“Son, I recognized the connection you made with Candra right away. Your mother told me that you and Candra are continuing your relationship by telephone. Once I learned of this, I immediately ordered a genealogical search for her family to see how her blood would affect our bloodline if your connection goes further. Son, I know this will seem like an intrusion into your personal business, but long-held traditions mandate this practice for those of the blood.

“As you can see, the search did not take long. The reason brings both good and bad news. We found that Candra inherited a blood percentage not much less than yours, explaining why the genealogical search went so quickly. Pursuing Candra would offer your children blood rights similar to yours; but I wish it were that simple, Milo.

“To understand what I mean, I need to enlighten you further on the history of the blood. As I told you last night, the oldest son of our great matriarch married into the family of the chief high priest. His senior position in the blood, combined with the royal influences of his siblings, allowed for his offspring to obtain the chief high priest position. This brought about two centers of power within the bloodline —one royal and one religion.

“Because of the oldest son’s seniority and the family into which he married, the religion side of the blood ruled over the royal side for hundreds of years. The royals supported the holiness of the religion, while the clergy supported the royals’ divine right to rule. Although the families intermarried, over time political differences slowly formed within the bloodline.

“Our ancestors drawn to the religion side of the blood tended to favor a more benevolent rule over the people. They supported limited liberty, by way of freedom to choose who to marry, where to live, and where to work. They opposed slavery, torture, cruel and inhumane treatment. They desired to uplift their subjects, with glory given to the great architect. Yet, they still used religion as a tool to govern and resisted freedom of religion as a threat to their rule.

“The ones drawn to the royal side of the blood tended to favor a more malevolent type of rule. They looked at their subjects as chattel, lifted up in the superiority of their own blood. They believed that an orderly society should come about by raw force. They desired full recognition for that order, seeking all the glory of such for themselves. They thought it was heresy to allow those not of the blood to decide their own destiny. They believed the scroll anointed them to make all decisions for their subjects.

“As you can see, the two sides of the family interpreted the scroll’s mandate very differently. With time, these differences created a definite split in the blood. This rift led to a complete division in the bloodline, just a few hundred years ago.

“As you already know, seniority in the pure bloodline inherits the right to rule supremely. The religion side maintained this right through the offspring of the oldest son. The royals tired of this rule and conspired to remove the blood right from this part of the family so they could obtain the senior right.

“It started with an accusation, that in a drunken moment, the senior pure blood with the highest right to rule disclosed the secret of the bloodline. If discovered as true, this indiscretion would strip him and his posterity of all blood rights.