Ngoma

*Gold is merely dirt that shines. To be enlightened, you must become the sun.*

Storytellers of old wove yarns of clever animals living and thriving within the vast and beautiful African landscape, puzzling out the riddles of life, the universe, and the many worlds that exist within it. Those tales became a symbolic method through which the Ngoma – the great scholar-wizard-priests of the Central African nations – shared the knowledge they had discovered. Though such stories, the people, and the landscape have changed, the work of the Ngoma is much the same as it has always been: observation, contemplation, education, and rejuvenation.

Originating in the ancient rituals of Nubia and Egypt, this venerable sect began as the Ngo-Ami, wizard-priests of Classical Africa. But as Romans, Persians, and Muslims pushed their empires into Nubia, the Ngo-Ami took their Arts and migrated further into the African interior, eventually taking on the name Ngoma. There, they prospered; during medieval Europe’s Dark Ages, the African kingdoms enjoyed a now-lost golden age. At the height of the age, the Ngoma served as counselors to great rulers, as healers, priests, teachers, and philosophers. So great was their renown that they caught the attention of European magi, who invited them to the Grand Convocation. Alas, prejudice and privilege blocked the Ngoma’s recognition as equals on par with the Hermetics or the Solificati. Lumped in with the rest of the shamans and spirit speakers, the offended Ngoma withdrew from this Council that preferred to integrate them into the Dreamspeakers rather than offer them their own Tradition.

As history tells us, the resulting years were harsh. Slavers pushed into Africa’s interior, devastating its cultures to feed an inexhaustible lust for slaves. The Ngoma saw their schools and cities, lands, and peoples exploited and decimated by plague, starvation, and war. Cities fell, bloodlines were severed, and ancient ways (and the secret languages that conveyed them) were all but lost. Yet, as the Ngoma now see things, those holocausts became a refining fire – a lesson in humility and gratitude for a sect that had, for most of its existence, been revered as something akin to the divine. The old ceremonies and rituals – now held in even higher regard simply because enough wizardpriests survived to perform them – took on greater meaning and significance. The preservation of knowledge, as well as the gathering of it, became a much higher priority. And from all those terrible years, the Ngoma learned to recognize – as they never had before – the telltale signs of corruption.

Aside from a small contingent among the Houses of Hermes, the Ngoma have been considered lost. Such misconceptions fit their purposes. Rather than preserving some dated reenactment of their ancient form, they are now what they were in the classical era: urbane sophisticates of their age. These millennial Ngoma have proven to be excellent students and frugal stewards of the Arts that have been passed down to them. Fiercely aware that the lineage of traditional magick in Central Africa might have vanished without the valiant efforts of their ancestors, they have big ideas for the future of their rich and varied continent. Today’s Ngoma enjoy respect as professors, doctors, scientists, astrologers, and the like, but they also serve the people as astrophysicists, politicians, architects, financiers, and philanthropists.

## Organization

Those Ngoma who survived the scourges of the slave trade and colonial exploitation re-established the magickal schools for which they were renowned. Out of necessity, these schools remain more hidden than they used to be in the old days. Because the Ngoma recognize the importance of preserving their devastated knowledge, rituals, and traditions, these schools now span the globe, providing essential training in a wide variety of magickal practices: spirit speech, herb work, spellcrafting, storytelling, and geomancy.

As with most elements of African culture, elders instruct their younger initiates. Age and experience remain prized attributes within Ngoma society. An elder Kitjito (“Oasis”) provides instruction to his kuwaneko (“thirsty one,” as in “thirsty for knowledge”), providing lessons in magick, science, African history and lore, and the ancient languages of Nubian arcana – most especially Ufungoto, the “Key-Tongue” in which spirits are said to speak. Kitujita often send their kuwanakada off to study with other elders too, conferring a wide range of disciplines and specialties. As with Hermetic magi, knowledge and scholarship are essential elements of Ngoma training. Ngoma believe that a wide vessel holds more water, so a broad range of knowledge confers a greater range of possibilities.

## Initiation

Within the African continent, a newly Awakened mage might locate a Ngoma school all by himself; outside Africa, a potential initiate generally needs to find (or be found by) a Kitjito, who begins his initial training and then refers him to a school… often paying the entrance and travel fees herself so that the kuwaneko can concentrate on his studies without worrying about finances. Training typically involves years of study and includes vision quests and magickal ordeals. Non-Awakened students who display exceptional potential are encouraged to learn as much as possible; even if such a student never Awakens, he might find a place within the vast secret support networks upon which the Ngoma rely.

## Focus

Knowledge unlocks the various chambers of Art and possibility. Because spirits and departed Ancestors provide answers for many secrets, outsiders often mistake the Ngoma for shamans. This is not the case; the spirits offer guidance, but the knowledge and the Arts depend upon each Ngoma, not upon Otherworldly favors

Guided by paradigms of Divine Order and Earthly Chaos where Tech Holds All Answers, Ngoma employ High Ritual Magick with a deep component of faith and modern applications of alchemy, hypertech, medicine-work, craftwork, reality hacking, and hypereconomics and its associated Art of Desire. Although some Ngoma choose to work with the traditional tools of their Ancestors, most Suktamke (“those who provide a push”) employ a mix of ancient and technological tools. Knowledge, after all, is not bound to a single era.