History TabletoPGame / MageTheAwakening

* SupernaturalHotspotTown: {{Invoked|Trope}} by one {{Cult}} that worships the Prince of Ten Thousand Leaves, an EldritchAbomination in the form of a living AlternateHistory. By collecting enough of the Prince's artifacts, its [[RealityBleed reality has bled into the Cult's hometown]] of Savior's Rock, creating an EldritchLocation where unnatural powers and creatures can slip into the universe from the Abyss beyond.

* '''Acanthus:''' Enchanters on the Path of Thistle, who Awakened to the Watchtower of the Lunargent Thorn in the Realm of Arcadia, Acanthus mages tend to be easygoing, sometimes to the point of carelessness, due to their grasp of Fate and Time magic – it’s hard to be worried when you’ve seen what’s going to happen and you can tweak the dice so you know it’s going to work. However, the magic to which they’re born is subtle, and they have little ability when working with overt Forces. Associated with the Fool (0 or XXII) Tarot.

** '''The Mysterium:''' Descended from the ''Alae Draconis'' (or the “The Wing of the Dragon”), the Mysterium believe that the collection and gathering of knowledge is the highest calling a Mage can seek. They seek out artifacts and tomes from ancient Atlantis, gather them safely, and sometimes share what they have learned – for a cost. They serve as a Consilium’s teachers, loremasters, scientists, and archeologists.

** [[MagicAIsMagicA Shapeshifting spells]] belong to the Life Arcanum which is represented by the Primal Wild, the platonic ideal of nature unbound, so most mages with an affinity for them - that is to say, Thyrsus - tend to be more in tune with the natural world than the trappings of modern society. [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]] in that it's not a hard and fast rule - one of the example Thyrsus in the second edition book is very Literature/MissMarple-y (the prey-predator symbolism comes in via representing British colonialism, in her case), and that there's nothing preventing mages from other paths from learning enough Life to access those spells.

''Mage: The Awakening'' is a tabletop RPG made by Creator/WhiteWolf as part of the ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness'' line. The story goes that long ago, people all over the world had dreams that brought them to Atlantis. Once there, they undertook a spirit quest that enlightened their souls and gave them magic powers. Thus the [[TitleDrop Mages Awakened]]. Unfortunately, the good times soon ended: Mages wanted to get to the Supernal World, the source of all magic. To achieve their plan they built an enormous ladder that let them travel the gap between worlds. This ended badly, as these god-like Mages abused their newfound power, forcing others of their order to climb the ladder and fight them. This war broke the ladder-- destroying the connection between earth and the Supernal, and thus magic-- and replacing it with an evil, magic-destroying, realm called the Abyss. Atlantis fell, and the rest is history. Literally.

%%* AncientConspiracy: Up here, we have the Seers of the Throne, in four different flavors!

* WizardDuel: The Duel Arcane, a highly formal method of combat, in which two mages choose Arcana to act as their Sword and Shield, enter a magically created ring, and pit their magical will against one another in the form of elaborate illusions. It is said to be the preferred method of resolving disputes, as it is quick, generally non-life threatening (attacks start off harming willpower before going to actual physical damage, unless the combatants agree to a DuelToTheDeath, which are rarely permitted) and has no collateral damage.
** Take note the ring for the Duel Arcane requires a mage with the Prime Arcanum to create; usually this is a third party nominated by the challenger but sometimes the challenger or rarely the respondent will forge the ring. It's acceptable to reject the challenge if the mage responsible for the ring is accused of not being impartial, no loss of face or honour is incurred and it's generally considered rude to coerce someone into accepting a challenge to duel or to choose a person that is biased to either party.

* YourSoulIsMine: An entire classification exists for Left-Handed Mages who steal souls-- Reapers. The [[OurLichesAreDifferent Tremere Liches]] ''eat'' them to [[ImmortalityImmorality prolong their lives]]. ''Silver Ladder'' features a non-immortality seeking version, the [[ConMan Carnival Melancholy]], who burn souls they swipe for luck, while ''Left-Hand Path'' features Cloud Infinite, who use souls to augment their own mental abilities, and (Legion), who use the souls as a perfect disguise.

** [[MagicAIsMagicA Shapeshifting spells]] are powered by the Primal Wild, the platonic ideal of nature unbound, so mages with an affinity for it tend to be more in tune with the natural world than the trappings of modern society.

* AGodAmI:
** Anyone with Gnosis 10 and anything less then saintly Wisdom will practically say these exact words. To an extent, it's the goal of every single Mage to say these words and have the magic to back it up.
** And the archmasters have achieved it. That's when the ''real'' work starts.

** Second Edition gives them the sobriquet of "Thaumaturges", drawing on their nature as those who impose order and scientific structure on their magic, same as the order and structure of the Aether, and as seekers of fundamental truth and wonder. Obrimos on the Seers' side often call themselves "Reckoners" too. Their keywords are Power and Command. Unlike their brethren, they actually have three Tarot cards associated with them; [[ForceVersusDiscipline the Hierophant (V), who codifies divine patterns into mortal laws and scripture to give order and discipline to the world, and the High Priestess (II), who uses intuition and self-knowledge to rule the invisible realms of thought]]. Both are perfectly valid ways of seeking Strength, both power over knowledge and the wisdom to use it gently and productively.

* TrickBomb: {{Alchemy|IsMagic}} can imbue any AreaOfEffect spell into a grenade, so you can have bad-luck bombs, time-slowing bombs, anti-gravity grenades, or almost anything else the alchemist can imagine.

* DarkIsNotEvil: The Moros "Necromancer" mages, who have the capacity to be as good or evil as any other mage. That said, there's a Moros-only Legacy of [[BlackMagic Black Magicians]] (Tremere Liches), but that's because of what they do to sustain their immortality -- they eat souls. Yes, you read that right, ''they eat souls''. If that doesn't fall under ImmortalityImmorality, nothing will.

* DisintegrationChamber: The Translators are a cell of rogue mages who believe they're rooting out alien infiltrators and teleporting them back to their home planet in a jury-rigged {{Magitek}} "Translation Chamber". They're delusional. The "aliens" are fellow mages; the Translation Chamber disintegrates its victims with a Mana overload and scatters their remains across the Multiverse.

** When most mages see [[YourSoulIsMine Reaper Legacies]], they see the worst sort of person imaginable. When Tremere Liches see another Reaper Legacy, they see rivals... [[PowerCopying and loot]].

** Whether the Arcadia of ''Mage'' has any connection to the Arcadia and/or the Hedge of ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' is ShrugOfGod -- that is, individual [=StoryTeller=] prerogrative. ''Imperial Mysteries'' suggests that the Gentry are gods whose peculiar relationship to time means they come from every Arcadia ''but'' the one the Exarchs rule (past, future, alternate, etc.)
*** As of second edition ''Changeling'', the two Arcadias are explicitly separate realms.

** The Tremere Liches, a Moros Legacy, are based on [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Clan Tremere]], a former House of the Order of Hermes. The Tremere's House Nagaraja take their name from Masquerade's Nagaraja bloodline, former death-mages who turned themselves into vampires.
%%** The Dreamspeakers are obvious.%%Explain.

* NecessarilyEvil:
** The Guardians of the Veil know perfectly well what they do is morally suspect and based on rationalizations, and none of them like themselves very much for it.
** How the [[YourSoulIsMine Tremere Liches]] justify their existence. It is their mission to merge the five "soul" (ie Subtle) Arcana back into one, thus bringing about a GoldenAge of magic. And since the only way to do that is to merge souls with the Final Watchtower (which they become living portals to), [[YourSoulIsMine munch away]].

* PowerCopying: When the Tremere Liches destroy another Reaper Legacy, they internalize that particular variety of soul magic as one of their Houses.

* RedRightHand: The Seo Hel Tremere House (basically a group of liches who have multiclassed into a new variety of soul magic) have this as their weakness-much like their [[Myth/NorseMythology patron goddess]], half of their bodies look dead.

* SoulEating: Tremere liches sustain their [[TheAgeless unaging]] existence with a steady supply of souls -- one per year at minimum, escalating to one per two weeks for the oldest and most powerful. They can perform the theft either with Death magic or with the innate power of their Legacy.

* YourSoulIsMine: An entire classification exists for Left-Handed Mages who steal souls-- Reapers. The [[OurLichesAreDifferent Tremere]] [[ImmortalityImmorality Liches]] of the core book are the first that come to mind. ''Silver Ladder'' features a non-immortality seeking version, the [[ConMan Carnival Melancholy]], who burn souls they swipe for luck, while ''Left-Hand Path'' features Cloud Infinite, who use souls to augment their own mental abilities, and (Legion), who use the souls as a perfect disguise.