- "We can shit talk each other tomorrow, for now, we're all here to help Humanity in our own ways, and needing some coffee."
The Eternity Study is a Mage: The Ascension living world roleplay on Discord. The setting is Los Angeles as the eponymous Chantry is engaged in a fragile peace with the nearby Union Construct as well as two other supernatural factions, the local anarchs and a werewolf sept. The game provides a drop-in drop-out system for scenes that any characters can participate with modifications on the standard ruleset of Mage 20 as well as monthly caps on how much xp can be earned to curb the power of the player characters of storytellers (who receive an amount of xp for the running of the scene) or those who participate in far more scenes as well as a catch-up system to ensure those who are behind on the curve do not stay there forever.
The central point of the game is the impact and implications of an alliance of Traditions and Technocracy as well as the interactions of the characters involved, the clash of methodologies, the impact of the two leaving all the infighting and focusing their efforts outwards as well as the inevitable complications of what the rest of the world thinks about it.
Joining the game can be done with any of the available public invites (such as this one
) within the World of Darkness servers or by contacting the storytellers.
The Eternity Study provides examples of:
- Anti-Frustration Features: Paradox goes away much faster, grimoires take only a few days to go through and catch-up xp allows new players to even out with the older ones quicker.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: As per the source material. One scene named Nikola Tesla as part of the Electrodyne Engineers.
- Bigger on the Inside: The chantry is on the outside a modest office building and on the inside it would cover a University Campus. Same goes for White Haven, the Union Construct.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Nephandi, Black Spiral Dancers and Pentex are considered to have no redeeming quality and their elimination is a point on which the dissenting sides can agree.
- Can't Catch Up: The Catch-up xp and cap system is there to avoid such a situation and not give power to those who aggressively participate in every scene they can or to storyteller characters who gain it for every scene ran by that storyteller.
- Cap: On the amount of xp that can be earned per month as well as the maximum possible attribute values (even through magick).
- Cool Ship: The Dragonslayer. A ship originally built (at least in part) by Nikola Tesla and recovered from Malfeas. Its first use after powering up was to annihilate a manufactured zmeu (a Wyrm-corrupted serpentine dragon), thus gaining the name.
- Crossover: With almost every other splat in the World of Darkness. But Player Characters can only be Mages.
- Elaborate Underground Base: White Haven Division
- Enemy Mine: How most see this alliance, even when they see its value.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Traditions and Technocracy are not played as either side being "right". Some even admit that through this alliance they might cover each other's flaws.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Averted. While Katanas still maintain their distinct advantage, swords were brought to be in line damage-wise.
- Magic Versus Technology: Faction-wise there is still some enmity between the groups, especially on the subject of methodology, but this being Mage, either is a valid practice.
- No Campaign for the Wicked: Nephandi and Marauders cannot be played and becoming one automatically transforms a PC into an (possibly antagonistic) NPC.
- Subverted for the Technocracy and justified as in the source material they are not villains but heroes in direct opposition and have as many good and bad guys as the Traditions.
- Nuke 'em: Done once during a scene which involved the detonation of a BSD Hive's Caern which just so happened to be a nuclear warhead.
- Subverted in other interactions and justified in and out of character. Much like the source material, a nuclear detonation is ALWAYS vulgar and requires the sacrifice of a master of forces, so it is not done lightly if at all. Certain conditions can allow for one to happen or a very similar and justified effect to appear as such.
- Perspective Flip: Unlike the usual Mage game where either side is played and the other is at best a Well-Intentioned Extremist, both Union and Trads are now in a direct alliance, at least locally.
- Player Versus Environment: With no in-fighting of the lethal variety at least within the Player Characters, this is the general theme of all conflict.
- Running Gag: The balance between the number of Technocracy players and Traditions players is a common point whenever a character joins or leaves either.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Averted. While there is a great amount of trading of blows between the two groups, the general agreement is that they both want the same thing and that neither is perfect. This is further cemented by White Haven being part of the Utopian sub-faction within the Technocratic Union, who think that destroying deviants should be taken under a loose definition and they should instead perfect their own power.
- Truce Zone: Both in and out of character. In-character there is a effect on the chantry that plagues those who plot against its members with Bond Villain Stupidity while out of character there is a rule against PvP. It is also the primary motivation for the alliances involved and the lack of in-fighting as the members are not immune to it.
- Unequal Rites: Technomancers versus Mystics. The new Mastery system (intended to replace the "dropping instruments" system) does give the latter a distinct advantage while the former benefit from a more coincidental casting.
- Urban Fantasy: As per the source material.
- World Half Full: While the attempt to keep to the original lore as best as possible, the setting tries to show that in the end, for all their flaws, mages do want to help Humanity, no matter what side they are on.
