The basic premise of Mage: The Ascension is that
everyone has the capacity, at some level, to shape reality. This capacity, personified as a mysterious alter-ego called the Avatar, is dormant in most people, who are known as sleepers, whereas Mages (and/or their Avatars) are said to be Awakened. Because they're awakened, Mages can consciously affect changes to 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. A paradigm organizes a Mage's understanding of 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...
In the Mage setting,
everyday reality is governed by commonsense rules derived from the collective beliefs of sleepers. This is called the consensus. Most 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 contradictions between the consensus and the Mage's efforts...
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 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...
Seeing their chance, mages who believed in proto-scientific theories banded together under the banner of
the Order of Reason, 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 of the values that we now associate with the Renaissance. Masses of Sleepers embraced the gifts of early Technology and the Science that accompanied them. As the masses' beliefs shifted, the Consensus changed and wizards began to lose their position as their power and influence waned.
This was intentional. The Order of Reason perceived a safe world as one devoid of heretical beliefs, ungodly practices and supernatural creatures preying upon humanity. As the defenders of the 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
Council of Nine Traditions where mages of all the major magical paths gathered...
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 Technocracy...
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.)
Mages divide themselves according to their cultures, beliefs and even historical accidents or arbitrary alliances. The primary groups include:
[edit] Council of Nine Mystic Traditions
* Traditions
o Akashic Brotherhood
o Celestial Chorus
o Cult of Ecstasy
o Dreamspeakers
o Euthanatos
o Order of Hermes
o Sons of Ether
o Verbena
o Virtual Adepts
[edit] The Technocratic Union
* Technocracy
o Iteration X
o Progenitors
o The New World Order
o The Syndicate
o The Void Engineers
[edit] Others
* Crafts
* Marauders
* Nephandi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mage:_The_Ascension
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