the same box as cambions and pre-4e tieflings: "Tieflings are aware at an early age that they are different from the people around them, and often have strange urges, desires, or needs because of their heritage." You're still "genetically" half-god: Bhaal's taint runs in your veins, and will pass onto your offspring. The "violent rage [still] pollutes [your] tainted blood" and you want to kill everything. On the alignment chart you are instinctually "pushed" towards the evil end. Sorcery seems to remain intact, so I guess that's falling more on the "genetic" side, like if your sorcerous ancestor was a dragon or demon. And this "genetic" divine component was kind of necessary, because fully mortal hosts tend to start dying when they're used to house Bhaal.

Bhaalspawn are not actually supposed to be able to exist/survive without that fragment. One who is separated this way is fundamentally aberrant and wrong to those with the senses to pick up on it (and their own): "[They] exist; [they] do not live. [...] [They] are nothing." Theoretically, the Gods can remove Bhaal from the Bhaalspawn, but as of 5e canon this is not entirely foolproof because Jergal and the Dead Three don't actually follow any of the goddamn rules, and Bhaal has tricked everybody into thinking one of his spawn was cleansed of him when they weren't before: "Bhaal’s vestige [is] still lurking in [their] mind" and able to exert some influence over their choices (which is apparently "canonically" what happens if Charname remains mortal at the end of BG2).

Also, weirdly, the fact that Orin and Durge's future hypothetical offspring count as Bhaalspawn carries the implication that Bhaal is involving himself with the babymaking process and placing fragments of his being into them. And why. Why do you make everything unclean, Bhaal.