Mage Information

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Main Page -- Wizards & Witches

All of mankind is born with the ability to Awaken to the Avatar inside themselves and alter the fundamental fabric of reality. Those who Awaken are collectively known as Mages, the rest of humanity are known as sleepers. Like all other supernaturals there are many ways of subdividing Mages. The battle for reality and "saving" humanity is known as the Ascension War. Below you will find the links to the pieces of the various factions that vie for control of humanities belief of what is Real. Magick as it is known is divided into Spheres to represent which piece of reality it can alter.

Traditions

A Tradition is a group of mystically-oriented mages allied with the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions. That is, they believe in magic and understand that they manipulate magic to create desired effects. This contrasts with scientifically-oriented mages, who believe that they use Enlightened Science rather than magic, and this Science is manipulated to create desired effects.

To date, eleven organizations have been counted as Traditions. The following list only counts their membership within the Council of Nine, not as seperate organizations.

Technocracy

The Precepts of Damian

Article 1: Bring stasis and order to the Universe. Predictability brings safety. Once all is discovered and all is known, Ascension shall be won.

Article 2: Convince the Masses of the benevolence of science, commerce and politics, and of the power of Rationality. Conflict and suffering will be eliminated in our Utopia.

Article 3: Preserve the Gauntlet and Horizon. Chaotic individuals who open gateways with impunity threaten the stability of our world. Uncontrolled portals also allow outside forces such as the Nephandi access to our world. This must never happen.

Article 4: Define the nature of the Universe. Knowledge must be absolute or chaos will envelope all. The elemental forces of the Universe must not be left to the caprices of the unknown.

Article 5: Destroy reality deviants. Their recklessness threatens our security and our progress toward Ascension.

Article 6: Shepherd the Masses; protect them from themselves and others.

The Others

Marauders

Nephandi

Orphans

Sorcerers



Mage: Character Traits

As we mentioned earlier, the various Traits reflect the game systems side of your character’s abilities. Through a collection of dice, represented by dots, you determine the mage’s success or failure, as well as his overall strengths and weakness with certain kinds of tasks. Although certain types of Traits, specifically the Essences and Archetypes, don’t have dots or dice pools, all the following characteristics deal with the gaming side of your mage.

Avatar Essences

As we’ve seen earlier, the Essence reflects the personality of your mage’s Avatar. By extension, it also influences the mage himself. In many regards, the Essence gives you a general script for your character’s behavior. His goals, his habits, the way he approaches life and all its mysteries – all may be guided by the mage’s Essence.

The Awakened themselves disagree about the role, nature, and purpose of an Essence. Reincarnationists view such tendencies as the legacies of past lives, whereas big-picture metaphysicians point toward the Metaphysic Trinity and the spaces between its forces. Technocrats dismiss such mystic rubbish, seeing instead the psychological profiles of Enlightened personalities. There are folks who see Essence as directives from Almighty God, and others who speak of Pure Ones who continually reincarnate their cosmic identities in Earthly vessels. As with magick itself, the truth about your mage’s Essence will depend – at least in that character’s eyes – on the beliefs he holds about his place in Creation.

Most often, the Avatar and its Essence reveal themselves as personality quirks, subtle nudges, dreams, hallucinations, déjà vu, and feelings of something or someone being just right or totally wrong to the mage in question. A Dynamic Essence mage feels restless, driven, impassioned, and hyperactive; his Pattern companion might be more settled, reliable, one of those good head on her shoulders types with a solid approach toward life. A Questing vagabond rarely sticks around one place for long, and the enigmatic Primordial soul gazes at her surroundings with eerie calm and an agenda no one else can fathom. Despite broad connections between the four Essences and the Ascension War factions – Dynamic for Marauders, Pattern for Technocrats, Questing for the Traditions, and Primordial for the Nephandi – all four Essences can be found in every faction... including the ones who want no part of that War.

The stronger the Avatar, the greater its influence; one or two dots in Avatar manifest as simple hunches, whereas four- or five- dot ones achieve full-blown identities. An Avatar’s manifestations are often tied to its Essence nature. Although human beings seem more complex – defined more by Nature, Demeanor, and personal choice than by cosmic forces – the Avatars that push mages themselves often display the Essence in obvious ways. Dynamic Avatars take ferocious forms, driving their mortal hosts like children before demonic whips. A Pattern Genius could manifest as that feeling of rightness when a carpenter grabs his hammer and a gazes at a stack of planks. The Questing Avatar might blow through a mage’s hair like an eternal breeze, cooling her skin even in the still desert air, whereas the Primordial Avatar pools deep in a wizard’s subconscious, filling his head with visions that defy definition yet demand answers in the light of day.

During the age of High Magick, the Essences were identified by elements (Dynamic/ Fire, Pattern/ Earth, Questing/ Air, Primordial/ Water) and mythic creatures. Viewed by some mages as diagrams of the soul, these tendencies appeared to be marks of predestination. And although modern mages often assert that “I am no one’s pawn,” there does appear, at times, to be a greater force – or perhaps four or five forces – manipulating mages toward some greater end.

That fifth force, Infinite, remains enigmatic. Sages say that it must exist, but if it does, no one’s actually seen it. In game terms, it’s hard to say what an Infinite Essence might look like. We recommend that player characters probably shouldn’t have such an option, but perhaps a weird Storyteller character could embody that sort of Avatar, staring at the world with eyes and heart that reach past mere human understanding and into realms even mages can’t yet comprehend.

Four Essences

Genius Eidolons: The Technocratic Essence

Operatives of the Technocratic Union refuse to accept superstitionist babble about avatars and essences. Such concepts are merely the archaic excuses for perfectly understandable psychiatric phenomena. Still, even the most hardened scientists must accept overwhelming evidence, so the concept of Eidolons – constructs of a person’s Enlightened Genius – remains an open secret among Technocratic personnel.

For all practical purposes, Eidolons and Essences are exactly the same thing. But in the world of Mage, perception and belief are the foundations of reality. Thus, a Technocrat or former Technocrat will utterly deny the existence of a metaphysical soul essence. Reality Deviants may have their silly little soul-faces, but a good Technocrat knows what such things really are: wisps of imagination wrapped around perfectly sensible expressions of Genius!

Even so, Technocrats don’t like to discuss these wisps of imagination. Oh, it’s acceptable to mention one’s dreams upon occasion, but a Technocrat who discusses dreams as if they mean something may soon find himself in hot water. Dreams, then, are where Genius Eidolons run wild. If and when such phantasms manifest in clear view during waking hours, a smart Technocrat will keep such fancies to himself if he knows what’s good for him... which, of course, he does.



Mage Backgrounds

An Introduction to Backgrounds

A measure of resources both internal (Avatar, Arcane, Dream, etc.) and external (Allies, Mentor, Resources, and so on), the Background Trait tells you plenty about a mage’s position in life. A charismatic wizard, for instance, would have Allies, Contacts, Influence, and the like, whereas a solitary hermit would possess a strong Avatar, lots of Arcane, and maybe a Familiar or Node. As with other Traits, Backgrounds come from essential elements of that character’s history and often play significant roles in the chronicle at hand. When you pick your Backgrounds, then, make sure there are good reasons for the things you choose. Who are your Allies, and why do they aid you? Where’s your Node, what’s it like, and how did you acquire such a potent treasure? A high Avatar rating reflects an entity with a strong personality and goals of its own; what, then, is your relationship with that internal spirit, and how does that affect your life? Each Trait should have origins, conditions, and a story of its own... at least in regards to its place in your life.

In certain situations, you can roll your Background rating as a dice pool (or part of one) for certain feats. Charisma + Influence, for example, can help you spread a message quickly, and Manipulation + Arcane might help you pull the old “I’m not the one you’re looking for” trick. Generally, though, your Background ratings reflect things that are available to you, not dice you roll to accomplish the average task.

Although your actions affect the power of your Background resources, the Background Trait itself is generally considered to be outside the player’s control. Under the original Storyteller rules, you could not raise a Background Trait with experience points, although the Storyteller might raise it for you, in lieu of experience points, to reflect events in the chronicle. Mage Revised changed this rule, so the final decision depends on your Storyteller’s wishes (see p. 336.) Even then, a changed Background generally reflects a change in circumstances. You can try to recruit more Spies or entice more Allies to join your cause, but the exact number of people who do (or don’t) flock to your banner depend on the needs of the story, not on the points you spend to boost those Traits.

Background Ratings Over Five

When you’ve got the resources of a massive organization behind you, or if you’ve acquired some monumental wealth or influence thanks to your Arts, an inheritance, or some other unusual means, you could exceed the usual Background limits. Such levels of influence are extremely rare, the province of the richest and most influential folks on Earth. Syndicate tycoons, heirs of Hermetic wizardry, hackers who own entire IT firms – these sorts of characters might, if the Storyteller agrees, purchase Background Traits above the usual level.

Only the Backgrounds noted below can go above the five- dot level. These Backgrounds – Allies, Backup, Influence, Library, Node, Resources, Requisitions, and Spies – reflect external resources that other Traits cannot match. The other Background Traits can NOT go above five; you can’t purchase Avatar 6 or Mentor 8.

When listing a Background Trait above 5, simply note the first five dots in the usual place and then either mark the additional dots in the next line under that one, or else write down something like “Resources 7” on your character sheet. As with all other Backgrounds, these high-level Traits are not free. People who own companies, have fortunes, or maintain vast spy networks need to spend a lot of time maintaining those resources... and those who don’t soon wind up losing those fortunes to bad luck and untrustworthy subordinates. On a related note, a character needs a really good justification for such opulence. Backgrounds between 6 and 10 reflect vital elements of a character’s life.

High-level Backgrounds can seriously unbalance a chronicle. The Storyteller may refuse to let players purchase such expansive Traits at all. Even if he allows those upper levels into play, we strongly suggest limiting the nine- and 10-dot ranks to Storyteller characters only. A single character with Resources 10 can buy almost anything or anyone; a mere handful of people on Earth command that kind of wealth, and it’s not wise to allow player-run mages to be among them!

Pooling Backgrounds

Cooperation benefits everyone. A team of Technocratic operatives – or, at the Storyteller’s discretion, a tight circle of like-minded mystics – can pool certain Background Traits and then share them with the group as a whole. In the case of Technocracy ops, that’s a fairly standard procedure; for mystic mages, the group must have a common purpose and a very close connection with one another – say, a witches’ coven, an Etherite lab-group, a hacker society, and so forth.

The following Backgrounds can be shared within a single group: Allies, Backup, Influence, Laboratory, Library, Mentor, Node, Patron, Resources, Requisitions, Spies and Wonder. Other backgrounds are too individual to be shared this way. Although mystic mages can pool their Background points toward a common Chantry, Technocratic agents are specifically prohibited from doing so. When you’re part of that Union, you go where they tell you to go, belong to the group they tell you to belong to, and don’t even think of establishing your own base of control.

In story terms, the members of the group agree to hold certain assets in common. The group’s leader determines who gets what and when, then takes the necessary steps to secure that Background for his group. In game terms:

  • -- The players pool their Background points and then put them into certain Backgrounds that each member of the group can use. These Backgrounds are then listed as Group Assets or Shared Resources on the character sheet of each member of that group.


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