Sacred Fire
AX.GHW.08.05 - Sacred Fire
The covenant with the Illuminated is characterized by what it expects more than what it provides. Where compacts with the Hollow tend to be patient and transactional — the entity made an investment and will wait for returns on a timeline that may span generations — covenants with the Illuminated are active and directional. The Illuminated has a purpose for this bloodline. The power the Light-Bound Marked accesses is oriented toward that purpose. It expresses the covenant's intent, not only the practitioner's.
Sacred Fire is what emerges from this. Radiant energy. Consecration. The capacity to assert the covenant's authority over supernatural entities and compel what the Illuminated considers right behavior from what it considers wrong things. The power is functional regardless of whether the practitioner holds the same values the Illuminated does — covenants don't require ideological alignment, only the lineage to carry them. But practitioners who work against the covenant's evident purpose find the tradition developing a particular texture of resistance: not refusal, but friction. The fire burns a little less cleanly when it's pointed somewhere the Illuminated would find contrary.
The Illuminated is often perceived as benevolent. The warmth of its power is real — the light it places in the bloodline registers as warmth, as clarity, as something that feels like rightness. What is also real is the cost. The covenant expects. Not because the Illuminated is cruel, but because it made an investment in this bloodline for a reason, and that reason has not gone away. Practitioners who think about this carefully develop a sophisticated relationship with the covenant. Practitioners who don't think about it at all tend to find the Illuminated more present in their lives than they expected.
The tradition's three expressions map to the covenant's three functions: Radiance is the force the Illuminated authorized; Consecration is the authority to designate space and object as under the covenant's protection; Accord's Command is the directional expression — using the Illuminated's standing to compel supernatural entities.
Practitioners of Sacred Fire often work in parallel with Hollow Pact practitioners without shared resources. The traditions are structurally similar but draw on completely different contracts. A Shadow-Bound and a Light-Bound Marked working together are, in the hidden world's understanding, two very different entities with a shared mechanical framework. The sources involved almost certainly have opinions about the arrangement.
System Integration
Sacred Fire as an Odd Talent
Sacred Fire functions as an Odd Talent per AX.C.04. Standard rules apply:
- The roll is: Governing Attribute + Sacred Fire (+ Focus if applicable)
- Sacred Fire dice are purchased from the Talent budget at character creation, or improved through Advancement at standard cost (Governing Attribute × 2 XP for a new Tradition at 1D; current value × 2 XP to improve)
- Maximum Tradition rating: 5D. Maximum Focus rating: 3D
- All three Expressions draw on the same Odd Talent pool
- Sacred Fire is not available through Independent Study. It requires an active covenant with an Illuminated entity. A character without the Marked (Light-Bound) lineage cannot access this tradition.
*Resonance Note: Light-Bound Marked characters who receive Resonance Power Access from their Profession — rather than Force — are not accessing Sacred Fire. They are developing a different tradition more aligned with discernment, truth-perception, and prophecy.
The Glamourist tradition (AX.GHW.08.02) is the most common choice for Resonance-access Light-Bound Marked, oriented toward the covenant's demand for judgment and sight rather than directed action. Profession files specify which access path they provide.*
Governing Attribute
The governing Attribute is chosen at character creation and is permanent.
| Expression | Common Choice | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Radiance | Wit (default) | Directed radiant energy requires precision and intent |
| Consecration | Wit or Body | Wit for deliberate ritual designation; Body for presence-based sanctification |
| Accord's Command | Wit | Compelling entities through covenant standing requires focused assertion |
Access
Marked (Light-Bound) Lineage: Light-Bound Marked who receive Profession access to Sacred Fire begin play with 1D at no Talent generation cost. The covenant is active; the channel exists. A Profession acknowledging the covenant's nature accelerates formalization.
Mechanics Summary
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tradition Category | Force, directed radiant energy, sanctification, covenant authority over supernatural entities |
| Default Attribute | Wit |
| Action Type | Primary Action (most effects); Minor Action (passive consecration maintenance) |
| Signature Feel | The covenant expects things. The fire is what the covenant looks like when its expectations are being met. |
| Lineage Affinity | Marked (Light-Bound) only; not available through Independent Study |
| Signature Focus | The Mark |
| Expressions | Radiance, Consecration, Accord's Command |
Threshold Scale:
| Threshold | Scale of Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Minor; brief; Touch to Close range; a demonstration, minor ward, or small radiant effect |
| 2 | Standard; single target at Near range; significant radiant damage or basic consecration |
| 3 | Significant; extended effect or resistant target; area consecration or compelling authority |
| 4 | Major; persistent ward or large area; compelling powerful entities; lasts until Long Rest |
| 5+ | Profound; permanent consecration; compelling ancient or legendary entities; covenant-level effect |
Expression: Radiance
The light is real. It does not ask permission.
Radiance is the combat-facing expression of Sacred Fire — directed radiant energy. Where the Hollow Pact's Consuming Dark is cold and draining, Radiance is heat and searing brightness. It is specifically and dramatically more effective against entities that occupy the Illuminated's category of "wrong things": shadow entities, undead, and certain categories of supernatural predators that the covenant defines as things the bloodline was empowered to oppose. Against these targets, Radiance is the most efficient weapon available.
Against other targets — humans, mundane creatures, even most supernatural beings that aren't specifically in the covenant's designated category — Radiance functions as conventional damage. Still useful. Not exceptional.
The damage type is Radiant. Shadow entities, undead, and specifically covenant-opposing entities have vulnerability to Radiant damage (GM defines specifically per entity, but standard guideline: doubles the damage number against such targets).
Radiance — Applications
Radiant Bolt (Primary Action, ranged attack)
Roll Governing Attribute + Sacred Fire (+ Focus if applicable) vs target's Defense. On hit, damage = total successes rolled (doubled vs vulnerable targets). Range: Near. Damage type: Radiant. The impact is visibly luminous — white or gold light that leaves a bright afterimage at the strike point for several seconds.
Extending range to Far: add 1 to the Threshold (one additional success required on top of Defense).
Available as a Free Action at Threshold 1 — a minor flash, Touch range, 1 Radiant damage. Useful for immediate combat, disrupting shadow effects, or igniting consecrated materials.
Sustained Light (Primary Action, Threshold 2, Close range)
The practitioner maintains a directed stream of radiant energy on one target at Close range. The target takes 1 Radiant damage per Turn (doubled vs vulnerable targets). Additionally, the target must make a Body Save vs Threshold 2 at the start of each of their Turns or become Blinded until the start of the practitioner's next Turn.
Roll to establish (Threshold 2). Maintaining the stream requires the practitioner's Primary Action each Turn. Additional Sacred Fire use while maintaining triggers Strain normally.
Radiant Burst (Primary Action, Threshold 3)
An area discharge — radiant energy released in a burst centered on the practitioner. All creatures in Close range of the practitioner take damage equal to the practitioner's successes on the roll (doubled vs vulnerable targets). The burst is centered on the practitioner, not projected — this is a release, not a throw.
Allies within Close range take damage normally unless protected. This application is typically used when the practitioner is surrounded.
Scaling: Excess successes extend burst radius (1 excess = Near radius), add Blinded condition to damaged targets (1 excess), or protect one specific adjacent ally from damage (1 excess per ally).
Backlash: - Minor: The radiance turns inward — the practitioner takes 1D3 Radiant damage from their own fire. Radiant damage from one's own covenant does not interact with any protective measures the practitioner has. - Moderate: The burst overexpresses. All creatures in Near range (not just Close) take 1 Radiant damage, ally or not. The practitioner's own radiant energy marks them visibly for the remainder of the scene — their presence registers to all supernatural awareness within Far range as luminously covenant-marked. The Veil, in this area, is thin. - Severe: The covenant's channel surges. The practitioner takes 2D3 Radiant damage (internal). They become visibly radiant — physically luminous enough to be seen in darkness — until their next Long Rest. Mundane observers can see this clearly. The Veil is broken for any scene this practitioner enters while glowing.
Expression: Consecration
The covenant has standing. Ground, object, and threshold can share in it.
Consecration is the Light-Bound Marked's capacity to extend the covenant's authority to physical space and objects — designating them as under the Illuminated's protection and subject to the restrictions the covenant imposes on what it opposes. A consecrated space is not magically impenetrable. It is a place where the covenant's terms have been formally declared and the entities those terms apply to are aware of it.
The practical effect is significant. Shadow entities find consecrated ground difficult to enter and function in. Undead find it hostile. Entities with strong opposition to the Illuminated's authority experience the consecrated space as physically uncomfortable, with mechanical consequences for remaining.
Consecration is also cumulative with other traditions: a salt circle within a consecrated area stacks its respective effects. A ward laid by a Mediumship practitioner inside a consecrated threshold has both conditions active simultaneously.
Consecration — Applications
Bless (Primary Action, Threshold 1)
The practitioner designates an object — a weapon, a piece of ammunition, a container of water, a length of rope — as carrying the covenant's basic authority. The designation lasts until the next Long Rest or until the object is significantly damaged.
Blessed objects deal Radiant damage in addition to their normal damage type (or instead of, if the GM determines the two don't stack). Blessed water deals 1D3 Radiant damage on contact rather than a standard water effect. Salt, when Blessed, strengthens its ward effects against shadow entities in addition to the standard undead effect.
Multiple objects: Excess successes above Threshold allow blessing one additional object per excess (up to the practitioner's Sacred Fire die value in objects per application).
Consecrate Ground (Extended Work, 10 minutes minimum, Threshold 3)
The practitioner establishes consecrated ground at a specific location — an area up to Close range radius from a central point. For the duration (scene by default; extended by excess successes):
- Shadow entities entering the area must make a Body Save vs Threshold 3 at the start of each of their Turns or take 1 Radiant damage and become Hindered.
- Undead entering the area must make a Body Save vs Threshold 2 at the start of each of their Turns or become Staggered.
- The area is perceptible to all supernatural awareness within Near range as covenant-designated ground.
Consecrated ground created this way is not permanent; it requires maintenance or an Epic-level application to make it last beyond the scene.
Scaling: Excess successes extend duration (1 excess = until Long Rest), expand area (1 excess = room-sized rather than Close radius), or increase the Save Thresholds by 1 each (2 excess).
Backlash: - Minor: The consecration doesn't establish cleanly — the area registers as contested ground rather than properly consecrated. Shadow entities and undead are aware something was attempted and can identify the practitioner as the source. - Moderate: The consecration turns against the practitioner temporarily. Until Strain clears, the practitioner's own radiant energy registers as disruptive to any blessed or consecrated objects they attempt to handle — Bless fails automatically, and existing Blessed objects in the practitioner's possession lose their designation until Strain clears. - Severe: The attempt draws the attention of an entity with covenant opposition. Something that finds consecration offensive is now aware of the location and the practitioner. The GM determines what type of entity and what response is appropriate to the campaign.
Expression: Accord's Command
The covenant gives the practitioner standing. Standing can be used.
Accord's Command is the expression that makes Sacred Fire genuinely different from a generic Force tradition with a different color. The covenant is not just a power source; it is a relationship with an entity that has standing in the hidden world's supernatural hierarchy. Accord's Command draws on that standing directly: compelling supernatural entities, stripping concealment from things that have no right to it under the Illuminated's authority, and in extreme cases calling on the covenant's backing for effects that go beyond what the practitioner's own bloodline can sustain.
This expression is only as strong as the covenant behind it. A practitioner who has repeatedly violated the terms of their covenant will find Accord's Command increasingly unreliable — the GM should reflect this through narrative friction and occasional application failure, not mechanical system changes.
Accord's Command — Applications
Command Departure (Primary Action, Threshold 2)
The practitioner invokes the covenant's authority to order a supernatural entity within Near range to depart the current space. The entity must make a Wit Save vs Threshold 3 or immediately move to depart — not compelled to go far, but compelled to leave this specific location. Shadow entities, undead, or entities specifically designated as things the covenant opposes have their Save Threshold increased to 4.
This is not binding departure; it is a command with authority behind it. An entity that saves against it knows who issued the command and what backing they have. Strong entities that succeed may choose to engage rather than leave.
Scaling: Excess successes increase the Save Threshold by 1 each (maximum 5), extend the range to Far (1 excess), or apply the command to multiple entities of the same type (2 excess per additional entity).
Compel Revelation (Primary Action, Threshold 3, contested)
The practitioner invokes the covenant's authority to compel a supernatural entity to reveal its true nature — stripping concealment, shapeshifted forms, and glamours. This is contested: the practitioner rolls Governing Attribute + Sacred Fire vs the entity's Wit + active concealment Tradition (if any). On a net success, the entity's true form and nature are revealed to everyone in the scene for the remainder of the scene; it cannot reestablish concealment until it leaves and returns.
Entities with Illuminated nature are immune to this application — the covenant does not have authority over its own kind.
Scaling: Net successes beyond 1 compel additional information: the entity must answer one direct question about its nature or purpose per 2 net excess successes.
Backlash: - Minor: The authority inverts. The practitioner's own Mark becomes dramatically visible — every supernatural entity in Near range perceives the covenant clearly and may have opinions about it. No mechanical damage, but the Veil is effectively broken for this scene in this practitioner's vicinity. - Moderate: The Illuminated's active expectation surfaces. The practitioner becomes immediately aware of one specific thing the covenant requires them to do in the current situation — not compelled, but aware that the Illuminated is watching and assessing whether they will. The GM establishes what the requirement is. - Severe: The authority attracts a challenge. One entity with significant supernatural standing and opposition to the covenant's Illuminated source is immediately drawn to the location. It arrives at the start of the next scene with specific interest in the practitioner and what they were doing. The GM determines the entity and its agenda — it is not friendly and it is not easily dismissed.
The Mark (Sacred Fire Focus)
The Mark is the Light-Bound Marked's lineage brand — the physical or metaphysical sign of the covenant. Like its Shadow-Bound counterpart, it cannot be lost, set down, or confiscated. It exists as part of the practitioner.
The Mark | Focus | Sacred Fire
Mechanical Effect:
The Mark provides +2D to all Radiance Expression rolls
when the practitioner consciously channels through it —
the covenant's physical brand focuses the radiant
energy through the most direct channel available.
When using Consecration, the Mark allows Bless to
function as a Free Action (instead of Primary Action)
once per scene. The covenant's blessing through the
Mark's direct presence is faster than working through
an object.
The Mark is always visible to entities with Illuminated
awareness, shadow awareness (who recognize it as
a rival covenant), and high-level supernatural
perception in general. It cannot be concealed from
these sources.
The Mark is the Focus. The practitioner is never
without it, and never without the identification it
provides to those who know what to look for.
Acquisition: The Mark was acquired with the lineage.
It does not need to be sought or prepared.
Access and Cross-Lineage Notes
Marked (Light-Bound) practitioners: The tradition is specific to the covenant with the Illuminated. Practitioners develop it in the context of a relationship that has opinions about how it is used. The Strained state represents the Illuminated's attention — an active covenant source's awareness has a different character than a Hollow entity's assessment; the Illuminated cares about what the practitioner is doing with the power, not only that they're using it. The full creditor involvement spectrum, Threshold alignment rules, and campaign architecture guidance are in AX.GHW.14.03 (Creditor Framework).
Marked (Shadow-Bound) practitioners: Cannot access Sacred Fire. The compacts of the Hollow and the covenants of the Illuminated are not interchangeable, and their sources are not interchangeable. A Shadow-Bound Marked who somehow also holds a covenant with the Illuminated would be an extraordinary in-world event; it is not a character creation option.
The Veil complications specific to Sacred Fire: Of the six traditions in this catalog, Sacred Fire is the most difficult to use without breaking the Veil. Radiance is visibly luminous. Consecration designates spaces in ways that attentive mundane observers may notice (unusual effects on entering animals, unusual behavior from lights or temperature). Accord's Command involves entities appearing and departing visibly. GMs running Veil-heavy campaigns should discuss with Sacred Fire practitioners how to manage their tradition's signature. Not every scene requires stealth, but it should be a deliberate choice, not an afterthought.