History Characters / MageTheAscension

* IneffectualLoner: They tend to be very tight-lipped about their operations, because they don't think the other Technocrats can handle it. This is a very stupid idea.

* FrankensteinsMonster: Some combination of Matter, Life, Forces, and Prime working together, and you too can start creating these. Some even Awaken and become Etherites in their own right; the splatbook even offers one as a sample character.

* CyberneticsEatYourSoul

* ManipulativeBastard: Psychology and social combat is their specialization, and they are very good at finding your weak points.

* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke

* AncientOrderOfProtectors: [[WerewolfTheApocalypse Nuwisha]] (werecoyotes) who serve Coyote's Ptah aspect claim to be obscuring parts of the Umbra from the Void Engineers. These Nuwisha prevent Void Engineers from finding places of power and beauty, taking great pains to divert the Void Engineers to Umbral areas that belong to the Wyrm (the cosmic force of entropy).

* {{Necromancer}}: They tend to be associated with the Underworld; indeed, a requirement for joining is that one have first-hand experience of the Underworld the traditional way (ie, a temporary death).

* {{Pride}}: This, along with the defection of House Tremere- now [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Clan Tremere]]- was one of the main reasons that the early Technocracy was able to sway the masses to their viewpoint.

* TheMissingFaction: Used to be in the Traditions, holding the Seat of Correspondence, but quit in the early 20th century when the Technocracy invaded their Middle Eastern homelands.

* FriendlyEnemy: To the Sons of Ether of the Traditions.

** A choice is made, even if subconscious. Marauders are chaos incarnate, rather than actively evil. In fact, one of the few things that can be predicted about Marauder behavior is that they will always attack Nephandi on sight.

* TheMissingFaction: They held the seat of Matter on the Council at its founding, until one of their exemplars betrayed [[{{Hermaphrodite}} their]] cabal to the Order of Reason, triggering an internal rift over whether the betrayal had been justified, and the Solificati collapsed, surviving as the Children of Knowledge craft.

* GenieInABottle

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Unions ideals can be ''pretty weird'' when devoid of any human influence.

* ThMissingFaction: The Null version of the Void Engineers is suspiciously absent. Given what the Engineers are, it's likely their extreme version just wandered off to explore the universe.

[[folder:'''*SPOILER AHEAD-DO NOT READ IF YOU WISH SPOIL THE CONVENTION BOOK: VOID ENGINEERS*'''[[spoiler:Threat Null]]]]

* MissingFaction: The Null version of the Void Engineers is suspiciously absent. Given what the Engineers are, it's likely their extreme version just wandered off to explore the universe.

* ReligionisRight: From their perspective it certainly is.

* PiecesOfGod: Their theory on Avatars.

* BlueandOrangeMorality: Their devotion to the Wheel of Ages can be this.

* DysonSphere

The Hollow Ones stand somewhere between Craft and Tradition, devoting themselves to the cause of Romanticism as they see it - individualism, self-expression, and the championing of romance - with a decidedly eclectic approach to magic.

* SpaceMarine: Their role in the Technocratic hierarchy.

A loose organization of mages, the Traditions are a collection of mages who embrace the mystical and magical side of the world and seek to open up the masses to a more fluid and dynamic view of the world. Each Tradition is represented within the organization through a seat of magic that represents a sphere of magic that their Tradition specializes in.

* FunctionalMagic: Each tradition has their own different views on magic and trademark styles associated with them.

* {{Masquerade}}: Not a personally enforced one, but more of a law of the universe itself through the cosensus and paradox. Tradition mages are usually the most affected by paradox effects and as such they typically don't use vulgar magic unless they absolutely need to.
* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Heavily romanticist in contrast to the Technocracy's enlightened viewpoint, though the Sons of Ether and Virtual Adepts help balance it out with some enlighenment as well.

* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: How they view their powers

* FarEast: Official works tend to link them to all of the historical East Asian mystical traditions
* FullContactMagic: They can cast spells through martial arts

* MeditationPowerup: The other common way to cast
* SupernaturalMartialArts: Their Martial Arts and Katas are capable of impressive magical powers

Miracle workers and priests who transcend any single religious faith. They believe that all faiths are merely fragments of "The One", and that all humans can achieve transcendence through prayer and faith.

* ChurchMilitant: The more combat ready groups tend to resemble this
* InterfaithSmoothie: As Omnitheists, they blend all religions together

* SoulsavingCrusader: At their worst
* PiecesOfGod: Their theory on Avatars

* HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs: The theme in a nutshell, but its really more about means to create an altered consciousness.

* TimeMaster: Master of the Sphere of Time
* UnsuspectinglySoused: A topic that is brought up as a debate inside the tradition, as it both can help awaken the sleeper, but at the same time places them in an obviously risky position.

* MagicalNativeAmerican: Not just native Americans, but also native Africans, Australian Aborigines, and Pacific Islanders. The other mages lumped them all together due to their common usage of spirits and shamanistic techniques
* SoulPower: Masters of the Spirit Sphere

* DarkIsNotEvil: despite their tendency towards killing and use of necromanic energies they are still fighting to help the sleepers.
* EntropyAndChaosMagic: As master of the Entropy sphere, naturally
* GeniusBruiser: To counter the effect their assassin training has on their psyche, many of them dedicate what's left of their "normal" life to various forms of science and academics - from medicine, to philosophy, to computer science.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The Euthanatos Tradition spends much of its time trying to clean the world of evil people that no longer serve their purpose in The Wheel, but in doing so expose themselves to a corruption known as Jhor. Jhor is gained by using magic to kill, killing unnecessarily, not maintaining a mundane identity with a job and friends so as to remain grounded, and so forth. People who succumb to Jhor become pale and sallow, like they are ill and far more extreme in measures, methods, and goals. They often hold on to their original ideals and goals even as they continue to rationalize more drastic measures.
* Necromancer: They tend to be associated with the underworld

* TrainingFromHell:the Golden Chalice, a sub-faction of the Euthanatos that is effectively a fate-bending special operations group. Their training is said to be 24 hours a day for two weeks straight, with only the bare essentials of magic to keep contenders from dying.
* TokenEvilTeammate: They are the most willing of the traditions to engage in murder and accepting of harm, but it isn't universal

Perhaps the oldest tradition of them all, or at least the first one to properly define themselves as such, the Order of Hermes was one of the most vital forces behind the creation of the Council in the past. Of the Traditions, they are the closest to the classic fantasy "wizard", their style being based on the practice of HermeticMagic. Amongst the traditions they stand out for having the most organized structure of all of them, and their membership is grouped across several houses, each practicing a different type of magic that falls within the paradigm of the tradition as a whole.

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: the entire Order of Hermes go out in a massive magical battle against the forces of evil. The Order is wiped out and Earth is engulfed by Hell, but if the [=PCs=] did it right, the Order's sacrifice leads to a glimmer of hope.

* KillItWithFire: this trope sums up House Flambeau's magical philosophy

* {{Pride}}: This, along with the defection of House Tremere- now [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Clan Tremere]]- was one of the main reasons that the early Technocracy was able to take convince the masses to their viewpoint and control the masses.

* SorcerousOverlord: What many of their members were during the dark ages, and some still are today.

* DefectorFromDecadence: left the technocracy due to their refusal to compromise on their goal of personal science

* FriendlyEnemy: To the Void Engineers of the Technocracy

* MadScientist: Almost to a member
* SteamPunk: A very common theme for them since they split off from the Technocracy in Victorian Times.

* BloodMagic: they tend to use primal sources of life and sacrifice, thus blood is a common source

* GreenThumb: They are the nature mages, also the name of a merit of theirs

* TheMedic: They wield the Sphere of Life, which means that they have the easiest access to healing magic

* ReligionIsMagic: Highly associated with Pagan traditions, particularly european ones.

A relatively young tradition, the Virtual Adepts are the newest addition to the council, and therefore the least trusted one. Originally one of the conventions of the Technocracy, the Virtual Adepts were initially known as the Difference Engineers, but as the years went by they became increasingly more discontent with the Technocracy's actions, and eventually defected to the traditions after the death of reknowned adept [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Alan Turing]] by the hands of Technocracy agents. Now a tradition, the Virtual Adepts are masters of information, the digital web and computer wizardry.

* BerserkButton: They ''hate'' the Technocracy with a passion even greater than the other traditions.

* Cyberspace: The Digital Web
* DefectorFromDecadence: Left the technocracy in protest of their excessive control.

* LonersAreFreaks: A lot of their members tend to be loners by nature and the tradition in itself is rather unorganized.

* TheWebAlwaysExisted: The internet was not made but discovered by mages. [[spoiler: it was once the Web of Faith]]

[[folder:Orphans]]

Orphans are a catch-all term for an independent mage who does not follow a formal Tradition, and has instead created his own unique paradigm. They have no particular strengths in any sphere of magick, but make up for it in flexibility. Many of them tend to be a nihilistic lot and are dubbed "Hollow Ones". Efforts to unify them as a single group are repeated but short-lived.

--> Specialty Sphere: None

* Goth: the sourcebooks tend to paint a large number of Orphans and particularly the Hollow Ones as a member of this subculture, which unfortunately has dated them.
* StrawNihilist: The Hollow Ones, the largest of the Orphan crafts sees the world as virtually doomed.
* UrbanFantasy: the best representation of classical urban mages.
[[/folder]]

Drawing their origins back to the medieval ages, the Technocracy, then known as the Order of Reason, dedicated themselves to protect humanity from the various supernaturals that stalked mortals in the world, and embraced logic and science as a means to achieve their goals, crushing any and all traces of the supernatural and other mages, specificially the Order of Hermes. In modern nights, they control the masses with near absolute power, and work hard to preserve the status quo of humanity that has been achieved since their founding, for better or for worse, and are willing to eliminate anyone they see as a threat to their ideal world.

* TheMan: The Technocratic Union is the establishment and effectively the ultimate authority on all things in reality

* ScienceHero: Depending on your views

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: They created a world that's safe for [[{{Muggles}} normal humans]] by crushing out the imagination and creativity of the masses in favor of a more rational and scientific worldview.

* CounterEarth: The former headquarters of their MasterComputer
* {{Cyborg}}: A large number of their Agents are cybernetically enhanced.
* TheEngineer:
* GadgeteerGenius: for the Technocracy

* GovernmentConspiracy: They run governments
* TheMenInBlack: The basic grunts, the ones that run the convention are the Men in White
* ManipulativeBastard: Psychology and social combat is their specialization, and they are very good at finding your weak points
* TheSocialExpert: Their field of expertise

* VisionaryVillain: They are the architects of most of the largest and greatest of technocratic programs, and have plans to establish world peace.

* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: What their Procedures let them do, though they think it's just hyper-advanced medicine.
* TheMedic: They are the doctors of the technocracy after all.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: As the most amoral of the Conventions and the businessmen, what did you expect?

* SpaceMarine: Their role in the technocratic hierarchy.
* TokenGoodTeammate: they retain most of their curiosity and are much more respectful of their counterparts in the traditions.

! Nephandi, Marauders and Crafts

[[folder:Ahl-I-Batin]]
* TheNondescript
* TheMissingFaction: Used to be in the Traditions but quit in protest.

* InsaneEqualsViolent: A marauder's mere existence is violence upon reality.
* PowerBornOfMadness
* TheMadHatter: the saner ones.
* RealityWarper: Even more so than most normal mages, considering their near-immunity to paradox.
* TragicVillain: One does not choose to become a marauder, nor are all people who join their ranks evil individuals themselves. It can happen to anybody almost immidiately when they awaken, and worst of all, it is completely irreversible.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: All nephandi are depraved and evil psychopaths bent on destroying reality, sometimes from birth. No exceptions, except for the very rare cases of [[SpecialSnowflakeSyndrome Special Snowflake Syndrome]] and two cases in canon.

* CardCarryingVillain: Nephandi are not misguided, uninformed, or misunderstood. Becoming a nephandus requires a deliberate choice to invert one's Avatar and serve their monstrous overlords by causing death and destruction.
* DeaderThanDead: The recommended way to deal with them because inverted Avatars reincarnate just like regular ones.

* EnfantTerrible: Widderslainte, the reincarnated nephandi often start out as these.

* EvilerThanThou: They serve as this to every other evil faction in the oWoD.

* HumanoidAbomination: Once they are nephandi, mages are almost completely different creatures, bent on pure evil.
* MindRape: The caul (a shrine of unspeakable evil) does this to the recipient. It's flat out stated that nothing a nephandus can do to another person can equal the horror of the caul.
* MoralEventHorizon: In universe, once more. Passing through the caul irredeemably turns a nephadus pure evil, even unto their later incarnations. Nothing, in any lifetime can ever redeem the nephandus, which is the point of the ritual. The earliest nephandi intentionally sought out pockets of pure evil in the universe in order to make sure they were dedicated to the cause.

* ReligionOfEvil: Whether they worship demons, [[WerewolfTheApocalypse The Wyrm]], or simply oblivion itself, they all fit this trope.
* TheSociopath: Becoming nephandus means inverting everything good about yourself.

* TragicVillain: Widderslainte, reincarnated nephandi who are born evil, with no choice in their fates. It doesn't make them any less horrific and evil, but the fact it's their previous incarnation's fault makes them slightly pitiable.
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The most evil and heartless faction in the entire OldWorldOfDarkness, even defined as such in the sourcebooks. In a world as crapsack as this, that really says something about how repulsive these guys are.[[/folder]]

* TheMissingFaction: They used to have the seat of Matter on the Council before they were replaced by the Sons of the Ether.

A craft of mages hailing from the Middle East, uses the ancient Arabian legends of genies, magic carpets, magic lamps and myriad other fantastic things pulled straight out of the Arabian Nights as the basis for their magic. They see Paradox as a badge of honor for imposing their will on the universe and practice magic as blatantly as possible to change the Consensus. And they live lives of opulence and luxury, lavishing feasts and gifts on honored guests while regaling them with tales of bottling djinn or retrieving their assorted Wonders. At least until Paradox blows them up.

* WordsCanBreakMyBones: A common foci is poetry.
* IKnowYourTrueName: How they control djinn.
* Masquerade: the Taftani believe the Masquerade to be a lie and therefore immoral. They are not immune to Paradox that punish mages for breaking the Masquerade, but they shun coincidental magic as cowardice, and practice magic that is both spectacular and aggressive (and often suicidal), hopefully with as many witnesses as possible.

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: the entire Order of Hermes go out in a massive magical battle against the forces of evil. The Order is wiped out and Earth is engulfed by Hell, but if the PCs did it right, the Order's sacrifice leads to a glimmer of hope.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: Not exactly a good representation of any faith, particularly in how they work off the claim that all faiths are effectively the same. Unitarian Universalism is closest, but the Chorus has its own unique flavor of monotheistic universalism.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: Not exactly a good representation of any faith, particularly in how they work off the claim that all faiths are effectively the same.

* EnemyMine: If a nephandus is in the area, Tradition and Technocratic operatives will put aside their conflicts to kill it.

* FaceMonsterTurn: Normal mages can be forcibly turned into nephandus by being forced into a caul.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The most evil and heartless faction in the entire OldWorldOfDarkness, even defined as such in the sourcebooks. In a world as crapsack as this, that really says something about how repulsive these guys are.
[[/folder]]

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: the entire Order of Hermes go out in a massive magical battle against the forces of evil. The Order is wiped out and Earth is literally engulfed by Hell, but if the PCs did it right, the Order's sacrifice leads to a glimmer of hope.

* EverythingIsOnline: literally, they can hack your room's wallpaper given time.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: All nephandi are totally depraved and evil psychopaths bent on destroying reality, sometimes from birth. No exceptions, except for the very rare cases of [[SpecialSnowflakeSyndrome Special Snowflake Syndrome]] and two cases in canon.

* CompleteMonster: In universe. Everything good about them has been stripped away by the caul, and even their supposed sincere regret is just a ploy to draw their enemies closer.

* EvilerThanThou: They serve as this to literally every other evil faction in the oWoD.

* MindRape: The caul (a shrine of unspeakable evil) basically does this to the recipient. It's flat out stated that nothing a nephandus can do to another person can equal the horror of the caul.
* MoralEventHorizon: In universe, once more. Passing through the caul irredeemably turns a nephadus into a [[CompleteMonster Complete Monster]], even unto their later incarnations. Nothing, in any lifetime can ever redeem the nephandus, which is the point of the ritual. The earliest nephandi intentionally sought out pockets of pure evil in the universe in order to make sure they were dedicated to the cause.

* TheSociopath: Becoming nephandus basically means inverting everything good about yourself.
* StupidEvil: They have no goal that they ultimately benefit from. They're totally alright with destroying themselves along with the entire world.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Literally the most evil and heartless faction in the entire OldWorldOfDarkness, even defined as such in the sourcebooks. In a world as crapsack as this, that really says something about how repulsive these guys are.

* NonMaliciousMonster: The true tragedy of the Syndicate is that they honestly don't understand how flawed their philosophy really is-they honestly don't comprehend just how much harm their actions do.
* ObliviouslyEvil: They honestly believe they are the Sleeper's partners, not their rulers.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: as the most immoral of the conventions and the businessmen, what did you expect?
* ScrewtheRulesIHaveMoney: How they use their magic.

* TragicVIllain: Widderslainte, reincarnated nephandi who are born evil, with no choice in their fates. It doesn't make them any less horrific and evil, but the fact it's their previous incarnation's fault makes them slightly pitiable.

* Alchemy: The major practitioners.