I was curious - I've had the Boar King and the King in the Rye appear in some of my games.
The magi went to the outliers of Hell to rescue a kidnapped comrade.
They have hunted down magical creatures to bind as familiars, or to slay for vis or otherwise stop a threat - though in one case Thangdrimm the Forest Drake showed them the true power of a magical beast.
That said... the one Realm of Power that exists perhaps more subtly in my saga is the Divine. One character is a Poor Claire with a Guardian Angel. Some sensitive types or those with Second Sight managed to spot the Angel of Death on its way to attend the King of France's death.
But apart from that, God's mortal servants among the clergy and so on are the main face of the Divine that most of my players see.
SO, I was curious - how have you used the Divine in your games? What plotlines featuring non-mortal Divine Might-endowed entities have you done?
Also, have you ever had magical conflict in your games with a Divine being of some sort?
I'm wondering if the resident Circular Ward specialist is going to one day turn his attention to capturing angels within a Circular Ward Against Angelic Visitation or somesuch...
So, any stories, thoughts, etc... I'd love to hear them!
It's an interesting question... like you I tend to play the Divine as subtle force, acting through it's mortal servants, or sometime through small miraculous events that aren't really associated with a single entitity.
For me, when I think of Divine supernatural beings, I tend to think of angels with fiery swords who are just so overwhelmingly powerful that even ancient and learned magi should fall to their knees in fear and awe before them. That or humble-seeming beings whose awe inspriring power is concealed... but still very real. Either way, these beings represent the power and wisdom of God and as such aren't really something that can or should be bested. They might be appropriate for sending character off on a quest or smiting someone who has gotten wildly out of line but that's about it. I have trouble thinking of "minor" Divine beings who would be appropriate for a magical conflict, which is to say a Divine being a magus can or should thing of besting.
Ultimately, maybe it's just my style, but I think of the Divine as Good and I prefer my players to be on the side of good. Conflict with the Church, which is mortal and failable, is fine. Conflict with God, Who is Good, not so much.
John Nephew said that the book cannot be reprinted or released as a PDF due to plagiarism issues. The post seemed to suggest that a reprint may be in the works, but will require significant rewrites be made to the Judaism chapter...
As potential antagonists I've used the occasional Angel as a guardian of some kind of forbidden knowledge or similar. While God is infallible, his agents aren't necessarily. The challenges themselves may well be designed as tests of the faithful.
Guardian Angels also make fun antagonists if they're the guardian of an anti-villain.
Finally, an angelic test doesn't have to happen as a result of some guardian of an ancient site. A mortal agent may pray for God's aid against the magi, and God may decide to respond with a test for the magi rather than just smiting them - one that tests their moral fortitude. This can involve active hostilities against God's direct agents.
Arch-angels are probably best left as manifestations of God's will. Getting into fisticuffs with Gabriel is probably an indicator that a) you're doing something wrong, and b) you're about to get owned.
There´s also the side of "i meant well", ie an angel can get involved in a bad way for nothing but good reasons and intentions. Exactly because they´re not infallible.
