Mage/Theme

NOTE: This is a work in Progress.

Foreward

It is important to note that White Wolf's writers have always told stories as their primary goal, with building a game system being secondary. The largest effect of this is that every book is written with what is known in the literary world as an 'unreliable narrator'. They are written from a perspective, and that perspective never has the whole story.

This fact leads to one inevitable conclusion: the books are wrong.... but also right. The Technocratic Union described in the Technocracy Reloaded certainly exists, so long as you are a member of the Technocratic Union already. For a member of the Union, Control is harsh but ultimately benevolent. This is a well-established Truth. But to those who are not in the Union, it is a great lie.

This leads us back to one of the few Universal Truths of Mage: something can be True for you, and not be True for me... and both of us are right.

With the above in mind, we present the 'Truths' that exist for Mage here on RetroMUX.

Goals

Mage, as a game, is meant to teach us a few things:

1. We are empowered by being True to ourselves.
2. Truth is not universal.
3. No one is truly free while slaves exist.

These three things will remain the Primary Themes of Mage here in RetroMUX. (And will be referred to as 'Universal Truths' throughout this document.) Each story is crafted to bring us back to these three Universal Truths.

Technocracy

Are members of the Technocratic Union the bad guys? In a word: yes. The Technocratic Union, by and large, represents a desire gone horribly wrong.

Beginning as the Order of Reason, they started with the belief that 'magick' is not just a birthright of some, but of all. Everyone should have access to magick, and the best way to do that is through science. They understand the third Truth well: after all, they're just trying to free everyone. But they've forgotten the second truth. And in doing so, they create a system where belief is not only stifled but crushed, and the beliefs of many are burned to the ground.

Individual Technocrats may not believe as described above, and that can certainly lead to interesting stories, but the ultimate ending of those stories is that the Technocrat discovers the Truths and leaves.

Nephandi

"It is better to rule in Hell, than serve in Heaven." This is the creed of the Nephandus. They understand well that the Truth is different for everyone (their Truths are some of the most controversial!), but they have given up. Uplifting everyone is impossible, so instead, put everyone in their place. They do seem to want it, after all...

These stories are entirely understandable, and describe a descent into spreading Truth that locks down others while raising up the self.

Traditions

Are members of the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions the bad guys? No, but it is very easy to accidentally get there.