(BtL) Armor of God
Invariably people will ask if Allies of Majesty includes special Items for the Armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18, or even a special Item set. The answer is, "No". Nothing official. There are multiple reasons behind this decision.
The first, some of the articles don't translate well for use by holy angels. The angels are not receiving salvation, so that puts the Helmet of Salvation off the table. Similarly, the Holy Spirit does not dwell within the elohim as it does within human believers. That complicates the Sword of the Spirit.
The second reason, these were concepts that are accessible through prayer by believers. Limiting them in number to make them special gives the wrong message.
Thirdly, they are more of "something found within Scripture" than they are "an ancient belief". Allies of Majesty tries to focus more on representing actual mythology rather than giving focus to modern Christian tropes. You are welcome to create these special Items for your own personal campaign, but I don't plan on including them in any official content.
For context within the Scripture, Paul (or the author if not Paul) is speaking to a people whose cultural religious context was using magical incantations, talismans, and the like (known as magical grammata) to invoke spiritual powers to protect them from the attacks of other spiritual powers, as referenced in Acts 19:18-19. The question they face after becoming believers is, "How do I defend myself against hostile spirits now?"
Paul is teaching these believers that God provides for their spiritual defense, but not in the ways they are used to. These protections are received through grace and prayer and are ultimately more powerful for defending them from the attacks of the enemy. Why? Because Jesus is more powerful than any god. He is above any spiritual power or authority who would come against them. Even the Ephesian Artemis, whom they had held to be above the vast majority of other spirits. Paul works through frameworks these people are familiar with, spiritual wards and physical war equipment, as a starting lens to explain to them how the one God will protect them.
And they would need it. This was not a "live and let live" society. All people were expected to appease as many gods as possible, in the event that one of those gods came into greater power. It was every citizen's responsibility to do their part to keep the gods happy. Devout Jews and Christians were offensive with their ideas about there only being one God worthy of worship and snubbing the other gods. If the gods brought calamity on a city, devout Jews and Christians would be among the first to blame. Plus it was financially bad for the great numbers of people who made money from selling idols and other magical charms and talismans. For more on this, see Acts 19:21-34. The Ephesian converts needed to be encouraged that their God was indeed greater than all.
Other Contributing Works:
- Power and Magic, Clinton E. Arnold, 1989