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AKASHIC
BROTHERHOOD

Mind, body and spirit are all part of the larger whole of the person, just as the person is part of the larger whole of the universe. Identity, division and conflict are illusions. When the mind and body come into harmony, the soul follows. When the individual does not resist the universe but moves within, he embraces his nature. From these philosophical roots came the Akashic Brotherhood. By honing the body, the Brothers make, a temple for the mind; with the refined mind comes understanding of the spirit. The Brotherhood uses simple tools — exercise, meditation, practice and study — to refine the simple man into a brother of knowledge.
Background
The philosophical and historic roots of the Akashic Brotherhood lie in the beginning times when all people lived in harmony. The first Akashics learned their skill in Do from Dragon and Phoenix, and they disciplined their bodies and their minds through the balance of movement and stillness. As the earth turned and more people came to live near the All, the All fractured and became dissonant. The balance between mind and body, motion and stillness, was disturbed, and the ones who would become Akashic Brothers retreated into mountains, caves and forests to continue their study of balance through Do. Martial arts and exercises perfected the body while rigorous disciplines, chants and prayers cleansed the mind.
As the world fractured and people took up dissonant paths, conflict came in several forms to the Brotherhood. The earliest artificers brought the first vestiges of technology to humanity, thus turning people from their relationship with the immaterial world and strengthening the barrier between the physical and the spiritual realms. Tools encouraged people to focus on only the things they could touch and forget that there was ever anything else; material goods became a goal and replaced the natural fulfillment of personal accomplishment. Even within the Brotherhood, young students took up the study of Do but failed to understand the relationship between philosophy and physical prowess. These warriors saw the Brotherhood's physical skills as an end, and brought disharmony to the group and its relations with others.
Later, Akashic conflicts expanded to include another group of Awakened humans, a band of mages who saw reincarnation as their duty. The Brotherhood did not approve of mages who took into their own hands the power over life and death, and the Brotherhood warred against the death mages — who would later become the Euthanatos — for 300 years. The war left both Traditions scarred, although neither has entirely forgiven the other for the centuries of bloodshed, they have learned from each other. Neither Tradition (as a whole) jumps quickly into conflict.
As the spiritual philosophies of Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto and similar religions spread across Asia, the Brotherhood followed. The Shaolin monasteries of China housed their members, as did the mountain -dwelling hermits of Japan, the cloistered priests of Tibet and the mysterious mystics of India. Many Common people adopted Brotherhood beliefs in everyday life. This groundswell of common support became the Brotherhood's bane: organized nations, harsh rulers and secret societies resented the Brotherhood's liberating influence on the Masses. Eventually, the Brotherhood found itself embroiled in wars as armies and governments sought to destroy its influence. The Brotherhood's holdings were broken and its members scattered. Hierarchical societies and caste systems, combined with a focus on material living, turned people against the Brotherhood's self-empowering ways.
Still, as an organization devoted to the improvement of the individual, the Akashic Brotherhood survived. Wanderin g priests here and there kept the Brotherhood's ideas alive while the teachings of the Tradition remained a part of many cultures and families. Technocratic influence may have destroyed the Brotherhood's material strength, but that was never its focus — the Brotherhood's true power came from the soul of humanity.
Those who needed guidance, who felt the calling of Do, found the Brotherhood. Independent of the modern desires, structures and possessions of the technological age, the brothers and sisters could not be trapped or deprived of the light they kept within.
To the modern Traditions, the Brotherhood now embodies the balance between violence and peace, understanding and conflict, in which the Traditions themselves remain embroiled. The Brotherhood's roots are spiritual, so they cannot be slain with bullets, money or laws. The Warring Fists use their incredible prowess to battle the enemies of the Traditions, while dieir teachings preach the Ascension of each individual through righteous action. As the modern Renaissance of martial arts and Asian philosophy blends with 21st-century culture and technology, the Brotherhood seeds itself once more in the hearts of common people everywhere.
Organization
Structure in the Brotherhood is loose; enlightenment and destiny are recognized as steps along the path, but all living things have virtue and value. To the Brotherhood, the idea of placing one thing or philosophy over another is a false division. Therefore, while Masters are respected for their insight, they do not exercise any real weight of authority — they are simply credited for their insight. Akashic acolytes come from all walks of life, but all study the Akashic way of leading a pure and simple lifestyle, at least to some degree. As a Brother progresses to a simpler and more unhindered state of Do and a greater Arete, his accomplishments are recorded and his teachings distributed so that all may benefit from them.
Factions
The Akashic Brotherhood is not made up of Shaolin priests only; neither does it exclude Caucasians or any other group. True, the focus of the Tradition is mainly Asiatic, but the search for balance and understanding is universal. Buddhists, Confucianists and Taoists make up a good percentage of the Brotherhood's ranks. Atheists, pagans and even Christians are welcome — any enlightened soul seeking to find harmony and study the way of Do can become a Brother. (Incidentally, the term Brother is not a slight against the female members of the Tradition. Akashic Brother is simply a title for someone who studies the ways of Akasha, and it is intended to carry no gender bias.)
Although the Tradition seems peaceful on the outside, it is not so from the inside. Disagreement thrives within this Tradition as well as it does within the others. The great est divisions in the Akashic ranks arise between the younger members who want to make war on their enemies, the Masters who seek only enlightenment and the newly initiated members of the Wu Lung Craft.
Heavily traditional elements make up the Shi-Ren, or "benevolent aristocracy." Legalists and political elements who desire greater Akashic influence in worldly affairs form the basis of this group. According to the Shi-Ren, Brotherhood ways can only continue to fade into obscurity if the cultures that spawned them are pushed into history. Although many modern Shi-Ren do not honestly believe that a return, to Imperial China is possible, they do feel that it's important for the Brotherhood to maintain a stake in modern politics and culture. They stress the teaching of history and the roots of the Brotherhood; many have Pattern Essences. These Brothers study Mind magic intensely, push for better organization and serve as a public face in diplomacy and political struggle.
In direct counterpoint to the traditional members of the Brotherhood are the Li-Hai, who subscribe to Mo Tzu's philosophy of utilitarian morality. These Brothers believe that ancient traditions force the mind into a false sense of morality, one that is not guided by pragmatism. Groundless traditions then cause people to take harmful actions. The Li-Hai argue that all morality must stem from reasoned analysis of what is utilitarian and what is harmful, and they seek to abolish old traditions that no longer have relevance in the modern age. These Brothers feel that the Brotherhood needs to modernize, to accept new ideas to approach the changing world and to learn to work within the systems of tools promoted by scientific society. Although these Brothers continue the practice of Do, they discard elements of Akashic magic that stem from old tradition. Instead, they seek to meld Do and the Akashic Record into a modern, rational approach to health, morality and personal advancement.
The Kannagara are ascetics who uphold many old practices within the Brotherhood. These monks' take on difficult ordeals to purify themselves and to strengthen themselves physically and spiritually. All members of the Brotherhood use such techniques to some degree, but the Kannagara believe that the right mind and right soul can only come through right action, and that such action stems from ritual, hardship and practice. Most Kannagara remain cloistered away in Akashic retreats, where they practice daily prayers and devotions. They sometimes journey to the outside world as well, in order to see that which they hope to surpass. As Brotherhood retreats fall to modern expansion or tourism, and asceticism loses popularity, the Kannagara slowly dwindle.
Mystically inclined Brothers form the Jnani, a group of yogis who follow various forms of Shinto and Tibetan rites in order to develop spiritually. As monists, the Jnani hope to reconcile the consciousness of the self with the Avatar (which they term the "Buddha-Mind"). Through practices of yoga, tantra, prayer, chant and the ubiquitous Do and meditation, Jnani seek unification with the absolute principle of reality. Instead of seeing reality as malleable, they believe that it stems from one core principle, and that all other veils of illusion stem from the inability to reconcile the self with the absolute principle. These monks engage in spirit -questing, and they seek out internal wisdom to remove the boundaries between the self and the Avatar. Naturally, they command potent Spirit magic. However, they also retain many unusual libraries and practices unknown to much of the rest of the Brotherhood. Rumor says that they have long held several hidden monasteries and that they keep secret catacombs deep beneath the Earth, where one can find passage to Horizon Realms or discover ancient places of power that tap into the consciousness of the absolute.
Young and hot-blooded warriors in the Brotherhood join the Vajrapani, or "wielders of the Diamond Wand." To them, enlightenment is like a diamond: hard, unyielding, containing only reflections of the outward world. The Vajrapani give the Brotherhood its moniker as "Warring Fists," for their title stems from the term for both "diamond" and "thunderbolt," whilst the diamond wand of their namesake is the metaphor for supernatural power. These Akashics argue that the Technocracy can be defeated only through powerful action, and they use Do as their weapon. Interestingly, the Vajrapani stem originally from a metaphysical feminine principle, but this fact does not limit membership in this political faction.
Indeed, being a Vajrapani is often more a matter of a young and impulsive student getting labeled as such by a mentor (or recognized as a kindred sort by other young warriors). Vajrapani work to develop their martial prowess, and they often seek out conflict with the perceived enemies of the Brotherhood. Older members sometimes drift into other factions, but some do remain active as warriors — the Tradition must have its defenders, after all.
Lastly, the Wu Lung, the family of the Dragon, are a separate sect of mages who allied with the Brotherhood very recently. In the past, the Wu Lung and the Akashic Brotherhood fought for dominance over traditional China. Today, with their greatest leaders slain and their heritage diluted by modern China, the Wu Lung have been forced to set aside their grudges and ally with the only remaining inheritors of China's ancient culture.
The Dragon Wizards practice a rigorous and bureaucratic style of magic reminiscent of China's old imperial days, complete with ancestor worship and careful appeasement of the heavenly spirits. Both Brothers and Wizards still seek a means to reconcile their disparate beliefs, using their common roots for a basis. Still, there's a long way to go. The Wizards even practice their own martial art separate from Do. It seems that their faction in the Brotherhood will remain a rather disparate part, forced by circumstance to bow to the greater weight of the Brotherhood in the Traditions. The imperial bureaucrats study primarily Spirit magic so that they can commune with ancestors and answer the mandates of Heaven properly.
Philosophy
A return to simplicity lies at the heart of the Brotherhood's beliefs. Humans clutter up their lives with unnecessary and extraneous objects and desires. How can one understand the natural harmony of the universe by trying to grasp it, own it or control it? The natural place for every individual — the role of Drahma — is apparent when one is not blinded by the illusions of greed, desire and power. The exercises of living give a soul the chance to experience the universe in manifold forms, and so the individual should take this opportunity to gain insight by developing a harmony with the All. Each life is just a step on the greater wheel of Drahma until the individual releases himself from the chains that he forged with his own beliefs and desires.
Failings
Subtlety and Zen-like calm are among the Brotherhood's strengths, but they are also a great weakness. Because the order focuses so closely on personal growth and individual enlightenment, its Masters have no connection to the individual student's personal paths to understanding. Instead of being able to help an Initiate move toward wisdom with lessons or suggestions, most Akashic Brothers can offer only rote physical training, cryptic passages in old books or puzzling idioms that are supposed to lead the student to her own revelation. Some apprentices don't learn well without close guidance, and some mages are unable to move beyond a certain point in their development without help.
The masters can't tell their students what it is they're supposed to be learning, or where or even how they're supposed to find it. As a result, the Brotherhood loses a disproportionate number of young mages due to simple frustration. The ones who do stick with the Tradition are making some attempt to counteract this Zen disease, but they are struggling against the immense weight of time and long-honored tradition. The Brotherhood's very individualistic belief that all people must find their own path paradoxically makes it difficult for the Brotherhood to do more than give aspiring mages a few simple tools. The Masters cannot teach the way to enlightenment, they believe, since each person must find a unique path. Those who are enlightened cannot explain their sublime understanding; those who aren't don't know how to start. The Masters point the way — it's up to the students to follow it, but only if they can understand it.
Theories and Practices
The Akashic Brotherhood keeps its soul in the pages of the Akashic Record, a collection of all of the experience of all Akashic Brothers over all time. Its pages may be paper and ink, but the book is reflected in all levels of the world, spiritual and material alike. Legend has it that it was originally begun by the Ascended Avatar named Akasha, for whom the Order is also named. The Record serves as an inspiration and meditation for the Brotherhood, allowing the mages to access past experience and wisdom. The Record is not, however, a book to simply be read. It presents knowledge in such a manner that the seeker will not forget, in puzzles, riddles, loans or short passages that seem mundane. By diving into the Record, a Brother can relive the experiences of the past, sometimes even coming forth with elements of his own past lives.
The soul of the Brotherhood is in its Record, but for the body and mind there is Do (pronounced "doe"). Literally "the Way", Do is the art of training the body in order to achieve a peaceful mind. Do is the essence of martial art, the root of more mundane arts — its movements allow Akashic Brothers to perform feats that combine physical, mental and magical precision. However, Do is more than just a fantastically deadly fighting style and physical discipline. It is a style of living, a means to develop the fullest potential of the human body by moving harmoniously in natural cycles. Do stylists practice proper balance in nutrition, exercise, sleep, thought, creation and destruction, all guided as important parts of a greater whole. Ultimately, the Do practitioner brings his body and mind in harmony with the natural flow of life, unhindered by the artificial constructs of development in a world cluttered by extraneous material.
Do pervades every aspect of the Akashic attitude toward magic. As there must be right thinking, right speech, right understanding and right action, there must be right mind in order to achieve right body and right living. Thus, the Tradition studies Mind as its primary Sphere. Without that one block in place, nothing else can be aligned and the mage — or her opponent — is as hampered as she would be with no body. All Akashics thus study Do in some manner, be it through difficult martial arts, internal questing or quiet meditation.
Although Do is the primary structure for Akashic magic, many Brothers add other practices to focus their energy. Like Do, these practices are often Asiatic in origin — feng shui, meditation and calligraphy are excellent ways to direct chi — but all are designed to unify and direct motion and thought toward a goal. The spiritual and magical worlds are not far removed from the physical world. The balanced and enlightened man can, in time, access all layers of the universe.
Still, many Akashic Brothers fail to understand the dichotomy that their Tradition teaches. Convinced of the tightness of their cause in harmony with Do and the universe, warriors of the Brotherhood try to fight or force others into their mold, never realizing that in doing so they turn human against human and create disharmony instead of healing it. The aptly named Warring Fists thus fight a constant war against the elements they hold repugnant. Yet in doing so, they promote the very violence that their teachings despise. For many, enlightenment comes only later, and these monks retreat from the world to find peace instead of conflict.
Specialty Sphere: Mind
Common Foci: Chimes, incense, meditation, prayer sashes or flags, purification rites, weapons
Concepts: Action movie star, athlete, explorer, martial arts student, sage, wandering hero



Celestial Chorus: Their insight is commendable, but they are consumed with the notion that there is only one path to the All.
Cult of Ecstasy: The body must be perfected before it can be transcended. Still, their minds are hot tethered to the material.
Dreamspeakers: The dream-dance echoes in all of us. Their Avatars are pure and they listen to the All instead of imposing their own order upon it.
Euthanatos: It is not for them to determine who is worthy of life; all beings must learn Drahma through experience.
Order of Hermes: How can one understand the universe by trying to control and categorize it? The All is too great to be denied by simple numbers and symbols.
Sons of Ether: They are tied to the idea of their tools as enlightenment, but at least they value the process of learning as much as the result.
Verbena: Pain and struggle are teachers, but not the only teachers. Life is more than blood.
Virtual Adepts: They find newer and different illusions for their amusement, but where is the value in trading one illusion for another?
Hollow Ones: The study of harmony must begin with the belief that harmony is possible.

Many Initiates come to the Cult because of its reputation as a continual party. Popular opinion has it that sex, drugs and rock-'n'-roll are what the Cult is about. When the mages get to the party, though, they find out that there's a very specific point to all the revelry. The Cult of Ecstasy does use things like drugs and music and even sex, but they're just means to an end. The point is to achieve a mental state that transcends the physical world, a trance that allows the mage to see beyond his normal experience and go outside all the lines that keep most people and mages penned in.
Cultists take the word ecstasy in its original meaning: a sudden, intense rush of feeling that catapults the subject into an altered state. It doesn't have to be a pleasant feeling, but given a choice, most Cultists definitely prefer it that way. The Cult of Ecstasy breaks down barriers and self-imposed limitations to give people a rush of eye-opening experience.
Background
Ecstatic quests for transcendence — and the Cult of Ecstasy itself — have a long history, from the Bacchantes' dances and the Sufi Muslims' whirling to aboriginal vision quests. Drugs, pain, hunger, intense sexual stimulation, dance and music are the traditional tools for achieving a trance state, and the Cult hasn't really seen the need to change any of them. Members of the Cult have always been visionaries and rebels, even more so than other mages. Prophetic and insightful, they expanded their minds through exhausting ritual and dangerous substances, all in the pursuit of ultimate awareness.
The Cult's early incarnations spread from mystery visionaries in the Near East and India. There, seers learned the power of altered mind states through dance, music and simple drugs. Entire communities took up the whirling, fatiguing practices of seers, while in other areas hermit-like proto-Ecstatics lived as mystery men who uttered cryptic pronouncements and lived apart from the press of mundane humanity. In both cases, the roots of the Tradition came together with people who broke down their own boundaries of perception and comfort in the pursuit of wisdom.
By the Renaissance, the Ecstatics had become recognized by the other Traditions, who labeled them Seers. Ecstatic practices in mad, frenzied passion distinguished them from the conservatism of the times, yet their uncanny knack for foresight let them arrive in the right places at the right times. These Seers embraced the whole of human experience, equating passion with divinity and discarding the stifling mores of the Church. The Seers would accept no limits — not from themselves, from society or from any gods. This liberation both fascinated and terrified the more conservative Traditions, who alternately reviled and wondered at the Ecstatics' practices and powers. Although the Cult has undergone many changes of name — from Sahajiya to Cult of Bacchus to Cult of Ecstasy — its original focus remains.
Cultists seek to surpass their notions of comfortable boundaries, to explode into awareness beyond human limits, to reach an ecstatic transcendence where their consciousness spans all time and space. Today, the tools are different, but the result the same. Music, dance, sex, exercise, drugs — anything that can be pursued to exhaustive, passionate explosions of feeling is fair game. The Cult thrives in the eternal second at the height of an elegant dance, the shuddering sensitivity of total exhaustion and the lateral thoughts of the opened mind. Its message comes to people through this music, urging people to cast aside their banal notions in favor of ecstasy, experience and their own mad visions.
Organization
Flexibility is the Tradition's greatest asset. Because the Ecstatics understand that no boundary is permanent, they are able to see that there are always new ways to achieve goals and new ways to live their lives. As a whole, the Cult eschews structure in favor of encouraging creative, often chaotic rebellion. New experience is good experience — even if it hurts, the mage has learned something about how not to do things! The closest the Cult comes to a formal structure lies in its Code of Ananda, the proverbs of bliss that teach joy, compassion, sacred emotion and respect for others' passions in a sort of ethical guide that encourages each Cultist to embrace the differences of others.
Unsurprisingly, the Tradition has little real structure. Individual mages don't have a problem working together — they prefer company, usually — but they don't see the need for a hierarchy or for too much organization. When something needs to happen, it will happen. If more than a few Cultists need to meet in order to solve a problem or come to a consensus, they do so in during a rare Tradition convergence. Chantry houses tend to resemble community hangouts, jam-session rooms or fraternity houses more than magical workplaces, and they're often inhabited by several Cultists and a handful of Sleepers.
Factions
The Cult draws more new mages than any other Tradition, at first, because of its reputation as a gang of hippies. The ones who stay, though, are visionaries, one and all. There's no real list of the types of people who become Ecstatic mages, because anyone can realize that they're not seeing all that there is to see. The only unifying trait Ecstatics share is the fact that they realize, even if they haven't yet Awakened, that limitations and boundaries can be surpassed. There exist a few small sects within the Cult, primarily of extremists or those who feel the usefulness of some organization.
The Aghoris are a centuries-old faction near Bengali in India, who practice mutilation, pain and destruction as tools to surpass the mortal body. By destroying the shell, they reason, they can encourage the growth of the soul. This rather extreme philosophy denies the Ecstatic Code of Ananda, and most other Ecstatics stay the hell away from these dangerous types.
In Europe and the Americas, some Cultists continue the decadent practices of the late Hellfire Clubs, moving in secret circles of "gentlemen's societies" complete with mutilating initiation rites, intoxicants and damaging drugs and painful mind-games and emotionally manipulative "pleasures". These Acharne move among all of the stylish -yet-pained subcultures, especially the modern Gothic movement, spreading their particular joy of damnation with an amorality that sets them apart from Cultists or Hollowers. They, too, see the Code of Ananda as weakness. They practice the Mind Sphere in their pursuit of emotional mastery.
The Hagalaz are a violent group of Nordic berserkers, rune mages and tricksters, sometimes with ties to other sorcerous societies that share their passions. Engaging in bloody rune-carving and dangerous traps reminiscent of the Norse deity Loki, they personify the madness that runs through the chaotic side of Scandinavian myth. These dangerous types see the modern world and its religions as weak, and they push to overthrow them with a more militant Valhallan society.
Consorting with the mercurial fae, the Fellowship of Pan indulges in rites of sex, drinking, and Muse-inspired poetry and debate. These Cultists maintain ties with the modern descendants of the fae and initiate their members through the wild parties of the satyrs.
Politically active Cultists often wind up in the Dissonance Society, a small group that teaches personal responsibility and ethics as a cornerstone for anarchic society. Members of the Society indulge in a wide range of criminal (sometimes almost terrorist) activities and argue for the overthrow of the stifling chains of society. Members of this group tend to have an intellectual streak, using debate and discussion as tools just as much as action.
The K'an Lu Taoists contrast with the Akashic Brotherhood as a sect that practices extreme passion and physical pleasure as opposed to the asceticism of the monks. However, the enlightened K'an Lu see the need for a balance between discipline and excess, so they too practice martial arts, meditation, trances and discipline. The contrast between discipline and chaos lets them cut loose from the limits of experience to open their doors of perception in controlled ways.
Modern Klubwerks (or "clubkids," or just "clubbers," depending upon who you ask) are Cultists who indulge in the mass consciousness of nightclubs and concerts. In the pressing throng of humanity sharing a common beat, these muses reach out for the primal pulse of the mob. To them, the heartbeat of many people moves beyond the mind of the one; the actions taken in the heat of frenzied dance reflect basic human impulse unfettered by reasoning or prudish mores. These dancers indulge in all of the club scenes, creating magic in the waves of humanity that throng such venues.
Philosophy
Ecstatic philosophy holds that all limitations are self-imposed. Humans build their own comfortable domiciles in both the physical and mental worlds. To surpass one's limits, one must move beyond the barriers of comfort and tranquility. Although sanity and safety are left behind, the true experience lies beyond — learning comes from new experience, not repetitions of old, tired things. Everyone must strive to push outward and discover their own new ways of learning about the world. The ecstatic state is just a mind open to new experiences because it's released from the confines of self-imposed limits. Once human limits are breached, the person sees beyond the horizon of human insight, to reach a truly cosmic consciousness. Tools like sex and drugs — the Kamamarga, or paths to ecstasy — just open the door. It's up to the individual to step through, to see what's on the other side and to keep on going past where even those crutches take her, to the heart of the Lakashim, the pulse that drives the world.
Failings
All of the Cult's understanding comes with a serious glitch, unfortunately. The Ecstatics' tools generally end up as crutches. If the mage doesn't pay attention to what she's really doing — looking beyond her mind and her life for answers — she runs the very real risk of becoming dependent on her focus to do magic in any way, or even just to live. And that dependency isn't just psychological. A lot of Cultists become addicted to drugs or absorbed by their chosen foci to the point that nothing else can get beyond it into their lives. Cult mages also fall prey to their own chaos. They rebel so hard, or they try to go in so many directions at once, that nothing ever gets accomplished. Chaos and rebellion must be directed somehow, or the energy just swirls around in a sort of tornado and does no one any good.
Theories and Practices
Each Ecstatic has her favorite tools. Some things just work better for some people than others. That said, though, many Ecstatics lean toward some combination of drugs and music. Music is the most powerful tool for changing perception, according to many Ecstatic mages, and it's the easiest way to really get in touch with the primal and spiritual energies within and without.
Even though the Cult of Ecstasy encourages the use of tools in achieving altered states, no Cultist would ever force drugs, sex or any other experience on another person. The point of such states is to increase understanding and empathy, not to kill it. No mage who has felt the pain of the Earth or of the child down the street could bring herself to hurt an innocent. Cultists aren't drug dealers and they aren't pimps. On the other hand, if someone comes to an Ecstatic looking for a new way to see his life, the mage will be more than happy to help him extend his senses in whatever way he's comfortable with.
Once the Cultist is enlightened enough, she can achieve her transcendent state without outside help. She begins to understand that the only tool that's really necessary to move beyond customary boundaries is her own mind. Few Ecstatics truly abandon their foci, but those few that do become sages — they know what the future might hold and they have a better understanding of the entirety of the universe than many mages of other Traditions. The trick is to wean the mage away from the thought that the drug, music or other tool is the experience.
The core of the Cult's approach to magic lies in the belief that the senses can be extended to include just about everything. Once the mage has experienced and understood a thing or a situation, she can reach out and adjust it to fit her will. Other peoples' perceptions can also be altered. Of course that door was always there; you just never noticed it before, right? Changing the way a person sees life or a particular instance is one of the Cult's best approaches to magic. Perception, after all, is reality.
Just as the Ecstatics surpass the boundaries of mundane thought and understanding, they also jump the boundaries of time itself. They understand that time is a human-constructed idea, just like ethics and language. Time remains the Tradition's particular area of expertise, and Cultists seem to have an innat e understanding of and control over how they and others perceive the passage of seconds, even years. As a result of their constant gazing into five minutes ago and three days hence, they've developed a distracted look. People usually write this look off as a stoned expression, but the Ecstatic is more likely looking at who his lunch date will be tomorrow.
Specialty Sphere: Time
Common Foci: Music, dance, drugs, meditation, fasting, sex, exercise
Concepts: Deadhead, extreme athlete, exotic dancer, musician, nature boy, transcendentalist, yogi

You ever been in a real groove, when you are playing or singing or whatever, and you get to the place where you’re just going and letting things happen. And it’s the best stuff you’ve ever done? That’s where this train is going.

Akashic Brotherhood: They limit themselves needlessly. There's much to be learned by going beyond moderation.
Celestial Chorus: Too hung up on the "power of denial"!
Dreamspeakers: A dying art, focused only on their past. But, man, they have some seriously good s**t....
Euthanatos: We're opposite sides of the same coin. Or Wheel.
Order of Hermes: You can't put numbers on passion. Once they rediscover the joy of Creation, their powers will wax again. Soon.
Sons of Ether: Making science more, better, faster. They just have to get out of the lab more often!
Verbena: There's no need to drag down sex and pain when they can raise you up.
Virtual Adepts: Broad possibilities... the spirit is willing, but the flesh is flaccid.
Hollow Ones: It's a Black Celebration. Morbidity has its limits, though.

It's hard to accept the fact that, one day, consciousness as every human knows it will end. Death, to most people, is a terrifying unknown that must be avoided at all costs. It's little wonder, then, that people look into the eyes of a Euthanatos and suddenly grow cold. The Euthanatos know death, and they know that it must and will come. Sometimes, these mages bring death with them. More often, though, they bring the potential for rebirth, for the seeds of creation in the remnants of the past.
Background
Proto-Euthanatoic roots heralded from the earliest cities in and near what would later be called India. The philosopher-priests of the ancient years tracked the cycles of reincarnation and led people through their many lives in the turning of the eternal Wheel. These early mages sensed the greater cycle of life and death, and they guided entire civilizations through their rise, fall and rebirth in new forms. Eventually, their philosophies settled in the Hindu religion and similar god-forms of the area. Dispersed throughout many cities, the roots of the Euthanatos maintained similar methods and beliefs, but in small, isolated groups of healers, priest s and sages. The Euthanatos Tradition has been accused throughout history of killing in cold blood, killing for the joy of killing and killing to serve its own ends and increase its own power base. One of the greatest conflicts in Euthanatos history is the 300-year battle against the Akashic Brotherhood. Both groups, in the end, were fighting for the same thing — the preservation of life and reincarnation — but the Akashics could not accept the Euthanatos' methods. The Wheel must turn, and the Euthanatos believe that it is sometimes wiser to end an unproductive or suffering cycle and send a soul back to be reincarnated than it is to allow a stagnant energy to linger and hold back the turning of the ages. From this pragmatism came the need to judge and shepherd the living in times of starvation or plague, but the Akashic Brotherhood did not agree with such methods. The Himalayan Wars between the two groups brought forth a terrible series of killings, not just of individual mages, but of whole reincarnated lineages. Eventually, the surviving sects united as the front of Akashic opposition forced them in contact, and the small groups finally came under a single banner of Chakravnnti.
The establishment of Buddhism changed the Chakravanti, bringing to them a new awareness of compassion and a new understanding of suffering. Where the various groups had worked before as fearful mages with the power to heal or destroy, they now learned to understand that very fear in their charges. From these roots the Chakravanti drew up the beginnings of their own moral code. Later, during the formation of the Traditions, that code served as a basis for the Euthanatos as a whole. Greeks, Celts, Indians and others who served the Great Cycle and believed in the need for strong souls to ease the suffering of others all came together as a whole. The Euthanatos Tradition was born in an incarnation that the other Traditions might label "killers with consciences."
The truth is that the Euthanatos must kill, but they do not kill for joy or power. The Tradition is based in thanatoic — death-focused — sects of Indian, Greek and Arabic culture. In India, with its frequent plagues and poor living conditions even before the modern era, death was often the best and kindest answer for ill, suffering people. In Greece and the Middle East, death allowed scholars and surgeons to expand their knowledge and help the people who still lived. Even today, Euthanatos plunge into ancient memories and reincarnated souls to find enlightenment. They cross to the Underworld to experience death, and they uphold a stern code. To the Euthanatos, theirs is a sacred duty, one that must be carried out, but is so strenuous and terrible that only the most strong-willed can perform it. It's not so much that they take on a right, as they take on a burden: responsibility for pain, for release and for renewal.
Organization
This Tradition is fairly well organized, if somewhat loosely so, with a set system of apprenticeship, mastery and leadership. There are established Marabouts (Chantry houses) all over the world, and the center of the Tradition on Earth lies in Calcutta. The Paramaguru (leaders) often serve as Acarya (mentors) to new arrivals in the Tradition, spotting them through the auspices of Fate while the Initiates hover on the cusp of awareness. From there, training can proceed in many forms. Some Euthanatos groups are notoriously strict in their discipline, while others have a very relaxed and egalitarian attitude. In any case, the Acarya is formally responsible for the Initiate once the agama sojourn is complete, up until the Initiate is recognized as a full mage. Once inside the Tradition, there are really only three ranks: apprentice, member and leader. Recognition comes with wisdom and magical skill, and leaders stand only as long as their followers support them.
In order to truly understand the power of death, the Euthanatos believe that a mage must have touched it. All Euthanatos must undergo the agama, or little death, when they are initiated into the Tradition. This sojourn is a brief trip into the Underworld itself, overseen by a mentor and used as a guide. Often, the Initiate is drawn to the Tradition because her Awakening involved some sort of near-death experience or the death of someone close to her. Therefore, Initiates tend to be people familiar with endings and sacrifice in some form or another.
Factions
Euthanatos sects are about as fluid as those of the Dreamspeakers or Cult of Ecstasy (both of whom the Euthanatos carry strong ties to). That is to say, Euthanatos have a great variety of sects and beliefs, and they have a largely open attitude toward philosophical differences within their own society.
Tantrism and Indian culture form the basis of the militant Natatapas, who confine themselves to the heart of India and keep the oldest rites of the Euthanatos. All Initiates of the Natatapas come formally through the agama sojourn to join this conservative sect, and they learn historical Hinduism and Buddhism. Naturally, their withdrawn world-view makes them suspicious of other Traditions, but the Natatapas make up a reasonable, if conservative, group.
From the complex rites of Africa come the Madzimbabwe. These Euthanatos study their own cultural ties to spirituality and healing. Theirs is a heritage of ghost -calling, soothing and compassion from the old cities of Africa, when it had a civilization before European invasion. Although they differ from other Euthanatos in religion, the Madzimbabwe remain members of the Tradition due to their shared compassion and duty to help others.
Greek heritage manifests in the Pomegranate Deme, who study the mysteries of Persephone and the Greek Underworld. Literal worshippers of the Greek mythos, these mages are now few and far between, and their religion falters. Within a few generations they will probably be a memory as new Initiates join less theological sects.
The last ancient faction is the Aided, which stems from death-mages of Celtic heritage. Their order nearly collapsed under the persecutions from Christianity during the Dark and Middle Ages, but allegiance with other Euthanatos allowed them to shelter some of their members and ideals. Today, they uphold the bloody Celtic rites and sacrifices necessary for the proper culling of the herd (be it human or animal). Like the other cultural factions, the Aided do accept members without a direct tie to their base, as long as those Initiates have some sort of stylistic or inculcated elements that tie with the faction's methods.
Modern chance and probability occupy the Lhaksmists. These luck-followers rely on total randomness in just about everything — magic, living, important decisions, whatever. However, they gladly throw themselves into the trappings of modern electronics, feeling a kinship with probability theory and quantum uncertainty. These Euthanatos, who are the ones closest to the Digital Web, watch over the growing webs of chaos spread by the Internet's haphazard expansion.
The exclusive Golden Chalice serves as a political assassination group, specifically one that stalks and destroys dangerous individuals in positions of leadership and influence. Their roots stretch back to the Byzantine empire, and they include elements of various cultures from that era. In the modern age, though, they are more than willing to use high-tech tools as a means to defeat high -tech enemies, and so they mix various poisons and gadgets along with their more traditional magic. Membership comes by invitation only. Recently, the sect has come under scrutiny — if membership is by invitation only, what are they hiding? More to the point, how could they allow the atrocities of leaders like Pol Pot, yet feel justified in moving against lesser statesmen?
One of the more popular sects in the Euthanatos is the Knights of Radamanthys. These warriors hire out as mercenaries to the other Traditions, leveraging their command of entropy and their fearsome fighting skills, but only for causes that they feel are just. In this fashion, they advance the Council as a whole, work on Euthanatos cases and still earn the Tradition its keep. Sensible and farsighted, this faction trains in modern combat, ethics and a multitude of espionage skills. Internally, though, most Euthanatos consider it a simple training ground from which veterans can graduate to the true philosophical levels of inquiry, instead of just being "hired gunfighters."
The Albireo may be the most important intra-Tradition group, as far as the Euthanatos are concerned. Although any Euthanatos may join, full membership comes only with probationary work. These diplomats carry the face of the Euthanatos to the rest of the Traditions, explain the Thanatoic code, work to uphold the Tradition ideals and police the Euthanatos for internal corruption. Of course, with their privileged stance as ambassadors within the other Traditions, they may well sniff out corruption in those ranks, too.
Philosophy
Death is not the end; death is an end. There isn't much good in an existence that will serve no purpose, and there is less good in an existence that brings pain or trouble to everything it touches. It's better to end that thread and let a new one take its place than allow it to take up space. Like flowers that grow from a burned forest bed, these threads will be rewoven into the Tapestry. The Tapestry weaves into a great picture, but suffering and sorrow mar that picture. Every man must take up his burden, surpass it and accept the responsibility to deal with this inevitability. That responsibility becomes a keystone for the support of the world, for the willingness to support and shelter others — and to perform the duties necessary to release those who only bring or know suffering.
Failings
There's another reason behind the careful attention these mages pay to emotion: Jhor. All mages gather Resonance from their activities, but this Tradition gathers more of this type of Resonance because its mages deal with the energies of Entropy. Jhor is the physical reflection of decay-related magic. It is common for Euthanatos mages to have sunken eyes, hollow cheeks or pasty skin. As they channel Entropy, even to divine what the fall of a die will be, it comes to rest in their bodies. The accumulation of Jhor isn't always related to the mage's intent when she uses her magic, but a Euthanatos who seems too corpselike bears watching. Entropy is not a force to be used lightly or too often. This Jhor can accumulate and cause Quiet, too, leading the Euthanatos to morbidity and an obsession with death. While any mage can suffer this sort of affliction, Euthanatos are notoriously prone to it. Euthanatos mages watch one another for signs of too much Jhor. A mage who's fallen into a Jhor-Quiet becomes an emotionless killing machine, and he must be put down. Most Euthanatos are acutely aware of the irony that they're about two steps from being killed by their own fellows.
Theories and Practices
Euthanatos mages have a variety of approaches to the actual execution of their magic. Most use some kind of device to analyze the balance of a life or a situation, divining the probable outcome of a course of action. This device can take the form of a coin flip — if it's heads, the person can be changed; if it's tails, it's curtains — or a pair of glasses that the mage looks through to see what a soul holds. So many things depend on what Sleepers would call random chance, and the Euthanatos uses that perception to her advantage. However, just shrugging an Effect off by wondering what the odds were of that happening is clumsy and unsubtle. A clever Euthanatos begins a series of perfectly believable events that trigger her desired result (a man in a bar takes one drink too many, decides not to drive home and calls a cab — the Euthanatos has effectively gotten herself a ride to wherever she wishes to go). Not all Euthanatos magic involves killing, either — a situation can be changed for the better without anyone losing any blood.
The Euthanatos must look at the gains achieved by giving someone the Good Death, but they cannot ignore their sorrow, either. Healing is accomplished through excising the diseased material from the healthy, allowing the subject to feel the pain of the knife and then to produce new, clean tissue to replace what was removed. Only through experiencing every phase of the healing cycle — pain included — can the Euthanatos make a positive difference.
The Euthanatos dedication to furthering the progress of the Wheel doesn't only apply to individual souls. The world itself is constantly changing and moving, and it too becomes diseased. Euthanatos mages find these diseased areas of society and, by addressing individual components of the problem, attempt to end them. Doing so becomes harder and harder, however, as the world degenerates further. There are too many people involved in too many problems, and the Good Death cannot be given to every one of them. More and more often, Euthanatos find themselves performing delicate adjustments to people and situations instead of simply ending the cycle and letting the Wheel spin itself out.
Like the Dreamspeakers, Euthanatos have an acute sense of duty. Instead of feeling the consequences of actions in the spirit world, however, Euthanatos are intimately familiar with the human ramification of any thing they do. Each time a death-mage takes a life, she must be certain that it is the right thing to do. The choice is final, and the people left behind must live the rest of their lives with the loss of the victim — that's not an easy thing for a mage to deal with. Therefore, the Euthanatos must be able to understand the consequences in order to weigh them against the benefits of the Good Death and make the right choice.
However the mage finds the Tradition, she must understand that the Wheel turns. She must understand that although she can affect some cycles for a short time, she will no longer be in control in the end. Games of chance are common illustrations for new Euthanatos — the mages practice predicting how the dice will fall or where the ball will land, and they inevitably make a wrong choice. Euthanatos must accept the inevitability of their own deaths — they must understand the fear in their victims — before giving the Good Death to anything.
Specialty Sphere: Entropy
Common Foci: Weapons, dice, scales, ashes, mantras, mathematics
Concepts: Assassin, gambler, medic, police officer, priest, social worker, surgeon



Akashic Brotherhood: In their fury, they brought suffering to many. These wounds still have not healed.
Celestial Chorus: Their vision is narrow; they try to limit others with their religions, but they refuse to take responsibility for themselves.
Cult of Ecstasy: If they look deep enough, they will understand that joy is as transitory as sorrow. Compassion comes in removing that sorrow from others, not in bringing indulgence to themselves.
Dreamspeakers: Unable to move past their history, they are trapped by their great Dream.
Order of Hermes: Pride has brought their fall. Once trimmed, though, the tree grows to greater splendor.
Sons of Ether: Just as we destroy that which no longer has a place, they give rebirth to the remnants.
Verbena: We see the same cycle of life and death, but they place duty to that cycle over duty to people.
Virtual Adepts: Even a thought knows the decay of time. Nothing created by humans can outrun human suffering.
Hollow Ones: Their simplistic embrace of morbidity is just another escape from true acceptance of death.

Not all science needs to be banal and regimented process trumpeted by the Technocracy. So say the Sons of Ether, and they practice what they preach. From the mad, inspirational science of Victorian wonder-workers' to the fringes of cutting-edge alternative scientific theory, the Sons of Ether use it all. While other Technomancers pioneer new worlds, the Sons of Ether take the discarded cast-offs of technology and turn them into creations of the imagination. No invention is too strange, no theory is too obscure, for them to tweak it and find a way to use it. Contradictions? Impossibilities? Nonsense — there are only doors that have not yet been opened by Science!
Background
With roots dating as far back as the Middle Ages and a series of changes through the modern day, the Sons of Ether have quite a convoluted background. The most basic foundations lay in the document known as the Kitab al Alacir, the Book of Ether, from which early philosophers propounded a science based not on observation, but on belief. Presumably based on the works of early philosophers and translated through several secret forms, the document eventually surfaced in 12th-century Spain, where a pair of enterprising mystics (one a Hermetic craftsman, the other a Templar) took its teachings to heart. They formed a Natural Philosopher's Guild, one dedicated to the study of met aphysics and mysticism. Side by side with the more reasoned workers of the Renaissance, these guildsmen went on to pioneer new creations and inventions. Where the Order of Reason propounded a rational and dissemble state to the universe, though, the guild held that creation functioned due to the spark of genius in the individual, that the universe had no limits as long as one did not recognize any.
The Natural Philosopher's Guild survived in muted form among various groups of imaginative pioneers, never really united after its founders' time. However, the end of the Renaissance ushered in a technological age with possibilities heretofore undreamed of by mankind. Those who opened their eyes to these possibilities, who strove to make something meaningful instead of denying opportunities, still carried the flag of the guild until its formation as a recognized part of the Order of Reason. The spark literally came with the development of electricity, as these scientists formed the Electrodyne Engineers.
For the better part of a century, the Engineers advocated the wonders of electricity, the value of perception in experimentation and the power of the questing spirit. Their methods flew in the face of the new Technocracy's more reasoned pursuits. Willing to stride off into the unknown on the backs of wild theories and discredited sciences, the Engineers imperiled the Technocracy's idea of a safe, stable, methodical scientific world. Decrying the Engineers' methods, the Technocracy levied sanctions against them, up to and including publicly denouncing their favored theories. The Technocracy proclamation of the ether as fiction was the final stone. The Convention took upon itself the new moniker "Sons of Ether," and turned to the Traditions for succor.
Over the next several decades, the Etherites alternately advanced cutting-edge theoretical sciences and renewed old ones. From jet-packs to quantum mechanics, chaos math to etherships, they proved their commitment to truly inspired science in numerous ingenious devices. Their adventurers strode the globe as heroes whose exploits, too unbelievable to digest as fact, instead entered popular fiction. And they continued to dream, and to build.
Today, the Sons of Ether occupy a prominent place in the Tradition Council. Although many consider them deranged or just plain unstable, their devices and inventions sometimes work when other magic would fail, and their familiarity with technology gives them an edge in conflict with the Technocracy. As science travels into infinitely more detailed realms, the Sons of Ether find more cracks to exploit. Quantum theory accepts a subjective view of the universe. Dark matter theory posits the existence of an unseen yet massive matter all around — the ether. The Sons of Ether have always renewed the old, and their Tradition's vitality seems to show more of the same.
Organization
Given the fractious and chaotic nature of most Etherites, it's not surprising that their Tradition follows suit. Initiates are brought in from science classes and philoso phical discussions, often after propounding on the nature of the Kitab al Alacir (once a true Scientist has circumspectly dropped a copy in the student's care). A student who manages to break through the barriers of conventional logic and realize his own theories on the contradictions inherent in the universe can be guided into a mentorship as a true Son of Ether.
Once inducted, a student's advancement proceeds along academic lines. Etherites correspond and publish journals or papers to propound their theories. Publication in Paradigma, the Etherite journal of universal science, is the most prestigious of these works, but other papers and theses can carry weight as well. Those who build useful and interesting theories consistently — especially those who build functioning devices based on them — earn acclaim. The more advanced the student and his theories, the greater his accolades. Sons of Ether eventually acquire titles like Doctor and Master Scientist.
Where once the Great Hall that leads the Tradition was a Horizon Chantry based just outside Paris, the Scientists now meet in more mundane buildings to discuss their Tradition's advancement. Typically, Master Scientists and Doctors staff the Great Hall, which acts as part parliament and part academic circle. However, although a student may serve in the capacity of "gruntwork," every true Scientist remembers that inspiration is an intensely personal path and gives merit to the ideas of any Etherite. In theory.
Factions
Despite their wildly divergent theories, Etherites do tend to clump together. Often, several scientific specialists will share their knowledge of their respective fields to work in concert on a large project requiring all of their knowledge. Etherite factions generally form from such gatherings. Some sub-societies are stable enough to bring in new blood and remain homogenous.
Pioneers of space, the Ethernauts explore the reaches of the cosmos, and of other dimensions, in search of new wonders to bring back to Earth They visit other worlds in their powerful etherships, sabotage the Void Engineers and bring back samples of the strange. With their incredible mastery of Matter, a few of these pioneers have made some theories about shielding their ships from the storm winds lashing the wall between dimensions, and their once-ridiculed craft may become a potent tool in exploration of the Umbra.
The well organized Utopians wish to build a better tomorrow on Earth through Science. These Scientists spread not only potent devices to improve the quality of life, but also potent ideas — expressions of wonder, hope and unity. Their social conscience leads them to help others and to make their unusual theories open to everyone.
The few remaining Cybenauts cruise the Digital Web and turn it to their whims. These Etherites fervently believe that the Web itself is the next battleground of the enlightened, that the minds of' Sleepers will be decided there. Of course, most mages — er, Scientists — have more important business on Earth these days, so the Cybenaut faction wanes in popularity. Still, the Web is a perfect place to try out theories in virtual space, where they're less likely to wreck any real-world surroundings.
Politically, the Progressivists want to modernize the Tradition, starting with internal politics and structure and working up to theory and practice. The largely female faction argues that the Tradition as a whole does a poor job of keeping up with the social developments of the years, and that Etheric tendencies to rely on outmoded social constructs as well as outmoded technologies is too limiting to the Tradition as a whole. Most Progressivists want to start by renaming the Tradition and instituting a more democratic leadership.
The term Mad Scientist refers to those Etherites with a decided tendency toward the creation of dangerous devices with questionable goals. It's been a sad but true state that the Etherites' genius often comes hand-in-hand with some instability, or with a drive to see the "big picture" in a fashion that misses the point of the exercise. From these Etherites hail such legends as Doctor Frankenstein, whose laudable advances were twisted to unfortunate ends. They are not so much part of a united faction as examples of a recognized phenomenon within the Tradition.
Lastly, the Adventurers are Scientists who rely not only on their command of Science, but their physical acumen, wits and daring to explore new parts of the world, fight "villains" and perform heroic deeds. While many would scoff at them as simplistic, the four-color inheritors of Doc Savage and John Carter do have a certain nostalgic appeal. Modern Adventurers take on a more pragmatic approach, using their fabulous Science to build fantastic (but often concealed) armor and weaponry with which to pursue their crusades against criminals, hypocrites and madmen. Again, they don't make up a real force within the Tradition (there's no "Legion of Super-Heroes") so much as a new breed of scientist.
Philosophy
While Technocrats codify the universe into a static mold explainable by convoluted science, the Sons of Ether reject such a notion as foolish. The universe is far too vast, and its permutations too varied, for any single equation to hold sway over it. Indeed, the very act of observation changes the outcome, as the Technocracy has discovered in its own acceptance of quantum science. Thus, discovery and invention are personal processes, driven by the wonder and inspiration of the individual. Nothing is "impossible" or a "dead end" — it's merely an average that someone else decided not to explore. From the "disproven" theories of yesterday, the Sons of Ether create the wonders of tomorrow.
Failings
Given their incredible diversity of theories, it's a wonder that Sons of Ether manage to communicate at all. By definition, their concept of science is highly individualized, more so even than the magic of other Traditions. Every single Etherite has his own spin on — well, just about everything. As a result, it can be very difficult for Etherites to find any common ground to discuss their practices, especially when two Etherites practice mutually contradictory theories (and both are right, of course, as demonstrated by the fact that both of their inventions work). Given that the Etherites can barely reach a consensus internally, it's nearly impossible to imagine them as comprehensible to other Traditions. Any three Etherites discussing a topic of magic will come up with five or six different theories on the fly, all equally implausible. This individuality makes it very hard for the Etherites to spread around their more complex notions and impressive theories, and even more difficult for them to adapt to the other Traditions.
Theories and Practices
With the Sons of Ether, magic all comes down to Science! Perception defines the universe and so each scientist builds his own model of reality. From there, the individual can posit theories about the functioning of reality as he sees it, and those theories lend themselves to creations. With intuitive insight, the scientist builds inventions, gives them a spark of power and understands them on a level that no other person can comprehend.
Etheric inventions are, of course, highly personalized. Some are extremely fanciful, while others are more practical or based on "real" science, like a phased-energy point defense system. Each scientist's particular bent on creation influences his style. Thus, some Etherites use large, bulky creations made from 1950s or earlier technology, while others invent new spins on modern technology and make wonderfully compact and convenient devices. A few Etherites also experiment with mental powers, psychic phenomena, and pseudo-mysticism, especially the Adventurer types.
When an Etherite derives a new theory and builds an invention for it, it's common practice to publicize the event through one of the papers or periodicals of the society. That way, every Etherite can examine it, determine its personal validity, and use or change it as desired. For this reason, a great many simple inventions are common among the Etherites. Where other Traditions might rely on rotes to generate repeatable Effects, the Etherites have common gizmos and formulas that have been shared, refined and tested with time.
The use of specialized materials varies with the individual scientist. Some base their works heavily on the use of a unique material — ether being the most common example — while others are more pragmatic. Scientists have been known to use everything - from carefully custom-crafted filaments and parts made of plutonium, silver, biomatter or stranger stuff, to devices that simply rely on outdated technology rewired to perform some new function (say, a robot built from common kitchen appliances).
Specialty Sphere: Matter
Common Foci: Computers, ether goggles, engineering schematics, hand tools, mathematical constructs, mental disciplines, scientific meters, specialized alloys, timepieces
Concepts: Astronaut, gadgeteer, medic, natural philosopher, social scientist, theoretical engineer, trucker



Akashic Brotherhood: Their monks teach useful discipline and mental techniques, but they must acknowledge the validity of material sciences.
Celestial Chorus: Respect for divinity is all well and good when it doesn't overshadow one's personal development.
Cult of Ecstasy: They're good for a celebration of a new invention!
Dreamspeakers: Totally incomprehensible.
Euthanatos: Who could get so caught up in death as to want to live it?
Order of Hermes: Repeatable formulae, but too rigid for true inspiration.
Verbena: Didn't witchcraft die out in the Dark Ages?
Virtual Adepts: They're top reliant on one vision, but they do make some useful toys.
Hollow Ones: There can be no inspiration without a spark of spirit.

No Tradition mirrors the modern world so much as the Virtual Adepts. These former Technocrats embrace technology and its ability to empower people, and they strive to make that technology available to everyone. While most Traditionalists concern themselves with antiquated ways and renewal of ancient practices, the Virtual Adepts are on the horizon searching for the cutting edge. The Virtual Adepts ride the wave of the computer revolution, and they use these machines to expand their minds, enable worldwide communication and model novel visions for reality. By spreading computer and communication technology to the Masses, the Virtual Adepts help people enrich their own minds. The spread of information and knowledge makes everyone richer and leads to better versions of the world, leaving behind antiquarian notions, physical suffering and social inequity.
Background
Not surprisingly, the Virtual Adepts sprang from the same roots as the Sons of Ether, beginning as a Technocratic Convention when the Electrodyne Engineers and Artificers of the Technocracy gave birth to an entire discipline devoted to computation, logical thought and the process of storing and interpreting information. These scientist s developed machines to process information for humans, to store images or words that humanity described and to expand human senses, memory and computation beyond the normal limits of the mind. Fired up by innovations like the telephone and the difference engine, these visionaries became the Difference Engineers. They worked with complex models of Babbage's difference engine, Lady Ada Lovelace's computational theory and Bell's long-distance communication devices. At the same time, they included the electrical theories of the Electrodyne Engineers and assimilated revolutionary notions from such luminaries as Nikola Tesla. The result, naturally, was a group of scientific dreamers who brought out ideas at a furious rate, fed their own discoveries with their new computational and communication power and reveled in the wild side of cutting-edge theories. Naturally, the developing Technocracy needed the computers and communications pioneered by the early Difference Engineers, but it deplored their anarchic notions, haphazard development and barely traceable information network. Matters came to a head during the second World War.
The idealistic Adepts pushed for Technocratic involvement with the Allies against Hitler early in the war, but the Technocracy hesitated to bring its weight to bear. The Virtual Adepts brought their resources into play for the Allied forces covertly, sowing the seeds of dissension. Having flouted Technocracy-wide policy once, the Adepts rallied to their own secret projects after World War II. Adept research culminated in virtual reality as Alan Turing explained his theories on virtual space, machine intelligence and self-replicating devices. However, the Technocracy shut him down permanently for his overzealous research.
The loss of Alan Turing signaled to the Virtual Adepts the Technocracy's unwillingness to embrace their new technologies. The Technocracy needed Virtual Adept techniques, but it wanted to implement them in its typical slow and monolithic fashion. The Virtual Adepts wanted to explode peoples' awareness with their new developments and make their cutting-edge technology available to everyone. Virtual Adepts around the world recognized Turing's demise as a message from the Technocracy to do as they were told and invent what they were ordered to invent, lest they become expendable. In typical anarchic hacker fashion, the Adepts refused to recognize Technocratic authority. Collectively, the majority of the Adepts fled, and the Convention applied as a whole for membership with the Traditions. The sorely pressed Traditions needed inside information about the Technocracy and a holder for the Seat of Correspondence; the Virtual Adepts needed a sheltering organization combined with the freedom to continue their boundary-pushing work. The two groups had found a match.
Although the Virtual Adepts are still distrusted by many within the Traditions due to their reliance on technology, the Tradition remains a keystone in the arsenal against the Technocracy. Their understanding of Technocratic tools and their ability to turn devices against their technological enemies makes them invaluable in the inevitable conflicts. Ideologically, the Virtual Adepts push constantly for new visions of reality, and they put such visions into practice through virtual space. On the Digital Web, they are masters of all they survey, and they bring out every possible idea for the future world. These elements make them the truly vibrant technological blood of the Traditions, and in many ways, they are the ones who fit best in the modern world. As more and more Sleepers get online, the Adepts' community grows. Newer, faster, better, now is graven in the Adepts' hearts, and they'll bring inspiration from the virtual worlds or go out in a blaze of glory trying.
Organization
Naturally, Virtual Adepts are a fractiously chaotic lot. Their only real "organization" comes in the form of their various member spaces in the Digital Web and in the few who actually bother to run in groups; most bow to no authority. Indeed, Adepts recognize others only by "eliteness." On the Web, where one's gender, race and physical state are all irrelevant, the only thing that matters is the quality of one's deeds. Adepts develop reputations based on their achievements, and younger Virtual Adepts may flock to aid a truly elite member when she puts out the call. Odds are good, though, that a few will do their level best to sabotage the assemblage simply to gain some notoriety.
As a result of their near-total disorganization, Virtual Adepts generally don't bother with long-winded titles or recognition for formal occasions. Indeed, they thumb their noses at other Traditionalists — like the Order of Hermes — who rely on such politics. One would think that training and developing a resource base in such circumstances would be difficult, but it's just a matter of computer contacts, rule by the cool and a little bit of bluster.
Factions
Adept factions change as rapidly as technology, so it can be tough to keep abreast of them. Making matters more complicated is the fact that many Adept groups include both Sleepers and Awakened crackers, so one can't always distinguish the mages from the unenlightened.
The dying Cyberpunk movement embraces the nihilistic end-of-days attitude that the future will be darker, dirtier and meaner than the present, if possible. These crackers use heavy weapons, hardcore programming, infiltration and sometimes various drugs to amp themselves to the top before going' ballistic on their various targets — corporations, politicians, each other... anyone that they don't like. Not surprisingly, they often rely on Forces to get the job done. As the Virtual Adepts continue to refine a vision of a better world, the defeatist attitude of the Cyberpunks thrashes out its death-throes in the gutter. The Cyberpunk movement as a whole seems to be maturing, heading toward a more educated and intellectual elite that embraces high material technology and cybernetic experimentation in a fashion reminiscent of the Technocracy's Iteration X. The more intellectual Cypherpunks act with the reckless abandon that one would expect of a stereotypical cracker, but instead of relying on guns and a bad attitude, they crank up their computer programs and data-analysis skills. Cypherpunks enjoy collecting random trivia, esoteric data and hidden secrets, then spreading it around to all and sundry. Often, they are quite contrary, and they force people with whom they associate to examine all sides of a problem. From there, the Cypherpunks hope to gain new insight in several directions. Cypherpunks spend a great deal of time in the Digital Web, as one might expect. Naturally, many Cypherpunks study Mind sciences in addition to Correspondence.
The Chaoticians use Entropy to study extremely complex and chaotic systems. These Adepts believe that the information process is an inherently unstable one, and they look for understanding in the cracks and flaws of data. Their studies, of course, draw them into fractals, chaos mathematics, unstable systems and so-called hard problems. From these sorts of premises, they figure out the flaws in how things work, or in the world itself. They also delve into how tiny changes can effect large-scale results, and many indulge in a little bit of experimental social engineering.
The growing Reality Hacker faction believes that the universe itself has an underlying order, information storage system and language, and they tap into that language to tell the universe how to order itself. Instead of contenting themselves with virtual realities and the Digital Web, these hackers decode the structure of the cosmos. Bending space and gravity are the early expressions of their work, but serious reality hackers get into Matter manipulation, alteration of universal forces and all the things that naughty little hackers shouldn't touch. If the universe is built with the ultimate "computer language", then staying up a whole lifetime to hack it is the ultimate rush.
Expressing the purest Correspondence theories, the Nexplorers make up a large chunk of modern Virtual Adepts. The Digital Web is prime turf to Adepts, but the Nexplorers hope to forge new visions for a brighter, better world. While all Adepts want to create a "Reality 2.0" into which the Masses can Ascend, the Nexplorers are most concerned with making it an improvement on the current world, not just a system that they control. To that end, they advocate careful construction of Digital Realms and exploration of other sorts. They press for space travel and dimensional travel, among other things, although the Tradition has limited resources in that regard.
Philosophy
Information is the ultimate power and the ultimate tool. Devices, magic, tricks and Traditions can all do great things, but only when guided with the proper information. Therefore, the Virtual Adepts want to learn as much as possible, to explore and develop as many ideas as possible and to open the world to new knowledge by discovering loopholes, tricks, shortcuts, innovations and dreams. Eventually, people will recognize that information (and their understanding or processing of it) is their key to sensing the universe. Once that happens, it's a simple matter to make a better universe — a Reality 2.0 that can be modeled, shaped, simulated in a virtually real fashion, then embraced and made into a new world for everyone. The best and brightest (and most elite) lead the way, so that humanity can benefit.
Failings
Antiauthoritarianism combined with a respect for only the new means that the Virtual Adepts not only reject society, they spurn the very people they want to help. They treat Sleepers who "just don't get it" with condescension at best, and derision at worst. Strife erupts constantly between competing Adepts as they fight to establish who's on top and who's yesterday's news, and the Tradition recognizes no consistent leadership. Eventually, the Adepts will either implode, or they'll fall into step behind a system of super-echelon “elite” and lower-class “end users.” The Tradition needs to grow up and recognize that along with discovery comes a responsibility to implement said discovery safely.
With the recent crash and whiteout of the Digital Web, the Adepts lost a lot of ground in their most promising area of control. Although the Web is back up, it’s now flooded with sleepers who’re getting closer and closer to matching the Adepts in computer techniques. Adepts who once saw themselves as masters of the realm are in for a rude awakening as they realize that once the Sleepers are in, they’re in for good. Now that the Adepts have thrown open the doors to let everyone into their playground, they have to accept that people are going to do things they don’t like. Many Adepts are unwilling to do so, and they go so far as to spitefully crash or flame various Sleepers who get into the Web. Instead of stagnat ing in the Web and claiming it as their exclusive turf, these Adepts must focus on the Tradition’s purpose as heralds of the new. Otherwise, they’ll become nothing more than petty dictators in a world that slips slowly from their control.
Theories and Practices
Naturally, as masters of the computer, Virtual Adepts excel in all sorts of tele-techniques, information processes and Digital Web exploration. According to the Adepts, information has a flow all its own. Some Adepts even accord information with purpose or motive. In the end, virtual realities are just data; long-distance communication is just pushing information around; even physical existence is predicated on information storage. If one manipulates the facts, the reality follows suit. And, there are always new facts to find....
Stemming from their mastery of information and transference, Virtual Adepts develop strong computer processes to manipulate their surroundings. Although strongest in the realms of ephemeral data, many Adepts can develop hardware and programs to do anything from projecting force fields to shifting their appearance. Such procedures work best in the Digital Web, of course, but that constraint doesn't stop the Adepts from engaging in some judicious reality hacking with the right t echno-toys as backup. The Adepts love new gadgets, high-tech devices and anything that gives them a leg up on their brethren.
As one might expect, Virtual Adept "meetings" are more along the lines of teleconferences and projections, often in safe havens of the Digital Web. Initiation? Once a prospective young Adept has pulled off a few impressive moves or crunched some good code, he's one of the group — as long as he's not a total social retard among the techno-geeks. Training? What training? Individual Adepts pull together their skills out of experience and sheer balls, combined with their own beliefs in what's important. It's not uncommon for a Virtual Adept to have a certain lucky charm, a day of remembrance for a particularly worshipped hacker (Alan Turing's birthday is common) or even to talk to a computer like it's a friend, pet or Devil in a box.
Specialty Sphere: Correspondence
Common Foci: Computers (of course), cybernetic implants, hacking rituals, mathematics, programs, sensory gear, surveillance equipment
Concepts: Anarchist, cracker, explorer, musician, punk, scientist, techno-weenie, writer



Akashic Brotherhood: Interesting mental discipline, but too much reliance on the body as the be-all end-all.
Celestial Chorus: I am the God in the Machine.
Cult of Ecstasy: I can party with these guys, and, better still, I can leave them with the bill.
Dreamspeakers: Get real. We left caves behind when we got central heating...
Euthanatos: These guys are creepy, but ultimately clueless.
Order of Hermes: A couple have promise; most are too stuck on their "spell lists" to learn new tricks.
Sons of Ether: Our comrades-in-arms!
Verbena: Everything bad about, the Akashic Brotherhood, with none of the good stuff.
Hollow Ones: If they'd just lighten up, they'd be OK.