Witchcraft: Difference between revisions

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** The [[Cosmic Horror|Mad Gods]] aren't exactly a positive influence on anyone, either - to the point where the demons actually ''team up'' with humanity to fight them in the sequel.

* [[Ancient Conspiracy]] - The Combine, the Knights Templar, and the Fellowship of Judas. The latter two, however, are mostly good guys, [[Good Is Not Nice|if sometimes amoral]].

* [[Corrupt Church]] - Some Covenants see the Sentinels as this. On a more personal level, some Gifted with Divine Inspiration end up ''leaving'' their churches, as their divine insight causes them to see the corruption marring those institutions.

* [[Crossover Cosmology]]/[[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] - As with the ''[[World of Darkness]]'' setting, ''Witchcraft'' sourcebooks eventually introduced so many different supernatural beings, races, and conspiracies that it becomes difficult to imagine how the [[Masquerade]] survives at all.

* [[Cult]] - The setting has no shortage of these. They can be your garden variety mundane nutjobs, or they might be dedicated to black magic, demons, or the Mad Gods. Even better, the more fanatical Covenants view more than one of their fellow Covenants as dangerous cults.

* [[Cursed with Awesome]] - One way to view Taint powers... at least until you [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|lose your battle with madness]].

* [[Immortal Life Is Cheap]] - More than one player of a True Immortal or Relentless Dead has been nonchalant about getting mangled, since most enemies lack the means to (permanently) kill them.

* [[Jerkass Gods|Jerkass Angels]] - Of the three Seraphim factions, only the smallest, the Watchers, truly have humanity's best interests at heart; the [[Light Is Not Good|Heavenly Host]] are at best paternalistic [[Control Freak]]s and at worst "Let God sort 'em out"-style [[Knight Templar]]s, and as for the [[Legions of Hell|Infernal Legion]] ...well, guess. The Old Gods, too, are often selfish and manipulative to their followers.

* [[Lovecraftian Superpower]] - The Disciples of the Flesh are Gifted who had [[Dark and Troubled Past|such a mangled childhood]] that it awoke their Gift in a way that allows them to reshape their bodies into grotesque living weapons. The [[Obviously Evil|expected morality]] of the Pariahs is subverted, however-for the most part, they just want to stop [[Complete Monster|the real monsters of the world]] from causing further suffering.

** An even more blatant example comes from humans who get infected by Taint from contact with the Mad Gods. One Covenant, the Mockers, is centered around humans who survive the experience and choose to fight the Mad Gods with their [[Cursed with Awesome|horrible new powers]]. These powers are fueled by Taint, and the more Taint you gain, the more deformed and/or insane you become.

* [[Point Build System]]

* [[Power Crystal]] - One category of Atlantean super-tech.

** Ghosts with the Ghostsmith ability can forge permanent items that work in the Death Realms, at the cost of some permanent Essence. The most unfortunate Ghostsmiths get enslaved by more powerful ghosts, who force them to forge items constantly - and keep them in existence by feeding them the Essence of yet other ghost slaves.

** The Sadicas brand of black magic allows its users to hold much higher Essence pools than normal, but it can only be replenished by torturing other humans and stealing ''their'' Essence.

 

* [[The Alliance]] - [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|The Alliance]], natch.

* [[America Saves the Day]] - America is the only country that has enough of its shit together to mount an effective counter to the Church of Revelations, with everyone either being conquered, collapsing internally due to ill-defined reasons, supporting the United States, or stuck in an extremely bloody stalemate.

* [[Atlantis]] - The Armageddon book gives us a brief history of the Elder Kingdoms, which included Atlantis, Mu, Lemuria, and Ultima Thule. Not brought down by hubris, {{spoiler|but because Ultima Thule contacted Leviathan to win their war with Atlantis}}. To prevent the world from becoming corrupted, Satan sent the Flood and destroyed civilization. Immortals are the reincarnations of the ancient Atlanteans.