So, you want to play Mage: The Ascension? Makes sense, it’s an amazing world and system!
But unfortunately, it’s a White Wolf book which means inevitably one of the major issues of White Wolf books is discovered: It’s denser than dark matter.
In this article we’ll be going over three things: (1) Who are the major players in Mage, (2) how does “magick” work, and finally (3) what a Mage even is.
Who’s who in the war for reality
In Mage it’s important to remember this: Despite the otherworldly capabilities of the individual and the nation controlling power of the factions, at the end of the day they’re all still (debatably) human.
There’s so much to cover for each of the main factions that I can’t go over them in much detail, but I can still give some base overview and some quick tips. Also, I won’t be going over antagonist factions, such as Nephandi and Marauders. Both have so much attached to them that each would merit an entire article in their own right.
The Council of Nine Mystic Traditions are the old world (somewhat archetypical) magic users found in an RPG. Many of the different Traditions are based on real world cultures and belief systems in general.
Two of the best examples would be The Order of Hermes and the Dreamspeakers. The Order of Hermes being classical European based wizards, and the Dreamspeakers being the displaced shamanic practices from all over the world.
The Technocratic Union are the opposite, being the most centralized of all the factions, they don’t use magick as we understand it, they use “Hyperscience” which in simple terms is a scientific viewing of magick. Whereas The Council of Nine Mystic Traditions can be seen as old-world ideologies, The Technocratic Union are new world ideologies.
Two of the more interesting sects of the Technocratic Union could be The Void Engineers and The Syndicate. The Void Engineers are space marines that explore the cosmology of World of Darkness, and The Syndicate are the market manipulators and money makers of the Technocratic Union.
The Disparate Alliance is a group of the outliers. They are the crafts that want no part in The Ascension War and try to subvert the others in their attempts to control the world.
While there is similarity to The Council of Nine Mystic Traditions in that they’re based around cultures and practices, The Disparate Alliance sects are more focused. One of my favorite examples comes from the Kopa Loei who are based on the original Polynesian cultures and the practices associated with them.
Tools of Ascension
So, what is magick in Mage: The Ascension? I should explain what makes magick different from other supernatural powers in World of Darkness. The most crucial factor in magick that separates it from other supernatural powers is the awakened avatar or genius. The avatar is best described as a metaphysical entity that enables a human to cast magick. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but that’s the easiest way to describe it in a single article.
Magick is typically expressed in three parts: (1) the paradigm, (2) practice, and (3) instruments. All of them put together is what is referred to as a “Focus.”
The paradigm is the belief system behind your magick and what lets you express your will over reality. A good paradigm doesn’t only explain magick but also the things that surround you.
The practice is how you do your magick, anyone can wave a wand and say “Alakazam,” but not everyone watches star charts and uses the power of those patterns to cast from a wand.
Finally, instruments are what you use to cast. They could be the aforementioned wand or the bones of the deceased. Really anything can be an instrument, even ideas!
The most important part when deciding how your magick works is that you are not beholden to follow stereotypes of what magick is in pop-culture.
The Awakened
Now for the big question: Just what is a Mage? Honestly in universe no one knows, sure you could look at other game lines for some vague hints on what they might be, but they don’t outright reveal what Mages are.
What little we do know is that Mages are in fact regular humans that can use magick, some of them might be the family of werewolves or someone who is gifted by the fae. However, at the end of the day Mages are humans that have gained the ability to cast magick.
There are some exceptions to the rule with things that Mages are regular humans who cast magick. For example, a Liche is an undead and immortal Mage, though it’s debatable if they’re true Mages at that point.
Much more common would be a Mage who becomes the ghoul of a vampire. This is possible and because of the grey area that comes with ghouls when it comes to humanity it is debatable if they’re still “just humans.”
But whether your Mage is a ghoul, kinfolk, or even a Liche, it’s important to remember that a Mage still sees the world differently from everyone else. Mages come about by rejecting baseline reality to such a degree that they can change it.
Final Words
And now I leave you with a final word on the best part of any Mage game, it doesn’t matter, none of what I just stated is required to get started with the game line.
You can play it however you see fit and no one can stop you, some of the best games can’t come about if you disallow everything that doesn’t quite fit, that isn’t to say consistency is irrelevant, just that Mage is a game where you can be a bit laxer with everything.
About the author
Lucius Manon has been playing RPGs for around four years, and his all-time favorite game is Mage: the Ascension. He aspires to be able to write full-time one day, but right now, he’ll settle for spreading the love of their favorite games.
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