City of Magic
Mages have their own governing body, to ensure laws are upheld and that any and all concerns are handled properly.
The
Heirarch is the elected leader of the Council and is the final arbiter on all decisions made by the council.
A
Councilor is a member of the council, obviously, who represents a Path or Oder to the Council.
The
Sentinel upholds and enforces the laws of the Council.
The Paths of the Watchtowers
Magic flows across the abyss fragmented from the five Watchtowers erected in the five different areas of the Supernal Realm by the Oracles. Each Mage Awakens to one of the Watchtowers and draws his magic from it. The five Paths and Watchtowers are as follows:
Acanthus - Enchanters of the Path of Thistle, Scions of the Watchtower of the Lunargent Thorn in the Realm of Arcadia, Kingdom of Enchantment and Abode of the Fae
Ruling Arcana - Time and Fate
Inferior Arcanum - Forces
Acanthus Mages are generally considered flighty and untrustworthy by other Paths. As this attitude is based on knowledge of what is most likely to come as well as a general dislike for permanence, Acanthus accept it from the other Paths and go on about their business.
Mastigos - Warlocks on the Path of Scourging, Scions of the Watchtower of the Iron Gauntlet in the Realm of Pandemonium, Kingdom of Nightmares and Abode of Demons
Ruling Arcana - Space and Mind
Inferior Arcanum - Matter
Mastigos Mages are the least trusted and least trusting of all the Paths. As their journey through Pandemonium to reach the Watchtower encourages the assumption that everyone is harboring secrets, these stances are quite understandable.
Moros - Necromancers on the Path of Doom, Scions of the Watchtower of the Lead Coin in the Realm of Stygia, Kingdom of Crypts and Abode of Shades
Ruling Arcana - Matter and Death
Inferior Arcanum - Spirit
Trusted but somewhat disturbing to other Paths, the Moros are generally left to their own devices due to their affinity for Death magic. Much like the Thyrsus, those on the Moros Path will frequently meet to discuss and attend to disturbances related to Death in their local area. The difference between ghosts (the spirit-like remains of mortals who have passed through the Shroud of Death) and spirits (incorporeal entities who are not and never have been human) seems trifling only to those who know nothing of either the Death and Spirit Arcana; indeed, Moros who discuss the Realm of Stygia with Thyrsus cabal-mates may find the Thyrsus more disturbed by the total absence of any kind of spiritual resonance than the presence of centuries-dead mortals.
Obrimos - Theurgists on the Path of the Mighty, Scions of the Watchtower of the Golden Key in the Realm of the Aether, Kingdom of the Celestial Spheres and Abode of Angels
Ruling Arcana - Forces and Prime
Inferior Arcanum - Death
Other Paths use many words to describe Obrimos Mages. Most popular are 'brash' and 'dogmatic', but 'dull' and 'quiet' are almost never used. Often associated with religious dogmatism, the Obrimos are usually found at the forefront of any conflict, be it physical, magical or philosophical. Embarrassingly, the vast majority of Banishers walk the Obrimos Path.
Thyrsus - Shamans on the Path of Ecstasy, Scions of the Watchtower of the Stone Book in the Realm of the Primal Wild, Kingdom of Totems and Abode of Beasts
Ruling Arcana - Life and Spirit
Inferior Arcanum - Mind
Thyrsus Mages are often the healers of their cabals, though their Spirit magicks and allies can provide surprisingly useful as well. While they are perfectly capable of holding political office, they are highly unimpressed by flowery speech or overly complex diplomacy. Those who walk this Path will regularly set aside their political differences to focus on Spirit disturbances; indeed, by the nature of the Arcanum, news of problems or general unexpected events is frequently brought to Thyrsus Mages' attention by the spirits themselves.
LegacyA Legacy is a subset of a Path, some with ties to an Order, that revolves around shaping the mages' soul a certain way. This soulcraft is a highly personal path, a mage requires a teacher, typically a member of the same path but sometimes an order can do so as well if their philosophy closely resembles the legacy. Crafting one's soul is difficult to say the least, and has three levels known as Attainments which grant powers that defy even the rules of magic, causing no paradox for instance. Each level requires a teacher, who's trust is not gained easily, and a Gnosis of 2, 4, and 6, unless there is no teacher in which case it must be one higher. Examples of a legacy are monk-like warriors who mystically strengthen their bodies and gain 'chi' which can be channeled into ranged punches, a Legacy for Obrimos and Arrow mages, willworkers of Moros and the Free Council who work their souls like alchemy to perfect their minds through labor, shielding it and enhancing mental and social abilities when needed. But darker and despised ones exist as well, like the Treme Liches, a Moros legacy that steals the souls of others to bind it to themselves to extend their lives beyond mortal limits, so long as they can keep gaining souls.
The Pentacle Orders
Formerly known as the Diamond Orders, once the Free Council was accepted after their universal refusal to join with the Seers of the Throne, they have been know as the Pentacle Orders.
The Adamantine Arrow - Through conflict, one purges weakness and becomes greater than one could imagine. Claiming descent from the Ungula Draconis (or "Claw of the Dragon") of Atlantis, members of the Arrow say that their Order arose from the Exiles who protected the shards of the fallen Atlantis. Carrying both weapons that bring death and weapons that create life, the members of the Adamantine Arrow follow the Adamant Way which encourages strength and adaptability.
Their name Adamantine refers both to durability of the Order's resolve and the lustrous shine of the Order's honor.
Guardians of the Veil - Simply put: Magic is a secret and not all, even among the Awakened, are truly worthy of its gifts. Vulgar magic and the paradox it reaps must be stopped, as these actions serve only to strengthen the Abyss between the Supernal Realm and our more familiar Fallen World. The Guardians of the Veil are the sons and daughters of the Visus Draconis (or, "Eye of the Dragon") and are therefore the enforcers and secret police of the Lex Magica and the Concilii that hold to its tenets.
Often times social pariahs, the members of the Visus Draconis are considered spies and assassins by the other Orders. Over the centuries, they have honed the disciplines of disguise and infiltration to levels beyond the dreams of Sleeper intelligence agencies. They have developed 49 archetypal identities, known as Masques. A favored infiltration/monitoring tactic is to temporarily intercept newly-Awakened who might be better suited among one of the other Orders and, after passing on some tantalizing question or other fact to the unaligned new mage, release him or her to be formally claimed by one of the other Orders; the other Order thus receives a new recruit who may or may not become a Guardian spy.
The Guardians seek to keep the Diamond Wheel (their vision of the sacred path of all creation) moving, whole, safe, and in balance; in service to this vision, they make the sacrifices other Orders are unwilling to take so that all may fulfill the true destiny of magic. They also await the coming of the Heiromagus, who will unify Awakened society, seal the Abyss, and judge the Guardians' sins.
Mysterium - Loremasters who hold (or seek) all the keys to all the doors, the Mysterium seek out knowledge for its own sake. The Mysterium claim to be organized from the remains of the Alae Draconis (or "Wing of the Dragon"), the researchers of magic in Atlantis. Now, they seek to reclaim the lost lore of yesteryear and to remember the lessons that the fall of the Awakened City teaches.
However, they are keenly aware that some secrets were hidden for very good reasons. In some cases, the object of the search was not so much "lost" as "contained"; even the Masters of Atlantis were faced with foes and dangers which they could neither tame nor destroy, and the only answer available might well have been to simply imprison the threat until such time as a more permanent solution could be discovered.
The secrets the Mysterium recovers are not made freely available to any querant. There is usually a price to be paid, more often than not including tests of discretion and loyalty on top of requests for goods and/or services. Knowledge without wisdom is meaningless, and few hold this truth as deeply as the Mysterium.
The Mysterium’s mandate to recover lost artifacts and restore lost secrets to modern Awakened society may seem to put them in diametric opposition to the Guardians of the Veil, and indeed the two Orders often have heated debates over the fate of particularly… interesting artifacts and data. However, the Mysterium does make a point of making sure that querants are worthy of receiving the secrets in question, which mollifies the Guardians somewhat.
Silver Ladder - Someone needs to guide and lead those who cannot lead themselves, and the Silver Ladder rises to the occasion. Basing themselves in the various groups of Atlantean priests and viziers collectively known as the Vox Draconis (the "Voice of the Dragon"), the Silver Ladder does not lead as kings but as the enlightened among the masses. They follow the Elemental Precepts which states that the Awakened must be united and that magic is the right of all humans who live.
The Silver Ladder hold a unique perspective on the Fall: it was a masterstroke on the part of the Exarchs, making it much more difficult for the Oracles to find new allies in the Supernal War, but the 'game' is by no means over. The Silver Ladder spend their days planning a counterstroke that will equal or exceed the Exarchs' in cunning and daring: turning the Lie of the Fallen Realm back upon itself, and storming the Supernal Realms with the entire human race united against the Exarchs. Naturally, the Guardians of the Veil dispute the value of the latter half of the strategy, which forms the basis of the two Orders' persistant rivalry, but the Silver Ladder accepts this as necessary 'review' of their plans.
The Silver Ladder also maintain an enduring rivalry with the Seers of the Throne, and not merely because the two Orders contest for the same weapon (all of mortal humanity).
Free Council - Modernists in every sense of the word, the Free Council claims neither ancient texts nor links to the ancient grounds of Atlantis. Instead they forge forward feeling that the sleepers have touched on the supernal in their culture and in their science and technology. By tapping into these sympathies the Free Council hopes to change the face of magic and revitalize it in this modern age.
The Free Council began as small groups and cliques of Apostate mages who were taken with new ideas circulating through Sleeper society at the dawn of the 20th Century. The origins of these ideas were not completely new; mages were familiar with the concepts of 'republic' and 'democracy' and whatnot from the moment that they arose in ancient Greece. However, for the first time, mages seriously discussed the possibility that Awakened society might benefit from implementing these ideas among themselves. While these groups were somewhat in agreement with their disapproval of the feudal structure of Awakened society, there was no unifying banner under which these groups could organize; the Atlantean Orders of the day simply referred to them as the Nameless. That cause came in the form of an invitation from various representatives of the Seers of the Throne, who invited these mages to join them in toppling the Diamond Orders and sealing Sleepers off from their magical heritage forever. The emphatic nature of the Nameless’ response became known as the Great Refusal, marking them as intractably opposed to the Seers’ goals. The Diamond Orders, with considerable reluctance and concern about 'polluting' the legacy of Atlantis, accepted the Free Council as a valid Order.
Nowadays, both the Atlantean mages and the Seers of the Throne refer to the Pentacle Orders. From time to time, when a Free Council mage or cabal commits a particularly spectacular error, members of the other Orders will rumble about how the incident proves that the Free Council is not worthy of inclusion with the Diamond Orders. So far, the Free Council has managed to keep itself together and its members in line enough to recover from such slip-ups, but the gossip remains...
Apostates - A catch-all category rather than an Order in its own right, it refers to a mage who has either not yet joined, refused to join or relinquished membership in one of the established Orders. As a general rule, Apostate mages are mistrusted by Pentacle society, as the mages in question have no larger social network to vouch for their abilities or character, and apostate cabals fare little better; "I heard that there was a cabal of five Scelestus operating in the area. There are five of you Apostates in this cabal, aren't there?" Aside from a certain degree of social ostracism, Apostate mages must make extra efforts to learn the Atlantean language, which the Orders teach their own initiates as a matter of course. Lacking comprehension of the closest thing Awakened society has to a lingua franca further isolates Apostates from their Awakened peers.
Renouncing one's status as a Banisher is usually a matter of joining one of the larger Awakened societies, likely incorporating a rather daunting gauntlet of penance for whatever crimes were committed against the society in question. More often, when a mage refers to an "ex-Banisher", the Banisher being discussed is deceased.
No information is presently available regarding Apostate Seers... assuming that such folk do not fall into the same category as the aforementioned former Banishers.
The Enemies of the Orders.
Seers of the Throne - As the Pentacle Orders seek to heal the rift between the Supernal Realms and the Fallen World, the Seers of the Throne seek to simultaneously place themselves at the pinnacle of the Fallen World and wipe all Sleeper society clean of any possibility of magic outside of the Seers’ control. They claim to seek this end under orders from the Exarchs, those Atlantean arch-magi whose folly resulted in the Fall. It should be noted, however, that the Seers offer an alternate version of the Fall and the Exarchs' role therein, usually painting the Exarchs as the 'good guys' of the story.
All Seers Awakened in one of the same five Watchtowers known to the Atlantean Orders; proof, some say, that the Oracles have at least a few tricks that the Exarchs cannot duplicate. However, the Seers counter that the Exarchs contact them subtly, steering them away from the 'Atlantean Lie' and into the endless cycle of one-upmanship between Seer cabals (referred to as 'pylons') and virtually every other denizen of the Fallen World.
Banishers - Less an Order than a category, Banishers are mages whose Awakening was twisted in some way, resulting in a mage who believes that all magic (and all those who use it) is evil and must be destroyed. Most commonly operating alone like extremely specialized serial killers, a Banisher will usually drift from one city to the next, target a careless mage or cabal and, after weeks of careful surveillance and compiling all detectable weaknesses, eliminate them. Any Library materials, artifacts and so on are usually either briefly studied (just enough to glean some minimal new insight into how ‘the enemy’ works) and destroyed, or destroyed outright. Certain Mysterium researchers have offered a theory regarding a fifth Atlantean Order, the "Timori", which arose after the Fall and formed the basis of the Banisher philosophy, though most Awakened simply accept that the Banishers were mentally or spiritually unable to accept the full responsibilities of will-working and focused on destroying the rest of the Awakened.
As bad as lone Banishers are, Banishers who learn to work together can be exponentially more dangerous. Much as cabal-mates can cover each other's weaknesses (the Inferior Arcanum for each Path is a Ruling Arcanum for one other Path, as the most basic example), teams of Banishers can often eliminate enemies that no one of them could handle alone. Worse, it is possible for Banishers to form cults, attracting mortal followers and even Sleepwalkers, making the prospect of eliminating a Banisher cult a very dangerous undertaking.
The Mad - Even more than the Banishers, some who Awaken are driven completely insane by Awakening, but their madness does not manifest in a form anywhere near so coherent as 'kill the evil wizards'. While not as blatant a threat to the Fallen World in general and the Awakened in particular as the Marauders, they are perhaps even more feared for their utterly unpredictable and amoral use of magic.
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