Effect of merasha on Brion

[Liesel]

Hi all!

Looking at Deryni Rising again, I am struck by the scene of the hunt (and Brion's death).  There is merasha in the wine Colin shared with Brion, and Charissa mentions that this will prevent him from detecting her attack.  Nonetheless, we see no evidence of merasha disorientation; he acts completely normal until he cries out and clutches his chest while talking to Ewan.  That would appear to be the attack on his heart, not any merasha reaction.

Do we understand why it happens this way?

[Bynw]

From a gamer perspective, although I don't know of anything canon that supports this theory, but it's long been used by gamers who play Deryni characters.

Merasha can be used 2 ways. One is your massive full on dose that not only robs the Deryni or Deryni-like character of their powers but also causes the disorientation and other debilitating effects.

The 2nd is a lighter dose that doesn't cause any of those disorientation or debilitating effects but it does still rob the character of their powers. Generally they aren't aware of the lighter dose until they go to use those powers.

So a character like Brion who really doesn't use is powers on a daily basis or anything wouldn't be aware of the attack until it was too late.

[Laurna]

From my perspective, King Brion Haldane was human. We know that many earlier Haldane's did marry Deryni and therefore some of their offspring did carry the Deryni trait, but in Brion's case, it has been several generations since the last Haldane married a Deryni. Because Brion did not react to drinking the Merasha wine, I suspect he did not carry the Deryni gene.  He only gets sleepy.  Now, he does have the Haldane Potential for magic activated and that in normal circumstances would have allowed him to turn ON the Haldane Magic to defend himself from Charissa's attack.  But the Merasha he just drank, keeps him from turning that magic ability ON. Unable to defend himself, Brion is  susceptible to Charisssa's Heart stopping spell. It is she who causes his heart-attack. She does not feel the disruption from the Merasha because Brion did not feel it, because he is human.
If that had happened to Kelson, there would have been an entirely different reaction.

If you look at this topic, https://www.rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,1552.0.html
, I offered a generation by generation of which Haldanes most likely carried the Deryni Trait and which ones did not. All of them carry the Haldane Potential but that is not the same as being Deryni.

[Liesel]

The 2nd is a lighter dose that doesn't cause any of those disorientation or debilitating effects but it does still rob the character of their powers. Generally they aren't aware of the lighter dose until they go to use those powers.

In a later book, Kelson and iirc Dhugal are given a dose comparable to what was in the wine, and they get hit pretty hard.

Also, right at the time of Charissa's attack (when Ian leaves the hunt briefly to go to talk to her) -- after the king drank the wine and before Charissa's offensive -- Charissa herself mentions that Brion's mind will be muddled by the merasha in the wine.  Yet we see no evidence of this in his behavior.

The suggestion that the effect of merasha on a non-Deryni Haldane might be different is a good thought -- but, as I mentioned above, Charissa herself mentioned the mind-muddling effect....

Curiouser and curiouser...

[Laurna]

Haldane Magic is different than Deryni Magic. Remember, however, that Haldane Magic is a secret. No one knows about it. It is put to the people as the magic of holy rights as a crowned king. Only the king and his champion really know the truth about how Brion got his powers. I believe that not even the Camberian Council of their time remember the full ritual required to have it manifest. (Sief did not know that Donal had his magic turned on) So the People think Brion is Human with the magic of Kingship.

Charissa on the other hand knows that her father was taken down by Brion's magic. She can not know about Haldane magic. None of the Festils ever knew about it. She just believes that it is Deryni Magic. The same that she uses. That is why she did not want a direct confrontation with Brion, she worried that he might be as well trained in Deryni magic as she was.  But the Prince. Now he is just a 14year old boy. He could not possibly have had the training that she has. Charissa knew she would win that match.

That being said, Charissa thinks Brion is Deryni and thereby she believes he would be effected by the Merasha as any Deryni would. He would become mind-muddled. But we know that Brion's Magic is Haldane Magic and not Deryni. Therefore he doesn't become mind- muddled. If Alaric had been there, the king's champion would have been able to brake Charissa's spell before it did harm. But he wasn't, and Kelson did not even know he held Deryni genes so he was untrained. For Charissa the results were in her favor regardless of where Brion got his magic.

[Liesel]

That sounds possibly plausible.

But....the Haldane line at least in Cinhil's time was known to be human, and Cinhil defeated Imre.....something of the Haldane magic was not secret; it was considered part of the Haldane divine right to rule.

So I am not completely convinced. 

[Bynw]

As I stated with my example. It comes from gaming sources which were not canon when they were written. And because Kelson was also dosed with the same amount of Merasha and it had a stronger effect on him. It stands to reason that the information is not accurate.

I consider Kelson to be Deryni by blood and making. I consider his father to be Deryni by making. Just as the Camberian Council counted Kelson as a full Deryni (even though he wasn't). So we don't know why the Merasha had a lesser effect on Donal because it should have done the same thing to him as it did to Kelson.

Remember that the Haldane's are not the only "made" Deryni that we have seen in canon. Bran Coris was human. And he was granted Deryni powers from Wencit. So much so that Wencit wanted him in the 4 way Duel Arcane.

Where there are 2 there are more. We just haven't seen them.