Ancestry as a game element

The idea of bloodlines and ancestry - that one person is, merely because they were born from certain parents, important and carries within them a particular destiny is perhaps at the very root of elitism.

For that reason, I'd like to make the case that genetic (inherited) memory and will is an excellent concept for an interactive narrative.

Genetic memory can take many shapes and forms, but it's irremovably tied to ancestry - and your mum & pop. A person with person with a bloodline with genetic memory is, as a result, tied to his mom and dad. It could be further manipulated, such that only certain genders receive the full extent of the gift, as well as the ability to allow their children to inherit memory...these genders would not necessarily be set in stone, they could be alternating, or use some type of pattern, but the long and short of it is, a discussion of entitlement and strength can be brought into the narrative.

Genetic memory - which might be muscle memory, memory of crafts or meditative techniques, as well as memory of what has happened to every person in your bloodline coming before you - could be used as an excuse for attributing the players character with extraordinary abilities, and perhaps even the ability to converse with or be possed by his ancestors at his will or theirs.

It opens up many possibilities, but unlike so many, many stories, this one can be kept groomed - the Dollhouse TV series is doing something similar, but it's had a very difficult time getting going because it attempts high internal consistency, buffy the vampire slayer does it a bit, but only as a minor subplot, assasins creed does it, but doesn't use it for anything other than a starting point - and it's one of those "one magic thing" that people will accept in a narrative, yet it remains very specific.

When I say, one magic thing, it's because most stories only have one thing out of the ordinary - a focal concept. For example, if we were considering a world where everybody posses genetic memory, it wouldn't be "one magic thing" - it would merely be part of the setting. But take bumblebee in the transformers movie - it becomes sams car. We, as receivers, come to understand that we follow sam precisely because he is, through coincidence, fated to receive bumblebee. If it had come to someone else, the story would've been about them instead, not about sam.

Sam, however, cannot win the lottery the same day as he gets bumblebee, which would be another thing so unlikely that it would qualify as "the one magic thing". See, as unlikely as it is that a giant spacerobot becomes your car, it's part of the plot and the setting that it _must_ happen to _someone_ - the movie merely chooses to focus on the person it happens to.

But noone gets to be on the receiving end of two huge coincidences within the context of the same story - it's almost unheard of.

The thing about genetic memory is that it's not general, it's specific - it's not "magic", for example. If it had been magic...sure, our protagonist could have both magic and genetic memory if those things were tied together, being part of the same ability, but then, our protagonist would be much less predictable. Magic can do lots of things that the receivers of the story won't be able to predict; not so with genetic memory. It's nice and tight, but at the same time, presents a large amount of solutions.

So not only can it be used as the basis of a major narrative due to the relationships between characters the ability inherently projects and explains, it can also be used because it makes for interesting adventure and problem solving!

Now, notice that I say interactive narrative - I think this type of thing fits with narrative that allows choice particularly well, because ancestral preconceptions necessarily try to take choice away, and having a player deal with that seems like it could be almost existensial.