Editing Mage: The Awakening (section)

===The Pentacle Orders===
Originally starting as the Diamond Order, which descended from the four dominant philosophies among the Awakened during the time of Alexander the Great's Empire, the first four factions were joined by the Free Council, then Nameless Orders that united under the banner of Sleeper culture, at the turn of the 20th century after the Seers asked them to join forces against the Diamond Order. While the Free Council is still a bit distant from their peers, the Diamond Order has now become the Pentacle Order. The five factions are:

*'''The Adamantine Arrow:''' ''Challenge is Magical.'' The Mage army. They teach magical kung-fu and shit. ZAP MUTHAFUCKA! They believe existence is war, which leads to infighting for dominance or just practice, with themselves or with other factions. They actually get along great with the other Orders, because 90% of their schtick is protecting other mages. Honaraburu.
*'''The Guardians of the Veil:''' ''Magic is Fragile.'' They're the Mage secret service. They keep shit that should stay hidden, hidden. Particularly from Sleepers - they believe that whenever they witness magic and allow Quiescence to take hold, a little bit more of the Abyss escapes into the Fallen World. They oppose the Mysterium, because they think magic should be hidden and the unworthy should be prohibited from becoming mages, which is far too much like the Seers than they'd like (the main difference is that if the Guardians see you Awakening despite them, they presume you are worthy until shown otherwise). They're one of the few Orders that think there should be strong ethical guidelines for magic, even taking upon themselves the burden of doing evil and losing Wisdom so others can remain unstained. They oppose the Free Council and Silver Ladder for their recklessness, and the Mysterium for keeping secrets from them. The other Pentacle Orders don't like them, but they don't like themselves either considering their work to be disgusting but sadly necessary. They also secretly believe Mage Jesus will one day come and fix everything, and despite not coming from the Guardians he/she will pass judgment on the crimes they have committed to keep the Pentacle safe.
*'''The Mysterium:''' ''Magic is Alive.'' The Mage equivalent of Indiana Jones or wise old sages (sometimes both!). They collect and study magical mysteries, keeping secrets from other mages unless they are worthy or have another mystery to trade with, which leads to other factions trying to steal their lucky charms. Tied with the Ladder for "Pentacle Order most like the Seers".
*'''The Silver Ladder:''' ''Magic is Humanity's birthright.'' The leadership caste of Mage society. They play politics and think Mages are superior to mortals. A combination of revolutionaries, apocalypse cultist, and priesthood (of HUMANITY FUCK YEAH). They consider it the divine right of mankind to wield magic, but there are different tiers of enlightenment before and after you become a mage (hence ladder) and believe that even if you don't Awaken you can find a rung best suited for you - basically a meritocratic caste system. Even though both are mankind-loving rebels, they dislike the Free Council because of their views on hierarchies and the Guardians of the Veil because when you have one organization that considers hubris a Mage's greatest enemy and another that has the saying "Hubris is a coward's word", of course they're not going to get along well.
*'''The Free Council:''' ''Humanity is Magical.'' The "Ordinary Humanity, Fuck Yeah!" faction. They believe that the Fallen World isn't quite as worthy of dismissal as the other Orders believe it to be, and that Mages can learn a lot from things like mortal technology. They push for democracy in Awakened society, as opposed to the meritocracy that the Ladder usually sets up. They oppose the Silver Ladder, because they think magic should be for everyone (which is arguably something they have in common but the mage superiority angle the Silver Ladder has rubs them the wrong way), The Guardians for hiding magic from sleepers (sometimes - older members of both orders tend to see their roles as complimentary), the Mysterium for being too fixated on Atlantis, and the Seers for being like the Guardians but worse (they work for the Exarchs and aren't at all complimentary).