New Fading Suns Blog Posts: Theurgy

In this latest post of the Fading Suns blog, they tackle how Theurgy has been revised for the 3rd Edition of the game.

One main areas of interest are that theurgists must now select a patron saint that becomes the foundation / inspiration of their theurgy:

Theurgy itself is now grouped by Patron Saint rather than by religious order, and each theurge should choose a patron to which they feel personally called. Naturally the patrons we deal within this chapter are those of the Prophet's Disciples but it is my hope that other lesser saints will be revealed in future products. Naturally certain sects tend to venerate some saints over others, the Avesti preferring Saint Maya, or Saint Hombor for example, but there is nothing to stop an Avesti theurge form venerating Saint Amalthea or Saint Paulus. The rites available from each patron reflect the general character of that Saint, Amalthea being healing, and Maya being justice for example.

Another area of interest one that should shift the feel of theurgy away from spellcasting into a more -- um -- church-like, priestish feel:

The way in which rites are performed has been revised allowing most rites to be cast in one of three different modes, as a quick Blessing, a short Prayer or and a lengthy Sermon. This does not change the out come of the successful rite, but only the ease with which it can be called, a Blessing being the fastest but hardest to perform, while Semons take much longer but are the easiest to manifest.