Lexicon

There are a lot of specialized terms in the Mage world. You don’t need to memorize them all right away, of course, and you’ll pick up the common ones quickly.

Game & System Terms

Challenge: When one player’s Attribute and Ability scores are compared with another’s, to determine a victor.

Chip Can: A place to discard poker chips representing Quintessence, Willpower, and Paradox when you use them. Several of these will be positioned around the play area.

Effect: A magical spell.

Experience Points: Represent learning, studying, and growing as a Mage. Used to buy new skills and abilities.

Health Levels: Either Bashing or Lethal, measures how far a character is from unconsciousness or death.

Note Cards, Blue: Represent Wonders or other items. The necessary stats will be on the card.

Note Cards, Red: Represent weapons.

Note Cards, Yellow: Represent Rotes. Everything the Rote can do will be described on the card.

Overpower: Supercharging a Rote with extra Quintessence, to make it more effective.

Paradox Station: Go here when you gain 10 Paradox (when you have no white chips left) to determine what form the Paradox Backlash takes. Several Stations will be set up around the play area.

Permanent Willpower: Determines your starting Temporary Willpower. Also used as your defense against many Mind magics.

Poker Chips, Blue: Represent Quintessence. You will receive a number of blue chips at the start of each night equal to your Avatar Background.

Poker Chips, Red: Represent Temporary Willpower. You will receive a number of red chips at the start of each night equal to your Permanent Willpower.

Poker Chips, White: Represent Paradox. You will receive 10 white chips at the start of each night, and must discard them when you gain Paradox.

Temporary Willpower: Equal to Permanent Willpower at the start of each game. You may expend a point of Temporary Willpower to get +2 on any Challenge.

Test: See Challenge.

Trait Total: In a Challenge, the total of a character’s Attribute, Ability, and other modifiers. Whoever has the higher Trait Total wins.

Game Hand Signals

Eavesdropping: Some magical effects can extend your senses. If you’re watching someone from a distance, you can stand near them and point to your eye. If you’re eavesdropping, point to your ear. This says “I’m not here, but I am in-character.”

Invisibility: Hold your hand to your face (just covering up to your mouth is fine) to signify concealment, whether you’re hiding in the bushes or magically invisible.

Out-Of-Character: Make the ‘time-out’ T with both hands. This signifies that whatever you’re saying isn’t in-character, and shouldn’t be used in the game.

Shapeshifting: If you use magic to take a non-human form, try to mimic what you’ve become. If you shift into a huge monster with claws, hold your hands above your head, ‘claws’ extended, to show it. Preferably, see an ST for a name badge to describe your new appearance. (If you know a Shapeshifting Rote, an ST should provide you with a few badges.)

Magical Terms

Arete (AIR-uh-tay): A general gauge of the character’s mystic enlightenment. Magic is a difficult path, and Arete is a measure of how far your Mage is along that path.

Ascension: Finding Ascension is the goal of the Nine Traditions. However, nobody knows what exactly Ascension is, or even what it is supposed to be – just that it is the pinnacle of the journey to enlightenment. Developing an idea of Ascension will be an important aspect of your character’s personality.

Avatar: The magical soul of a Mage, the part of her being which allows her to use magic. There is some argument as to whether the Avatar is only present in Mages, or if all humans have an Avatar, however weak.

Awakened: Mages in general.

Awakening: The moment at which one’s eyes are opened to the mystic forces of the universe, and one becomes capable of performing true magic.

Focus: An object, action, ritual, or other technique which allows a Mage to focus their will in order to perform magic. A focus is like the engine of a car – it takes the gas (the Mage’s raw power) and converts it into a useful form. Without an engine, you can put as much gas as you like in a car, but it won’t go anywhere. Without a Focus, you can pump as much raw power as you like into a spell, but nothing will happen. Except maybe an explosion, in both situations.

Mage: A term for a being who once was an ordinary human, but now shapes the world through her will and magical training. The plural for ‘Mage’ is usually ‘Mages,’ rather than ‘Magi.’

Node: A powerful place, where magical energies flow freely. Stonehenge is a good example. Very rare in the modern age.

Paradox: When Mages do impossible things, reality has a way of striking back. Using magic excessively can cause strange and dangerous things to happen, which are referred to as ‘Paradox Effects.’

Pattern: The metaphysical composition of an object, person, place, or idea. Not exactly ‘body’ or ‘soul’, Pattern is more the essence that makes a book a book, a flower a flower, or a person a person. Many magical techniques involve analyzing and manipulating the Patterns of things.

Quiet: A powerful state of magical madness and delusion which can be triggered by extreme stress or Paradox.

Quintessence: The invisible ‘fifth essence,’ which composes all things. All things come from Quintessence, and all things return to Quintessence. It solves the problem, for Mages, of ‘matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed.’

Resonance: As a Mage becomes more powerful, he may begin ‘leaking’ magic. This effect, called ‘Resonance,’ gives rise to many legends about Mages – babies hush as they walk by, candles light, streetlights flicker, and such. It reflects that the Mage is becoming less human, and more of a magical being.

Rote: A magical spell, creating an effect which can be safely reproduced with others watching. Without taking the time to create and test a Rote, magic tends to fail spectacularly.

Seeking: As a Mage grows in enlightenment, he undertakes mental journeys, led by his Avatar, which test his growth and challenge his responsibility and power.

Sleeper: A person who is not a Mage, and is thus ‘asleep’ to the magical world.

Sphere: Magic is broken down into nine subsections, or ‘Spheres,’ each of which covers an aspect of reality.

Wonder: An object of magical power. Some Wonders are simple objects that perform only a small trick or hold a tiny amount of Quintessence, while others are legendary artifacts capable of phenomenal feats of magic and holding great amounts of mystical energy.

Titles and Political Terms

Adept: A Mage with a fair degree of aptitude and power – though now some of the most powerful Mages left on Earth.

Apprentice: A Mage who has not been initiated, but who studies the forms of a Tradition.

Bani: An honorific indicating a Mage’s Traditional affiliation: “Nightshade bani Verbena.”

Barabbi: A Mage who joins the ranks of the Nephandi.

Cabal: A group of Mages bound by some common purpose.

Chantry: A stronghold of Mages.

Disciple: The initiated beginners of the Traditions. Disciples can perform limited magic, and they are accepted as Tradition members.

Master: A Mage of great power and ability, who has reached the pinnacle of one or more Spheres. Such Mages are extremely rare on Earth, as most work their highly dangerous magic in the more pliable spirit worlds.

Mentor: A Mage who teaches another.

Oracle: A legendary Mage who has moved beyond the understanding of other magicians, perhaps even to Ascension.

Primus: The leader of one of the Nine Traditions, who sits on the Council of Nine.

Tradition/Technocracy Terms

Ascension War: The conflict to determine whether the world would embrace magic, science, or faith. There was once total war between the Technocracy and the Traditions about who would control the future. That conflict has died down, leaving an unspoken and uneasy truce between the two groups.

Hubris: Magic relies on strong belief, and this belief can lead to excessive pride. Many wars between Mages have been caused by Hubris.

Marauder: An insane Mage in a permanent state of Quiet. Extremely dangerous.

Nephandus: A Mage who has turned their Avatar inside-out in the service of dark entities from beyond the void. Utterly evil.

Orphans: Mages who Awaken and use magic without being instructed by a Tradition. All players in this game will belong to one of the Nine Traditions, but it can be important to remember that there are others out there.

Protocols: A code of honor and set of rules held by the Traditions. Many Traditionalists feel desperate enough not to constrain themselves to all of the Protocols.

Technocracy: The modern organization and conspiracy dedicated to furthering a scientific and rational basis for the world. The Technocracy hopes to make reality ‘safe for humanity’ by removing random elements and dangerous foibles. It believes that humanity does not have the ability to cope with such elements on its own. As a result, the Technocracy (or Technocratic Union) strives to eliminate magical phenomena and to stop Mages, whose powers they do not understand.

Tradition: One of the Nine Mystic Traditions, a group of Mages sharing similar training and outlooks. The Traditions fight to preserve magic against the Technocracy, and to defend against the depredations of Marauders and Nephandi.

Spirit Terms

Bygone: An otherworldly beast, such as a dragon, that has long disappeared from Earth, but may still exist in the spirit worlds.

Familiar: A spirit given flesh, which bonds with a Mage to serve and gain sustenance.

Gauntlet: The barrier separating the material world from the spirit worlds.

Realms: The various worlds of the Umbra.

Umbra: The spirit world(s).