Genesys Mage by

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# Mage: The Genesys

## Character Creation

All Mages use the same Mage archetype, described below.

##### Mage Archetype
<div class="archetype">
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2
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</div>

In addition to the traditional Characteristics, Mages have a 7th characteristic called "Arete" which starts at 1.

* **Starting Wound Threshold:** 10 + Brawn  
* **Starting Strain Threshold:** 11 + Willpower  
* **Starting Experience:** 180xp
* **Starting Skills:** 1 rank in any knowledge skill, may not be raised higher than 2 at character creation  
* **Starting Spheres:** 6 ranks in Spheres. 1 must be in your faction’s affinity sphere. 
* **Every Avater is Unique**: You may optionally choose one Characteristic to give +1 and one Characteristic to give -1 (Arete excluded)

### Generation Steps

##### Step 1: Concept and Identity

Goal: define the bones of the mage’s story. This step can be done AFTER the others but its HIGHLY recommended that paradigm precede mechanics.

Come up with the story of who your mage was before they were a mage, how they Awakened, and who they are becoming as a mage. The crux of this is the following questions:

* What do you believe about the world that makes magic possible? (this is your paradigm)
* What do you believe makes YOU one of the few who can do magic? Why you of all people?
* How is it that you are able to access magic? Magic is HARD and takes work. (these are your tools)

Every mage has an avatar, a piece of their soul that is the personification of their magic that guides them through their growth, their Ascension. 
* What form does yours take? 
* What relationship do you have with it? 
* What kind of tasks does it seem to guide you towards?

\columnbreak

##### Step 2: Essence

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.

Essences are described in detail below on page 3. Select from Dynamic, Pattern, Primordial or Questing.

##### Step 3: Archetype

Using the Mage Archetype, select your characteristics, Skill, etc. Note Sphere and XP amounts for later steps.

##### Step 4: Choose A Career

Select an appropriate career from the Genesys Core Book. Given the wide variety of characters mages may end up being, virtually any of the careers can work. Work with the GM.

##### Step 5: Select a Faction

Factions work as in the Shadow of the Beanstalk Genesys book.

Most Mages learn their magic from a faction, usually via a mentor or master, sometimes from an organization or institution affiliated with a faction. Some learn the hard way, through trial and error on their own, and have no faction association. If you choose to have a faction association, you must select one of three levels of Favor that you owe to the Faction. This cuts both ways, as it allows you to call on the faction as well, but you will in turn be called upon by your faction. See Faction writeups starting on page 15 for the Tradition Factions you can pick from.
  
\pagebreakNum
    
##### Step 6: Invest Experience Points

The Mage Archetype grants 180 Experience Points. XP may be spent on the following:

##### Table 1.1: Spending Starting Experience

*note: While most characteristics cannot be raised after character generation, Arete is an exception. It can be raised for the stated price.*

##### Step 7: Select Spheres

Read the Sphere descriptions on Page 6 then assign six points into Spheres. At least one point much be in your Faction's Affinity Sphere. If you do not have a Faction, you may assign the sixth point in any Sphere you want. You cannot assign more points to any Sphere than you have in Arete.

##### Step 8: Determine Derived Attributes

Calculate Wound Threshold, Strain Threshold, Defense, Soak Value, and Quintessence. (see Genesys Core for WT, ST, D, and SV). Quintessence is equal to your ranks in the Avatar Talent.

##### Step 9: Choose Gear, Appearance

Select appropriate gear and, if not determined during step 1, appearance

\pagebreakNum

## New Traits

### Essence

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.

choose from the following:

**Dynamic**

The Dynamic Essence embodies Change itself. Manifesting as a mercurial temperament, passionate emotions, restless drive, and fickle spirits, Dynamic Avatars compel their mages toward daring experiences. Such people are never boring company! A Dynamic mage might drag you out for a night on the town that includes hijacking a taxi, skateboarding down a railroad track, and slumping into bed just after dawn with a huge grin (or a terrified grimace) on your face, just to wake up a few hours later and see what trouble you can get into next.

In more subtle forms, this Essence inspires curiosity, impatience, and sudden flashes of brilliance. Appearing in the form of shadows, whispers, and poor impulse control, it goads a mage to treat every day like an adventure. At higher levels, a Dynamic Avatar can nag a person mercilessly, leaving half-finished projects and shattered relationships in the wake of a mage who rarely sits still for long.

**Pattern**

The very opposite of Dynamism, the Pattern Essence provides stability and order. If Dynamism is fire, then Pattern is stone. Pattern mages approach things with deliberate intent, speaking slowly and taking time to consider the potential risks and benefits of a task. Manifesting as calm temperament, sound logic, stable emotions, and authority figures (often in dreams, perhaps as people only the mage herself can see), Pattern Avatars settle the capricious whims of reality into solid, dependable forms.

Because every war needs fortifications and dependable souls, the Pattern Essence is a valued asset. Such Avatars inspire their mages to be prudent, constructive, and trustworthy – real bricks, to use the British slang. Honor, stability, and good judgment are hallmarks of such people. If they seem stodgy or uninspired, it’s simply because other people are too shortsighted to recognize a true friend when they have one.

**Primordial**

Before light and order existed, Primordial Chaos was the Essence of the universe. Even now, that eternal enigma beckons to the human soul in the shape of eerie and often sinister Avatar-forms. Manifesting as shadows; half-heard cries; swirling vortices of pulsating energy; or the disconcerting figures of madmen, ghosts, and squamous things, this Essence reflects the depthless reaches of cosmic potential. Mages connected to this Essence tend to be abrupt and secretive, or else seductive in ways that Fallen souls can best appreciate.

A Primordial mage loves mystery. Like deep water, she seeps into hidden places and defies easy understanding. Whereas Pattern people are bricks or stone, Primordial folks are riptides and dark pools. The few Technocrats who favor this Essence understand that no science can penetrate the richest mysteries of the universe; they’ll give lip service to technology, but they always keep a few extra cards up their sleeves for the time when the light fails and order becomes a punch line in the cosmic jest.

\pagebreakNum

**Questing**

Wherever windmills beckon, you’ll find Questing mages preparing to tilt. Vagabonds and errants, pilgrims, and pioneers, these people prefer the open road and a worthy cause. Epitomizing Balance in the Trinity, this Essence avoids extremes. Questing Avatars tend to manifest as yearning; wanderlust; bright spots on the horizon; and people, beasts, or entities associated with travel. One might look like a stray hound, another like a kaleidoscope, and a third like a hitchhiker on the side of the road. Whereas the Primordial mage curls up in the shadows, the Questing mage straps on her backpack, straps on or discards entirely her shoes, and heads off to face adventures in the Great Unknown.

“Call Me the Breeze” makes a good theme song for such characters. Their Avatars draw them ever onward. Sure, these souls might seem friendly and fun enough; in time, however, they’ll disappear into the rising dawn, secure in the knowledge that someone else will follow the trails they’ve blazed.

\pagebreakNum

## Magic

Magic, at a very fundamental level, is a mage demanding the world conform to their will. Depending on how long a mage has been at their craft, the degree to which they realize this will vary. Eventually, if a mage lives long enough, most of them will come to realize that the tools and stories they use to shape their magic when they are young are crutches, and that it is their will that is hammering reality into the shape they demand. But until then, most mages have a Paradigm, an idea about what the world is like such that magic exists, works, and why they are able to use it.

Perhaps you believe that spirits live in everything, and they listen to you, and will obey your commands if you invoke them properly. Perhaps you believe that reality is just code, and with the right modifications you can hack reality, or that an ancient unfallen society shattered their souls into humanity, and you possess an greater portion, which lets you access their ancient, primordial technology.

### Casting Magic

To cast magic, you build a dice pool based on the spheres you are using in your effect. The difficulty is based on the highest sphere, modified by the vulgarity and other circumstances.

##### Step 1: Assemble your Dice Pool

* Use Arete as your characteristic and the highest sphere necessary for your effect as the skill
 * you only use as much sphere as required for the effect. As an example: If you have Arete 3 and Matter 3, but only are doing a 2 Matter effect, you would assemble a dice pool of dcc. Matter is effectively 2 in this scenario, and Arete is the higher at 3. 
* The difficulty of the roll is based on that highest sphere:
 * 1: Easy
 * 2: Average
 * 3: Hard
 * 4: Daunting
 * 5: Formidable
 * Vulgarity describes how much the effect disagrees with the average persons perception of what is possible. “Coincidental” magic is something a sleeper would not notice. Vulgar means the effect contradicts the local consensus. NOTE: the consenus can change depending on where you are. What passes for acceptable in LA is not the same as rural China.
 * Coincidental - no upgrade
 * Vulgar without witnesses - upgrade 1 step
 * Vulgar with witnesses - upgrade 2 steps
* MANY other circumstances may add boost or setback dice to a roll. See table 2.1 for some examples, but these are generally decided between you and the ST. 
* You may also spend Quintessence. Each point spent downgrades the difficulty one step. You may spent up to your Avatar rating per roll. 
* You may also spend 2 strain to upgrade 1 die once per roll.

##### Table 2.1: Common Magickal Modifiers

##### Step 2: Did It Work?

**Degrees of Success**

* Success: if the player rolls the minimum number of successes, the effect succeeds. Additional successes may be spent to modify the effect (see Table 2.2)
* Partial Success - roll does not meet the minimum number of required successes as set by the GM. If at least 2 advantages are present, they may be spent to keep the effect alive long enough to try again at +1 difficulty next round. 
* Failure - Failures outnumber success. Effect fails.

**Triumph and Despair**

* Triumphs - if a player rolls a triumph the effect goes off perfectly and the effect is considered a total success. 
    * All other successes rolled are considered bonuses that may be used to modify effect
if there are no failures, additional unintended but positive outcomes may be added by the ST.
* Despair - ANY time a Despair appears in a roll, the Mage gets Paradox based on the Spheres and level of vulgarity involved (see below)
    * If the roll is a success, it still succeeds but with extra and troublesome features.
    * If the roll is a failure, the effect doesn’t just fizzle, it is an explosive disaster. It goes wrong in a dramatic, and possibly dangerous, fashion.

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**Threats and Advantages**

* Advantages
    * Usual narrative stuff
    * Spend 2 to upgrade damage, duration, or range 1 step
* Threats
    * Usual narrative stuff
    * If you get 2x threats as successes, 1 extra paradox

##### Step 3: OH SHIT Paradox!

Think of magick as Thunderdome: two realities enter, one reality leaves. Ideally, the one that triumphs is the one you create.

If it’s not, then you have a problem.

We tend to call this problem the Paradox Effect, or simply Paradox... yes, with capitalized letters to show how big and important an idea it is. Because this kind of Paradox can kick your ass. There are a million metaphysical explanations for what it is, why it works, and what we can do to get around it, but the simplest explanation is this: Paradox is what happens when two visions of reality exist in the same place at the same time until one of them gives up.

And if your reality gives up, you’re in for a world of hurt.

Paradox manifests in a number of ways. It builds up in a mage, and when it bursts out, it can be an explosive Burn, a chaotic flaw that interferes with life and casting, or even a Spirit that comes to teach the Mage a lesson about hubris. If the mage has been particularly naughty, they may even be dragged off into a Paradox Realm or have a Quiet inflicted on them.

* Even on a successful effect, if it is any kind of vulgar, the Mage accrues 1 point of Paradox. 
* Any time more than 5 points of paradox is acquired at one time, storyteller may roll for backlash
* Die Pool for backlash: 1 Proficiency die, 1 Difficulty die/point of paradox
* Results: See Table 2.2. 
    * 2 threats = additional failure

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##### Table 2.2: Paradox Backlash Roll

| Failures | Effects of Discharge | 
|:---:|:---:|
|Triumph |All Paradox points discharge harmlessly|
|No Failures|No effects, but no paradox points discharge|
|1-5|One point of Paradox discharged per failure. Mage also suffers one die’s worth of strain damage per failure or acquires a trivial paradox flaw. |
|6-10|One point of paradox discharged per failure. Mage also suffers a Burn of one die of strain damage per success or acquires a minor paradox flaw. |
|11-15|Usual paradox point-discarage, as well as a Burn of wounds or acquire a minor paradox flaw|
|16-20|Usual paradox point-discharge as well as a burn of wounds and one point of permanent paradox or two of the following effects: a severe paradox flaw, a paradox spirit visitation, a moderate quiet, or banishment to a paradox realm|
|21+|Usual paradox discharage plus a burn of wounds w/ +40 crit, and one of the following effects: two points of permanent paradox, one dramatic paradox flaw, a paradox spirit fixitation, a severe quiet, or a banishment to a paradox realm|

Burn is basically a traumatic outflow of paradox that results in an explosion of damage in a radius from the Mage. Strain burn can be soaked, but wounds cannot.

See the M20 book Page 506 for more details on Quiet

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## The Spheres

Mage’s Spheres reflect a well-rounded knowledge of nine different yet interrelated elements of reality. In story terms, these nine constructs represent a sort of “unified- field theory” of Earthly metaphysics. In game terms, they measure what your characters do and cannot do, based upon their understanding of theoretical knowledge and practical results.

Each Sphere features five different levels of progress and result. That progression is represented by the number of dots in your Sphere
Trait.

When a mage begins working with a particular Sphere, her abilities follow a general progression of expertise. The more she understands that Sphere, the more she can do with it.

The levels of Sphere expertise feature five advancing steps:

1. Perception (in game terms, Sphere Rank 1): An initiate grasps the essential principles and begins to perceive the ways in which that Sphere behaves. A Correspondence initiate learns to spot connections and reckon distances; a Forces initiate notes elemental phenomena; and a Time initiate achieves an uncanny sense of the ebbs and flows of time. The mage can’t alter anything just yet, but she can put her observations to good use.
2. Manipulation (Sphere Rank 2): The mage begins to use the Sphere to make small alterations in her local reality. The Correspondence student can look across distances or pull small objects from “nowhere”; the Forces student can make burning candles flare or go out; and the Time student gains limited pre- and postcognition. Although not yet able to perform dramatic Effects, the mage gains a small degree of control over the Sphere’s principles... but for many tasks, a small degree of control is all you need.
3. Control (Sphere Rank 3): Achieving a greater level of accomplishment, the mage can make notable changes to elements connected with the Sphere. Our Correspondence devotee can step through intervening space; the Forces devotee could conjure winds or make fire leap; the Time devotee might speed up or slow down her speed relative to her surroundings. Remarkable feats become possible, and the mage approaches the realm of true wizardry.
4. Command (Sphere Rank 4): An impressive command of the Sphere in question allows the mage to perform dramatic feats. The Correspondence adept might appear in several places at once, the Forces adept conjures storms, and the Time adept can literally stop time in her vicinity. Even when such Effects aren’t obviously magick, the mage attains significant influence over the principles associated with that Sphere.
5. Mastery(SphereRank5):Magnificent feats become possible with such dominio nwithin the Sphere. Our Correspondence master can stack several places into a single location; the Forces master commands vast phenomena – firestorms, blizzards, even nuclear blasts; the Time master can step outside of time, achieve limited immortality, or travel back and forth through time. Literally godlike miracles greet the master of a Sphere, and Reality literally shapes itself to her whim

In addition to the 9 base spheres, there are a number of "alternate" spheres, other interpretations of existing spheres, found in the m20 book on page 511.

##### Correspondence
**The Principle of Connection**

Everything’s connected in some way. Despite centuries of what’s been called discrete phenomenon perception – that is, the idea that we’re all separate objects and entities that occasionally cross paths – both physics and metaphysics remind us that all things are intrinsically interconnected. Your actions affect me, my actions affect the dog next door, a butterfly flaps his wings and stirs up the proverbial hurricane... that basic idea. Those connections aren’t immediately apparent, of course. If we saw all of the connections between us, we’d probably go insane. It’s no wonder, then, that masters of Correspondence – the Sphere originally called Connection – often seem pretty weird. They perceive unity where the rest of us see division.

Correspondence is the anti-Ayn Rand principle. When you understand this Sphere, you start to recognize connections between places, people, and things, ultimately realizing that the idea of “places, people, and things” is all an illusion anyway. A Master of
this Sphere can step across distances, reach into one place and take something into another, and see into areas that appear to be far away unless you understand that all places are actually one single place. Like Papa Legba or the trickster god Hermes, a mage who deeply understands Correspondence transcends the idea of separation. He sees doorways where no one else notices them, learns to open them, and eventually becomes them.

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##### Entropy
**Fate, Fortune, and Decay**

Change is an innate law of the universe. If things stopped changing, everything would freeze into eternal stasis. Even then, though, such stasis is an illusion; sooner or later, that frozen state begins to decay. The Entropy Sphere, then, works with the forces of change and decay, speeding or slowing the effects of mortality.
Entropy throws open the box that holds Schrödinger’s cat. Its principles guide probability, inevitability, and the results of both. Masters of Entropy – who often seem morbid, fatalistic, or terribly cheerful – can force the hand of Chance, boost or destroy someone’s luck, degrade substances, and even destroy thoughts. Entropic mages tend to follow either order or chaos; devotees of order examine patterns and look for ways to reinforce them, whereas students of chaos look for ways to break down those same patterns and guide their energies toward a new beginning. Like the Fates who are often associated with this Sphere, mages pursuing Entropy pick up the threads of Creation, work with them, and eventually cut them off.

##### Forces
**The Principles of Elemental Might**

Earth. Air. Fire. Water. Long before the Periodic Table of elements existed, mages realized that the natural elements held power of their own. How could they not? Even now, when we live in houses more stable and climate-controlled than anything else in history (and for that, incidentally, you can thank the Technocracy), the power of a hurricane or firestorm can turn security to ruins. And so, of course, when our forebears turned their minds and powers toward control, the first place they looked for inspiration was probably the elements.

Forces is the Sphere of elemental energies. Although Matter deals primarily in the products of Earth and Water, and Spirit and Prime deal with the Fifth Essence (which is either Spirit or Quintessence, depending on who you ask), the Forces Sphere allows a mage to understand, influence, and eventually command the powers of Air and Fire. Beyond that, this Sphere also grants power over the invisible Forces that drive all earthly elements: gravity, momentum, light, darkness, and even – at its highest levels – the titanic power of the atom. And because of all that, masters of this Sphere command the most devastating energies on Earth.

“Forces” is an appropriate name for this Sphere. Its masters and manifestations are pretty damned forceful. Given the immense powers within their reach, it’s no wonder that Hermetic wizards, Taftáni weavers, and Technocratic troopers seem both arrogant and confident. In the realm of Zeus, you live and die by lightning’s hand. To wield this Sphere, you’ve got to be proud enough to throw your weight around, yet disciplined enough to know where – and where not – to hurl it.

##### Life
**Understanding the Living Form**

The frighteningly intimate Sphere of Life is not an Art for weak stomachs or squeamish minds. This visceral discipline celebrates the messy splendors of organic life. Beneath our skins and furs and scales, we’re all pulp and bones and vile fluids. The mage who understands Life accepts our frailties and learns how to heal them, exploit them, and twist them into interesting shapes. And to do that, you’ve got to get your hands very, very dirty.

The rawest and most carnal Art, Life requires both passion and compassion. Its masters are simultaneously the most loving and the most ruthless mages you’re ever likely to meet. These folks can change shapes, heal wounds, cure sickness, rend limbs, turn people into toads, grow trees with a glance, and turn enemies into writhing protoplasm. This is the Sphere of Kali, the Dark Mother who celebrates sex and carnage in her dance, or Aphrodite, whose favors hold the cruel beauty of Life itself.

##### Matter
** Mastery of Inert Substances**

Whereas Forces deals with ephemeral elements, Matter deals with things you can hold in your hands. The elemental principles of Earth, Water, and – in the Asian sense – Metal are the dominion of this Sphere and its adepts. Things that bend, break, hold firm, or give way retain solid Patterns... or maintain at least an illusion of solidity... in the Earthly realm, so this Art depends upon taking them apart, strengthening them, or transmuting them into something else.

(An important note: certain substances, like wood or cotton, are governed by the Life Sphere while they’re alive and governed by the Matter Sphere when life has fled. Bones, flesh, fur, and so on pass from Life into Matter when their animating energies are gone. As a result, certain substances that are both alive and dead – most notably, the uncanny forms of vampires – are governed by both Spheres together. Neither Life nor Matter can affect them alone, because they belong to the realms of both at once.)

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Matter is, in many respects, an associative Art. Mages often combine it with other Spheres to create greater effects. Prime combined with Matter weaves objects out of apparent nothingness; Time combined with Matter takes objects out of the normal time stream; Entropy combined with Matter causes things to erode; Spirit and Matter shift those things to spiritual ephemera. Although it’s a potent Sphere in its own right, Matter works best when its properties blend with those of other Spheres.

Matter specialists tend to be what you might call crafty, working with their hands, often gauging, tinkering, or deconstructing objects for the sake of further knowledge. Most, if not all, of these mages master arts like carpentry and stonework, and each one of them can hold forth for hours about metallic properties or different grains of wood. Like Daedalus, the godlike inventor from whom early Technocrats took their name, Matter is ingenious yet dependable. Behind apparent inflexibility, they’ll often surprise you, because experts in this field understand how mutable so-called solid materials can be.

##### Mind
**Exploration of Consciousness**

“It’s all in your head.” How often have you heard that particular dismissal? And yet, as Mind adepts will tell you, everything in existence is “all in our heads.” Each thought, each sensation, every emotional realization or abstract perception manifests through electrical impulses in the brain that get processed by consciousness. That consciousness is the playground of the Mind Sphere, and its experts can turn everything you thought you knew about reality inside out.

Certain Mind-mages see consciousness as an untouchable abstraction; others view the brain as a complex computer, to be programmed and downloaded at will. Both schools of thought appear to hold some vision of the truth. Consciousness clearly reaches beyond mere physicality, and yet it’s chained – at least for most folks – to our physical forms. In time, a Mind master learns how to uncouple his mental process from his physical state and then project his mind off on astral journeys. Even then, however, a hard blow to the head can scramble his brain and throw his mental mastery out the nearest window.

Mind is one of the fuzzier Spheres – more of an art than a science. Where Matter, Life, and Forces deal with things you can touch and measure, Mind reaches into abstract fields. Thoughts, feelings, impressions, identity – these are the tools and toys of mental magicks. And so, if Mind adepts seem somewhat... heady at times, there are good reasons for their “thought-full” state. Like Odin One-Eye, the trickster seer, such mages scan the horizon, sending out Thought and Memory as their guides.

##### Prime
**Exploration of Quintessential Energies**

As I mentioned earlier, there’s a Primal Essence that pulses within all things. Whether it’s bound up into Patterns or flowing through concepts and potential, this Quintessence forms the basis for our world. Mages who explore the mysteries of Prime understand the ebbs and flows of this sublime essence – the “Blood of the Dragon” and the seminal fluid of the gods.

Prime Arts study energies and forms, spotting traces of Quintessence in or between each Pattern and then channeling them to suit the purpose of a mage. Masters of this Sphere can follow Quintessential flows, taste the Resonance of certain energies, shift those energies in or out of Patterns, and thus bring things into being or drain them of the power to be real. Most willworkers know the basics of this Sphere, but very few manage to master it. Prime’s a slippery Art, easily obscured by esoterica.

As students of the Primal Utility Theory can tell you, Prime energies tend to ebb and flow around living things... most especially around people. When human beings invest themselves, emotionally and intellectually, in something, that something tends to gather Prime energies. Your favorite shirt has more Prime energy than one just purchased off the rack at a store because you have put more of yourself into that Pattern and its energies. Thus, certain students of the Prime principles view their magick in terms of strange math and hypereconomics, calculating the sublime energies involved in transactions between living and unliving things. By tracing those connections, they believe, you can manipulate those energies as well.

Like the energy for which it’s named, the Prime Sphere is sublime, transcending firm analysis or concrete definitions. Its adepts speak in riddles and metaphors, often blazing with charisma and robust health. Yet despite their bright personas, they have quicksilver personalities. Prime is the milk of Kuan Yin, the spit of Jesus, the blood of Tiamat – an essence both rarified and vulgar, whose properties energize all things.

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##### Spirit
**Accord with Spiritual Essence and Emanations**

Despite materialistic preconceptions, any mage – even a Technocratic one – understands that matter is just part of Creation’s Tapestry. Beyond the physical mass of Matter, the consciousness of Mind, and the energies of Forces and Prime, there’s the ephemeral quality of Spirit: an element distilled from – or perhaps the originating source of – those other components. In some schools of occult thought, Spirit is the fifth element, the rarified soul-stuff of the Universe at large. To other outlooks, Spirit is the core of every living thing, the Resonance of life, or the alternate dimensions to the Earthly plane. All perspectives agree on this much: Spirit transcends the physical elements, yet it has a consciousness all its own.

One of the earliest magickal pursuits, the Spirit Sphere encompasses the Otherworlds, Umbral entities, and the principles of the human soul. Like Mind, it’s impossible to quantify with precise measurements. The word spirit comes from the Latin term for breathing, so certain mages call this Art “the Breath of the World.” This is the primal Art of the shaman and the priest, the bridge between what we feel with our hands and what we feel with our souls.

(Dimensional Science specialists have a somewhat more scientific approach to this weird Sphere. Even then, though, they often admit that many things remain beyond the reach of science... for the moment, anyway.)

Spiritual mages have an otherworldly air about them – sometimes spacey, often serene, frequently capricious, and occasionally cruel. They tend to get impatient with the importance that folks place upon material things. Spirit magicks echo with the cackle of Coyote and the throaty laugh of Baron Samedi – a mockery of the so-called real world and its denial of infinity.

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##### Time
**The Perceptionof Chronological Flow**

The most confounding Art of all, Time skirts the strange domain of Chronos, titan of eternity. The Ecstatic Tradition once named itself after that legendary titan, and few other mages understand Time’s principles as well as the Ecstatics do. More abstract than Mind, more ephemeral than Spirit, this Art dizzies anyone who tries to understand it. Mages who manage to unravel Time’s mysteries can look forward or backward, slow or speed time’s momentum, or even step outside the passing minutes, hours, and years of our lives.
Like Correspondence, the Time Sphere confounds rational analysis. Its principles go against everything you’ve been taught to believe. Perhaps the human mind needs drugs in order to accommodate such levels of temporal dislocation. We all get those feelings that “this has happened before” or “this seems to take foreverrrr...” Only a Time mage, though, can truly comprehend the fluid nature of time and turn it to her advantage.

Like running water, time has currents, tides, and undertows. Going with its flow is far easier than going against it. Mages who work with time understand that turning back the clock is incredibly difficult, even for masters of this Sphere. If you think of time like a strong tide – pushing against you with unfathomable force, splashing you when you struggle to push back – then you’ll understand why certain feats, like time-travel, are vulgar as far as the Consensus is concerned.

Time masters tend to be either dreamily distracted or fanatically precise. They can be punctual within a split second, answer questions you haven’t asked yet, and speak in an eternal present tense. There’s no past, present, or future to the masters of Time. In the words of Janis Joplin, “It’s all the same fucking day, man”... a day they can stretch or compress at will.

Whether you view the Spheres with a Tradition’s respect, a Technocratic analysis, or some other cultural outlook, these nine principles give you a metaphysical toolkit. Combined with Awakened awareness, focused belief, and dedicated willpower, the Spheres turn the keys in Reality’s doorway and invite you in to have a look around. For those of us who understand their ways, there is no truer form of magick. Lesser sorcerers and Night-Folk have their own powers, true enough. None of them, though, can do the things we do.

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## New Skills and Talents

### Skills

##### Cosmology (Intellect)

this skill reflects a working knowledge of the puzzling Otherworlds beyond the Earthly plane. With it, you stand a decent chance of finding your way around out there without getting yourself killed. (Without it, you’re seriously screwed.) The specific way in which you view the Otherworlds will depend a lot on what you expect to see there; this Knowledge simply gives you the tools to navigate paths, spot hazards, deal with entities, and recognize opportunities or threats when you run across them

#####  Do (Agility)

Often mistaken for a mere martial art, Do is the devotion to a way of life. A time-honored secret of the Akashic Brotherhood (who began to hide its practice when Do was abused by lesser souls), the art is occasionally taught to non-Brothers in the interest of keeping Do alive.

Although it’s reflected by a unique collection of combat maneuvers and magickal techniques, the Way is far more than a simple series of advantages. In story terms, Do is a highly disciplined state of being. Diet, philosophy, meditation, internal and external reflection, and a refined sense of one’s place in the cosmos all characterize the study of Do; a character who does not pursue each element of that study cannot master the art’s benefits. The Storyteller should make sure that a practitioner of Do acts accordingly. If the character behaves with selfish excess, he loses his ability to access Do. In many regards, Do is much more than a few dots on a character sheet. To the mages who pursue it, Do invests, guides, and enhances everything they do.

#####  High Ritual (Willpower)

There’s both an art and a science to a good rite. You’ve studied not only the techniques and trappings of ritual practices but also the symbolic, psychological, and metaphysical principles behind the big show. In general, this Talent reflects a familiarity with rituals appropriate to your spiritual or magickal pursuits; a Catholic priest understands the various Church ceremonies, whereas an Eleusinian priestess knows her way around Greek mystery rites. Beyond that knowledge, though, you understand not only the rituals of your chosen practice but also possess a gift for staging rituals in general

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#####  Knowledge: Occult (Intellect)

Aren’t mages occult by their very nature? Yes and no. This Knowledge represents a working comprehension of the mystic world as most people understand it; in short, then, such knowledge is often misleading, incomplete, or flat-out wrong. A decent rating in this Trait (three dots or higher) helps you sort the truth from the bullshit... but by then, you’ve also begun to understand how deep the occult rabbit-hole really goes.

“Occult” means hidden for very good reasons, and even the most skillful occultists often don’t know nearly as much as they think they do. Being a mage does not automatically confer accurate understanding of other practices – in fact, it often muddies the waters even more! Still, this Ability grants you a decent overview of mystic practices, philosophies, lore, history, arcane cultures, and so-called secrets. Of course, they’re all secrets by definition... or at least that’s the theory, anyway.

#####  Knowledge: Esoterica (Intellect)

Esoteric knowledge comes in many forms: astrology, angelography, fortune-telling, yoga, herbalism, demonology, the lore of stones, even the secret code languages of occult societies. For centuries, such mysteries were the province of selected initiates; these days, it’s relatively easy to find the basics in any decent bookstore or website. Even so, the deeper levels remain obscure to all but the most devoted students of the art. Anyone can take a yoga class in the modern world, but the more arcane applications of that art demand years of practice, study, and devotion.

The Esoterica Knowledge reflects your pursuit of esoteric disciplines and, by extension, provides instruments for your magickal focus. The skills’s overall rating reflects your general knowledge of arcane subjects, whereas each specialty reflects your expertise within a certain field. Unlike the Occult Knowledge – which reflects an understanding of “secret history” and shadow-cultures – Esoterica represents the practical application of unusual fields. Occult can teach your character who Aleister Crowley was, while Esoterica helps her understand what Crowley did... and to use those principles herself. In short, this Knowledge sums up a lot of previous editions’ Abilities into a single united Trait.

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#####  Lore (Intellect)

You know more about the Night-Folk than they’d appreciate you knowing. Sure, your understanding gets filtered through the lens of your own group’s perspective, but it’s more than the average person... or mage... comprehends. For mystic mages, such knowledge is considered Lore: the hidden secrets of vampires, werecreatures, and the like. Among Technocrats, it’s known as RD Data: information about the clandestine affairs of Reality Deviants whose very existence presents a threat to the Consensus.

Different Lore categories include: Spirits, Fae, Werecreatures, Vampires, Ghosts, Hunters, Demons, Mages (naturally...), and potentially others as well. Each Lore/ RD Data category counts as a separate Lore specialty; knowing about Sabbat Kindred won’t teach you anything about Seelie Fae Kith. The Well-Skilled Craftsman option may help you assemble a formidable amount of information about various groups within those categories. Even then, however, your knowledge will be full of holes, misconceptions, prejudices, and lies. These secretive beings don’t even have accurate appraisals of themselves, so an outsider (especially a Technocratic one) has obvious disadvantages in that regard as well.

### Talents

The following Backgrounds from Mage20 may be bought as Tier 1, Passive, Ranked Talents: Avatar, Chantry, Wonder, Familiar.

Other Backgrounds or Merits/Flaws from M20 may be bought as desired. Discuss with your ST.

##### Avatar

Awakening defines the mage. Whether she refers to it as some mystic inner god or the scientifically explainable Enlightenment of higher consciousness, the Avatar allows a willworker to do the things she does. Some Avatars, though, are more potent and effective than others. This Talent measures your Awakened self, reflects its ability to shift and hold Quintessence, and determines how real it is in your character’s perceptions.

Every mage character has an Avatar of some kind; unless you purchase at least one dot in this Talent, however, your ability to actually do much with your magick is extremely limited. Although your magick-casting rolls are based on Arete, not the Avatar, your character won’t be able to use Quintessence to aid her spells. A mage’s ability to absorb or employ Quintessence is based on the Avatar Trait. Her higher self, too, is weak – more of an ember than a bonfire. A high Avatar rating, though, reflects a higher self whose distinct personality seems very real to the mage in question.

##### Chantry

In the hazardous world of the Awakened, it’s always a good idea to have some like-minded associates and a stronghold with some fair security. Since the Golden Age of Wizardry, such places have been called Covenants: centers where a group of allied mages stake out territory, consolidate resources, and agreed to assist and defend one another when need be. By the 20th century, Tradition mages call those places Chantries, and other mages call them by whatever sounds like a culturally appropriate name (temple, lodge, mosque, etc.).

In game terms, a Chantry is a base of operations. A character with this Talent belongs to such a base and has certain benefits from, and responsibilities to, the group that maintains that base.

Because Mage’s character-creation rules assume that beginning characters are new to the Awakened game, a character with this Talent begins as a low-ranking member of an established stronghold. She gets the benefit of a belonging to a group of older and more experienced peers (who are probably Storyteller-run characters), but starts off at the bottom of the pecking order too. The elders have her doing errands and chores around the Chantry, and she lacks political clout within the group. Growing beyond that stage is one of the keys to a young mage’s journey.

A group of mystic mages can also create their own Chantry. By pooling points among the members, the group can assemble the resources necessary to build a place of its own. In game terms, these construction points reflect time, money, favors, labor, and other things spent in the process of establishing the stronghold. (A point-based building system was included in The Book of Chantries, but that system has since been discarded.) The more points the group assembles, the larger the Chantry can become.

A Chantry or Construct can take whatever form seems appropriate. One might be a rural woodland grove; another could be an abandoned movie theater; a third may be a secluded mad laboratory; and a fourth sets up shop in an office building, Viking longhouse, law firm, or machine shop. Low- level Chantries and Constructs have a few mundane resources – some magickal wards, a security system, perhaps a handful of unAwakened aides, communication services, and so forth. At the Mystic Chantry level, the place can get a few paranormal trappings: scrying pools, portals to Horizon Realms, spirit guardians, that sort of thing. Strongholds and Power Centers have extensive mundane and magickal/ hypertech resources; such places should be hashed out in detail with the Storyteller and demand huge investments of time, power, labor, and materials.

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The stability of this pool depends on the continued cooperation and survival of the contributors. If a mage quits or gets killed, his points are lost. If the entire group fractures, all points are lost and the Chantry dissolves. Surviving members might pool some experience points and make up the difference for the lost contribution. Otherwise, that Chantry joins the many broken fellowships and strongholds sprinkled throughout mage history.

##### Familiar

Animal allies remain an integral part of the classical mage’s mystique. Who hasn’t heard of the witch’s cat, the telepathic steed, the wolf-brother, or the lab-assistant made of spare parts and ingenuity? Tradition calls such entities familiars, and most of the Nine Traditions tend to use that name as well. Other groups, as usual, employ their own names: assistants, brothers, soul-beasts, spirit animals, and so forth.
Although the Technocracy does not officially acknowledge such deviation from protocol in its ranks, certain Technocrats – especially among the Progenitors, the New World Order, and Iteration X – have been known to employ Companions: cybernetically enhanced critters, bioengineered experiments, clones, and so on. Lab animals have their intelligence and capabilities boosted with the wonders of hyperscience, and vat-grown humans with perfect skin and dazzling features stock the offices and bordellos of Syndicate bosses. Out on the murky fringes where protocol becomes a stern suggestion, Void Engineers work alongside friendly(?) aliens and technologically modified Earth creatures. These Companions, of course, are nothing like those superstitionist familiars – such comparisons would be tantamount to treason! And yet, it’s funny how much Companions and Familiars have in common. In game terms, of course, they’re pretty much the same thing. Technocrats define their bonding ceremonies and feeding procedures differently, but the Background Trait works the same way for both definitions.
A Familiar/ Companion’s primary role involves companionship. Mages lead strange lives that often remove them from normal human interactions, and just as people crave pets of various species, mages crave the company of entities that understand those strange lives they lead. It might seem weird to staff your lab with hyperintelligent mice (and downright crazy to fill it with hyperintelligent apes!), but when weirdness defines your daily life, those companions seem perfectly appropriate. With very few exceptions, these creatures have at least a human level of intelligence, enigmatic levels of perception and arcane wisdom, and at least one or two physical abilities beyond what you might expect from a normal animal or person.

Whatever form your associate takes, the Familiar/ Companion has a mind and consciousness of its own, with agendas and desires you might assume but never truly know. There’s always something vaguely alien about them, and not even the greatest Mind-based Arts can completely penetrate the thought process of such entities.

In game terms, this Background – like Allies and Mentor – reflects a character affiliated with the player and yet created and run by the Storyteller. Beyond companionship, that character confers several other benefits onto his mage:

* Advice - The Familiar/ Companion has access to certain types of information and can lend insights to his associated mage. Generally, this works as a handful of Knowledges – Cosmology, Enigmas, Occult, and possibly some others – from which the Familiar/ Companion can offer suggestions to his mage. The dice pool for that Trait equals X for each dot in the Talent
* Empathy - The mage and her Companion share an emotional bond and each can sense what the other is feeling. In order to conceal those feelings, a character must make a successful Cool roll with difficulty equal to the Talent rating.
* Paradox Nullification - When an impending Paradox backlash threatens the Companion’s mage, or when that mage absorbs dangerous amounts of Paradox energies, the Familiar can absorb a certain amount of those energies. So long as the Companion stays close to his mage, usually within 10 yards (33 feet) or so, he can bleed off a few points from a mage’s Paradox trait or consume a pending backlash. The Familiar can hold up to five points of Paradox for each dot in the Talent

##### Wonder

A wonder by any name is still as sweet... and you have one. What’s a Wonder? Perhaps it’s a mystic Talisman imbued with magickal power; a Fetish whose strange properties come from a spirit bound within its form; or a Technocratic or weird-science Device, shaped by Enlightened Science into something that transcends mortal technology. In game terms, a Wonder is simply an item with Sphere Effects of its own. Although such items, with a few exceptions, usually work only for mages, the Wonder’s form and function depend on the people who created it and the methods involved in its creation.

So long as your Storyteller agrees, a Wonder can be anything: an oak branch carved with Nordic runes, a plasma cannon, a robotic SUV, a bank card that skims money from every account held by that bank, an enchanted guitar, an owl -feather pen that writes in any human language... the Wonder’s form and function can, within limits, be whatever you want them to be. Certain terms (Fetish, Device, etc.) define particular types of items. The Toybox section of Appendix II (see pp. 651-653) features details, rules, and an array of sample Wonders.

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Wonders can be temperamental... especially Fetishes, whose guiding spirits have personalities of their own. Even Devices, however, can seem uncannily stubborn, as anyone with a finicky car or computer can attest. They tend to have odd effects on the people who use them, especially mages who rely upon Wonders the way Elric of Melniboné relies upon his sword Stormbringer. In many cases, Wonders have elaborate backstories about their creation, history, and deeds. If your character begins play with a Wonder, work out an intriguing history and description of that item, then pass it off to your Storyteller for approval and further elaboration. Chances are, your Wonder will have secrets you won’t know about. Ideally, a Wonder is more than a simple “magic item”; instead, it’s a miracle in material form – solid proof of magick’s reality.

see M20 page 328 for more details on wonders

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## Factions

This document will not attempt to reproduce fully M20's history of the traditions of the Mage setting. Instead, each of these sections will briefly describe a faction, its affinity sphere, and the kinds of Favors one can owe and invoke by aligning with them.

In addition to the Factions listed here, there are number of additional groups in the M20 book starting on page 166 including the technocratic union orders and the Disparates that you may use.

##### The Akashayana

##### The Celestial Chorus

##### The Chakravanti

##### The Kha'vadi

##### The Order of Hermes

##### The Virtual Adepts

##### The Sahajiya

##### The Society of Ether

##### The Verbenae

##### The Hollow Ones

##### The Orphans

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#### Change Log

##### 8/28/19

* First Draft of Doc. Still pending Faction write-ups and character sheet.

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