[normalphil]

EA Ermor spellcasting is pretty Christian-appropriate for that stage in things, but seeing it depends how you play them because the emphasis is entirely up to you. If you're swimming in bishops and archbishops for your 'mage' presence, you have it. Recruit either a bishop or archbishop every turn you can. Auger Elders, call them gnostics. Stay away from them, or at least use them in extreme moderation, they won't lead to anything good down the road (glyph of irony). The Numina hold-overs are Mithradists (yeah, those were in there). For pretender-god choice, just don't take something that goes that much against your grain. Take a Virtue (personally, I use a dormant Virtue with maxed order and productivity, dom 5, air 3 and astral 5. By no means optimal, but guess what /she's/ there to do...). Take a Sacred Statue, or an oracle. Be sinisterly contrary and take a Moloch or Prince of Death and prove the more rabid sects of protestants right. Take a Divine Emperor and start a splinter-sect; it's pretty much what the Druze did with Islam, why should christianity be exempt. Take a Lich to be /really/ sinister (or respectful, nowhere is it written that you have to play a Lich like an evil-presence).

Failing all that, well; "All hail the great Spider! So sayeth the Spider!". Your mileage may vary.

Personally, I'd like an Apostle-esque mage-smiter hero. Take /that/, Simon you git.