Divine Power

Divine power is defined as any enhancement, augmentation, or change to someone or something due to being upgraded by one of the gods

Theory

Divine power was created as a consequence of the mortal and divine worlds being too connected. Theoretically, it is a net negative for the wellness of the mortal plane, though is acceptable in relatively small amounts, and is commonplace in the present day.

The use of divine power is typically indirect, as gods do not have the power to directly interact with the mortal plane, but instead inbue fractions of their powers onto people, objects, or locations. Despite this limitation, divine power is often stronger than elemental magic, though the differences can vary wildly.

Design

Blessed Equipment

The most common form of divine power is when a god imbues some of their power into a weapon. Though often a small percentage of their power, blessed equipment is noticeably stronger than conventional weaponry.

At a base level, blessed weapons will increase the physical damage done through an attack. Depending on the god, different equipment will provide different/additional benefits, such as elemental gods providing a magic boost to their type.

Blessed equipment is typically created to bolster the military of a kingdom who worships a god. Highly-trusted knights with a long-standing reputation are commonly granted a blessed weapon in exchange for their continued service.

As a general rule, it is far more difficult for a god to revoke power from the mortal plane than to give it, so blessed equipment generally starts losing its power when it’s been put into the wrong hands, though this can take awhile, sometimes up to several weeks.

Cursed Equipment

Due to divine power technically being a corruption on the mortal realm, blessed equipment constantly goes through a corrupting effect that weakens it’s potency until it turns into a cursed weapon.

A cursed weapon holds the same (or sometimes stronger) power as a blessed weapon, but comes with negative ailments on use. These effects increase in potency overtime, and in some cases can be so powerful that they will harm anyone that even comes near them.

Cursed equipment can be cured by purification—asking the god whose power it uses to cleanse it. For equipment owned by knights or kingdoms in good standing, this is a common practice. The alternative is to destroy the weapon, though the feasability of this depends heavily on the curse effects.

Consumables

An early common form of divine power was to imbue abilities into objects that would destroy themselves on use. These one-time use items have stong spells that—on an indivdual level—are stronger than an attack from any elemental spell or blessed weapon, but have the natural consequence of leaving the user exposed if the item fails to work.

Though technically still around, consumable items have not been regularly produced for several decades, with the remaining ones sold in random marketplaces and shops with wildly differing (often unjustified) prices.

Note

In general, characters do not ever rely on consumable, though some may have one or two on their person as an emergency option.

Consumable items can come in many forms, though there were a few conventions:

Scrolls were reserved for strong, rare effects. When opened, the scroll would activate, burning away a moment afterwards.
Playing cards saw use for smaller, less impactful spells. The activation depended on the actual effect, though the two common ones were to reveal the face to someone else, or to point the edge of the card to the opponent, face down. that activate when opened, burning a moment after.
Crystals were considered unreliable due to their fragile nature—consumables could be accidentally broken, or simply fail—but were a common catalyst due to their low cost in certain areas.

Soul Contracts

Main Article: Soul Contracts

Soul contracts are an agreement enforced by the gods by having all participants use part of their soul as collatoral.