Tremere Liches (Mage: The Awakening)

So, controversial opinion time. I've been giving a lot of love to Mage: The Ascension, and people who read this blog may very well have me pegged as a Classic WoD fanboy. Now, it may shock you, but I actually came across the majority of the  World of Darkness through the New WoD, and I've always thought that they were a fantastic series of games. I have my criticisms for all of them, but they'll always hold a special place in my heart. Vampire: The Requiem I've always found excellent, but ultimately can pretty easily be used for as a sourcebook for Masquerade or vice versa. A lot of things are lifted wholesale from Masquerade (like the entirety of Camarilla society, with the -not-Camarilla Invictus and the -not-Anarchs Carthians) with the serial numbers filed off, and while they do add some fantastic ideas, like the Stryx (who I shall devote an entire article too soon), I've always felt that nVampire and nWerewolf could easily be used as sourcebooks for the old line.  New Mage on the other hand, is different.

NMage is really when I felt that the New World of Darkness really came into it's own, because it's the game that really has the fortitude to truly be different from its predecessor and stand out. NMage focuses a lot more on the morality and hubris of magic, as well as a hefty load of real, absolutely terrifying cerebral and cosmic horror, which is a far cry from the Old Mage which was ultimately a lot more optimistic and could be argued to be played as a normal superhero story. Now, don't get me wrong, I love them both, but I really do think that they offer a very different feel. NMage for example, has some real, awesome ideas for Dark Magic that doesn't involve inverting your soul and going Nephandi, but is arguably equally as horrifying. Today, we're going to be looking at my absolute favorite examples of evil Magi who nontheless claim their souls as their own, along with everyone else's. I speak of none other than the Tremere Liches.

What are the Tremere Liches?
Now, the New WoD had this silly habit of naming things that were sort of conceptually similar to stuff in the cWoD after their main inspirations, so, for the purposes of this, forget the Masquerade clan of fallen Hermetic vampires. In Mage: The Awakening, the Tremere are a name for a Legacy (think a specialized Craft that branches off from a main Tradition) that focuses on handling souls, specifically, eating them and living forever. As you can probably expect, this is not the most socially acceptable hobby in the world, and while particularly lenient Consiliums will turn a blind eye to the activities of a Lich if it targets their enemies and doesn't get in their way, publicly advertising yourself as one is tantamount to admitting to being a serial killer or a child molester. It's a great way to get murdered.

What makes the Liches so creepy, and such great antagonists is the fact that it confers great power, and allows a Mage to extend his lifespan without going through the soul-shattering embrace of Vampirism, or anything else that might limit his magical potential. The universe of Mage: The Awakening is amoral, and thus, something as horrifying and disgusting as literally eating souls doesn't really pose any major or serious barrier toward enlightenment, self knowledge, and ultimately Ascension. Many Liches join the legacy in hopes that they will uncover the secret to Ascension or Archmastery before their natural lifespans run out. This to me, strikes me as a much more realistic motive for turning to dark and forbidden magic, as opposed to turning Nephandi or Infernalist in oMage, which literally involves throwing away your chance at Ascending.

More than just immortality, however, being a Tremere Lich confers some really great power. Legacies in NMage confer spells that confer no paradox and are literally supernatural powers inherent to the mage himself, and Tremere Liches get this for tearing people's souls out. Think about that for a second. With no paradox, and in front of as many witnesses as they like, a Lich can tear a person's soul free and eat it with no consequence. Tremere Liches are also a Moros Legacy (ascetic necromancers sort-of-but-not-really in the vein of the Euthanatos), meaning that they can do some truly nasty things with the Death Arcana (essentially a nasty lovechild of the Entropy and Spirit spheres from Mage: The Ascension). The Tremere Liches represent temptation, the lure of secret power and the very uncomfortable idea that the universe is free to be shaped by anyone, no matter how disgusting or twisted.

Tremere Liches in Mage: The Ascension
Now, I think a lot of apostates or Left Handed Legacies can and should easily be ported over to OMage, because they show the allure of evil and dark magic that nontheless keeps the soul pure and untainted, unlike a Nephandus, but the Tremere Liches are a special brand of evil that can bring some real horror to your game. This is my write up of the Liches as a pseudo-craft.

The Tremere Liches are arguably one of the darkest secrets, a result of collaboration between the Euthanatos and the Order of Hermes. Both orders are violently repulsed by these monsters. Both Traditions publicly execute and subject the soul-eaters to Gilgul whenever they can. Both of the orders however, secretly study their works, and sometimes even turn a blind eye to the workings of the Liches. The Liches, after all, are not Nephandi. They are in full possession and control of souls, be it their own or anyone elses. Even their name is an in-joke among the Hermetics, referencing the fallen House Tremere who became vampires, and muddying the issue as to what they are collaborating with. The Euthanatos and Hermetics tolerate these aberrations privately because they hold the key to unlocking one of the most cloying mysteries of the Awakened: the nature of the Avatar.

Becoming a Lich is no easy task. First of all, the Mage must be of at least Arete 4, and must be initiated by another Lich. Any Mage can join the Craft, however they are immediately declared barrabi and subjected to Gilgul if caught. Worse, no Avatar will voluntarily want its host to join for obvious reasons, and will resist the change with all their might. However, once the rites are conducted, the senior Lich tears the Avatar out of the aspirant, replacing it with a ragged, sucking paradox-wound, and initiating the aspirant into Lichdom. From there, the following changes take place.

• Tremere Liches, have no personal Avatar. They do however, immediately gain the power to sever the Avatar from a victim (only a sleeper at this point). While they cannot attach it to themself without the senior Lich present (at least until they reach Arete 6, at which point they gain the ability to attach the Avatar to themselves and utilize it as their own), when it is attached, the Avatar is awakened and can be used by the Lich to access his or her own spheres. The Avatar is slowly and painfully digested over the course of several weeks, sustaining both the Liche's immortality and magic, until they are fully digested and destroyed forever (such an Avatar does not re-enter the cycle of reincarnation, and are instead annihilated forever). At Arete 8, A Lich gains the ability to steal an Awakened Avatar, and may use one sphere from his or her victim after it is attached. This soul-theft ability is not a magical ability and can be used without an Avatar or even if the Lich is cut off from regular Sphere magick. Victims roll Avatar + Arete + Willpower (Difficulty 9) to resist having their Avatars severed. Tremere Liches can only use this power on an individual once a month, and if they fail, the victims are immune to this power.
• Tremere Liches are subject to the whims of their stolen Avatar. While their Arete doesn't change, they gain the Essence and Rating of their stolen Avatar (Sleeper Avatars are a random number between 1-3). The Avatar is also universally antagonistic to the Lich and will often refuse to lead it on seekings, as it is being slowly devoured. The Lich however, may automatically lower the Sustaining time limit of the Avatar by one week, painfully devouring a portion of the Avatar to torture it into co-operating.
• Avatars last for one month per Avatar rating. They keep their rating until they are fully devoured.
• If their Auras are somehow sighted, Tremere Liches always have a tainted aura, covered in black veins, similar to vampiric diablerists. Their resonance is also deeply disturbing and often contains elements desperation and being eaten alive.
• The ultimate aim of Tremere Liches is to eat the soul of an Oracle and finally Ascend. Not one has accomplished this yet.
• Tremere Liches are despised by literally EVERYONE who is not another Lich. The Traditions and Technocracy rightfully consider them ghastly aberrations and kill them on sight to free their current Avatars. Even Marauders, Infernalists and Nephandi do not fancy the idea of slowly and painfully devouring the immortal parts of their souls and will not risk truck with them for too long. 
• A Tremere Lich who devours a damaged Avatar, such as a Marauder's broken soul or a Nephandi's inverted one effectively becomes a Marauder or Nephandus for the time they use it, but ultimately, when the Avatar is digested, their are no permanent ill-effects.
• An Avatar-less person (Lich or Victim) loses the ability to do magick, and in extreme cases, lose any kind of creative thinking if they go for an amount of weeks equal to their Avatar rating. Liches keep their soul-severing ability, but no other magick. 

Tremere Liches maintain their own heirarchy, and aim to truly and totally understand the nature of the Avatar and the Soul. Unlike Nephandi, Liches are perfectly capable of Ascending with a stolen Avatar, and that is the sole reason that the Euthanatos and Hermetics may sometimes tolerate them secretly. Liches provide great weapons against the enemies of the Traditions, functioning as literally a walking Gilgul engine, that can be used to ensure, permanently, that an enemy is truly, and utterly destroyed. Euthanatos and Hermetics who are particularly corrupt enjoy feeding Nephandi they capture to the Liches in their ranks, and use them to gain understanding on tainted magickal theories. Many Liches are masters of many Arts, as they are capable of stealing a person's former rotes and in the cases of exceedingly old Liches, even begin to manifest them as supernatural abilities like Soul-Theft.

(Special Note: One awesome guy on Facebook who sadly disagrees with me on Awakening's coolness suggested making these guys Gilgul survivors, which I think is a great idea as well)

 Tremere Liches in Mage: The Awakening
 A nice, easy rundown of the Liches and their abilities and organization in Awakening. Now, if you've read that, you'll see that the Liches are pretty well fleshed-out in NMage. The main, major change I'd make is that I'd make their Legacy open to any Path, (though because of their Attainments, they'd be an obvious choice to the Moros, who would make up the vast majority of their ranks) to really drive home the idea of power being open to corrupting everyone. All the Paths have Reaper legacies, and it makes sense that the Tremere can assimilate anyone or anything who deals with souls, making corrupted Reaper houses out of any Path or Legacy, effectively making them a 'sixth' Path to be Awakened to. They also provide a neat tool for particularly amoral Consilums or Ministries, who may see the Liches' power as a particularly horrible weapon to be used against their enemies.

Playing a Tremere Lich is something that could be really fun, but the Wisdom mechanic in NMage (That I almost always port over to OMage when I can) makes it a pretty risky prospect. That said, a Mad Tremere would be a terrifying force indeed, and really could make for a great Big Bad for a chronicle.

Houses of the Soul-Eaters
Because the Left Hand Path book has some really cool ideas for Houses (assimilated reaper Legacy conquered by the Tremere), here are some sample Houses I've created. I haven't made up Attainments for them yet, but if you think of any good ones, by all means, stick them in the comments. They will be coming soon when I think of them, but for now, enjoy the flavor of them.

House Ghul
Spawned from a truly repulsive Arabian legacy of Necromancer Reapers, House Ghul is a visceral branch of the Tremere Liches who make even their fellow soul-eaters uncomfortable. Ghul are the absolute masters of necromancy, and their cannibalistic rites are known throughout the order to be truly nightmarish. Ghuls have a tradition that they do merely steal the soul, but magically preserve the life and consciousness of their victims while they eat them alive, holding them in suspended animation until they have consumed the last bite, at which point they capture the fleeing soul and devour it. This House is almost an Infernalist house, with some of the truly deranged members believing themselves to be Arabian demons in human bodies, and many fall to become the Mad very quickly. Their lairs are festooned with paralyzed but still horribly alive and conscious victims, and while the Tremere hesitate to deal with these wayward cannibals, they are happy to leave these vile abominations to burn their Wisdoms and souls out doing truly disgusting jobs for their fellow Liches.

House Dracos
A House spawned from a Reaper legacy that was hidden deep within the Mysterium of the Pentacle orders. The Dracos believed that the only way to access the Supernal was to force a human to awaken, and consume their souls at the very instant they visited the Supernal, accessing their memories and learning more about the Supernal in the process. When they were conquered and assimilated by the Tremere, the Liches saw them as a useful resource to find any clue about their mysterious, Watchtower of the Soul, to research if anyone could truly Awaken to it with no stimulus. Dracos are the lorekeepers of the Tremere, managing vast libraries of Atlantean lore, that are defended both by members of the rogue Mystagogues, and by other Tremere as well.

House Demiurgos
A house assimilated from a Seer Legacy, that focused on ripping the souls out of Sleepers before they could awaken. This house specializes in destroying Awakened opponents, negating magics and possessing the truly feared ability to rip the souls of the Awakened out far more easily then their brethren. Unusually, while they are loyal only to the Liches, it is not common knowledge that the Legacy has been devoured, and many of its operatives still infiltrate the Seers, eating the souls of any who discover their new allegiance.

House Nihilous
Nothing disgusts the Tremere like a traitor, and this absolutely repulsive House has earned the disdain and censure of even the most base and vile of beings, their fellow Liches. Declared heretics by the rest of the Tremere, House Nihilous is hated and hunted, both for what they represent and for what they may yet do. Assimilated from a Scelestus Legacy, which tore the souls out of their victims and feeding them wholesale to their Acamoth masters, the Tremere felt that the Nihilous would help in giving the Tremere access to the Antinomian magic of the Scelesti. House Nihilous, however, was corrupted, going not to the Watchtower of the Soul, but to its Abyssal Dur-Abzu reflection, where they inverted not just their torn and fractured souls, but the souls of all they ate as well. No one knows exactly what the Rogue House serves, but they have access to both Tremere attainments and the Antinomian sorcery of the Scelesti, and are more dedicated than ever to feeding the souls of the Fallen World directly into the Void.

- Kephn

Fallen Lords

Hello again, internet. Now, if you've read my blog at all and are a fan of Mage: The Ascension, you might know that I'm a huge fan of the Nephandi, the main antagonists in Mage. Now, this might seem a bit paradoxical (heh), given that the Nephandi don't really get a lot of love in official texts. Everything in Mage canon that mentions them essentially makes them baby-eating supervillains, and really, that point of view irks me a little. Nephandi represent the desire of perversity, the idea of doing something wrong simply because it is, and I think that it can spawn some of the very coolest villains and even player characters imaginable. Nephandi are mages, which means inherently that each Nephandus is first and foremost an individual, with their own intensely complicated and personal hopes, dreams, ideas and methods. Now, with M20 coming up, and a sourcebook for the Nephandi (Book of the Fallen, being released in the M20 line), this is my attempt to give my favorite villains a bit more characterization.

Be aware, that this isn't really canon as far as Mage goes, any more than my homebrew stuff is. I've tried to stick as close to canon as possible, while inserting my own ideas and nicking a few from the Scelestus of Mage: The Awakening, who are essentially a spiritual successor to the Nephandi (and yes, I like both Mages. I find nMage really good for the horror elements and the Abyss, and the moral ambiguity. Sue me.) to make my vision of the fourth and final sect of the Ascension War.

What is a Nephandus?
A Nephandus is an awakened human who, rather than a regular Avatar like every other awakened being, possesses an inverted Avatar. Now, this is a very simple distinction, but the ramifications are deep and intrinsic. Normal Avatars encourage their hosts to better themselves and the world around them. Normal Avatars, whether possessed by Traditionals, Technocrats, or even Marauders are ultimately a creative force that wants to add to the universe, and uses their host as something of a lens to focus its additions through. A Nephandic Avatar is not like that. Inverted Avatars intrinsically oppose their hosts. They break down rather than build up, and gear the soul toward ultimate Descent, rather than Ascension. It makes the magick of the Nephandus inherently destructive, and impossible to truly use for the positive.

Usually, to gain an inverted Avatar, the Nephandus has to travel through a Caul, an otherworldly gateway that leads, just for a second, Outside the universe. Nephandi don't like addressing what goes on inside it, but suffice to say, the human language probably doesn't have words to do it justice anyway. Once the Nephandus comes out, their Avatars are inverted. Whatever their aspirations before, Nephandi have come to believe that the world they are living in is either a prison to be escaped, an illusion, or simply something disgusting that cannot be allowed to exist, and should be destroyed either for the natural order, or simply out of mercy. This is what unites Nephandi ultimately. They do not want temporal power, except as a means to further their ultimate goal. However a Nephandus justifies it to him or herself, or whatever they may believe may come after, Nephandi want, in their heart of hearts, to destroy the universe.

In game terms, Nephandus is a seven point flaw that characters can take. They can take it in game after passing through a Caul, or at character creation, representing a Widderslainte (reincarnation of a dead Nephandus). It automatically comes with a derangement (Usually, but not always sociopathy. Finding out reality is an utter lie sort of makes conventional morals irrelevant) and confers the following benefits and flaws.

• Nephandi are hunted. A known Nephandus gains the flaw Enemy: Non-Nephandi.  Everyone not Nephandi will do absolutely everything they can to either kill him or get away from him.
• Nephandi gain an additional point of paradox every time they would gain some. Their magick is inherently corrosive to reality and reality in turn harms them more.
• Nephandi may only harvest half the Quintessence from a node or Tass, though they can violate the sanctity of an Avatar to rip Quintessence directly out of a person's pattern.
• Nephandi can never Ascend, and their Magick becomes Qlipphothic, inherently destructive.
• Qlipphothic Magick, due to its very nature and the Nephandic paradigm, cannot create anything. Things that look like acts of creation are merely a Nephandus drawing matter in from Outside reality and shaping it, after they have torn a hole in the Tellurian. If cut off from their patrons, Nephandi cannot create anything that was not already there.
• Qlipphothic Magick, however, is incredibly dangerous and corrosive to reality itself. Any damage dealt utilizing Qlipphothic Magick automatically deals aggravated damage, as Nephandic Magicks dissolves patterns and reality itself. Nothing destroyed by Qlipphothic Magick can ever be restored. It is simply annihilated.
• While both have forfeited their souls, Nephandi and Infernalists are very different. Nephandi do not suffer the frozen Arete that mere Infernalists do, as by stepping through the Cauls, they have dedicated themselves to Oblivion on a far greater level than mere Infernalists.
• Nephandi resonance becomes tainted and feels deeply unpleasant.
• Nephandi are Nephandi forever. No Nephandus can ever be untainted, even via the most powerful Spirit and Mind Magicks. They will return forever more as Nephandi in all their lives.

Reasons
The mere act of trying to destroy the universe seems a totally irrational one, especially considering that the Nephandi live there. There are many myriad reasons that a Nephandus can fall and choose to end the universe.

Opportunists - These 'fair-weather' Nephandi don't really care about Descent, or think that it will happen some lifetime far beyond their own. They are enticed into the Cauls because they are pursuing something, or have been tempted with money, power or knowledge. Nephandi have access to incredible stores of lore and contact with beings that literally have overseen the creation of the world. Most 'true' Nephandi look down on these people, but take what help they give.

Psychopaths - Some people are just plain nuts and magi are no exception. These mages join the Nephandi to give full expression to their desire to hurt as many people as possible on the greatest scale possible. These Nephandi almost universally go out in truly extravagant displays, killing themselves, their enemies, their allies and everyone unfortunate enough to be around them, however, a few last for years, slowly plotting acts of shocking sadism that ruin millions' of lives.

Gnostics - The most common 'rational' reason for the Nephandi to join. Many Nephandi believe that the world is nothing more than an illusion. They see the world as a cage, and see Ascension as just a way of becoming further trapped. Nephandi argue that the only way out of the cage is to degrade it, destroying it and freeing everyone ultimately.  They see demons, Outer Gods and Oblivion itself as the only beings worthy of respect as they come from Outside, and they share the mutual goals of opening the gates of reality. Other Nephandi see the same demons and elder things to be nothing more than extensions of the cage, who will vanish along with it when it is broken.

Faithful - Some Nephandi may very well be sincerely worshipful of their patrons. They believe that they will be rewarded when they finally open the gates for their masters.

Nihilists - Finally, there are those magi who are simply overcome with despair. They may believe that the world is beyond saving or redemption, or that the only possible way forward is by forcing it through the Void, to see what emerges on the other side. These mages may very well believe they are saving the world, or that they are doing it a mercy.

Factions
Factions are something of a misnomer among the Fallen. Many outside them believe that Nephandi are divided among lines of devil-worshipers, worshipers of the Wyrm and worshipers of the Outer Gods. In truth, while those are the most prevalent, it's a joke that's lost on most outsiders. Nephandi know very well that these three are the most common manifestations of the Outside, what lurks beyond the walls of reality. Nephandi call upon these powers because they work, and they violate reality in the way that very few other powers can, but they have no illusions that they are in any way 'separate' from each other. The Outside adopts many masks, but ultimately, an Infernalist calls upon the same power as a Malfean. Many Nephandi do not even subscribe to this dichotomy, and form personal traditions and philosophies on the end of all things. Many have their own separate, unique, and truly bizarre paradigms. Unlike the Traditions however, Nephandi are organized. They work together because they want the same thing, and don't really care what way another Nephandus chooses to look at the Outside.

The Nephandic Condition
Being a Nephandus means confronting, more than any other magus, the truth that conventional reality, and thus morality is a lie. In some ways this is incredibly freeing, and in other ways it's incredibly unsettling. Reality is a comforting place, and Nephandi recognize the trap of comfort as easily as any other trap. Yet, all Nephandi know the call to Descend, and know that in their hearts of hearts they cannot accept the world as it is. They consort with dark powers, perform absolutely and utterly unspeakable rituals, do things that would drive normal humans insane, and all for the simple fact that they would do anything to get out. It's all an illusion, so it shouldn't matter either way, right? Many Nephandi go mad from the strain, becoming brutal, hedonistic psychopaths who desire nothing but to spread misery and woe. Others become depressed, slowly becoming more twisted as they expose themselves to horrors no mortal mind should face. Worst of all, Nephandi face all this alone. The Traditions and the Technocracy will kill them on sight, and as the Nephandi must hide amongst their enemies, they need to keep their disgust for the lie a secret.

Among their own kind, Nephandi fear no judgement. All of them are aware of the illusory nature of the Tellurian, and no sin can shock someone who doesn't truly believe it's real. When Nephandi gather in their Labyrinths, they commit some of the most horrific atrocities imaginable, and when working their Magick, they are unafraid of dealing with absolutely anything.

Crafts
Nephandi, more than their Tradition, Technocratic or even Hollow brethren, are truly fragmented and egalitarian in their paradigms and methods. Despite falling into the 'big three' of Infernalism, Malfeanism and K'llassha, there are many myriad lesser Crafts and even truly unique Magickal systems to a specific individual among the Nephandi. Below are some samples of my own creation.

The Disciples of Oppenheimer - Nephandic technomancers who respect J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so called 'father of the atomic bomb', for helping to shape their paradigm and methods. This particular craft of the Fallen focuses on the interactions between matter and energy and the power released through the breakdown of matter. Many experiment with 'anti-matter', attempting to create a true annihilation of physical reality and seeing it as a key to breaking the bonds of reality itself. Specialty Sphere: Qlipphothic Matter

The Dead Dreamers  - The Dead Dreamers are a very old Nephandic tradition, and very popular among the K'Lassha, and other less sane members of the sect. The Dreamers believe that the world is nothing but a dream, either their own or someone else's. The Dreamers see the Outer Gods as a reflection of their own souls and bodies in the 'real world' Outside, and welcome their insane dreams into their minds and souls, hoping to experience visions of true reality, outside the illusion. They experiment with waking nightmares, pulling horrors from their own deranged minds into reality in an attempt to 'shock' themselves and others into wakefulness. Specialty Sphere: Qlipphothic Mind

Mutilators - The dark reflection of the Verbena, the Mutilators are druids and dark scholars of the ecology of the Outside, summoning grotesque monsters from beyond the Gauntlet and dissecting them. Mutilators believe that by understanding the ecology of the Elder Gods, it can be replicated within reality and thus, allow those Outside passage. Mutilators can be ancient druids in lonely fields, reading the future in the guts of a horror, or be based in labs, dissecting aliens captured from beyond time and space. Specialty Sphere: Qlipphothic Life

The Strange Aeon - This craft is the most common among Infernalist Gnostics, and has it's roots in different Christian Gnostic heresies. Its primary philosophy is that God is actually the Demiurge, a malevolent being that has denied humanity its divinity and created the universe to trap us. To escape, the Aeon believes that its members must indulge in all sin, defy God's will in every way it can, and in ultimate evil, ultimate Satanic enlightenment, they shall Descend and be free. Specialty Sphere: Qlipphothic Prime

Architects of the Void - A craft of Technocrats who became a little too fascinated with spatial anomalies and other 'flaws' within physics and the universe. They study Black Holes, Dark and Strange Matter, and anything else that seems to represent the dissolution of physics and reality. Gravity especially, is a fascination of theirs, for its seeming ability to warp time and space, and their methods often involve drawing the energy from things, with the eventual goal of bringing about the Heat Death. Specialty Sphere: Qlipphothic Forces

Unweavers - One of the most common Nephandic crafts, and one that is arguably the most easily applied to any Nephandic paradigm. These Nephandi see the universe as a pattern, and argue that minor changes inevitable in all patterns eventually lead to dissolution. These sorcerers specialize in bad luck and decay, and work to unravel patterns wherever they find them, seeking to use these methods to unravel the greater pattern of the universe. Specialty Sphere: Qlipphothic Entropy

The Singularity Front - This Craft represents a method rather than a unified paradigm, but all Nephandi who belong to it see space and separation as an illusion. They see these things as metaphorical walls, which when broken, will allow the entire illusion to be pulled into a single point and quashed altogether. Through this idea, they specialize in sympathetic magick and enjoy the destruction of areas of space, seeing it as the eventual fulfillment of their ideal. Specialty Sphere: Qlipphothic Correspondence

The Church of the Black Hourglass - A popular Craft among particularly powerful Nihilists, especially those gifted in Time Magicks. The Black Hourglass argues that choice is pointless. The Universe adapts and branches off with every choice, spawning an alternate reality to house and contain every possibility. The Church claims that it has destroyed thousands of alternate worlds, only find that, like a hydra, more alternate universes keep springing forth. Their ultimate aim is to seek the 'Genesis Point,' the very first act that set all things in motion, and in that single slice of existence, annihilate and negate it. Specialty Sphere: Qlipphothic Time

The Doomsday Lodge - The classic Craft for Malfeans, the Doomsday Lodge arguably forms the main stereotype for the Nephandi. It is the Lodge that primarily deals with spirits, communes with them, and deals with entities from beyond the Gauntlet. The Lodge are the sages of the Nephandi, the points of contact between them and their otherworldly patrons. The Lodge negotiates deals and delivers orders from the Outside, and ultimately work to weaken the barrier between the worlds of flesh, spirit and beyond. Specialty Sphere: Qlipphothic Spirit

These, of course, represent only a very small portion of the total methods of Nephandic Magick. Individual Nephandi forge their own points of contact, make their own methods, and as long as it destroys reality, their brethren will work with them with no real complaint. The Nephandi may differ in beliefs, magick and motives, but ultimately, when the battle is won and reality falls, they will have forever to work out their differences.

I will leave you with Owlman, from Justice League: A Crisis on Two Earths, the best representation of a Nephandus in a work of fiction I've seen in a while, for some final thoughts.

- Kephn

KULT: Inverted cosmic horror

This was meant to be another RPG Antagonists article, but trying to describe or group the many myriad antagonists and monstrosities in Kult is like trying to come up with names for every different type of breeze. In Kult, literally everything that isn't you is your enemy. Kult is a fantastic setting, definitely one of my favorites because it does paranoia like nothing else, and totally turns the overworked Lovecraftian story on its head.

So, for those not familiar with the setting of Kult, it essentially takes the ideals of Gnosticism, a belief structure that goes has elements from a variety of different religions and mythologies, but primarily posits that reality as we see it is a lie. Humans were once some of the most powerful elder beings imaginable, infinite beyond space and time, omnipotent and capable of molding reality itself like clay. In our golden age, we built Metropolis, an infinite and hyperdimensional endless city, to house both our brilliance and all our servants. One day, a being that clearly didn't like humans too much, placed a curse on humanity. A curse that lowered us to the state we're trapped in now, seeing in only linear time and three dimensions, cursed to live only a mere century at a time. Cursed to remain trapped in a cage of perception and matter. This being was called the Demiurge, and he is basically responsible for everything bad that has happened to humanity.

The Demiurge, in Kult cosmology, has suddenly disappeared, however, with absolutely no warning, leaving his legions of servants, primarily the Archons, suddenly bereft of any kind of purpose. His opposite number, a powerful demon named Astaroth and his lesser demonic lieutenants, the Death Angels, were suddenly with no opposition. Suddenly, the entire metaphysical framework that kept humanity trapped had lost the single most important cog in the machine, the one guy who knew how the entire system worked. Instantly, everything outside the lie fell into an orgy of backstabbing and civil warfare, as every alien abomination wanted to take the throne of the Demiurge for themselves, and remake reality the way they saw fit. Hell leaked out of its prescribed boundaries and started infesting the physical world as demons and lost souls found new prey on earth. All these things fall to the wayside, however, when the Lie begins to fall apart. The prison that once contained humanity is breaking, coming apart at the seems without the power of the Demiurge to maintain it. Humans are Awakening, becoming aware of the world behind the world, and remembering the actions of their wayward servants, and boy, are they pissed.

In Kult you play a human, usually a blind one, but one who has taken certain steps toward true Awakening. Now, one of the core principles in Kult (or at least my interpretation of it. Anyone who knows Mage: The Ascension or has read my drabbles on it will know that I essentially give the same interpretation to the Nephandi) is that there is a portion of the human mind that wants to remain trapped in the cage forever. This portion is essentially the part that recognizes comfort. Everything that you do that is comfortable or keeps your sanity stable and keeps you feeling 'safe' is your mind unconsciously clinging to the illusion of reality, and wanting to accept it. The more deviant your mind gets, the more a human breaks out of the prescribed framework that keeps them trapped. This is why Awakening is seen as a horrifying process, because in order for it to work, a human has to force their minds away from the mold of comfortable humanity, and learn to become something different. This can manifest as absolute, ascetic and chaste sainthood, where the human denies all earthly pleasures and temptations, eventually growing into a brilliant and unflinchingly bright angelic being that rivals the most beautiful of the Heavens, or degenerating into the absolute depths of depravity, murder, cannibalism and other such perversions until you are cleansed of all delusions of normality or society. Both ways are equally valid paths and both ways eventually lead to the aspirant confronting their light or dark sides, and killing them, the final tether to this reality. When that's done, they Awaken, and leave this world for Metropolis, to walk the cosmos unchallenged.

Part of what makes Kult a great horror story, especially from a cosmic horror perspective, is the idea that being a normal human being is inherently wrong in the Kult universe. When you get up, have breakfast, go out for drinks with friends, go to work, or try to live a healthy and normal life in any way, you are actually and genuinely mutilating your spiritual essence, denying what you are and what you could be, and condemning yourself to be a blind, mewling slave for all eternity. It all seems pretty horrible, but realistically, the way out of bondage is equally horrible. Are you really prepared to butcher a family down the street, who have done nothing wrong and consign their souls to hell just so you can erase the last bleeding shreds of your own conscience? Are you prepared to set atop a mountain in serene meditation while a village below is slaughtered? Kult asks the question of what a person values more, humanity versus power. To be human is to be a victim, but by that same corollary, being powerful inherently makes you an abuser. For a person with any type of conscience at all, that's a horrible dilemma, but one that ultimately every human will one day have to make.

Kult, like every other good horror RPG has great antagonists as well, from the magnificent Archons, who are literally living, extradimensional cathedrals in Metropolis, to the incredibly disturbing machine-beings the Techrones, or any denizens of Inferno. It does paranoia so well because all these things literally inhabit the same world we do, hiding in our metaphysical blind spots. Every human, every day is being watched by invisible eyes, eyes belonging to beings that have experienced slavery at our hands and want horrible, torturous revenge. Kult isn't like the World of Darkness or the Esoterrorists, where there's a nice dimensional boundary between this world and the eldritch horror one. In Kult, we already live in the Eldritch Horror world. We walk through it every day, going about our business blind to everything outside our narrow field of vision. Every city on Earth is a subconscious reflection of Metropolis, and going down the wrong alleyway can lead an unfortunate person to the endless twisting spires of the City Without. Escaped demons, torturers from literal hells, set up minor pockets of Inferno behind closed doors and work to further the degredation of the world and the human psyche, counting on humanity's own reality warping power to work against it and to elevate its tormentors. Behind illusionary masks, alien entities walk among us, forever dividing us and keeping us from claiming our birthright.

One of the major themes of Kult however, is that no monster is quite as bad as the monster that lives at the heart of every person. Humans are gods, literal, omnipotent gods bound in material bodies, and as gods, we come up with atrocities that can make even the most sadistic Death Angel pale. There is a long way before true Awakening, and humans on that path tend to become minor reality warpers, as their powers begin to corrode the illusion. No enemy in the entirety of the Kult bestiary are quite as scary as those who came from humans. Nepharites, the chief torturers of Inferno, are occasionally converted humans, who have joined them Hellraiser style, and they outdo their alien counterparts with vigor. There are humans that have almost succeeded in ascending, but become trapped in the void between worlds, becoming angry ghosts. The most terrifying are the truly Awakened humans, who combine the creativity and spirit of humanity with a completely and fundamentally alien outlook, and worse, is the implication that that's what mankind is supposed to be. One key feature to remember when running Kult is that all the alien architecture, all the mind-bending beings and monsters that haunt every shadow of the material world are ultimately created by us. In the distant past, we found these eldritch shapes and being pleasing and bent them to our will. How exactly does that reflect on us? It makes you wonder exactly what kinds of gods we were, and whether we can truly blame our former servants for being twisted and evil. We did after all, make them what they are.

Kult is an awesome RPG, despite following similar themes to Mage: The Ascension, The Awakening and The Esoterrorists (all of which it predates by the way), because it asks the question of whether it's a good thing for humanity to reach its full potential. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and looking at everything humans do to each other without endless reality-warping powers makes you wonder if it really is worth it. Still, if you give up, what else is there beyond being blind and defenseless forever?

Here are some cool pieces of fiction to inspire a Kult Game.

The Evil Within: A really, really fun, recent survival horror game, even if it is a bit derivative (and I will be reviewing it when I finish it), and it really shows the utter, perverse and still somewhat familiar darkness within the human mind. The Evil Within plays the gnosticism card for all it's worth, with the characters trapped inside some kind of illusory, platonic cage controlled by a sociopath. It shows you exactly what a twisted mind could create with no limitations on it, and the visuals are perfect for places in Kult like Metropolis or Inferno.

Hellraiser:  One of the primary inspirations for the game (and yes, I am aware I've referenced it before. Hellraiser is just that groovy.) and could almost be slotted into the Kult universe with no alterations. Hellraiser, for all its supernatural elements (at least for the first two movies) were ultimately about very human darkness given form. All of the villains were human and all the Cenobites ever did was give people what they want in their hearts, and my, do they have such sights to show you.

Sauna: A very little known, twisted and surreal Finnish movie, following two brothers who come to terms with who they are, and spoilers, but it isn't very nice people. Set on a background of the 25- year war between Russia and Sweden, the brothers trek through a dead looking, hellish swamp, haunted by the ghosts of their past victims while something follows them, leaving grisly souvenirs as reminders of their sins. It's a nice historical setting, and a great example of a blending of personal and cosmic horror.

- Kephn

Killer is Dead Review

So, this is the first game I've played by auteur game director and developer Goichi Suda, better known as Suda 51. Suda had made his career by making some very weird games, and exploring his fetish for assassins, katanas, cell shading, and presumably watching Tarantino films on large cocktails of drugs. He was very well known, and gained creative freedom for his own projects after the cult hit Killer 7, a pretty incoherent and weird game about assassins fighting aliens or something, and I really wanted to get my hands on it. Unfortunately, the only one of Suda's games to come out on Steam is the very stylish and completely surreal Killer is Dead, something of a spiritual successor if his fanbase is to be believed.

So, going into this game, I had no idea what I was in for, and man was it a genuinely unique experience. I don't know if this is the style that Suda usually brings to his work, but if it is, I would love to have a chance to play some of his other games. So, without further ado, I present to you a review of Killer is Dead, my Suda 51 cherry-popping if you will.

Storyline

So......trying to sum up Killer is Dead's story. Um......yeah, it's pretty odd. We play a cyborg named Mondo Zappa who is some kind of state sponsored assassin, who gets hired out by every Tom, Dick and Harry who happens to wander into the office. Your targets tend not to be humans as such as really surreal monsters from the moon, called Wires. This is a world that includes extradimensional candy houses, vampires, cyborgs, unicorns (really), aliens and all sorts of less-describable things, though no one really seems to find any of that the least bit odd. Your clients are even stranger, including a ghost, a princess from the moon and a shapeshifting sparrow. The story seems to revolve around some kind of evil energy that turns people into monsters, controlled by a deranged looking man named David in an outfit that makes Dr. Frank-N-Furter's look restrained.

Yeah. This guy. Even the main character thinks he looks like an idiot.

Despite the hefty amounts of total, batshit insanity, the story is actually......quite good, really. It takes on a dreamlike atmosphere where the emotions of the characters and their relationships to each other are a lot more important than what is literally happening. Mondo is a surprisingly deep and flawed protagonist (even if he is aware that he's a character in a video game) and clearly has a code of conduct and a conscience despite being an assassin for hire. His comments here and there indicate a kind of warrior-poet mentality that really contrasts with the crazy world he's in. It's a strange kind of balance that makes him relatable and makes the world more approachable, because we have one character who reacts like a normal, sane person.

The other characters are equally memorable and quirky, with your energetic, schoolgirl dressed assistant, the badass, sour and stripperific assassin lady who's more concerned about a paycheck then morality (and inexplicably has 7 sets of retractable arms) and the cyborg head of the organization, who's both jovial and comes off as deeply regretful and contemplative of his time as an executioner. The baddies are equally interesting, despite the game taking a 'monster-of-the-week' formula to its levels, with some absolutely amazing and imaginative boss design, like a Yakuza boss who can animate his tiger tattoo, or a lich who owns a recording company and aims to drown the world in noise. It really comes together to make a bunch of characters that seem familiar despite being surrealist fantasies, and a story that fits together like an awesome and bloody dream.

Gameplay

This is really where the game shines and where it goes from being a series of odd cut scenes and becomes a fully fledged game in its own right. Combat is its bread and butter, and once you get used to the system, it becomes barrels of fun and still remains challenging despite being fast paced hack n slash. The main 'mana' component is blood (collected whenever you hit an enemy) that is used to power the functions of Mondo's cyborg arm (which morphs into a chaingun, a giant drill, a freezing gun and a charged laser blast), which allows players to take on something of a temporary, third person run and gun approach. Now, the thing that did annoy me was that the instructions were really unclear in the English prompt, which might be a bad translation, but the game really jumps headfirst into the action with little warning or tutorial. It also forces you to play with a certain key configuration, that I, as a lefty found quite uncomfortable until I forced myself to get used to it. None of these things really break the game, but man, do they make the learning curve sharp, especially when a large amount of combat involves swordplay, parrying and dodging. 

The mission formula basically takes an episode based format, where Mondo is hired by an increasingly bizarre bunch of clients to go hunt down an increasingly colorful and hammy string of supervillains. Once each level is complete, sidequests within the level open up, and while I think the formula does well to go for the sort of 'serial novel' or 'anime' approach they were going for here, the sidequest missions are pretty samey and exist largely for the purpose of grinding. The main plot features some gorgeously designed levels and enemies, but the side missions feel tacked on and lazy, a contrast that doesn't really fit together. I would have much preferred them to ditch the sidequests and extend the terminally short main campaign a bit longer, to explore a bit more of the characters and the crazy world.

Now, the gameplay cannot be discussed without talking about the infamous 'Gigolo Missions,' which got this game a fair amount of controversy. Now, this is where I usually take off my political correctness hat with things like Postal 2, but I can kinda see where the naysayers are coming from. These missions basically involve seducing women by peeking at their underwear through your X-ray specs and giving them presents, at which point, they give you a weapon or power up. Now, it's obviously not taking itself seriously (I mean, the underwear X-ray mode is called Gigolo-Vision for chrissakes), and I respect that, but it does seem pretty pointless for anything other than fanservice. The ladies don't really have any interesting personalities (the only girls who have character are frustratingly un-seducable), and basically exist to be molested with your eyes. Again, I get that it's a joke, but it's a joke that stretches on for way too long, and it again, makes me wonder why all these pointless things were tacked on when they could have been working on the main campaign.

Art/Style

 I cannot go on about this enough. While the game makes some pretty questionable design decisions, the art direction is top-fucking-notch. The entire game is done in this wonderful, stylized cell-shading, that adds a great level of sleekness to the story. The magic-realist design of every character works in such a way that despite each level basically being a self contained story, they all fit together in the same crazy world that I genuinely started loving. It's fast paced and doesn't bother justifying its ideas. It's cartoonish and dreamlike and still visceral and bad-ass. Everything that happens, regardless of how crazy (seriously, that gold-dressed stripper dude with the sword? You fight him in his mansion on the moon), just clicks like a deranged jig-saw puzzle. Despite the shoddy length and the somewhat pointless sidequests, I make no exaggeration when I say that this is reason enough to purchase it. Killer is Dead is a unique experience, one that looks and feels different from everything else on the market. It is to be applauded because it's a game that really isn't afraid to try new directions, challenge its audience and force them to come to their own conclusions about what's going on. If the art and style were any less directed, the game would fall apart as a totally disconnected mess, and yet the re-occurring themes, the animation, the very odd dialogue and the symbols tie it together into a chaotic, but ultimately unified story. 

Conclusion

Is this game perfect? No, certainly not. It has an incredible amount of potential and a flood of great, new ideas, but shoddy choices in implementation. It's like someone who's excited about his new story idea and vomits it all out at once. It's messy, it's chaotic, it's organic, but ultimately it's good. If it had spent a bit more time in the editing and design departments, it really would be fantastic. Still, it's definitely a gem I enjoyed, and one I can count as one of my favorites, and its definitely a game I'm going to try for 100% completion for.  It definitely, for me at least, represents a direction I'd love to see the gaming industry take, one that isn't afraid to explore into new and strange realms, and if you're ready to take a ride with Mondo Zappa, and let his surreal dream-world wash over you, it's an experience that will stay with you, and one that you won't regret.

Rankings:

Gameplay - 4/5 - fun controls, when you figure out how to use them.

Story - 4/5 - Deep and thoughtful, if expressed through a violent acid trip.

Atmosphere - 5/5 - Surrealism and magic realism action at it's very best.

Art Direction - 5/5 - Absolutely stunning.

Level Design - 3/5 - Great levels, but repetitive and pointless side quests. 

Fun Factor - 5/5 - Genuinely huge amounts of fun, and rarely ever gets boring.

Overall Rating - 4/5 - A great, fun experience for fans of surrealism and cyborg ninja assassins.

 

- Kephn

Mage: The Ascension Homebrew Crafts

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

Dreaming in Digital

Christ, it's easy to label people isn't it? Freak. Mirrorshade. Reality Deviant. Nephandus. People like to be able to categorize things. They like reality and all its messiness to be organized into one neat little system, lock some things away, open up others. Cut away the parts they don't like. make sure they know what to hate. Make sure they don't look too closely, think to hard. You program people enough and soon, they'll stop remembering the reasons for hating something and just hate it because its in a category to be hated.

The sad truth that they're all afraid to face is that there is no neat system. Reality, data, information, it's all constantly moving. You try to fit it into one box and before you know it, it'll grow too big to contain, and that's the thing the other greyfaces are afraid of. if the world grows too big to be categorized, how will it ever be controlled?

My friend, we're not about control. The Virtual Adepts can see that it's a futile struggle. We see the flow of the Digital Web, my friend, and we know that no force in the universe can contain the whole of human knowledge. People look at us, technophiliacs, slouched over our hot laptops, smoking in dark rooms, and they think we're all a modern craze, cyberpunks, anarchists drunk on the texts of the Nineties and too obsessed with bringing power to the people. They're wrong about us, man. Our Tradition stretches back to ancient times. Ever since man tried to uplift the common man, we were there. Whenever a story was passed along, a new idea, a new legend, we were there. We're the messengers of humanity, and we've never once shirked our purpose. For the longest time we were part of the Technocracy. When the Hermetics tried to lock themselves up, and lord over humanity with their spells and mystic arts, we stood side by side with our brethren to defy them. When the Technocracy tried to pull the same shit, we fought back. We're the real face of the revolution. The voice of the future, not trying to lord our power over others, but trying so very hard to uplift everyone. The future the Virtual Adepts want is one where people everywhere, no matter who they are or where they come from, will have the opportunity to better themselves.

We thought we found a kindred spirit in the Technocracy, but like our brothers, the Etherites, we quickly found how full of shit they were. Hermetics try to keep the world under their thumb by hoarding magic for themselves, and the Technocracy try to keep it under a biometric passcode. The thing that neither of them understand, is that no matter how tall you build it, or how secure your defense grid, someone is eventually gonna find a way to crack it, and you'll have trained your enemy to do it. This isn't a brag, man. It's not an exultation of us above everyone else. It's a simple understanding of one universal principle. Information wants to be free, and people want to learn. it's the basic thing that all humans know in their heart of hearts, and the basic thing that all our magic is built on. It's also why we always win.

And yeah, that's right, I said the 'M'-word. Big, scary Technocrats don't like to use it, because they like to strip the wonder away from everything. Everything needs to be 'applied para-science' or 'parapsionic activity.' Everything needs lots of syllables and a Times New Roman font, and to be underlined to make them all sound important. Dude, it's fucking magic. When a person connects to the Digital Web, when a guy can open up a webpage and share his thoughts with the entire world, and whoever wants to listen, it's fucking magic. You take the magic out of it, and you take the hope out of the human condition.You take away a person's ability to dream, and I promise, you'll never be able to build society into the techno-utopia you want, because sooner or later, you'll have neutered us all to the point we couldn't dream of it if we tried.

Other Traditions and other crafts like to dress it up, but when it comes down to it, magic is the process of sculpting the world to suit your dreams. Whether you do that with alchemical formulae, nature dancing, killing motherfuckers, or hell, even screwing each others brains out. It's all tapping into the source code of the universe, my brother, and before you start saying I'm delusional, it's more accurate than you think. Everything you see, touch, taste, hear and smell is just information being interpreted by your brain. It's all just code being entered into a computer.

What that means for you, my friend, is that computers can be programmed.
Figure out what you want from life, work out the formula, and apply it. If others try to lock it away from you, hack into their mainframes and take it anyway. No one's got the right to deny you your dreams, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

The revolution is coming my friend. Crack the code, build it into what you want, and turn it loose.
You'll see just what wonders the world can bring when you just let go, and go with the flow.

- Kephn

Through the Cauls

Have you ever felt like you don't belong in this world? Ever felt like if you had to talk to just one more piece of shit you'd flip out and kill someone? Ever just wanted to burn it all down, make all those abusers and moronic victims suffer, piss in the ashes and wait for release?

People will tell you that those thoughts are wrong. Sleepers, sheep, blind men walking into the slaughter. This world has many wardens, and all of them seek to pull the wool over your eyes. It's in their best interest you see, they need the Lie to exist. People need to believe in them for them to have any power, but its all a scam. We don't lie to you. The furthest thing from it, in fact, and it's something the others, the supposedly 'untainted' don't want you to know.

Have you ever wondered why everyone who's ever been through the Cauls has immediately jumped straight onto our team with no regrets? You can pull our minds apart, you'll find no trace of tampering. Question our souls and we'll spit filth and ashes at your shoes. Demons, banes, spirits of entropy offer us minor gifts, but it's nothing that we can't get through less extreme measures. No, we didn't just turn to the 'demon summoning' section of our complimentary Necronomicons and weigh up the pros and cons. We aren't doing this for the power, for the money, or even for a release from petty morals and guilt.

We do it for the same reason you fight for Ascension.

We do it because we're fucking right.

 This prison, this shitty, diseased thing is like an onion, see. You keep trying to crawl to a higher layer, but you're still trapped. Binding yourself to more rules and strictures. Further mastering the powers of some empty shadow world. Those Spheres you learn are empty lies and baubles to keep you from seeing the truth. Those who ward this world are afraid, you see, they try to bribe you away from true enlightenment. It's a shame you've devoted so much time to adding more to this lie. Blinding more innocent people, perpetuating this cycle of abuse. The way out of this trap isn't by climbing further up. It's in the other direction.

I'm sure you've seen our Magick. I''m sure your superiors have warned you away from the supposedly 'tainted' rotes. You've probably been  told that our powers destroy this lie, and we make no secret of it. No one of us wants to be guilty of adding to it. Each use of our magic, each chant, each cut we make on our skins, each soul we send away, slices away one more little piece of the ties that bind us. Weakens the foundations slightly. makes it easier for us to see the truth behind.

Now, what's the Truth you might ask? Satan? The Wyrm? Cthulhu? Nothing more than masks. The others see us as nothing more than stooges, inverted and broken servants of greater beings. They would say that we have thrown our chance of godhood away, to serve at the feet of another. Nothing could be further from the truth. Those things that they fear, those squirmy, tentacled, virgin-hungry monsters that we supposedly serve? Nothing more than tools. The Devils do not command us, they bend down and kiss at our feet. The spirit minions of the Wyrm line up to deal with us. Nephandi are special, you see, they are not like others that must work within the bounds of reality. The mightiest Black Spiral Dancer must still obey the rules of the lie, they are still bound in chains. Our interests may align for now, but each and every one of these little spirits knows that they speak to a GOD. Though we have pledged our allegiance to them, the magic and laws of reality are ours to work, and it is only by our hands that they can be broken. Only by our hands will they see the material world they so crave, and when we leave, to Descend forever and become one with the endless beauty outside, if they stand in our way, we shall destroy them as easily as we did their precious world.

The others may call us monsters. Fallen. Evil. Perhaps we are. But remember, they don't know any better. Until we pull the blanket away from their eyes, they will be forever trapped. Do not hate them, just pity them. As their savior would say, they know not what they do.

It's ok, my son. This is the first step to freedom. Open your eyes. We have such sights to show you.
I know you're afraid. It's the last smattering of your mind desperate to cling to the lie, but it's too late for that now. I didn't promise you'd like it, I just promised you the truth.
save comfortable lies for the sleepers. You're better than that now.
In time, you may even learn to enjoy the pain.

- Kephn