Post by Puck on Jun 26, 2015 1:12:13 GMT
STIGMATA
Appearing as a mysterious cross-shaped scar, stigmata are the representation of a religious soul’s blessing and their link to the Church’s relics. While originally a natural occurrence albeit an incredibly rare one akin to a unique birthmark, the Church has since developed a way to artificially implant these blessings into their number. Due to the intensive surgery and specialised resources involved to replicate the supernatural blessing; not to mention the meaning of these physical blessings; stigmata are only gifted in this manner to people whom have been blessed with miracles or messages from the Lord. Those who bear these marks via natural or unnatural methods and wield the holy relics that link to them are known as ‘Apostles’ among the Church; and are seen as both heroes and horrors among onlookers – much like their organisation; not all who bear the Lord’s icons have merciful intentions.
While seemingly just scars to the eye, these icons are certainly supernatural; as they allow the owner to interact with religious relics, usually being especially assigned one by the Church. Usually the relic chosen has some relevance to the Apostle’s experiences in life, rather than being a pragmatic choice on behalf of the Church. Most Apostles decorate their bodies with further religious tattoos around the stigmata, particularly amongst the higher ranks of the Church. Apostles are respected and lauded for their status amongst the Church, particularly given the sacrifice involved in gaining and fostering a stigmata – the process is a painful one; and only continues on after the initial surgery; natural or artificial.
Similar to a parasite, stigmata are able to grow physically and magically within their host’s body – however, the means in which they do are still vague; most likely only known to the Church’s upper echelons… if anyone at all. While they do not seem to be harmful, illicit autopsies by the Church’s more violent detractors have shown that stigmata with a significant amount of progress appear to connect to the host’s nervous system to some degree. It’s unclear what the purposes of these interactions are; though it has been theorised that it is some way the stigmata derives its magical sustenance from the host as its abilities extend. Unsurprisingly the Church has denied that the stigma is anything but a symbol of their owner’s blessings, so the way these icons work is still a mystery.
Credit to Tulf for this.