Marauders (Mage: The Ascension)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marauders in the fantasy role-playing game Mage: The Ascension are mages that embody the Dynamic in the metaphysical trinity, where the Technocracy embodies Stasis, the Nephandi embody Entropy, and the Traditions embody balance between the three. Their avatars are aligned as with the Wyld and so are they characterized by a kind of magical insanity.
No attempts to cure such mystical infirmity can meet with any success, not technological, not magical, not technomagical, short of gilgul. Rather, they are generally deported to beyond the veil, sometimes preferably as far as the deep umbra, this policy practiced by the Technocracy with religious fervor. Consensual reality is known to take the very same umbrage all by itself when the Marauder's mystical madness approaches certain excesses, and shunts them automatically out of the material world.
Contents |
[edit] Metaphysics
Understanding what a marauder is requires an understanding of Paradox, the backlash that reality inflicts on those who alter reality in radical ways. In principle, the greater the deviation and the larger the number of witnesses, the faster and more powerful the backlash. Paradox takes different forms, however, and one of these is a condition known as Quiet. When a mage enters Quiet, they suffer madness of the avatar (i.e. the part of them responsible for altering reality). The nature of a mage's Quiet is unique to that person, but while suffering from Quiet, mages sometimes create hobgoblins, magical phenomena arising from this madness of the avatar. For example, a mage who, in Quiet, believes that nearby shadows are whispering to him may inadvertently cause real audible whispers to emerge from nearby shadows.
Normally, Quiet is temporary. Marauders, on the other hand, suffer from permanent Quiet. Opinions and testimonials differ as to the hows and whys by which this permanence occurs, but, of typifying characteristics, this would be the title track. On the other hand, no less significant is the group's decidedly atypical nature, even (or perhaps especially) in relation to one-another. Manifestations of the Marauder condition vary not only in subject matter but also in scope, and by no stretch of the imagination can certitude follow any prediction made on what flamboyance or total unapparence of a particular Marauder's quiet says about the depth of their condition. Indeed, lucidity or lunacy-manifest of the individual can vary anywhere from by the moment all the way to remaining one over the other from the Marauder's inception onward.
The poster-child would be the hobgoblin-happy reality-storm so endeared to convention recruits by Technocratic folk tales of yore. Rather than simply generating occasional hobgoblins, the Marauder in question completely reshapes reality within a certain distance to conform to the mad Quiet he suffers from. The strength of their Quiet determines this distance. A relatively minor Quiet might involve a woman whose arm was amputated believing she still has her arm and, within a few feet of her body, this is true, effectively causing her arm to exist again. Powerful Quiets are rarely subtle, causing entire rooms to be reshaped wildly down to the smallest detail. As the Marauder continues to garner paradox over time, their quiet tends to deepen, and consensual reality will eventually eject the aberrant into the Umbra.
Among the Marauder's aspects most popular among mages of other factions is their partial immunity to Paradox. While they can't completely shrug off the backlash from bending consensual reality to the extremes that they do, a certain amount of paradox rolls right off their backs, finding instead a convenient stool-pigeon to foot the bill on the Marauder's behalf. The ol' dine-and-dash never hurts so good as when the offender falls short of competence to stand trial. Typically, this Paradox affects other mages in the area, most often that mage that is spatially closest. Thus, Marauders can not only make use of wild and flagrantly vulgar magic, but any mages in the area will bear part if not all of the blame.
Conversely, the effects of an over-active quiet are somewhat different for the unawakened. A mage is awakened to the malleability of reality, which affords them opportunity to up and notice that, hey wait a sec, we weren't in Oz, or made of licorice just a second ago, oh, and by the way, that good witch Glenda over there, the one hanging on a rope from a mobile scaffold, she sure is being wheeled by at a convenient moment don't you think? Sleepers just end up participating in the tableau as extras or scenery or garnishes, and are none the wiser when the curtain falls. Imagine for the sake of illustration, and my own personal amusement, a high-powered, well-muscled wall street commodities broker, resplendent in his three-piece-suit/bulging-neck-vein glory. He's wading through the pedestrians in front of the New York stock exchange at seven A.M., yelling pejoratives into his tiny cell-phone, when suddenly he's wearing a leotard, a jaunty smile, and holding a swooning kitten lovingly to his ear against a backdrop of plastic snow flurries. He's nearing the end of the fabled Kitten Listening Dance while all around him pedestrians are now costumed after various fish and fowl, gesticulating suggestively with parsley and corn. Jeté, glissade, plié, fouetté, and all applaud the mournful bow of the mighty kitten listener, when suddenly he's a commodities broker again, not bowing, but picking up the cell-phone he just dropped as the distortion on reality passes like a shadow unnoticed over the crowd behind him, and on down the sidewalk.
[edit] Society
Marauders are universally feared by sane mages, and only the Nephandi are more reviled. In addition, individual Marauders rarely have compatible Quiets or even realize that they are insane. These are not traits that lead to teamwork, collective action, or faction-building. Nevertheless, a handful of Marauders (typically those with relatively tame Quiets) have come together, forming small, loose associations.
[edit] The Bai Dai
This group of murderous madmen vary considerably on their outlooks, but agree on one thing: genocide. Opinions differ on whom, in particular, is worthy of the privilege of extinction, but the Bai Dai are willing to work together to make sure no one is left to care. Probably the single most dangerous group of Marauders on Earth, the Bai Dai's terrifying ruthlessness is only matched by their complete lack of organization.
[edit] The Butcher Street Regulars
Small enough to be called a club, this group of Marauders has managed to agree to disagree on the details of reality and settle for watching each others' backs. Largely benevolent, they have (so far) successfully kept one another stable enough to pursue their individual interests.
[edit] The Umbral Underground
Among the favorite tactics of the Marauders as a group is to summon or create fantastic creatures. Be they beasts of myth (such as dragons and unicorns) or cybernetic monstrosities, these creatures cannot survive in reality for long - their very existence causes Paradox, and in extreme cases this can kill them in hours. The Umbral Underground is an unlikely alliance of Marauders who hold a special place in their hearts for these creatures, and their mastery of the magic of spirits allows them to find these unfortunate creatures and give them safe passage to the Umbra, where Paradox will not kill them simply for existing.
