Paradigms (Mage)

## Common Mage Paradigms

The P-word catches lots of flack in Mage. Really, though, paradigm is a pretty simple idea. A paradigm is a model that reflects the way something works. Mage paradigms represent the various belief systems that Awakened and unAwakened people use to understand the world they share.

The most common belief systems you’ll find in Mage: The Ascension include:

### A Mechanistic Cosmos

Creation is essentially a machine. By understanding it, we can elevate ourselves to a superior state. All things possess an intrinsic sense of order, and chaos is an illusion that conceals a deeper form of symmetry. Although it’s most obviously identified with the Technocracy, this paradigm goes back at least as far as Classical Greece. The “divine watchmaker” concept from Enlightenment Deism, certain forms of Gnosticism, and the postmodern concept of reality hacking all stem from this image of a systematic and comprehensible cosmos.

To the mechanistic viewpoint, enlightenment includes a clear-eyed view of the cosmic machine. Through it might be perceived through lenses of godhead, those divinities are still part of the system. Magick, therefore, is an Enlightened Science through which a person tweaks the gears. Metaphysical practices are simply toolkits for the people who know how to tinker with reality.

### A World of Gods and Monsters

In this view, Creation is fundamentally irrational, dangerous, and filled with powerful forces, most of which are hostile. Nothing makes sense for very long, and apparent safety can give way at any moment and plunge us into chaos. Magick, science, and faith are tools we use, like fire and steel, to keep the threats at bay; those tools give us a leg up on our ancestors, but in the end we’re all utterly fucked. Under this view, magick is a cosmic weapon, and using it makes you a monster too. Those gods and monsters hold the keys to magick, and if they like you (or if you kick their ass), they might share those powers with you… so long as your sanity holds out.

The dark side of existential philosophy, this model insists that everything is meaningless. Paradoxically, it’s both a very primitive viewpoint and a completely modern one. In the World of Darkness, it’s literally true – there really are vampires and evil spirits all over the place. Human beings are prey for beings that are essentially gods, and mages frequently become those godly monsters themselves. Although it often comes across as the mordant creed of Hollow Ones and other orphans, this model finds its way into the supposedly refined beliefs of many Tradition, Technocracy, and Disparate mages… and, of course, into the delusions of Marauders and the malicious truths of the Nephandi, for whom its reality becomes one of their greatest philosophical weapons. After all, when the werewolf’s at your door, the world seems pretty fucking irrational – and very obviously monstrous.

### Aliens Make Us What We Are

What we call “magick” is not magical at all. It is science – alien science. Advanced ideas advance humanity, and our ideas come from a source far greater than the human mind – not “god,” but the technology of advanced races from the stars. You can see their fingerprints all over human history: pyramids, ley lines, the weird coincidences that reveal more-than-human hands at work in our reality. Yes, you may call such things “divine providence” if you like, but the clear mind recognizes science when we see it. As for the idea of aliens – seriously, is the concept that much more absurd than the genocidal sky-faerie revered by the so-called “people of the book,” who worship Iron-Age mythology as if it had some relevance in a world that’s left such foolishness behind? Through mathematical probability alone, the idea of higher intelligences visiting here from alien worlds is infinitely greater than the probability of a raging father-god whose grand plans for humanity hinge upon madmen who wandered millennia ago through one of the least hospitable places on earth. You can have your superstitions – your earth-spirits and sky-gods and all that other nonsense. Higher beings do exist, the evidence for that conclusion is clear enough, but our benefactors and occasional enemies have been aliens, not gods!

To those who accept the existence of advanced intelligences but reject the quaint idea of gods, there’s only one acceptable paradigm: alien influence and technology. Certain folks who do believe in “gods” maintain that those supposedly divine beings are (or were) in fact, alien beings from a highly advanced world. On the darker and more nihilistic end of that spectrum, you’ve got the supposition (or worse still, the certainty) that our “gods” are illusions and that the true “lords of this world” are alien entities of malevolent intent… sleeping now, perhaps, but apt to awaken at any moment and plunge this world back into primordial chaos. The Latin root, alienus, means “of or belonging to (an)other,” and so regardless of the origins and intentions of these beings, the aliens are not us… and yet, something about us is reliant upon their presence and legacy.

The arguments in favor of alien technology that seems magical to us silly human apes include the apparently drastic uplift of humanity from all other primates, the staggering architectural feats of ancient peoples, the prevalence of alien-like presence throughout history, and the mathematical odds that there’s something else out there that’s not only intelligent but is far more intelligent than we are. For mages who’ve experienced the Umbral Realms (which many have), the presence of such unearthly landscapes proves the existence of alien worlds and entities. According to the Technocracy, all “spirit worlds” and “Umbrood” are, in fact, extradimensional alien realms and beings that seem, for the most part, to be malignant toward humanity. Alien influence and technology, then, feels like a far more rational and plausible explanation than “magic” or “gods.” As a result, this paradigm is especially popular among technomancers of all kinds.

According to this paradigm, Awakened Enlightenment is our perception of alien-inspired consciousness, and “magick” is an understanding of principles and technologies that unEnlightened humans cannot grasp. The Avatar /Genius, then, is either an alien in telepathic contact with the mage, or else is a reflection of the mage’s own alien self. To some folks who adhere to this belief, we are aliens too… descendants, perhaps, of some greater race (which may or may not have had our best interests at heart) or their servitors. The legends we think we know are actually stories about alien visitations, garbled by millennia of folklore and flawed, egotistical translations. The reputed Pure Ones were extraterrestrial voyagers or exiles, and they passed their knowledge down to us in a form we now consider to be magick. Those “magical treasures” uncovered amidst ruins and forgotten archives are technological devices and texts. Maybe Jesus or Lucifer were aliens. Or aliens parted the Red Sea for Moses, dictated the Quran, Analects, and Ramayana, or raised the pyramids with technologies humanity still cannot grasp. Those ideas may be blasphemy to most folks, but alien-intelligence experts consider them to be just the tip of an extraterrestrial (or maybe extradimensional) iceberg. From Atlantis to Area 51 and beyond, aliens guide us, direct us, perhaps feed on us, and may well destroy us. (All that “lizard-people” stuff seems pretty reasonable once you’ve had a glimpse behind the scenes at the World of Darkness, doesn’t it…?) As a paradigm, then, Aliens Make Us What We Are lays most, if not all, of the Awakened world and its mysteries into the oddly comforting embrace of advanced intelligences, with “ascension” as it were, being the final reconciliation between a human “mage” and the true masters of the human realm.

### All Power Comes from God(s)

“Awakening” is a lie. In reality, a mage’s power comes from God or His Adversary. A mage is merely the human conduit for Divine or infernal essence. All mages are thus pieces in a game of cosmic forces – favored pieces, to be sure, but still vessels of their patron’s will. A mage, then, must remain reverent of her maker, grateful for her powers, and open to the call of That Whom She Serves. By extension, though, a mage who does not serve the proper godhead probably serves a rival god… or worse, the rebel Adversary who opposes God and therefore becomes anathema to all good servants of the Lord.

In a slightly different light, that mage might draw her powers from a deep sense of love for her god. Rather than being a pawn, she’s a devotee – perhaps even, as with the Sufi saint Rabia Basri, a chaste “lover” of her god. (In certain Pagan and Hindu traditions, there’s nothing chaste about that love at all – it’s divinely erotic instead.) Divine power still flows through that person, but it comes as a gift of love, not a mark of ownership.

The obvious paradigm for deeply religious mages, this belief-system rejects the idea that magick comes from the mage herself. Under this assumption, Awakening, the Avatar, Seekings, the Spheres, and even the Willpower Trait all become manifestations of the mage’s divine patron. It’s the power of God, Goddess, or the Gods that flows through the mage; that human vessel can strengthen or weaken her devotion and belief, but the ebb and flow of power are beyond her. Although this view presents a radical departure from the self-oriented mechanics of Mage’s magick system, the character’s belief system rejects the idea that the mage controls her mystical abilities. Instead, it’s her bond with Divinity that allows her to employ those abilities. And while Mage’s rules don’t require a tie to godhead before a mage can access their magick, that mage’s own beliefs may deny her such access if she feels she has broken faith with her god.

Obviously, a player who selects this paradigm must have a comprehensive concept of the mage’s godhead and its associated demands. Roleplaying that set of beliefs provides an essential part of this paradigm; it’s vital to all of them, really, but most especially to a belief-system that asserts a deity’s favor as the source of a mage’s power. If the mage stumbles from her Path, then she’ll be called to task by her god(s), if only because her own mind insists that it must be so. And because many gods can be rather bloodthirsty (even the supposedly “good ones”), a true believer in this paradigm has another name to folks who might not share her faith: fanatic, with all the potential excess that word implies.

### All the World’s a Stage

Maybe the Bard wasn’t being poetic when he expressed the idea of the world as a stage for actors playing our roles. Perhaps we really are acting out a pre-arranged show for the entertainment of cosmic voyeurs. Certain predeterminist religious creeds, after all, insist that God already has a predestined plan for everyone and everything, and by such reasoning we are all playing out roles and stories that make sense only if you see the really Big Picture. On a more jaded note, it’s not inconceivable to think that the world as we know it is an epic reality TV show that’s being staged for the benefit of immortal viewers. We could be a huge Truman Show production wherein we remain stuck with a nagging perception that there’s more going on than we’re allowed to see. To all these variations of a paradigm, mages are the folks who get a glimpse backstage, and who get to chew the scenery in ways that few other “actors” can match.

A peculiar take on Gnosticism, the world-stage paradigm assumes that magick comes either from a favored place in the production, a realization that this is all a big show, or both. A mage might see himself as a dude who got a glance at the stage directions… or who slept with the casting director… or who’s especially good at upstaging everyone else while improvising like mad. The improvisational aspect of Mage’s magick system fits this idea especially well, as Mage’s rules are based upon an improvisational approach to magick. Even without improvisation, though, the idea that you’re an actor in a cosmic drama (or perhaps a really dark comedy) is a powerful one, most especially in this era of movies, TV, and other mass-media productions. Given the deliberately staged nature of life in the twenty-first century, doesn’t that paradigm make a frightening amount of sense?

If you really want to get meta, this paradigm literally is true for roleplaying game characters. Their world is a stage, and they are roles being acted out by players. Perhaps a few characters realize this, and – Deadpool-like – even comment on their situation. Sure, that seems insane to everybody else but when that conceit reveals the true nature of the characters’ situation, the mage who recognizes it certainly understands more about their world than one who does not.

### Ancient Wisdom is the Key

The ancients understood more about reality than we ever will. Guided by profound insights –possibly also by alien helpmates, divine helpmates, or divine helpmates who were actually aliens – the primordial civilizations (Mu, Meru, Atlantis, Hyperborea, or whatever names those ancient peoples used to define themselves) employed advanced arts and /or technologies that have since been lost to all but a handful of modern folk. The mages who’ve uncovered those secrets, though, can use them to advance their understanding of reality and unlock the doors to vast understanding.

According to this paradigm – one that’s especially favored by certain Etherite factions, throwback technomancers, Theosophists, “ancient world” mystics, and, of course, the Akashayana – the decadent modern era has lost sight of true wisdom. Only by returning to the legacies of cultures that have been “lost” to the view of conventional history can a person achieve true enlightenment. Shortcuts exist, of course – otherwise all mages would pursue those ancient practices, which clearly isn’t true. Those shortcuts, though, contain the taint of corruption and the self-imposed limitations of decadence. Only the Revered Ancients possessed the purest sort of insight, and so only the mages who grasp such concepts may truly Ascend.

What sort of wisdom did those ancients possess? That really depends upon who you ask. Certain cultures, such as Atlantis, were renowned for advanced technology – tech that may appear “magical” to the uninitiated, and which might have caused the downfall of their civilization. Others, such as the “perfection” of Mount Meru, embraced metaphysical disciplines which brought fallible people closer to spiritual attunement. Psychic refinements, chemical compounds, achievements of musical harmony… all these tools are reputed to have been among the treasures of the ancient world. Some mages favor a single form of discipline, while others employ a wide range of techniques and technologies that supposedly originate among the ancient culture of choice. The Chronicles of Darkness game Mage: The Awakening features a wide range of practices that are rooted in an ancient world, and although that magick system is not suited to the rules of Mage: The Ascension, a player who enjoys both games could adopt story elements from one to fit the rules of the other.

The Revised Edition Sons of Ether Tradition Book features Etherite scientists who favor ancient technologies, and the legendary Doc Eon included such secrets among his mental, physical, and technological arsenal. The Akashic Art of Do is reputed to preserve an unbroken legacy from the earliest days of human civilization, and the horrific Arts of certain Nephandi are said to employ the lore of demon-haunted cities and the implacable primal Void. The ancients, it seems, had a good many secrets… and if a modern mage can find wisdom among them, then that mage will light the shadows of the present with the fire of the past.

### Bring Back the Golden Age!

Once upon a time, goes this paradigm, everything was perfect. God or the Gods reigned in glory, and people held a valued, though submissive, place in this Earthly paradise.

And then something broke it. Maybe that catastrophe involved disobedient human beings, rebellious gods or angels, an invasion of savage horse nomads, or some other upheaval that signaled an end to the Golden Age and the beginning of an era of misery. It’s an archetypal story that echoes from monotheistic scriptures to neopagan lore. We had a good thing once, it goes, and we lost it – so it’s up to us to win it back!

Magick or Enlightenment, in this system, comes from your connection to that Golden Age, its ideals, its ancient wisdom, and the power it once had and will have again. This belief finds its way into the Tradition stories about life before Technocratic rule… and also into the ideals of New Avalon, which are held by certain Technocrats. It provides the foundation for the Akashic Arts, which recall a lost sense of human perfection. In a warped sort of way, it even shapes a Nephandic point of view, wherein Primal Chaos was usurped by Light and so everything must be returned to the Dark before the proper order is restored.

### Consciousness is the Only True Reality

“Reality” is the construct of our perceptual experiences. Rather than an objective existence that appears more or less as we perceive it whether or not we’re there to observe it (the old “if a tree falls in the forest” argument), the universe is actually an interplay of energies whose perceived forms come from the interplay of consciousness, perception, and interpretation. In plain English, we exist within a hallucination whose form is dictated by what we think it is, because “thought” is the only true measure of what is and is not “real.”

A scientific variation on the Everything’s an Illusion paradigm, this model of reality asserts that everything we experience as “real” comes from our perception of what’s going on. Because certain perceptions are commonly observed (rocks are hard, we walk on the ground, and so forth), our interactions within this mental construct are fairly constant, measurable, and communicable. Radical shifts in perception and experience, however, radically shift reality as well. I, for example, can say “I have a headache,” and you can relate to that experience because you’ve had one too; neither headache, though, can be measured by an outside source – scans can track dilating blood vessels, brain synapses, and so on, but only I know what my headaches feels like, and only you know what your headache feels like. The reality of those headaches is “all in our heads,” so to speak. So are the color red, the sound of eagle cries, and the sensation of skin on skin. Memories are even more ephemeral, immeasurable by any “objective” form of observation or quantification, and yet “real” enough to cause physiological changes that are measurable. Such phenomena are all indisputably “real,” yet possess no material substance. Materialists assert that only the physical realm is “real,” but that clearly is not true. The existence of the Digital Web and its mundane shadow, the Internet, prove as much.

Jeeze, no wonder we’ve got headaches!

Mages who assert this paradigm tend to be… well, “heady” is the right word for them! They speak in paradoxes, often employing terms that sound like a graduate student thesis on particle physics, as puked up by Carlos Castaneda during a midnight showing of The Matrix. Typically blending technological practices and instruments with brain-breaking mathematics and Asian metaphysics, these devotees of consciousness gravitate toward the Mercurial fringes of the Virtual Adepts, the more esoteric sorts of Etherites, and the tech-infused Ecstatic Cultists. That said, you’ll find this paradigm being argued among visionary Technocratic operatives too, especially on the fringes of Iteration X, the NWO, and the Void Engineers – Conventions whose sciences depend upon the interplay of physical and experiential realities. Syndicate “magic men” have no problem accepting this paradigm either – money, after all, is a completely artificial reality structure whose entire value rests within a human comprehension of its worth. And so, despite the often confusing tenets of this paradigm, it’s a fairly common one among mages in the twenty-first century. “Magick,” according to such beliefs, is simply the Art and Science of adjusting one’s circumstances with the power of one’s consciousness, often by skewing one’s perceptions (and thus, by extension, consciousness) with drugs, music, meditation, mind-games, perception-altering technology, and similar methods of changing preconceptions to forge a new reality. And isn’t that more or less what Good Ol’ Uncle Al was talking about all along…?

### Creation is Innately Divine and Alive

The world, perhaps even the universe, is a living entity. That entity is either part of Divinity or else is Divinity itself. Gods and monsters exist, as do pain, horror, and death; that’s cool, though, because in the end good things come from all the suffering. Death sustains life, life gives way to death, and the whole thing is a cycle that perpetrates itself in an ultimately beneficial way. Magick flows from an understanding of that cycle and your place in it as an agent of change. Everything, perhaps, has the potential of magick, but most beings never realize it.

Best recognized as a common perspective among Verbena, Dreamspeakers, Euthanatoi, Ecstatics, and other grimly affirmative mages, this model stresses pragmatic acceptance mixed with wild joy. Certain takes on Kabbalism gravitate in this direction too, with Creation as the infinite embodiment of ineffable God. Minus the god part, this paradigm has a scientific analog in the Gaia hypothesis, which insists that Earth is a living, vaguely sentient biomass. Certain Progenitors embrace this idea, especially in the 21st century, when that biomass appears to be fighting its human infection. Unlike the Gods and Monsters paradigm, this belief system essentially says that there is a point to the madness if you look at the Big Picture and accept that what we perceive as pain and horror are merely ripples across a larger spectrum of life.

### Divine Order and Earthly Chaos

According to the most prevalent belief system on earth these days, the material world is an imperfect reflection or creation of sublime Celestial Order. This paradigm covers the world’s three dominant religious creeds (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) as well as many strains of Confucianism, Hinduism, and other philosophies. Some believers see a cosmic Adversary opposing the Divine Order’s God or Gods, and others consider our miserable slab of mortal muck to be a corruption of godly Will or abstract Platonic ideals.

Magick, in this perspective, comes from observance of and obedience to heavenly perfection, or else from the forces of adversity that oppose the Will of Heaven. Some believers, who may view the gods as archetypes that represent that Order, view this heavenly plan as the interplay of impersonal cosmic forces that are perfect in their own right; most, however, see Earth and its surrounding Realms as a titanic chessboard, with mages playing the role of valuable but ultimately expendable pieces in the game.

The obvious creed of monotheistic mages like the Celestial Chorus and the Ahl-i-Batin, this order and chaos model extends to polytheists (the Wu Lung), agnostic mystics (many Akashayana), and groups that straddle and blur the lines between mono- and poly-theism (the Bata’a, many Dreamspeakers). Even certain professed atheists, most notably among the Technocracy, accept a godless version of this idea, which merges the Order/ Chaos concept with the Tech Holds All Answers paradigm below. With or without divinities, the core of the paradigm is that perfection exists, and although Earthly life falls far short of it, such grace remains attainable. Ascension, in this case, involves transcending our vale of tears and joining, if only as a servant, the grand Celestial Order.

### Embrace the Threshold

We’re on the cusp of transformation. That Which Is is giving way to That Which Will Be, and folks who can’t make the transition will be left behind. Power, then, belongs to those who embrace the threshold and ride the changes into a fast-coming dawn. The old will fall to the new, and all we think we know will become the lost fragments of a dying world. Generally, this paradigm fits into another broad model of belief – typically one based on gods, technology, or a “reality revision” enacted through changing consciousness or rediscovered wonders. And because so many mages idealize a form of global Ascension, this threshold could be seen as impending Ascension on a grand scale.

A simultaneously ominous yet optimistic paradigm, this creed asserts that the world as it has been known is finished. Old magicks will be replaced by fresh miracles of faith or science. Apocalyptic monotheists view this as the End Times for a sinful world that will be purged of evil and set aside for the Chosen People. Futurists view it as the Singularity, wherein a buggy Reality 1.5 gets upgraded by a miraculous global paradigm shift. Transhuman visionaries see us shifting into an uplifted state and /or a significantly higher evolutionary stage, while oppressed peoples see their conquerors ground under the cosmic Wheel when the Ancestors return and everything is made right again. Hindu mystics look to the end of our Kali Yuga and the dawn of a rejuvenated Satya Yuga, when sublime truth and righteousness are reborn into our cosmos. Alien visitations, the unearthing of lost ancient secrets, psychic or physiological mutation – the threshold could be many different things. For mages who welcome the coming transformation, though, their Arts and Sciences tap into the coming shift and embody the new era.

Sadly, the current world first needs to perish – things need to get worse before they’ll transform. In Western alchemical terms, this process involves the dissolution of the old world (wherein the old forms are broken down), the separation of unworthy elements (during which the flaws are burnt away), and the conjunction of purified elements into a refined, superior form. Small wonder, then, that this paradigm is popular among alchemists, especially ones from the Solificati branches of both the Order of Hermes and the Disparate Alliance. Perhaps, through this refinement, the fragmented bits of that venerable order can finally return to a unified, and much stronger, state of being… one that, perhaps, will lead the survivors of other magickal societies into the rising glory of a transformed age.

### Everything is Chaos – You Only Think it Makes Sense

The core of existential philosophy, this paradigm insists that Creation is indifferent and possibly meaningless until and unless we choose to impose meaning on our small part of it. Magick comes from wrangling whatever cosmic mysteries or principles you believe in and realizing that your belief is the thing that gives them power. Ultimately, then, magick comes from within. The Universe is an Etch-a-Sketch, and mages learn how to twiddle the knobs. At its extreme, this view maintains that nothing means anything… and that, perhaps, everything exists only in a mage’s head. Who’s to say this view is wrong? After all, the Universe might simply be a game played out in some mad god’s mind…

### Everything is Data

It’s all code. That’s the theory, anyway. What we call reality is actually a simulation, a Matrix, a holographic projection that can be manipulated by anyone who knows the Reality Code. Variations on this idea include the concept of a God code that allows the Enlightened Elite to find cheats; a code interwoven into holy texts like the Bible, Qur’an, or Torah, or in divinatory systems like the I Ching or Tarot; a computerized take on the Mechanistic Cosmos paradigm; or the theory that everything is composed of waves and frequencies that can be adjusted with music or other methods. Regardless of the nature of that information, the paradigm remains the same: everything is data, and smart folks can work with that data.

For those who embrace this paradigm, the Digital Web is the ultimate smoking gun. Composed of living (or at least adjustable) data, the Web embodies this belief. The material world, of course, is far more complex, with eons’ worth of bugs and twists of code. Even so, a reality hacker knows how to scan that code, rewrite it, and tweak physical, social, and mental realities through a sophisticated understanding of essential data and the methods that command it.

### Everything is an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake

A dour yet prevalent view among mages is that Creation as we know it is a big fucking lie. It was created as a prison, a joke, or a project by malignant entities (Matrix-style Gnosticism); it’s a cosmic accident that only seems significant (a common view among Marauders, Virtual Adepts, and many Technocrats); or it’s an illusion obscuring a deeper Cosmic Truth that’s essentially benevolent or, at worst, indifferent (an idea often affiliated with strains of Buddhism, Hinduism, weird science, and existential philosophy).

In this perspective, magick comes from transcending the illusion and learning how to work the strings that bind up everyone else. Knowledge and understanding provide the ultimate Ascension from this painful shadow of Cosmic Truth. The flipside, of course, involves making pacts with the powers behind the throne. Many Nephandi view their Path this way. The entire world is a grotesque joke, goes their reasoning, so you might as well enjoy some perks along the way.

### A Holographic Reality

“Matter” is energy, shaped by our perceptions into the illusion of solidity. What we perceive as reality is in fact a holographic illusion of a greater Reality that exists at the edge of human awareness. Every element of this illusion is preserved in every other one, resulting in an infinite replication from which nothing is truly lost or destroyed. Although we catch glimpses of the truth in fleeting phenomena (déjà vu, precognition, telepathic contact, synchronicity, and other related “impossibilities”), human existence as we know it demands limitations on what we can perceive. Awakening, however, removes the need for such binding and arbitrary limits. Ascension, then, involves opening one’s self to the infinite truth and realizing that everything we “know” is ultimately without substance, for All is One.

A scientific perspective of the Everything’s an Illusion and Creation’s Divine and Alive paradigms, the holographic reality concept draws from quantum physics experiments within the last few decades. According to neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, the world as we know it is a “world of appearances,” refined by human consciousness from a vast spectrum of interacting wave-forms. Although this world of appearances is “real” in most senses – inflicting boundaries upon what we can and cannot do within that world – it’s essentially a projection of a boundless interplay of energies that we set into “form” through our consciousness. Within this paradigm, “magick” (by any name) involves a recognition of, and an ability to manipulate, our world of appearances. Such feats, of course, are not supernaturalism, but science! Sure, ancient mystics may have first conceived of the truth, but it took science to prove its validity.

Whether or not you consider this concept to be a paradigm in its own right, or simply a new spin on an old idea, is really up to the player and her Storyteller. Even so, the holographic reality concept – detailed in Michael Talbot’s now-classic book The Holographic Universe – features a growing body of scientific research behind it. A character who embraces this paradigm (and who’s familiar with that research) can spin dazzling webs of implacable techno-logic to support her work… and since the theory has at least one example of conclusive proof in the existence of the Digital Web, this paradigm enjoys surging popularity among twenty-first-century mages – mystic and technomancer alike!

### It’s All Good – Have Faith!

This New-Age Gnostic conceit insists that Creation is ultimately benevolent. We suffer because we believe we’ll suffer; if and when we adjust our attitude, the world spills out its blessings upon us. Magick comes from refusing to be bound by common expectations. Energy is essentially a positive force, and a positive attitude can literally do wonders with it.

Although it’s easy to make fun of such a paradigm, such beliefs are remarkably effective in the World of Darkness. There really does appear to be a correlation between good fortune and an optimistic viewpoint. Maybe it’s simply the defiance involved – spitting in the face of hell, as it were. For whatever reason, this transcendent Pollyanna lends power to Ecstatics, Dreamspeakers, and other mystics (even the occasional technomancer!) who treat Creation more like a party than a funeral.

### Might is Right

The Law of the Jungle rules a dog-eat-dog world. As we’re hurled through an indifferent cosmos, nothing matters beyond an individual’s ability to impose his Will. The truly superior man or woman excels because that person will accept nothing less than excellence. Anyone who cannot meet exacting standards is essentially agreeing to be fodder for the elite.

A ruthlessly popular paradigm, Might is Right takes its name and ethos from the book of that name by the pseudonymous author Ragnar Redbeard. Commonly called “social Darwinism,” it actually corrupts Darwin’s assertion that the most adaptable organisms survive. Ayn Rand and Anton LaVay cribbed this philosophy from a simplified version of Nietzsche’s übermensch ideal, and their adherents maintain that perspective through business, politics, and popular debate. Under this paradigm, truth is a useful illusion, fabricated and manipulated by society and those who govern or transcend it. “Right” refers less to a moral correctness (morality is for weaker beings!) than to the act of seizing your rights through superior might.

For mages, this paradigm heralds the triumph of the Will, rewarding Awakened Ones with a superior state of existence. Ascension, therefore, is an individual goal, with social Ascension being the ability to get lots of people to accept your dominion. Some versions of this paradigm acknowledge implacable gods; others forsake any form of godhood other than personal perfection. Ultimately, Might is Right challenges a person to transcend the herd and achieve excellence at the expense of inferior beings. Reality, to this perspective, is just one more bitch to be slapped around when necessary.

### One-Way Trip to Oblivion

A distressingly common belief attached to many of the other paradigms is that everything is doomed. Someday, probably soon, the whole house of cards will collapse, God will call us to account, and the heat-death of the universe will wipe away everything we ever valued, accomplished, or believed. For religious people, this End Times scenario means the extinction of this world and the beginning of a new one… preferably one where they’re in charge. Among agnostics and atheists, nothing fucking matters because it’s all dying anyhow. All that’s important is getting what you can, while you can, and enjoying the show before the lights go off for good.

Every faction has this belief among its ranks. The ticking clock that seems to define the World of Darkness reinforces a pessimistic view. To these believers, magick involves taking whatever a mage can grab, from whatever source appears to work, and rattling those metaphysical keys in all the doors you can find, hoping to open a few. Time’s short, after all, so any tactic becomes fair game.

For obvious reasons, this is the ultimate Nephandic line. It encourages every sort of excess, from religious extremism to Randian selfishness. However, it also inspires the greatest acts of heroism. If Creation’s on a ticking clock, after all, then the greatest heroes may be the ones who can stop time, turn back the hands, or change the outcome when everything seems lost

### Tech Holds All Answers

Technology is not a modern secular invention; really, it’s the other way around. The sciences we know of in the modern world are descendants of alchemy, sacred geometry, and other forms of refined knowledge with repeatable results. Most elements of modern science were once thought to be keys to God’s Creation, given to selected men (and occasionally to women) to enact God’s plans on Earth. Atheistic rationalism, therefore, comes out of inquiries made possible by knowledge once thought to come from the gods.

According to the dominant paradigm in the industrialized world, the universe is innately rational and understandable. Every question has an answer, and technology provides the tools by which we can understand them. Magick is simply science that hasn’t yet been accepted by the average person and may always be too advanced for most folks to understand. Although this is the default Technocratic worldview, the Technocracy isn’t the only faction that embraces it. Most Etherites, Virtual Adepts, Children of Knowledge, and even many Hermetic mages accept this belief. High Ritual Magick, after all, is just another form of technology, even if ritual magicians hate to think of it that way.

These paradigms aren’t exclusive, nor are they the only systems of belief among Awakened folks. Most of them cross over into one another, mingling End Times theology with Golden Age ideals and a Divine Order cosmology behind them both. When you decide what a mage believes, whatever she believes, you’ve got a good idea about what her faith, focus, affiliations, and goals will be. And considering how vital belief is in this magickal world, that’s a major – if often underrated – element of any Mage chronicle.

### Transcend Your Limits

We are, according to this paradigm, beings of unfathomable power and potential. They more we believe we can do, the more we are capable of doing. Humanity’s blessing is its ability to change the circumstances of our existence, and our curse is to remain blind to that ability… or worse yet, to fear it and allow ourselves to be shackled by that fear. Perhaps the most coherent expression of the Ecstatic creed, this paradigm asserts that the greatest – perhaps the only – boundaries on our potential are the limitations we place upon ourselves or have placed on us by others. Magick, then, is the realization of greater potential, the willingness (and Will-ingness) to expand our selves, and the results of doing so.

On a lot of levels, this creed is obviously true. Humanity has consistently transcended our circumstances by innovating tools, language, culture, technology, and other instruments of change. When trapped, we look for ways to escape; when unsatisfied, we seek new horizons. Even now, in a world transformed beyond the dreams and nightmares of previous generations, we’re endlessly looking for new ways to hack our limitations and become even bigger and better than we believe is possible. Small wonder, then, that many mages accept this paradigm as a given whether they phrase their beliefs this way or not.

To live utterly without limits, however, is not just impractical – it is literally madness. The Marauders demonstrate that principle, and even they experience certain limitations even though the boundaries of the Mad are not the boundaries most mages understand. It’s been said that human beings (and other living organisms too) perceive the world through limitations simply because we need to be able to function in it. If Creation is infinite – as it apparently seems to be – then by definition it can’t be perceived as anything less than infinite unless you break it down into comprehensible – and thus, limited – divisions which can then be moved, held, stood upon, spoken of, apprehended and maneuvered in ways that we limited beings can understand… at which point, we’ve imposed boundaries on infinity again. The only way, it seems, to truly transcend our limitations is to stop being what we are and become something boundless and indefinable – that is, as far as many mages see it, to stop being human and Ascend to an infinite state.

On a far less grand scale, a life without limits is a life without laws, ethics, or concerns for anyone other than one’s own self. And that makes one dangerous. Sure, the outlaw ideal looks glamorous until some dude who “believes in living without limits” has stolen your wallet, raped your dog, and shit on your carpet because “there are no limits, man!” A large part of a sociopath’s charm is that she seems like such a rebel, and encourages you to be that way too… until you find yourself at the verge of becoming someone you don’t ever want to be, and she’s right there urging you to jump off that edge, no matter what it costs you or the people around you. (Yes, this author speaks from personal experience there.) A magick-using sociopath can be the most terrifying creature imaginable, because the only boundaries on such a mage’s behavior are the ones she places on herself, and the ones other mages have the power to impose upon her. The Cult of Ecstasy recognized this fact long ago, and the Code of Ananda exists because a person without any limits may soon become a monster, and a mage without them, even worse, destroying everything and everyone around him simply because he can.

To adherents of certain Left-Hand Path practices – especially those connected to Qliphothic High Ritual Magick, esoteric Satanism, and the adherents of Aghori-style yoga and Tantra – expansion beyond moral, social, psychological, and physical limits is essential to the Path of self-godhood. In this paradigm, the practitioner deliberately smashes every taboo, including his own, as a way to shatter boundaries and attain the Absolute wherein, as Hassan bin Sabbah is reputed to have said, “nothing is forbidden, and everything is permitted.” (That saying often gets translated instead into Nothing is real, everything is permitted, which, if nothing else, shows how often the Beatles get drawn – justifiably so – into metaphysical discussions.) On many levels, this is simply a metaphysical extension of the Might is Right philosophy, taken to its cosmological extreme. By approaching all limits “without terror” (a rough translation of the Sanskrit word aghora), the devotee “breaks on through the other side” and experiences all Creation as a god. The Nephandi embrace this paradigm, of course, but they’re not the only folks who do. Even certain Akashayana and Chakravanti practice this forbidden Path… very secretly… and the Gnostic /Hermetic doctrine of antinomian praxis (the practice of breaking the law in order understand one’s self more fully) embraces it as well.

(Certain mystics who pursue a Kabbalistic approach to metaphysics point out that The One became the Many in a deliberate quest by Divinity to know Itself more thoroughly. Thus, to that line of thinking, even God breaks its own rules when seeking greater Truths – and so, by extension, must we. Saying such things aloud, however, is still a good way to get yourself into very hot water.)

For obvious reasons, this is a hard paradigm to pursue for long. Even so, the core principle – ironically, within limits – is a fundamental concept in many esoteric Paths. Living as if there are no limits other than the ones you decide to place upon yourself for safety and sanity’s sake, then, is a common ideal among the wilder sorts of mages… anathema to the Technocracy, of course, but tolerated within the Traditions and Disparates to a certain (again, limited) extent, so long as the mage in question doesn’t make a nuisance of herself. As Bob Dylan said, “to live outside the law, you must be honest,” and so this paradigm demands a clear understanding of one’s self, an acceptance of consequences, and the sort of compassion for others that will hopefully keep the mage from becoming an abomination to everything she reveres.

### Turning the Keys to Reality

Creation is full of wondrous keys, left by the Creator so that his favored children might unlock the secrets he has left for them to find. Rocks, plants, designs, calculations – such traces of the Great Equation become tools for the Awakened. Initiates into these sacred Mysteries may employ them to further the designs of God. Other mages, less aware and far less scrupulous, carve shortcuts or wrangle servants or enemies of God so as to steal those treasures and use them for selfish and unworthy ends.

Obviously an elitist paradigm, this creed assumes that a higher intelligence – sometimes known as the Divine Watchmaker, the Architect, or the Maker – created the cosmos and assigned certain human beings (other entities too, perhaps) to safeguard Creation and keep it running smoothly. This Creator probably has better things to do these days, hence the keys he gave his elect servants. Some mages regard themselves as chosen people, destined to serve the Creator through his specific command; others view themselves as seekers and finders of touchstones through which we were meant to guide the universe when we become wise enough to understand that inheritance. A variation on the Mechanistic Cosmos and Everything is Data paradigms, this mode of thinking assumes that the Spheres, practices, and instruments are deliberately crafted elements that a mage can use once she understands what they are and how they might be employed.

Most classical High Ritual Magick forms – especially those used by the Wu Lung and Hermetic Houses – assume a “keys to reality” approach, often merging it with other paradigms such as Divine Order and Earthly Chaos, All Power Comes from God(s), and the two creeds mentioned above. Technomancers, too, work this paradigm into their belief-systems, often regarding the sublime interplay of chemicals and physics to be the reality-keys in question. Modern Western science, in fact, originated in this belief; Catholic monks, far from being enemies of science, devoted intense study to natural phenomena, regarding such studies as a path to better understanding their Lord and his works. Islamic imams and Jewish rabbis likewise viewed science as a form of spiritual devotion, and Taoist alchemists did so as well. The Hindu discipline of Ayurveda, “life-knowledge,” is said to have been transmitted by the gods themselves. Thus, technology and spirituality become one within this paradigm.

Because the emphasis in this worldview is on the keys rather than the creator, this paradigm can be divorced from a spiritual context and employed in an atheistic or agnostic context too. In this case, the keys are objects, forces, and principles that contain power in and of themselves. A savvy person, then, can master these elements and unlock the deeper possibilities of the cosmos. Again, though, this essentially collapses the Mechanistic Cosmos and Everything is Data paradigms into a single model of reality.

In all variation of this creed, magick and /or hypertech comes from a proper understanding of the keys – the “turning” of them if you will. A mage then – by any label – is someone with a ring of keys that can unlock wonders the Masses will never comprehend. Paradox arises from a flawed understanding of those keys, or perhaps from trying to forces the locks and therefore breaking off the key in your hand. The practices and instruments of this paradigm access the keys… or even, in the case of certain instruments, are themselves the keys. Ascension, therefore, becomes a matter of comprehending on a soul-deep level that you are the ultimate key, and that all other keys are shadows of the power within yourself.

### We are Meant to be Wild

Civilization is a lie. Technology is a crutch whose employment makes us weak. We are animals, meant to live by our wits and our strength. The suffocating constraints of society and consumption are killing the human spirit and taking the rest of the world down with us. Only if and when we escape our man-made prison can we unlock our true potential. Until then, we’re on that One-Way Trip to Oblivion, and only the fiercest and most purely primal among us will survive the coming implosion of the current age.

Embraced by the most extreme Verbenae, Dreamspeakers, and Kopa Loei (and certain anarcho-primitivist Ecstatics and Adepts), this paradigm casts a baleful eye on the works of the mighty; instead of despairing, however, the folk who follow this perspective favor their animal state, forsaking all but the most basic tools and conveniences. Language is okay, as are herbal medicines and a certain degree of personal hygiene. (When left to their own devices, most animals – as such people point out – keep themselves as clean as their environment permits. Serious filth, they insist, comes from human cages, farms, and overcrowding, not from the behavior animals conduct in the wild.) Clothing and other tools are kept to a literally bare minimum, and high-tech toys – cars, computers, and so forth – are anathema to the most radical of such mages. Plenty of other people (Awakened and Sleeper alike) honor this paradigm through rhetorical observance but not actual behavior; they might spend all their time in front of computers, reading books, and eating fast food, but by all the gods, they’re ready (or so they claim) for civilization to fall so that they can return to an enlightened feral ideal.

Similar to the Might is Right paradigm, this creed stresses physical fitness, sensual awareness, connection to the natural world, and a renunciation of technological conveniences. In this case, though, the emphasis is on balance with Nature, rather than the conquest of everything in sight. This “romantic primitivism” often favors the most Pagan sorts of deities – Gaia, Pan, Ahsonnutli, and the like – but sometimes employs an atheistic “noble savage” ideal instead. (cf. Tarzan, Conan, Princess Mononoke, etc.) Magick, for devotees of this paradigm, comes from that connection to a primal birthright, and the potential of a human animal in her natural state.

Obviously, though, magick also comes from aberrations of that state – technological poisons contrived by upjumped apes who’ve been too clever for our own good. And so, while this perspective denies the Manichean dualism that drives many religious paradigms, it does have a sort of Good /Evil axis that exalts primitivism while spitting on technology and the folks who use it. Tech-based mages, then – especially those from the Technocracy and other hypertech sects – personify everything that’s wrong with the world… and quite often wind up painted as the devils wrecking a primal paradise. At their very best, technomancers are considered lazy bastards tromping through Eden; more often, they’re considered a potentially lethal disease whose cure involves either renunciation or annihilation. Obviously, mages who subscribe to this paradigm avoid tech-based practices or instruments. Their Arts hail from the Old Ways – and the older, the better! At its most extreme levels, this creed demands a purely physical form of magick: meditation, ordeals, bodywork, sex, natural drugs, and many forms of sacrifice. Nature, ideally, asserts a balance, and the more you would demand from Her, the more you must be willing to give up to attain it.

### We Are NOT Men!

Maybe we’re not human. Perhaps the Awakened are either the inheritors of a superior form of humanity – a Coming Race, a divine bloodline, an advanced mutation, and so forth – or they’re actually a separate race of people: aliens, maybe, or descendants of gods, or some other form of blessed exemplars who are inherently superhuman. Awakening, therefore, is not something that mundane people can attain, no matter how hard they try. Mages are members of entirely different human species or iteration, and are therefore better than the Masses by default.

According to this paradigm, the Avatar and its powers are proof that mages do not fit the standard definition of “human.” Like vampires and other paranormal entities, they’re some other form of being, and therefore are not bound by the usual limitations of ethics or mortality. It’s both their duty and their birthright to lead, transform, and conquer the Masses, and while they might look and act like those lesser beings, mages should not deceive themselves into thinking that they’re “just like everybody else.” They’re not human, and so they shouldn’t feel obligated to pretend otherwise.

A cornerstone belief for Übermensch types, “master race” adherents, transhumanism advocates, superhero fans, and alien-uplift theoreticians, this paradigm insists that a mage (or at least the mage who holds this belief in himself) is inherently superhuman, and is thus unbound by human concerns. Though related to the Might is Right paradigm, it’s less defined by one’s personal power than by the idea that the Awakened are innately elevated about mortal humanity by virtue of who they are, not what they do. Nevertheless, an innately superior being should act the part, right? Thus, many folks who assert this paradigm behave as if they’re elevated above the common herd – which, given the labels that many mages apply to the “Sleepers” and “Masses,” doesn’t make them nearly as unusual as you might initially assume.

An apparently “nicer” (though it really isn’t especially nice in practice) variation on this idea asserts that mages are the inheritors of “true humanity” – the heirs of a grander era of human accomplishment that was swept away by barbarism. Helena Blavatsky’s concept of Ascended Masters reaches toward this approach, though the Akashayana doctrine of Mount Meru and that group’s assertion that they’re the true descendants of that “first humanity” epitomizes it. On a more ominous note, the proto-Nazi Thule-Gesellschaft embraced that idea emphatically… and we all know where that led. Throughout history, people who assert racial superiority and /or caste systems have maintained that they (of course!) belong to an elite strain of humanity that should not be subject to conventional limitations any more than human beings should be leashed like dogs. And while such elite people usually claim they’ve got humanity’s best interests at heart, those interests always seem to benefit those people more than they benefit the rest of us.

At the other end of the evolutionary scale, this paradigm also includes the transhumanists and mutant-theorists who assert – perhaps correctly – that humanity is evolving past its animal beginnings toward an increasingly advanced state. Plenty of Technocrats and other tech-based mages hold this paradigm, crediting their ability to perform paranormal acts to the fact that they have evolved (or have been upgraded by technology) to a new evolutionary state. Many Progenitors and Virtual Adepts – especially those Adepts who favor the Mercurial Elite identity – embrace this evolutionary paradigm, and view it as the source of their Enlightened abilities. The transhumanist label itself refers to this belief, and so although the idea might not make a mage popular among “mere” humans… many of whom might be her Awakened colleagues… it’s a paradigm with both primordial and futuristic appeal.

Folks with this sort of belief system tend to be elitist by default – after all, they literally do believe they’re better than everybody else. Phrases like herd, sheeple and monkeymass are among the kinder things they’ll say about humanity in general. Even the more apparently altruistic individuals look down upon the Masses with pity, not identification. As a result, such mages really are rather “alienated,” and they don’t tend to be especially popular with most people unless they’re extraordinarily charismatic and well-versed in people-skills. Even then, those traits come from a position of assumed separation – perhaps compassionate, often contemptuous, and never truly connecting with most other human beings. Add to that attitude the idea that they could actually be right, and you’ve got a paradigm that explains a great deal about Awakened powers and yet puts a mage forever outside the mundane human realm.

### We’re All God(s) in Disguise

Separation is an illusion. Behind that façade, we are all One, and that One is Divine. Magick is the acceptance of our divinity, and Awakening is the realization of that state. While the Sleeping Masses remain unaware of this sublime truth, we are able to recognize our innate godliness. Although imperfect understanding still limits our perceptions of inherent divinity (resulting in Paradox and other restrictions on our divine inheritance), we have begun to grasp our essential nature – one Spirit, one Enlightenment, one Ascension.

Shared by many members of the Celestial Chorus, Akashayana, Chakravanti, Verbena, and Sahajyia… even a handful of Solificati, and other members of the original Council… this paradigm provided the initial foundation for the Traditions as a whole. It was this recognition of shared godhood that allowed such a diverse collection of magical folk to join together in unity. Although similar paradigms – Creation is Innately Alive and Divine, and Everything is an Illusion – derive from this creed, the essential recognition that we are all part of the same Divine Essence provides a core of spiritual faith that the other paradigms often lack. Commonly expressed these days as “Remember, thou art God,” this sentiment reflects a faith in immanence (divine essence embodied in, and permeating, the physical realm), as opposed to transcendence (divine essence that is separate from a flawed physical realm). As a result, it’s often considered blasphemy by people whose beliefs involve a distinct and separate godhead. We might all be children of God, such folks insist, but to call ourselves God is an insult to the Most High. Folks with this paradigm beg to differ.

According to some interpretations of the Kabbalah, that Most High God once comprised all things into a single unity. Perhaps wishing to know itself better, this One split itself into many, and now inhabits the cosmos in an infinite self-aware form, of which we’re all a part. Certain interpretations of Buddhist philosophy dispense with the divine source and simply view the cosmos as a sort of god unto itself – again, a god of which we’re all a part. Some strains of neopagan pantheism draw from Robert Heinlein’s assertion “Thou art God,” adopting a declaration from Stranger in a Strange Land into a real-life spiritual belief; modern Verbena insist they had that idea long before Heinlein was born, but who’s to say? Today’s Pagans (Verbena and otherwise) draw inspiration from all sorts of artistic sources, and to certain postmodernist chaos mystics, pop culture is every bit as vital a wellspring as any hoary ancient creed.

As a reflection of one of Mage’s primary themes, this paradigm is among the most “true” in meta terms. A character with this insight looks past the artificial divisions of Mage’s setting and views the fundamental unity expressed by the sentiment that “We’re all mages.” As expressions of the shared gaming group and its players, mages with this perspective are seeing some of the truth of their situation. How true it is within the gaming world itself is for the Storyteller to decide, but this creed certainly rings true for mystics and philosophers throughout history who’ve chosen to ignore our mortal separations in favor of the living miracle of Creation itself.

## Creating Your Own Paradigm

Most belief-philosophies can be modeled off some variation or combination of the entries above. If you want to create a new paradigm, or reflect one that doesn’t seem to fit those entries, remember the following points when you’re summing up that paradigm:

### Belief Follows Need

People create and accept new belief systems because those beliefs suit their needs. If you’re a hungry person in a war-torn land, for instance, then you need something that helps you understand your circumstances, either accepting them as temporary (“Things will be better in heaven”) or improving them (“I can fight for my right to be free”). In Mage’s history, the Masses didn’t accept technology because Men in Black beat them up. Folks accepted tech because it improved their lives.

### Worthless Beliefs Get Rejected

By the same token, people toss out ideas that get in the way. When Victorian ideals met the meat grinder of World War I, those ideals gave way to existentialism, nihilism, and postmodernism. A paradigm may work for a while, but if it no longer gets the job done, folks will latch onto an idea that does

### Magickal Paradigms Demand Strength

Mages use their paradigms as levers that move the world. A weak lever – say, belief that Mickey Mouse is God – will break under that kind of stress. As a player, then, avoid facile or ridiculous paradigms. Your mage lives and dies by his beliefs, so those beliefs – and the people who accept them – must be strong enough to hold up under pressure. Sure, you can argue the fine points of Pastafarianism and the exact commandments of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but will they help you survive a civil war? Probably not.

### Evidence Substantiates Belief

Strong paradigms need firm foundations. As a result, the people who propagate beliefs submit evidence that backs up those beliefs. That’s why religious people testify about faith and miracles, why scientists provide peer review, why philosophers argue their contentions. Paradigms without substance quickly fall apart. Ones with substance endure. And although force makes compelling short-term arguments (“Obey God or die”), such belief systems crumble when a better one inspires revolution.

If you want to craft paradigms beyond the ones listed above, look into real-world philosophies, creeds, and metaphysics. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Philosophy or other, similar books can help inform and inspire your ideas. You don’t need a master’s degree in comparative religions in order to play Mage, of course, but if you want new models of belief, you should examine the existing ones first. As always, your Storyteller always has final approval over that new system of belief. If she says, “No, you can’t base your magick practice off of Monty Python quotes,” then her judgment stands. You might be able to change her mind using your knowledge of real-world philosophies, but if she says NO, respect that and move on.

## Moral Absolutes or Relativity?

It’s one of the biggest hot-topic debates among mages, Mage players, and even Mage creators: are there absolute moral forces in the universe? Is everything morally relative – that is, do morals and ethics depend on who, where, and when you are? Or are there cosmic moral forces that make certain things always right or wrong?

We can’t answer that question for you.

Certain mages – especially Choristers, Templars, and other devoutly religious folks – assert absolute moral forces even when their own actions become morally relative. Others aren’t so sure about that, or they claim that everything – including time, space, and morality – is relative. In the end, the answer to such questions is up to the Storyteller behind each individual chronicle… which, by extension, does leave the entire issue relative. Your characters might exist in a dualistic cosmos, a moral void, or a righteous universe in which the Creator will eventually set everything to rights. Mage leaves the ultimate answer – if one even exists – up to you.