[resource/attunement] Laurence and Rites of Faith

[ISNorden]

It's always struck me as odd that Laurence, as the patron of the Church, can't offer a specialized version of the "Rites of Faith" servitor attunement (which only Khalid can officially grant). Of course, Laurence wouldn't allow Rites of Faith to non-Christians--but it makes sense that a Soldier of God who belongs to an organized church should benefit from being a true believer.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by ISNorden

Of course, Laurence wouldn't allow Rites of Faith to non-Christians...

Not necessarily. If he has any Soldiers who are Jewish (likely a very small minority), I could see him granting them the Rites of Faith as well in rememberance of Christianity's roots. Not to mention the "Jews for Jesus" movement. :)

Islam, I agree, he would feel more conflicted about. Most likely, he'd set that one aside and say "Khalid's capable of taking care of them."

Overall, though, I agree: for an Archangel who cares so much about ceremony and organizing the faithful against evil, the attunement does seem to fit him as well as it does Khalid.

[William]

Originally Posted by ISNorden

Of course, Laurence wouldn't allow Rites of Faith to non-Christians--

I would disagree. Laurence prefers Christianity but has many faithful Servitors who are not Christians. For example, Angkor Wat is one of his strongest Tethers, and its Seneschal is said to follow a mix of Buddhist and Christian beliefs.

[robkelk]

I suspect the reason Laurence doesn't award Rites of Faith is political. He and Khalid were on opposite sides of the Crusades, and Khalid's writeup indicates he didn't take that well - why would he share one of his Attunements with someone he dislikes?

And Laurence has better things to do than to reverse-engineer Attunements (that's Jean's specialty, and he usually has better things to do, too).

Thus, Laurence doesn't award Rites of Faith because he doesn't know how...

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by robkelk

I suspect the reason Laurence doesn't award Rites of Faith is political. He and Khalid were on opposite sides of the Crusades, and Khalid's writeup indicates he didn't take that well - why would he share one of his Attunements with someone he dislikes?

Valid point. On the other hand, there's been a real rapprochement between the two since the events of The Final Trumpet. As of Superiors 3, Khalid considers Laurence an Ally, while Laurence sees himself as Associated with the Archangel of Faith.

So even if Khalid didn't share the attunement before, the odds are decent that he has sometime in the last 10 years.

[Acolyte]

I disagree from a fundamental perspective.

Laurence is the patron of Catholicism, and wishes everyone were a devout Catholic (or at least Christian). But this is not the great part of his Word-identity as the Archangel of the Sword. His Servitor attunements reflect his Word-identity as a slayer of demons and a patron of battle.

Khalid's Word-identity encompasses little other than human faith, and so the attunement is appropriate for him. Given their newfound alliance, I wouldn't be surprised to see Khalid granting it to a few especially faithful humans serving Laurence (even non-Muslims), but I wouldn't see Laurence granting it himself.