History TabletopGame / MageTheAscension

* SparkOfGenius: How most technomancers see their powers.

** MagicByAnyOtherName: Science being just another way of using magic is one of the primary conceits of the setting.

* SpecialSnowflakeSyndrome: "Look at me! I'm a Subtle One!" Besides that, Crafts for player characters are usually more acceptable than the indie splats in most other games, since Mages are individualistic by nature, though some Crafts are still better received than others.

** [[TheMan The Technocracy]] has their own equivalent of these, known as Archmasters, kept alive through [[MagicByAnyOtherName Enlightened Science]] for centuries and still capable of incredible feats. In one case, Johannes Kepler is not only still alive and kicking, but he even helped Einstein develop faster-than-light travel in the 20th century!

** The Syndicate could be considered an odd example of this trope being approached from the opposite direction: many of their traits throughout the gameline read like ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanet'' or ''Film/WallStreet'' [[StupidEvil villain]] monologues. In some ways, they come across as every {{Cyberpunk}} villain cliche played shamelessly straight. In other words: [[TheMan a perfect strawman]] for our TotallyRadical youth culture protagonists to oppose.

* MagicVersusScience: The Technocracy has "technology": Spaceships, cybernetics, genetic engineering, and a lot of other stuff that looks like science fiction. Most of their enemies do "magic": They keep genies in rings, summon storms by chanting prayers, and do other things that look like fantasy. Ultimately subverted, as mages will tell you that the the Technocracy still uses ''magic'', it's just that their magic has been accepted as common knowledge, and the Technocrats will tell you that "magic" is just wildly-applied para-science created by people who don't understand the forces they touch. In the World Of Darkness, the metaphysics underlying magic and science are ''exactly the same'', and both "science" and "magic" are pretty inaccurate terms to describe the primal energy that shapes reality. This is why (prior to [[BrokenBase Third Edition]]) the books used the word ''[[InsistentTerminology magick]],'' which they defined at "altering reality through force of will," a definition originally popularized by Creator/AleisterCrowley, who also spelled it with a "k". When they dropped the "k" at the end, well...

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even the New World Order, the second-most amoral Technocrats after the Syndicate, are disgusted with partisan politics and biased reporting. Justified, in that they want to bring the world together into relative harmony, and both those things do the exact opposite. They also abhor child slavery, child prostitution, and child pornography, so much so that they turn a blind eye to the actions of the Children's Crusade, a faction of the Cult of Ecstasy dedicated to stamping these things out, who also have allies in every other Tradition.

* GroupedForYourConvenience: The Traditions, and their counterparts within other factions, have their own traditional methods and practices, which tend to determine members' abilities and personalities.

* SpiritWorld: The Umbra, a world of concepts made flesh. Just be sure to avoid any [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse werecreatures]] prowling about.
** Werecreatures mostly concern themselves with the Vidare Spiritus and Middle Umbra. Mages can potentially have '''any''' of the videre and reach any part of the Umbra -- including the Astral Umbra, which is almost exclusively the purview of mages.

* NoCampaignForTheWicked: In the 20th Anniversary edition, Nephandi (demon/devil worshippers) are not allowed as PlayerCharacters.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The Cult of Ecstasy hates rapists. They are [[EthicalSlut ethical sluts]] who think [[SexIsGood sexuality is sacred]] so they view nonconsensual sex as a horrific corruption of their belief system. For this reason they created the [[PedoHunt Children's Crusade]].

* SupernaturalMartialArts: The Akashic Brotherhood's exclusive martial art ''Do''. Do is actually the ''only'' martial art and philosophy of life -- all the others, according to Akashics, are merely offshoots of it.

->So, when [a Reality Deviant Incident] goes down, one of the first steps we take after outright containment involves touching base with the local RD elders and coming to an agreement about what is to be done about it. It’s rare we don’t come to some sort of consensus, so to speak, about how to handle the offenders in the aftermath of their little shit fit.

* {{Realpolitik}}: The Technocracy in the 20th Anniversary Edition, as presented in ''Technocracy Reloaded'', has more-or-less replaced the Pogrom with PragmaticVillainy. They don't like any stripe of Reality Deviant, but their priority is to neutralize threats, which ''can'' mean shooting them until they're dead - but sometimes a polite request (or even [[BigBrotherIsEmployingYou a job offer]]) works better. Some Technocrats even consider vampires generally useful, because their leaders are really good at upholding TheMasquerade and keeping their idiot neonates - and the rest of the World of Darkness - in line.

* {{Realpolitik}}: The Technocracy in the 20th Anniversary Edition, as presented in ''Technocracy Reloaded'', has more-or-less replaced the Pogrom with PragmaticVillainy. They don't like any stripe of Reality Deviant, but their priority is to neutralize threats, which ''can'' mean shooting them until they're dead - but sometimes a polite request (or even [[BigBrotherIsEmployingYou a job offer]]) works better.

* DeadlyEuphemism: Human Resources is a Technocracy invention, so they tend to use very euphemistic jargon to describe the punishments in store for unmutual operatives. For example, [[{{Brainwashed}} Social Conditioning]], [[IHaveYourWife Amended Society]] or [[YouHaveFailedMe the Degree Absolute]].

* OurGnomesAreWeirder: Players with a background in fantasy yet having trouble grasping the Sons of Ether can be safely told "They're like tinker gnomes." Just, you know... Human-sized.

** The Syndicate created [[TabletopGame/{{WerewolfTheApocalypse}} Pentex]] but even their disgusted with how the [[CardCarryingVillain modern]] [[MayContainEvil Pentex]] acts.

* VillainHasAPoint: Overlapping with TheExtremistWasRight, awful as their treatment of Reality Deviants may be, the Technocracy is correct that the technological paradigm is the one most humans want. In fact, the entire reason the Order of Reason managed to pull it off is because Sleepers wanted technology more than they wanted a small magic using elite.