4th Nail/Sword of the Cross ideas suggestions?

[jadecourtflunky]

I like the idea of a piece of the True Cross as well, though my thought was a staff carved from it.  You'd have a LOT of wizards sorcorers and others fighting over that.

I had the same idea. That or the crown of thorns jesus was made to wear. Maybe the crown got made into a bracelet that someone can wear to gain an affect like Nicodemus's noose, but it causes pain and digs into the user's skin. Instead of dooming one person to die, the person can select one person to be ressurected back to full life.
As for the True Cross, I was thinking a staff as well, or maybe even a small token that would give faith magic.

[HobbitGuy1420]

Gratiacchius, the sword of Grace (as in repentance/forgiveness).  To my mind, that suits the Swords best. 

[Bruce Coulson]

The Church came up with the doctrine 'miraculous multiplication' to explain the tremendous amount of fragments of the True Cross that were being sold during the Middle Ages.  (According to some accounts, there were enough pieces of the 'True Cross' to re-build Noah's Ark.)

The gypsy legend of the fourth nail states that because a gypsy spared the Saviour pain and suffering, the gypsies would be forever forgiven the sins of lying and theft.  Not sure how you could work that in, but a Sword that allowed the wielder to commit sins freely would be interesting.

[HobbitGuy1420]

I dunno, to me Grace means forgiveness for past wrongs, not carte Blanche to do whatever you want. "Go forth and sin no more," and all that.

[Sh33p]

The Church came up with the doctrine 'miraculous multiplication' to explain the tremendous amount of fragments of the True Cross that were being sold during the Middle Ages.  (According to some accounts, there were enough pieces of the 'True Cross' to re-build Noah's Ark.)

The gypsy legend of the fourth nail states that because a gypsy spared the Saviour pain and suffering, the gypsies would be forever forgiven the sins of lying and theft.  Not sure how you could work that in, but a Sword that allowed the wielder to commit sins freely would be interesting.

Heaven's Blacksword?

Now there's a scary thought.

[Tallyrand]

I had the same idea. That or the crown of thorns jesus was made to wear. Maybe the crown got made into a bracelet that someone can wear to gain an affect like Nicodemus's noose, but it causes pain and digs into the user's skin. Instead of dooming one person to die, the person can select one person to be ressurected back to full life.
As for the True Cross, I was thinking a staff as well, or maybe even a small token that would give faith magic.

I made a character who was a pixie who wielded a spear made from one of the thrones from the crown which among other things gave him free will.  Still haven't had a chance to play him though.

[Ranma1558]

Though it moves a bit away from your original concept some, Roman virtues that show up in Christianity as well that might make good sword names.
Pietas: Piety; duty to God, family, and people.
Providentia: Providence, forethought; surviving trials to manifest a greater destiny
Laetita; joy, celebration usually after hardship
Gravitas; gravity, sense of responsibility
Firmitas; Tenacity, strength of mind
Clementia; mercy, gentleness

It seems "cchius" means sword in this context (I am not very good with latin, damn correspondence course....) so add it to the end of one of these for sword names, Gravitacchuis or something like that.

[Amseriah]

Very strong list Ranma, thank you!

[Ren]

"Gravitacchuis" - whoah, that's heavy man...

[HobbitGuy1420]

While those are all, to some extent, considered virtues by Christianity, they aren't really defining virtues like Faith, Hope, and Love.  Something big enough to have a Sword should be one of the primary virtues of the religion, IMO.  That's why I suggested Grace, which is at the center of the Christian conceptual worldview.       

[Ranma1558]

I have to disagree, Pietas, duty, strikes me as a big one, much in the same way hope and love are, duty, piety is a defining characteristics of a religion. To quote weird Al "I'm the pious guy the little Amlettes wanna be like"

[My Dark Sunshine]

The 'Divine Quality Of' Mercy is certainly a 'defining virtue' (a rather subjective term) of Christianity. In fact, it is a large theme throughout their religion. Any of qualities suggested could work. As it isn't exactly cannon, just use whatever works for the game in question.

That is the (well, a) joy of the Dresden Files RPG, it tries very hard to allow as much creative thought as possible.

[HobbitGuy1420]

Fair enough, fair enough.  Objections withdrawn.

[israphel]

I would pair it with a "human" virtue; something that general people hold up as "this is important" that Christian doctrine does not specifically endorse. Several come to mind, but they would generally be offensive to one side or the other of the christian/non-christian argument.

My idea behind it though is, this was the nail that wasn't really needed. It might be useful, it was there just in case, but God didn't really need the 4th nail to fulfill the Divine Plan. Maybe Assurance? Certainty? If you have Faith, Hope, and Love, you don't really need any more Assurance.

[Tempus Corvus]

I was actually thinking about how to bring in something to combat Denarians for my game, and I realized something;
there have been a lot of martyred Saints over the course of history. Maybe there could be some lesser holy weapons made from their stuff?