I was thinking about Mage: The Ascension, and one of the things I've always liked about it is the malleability of its Magick system. The idea that any act of creativity or destruction can in theory become a form of Magickal power. So here's some Crafts I've made up (some may overlap with established ones, I don't know, I haven't read all the splatbooks just yet). Feel free to use them in your own games.
Neuromancers
'My friends rely a bit too much on modern tools. Searching for connections in silicon and copper, when the most powerful computer ever designed is between your ears.'
Parent Tradition: Virtual Adepts
Specialty Sphere: Mind
Virtual Adepts like to think of the universe as a computer, one with accessible code that can be hacked into and rewritten. They believe that the source code of the universe, the Hypersphere, is a place that exists as a realm of ideas and thought, accessed through advanced hyper-mathematics, in order to change the code and thus corresponding reality. The Neuromancers agree with this view, however, while many Virtual Adepts use tools like advanced computers and extradimensional mathematics to access the Hypersphere and the singularity of all existence, Neuromancers believe that the mind is the ultimate computer. When boiled down, the mind is a way of perceiving reality, storing information, and to a degree, is programmable. The Neuromancers argue that computers and external tools are just a crutch, and that understanding the Hypersphere and the Correspondence Point are as simple as interpreting the way it is perceived through the human mind. Many Neuromancers are psychologists, though there is much argument as to which school most properly provides a structure perceiving the Hypersphere. There are those who cling to Freudian psychology and those who analyze the dream symbols of Jung, however all agree that the mind is already in contact with the realm of information, and can be used as a direct interface with it. As such, Neuromancer magic comes from 'thought-constructs', methods of doublethink that allow the user to perceive problems from all angles, and to further probe into the mysteries of their own and others minds.
Dermal Artisans
'The world is a dream of the body, expressed through the senses. The inside and outside feed on each other through the medium of skin. By changing what is within, we change what is without.'
Parent Tradition: Cult of Ecstasy
Specialty Sphere: Correspondence
The Dermal Artisans, once called the Blood Artists, are a rather extremist group of the Cult of Ecstasy. Rejecting typical Ecstatic ideas like the interconnectedness of emotion and physical being, the Artisans instead embrace radical egocentricism. They believe, firmly, that the outside world (everything that is not them) is an expression and reflection of everything they are. Dermal Artisans perceive a metaphysical 'skin', or shell for the soul as the defining barrier between consciousness and reality, and believe that alterations in that barrier can create changes in the inside and outside world. Artisans are often sociopathic in the extreme, believing that all things are nothing more than reflections of their inner god, and have no real compunction against taking what they want from whoever they want. Because of their flagrant violations of the Code of Ananda, they are absolutely reviled, and considered barabbi against the main body of the Tradition. The Artisans are not Nephandi, however, as they believe in themselves above all else. Their magic usually manifests as self-mutilation, both extreme or benign, marring the barrier between the inner and outer worlds. Sympathetic connections are a strong component in their magics, and nothing is out of their reach, as it is all a reflection of their bodies and souls. Artisans are usually covered in tattoos and self-scarification, and do not get along. They often fall into Marauder-hood very quickly, but those who do not become exceedingly feared masters of time, sensation and space.
Hantu Penanggalan
'Man eats the animal, animals eat the grass, the grass eats the rotting flesh of man, and spirits eat their souls. The world is a snake eating its tail, a cycle of pain and predation.'
Parent Tradition: Verbena
Specialty Sphere: Spirit/Life
One name for a myriad of disparate yet oddly familiar traditions that span around the world, these abominations of flesh and spirit are some of the most feared and reviled of the Verbena's proud tradition. Such shame do they bring that the Verbena keep their existence a secret, however, they do not declare them barrabi. Such is the acceptance of the natural order that the Verbena, while disgusted by the methods of these magi cannot fault their logic. To these creatures, the natural order is not one of beauty and harmony, but a fierce and deadly game of predator and prey. The Penanggalan, the name somewhat accepted as the name of the sect because the large group of their practitioners in South East Asia and the Philippines, believe in this order wholeheartedly, and seek to become the greatest predators of all. Traveling to the most repulsive realms in the Umbra, these infernalists commune with evil spirits, taking them into their bodies and becoming hideous mutants, capable of detaching body parts and flying through the night sky, hungry for blood and souls. While Verbena do not consider them unnatural as such, the Penanggalan are hunted wherever they practice, as a clear danger to the natural order if nothing else. Penanggalan use their Life magic to warp themselves into absolutely hideous forms, some so disgusting that they drive men to madness, and perform perverse rituals like eating newborn babies and sucking the blood of pregnant women. Their bite brings madness and disease, and a sect in Burma, known as the Kephn, have been known to even eat the souls of mortals, devouring their sleeping or awakened avatars and using them to extend their supernatural lifespans. While they perform the perverse acts of Nephandi, these beings are anything but, seeking to extend their unnatural lives forever with their awakened spirits. They are discontent to follow in the footsteps of House Tremere or the Nagaraja and become kindred, however, and as they age, these horrifying liches spread death and plague wherever they go, leaving empty husks in their wake.
Other names: Manananggal (Phillipines), Krasue (Cambodia), Kephn (Burma), Nukekubi (Japan)
The Anachronauts
'We perceive time as a linear stream, but it's all a matter of perspective. Time exists as a stream all right, continuous to all reality, but perceptible only as a flow in one direction. Disengage your mind from the causality's cage, and you will see into infinity from both directions.'
Parent Tradition: Void Engineers
Specialty Sphere: Time
Exiled from the Technocracy, and declared a threat to the Consensus, the Anachronauts have been a shockingly hard foe for the Technocracy to pin down. With the pioneering of temporal lenses, the Anachronauts have come to the perception that time is simultaneous, observable, and editable. With the ability to reach into the near (and sometimes) distant, past, present and future, the Anachronauts know where to strike and when. Equally hostile to the Traditions and the Technocracy, these technomancers believe that their paradigm is the one and only, and are dedicated to 'cleansing' the timestream of all deviance and threats to that paradigm, in all time periods. If they could, the Anachronauts would occupy the timeline completely, setting bases up in every pocket of space and time and ensuring the universe's total following of script from the Big Bang to the Heat Death. Their initiation involves a technomantic rite that 'cuts' their link with causality, enabling them to enact their will on the timestream with little fear of temporal consequence. They often dress in flamboyant, anachronistic fashions, and see themselves as something of the 'Illuminati', capable of manipulating events that seem to take millennia and reach their conclusion with eerie accuracy and planning. Their enemies are often befuddled, as one can never be sure if they are playing according to the prewritten destiny of the Anachronauts.
Scribes of Morpheus
'It's simple. It's the hero's journey. We start along the path blind, a fool and end it with full comprehension of the world. It's all just a big pattern, and if you're wise to that, you can make the pattern work for you.'
Parent Tradition: Hollow One
Specialty Sphere: Entropy
Named after the Greek god of dreams and the fictional deity in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, the Scribes are a rather diverse group of individuals who share the overarching paradigm that life is a story, or at least that tropes common in most stories are appreciable and repeatable patterns within the human experience. The Scribes argue that stories and the tropes that find themselves intrinsic to modern storytelling are influenced by real patterns in reality, rather than cognitive bias. They claim that the ability of the human mind to relate to these patterns makes them fundamental to existence. Whatever the case, the Scribes are masters of manipulating the flow of the story, call it destiny, fate or probability. Life reacts to them as if they were characters in a work of fiction, and with a certain genre savviness, the Scribes are capable of putting themselves into exactly the right position in the story to achieve their goals. Many Scribes are literary theorists, obsessively studying story structure and comparing it to real world news in an attempt to divine the likely path the future will take and their own role in it. Many more are traveling bards, tricksters and gamblers, out to live a life out of the ordinary. Scribes, almost to a man work their magic through the focus of writing, be it through a notepad or a high-powered computer. Many Scribes often come together to collaborate, creating overarching works of metafiction and forcing reality to function as they want it. While not a powerful craft, it is gaining popularity, and some within the Traditions believe the website TVTropes is a powerful tool to enforcing their paradigm on reality.
The Court of Lies
'There are so many tales of man selling his soul to the devil and coming out the worse for wear. So often is the supremacy of the great Adversary presumed that everyone forgets the the Devil is powerless until he gets a deal in the first place.'
Parent Tradition: Orphan Infernalists
Specialty Sphere: Prime
The Court of Lies are an aberration. According to many, they represent something that should not be. As a whole, willworkers are something of a disparate bunch, however one thing everyone can appreciate is that working with demons tends not to be a good idea. The Court of Lies disagrees. Formed from a loose confederation of infernalists of all stripes and traditions, the Court is the first attempt at a unified Craft to unite all those that would dabble in the dark arts. What worries many Traditions and Technocrats, however, is that they have experienced very few setbacks. Often absolute masters of the laws of both hell and man, the Court prides itself on coming to the defense of lesser devil-pawns and giving them a seat of power with which to argue a fair contract with their demon overlords. Demons, while given respect, are fiercely monitored by the court, and those who renege on their deals or betray their lieges suffer the retribution of the dark willworkers, and many a foolhardy devil or bane has found itself discorporated or bound into a fetish after being blacklisted by the Court. While the Court is not accepted openly anywhere, there are always those who seek easy power, and the Court is there to facilitate their dealings with the Infernal. The Courts are quietly tolerated in more open territories controlled by Craft mages, and as they often destroy demons that attempt to interfere with reality without going through the proper dealings, many are happy to turn a blind eye to the Court's dealings, and are happy to let foolish mages who word their contracts poorly burn. After all, the Court may be evil, but it is, above all, fair, a rare commodity indeed among those who would dabble in the dark arts.
- Kephn
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