Scion of God

The Scions of God -sometimes also called Bene Elohim- are a Legacy among the mages of the order of the Silver Ladder that focus on interaction with the Shadow in order to explore their spirit half, which they call the Guardian Angel. To this end, they deal heavily with Spirit.

Mindset
All mages know their souls have touched the Supernal World and yearn for that realm as their true home. The human ego, on the other hand, is a creature of the Astral Planes. Theri bodies inhabit the static Material realm, while the Shadow Realm is alien to most humans. The Scions of God believe this omission helps lock humans into the Fallen World. Humans can ascend from the material plane more easily, the Scions of God say, if the humans exist in all four worlds at once: Physical body, Supernal soul, Astral mind, and ephemeral spirit.

Scions of God conduct rituals of worship in costumes that show how they see their Guardian Angels -- the transcendent selves the Scions want to be. Hieratic robes speak of priestly power, though Scions are priests of no Sleeper faith. A mask suggests a more than human essence: Priest and god in the same person. Even when a Scion doesn't wear this costume, her nimbus manifests its appearance whenever she performs vulgar magic. In the Shadow Realm, a Scion always looks like her mask -- but real and alive. Scions of God want to purge themselves of human weakness and become incarnate angels, true spirits of the Supernal World. Some Scions hope that when they die, their fortified and tempered souls can Ascend to the Supernal World, to join the war against the Exarchs. Other Scions seek to become lords among spirits. While living, the Scions serve as gatekeepers between the worlds, expelling unruly spirits but encouraging spirits friendly to humanity. Other mages appreciate the Scions' power to locate and command spirits.

Born from the explorations of previous unknown cultures, many mages tried to incorporate what they had witnessed among the Shamans of the indigenous people into their own beliefs. Their experiments gave some Silver Ladder mages new ideas about spirit-dealings and their own souls. The mage who first used masks to craft his own soul used the jargon of Kabbalism, so he called his divine persona his Holy Guardian Angel. His followers took the name of an order of angels, the Bene Elohim. The new Legacy eventually spread beyond Europe and absorbed elements from Hinduism, voodoo, and other religions. Not only did the Legacy include as many women as men, but some members that found their Holy Guardian Angels apparently had different genders from themselves.