Mage: The Ascension

Mage: The Ascension is a Role-playing game based in the World of Darkness, and was published by White Wolf Game Studio. The characters portrayed in the game are referred to as mages, and are capable of feats of magic. The idea of magic in Mage is broadly inclusive of diverse ideas about mystical practices as well as other belief systems, such as science and religion, so that some mages do not resemble typical fantasy wizards.

In 1996, Mage: The Ascension won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules 1995. In 2005, White Wolf released a new game marketed under the same name (Mage) for the new World of Darkness series, The Awakening, with some of the same game mechanics but with substantially different premises and setting.

Metaphysics

The basic premise of Mage: The Ascension is that reality is the way people believe it is, thus everyone has the capacity, at some level, to shape reality. In most people, known as sleepers, this capacity is dormant. The capacity itself is personified as a mysterious alter-ego called the Avatar, which is said to be sleeping. In a Mage, the Avatar is said to be Awakened, (many Mages have had encounters with their Avatars). With an awakened Avatar, a Mage can consciously seek to change reality via willpower, beliefs, and specific magical techniques.

The beliefs and techniques of Mages vary enormously, and the ability to alter reality can only exist in the context of a coherent system of belief and technique, called a paradigm. Such a paradigm organizes the way a Mage understands reality, how the universe works, and what things mean. It also provides the Mage with an understanding of how to change reality, through specific magical techniques. For example, an alchemical paradigm might describe the act of wood burning as the wood "releasing its essence of elemental Fire," while modern science would describe fire as "combustion resulting from a complex chemical reaction." Paradigms tend to be nuanced per the individual Mage, but the vast majority belong to broad categories of paradigm, e.g., Shamanism, Medieval Sorcery, religious miracle working, and superscience.

In the Mage setting, everyday reality is governed by commonsense rules derived from the collective beliefs of sleepers. This is called the consensus. The majority of Mages' paradigms differ substantially from the consensus. When a mage performs an act of magic that does not seriously violate this commonsense version of reality, in game terms this is called coincidental magic. Magic that deviates wildly from consensus is called vulgar magic. When it is performed ineptly, or is vulgar, and especially if it is vulgar and witnessed by sleepers, magic can cause Paradox, a phenomenon in which reality tries to resolve the apparent contradiction. Paradox is difficult to predict and almost always bad for the mage. The most common consequences of paradox include physical damage directly to the Mage's body, and paradox flaws, magic-like effects which can for example turn the mage's hair green, make him mute, make him incapable of leaving a certain location, and so on. In more extreme cases paradox can cause Quiet (forms of madness that afflicts mages and may leak into reality), Paradox Spirits (nebulous, often powerful beings which purposively set about resolving the contradiction, usually by directly punishing the mage), or even the removal of the Mage to a paradox realm, a pocket dimension from which it may be difficult to escape.

In Mage, there is an underlying framework to reality called the Tapestry. The Tapestry is naturally divided into various sections, including the physical realm and various levels of the spirit world, or Umbra. At the most basic level, the Tapestry is composed of something called Quintessence, the essence of magic and what is real, in game terms. Quintessence can have distinctive characteristics, called resonance, which are broken down into three categories: dynamic, static, and entropic.

In order to understand the metaphysics of the Mage setting, it is important to remember that many of the terms used to describe magic and Mages e.g., Avatar, Quintessence, the Umbra, and Paradox, Resonance, as well as the game mechanics a player uses to describe the areas of magic in which his character is proficient-- the Spheres, look, mean, and are understood very differently depending on the paradigm of the Mage in question, even though they are often described from particular paradigmatic points-of-view. In-character, only a Mage's Paradigm can explain what each of these things is, what it means, and why it's the way it is. And Mages, especially where paradigms differ, are more likely to disagree than to agree.

Game setting

History

In the game, Mages have always existed, though there are legends of the Pure Ones who were shards of the original, divine One. Early mages cultivated their magical beliefs alone or in small groups, generally conforming to and influencing the belief systems of their societies. Obscure myths suggest that the precursors of the modern organizations of mages originally gathered in ancient Egypt. This period of historical uncertainty also saw the rise of the Nephandi in the Near East. This set the stage for what the game's history calls the Mythic Ages.

Until the late Middle Ages, mages' fortunes waxed and waned along with their native societies. Eventually, though, mages belonging to the Order of Hermes and the Messianic Voices attained great influence over European society. However, absorbed by their pursuit of occult power and esoteric knowledge, they often neglected and even abused humanity. Frequently, they were at odds with mainstream religions, envied by noble authorities and cursed by common folk.

Seeing their chance, mages who believed in proto-scientific theories banded together under the banner of the the Ascension), declaring their aim was to create a safe world with Man as its ruler. They won the support of Sleepers by developing the useful arts of manufacturing, economy, wayfaring and medicine. They also championed many the values that we now associate with the Renaissance. Masses of Sleepers embraced the gifts of early Technology and the Science that accompanied them. Thus Masses' beliefs shifted, the Consensus was redefined and wizards began to lose their position as their powers and influence waned.

This was intentional. The Order of Reason perceived a safe world as the one devoid of heretical beliefs, ungodly practices and supernatural creatures preying upon humanity. As defenders of common folk they intended to replace the dominant magical groups with a society of philosopher-scientists as shepherds protecting and guiding humanity. In response, non-scientific mages banded together to form the The Ascension) where mages of all the major magical paths gathered. They fought on battlefield and in universities trying to undermine as many discoveries as they could but to no avail - technology made the march of Science unstoppable. The Traditions' power bases were crippled, their believers mainly converted, their beliefs ridiculed all around the world. Their final counteroffensives against the Order of Reason were foiled by internal dissent and treachery in their midst.

However, from the turn of 17th century on, the goals of the Order of Reason began to change. As their scientific paradigm unfolded, they decided that the mystical beliefs of the common people were not only backward, but dangerous, and that they should be replaced by cold, measurable and predictable laws of nature and respect for human genius. They replaced long-held theologies, pantheons, and mystical traditions with ideas like rational thought and the scientific method. As more and more sleepers began to use the Order's discoveries in their everyday lives, Reason and rationality came to govern their beliefs, and the old ways came to be regarded as misguided superstition. However, The Order of Reason became less and less focused on improving the daily lives of sleepers and more concerned with eliminating any resistance to their chokehold on the minds of humanity. Ever since a reorganization performed under Queen Victoria in the late 1800s, they call themselves the Ascension).

Contemporary setting

The Order of Reason renamed itself the Technocracy and espoused an authoritarian rule over Sleepers' beliefs, while suppressing the Council of Nine's attempts to reintroduce magic. The Traditions replenished their numbers (which had been diminished by the withdrawal of two Traditions, the secretive Ahl-i-Batin, and the Solificati, alchemists plagued by scandal) with former Technocrats from the Sons of Ether and Virtual Adepts factions, vying for the beliefs of sleepers and with the Technocracy, and perpetually wary of the Nephandi (mages who consciously embrace evil and service to a demonic or alien master) and the Marauders (mages who resist Paradox with a magical form of madness). While the Technocracy's propaganda campaigns were effective in turning the Consensus against mystic and heterodox science, the Traditions maintained various resources, including magical nodes, hidden schools and fortresses called Chantries, and various realms outside of the Consensus in the Umbra.

Finally, from 1997-2000, a series of metaplot events destroyed the Council of Nine's Umbral steadings, killing many of their most powerful members. This also cut the Technocracy off from their leadership. Both sides called a truce in their struggle to assess their new situation, especially since these events implied that Armageddon was soon at hand. Chief among these signs was creation of a barrier between the physical world and spirit world (the Umbra). This barrier was called the Avatar Storm because it affected the spiritual being of the Mage (the Avatar). This Avatar Storm was the result of a battle in India on the so-called "Week of Nightmares."

These changes were introduced in supplements for the second edition of the game and became core material in the third edition.

Later plot and finale

Aside from common changes introduced by the World of Darkness metaplot, mages dealt with renewed conflict when the hidden Rogue Council and the Technocracy's Panopticon encouraged the Traditions and Technocracy to struggle once again. The Rogue Council only made itself known through coded missives, while Panopticon was apparently created by the leaders of the Technocracy to counter it.

This struggle eventually led to the point on the timeline occupied by the book called Ascension. While the entire metaplot has always been meant to be altered as each play group sees fit, Ascension provided multiple possible endings, with none of them being definitive (though one was meant to resolve the metaplot). Thus, there is no definitive canonical ending. Since the game is meant to be adapted to a group's tastes, the importance of this and the preceding storyline is largely a matter of personal preference.

Factions

The metaplot of the game involves a four-way struggle between the technological and authoritarian Technocracy, the insane Marauders, the cosmically evil Nephandi and the nine mystical Traditions (that tread the middle path), to which the player characters are assumed to belong. (This struggle has in every edition of the game been characterized both as primarily a covert, violent war directly between factions, and primarily as an effort to sway the imaginations and beliefs of sleepers.)

Council of Nine Mystic Traditions

Mages divide themselves according to their cultures, beliefs and even historical accidents or arbitrary alliances. The primary groups include:

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The Technocratic Union

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Others

Crafts

In-game mechanics

The core rules of the game are the same as those in other World of Darkness games; see Storyteller System for an explanation.

Like other storytelling games Mage emphasizes personal creativity and that ultimately the game's powers and traits should be used to tell a satisfying story. One of Mage's highlights is its system for describing magic, based on spheres, a relatively open-ended 'toolkit' approach to using game mechanics to define the bounds of a given character's magical ability.

There are nine known spheres: Correspondence, Entropy, Forces, Life, Matter, Mind, Prime, Spirit, and Time. A given mage will have an aptitude for certain spheres, and player-characters reflect their individual areas of expertise in how they allocate their character points. Diversification and ingenuity are rewarded through conjuctive magic--powerful effects which are accomplished through a combination of different spheres. A tenth sphere is theorized, widely sought, and revealed in the final companion guide installment: Ascension.

Mage's freeform rule system, esoteric subject, and potentially complex message sometimes makes it a daunting game for roleplayers, particularly novices. The open-ended approach to wielding magic is unappealing to some players and gamemasters who would prefer a more codified system that explicitly defines what a character is capable of achieving with magic (such as by providing a catalogue of pregenerated spells to select from). As with all things, greater freedom provides a greater potential for abuse, so the enjoyability of Mage depends greatly on establishing a relationship between players and GM based on mutual respect and cooperation, rather than outright adversarialism.

Another quirk of Mage was that it was developed with a setting very similar to the setting of several other popular White-Wolf games such as Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Occasionally efforts were made to establish real continuity between the seperate games, though this was always a strictly optional feature of each, and always problematic. The ambiguity as to whether Mage was playable, and intended to be played, in continuity with the other White Wolf games lead to a certain amount of frustration on the part of playgroups who tried to incorporate Mage and other games in one "World of Darkness" setting. Chief among them: the Technocracy was extremely antagonistic towards many supernatural beings described in these other games. This, combined with their sheer power, made it difficult to position them in the other canon games. Mage canon assumed a devastating war between the Technocracy and many weaker factions of supernaturals (vampires, for example) but the other World of Darkness games as a rule gave this situation little or no mention, having their own metaplots that were not particularly compatible with this struggle.

The third revision of the rules, Mage: The Ascension Revised, made significant changes to the rules and setting. Most of these were made to bring the game in line with continuity that had been added in supplements to the game's prior edition. Some fans preferred the second edition without the changes that had been made by subsequent supplements. Like other World of Darkness games, Mage uses a continuing storyline across all of its books.

External links

Official sites

Fansites

Mage: The Ascension | Origins Award winners

Mage: The Ascension | Mago: La Ascensión | Mage: l'Ascension | Mage: the Ascension | Mag: Wstąpienie

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