Gods of War, a magical tradition concept - critiques welcomed Options

[augmentin]

The gods of War is a relatively new tradition originally developed as a special project by Ares’ Magical R&D and PR departments. In the late 2030s shareholders became increasingly concerned about corporate mages on the payroll following traditions that could be at odds with the Ares ethos. The original project never made it out of beta testing and win the mid 2040s was dropped as corporate mages proved too steeped in their traditions to effectively change.
In the early 2050s the project was picked up by Ares DARPA division (having been purchased from the UCAS some time before). It turns out the boot camp tear down and rebuild process of socializing could be tweaked to be sufficiently destructive to replace a mage’s worldview. Especially promising security mages are now sent through a special ‘combat mage’ boot camp and imprinted with both the standard corporate patriotism and a new magical tradition.
In the mid 2060s Ares licensed the intellectual property to the UCAS special operations command. SpecOps tweaked the concept by eliminating the corporate ethos and replacing it with national patriotism. The tradition has spread to the CAS and several other AAA megacorps. Whispered rumors tell of a specialized variant employed by Sader-Krupp than involved the worship of Lowfyr.
Only the best combat mages are selected for gods of War training and few are aware of its existence. All gods of War are members of the gods of War magical group specific to their organization.
Gods of War is an agnostic tradition. It is heavily influenced by the writings of Patton, von Clauzwitz, Sun Tsu, Julius Caesar, and of course Damien Knight. Gods of War believe magic view magic as a nebulous and undefinable force that exists to empower those with the strength of will to harness it. Gods of War are unconcerned with academic pursuits such as the nature of magic and are instead focused on the practical application of it. Gods of War view spirits as the souls of great warriors returned to help those strong and worthy enough. All Only gods of War must take the Great Warrior mentor spirit.

Combat: Earth
Detection: Guidance
Health: Guardian
Illusion: Air
Manipulation: Fire
Drain: Willpower + Intuition

Great Warrior (mentor spirit)
Great Warrior is the spirit of all great warriors past. He lives by a strict code of conduct: Unit-Corps-Corp(or Country). He always accomplishes the mission and never leaves a man behind. Great Warrior values professionalism and accomplishments above all else. Great Warrior does not choose his missions, but he completes them or dies trying.
Advantages: +2 Combat Spells, +2 Health Spells
Disadvantages: If a god of War fails to accomplish a mission, he takes -2-1 to all dice until the mission is completed or until he receives new orders.

EDIT: updated Disadvantages to reflect Traul & Heath Robinson's input.

This post has been edited by augmentin: Jun 15 2010, 04:08 PM

[Grinder]

Edited the title (Gods instead of gods).

[Traul]

Great Warrior (mentor spirit)
Great Warrior is the spirit of all great warriors past. He lives by a strict code of conduct: Unit-Corps-Corp(or Country). He always accomplishes the mission and never leaves a man behind. Great Warrior values professionalism and accomplishments above all else. Great Warrior does not choose his missions, but he completes them or dies trying.
Advantages: +2 Combat Spells, +2 Health Spells
Disadvantages: If a god of War fails to accomplish a mission, he takes -2 to all dice until the mission is completed or until he receives new orders.

No need for that: just let them choose between Dragonslayer and Wise Warrior, which are already in the same flavor and balanced. For a corp-based tradition, allowing the corp to wave the penalty anytime is broken.

[Heath Robinson]

I do not think that the Mentor stipulation is appropriate. Especially since Bear, Dog, Dragonslayer, Mountain, Wise Warrior, Wolf, Lion, Oak, and Sun are all valid spins you can take on a warrior ethos. One could even argue that a wide variety of other mentors are appropriate based on different approaches and conceptions of war.

[augmentin]

The intention is to create a tradition more lacking the religious overtones. Chaos Magic is interesting, but not quite the flavor I'm looking for. More specifically, supplanting traditional religion with worship of the Corps/Country/Corporation. Having served many years ago, the Marine Corps ethos is for all intents and purposes a religion. (The only thing lacking is a take on the afterlife.)

The mentor spirit thing was a play on Patton's beliefs of reincarnation, but upon reflection shouldn't have been necessary. Edited to reflect it.

The disadvantage was based on Dragonslayer only upped to -2 (from -1) to reflect exactly the concern of brokenness you brought up. Being beholden to a corporation or country in order to act puts the power in the GM's hands. But, I can certainly see your point and edited to reflect it.

[sabs]

I pity the fool that takes this tradition and then goes Shadowrunner (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Vertaxis]

Many warrior cults had traditions to follow before battle. Perhaps you should include a few as part of the mythos/religion

ex.

-you are required to consult an oracle before engaging in war to find out if the Gods are favourable or if you will incur their wrath
-pray to ask the Gods for their favour in an upcoming battle at a shrine or temple
-sacrifice a bull to the Gods, or giving tributes to the Gods in their Temple to seek their favour before a battle

-have a High Priest and clergy for the cult
-sacrifice your prisoners in the name of your God in tribute for their granting you their favour
-you've defeated your enemy, now take his power; eat your enemies heart/liver to take his power and become more powerful yourself

There are many examples throughout history.

[augmentin]

I pity the fool that takes this tradition and then goes Shadowrunner (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

No joke. It'll probably never be used by a PC unless it's part of a high level (6-800 BP) SpecOps campaign. It's my first attempt at tradition creation and intended more to fill a need I saw. I just can't imagine corp execs or generals being cool with employees/officers conducting missions and praying to Gaia while waving a magic wand.

Many warrior cults had traditions to follow before battle. Perhaps you should include a few as part of the mythos/religion

ex.

-you are required to consult an oracle before engaging in war to find out if the Gods are favourable or if you will incur their wrath
-pray to ask the Gods for their favour in an upcoming battle at a shrine or temple
-sacrifice a bull to the Gods, or giving tributes to the Gods in their Temple to seek their favour before a battle

-have a High Priest and clergy for the cult
-sacrifice your prisoners in the name of your God in tribute for their granting you their favour
-you've defeated your enemy, now take his power; eat your enemies heart/liver to take his power and become more powerful yourself

There are many examples throughout history.

Well the intention was more to get away from overtly religious stuff and go for a more practical corporate/government sponsored kind of magic. Good points, though.