Mage: The Awakening

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Mage: The Awakening
Mage: The Awakening cover
Designer(s)	Bill Bridges, Conrad Hubbard
Publisher(s)	White Wolf
Publication date	August 29th, 2005
Genre(s)	Personal Horror
System	Storytelling System

Mage: The Awakening is a role-playing game developed by White Wolf, Inc. and based in their World of Darkness setting. The characters portrayed in this game are individuals able to bend or break the commonly-accepted rules of reality to perform subtle or outlandish acts of magic. These characters are broadly referred to as ‘mages’. Mage: The Awakening is loosely based on a prior White Wolf product, Mage: The Ascension, which had similar game mechanics though the terminology differs. While the games both focus on magic, the setting and themes of Mage: The Ascension have been completely replaced.

Mage: The Awakening won the 2006 ENnie Award for Best Writing.

1 Background and setting
2 Characters
- 2.1 Paths
- 2.2 Orders
3 Magic
- 3.1 The 10 Arcana
- 3.2 Ghosts and Spirits
4 Antagonists
5 Differences between Ascension and Awakening
- 5.1 Mechanics and terminology
- 5.2 Background and setting
6 Books
7 External links
8 References

[edit] Background and setting

As with the other games in the ‘new’ World of Darkness (nWoD), the history presented in the game provides for some ambiguity. However, the ‘origin story’ of magic and mages is less ambiguous (or at least more widely accepted) than that of the nWoD vampires or werewolves.

In the mythic past, a mysterious island existed with a single towering mountain encircled by dragons which lived upon its summit, and its image called to sleeping humanity. Over time, the dragons left, and the mountain continued to call. Some humans answered the call and sought out the island to see what it promised them. The humans who moved there discovered the first secrets of magic, and through magic they created a mighty city-state called Atlantis.

But mages were filled with hubris over what they could achieve, and created a Celestial Ladder to reach the heavens and attain greater mastery over the world. Once the ladder was finished and mages began to climb it, there was conflict over how best to lead the world. Over the course of the battle, the ladder shattered. This separated the Earth into the Fallen World and the Supernal Realm, with the chasm of the Abyss in between. The Fallen World is the world of the everyday, and mages have come to understand that it is a lie.

The Supernal Realm is the truth of reality and the origin of magic; it is ruled by the Exarchs, powerful mages who had successfully climbed the ladder and took control of the Supernal Realm. The Exarchs wish to snuff out the memory of Atlantis and knowledge of magic so they will remain the supreme masters of reality. The Exarchs are more like god-like forces than human beings now, and they act on the mortal world through servants.

Resistance against the Exarchs is possible because of the Oracles, a small number (probably five) of Atlantean mages who also climbed the ladder. They each created (or maybe are) one of the Towers, which are both locations in the Supernatural Realm and paths of magic. The Oracles use their Towers to call to humanity in the Fallen World. Each mage visits a Tower during their Awakening, and their magical abilities are forever affected by that journey.

Fragments of the organizations, artifacts and writings of Atlantis survive to the present day, and mages hope to use this knowledge to further their various causes, though as a whole they hope to gain a stronger connection to the Supernal and oppose the Exarchs' rule.

[edit] Characters

Mages ‘awaken’ to the ways of magic. The setting states that it is unclear whether this is mostly accidental or as a result of a person's nature or understanding. The process of awakening can be slow or fast, but there are two major ways in which the event may manifest; The Mystery Play and the Astral Journey. In both sorts of ‘awakenings’, the mage-to-be goes on a journey that culminates with them arriving at or in their respective Tower and inscribing their name upon it.

The Mystery Play is a waking dream, where the magical symbolism of their awakening is overlaid on top of the ‘real’ world. Other people, places and real world events mesh together until the Mage arrives at a skyscraper, a phone booth, a grove or some other place that represents their Tower and somehow write their name in both the physical and real setting, such as a hotel ledger or a statue's plaque.

Astral Journeys, which occur when the potential mage dreams, are common to those who deny or resist the ‘awakening’. Astral Journeys feature strange settings, objects and people, in a full sensory experience.

[edit] Paths

There are five Paths of Magic that have a sympathetic connection to one of the Five Watchtowers, each with a particular style and focusing on certain Arcana.

Acanthus (Fate, Time)	Enchanters on the Path of Thistle work with luck, intuition and destiny. Connected to the Watchtower of the Lunargent Thorn in the Realm of Arcadia.
Mastigos (Mind, Space)	Warlocks on the Path of Scourging work with perception and inner demons. Connected to the Watchtower of the Iron Gauntlet in the Realm of Pandemonium.
Moros (Death, Matter)	Necromancers on the Path of Doom work with death, mortality and material things. Connected to the Watchtower of the Lead Coin in the Realm of Stygia.
Obrimos (Prime, Forces)	Theurgists on the Path of the Mighty work with the divine energies infusing the world. Connected to the Watchtower of the Golden Key in the Realm of the Aether.
Thyrsus (Life, Spirit)	Shaman on the Path of Ecstasy work with all aspects of the natural world. Connected to the Watchtower of the Stone Book in the Realm of the Primal Wild.

[edit] Orders

After awakening, a mage typically joins one of the five Orders, although some choose to remain free of political connections, or remain outside of mage society due to ignorance, and are called apostates.

The Five Orders are united in their opposition to the Exarchs. Four of the Orders claim a heritage going back to Atlantis.

The Adamantine Arrow: warriors and masters of conflict, who claim a heritage going back to Atlantis' armies. Currently, the Order of the Arrow could perhaps be described as a cross between militia and Shaolin, as they conduct intensive physical and mental training, honing the minds and bodies of volunteer "troops" into deadly weapons which magical society may then wield against its perceived enemies (such as vampires, werewolves, Seers, and so on).
Guardians of the Veil: spies and conspirators who claim traditions of the spies and enforcers of Atlantis' laws. Currently, they bear a resemblance to a combination of many alleged occult conspiracies, such as Freemasonry, organized criminal Satanism, Thule and others. They obscure their activities and identities even from other mages, and act as a black hole of information, falsifying and obfuscating everything they learn through an elaborate honeycomb of lies and mis-directions colloquially known as "the Labyrinth".
The Mysterium: dedicated to pursuit of magical lore and the acquisition, cataloguing, and study of mystical and occult knowledge and artifacts. They continue the ancient heritage of the scholarly and intellectual elite of Atlantean society. Currently, they resemble a scaled-down and much more eclectic version of academia. They gather, catalogue and maintain items of all types of magical and historical significance, which are collected and stored in museum-libraries known as "Athenaea", which vary in size from private collections to massive storehouses that must be physically hidden by magical means. Unlike non-magical scholastics, however, who entertain the notion of openness and transparency, the Mysterium maintains that knowledge (and, by extension, power) must be limited as much as possible to the truly gifted and trustable. As such, they tend to limit access to their own membership, who risk themselves in the procurement of such vitally important items, as well as a very select few others for whom such knowledge is imperative (i.e. leaders of other Orders or special circumstances).
The Silver Ladder: dedicated to ruling mages and reshaping the world in the same manner as their forefathers, the viziers and senators of Atlantis.
The Free Council: modernists who wish to create new forms of magic, a union of mages who have discovered ways of using magic that do not adhere to the Atlantean methods.

[edit] Magic

Magic is simply the ability of a mage (or "willworker") to impose her will onto reality. Mages are able to do this because of their sympathetic connection to the Watchtowers in the Supernal Realm, because their names are inscribed upon it, and because they realize the Fallen World is a lie.

A mage's power, or level of awakening and understanding the depths of the lie, is called Gnosis.

Arcana represent the understanding a mage has over particular facets of reality, and govern her ability to affect those aspects.

[edit] The 10 Arcana

Death: The Arcanum of decay and death, capable of removing souls and affecting or creating undead.
Fate: The Arcanum of luck and destiny, capable of defining the random and forcing the hand of Fate.
Forces: The Arcanum of energy and kinetics, capable of creating flames and stopping bullets.
Life: The Arcanum of creatures and plants, capable of healing wounds and creating impossible hybrid beasts.
Matter: The Arcanum of inanimate objects and inert elements, capable of transmuting materials and enhancing mundane objects.
Mind: The Arcanum of thoughts and dreams, capable of reading thoughts and controlling thoughts and emotions.
Prime: The Arcanum of pure magical force and structure, capable of enchanting items and manipulating pure Mana.
Space: The Arcanum of distance and separation, capable of creating overlapping dimensions and allowing teleportation.
Spirit: The Arcanum of Spirits and their Realm, capable of summoning spirits and forging links through the Gauntlet.
Time: The Arcanum of the passage of time and aging, capable of manipulating the flow of time and jumping over periods of time.

[edit] Ghosts and Spirits

This system makes a strong distinction between ghosts and spirits. Ghosts are summoned, communicated with and manipulated via Death magic. Spirits are summoned, communicated with and manipulated via Spirit magic. The two may interact, but have little relationship otherwise, and spirits are not the souls of deceased humans, but rather the native inhabitants of the realms beyond the Gauntlet.

[edit] Antagonists

Seers of the Throne: The Seers are Awakened who have sworn service to the Exarchs. They claim to follow the will of the Exarchs and seek to remove magic from the world and strengthen the lie. Seers believe that the Exarchs are godlike, and serve them in the hopes that once they succeed in destroying magic they will be rewarded by their distant masters. They also believe that, given their power, the Exarchs will inevitably triumph and reality will ultimately come into accordance with their desires. The inevitability of the Exarchs' victory is a major part of the Seers philosophy: the success of the Exarchs' agenda will permanently 'fix' reality, and once that happens, the only viable path to enlightenment and true mindfulness will be to accept the existence of the Exarchs' hierarchy. They are not traditionally evil fantasy or horror antagonists, but their philosophy is so at odds with that of the Atlantean Orders that conflict with the protagonists of the series is nearly inevitable.
The Banishers: Banishers are warped Mages who dedicate themselves to destroying other Mages. Generally speaking their Awakening was traumatic or undesired and they do not accept their super-human powers. They exist outside of normal mage society and often mistake (or delude themselves into believing) their own use of magic for something else such as psychic powers or divine miracles. They are often obsessed with hunting and killing other mages and, naturally, tend to be lone wolves.
The Mad: These, completely insane, mages are capable of violating the laws of reality much more easily than most Mages. Usually they are driven incurably insane by their Awakening, which can be a very psychologically taxing process. The realisation that all of one's previous experience of reality was a delusion can sometimes be the straw that breaks the camel's back in cases where individuals had previously held tenuous grips on reality and their emotions to begin with. The Mad are immune or resistant to a lot of the rules that prevent Mages from making major changes to reality and use magic in accordance with their own demented worldview. Both the Guardians of the Veil and the Seers of the Throne are actively dedicated to finding and killing all of the Mad in existence, as part of their attempts to hide magical reality from the eyes of the mundane world.
The Acamoth: The Acamoth are considered the "demons" of the setting. They reside beyond the threshold of existence, in the Abyssal gulf between the Supernatural Realm and the Fallen World. Because of their nature, they are incapable of contacting or having any power in either the Supernal or Fallen World, and as such they require agents to grant them potency. Mortal beings, including Mages, Seers, Ghosts, and Spirits, may be corrupted by the influence of the Abyss, which cuts off the material connection to the Divine. As such, mortals may tend to develop nihilistic tendencies, and when this is occurs, the Acamoth have their vessels. Few knowingly or willingly serve them, and rather service their agendas by proxy, but those who do understand and submit are amongst the most feared and despised of beings.
The Scelesti: Mortal mages who serve/worship the Acamoth are known as 'Scelestus', "[the] Accursed". They have forsaken their Divine purity for favors and power from the Acamoth. They are hunted as heretics and abominations by all other Mages.
Tremere Liches: – Mages who consume the souls of others in exchange for immortality and power. They were created when a group of Vampires (called the Tremere) attempted to remove the curse of Vampirism by consuming the blood of the Awakened as part of certain magical rituals. The Vampires were destroyed and the mortal mages had their souls destroyed. Trapped in a state between life and death these spiritual vampires must consume the souls of others to survive, and pass on a terrible dark "gift" to those they consider to be truly worthy of the secrets of eternal "life". The original Tremere appeared, in a very different form, in the old World of Darkness vampire game as one of the thirteen clans.
Goetia: Mages must struggle to avoid their own darker sides. Goetia, which is practiced to some degree by normal mages, allows a Mage to exorcise some of these dark desires from their own psyche by giving it an independent existence. This can go too far; a Mage can lose control of their inner demons. 'Goetic mages' driven by (or unable to control) their own awakened souls run amok are dangerous, if nontraditional, foes. Goetic mages can resemble the stereotypical depictions of "witches" and "heathens", maliciously cursing others with madness or ill-behavior and intentionally bringing about demonic possession.
Witch Hunters: Mortals who seek out and destroy mages.

[edit] Differences between Ascension and Awakening

This revision of the game is not simply an update to the rules. The differences between the old and new Mage games include:

[edit] Mechanics and terminology

"Traditions" have been replaced by five "Orders" and five "Paths", plus numerous "Legacies" which are extensions of the Orders or Paths.
"Arete" has been replaced by the less restrictive "Gnosis". (As a note, the term "Gnosis" signified the spiritual power of the Garou in Werewolf: The Apocalypse.)
"Rotes" are a more established mechanic, and play a stronger role in the game.
"Paradox" has been codified and represents the Abyss striking back at a Mage for daring to alter reality via Supernatural power.
"Consensus Reality" and "Paradigm" are essentially gone. The Atlantean system of magic has been designated as true. Belief is no longer the driving force of Awakened Magic. Knowledge takes its place in that regard. For instance, in Atlantean cosmology, shadows are more than just the absence of light; they are an active force that can be controlled with Death magic. There is no debate about it - that is simply the way it is.
Starting characters have lower attribute scores by default.
"Spheres" have been replaced by "Arcana", which are not as inter-dependent (e.g. one dot of any Arcana can be used to detect the presence of magic). There are also 10 Arcana, where there were previously 9 known spheres (however, there was always rumors of a missing tenth sphere in the original storyline, which this may be a reference to). In particular, the Entropy sphere has been separated into the Death and Fate Arcana.
"Quintessence" has been replaced by "Mana", which is required for many complex spells.
All mages can now heal themselves whether they know Life magic or not.
Mages, like all characters in the new World of Darkness, are now subject to a morality system. The specific morality scale applicable to mages is called "Wisdom;" it measures how far a mage has fallen into hubris.

[edit] Background and setting

Almost all of the original Mage: The Ascension background has been replaced. The core concept behind magic in Ascension was that belief was reality; magic was a constant battle between the awakened soul and the crush of the multitudes of normals. In Awakening, mages are tapping into the Supernatural realm using the Truth and underlying or alternate reality.

Other aspects, such as the central conflict between the Traditions and the Technocracy, have been replaced by an alternate conflict between the Atlantean orders and the Exarchs who rule reality from the Supernal realm. Awakening’s origin story tells of a similar conflict for the ultimate control over reality through the race to build and ascend the Celestial Ladder. However, unlike Ascension where the war for control over reality was ongoing in the contemporary game time, a group of mages achieved that control and severed the world from magic in the distant past. Instead of centering on a battle over paradigms, Awakening shifts the conflict to returning magic back to its natural state, unified with the world of men.

Due to the differences in the setting themes and core concepts, critics question whether it is appropriate to call Awakening a successor to Ascension or a completely different game.^[1]