Editing Gladius et Aegis: Arcane Nature Traits (section)

=Blessed=

===Campaign Setting Notes===

Selecting this trait means that you are ''Blessed'' - a human who has been given power by Angels (and by implication, God) to fight the good fight.

''Blessed'' sometimes suggest to others that they are no more or less blessed than any other human, but are simply doing the best they can. Others might claim to be instruments of the divine will, or messengers for the holy. All universally acknowledge that they command no arcane powers - rather it is God who works miracles on their behalf, and they give thanks for this. 

Anyone can become a Blessed, but it doesn't happen often at all. In any given generation there might be no more than a dozen Blessed in total, and both their calling and the strength of their enemies means that they don't tend to last long. Some ''Blessed'' work alone, or just with humans. If a ''Blessed'' does join any faction, its likely to be ''Gladius et Aegis''. Their rarity means that many supernaturals haven't even heard of them, save through rumours or apocryphal tales, and many that have heard of them don't believe they exist.

The ''Blessed'' haven't always heard of the ''Shadow Concordat'', but most of those that do recognize that it is a good thing, as it limits bloodshed and provides them some protection. No ''Blessed'' would ever put the Concordat ahead of doing the right thing, however.

While the vast majority of Blessed have been devout Christians, Muslims or Jews, there's been the occasional exception to this. In fact there's presently a Blessed in ''Gladius et Aegis'' who claims to be an agnostic and humanist, who says that the presence of angels and demons doesn't prove that there is a God, but that he does what seems to be the right thing because he chooses to. 


===Character Generation Guidelines===

An exceptionally high ''Puissance'' is generally the norm: this is the work of God, after all! Otherwise, ''Blessed'' tend to be no more than average humans, save that they are usually braver, more moral and stronger in faith.

Recommended ''Background Traits'' include ''Good Friends'' and ''Faith Connections''.
Recommended ''Internal Traits'' include ''Faith'' and ''Moral code.''


===Benefits of being a '''Blessed'''===

* '''Arcana:''' The Blessed have miracles that seem to act just like magic, even if they say they aren't. 
* '''Divine Instruments:''' The Arcana of the Blessed can't be countered, negated or redirected by other supernatural's Arcana. While a Magus might claim that the warding shield around the blessed is clearly magical, he won't be able to dispel it!
* '''Deus Ex Machina:''' Occasionally divine intervention may take place, allowing a Blessed to exceed his capabilities at a moment when he really needs to, and when his cause is especially righteous and his need is especially great. For example, when being pursued by a swarm of vampires, and grievously injured, a Blessed might decide to bravely meet his fate, taking out his crucifix and handgun, and stopping to turn and face the enemy while his companions escape. Then, if the powers that be decide that it should be so, he might find that his crucifix glows with holy light... sunlight in fact. The vampires burn before him, or flee, and he collapses exhausted. Deus Ex Machina events are not within the Blessed's control, and players should never petition the GM for one: doing so should in fact automatically preclude the event from happening. Instead, the GM decides when it is most dramatically appropriate, and assesses that the Blessed has both acted with exceptional righteousness and is in dire need, then he triggers the event. How often these events occur is entirely up to the GM: they might be no more than once in a whole campaign, or might never happen at all. Certainly they should occur no more than once every ten gaming sessions. Essentially, if the divine intervention was expected by the players, then it probably wasn't well played by the GM.


===Drawbacks of being a '''Blessed'''===

* '''Judgment:''' Someone, be it Angels or God himself, watches the Blessed and holds them to high standards. They must seek to be righteous in all they do, and failure to abide by this results in judgment from above. The first sign of this is a nagging sense of guilt that seems to come from outside of the Blessed. The next is temporary withdrawals of their blessings (that is, their Puissance score) until they make their actions right. Finally, they can be stripped of their blessings altogether. What is considered righteous or not is up to the GM to decide: depending on the GMs style this might be guided by things like the Ten Commandments, or the Old Testament as a whole, or may just be an arbitrary set of rules that the GM decides upon as what the "Powers" deem as righteous behaviour. Note that what player characters, players or the GM judge as being moral don't really come into it: this is an abstract rule of righteousness that comes from an unseen and non-negotiating force from above. In game terms, however, its thematically appropriate for a GM to always give fair warning when blessings are going to be taken away. Note also that Judgment doesn't just come from looking at Blessed's actions either, but also at their inaction. Choosing not to act when it would be righteous to do so is inherently unrighteous!
* '''Held back from sin:''' If an Arcana use would go against the above rules of righteousness, the casting simply fails. For example, if the GM has decided that killing humans is always wrong by these rules, then an attempt to use Arcana to kill someone would be wasted, and nothing would happen.


===Other Effects of being a '''Blessed'''===

* '''Miracles:''' While the ''Player'' chooses how he wants his Arcana to be used, the ''Player Charater'' (in his in-character mindset) does not. Essentially all he does is mentally or verbally ask for help from God, Yahweh, Allah, or whatever higher power he believes in. When help comes, the Blessed believes that it was something that was done for him, not by him. The other aspect of Miracles is that they very rarely look like anything supernatural, and could be explained away as coincidence by a sceptical onlooker. While a Blessed might claim he prayed to be protected from his attackers, and that God turned the incoming blows aside, a sceptic might observe that he just saw lots of lucky escapes from blows and bullets that almost struck home. However, at GM discretion, sometimes a Miracle will be blatant and incontrovertible by all but the most stubborn sceptic. These so called overt miracles generally happen when the Blessed is engaged in a righteous battle against a truly evil and powerful enemy. Normally all present have already accepted that terrible supernatural evil exists, and are close to giving up hope. Its at times like these that the powers that be decide that faith will benefit more from a demonstration of the divine then from asking people to choose whether they believe or not.


[[Category:Gladius et Aegis]]