I have four questions on the scions (not suggestions, though I wonder on people's thoughts):
1) Last time river of blood was cast, none of my size 2 cities lost pop (which is normal I think), and my size 5 capitol went down to 4. Is it that the scions only suffer half effect from this spell (that would make sense)? I'm half inclined to avoid getting cities above 2 pop until after it is cast...I wonder if scions ability to control their population distrubution might preserve them too much against this, though then again it would make sense their blood wouldn't provide much sustenence.
2) On the effect of Stasis - its interesting that the Scions are the one civ that still has an outlet for growth during this phase. I really hope for the illians to cast this, once I've got aristocracy running, a few buildings constructed, and recources aquired. Interestingly enough, the illians seem to drop it about the right time, and I get maybe 3-4 additional awakening pop in this period. Also, if legates or polemic are about a couple more...

I'm not sure it would be a good idea to disable though, as the decreasing chance per turn mechanic would then put an extra hinderence on the scions. And it does seem to make sense, in that the awakening are coming from the vault because of the attraction of a luxurious society - I'm not sure the static effect would deter this.
3) I wonder about the awakening bonus for population in the capitol. It feels about right - though it only provides a small incentive to favor the capitol, as you're better off planting a new city with 4 or so pop that can build the various buildings, and maybe aquire an artifact. If I'm correct, four pop in the capitol is a base 1% increase, whereas getting the three buildings in a new city gives 3.5%...
4) Is there currently a diplomatic penalty with the sidar? I'd imagine one would make sense...