Sanguine Sands
Mages
Around the world, there are mortals who have unlocked a higher purpose through awakening. These select few are ordinary people who have learned to harness the power of their avatars to use magick as an extension to themselves, their beliefs, and their passions. These men and women are commonly known as mages but are not the stereo-typical wizards, sorcerers, or witches. These humans include druids, fanatic catholic priest, mad scientist, famous rock stars, neuromancers, Wu Jin, totemic shaman, death mages, cybernauts, mentalist, demonologist, technomancers, and even the insane whose reality shapes everyone else’s in their sphere of influence. A mage is a person with the power to reshape reality through force of will working. This is done by harnessing their Avatar that hums with a distinct resonance.
To use magick, these mortals harness quintessence or unformed possibilities that they collect within their Avatar. Or, they collect and distill it from outside sources known in the form of Tass. The Avatar is a spark of potential in every human on the planet but, most do not are and simply ignore that possibility. It lies forgotten, inert and lost until they join the wheel of reincarnation one more time upon death. This cycle repeats until at some point, an Awakening occurs or the moment the subconscious mind realizes what the spark is and does. Every awakening is personal, and every avatar is as different as one person is to another though they have survived many lifetimes of reincarnation as a single being. Some mages conflict with these avatars as each and every lifetime and belief system begins anew upon birth, but the avatar remains constant. A mage maybe a druid who encourages growth of life to do magick in one era then draw upon science to manipulate matter in another. Above all, when the mage awakens, they come to the singular and absolute understanding that their belief shapes the world around them. Though working their will, they change the world. This great understanding of the avatar forms the Aerete or the enlightenment that allows the mage to harness dynamic energies to change reality. By focusing on their beliefs wholeheartedly, developing rotes, or repeatable spells, using foci or the instruments of their beliefs, they can affect patterns. These patterns are the building blocks behind the reality around them. A mage’s Avatar is a pattern that has remained a connection to the Tellurian, or the whole of reality, the universe and everything unknown or known.
Due to realization of the Avatar and the Arete, these individuals are awakened to their potential, such people believe so strongly in what they do that they attempt to alter reality. As they have come to realize that reality is not fixed as one would think as it is determined by beliefs of the un-awakened or known as the sleepers. These sleepers shape reality with a collection of assumptions, beliefs and will. When a mage goes against the great views of reality, this forms in the aspect of paradox or backlash of the forces of consensual reality fighting back against the enlightened mage sometimes to the point or simply erasing the mage and all their incarnations from reality itself. Since the beginning of time, mortals have struggled to control the greater paradigm of the sleepers. In order to do this, the awakened found like-minded individuals with similar beliefs to create small groups. The believers began to gather disciples or cults to work their brand of magick unhampered by Greater paradigm as it was not uniform. These will workers formed into two groups, the traditions or the unaligned. Working with each other, they began forming rotes, houses or magick.
As they grew in power, others began seeking to diminish and take away such abilities. This did not formerly happen until the Age of Reason where Science overtook religion, mystisms, and wonder. Seeking to trap the minds of the sleepers, the Technocratic Union was formed. These mages have waged wars with other traditions to establish the grand paradigm of the world, as the beliefs that determine reality as the sleepers see it. The Technocrats originally sought to bring science and truth to the masses as an act of goodwill. As they began to spread their teachings, it pushed down then the beliefs of other mages as they spread across Europe, Africa and eventually spilling into the Americas. While standing strong, India, Asia and the Pacific nations adhered to Spirituality and the heighten awareness that they undoubtedly believed in. Contrasting to the Technocracy, the nephandi are the dark and twisted mages who reversed their essence because they had found the one true belief. The belief that the Tellurian is utterly corrupt and broken thus it is needed to be destroyed to repair itself. Finally, the insane... the Marauders, who have lost themselves in their own reality so much that they change reality on the wim. With an eternal quiet, or the magical delusion that distorts afflicted mages view of reality. The mad mages live within an alternate reality that supports their paradigm which protects them from paradox. This enables them to one end, the utter annihilation of billions of sleepers in order to allow free use of magic and belief.
Because the Marauders, Nephandi, and Technocrats threaten reality with destruction, enslavement, or genocide, the others band against them. The Traditions and Unaligned do not seek power as that can be taken away easily. They seek enlightenment… they seek awareness… they seek the point where the Avatar and their spirit become one... the Ascension. The do this by studying spells, empowering the avatar and performing a Seeking. During a Seeking, the character is challenged to show self-development to their Avatar. The form of a Seeking will differ by Avatar and Paradigm and may take the form of puzzles, challenges, unresolved issues, or any other form the Avatar chooses. Once a mage reaches Ascension, they have a vast understanding and awareness then simply disappear. Some may fight those head on now they have reached the pinnacle of power or seek the fabled 10th sphere.
Character Creation
Step One: Concept and Identity
Start off your character with a single question: Who are you? A cybernetic hardass? A desperate runaway? A corporate shark? This brainstormed image gives you a basic foundation for that character’s identity.
Follow that up with another question: Is that who you were when you first Awakened, or has Awakening made you the person you are today? Awakening, after all, is a life-changing event. After it, no matter how much she tries, a mage is never quite the same person again. By asking yourself whether your mage had that essential identity before the Awakening or if she acquired that identity as a result of Awakening, you can trace the effects of Awakening on the character you create.
And finally, ask one of the simplest, most important questions of all: What do you want? This last inquiry supplies motivation, the driving force of any intriguing character. Once you figure out
what your mage wants out of life, the universe, and everything, you’ve got a handle on what she’ll do in order to get it.
Affiliation
Most mages have some affiliation: a faction to which they belong. In player terms, you can choose from among the Traditions – mages belonging to the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions;
the Technocracy – agents of the Technocratic Union; or the Disparates who refuse to join either of the other supposedly important factions. Marauders are too chaotic and bizarre to
fit in with groups of other willworkers, whereas the Nephandi remain dedicated to bringing the other groups down. Thus, neither option works well for player characters in an ongoing
Mage chronicle.
Affiliation gives your characters common ground and a basic reason to cooperate. Although mystics from the Traditions and Disparate sects might cooperate with each other, the
Technocracy has little tolerance for Reality Deviants. A chronicle based on the adventures of a Dreamspeaker spirit-walker, an imperious wizard from the Wu Lung, a dedicated Templar,
and a Void Engineer space marine might sound like fun, but it’d probably turn into a Reservoir Dogs-style kill zone before the first story ends. When you’re crafting characters for your
group, choose character affiliations that allow your mages to share a room without offing one another on general principle.
Once you’ve decided your character’s affiliation, decide which sect he calls his own. A Tradition mage might belong to the Order of Hermes, the Virtual Adepts, or some other related sect; a Technocrat could hail from Iteration X or the New World Order; a Disparate mage could join the Ngoma, hang with the Hollow Ones, or shape his own destiny among the unaligned Orphans. The choice will reflect your mage’s Arts, goals, and company. Although he might change it in the
future, that sect is a vital element of the character’s identity at the beginning of the chronicle.
Essence
Even more vital to your mage’s core identity is his Avatar’s Essence: the inner drive that shapes his approach to life and magick. This mystic inner self provides you with a rough script for your mage’s overall personality. A Dynamic mage, for instance, would pursue her goals with intense passion, whereas a Pattern-oriented one would strive for stability and permanence.
By the way, it’s worth remembering that every Mage character should have at least one dot in the Avatar Background. Strong Avatars (that is, ones with more dots in that Trait) will express a more potent sense of Essence through the mage. A character with only one dot in his Avatar will feel occasional stirrings of his Dynamic Essence, for example, and one with Avatar 5 would be so Dynamic that he’d rarely sit still for more than a few minutes at a time.
Archetypes: Nature and Demeanor
Based on those tendencies, each character has personality archetypes: a Nature and Demeanor that represent the ways she interacts with her world. Nature reflects the character’s inner self, whereas Demeanor represents the way she presents herself to other folks. Depending on the character, these two Traits could be pretty similar or wildly divergent. Our corporate shark, for example, might present himself as a Crusader who’s building a better world; under that Demeanor, though, he’s actually a Trickster who delights in upending the expectations of his officemates.
Step Two: Attributes (7/5/3)
Attributes reflect your character’s innate physical, social, and mental capabilities. Ranging from one to five dots, these Traits provide the basis for the dice pools you use in order to get things done. The Physical category features Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina. Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance make up the Social category; Perception, Intelligence, and Wits comprise the Mental Traits category. As mentioned earlier, each dot in one of these Traits represents one die you roll when attempting a task. The more dots you have, the better you are with the Attribute in question.
All Attributes start off with a base rating of 1. You get points to spend when raising them up from there during character creation. When you do spend those points, however, you need to prioritize the importance of your Physical, Social, and Mental Attributes. In your primary category, you get seven points to spend; in your secondary field, you get five; the lowest priority, the tertiary group, gets a mere three points, which obviously don’t go far. You can use freebie points (see below) to raise those initial ratings, but doing so is pretty expensive, so choose your attributes with the idea that your character will be stuck with them for a little while once the chronicle begins.
Step Three: Abilities (13/9/5)
In the same vein, the Ability Traits represent your character’s Talents (innate aptitudes, honed by exercise), Skills (abilities gained from training and practice), and Knowledges (intellectual pursuits backed up with experience). Like Attributes, these Traits have points allocated into primary, secondary, and tertiary groups. Your primary Abilities get an initial 13 points, with nine points given out for secondary Abilities and five points left over for tertiary Abilities. Freebie points can raise the initial ratings… which is a good thing, considering how fast those points can go out the door. Unlike attributes, Abilities start with a base rating of zero.
When placing those initial points, there’s another limitation: You can’t place more than three dots into a single Ability. Later, during Step Five, you might drop a few freebie points into a three-dot Ability in order to raise its rating by another dot or two. To start with, though, you can give your character ratings between 1 and 3 in the various Abilities. Considering just how many Abilities there are in Mage 20, it’s a good idea to identify your priorities ahead of time.
Step Four: Advantages
Beyond the things we are and the things we learn, there are the things we acquire by way of money, social connections, and sheer luck. In game terms, these Traits are called Advantages: things that set your character apart from other people.
Again, Mage 20 offers a huge selection of Advantages; no one can have them all, and certain characters can’t get certain Advantages, period. Thankfully, you’ve got seven points to spend on Background Traits, and your mage’s magickal focus doesn’t cost points at all. Like Abilities, these characteristics depend on your concept and backstory. Although an executive, a housewife, and a homeless girl will have very different resources, no Mage character is without some sort of Advantage.
Backgrounds
Money? Connections? An Avatar strong enough to blow the doors off your mind? Welcome to the wonderful world of Background traits. Once you’ve taken care of your character’s Attributes and Abilities, it’s time to figure out the sorts of things she can draw upon when need be. Malcolm, for instance, obviously has Contacts, Influence, and Resources; a gutter-kid could have nothing but a dazzlingly potent Avatar and a mystic Treasure she snatched when no one was looking. You can augment the initial seven Background points with freebie points during Step Five. Background Traits are cheap, and certain characters can have lots of them if their concepts allow for such luxuries.
Focus: Paradigm, Practice, and Instruments
Magick is an extension of the mage. Belief guides the Arts that shape reality. Thus, your character’s focus is an essential part of who she is and what she can do.
In previous editions of Mage, the term “focus” referred to the various tools a mage used in order to cast magickal Effects or Procedures. In Mage 20, focus becomes a collective term for a character’s belief, or paradigm; his associated practice; and the instruments that go with both. A Hermetic wizard’s focus, therefore, would be the High Ritual Magick practice and a number of beliefs and tools associated with that practice.
Focus also provides one of the defining differences between a mystic mage and a Technocrat: A mystic might eventually learn to transcend his focus, but a member of the Technocracy is indoctrinated so firmly into her focus that she cannot leave it behind without a major change of beliefs. Technomancers aligned with mystic groups – the Virtual Adepts, Society of Ether, and
other science-based willworkers whose worldviews are somewhat flexible – might grow beyond their tech-based focuses in time, but it takes significant effort in order for them to do so. Tech-based reality favors tech-based Arts, but only the most Enlightened tech-based mages can escape the focus of their views.
A new Mage character needs a focus comprised of at least one paradigm, one magickal practice, and no fewer than seven associated instruments. (Seven’s a mystically significant number.) You can combine existing paradigms and practices into new ones, or add new instruments, if the Storyteller agrees and if that hybrid practice and its tools fit your character concept. In time, your mage’s Arete rating can rise high enough to put those tools aside. In the beginning, though, a focus for his magick – however he defines that magick – is absolutely required
What sort of focus could you employ? For an example, let’s use Malcolm Jamal Leonard, our Wall Street Trickster. Combining the ancient High Ritual Magick of his ancestors with a high-tech version of the Art of Desire, Malcolm focuses his intentions through a mix of both. His tools include complex diagrams based in sacred mathematics, crafted to look like spreadsheets; prepared amulets he gives as gifts to business partners; carefully chosen words; the purification baths he enacts each morning; prayers he offers to the higher powers; the rituals he conducts behind closed doors; the specially tailored suits he wears; and the commanding presence he brings to everything he says and does. Even Malcolm’s gym routines include self-perfection exercises that no one, except perhaps another mage, would recognize as magickal acts. Through these tools and practices, he focuses his intentions and brings magick into his world.
Focus and the Arts
Step Five: Finishing Touches
A mage must have magick, and so the final step of character creation deals with the Traits that define his magickal capacity.
Spheres
The nine elements of reality provide the keys to magick. During character creation, your mage gets six dots to place in the Spheres of your choice… with a few provisions, of course.
Arete
One cannot work magick without Arete, the excellence reflecting your character’s Enlightened Will and understanding. Non-mages do not have Arete at all – the Trait reflects an Awakened state of being. In game terms, you’ll roll this Trait when casting magickal Effects. A beginning mage gets one free dot in Arete. Additional dots must be purchased with freebie points. Note that additional dots are rather expensive, so a high Arete Trait limits your other options. During character creation, you’re limited to a maximum Arete of 3. As mentioned earlier, a chronicle usually begins, by default, with inexperienced mages who grow throughout the course of the tale.
Willpower
Magick demands Will, and so this Willpower Trait represents your character’s determination, confidence, and drive. A starting mage begins with a Willpower rating of 5,
and you can add more dots with freebie points. As always, this Trait rating depends upon the character concept; it’s a good bet that Malcolm has a Willpower of 6 or perhaps even 7, but the gutter-kid we mentioned earlier would have a Willpower of 5 – unusually stubborn by most standards, but unfocused when compared to the disciplined executive.
Quintessence and Paradox
The raw essence of Creation, Quintessence flows through a mage’s Avatar. Paradox, on the other hand, contradicts your mage’s place in the universe. The Quintessence and Paradox Traits oppose one another across a wheel. The first grants your character a mystic edge, whereas the other places your mage in jeopardy. The interplay between these related Traits is explained further under the entries for Quintessence and Paradox (pp. 331-333). For now, give your mage a Quintessence rating equal to his Avatar Background Trait (Avatar 4 equals four Quintessence, for example), with no Paradox points. Don’t worry – you’ll have plenty of time to earn some soon enough!
Step Six: Freebie Points
Finally, there are freebie points – that handful of points that allows you to raise or purchase other Traits. A beginning character gets 15 of these points to spend, although taking Flaw traits might give you a few more points to work with.
Freebie Points Trait Cost
Attribute 5 per dot
Ability 2 per dot
Background 1 per dot
Sphere 7 per dot
Arete 4 per dot (Max. Total: 3)
Willpower 1 per dot
Quintessence 1 per four dots
Merit cost as per Merit
Flaw bonus as per Flaw (Max. Total: 7)
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A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA
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There is a 10 point bonus to Freebie points given for a detailed character history. That can be used to place in Backgrounds and Specializations ONLY!! at a one to one cost.
What is considered a detailed character history is a moderately descriptive story of your character's major life events to present. A couple paragraphs of summary is more than adequate.