For when your campaign needs a little extra Abrahamic flavor.
Besides their listed effects, these items all have incredible symbolic significance for anyone who feels inclined to do ritual magic with them. Actually, they might be more powerful for their symbolism than they are for their actual functions – lots of occultists would like to have these items but would never dare use them.
Cain’s Bludgeon
This appears to be a large grayish stone, probably granite. Roughly elliptical in shape, it’s a little too large and awkward to be easily carried in one hand, but could be easily swung around if you gripped it tightly with both hands. There is a dull reddish-orange iron-oxide stain on one edge of the rock, which will not come off no matter how much you scrub at it.
In the ancient days of yore, The Warrior was not as abstract an archetype as it is now. The Warrior used to be simply “One who kills,” and Cain defined what that idea meant in an age where no one else had yet conceived of murder. Cain’s stint as the Warrior is over now, but his lasting contribution to the Warrior’s archetypal concept – that of complete, uncompromising hatred – lives on both in the archetype itself and in this stone, which Cain used to beat his brother to death.
Wielded as an improvised bashing weapon, Cain’s Bludgeon does hand-to-hand damage with a +3 bonus for being large and heavy. However, if the wielder is attacking someone they truly hate (this includes the chosen enemies of Warriors and anyone civilized for a Savage), the Bludgeon does gunshot damage with no maximum limit.
Carrying the Bludgeon around afflicts you with “The Mark of Cain” – it’s not a visible sign or anything, but any human who meets you will fear and distrust you, even if they’ve known and loved you for years. Parents will tell you to stay away from their children, your spouse will tenatively ask you about counseling, and shopkeepers will call the cops if you loiter too long. This effect goes away if you don’t have the Bludgeon on your person, but if you actually kill someone with the Bludgeon, the effect is much worse.
After a murder, the Mark is permanent, even if you repent of all your sins immediately after and cast the Bludgeon into the sea. What’s more, the effect is extended to animals – all living things will revile you forever. There is, however, some good news – whenever anyone makes an attack against you, or in any other way intentionally causes you hitpoint damage, they take that damage back sevenfold. So if a stranger who decides he doesn’t like your face will suffer 35 points of damage in retaliation for his 5-point punch.
The Spear of Longinus
This is the broken upper half of a spear – a three foot wooden shaft, to which an iron spearhead has been affixed. The spearhead is black with rust, and looks like you could just pull it free from the shaft with a good yank, but the spear proves to be indestructible for those inclined to break it.
When Jesus was dying on the cross, some Roman soldiers moved to break his legs, thereby hastening his death. Longinus, one of these soldiers, believed this to be unnecessary, and to prove it he stabbed Jesus in the side with his spear. What fluids came out afterwards, and what the significance of that was, is open to debate, but Longinus was nevertheless motivated to convert to Christianity and was later declared a saint. His spear, sometimes called the Holy Lance or the Spear of Destiny, became one of the most famous artifacts associated with Christ, after the Cross, the Grail, and the Shroud.
It’s not recommended that you use the spear as a weapon. For one thing, it only does +3, and doesn’t do cutting damage – age has worn it down so much that it’s better used to bludgeon people than stab them. Worse, stabbing someone with the Spear of Longinus results in feelings of overwhelming guilt and sorrow, equivalent to a Rank-9 Self Check. Characters may feel inclined to take an oath of nonviolence afterwards.
There are some exceptions to the stabbing rule – performing a mercy kill on someone who is dying, or already dead, doesn’t cause any penalty, although the dead person will spontaneously manifest stigmata and may bleed blood and water.
Furthermore, if an avatar of the Martyr stabs himself in the side with the spear, and does not die (certainly doable with modern medical care, assuming you can get it quick), he automatically gains 10 points in his Avatar: The Martyr skill. This trick can only be performed once, and leaves a lasting scar regardless of surgical correction or magical healing. You can’t replace the current Godwalker of the Martyr with this boost – that guy was also thus boosted, and has the scar to prove it.
The Words of the Prophet
These are pages of paper so old that the material its made of crumbles at the touch. Words in archaic, stylized Arabic are written on each page in dark ink that has faded with time.
These are fragments of the original Qur’an, the first one written as dictated by Muhammed to his followers – to Muslims, it is the first transcript of a divine revelation.
After meticulously being perfectly copied over countless times, the original pages have no worth for the actual words written on them (which might be why they were scattered), but have incredible worth as symbols, especially for Demagogues, Rebels, and other persuasive types. Possessing one of these pages (“possessing” meaning only that you’re the current owner – you don’t need to have them on you, and you don’t need to have come by the page honestly) gives you a +5% shift to any Soul-based persuasion skill check when you speak to anyone of an Abrahamic faith (including those who openly condemn Muslims as heretics) – for some reason, people are just more inclined to believe that you speak the truth, and that your words have a deep and powerful meaning. This bonus is cumulative, so if you get more pages, you get additional shifts. Get enough pages, and you, too, can act as the mouthpiece of God.