Nina's World of Darkness Revised

[MAGE20 ST]

Nina's Revised World of Darkness for Mage 20th

This chronicles history begins with the disappearance of Doissetep, you may as players assume that anything which occurred in the Published Mage game line prior to that is, with some exception, canon everything after is different.

This chronicle uses the Mage the Ascension 20^th Annyversary Edition. Other games that will be used are the 20^th Anniversay Editions of Vampire and Werewolf. Other Classic Games may be used to fill in for absent 20^th anniversary Editions.

INGAME INFORMATION

(Your characters will be familiare more or less with the following information and depending on age and pre gamne location may have lived through some of it after your awakening.)

 

The disappearance of Doissetep was a pivotal event in the Ascension war. The mystery surrounding it brought the actions of the war almost to a stand still as both sides, Tradition and Technocracy, thought the other side was up to something big. This “cease fire” lasts for about a year but with no clear discovery of what may have happened to the Chantry it was only a matter of time before one or the other resumed their press for victory.

That group which moved first was the Technocracy. In a series of coordinated attacks across the globe, known chantries and sanctums were targeted. In one night the war went from cease fire to Red Hot.

The mages didn't stay on the defensive for long but the Technocracy had the upper hand and the mages lost ground. But they couldn't allow themselves to lose. Their realities were at stake and so their retaliations grew more and more bold and vulgar. In reaction the Technocracy pushed the limits of their own paradigm. Hit marks walked the streets and mages hurled lightning.

Reality bent.

The later half of the decade was tumultuous to say the least, while the actions of solitary mages on both sides were eliciting paradox at prodigious rates, the world itself was also being rent in whole by the opposing paradigm forces, and it was at a breaking point. The technocracy believed that they were safe, the world had excepted their paradigm and rejected the mythic. But they misread things...horribly.

The VA gave the Traditions what they hoped was there best chance at crashing the technocratic machine Y2K. And when it didn't happen the Traditions blinked and thought they had lost. And the Technocracy cheered they had overcome the best the Traditions could throw at them and they declared themselves the winners, the atrocities performed over the next 8 month by the Technocracy was too much. And Reality responded the only way it could, with paradox.

It started on 9/11 with a direct attack on America the face of the technocracy somehow the most technologically advanced nation on the planet was brought to its knees by a handful of religious fanatics. Mages in New York and Washington and those watching from afar saw the planes and saw the hordes of paradox spirits riding them.

This was just the start.

War, Natural disasters, economic and political collapse, followed, and all found their origin in the Paradox backlash brought on by the previous years excesses of all out magickal war.

The first decade of the 21^st century was a wake up call for all mages but in reality the Technocracy was hit the hardest their strangle hold on the worlds reality was broken with the rise of Reality zones where their paradigm was no longer the default as it had been for so long.

The paradox storms reset paradigms across the world leaving room for traditional native beliefs to once more surge to the foreground. In most places technology didn't suddenly become vulgar but it was apparent that it was no longer the only game in town. Among the traditions the VA stinging from their Y2K failure went back to the Technocracy tool box and began a media blitz which clearly allowed the mythic to make a resurgence in even the most technocratic zone. Urban Fantasy, Science fiction, comics, supers hero saturation. All of these things allowed the masses to see things and not automatically scoff thus giving rise to small zones where some magick which would once have been vulgar to squeak past and become coincidental and in some very remote places even casual.

While the paradigms reset across reality the traditions and the Technocracy retreated to their otherworldly bastions. The war during the 1990's had sapped the strength of the traditions to its lowest and the first part of the 21^st century claimed technocracy lives at a great rate as well. Even the non-aligned mages suffered losses to their populations. While the traditions retreated almost in mass to Horizon and the technocracy to their Stations, the non-aligned crafts were with few exceptions left to fend for them selves leading individual members of the crafts and small groups to join with and merge with closely associated Traditions thus bolstering that traditions numbers and others to the banding together of many of these Crafts for sheer survival. Early in the 21^st century several of the crafts formed an alliance in just a couple of years more of the crafts joined and they Became know as the 3rd Faction The Disparate Alliance. Of course there is always more to what is than meets the eye and that is true even of the Disparate.

By the beginning of the second decade of the 21^st century the paradox backlash had pretty much run its course. Slowly the mages or at least some of them returned to Sanctum and Chantry, but it wasn't business as usual. The wreckage of the war loomed over every mage and the fear of it's re-resurgence made many mages remain in their safe in Horizon or the Technocracy's stations. The Disparate had staked claims in Zones compatible to their beliefs and were not going to just roll over and let things go back to what they had been. With three factions now the Ascension war if it were to heat up again would be devastating. Even the Technocracy recognized this and they asked for a meeting, a summit of all three factions to be held on neutral ground. So far this summit is still in the planning stage. Trust is not high between the factions but the Ascension War has at least gone cold.

  

The Traditions Today

Upon excepting the inclusion of those craft members who were fleeing earth to horizon, the traditions as a whole were forced to become more inclusive with regard to their new members. Even though the new mages gave up there former identities and took on the mantel of the chosen tradition, their beliefs, while not diametrically opposed to the particular tradition view, did not change. oh many gave lip service but in reality a mages paradigm is a sacred thing and changing those inner beliefs is nearly impossible so the strict structure of the various traditions had to adapt. So now even in the once most strict and rigid tradition its possible to see a mage using instruments and practices that once would have been inconceivable for that tradition. Not every tradition mage is comfortable or even tolerant of these changes but it is the way thing are now, and some have even embraced the new and are slowly adopting their own non-standard practices.

The Technocracy Today

They call themselves the Technocratic Union, but they are house divided. the union has confronted its excesses and refocused on perfecting science and technology for their own sake. This redirection nurtures the Technocracy’s more human side (especially among the mechanized ranks of Iteration X) for good and ill. Certain “machineocrats” wind up softening their rigidity, but the mortal flaws of greed, selfishness, and distraction have begun undermining Technocratic stability.

The fracturing relationships between the five Conventions in the new millennium sees a growing schism within the Union. The excesses of the Ascension war and the resulting Paradox Backlash has severely weakened and brought into question the validity of their cause.

By 2012, the Union has split down the middle with the NWO on one side, the Syndicate on the other, and the other three Conventions deciding which way to go if and when a civil war erupts.

Add in to the mix a good number of Technocrats who did not lay down their arms, who do not except that there is room for all at the table. These rogue Technocracy mages hide in the shadows and continue their war not only against the traditions and the disparate but against their former brothers as well.

 

The Disparate Crafts today

“ The Magick Crafts...Those individuals and groups who never aligned themselves with either side in the War of Ascension found themselves the targets or victims of collateral damage during the last years of the 20th century. This led to a very loose alliances to be formed between some of the crafts and eventually with the Traditions. Starting with local mages who exist without the support of a large organization. they began banding together for mutual defense creating cabals some of which became foundations for crafts. Eventually this led to some crafts in one city joining with other cities and it just expanded. But even though there is an alliance it is very loose and in no way is it universal. There is no Council of governors, and there is no charter, individual mages come and go as they please but those who have chosen to recognize and participate do answer the call of other craft members if they are needed. So the crafts still operate on the individual or small group level but they can answer the call if they are asked and choose too. Their relation ship with the Traditions is much better than it was in the previous centuries with the Traditions realizing that the crafts do have a value.

The Independents

Orphans is an outmoded term and while still used in some circles is used as a derogatory name. In this modern inclusive era those who would have been orphans yesterday are now referred to as Independent Mages. These independents have carved out a place for themselves by proving that the personal beliefs are just as compelling and powerful and often more versatile than the old tried and true. Skilled and powerful Independents are often hihgly sought after now by both tradition, craft, and technocratic. A far cry from the old days. 

 

Most mage's you will meet will be either a solitary craft mage, an independent or a mage belonging to a tradition who is a member of a cabal in the local region you are in. Technocratic mages as a whole are rarely randomly run into as those who have abandoned the Technocracy are usually in hiding.

Other Supernaturals suffered due to the wars as well, caught in the crossfire so to speak. Vampires, and the Changing folk are of course the most numerouse but there are still others out there lurking and most of them have no love of mages.

 

OCC INFORMATION

 

The White Wolf Classic WoD Meta Plot as it was written and as it played out does NOT EXIST.

 

The ascension war is a thing, but it is not the only thing and to my players it may not be that big a thing at all but it is there.

 

These are the Future Fates from the Book That I am specific about This is the major deviation from the Published OWoD.

Future Fates: Doissetep

• The fall didn't happen like that: Doissetep is a cautionary tale for Tradition wizardry. Internal politics and divisions among the most powerful Mages of an age led to schism and intrigue.

No one who wasn't there really knows what happened, and anyone who was there isn't here anymore. On that fateful day Doissetep simply vanished, all the ways of traveling there simply ceased to work, all means to find it lead to nowhere. No mage who was there has ever been heard of again. It is quite simply one of the greatest mysteries in the modern age to mages.

 

Most believe that it was destroyed some how although the lack of evidence is troubling. Others talk of mass ascensions, or mass insanity, some say it is still there and that they just don't want to be bothered anymore. What ever the truth, the Chantry, has now in even such a short time as this become a mythic legend. Many Mages of all traditions and Factions spend years searching for it in hopes of discovering secrets and treasures. Perhaps you will seek it too.

 

Future Fates: The Great Betrayer

• What Ascension Warrior? That stuff never happened.

 

Future Fates: The Technocratic Paradigm

• Reality’s in Flux: The Technocracy seemed to win, but that perception wasn’t accurate. The Paradox Backlash established Reality zones which, for the most part, determine the boundaries of coincidental and vulgar magick based on the perceptions of those who occupy the zones.

 

Future Fates: The New Millennium

• Shit Happened: 9/11 happened, Hurricane Katrina happened, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars happened, and the world’s smack in the middle of global climate change. International revolts, Fox News, the Greek economic crisis, and all the other messes and miracles that define our era are in full swing. While many of these events had origins in the Paradox Backlash not all did.

 

Future Fates: Chantries and Horizon Realms

• Nothing has changed: Chantries and Horizon Realms are as potent and magickal as ever before… more subtle, perhaps, than they had been in the legendary past, but still miraculous in comparison to mundane facilities.

 

Future Fates: The Reckoning, the Gauntlet, and the Avatar Storm

• The Avatar Storm never happened: Passage between worlds remains challenging but not torturous. Ignore all references to the Storm, Reckoning, and Disembodiment. The Paradox Backlash did not effect this in any discernible way.

 

Future Fates: The Spirit-Nuke

• The spirit nuke incident never happened: The Shadowlands, Stygia, and other Dark Empires remain as they’re presented throughout the Wraith: The Oblivion series.

 

Future Fates: Cell Phones and the Internet

• Your story takes place in the 21st century, with current Internet and cell phone technology: Adjusting the influence and abilities of the Virtual Adepts and other factions, you run your chronicle amidst the familiar trappings of the ever-wired world.

 

Future Fates: The Traditions

• Metaplot? What metaplot?: None of that stuff happens or happens differently, Horizon still exists as a haven but one that has become insular and withdrawn and Doissetep is simply gone. Events in the late 90s brought the war to a head and disaster was looming for both sides the disasters that befell the world during the first part of the new millennium are mostly paradox backlashes caused by the heating up of the Ascension War. This cause the warring factions to step back and the war goes cold. The Traditions remain a force to be reckoned with, but many Mages have withdrawn to Horizen which is now more a Fortress than a retreat. The Disparates in order to protect themselves create a third alliance during this time which remains mostly neutral.