The Blessed are those touched by the Maker with the Gift — the setting’s magic-users, and the foundation of its aristocracy.
Origins
During the First Crusade, some men and women were granted great gifts: mastery of magic equal to the old Elven Magisters, the ability to hear the word of God and perform miracles, or deep knowledge of the Words of Creation. From their visions came the Book of Light. The Blessed had children, many also Blessed — those of the Blood became the leaders of Men and founded the kingdoms. Noble legitimacy in this world literally rests on inherited magic.
How the Gift Works
- Divine powers require receiving the Gift first; it cannot be trained into existence.
- Most Gifts manifest by early adolescence, with rare exceptions and rare dramatic manifestations.
- When a Gift manifests, the Church tests the individual for Corruption and determines the nature of the Gift. Elves receive especially close scrutiny.
- Those with a divine connection are trained in the Church; others in Colleges or private family traditions. The Colleges are watched by the Order of the Phoenix (in the West).
- The Gift is rare enough that the Blessed are special, common enough that most people encounter magic in their lives. Powerful casters are rare.
Kinds of Magic
See Magic and Casting Traditions for the three broad traditions (Logos wizardry, divine Channeling, bloodline Sorcery) and which magic is forbidden.
The Blood and Noble Houses
Noble houses cultivate hereditary “house gifts” through careful marriage:
- House Ulpia — Metal
- House Menenia — Air and Weather
- House Balventia — Divine Channeling; Lusia Balventia holds one of the most powerful divine gifts in Hazad, reputedly including the Ritual of Rebirth (GM)
- House Aurunculeia (Gnaeus’s mother’s line) — a powerful but rarely-surfacing gift, the sorcerous tradition called Dweller in the Angles (Time, Warp, and stranger things; the name’s true source is unknown)
The strength of the Blood varies between families and individuals — an ungifted noble (like Herius Rufius Menenius) is a notable, and delicate, fact. So is an unusually strong one: Sister Alasia runs a church with no particularly strong Gift at all, while Lusia Balventia is a lay noblewoman with more divine power than most of the clergy.
A House Gift Can Be Outlawed
House Bethlen of Morrschatten carried a gift the Betrayer Queen possessed — and that gift was not considered Corrupted until the aftermath of the Third Crusade (GM). The dynasty was deposed, the kingdom partitioned, and the bloodline’s magic reclassified as the Deceiver’s work, all in the same settlement. Constanza Bethlen carries it, and was a notably powerful sorceress at sixteen.
The precedent matters beyond Morrschatten: what counts as Corrupted is a ruling, and rulings follow wars. Compare the forbidden spheres in Magic and Casting Traditions, and Gnaeus’s own rare Aurunculeia gift.