4.2   THE FAITHFUL FEW Of all human endeavors and ambitions, faith is perhaps the most difficult to comprehend.   It is easy to understand how we can believe in the concrete.  We see the inner workings of the mechanism, we follow the process to its natural solution.  But faith, by definition, is belief in the unknowable—excepting a point of view without the benefit of proof.   The strength of a child of clay's convictions and the inner force he possess is measured by his faith. .   It represents a strength that comes not from outside, but rather from within.   Faith is an element completely foreign to angels, and as such is a strength they can never tap into.  For them, they must rely on their Grace (the favor of God) to carry them through difficult times.   But they know for sure that God exists and of the nature of the universe and so cannot call on that inner strength of faith to see them through.   It must be understood that faith does not represent truth.  No connotation of good or evil comes with the concept either.  In fact, those who have lead lives of great evil are capable of having very high faith scores.  Indeed high priests within the Satanic Church often possess very high faith scores.  Still, faith does denote the belief in the metaphysical (those things beyond the material world).   Belief in science or atheism will not garner a character a high faith score. The truly devout (those with faith scores above 12) must rigidly adherer to the tenets and traditions of their belief system.   The Jew or Christian must obey all the Ten Commandments and not simply pay lip service.  Like wise, the Muslim must show loyalty and love to Ala by fulfilling the five pillars of Islam, and the Buddhist must follow the eightfold path. So how does faith play into a Children of Fire game? Faith does many things.   Places that are sacred to one with a high faith score can give benefits to him while confronting his enemies.   The mechanics of this will be explained more fully in the next section.   In addition, the higher a child of clays faith score, the more difficult she is to possess.    The healing ability of faith can also come into play.  There are many instances of the truly devout having been cured from disease or disability by their faith alone.  Even modern medicine is unable to explain these occurrences. Faith can be a contagious thing.   Those who adhere to the same belief system as a child of clay with extraordinary faith (13 or higher) will find their own faith bolstered when in the presence of this person.  Likewise, those who are constantly bombarded by those of a contradicting belief may find themselves less able to call upon their faith for support.   But the truly faithful cannot be swayed. As with most things in life, there is a price to be paid for an extremely high faith.   These children of clay seem to be unyielding in their ways.  This rigidness can come across in many ways.   They do not necessarily persecute those who do not believe as they do (something that is often done by those with lower faith scores), but they remain closed off from new ideas and alternate ways of approaching an issue.  Additionally, these "saints" are all too willing to martyr themselves for their faith. There is a natural ebb and flow of faith within the children of clay.  They are not simply born with faith and maintain that same level of belief until the instant of their death.  Instead, faith can increase and decrease depending on the experiences of life.   The game mechanics of this topic will be further explored in the next section.