Mage: The Awakening

Mage: The Awakening
RPG published by White Wolf / Onyx Path
Rule System	Storytelling System
Authors	Justin Achilli et al
First Publication	2005

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Mage: The Awakening Cover Art

The New World of Darkness version of Mage: The Ascension. They basically removed all the cool diverse traditions and organizations from the old one and substituted vague, indeterminate, inscrutable new ones. Much more emphasis on the the fate of the real world, now that Mages no longer have their own special spirit world to care about(LOL Astral Realms). Mages Awaken and find that (according to some of the earlier fluff- this gets pushed by the wayside later) they're the inheritors to Atlantis. The Seers of the Throne (a version of the Mage: the Ascension Technocracy) are out to get them. Have fun eating Paradox like a chump!

Neckbeards hate it so much that they play it more than they did the old one, and people who barely ever played the old one but felt entitled to an endless, non-playing discussion circle jerk feel sad that the expertise they developed arguing about a particular imaginary world has been reduced to its actual, marginal social value.

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Mages come to be when an ordinary person going about their business suddenly undergoes an Awakening, in which their soul goes a-walking among the Supernal Realms and inscribes their name on a Watchtower located there. It's not unlike Plato's Cave metaphor, except where leaving graffiti outside of the Cave give you hax magical powers. After having done so, your the person is forever Awakened to an understanding of the truth of the world, allowing them to reshape the world as they please.

There are five Paths which one normally Awakens to

• Acanthus, those who walk Arcadia. You tour fairyland. Possibly the same one these poor bastards escaped from (the writers are deliberately vague). Acanthus Mages have the primary Arcana of Fate & Time, with the inferior Arcana of Forces. Acanthus are stereotyped to be flexible and fickle artsy types.

• Mastigos, those who walk Hell. Your awakening was hell, literally. You faced demons, and either outwitted, out gambled, or just out-muscled the hellish pricks. Mastigos have the primary Arcana of Mind & Space, with the inferior Arcana of Matter. Matigos are stereotyped to be diabolical and suave manipulators

• Moros, those who walk Stygia. You walked through the platonic ideal of death (contrasted to the incredibly shitty Underworld). Moros have the primary Arcana of Matter & Death, with the inferior Arcana of Spirit. Moros are stereotyped to be dour and resolute down-to-earth types

• Obrimos, those who walk Heaven. Your Awakening was all Old Testament Ezekiel- Tongues of Fire, Wheels studded with Eyes, the works. Obrimos have the primary Arcana of Forces & Prime and the inferior Arcana of Death. Obrimos stereotypes paint them as zealous and devoted champions of ideals.

• Thrysus, those who walk the Primal Wild. You took a walk on the wild side, and are basically the walking manifestation of the Circle of Life song from the Lion King. Thrysus have the primary Arcana of Life & Spirit, with the inferior Arcana of Mind. Thrysus stereotypes are those of down-to-earth and hippie back-to-the-landers.

There are ten Arcana, which are different domains magic has control over. Similar to the Mage: the Ascension Spheres, except with easier crunch.

• Fate
• Time
• Mind
• Space
• Death
• Matter
• Prime
• Forces
• Spirit
• Life

There are also five Orders, which are Mage political parties. Well, actually, there's six, but given how the Seers of the Throne want to be the Imperium in a world where Chaos and real 'HERESY!' as they define it does not exist (ie, the only thing to them is cartoonishly evil wannabe Nazis played straight), if you play those guys as actual heroes rather than your secret supervillain fantasies, you are doing it wrong. And we're not talking the Doctor Horrible "lashing out against everyone who mocked your scientific genius and making the world a better place if you won no seriously you aren't kidding or deluded" secret supervillain fantasy, that would be the Technocracy, or to use an example from the actual game, the evil factions of the Pentacle. No, you want Seers for the "grind the world beneath your heel while you anally rape it using your magic-empowered dick and take photos to show off to your fellow global anal rapists before going off to eat puppies grilled on the infernos of a burning oil slick sea and washing them down with the tears of abused orphans" supervillain fantasy. Seriously, grimdark is a feature of the world they want, even more so than the current fucking World of Darkness! The Seers are a bueracratic fuckfest of backstabbing, infighting, bueracratic power-jockeying between a bunch of "ministries," even moreso than the pentacle. While some seers might go on about trying to "protect humanity from magic's dangers," that's just lip service. If they really wanted to protect sleepers, they'd join the less-crazy of the Banishers.

Banishers are mages who awakened "wrong." Their awakening was traumatic and not at all empowering, so they wreak havoc on other mages with fear and flame, creating their own OMage-style paradigms in the process. Supposedly, all banishers have a choice as to whether or not they hunt other mages, but little effort is devoted to Banishers who "go straight," except to mention that some Banishers try being regular mages for a while but fail, and that some Banishers who teamed up with the Pentacle to fight the Seers miss their old "war buddies". Banishers often embody the opposite of what their watchtower stereotype is - Acanthus who are far beyond driven; compassionate mage-killer Mastigos; Moros who reject lifes cruel relaties, blaming mages for them; hardcore atheist/nihilist Obrimos; and Thrysus captains of industry. They organize into various cults, from wildman cannibals, religious nuts, performance artists, alien abductees, pyromaniac cathars, thinly-veiled scientologists, and more. The Banishers have a whole lot of wild possibilties, as they aren't caught in the jungian/atlantean straightjacket of the pentacle and seers. Then again, so do Apostates/Nameless.

• The Adamantine Arrows - The Mage army. They teach magical kung-fu n shit. ZAP MUTHAFUCKA! They believe existence is war, which leads to infighting for dominance or just practice, with themselves or with other factions.

• The Free Council - the "(Ordinary) Humanity, Fuck Yeah!" faction. They believe that the mortal 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 oppose the Silver Ladder, because they think magic should be for everyone, The Guardians for hiding magic from sleepers (sometimes - older members of both orders then 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).

• The Guardians of the Veil - They're the Mage secret service. They keep shit that should stay hidden, hidden. Particularly from Sleepers. They oppose the Seers of the Throne, because they think magic should be hidden and the unworthy should be prohibited from becoming mages, which is far too much like the Guardians then 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 oppose the free council and silver ladder for their recklessness, and the mysterium for keeping secrets from them.

• The Mysterium - The Mage equivalent of Indiana Jones or wise old sages. They collect and study magical secrets. Secrets they keep from other mages, which leads to other factions trying to steal their lucky charms.

• The Silver Ladder - The leadership caste of Mage society. They play politics and think Mages are superior to mortals. They oppose the Free Council, because they think all sleepers should become mages, The Guardians, who harsh their buzz, and the Arrow who butt heads with them.

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Archmagi were recently introduced in Imperial Mysteries. When a mage hits Gnosis 6 and Arcana 6, if they obtain the proper Quintessence (basically, a one time mystical quest item), they may attempt to cross the Abyss and awaken a second time, becoming retardedly powerful if they succeed, and becoming a witch from Puella Magi Madoka Magica if they don't (complete with barrier, flocks of abyssal intruders around them, etc.). They get their own pocket dimension where they cannot be harmed, but cannot affect anyone else.

Archmagi are so powerful that they can kill people so hard they never existed in the first place, but all level 6+ arcana effects require arcane experience and quintessences, and its recommended that NPCs only manage to obtain quintessences after decades and decades of work.

Despite being stupidly powerful, archmagi are potentially easier to ST for than ordinary mages of equal XP; it costs about 205 experience points, all focused into Gnosis and one Arcana, to become one, and although they become unbelievably good at their chosen arcana, at that rate, you can pretty much expect them to do something really good at that one Arcana. This is in contrast to a regular mage of the same XP, who could have voraciously spread out his experience points in all directions and accumulated every arcana effect worth having and being utterly unpredictable. But YMMV.

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