Arete
Arete costs 8x the level you’re buying. See the XP
Chart.
Increasing Arete also requires a Seeking.
Your Arete cannot exceed your permanent Willpower.
Arete is a measure of a character’s enlightened will, his
basic understanding of magic and his ability to control
it. As the Mage’s Arete increases, he
begins realizing more that he is not a slave to reality – reality is a slave to
him.
Arete is valued highly among the Traditions, as high-Arete
Mages tend to be wiser, more in control of themselves, and more dedicated to
their purpose. Of course, there are
exceptions to this rule.
Whereas Spheres represent a character’s magical power, Arete represents his
magical control. Mages never learn
Sphere Levels above their Arete – trying to understand secrets before one is
ready to wield them has had catastrophic results in the past.
Arete exists as a hazy in-character concept, a metaphor for
enlightenment. A Mage might speak of his
master as having strong Arete. Of
course, he’ll never say “My master has Arete 4!” The numbers are to allow the players
to keep track of how their characters are progressing. A Mage with Arete 2 may well seem more
enlightened than one with Arete 3 – but there is some block in his mind that
prevents him from capably grasping that level of magic. Fortunately, although it is difficult to
increase Arete, it is nearly impossible to decrease it. Once the walls are torn down, they are never
rebuilt.
Seeking
The Seeking is a quest for enlightenment, which is required
every time a player wants to increase his character’s Arete. Over time, people build up barriers to
themselves – obstacles they believe they cannot overcome, or goals they feel
they’ll never reach. The Seeking is the
time when the Avatar takes a hand in guiding the Mage, breaking down those
barriers and allowing the Mage to continue pursuing enlightenment.
This journey to enlightenment is not a metaphysical one,
however. While the Mage certainly has to
overcome barriers in his own mind, the true test of the Seeking is overcoming
those barriers in the world around him.
To undergo a Seeking, and thus improve Arete, a character
must first have enough XP to spend for the next level of Arete. The player then sends an ST a short
description of some major goal he will undertake – a task which may seem
impossible, but the Mage will make an effort to try to achieve it. Furthermore, the player must explain some of
the symbolism inherent in the chosen goal.
Seekings always have another layer to them, and it’s important that you
identify what roles the people and events around you play in that story.
This goal should be one which you can pursue at the game,
which will put you into conflict with other players, and which will give you an
opportunity to roleplay your character well.
Feel free to make your character act unusually, or take chances he
normally wouldn’t take – during the Seeking, the Avatar is whispering right
into the character’s ear. The Avatar
wants you to succeed, but you have to walk the path yourself.
Once the goal is complete, the player should submit a
description to the ST of how he achieved his goal, how he overcame his own
barriers, and why he should be considered ready for the next level of
Arete. Even at this point, the ST is
still well within his rights to turn down the Seeking if he feels you haven’t
justified it in-character.
This is basically a chance for you to explore your
character’s mind, identify their strengths and flaws, then confront and
celebrate them. I want to see that your
character is not only growing more powerful, but more profound. The reason I ask that this be done as an
in-game goal is so there will be more conflict between characters, and
characters won’t fall into set ruts and routines. The Seeking should be a moment when your
character breaks out of his normal way of thinking, steps out of his rut, and
sets himself on a new path.
Example: “Throughout the
past few months, the Euthanatos have been a thorn in my side, and that
frustration is keeping me from realizing what my next step in magical study
should be. My Seeking goal is for my
character to stand up to the Euthanatos, and see one of them beg me for
mercy. They represent the kind of
bullying which drove my character to tears as a child, and by standing up to
them, she can put all that teasing and torture behind her.” That’s a short description of a Seeking, but
it would be acceptable. It doesn’t
matter if he actually succeeds or not – as long as he learns something from the
attempt, an ST would be justified in giving him his next point of Arete.
What is
Ascension? Nobody knows. Since no Mage has ever been confirmed to have
Ascended, and no Mage has returned from Ascension to tell us what it’s like,
nobody knows what they really mean by this concept. Every Tradition has a different idea of what
their final goal is.
Many Mages agree that Ascension is perfection of the person
– a being in perfect harmony with the universe, enjoying perfect
enlightenment. An Ascended Mage would
know everything, see everything, control everything, but not as a god – rather,
as a natural and essential part of the universe. That’s one theory. Others see Ascension as freedom from
reincarnation – the final death, where one’s essence is released back into the
primal forces of the world. Some believe
Ascension and Armageddon are the same, that the only way to move past our limits
is with the destruction of everything.
What your character thinks of Ascension will be a critical
part of their Paradigm, an ultimate goal to strive towards and encourage
humanity to pursue. Take some time to
think about what a perfect world and a perfect being would be like.