| The Traditions (text taken from Mage: the Ascension) Tradition Name : Breif Description (Specialty Sphere) Foci • Akashic Brotherhood: Mysticks based in the East, the Brotherhood searches for perfection through discipline and harmony. (Mind) Common Foci: Meditation, chanting, sashes (as well as headbands or robes), Do, purification rites (baths, abstinence, anointing), weapons • Celestial Chorus: These mages peruse unification of the world with the One from which all things came. (Prime) Common Foci: Fire and light, song (and rarely musical instruments), water or oil, holy symbols, touch • Cult of Ecstasy: Shattering the barriers of time, society and endurance is this Tradition's way to enlightenment. (Time) Common Foci: Dance, music, sex and sexuality, drugs (usually natural, not man-made), incense, candles, art • Dreamspeakers: Speakers-with-spirits, these primal shamans strive to break down the barriers between flesh and spirit, bringing them together as one. (Spirit) Common Foci: Bones, feathers, dances, music and song, ordeals, prayers, images, natural drugs • Euthanatos: Wrongly perceived as death-cultists, this Tradition pursues rebirth. By separating the chaff from the wheat, such reincarnationists seek a new and better world. Tradition Book Euthanatos is particularly helpful in understanding the Euthanatos paradigm. (Entropy) Common Foci: Dancing, dice, cards, weapons, bones, incense, song, candles, meditation • Order of Hermes: Classical masters of education and discipline, Hermetic magi crave Ascension through perfection of their Art. (Forces) Common Foci: Circles and sigils, languages and numbers, gems and jewelry (particularly showstones), elaborate rituals, pentacles, formulae, ritual objects (wands, swords, goblets, etc.) • Sons of Ether: Though often dismissed as mad, these visionaries guide their grand Science through personal theories and a code of honor. (Matter) Common Foci: Inventions, electricity, Ether goggles, strange chemicals, wind/water/solar power, meters, experiments, weapons, vehicles • Verbena: Primordial mysticks, these mages find perfection within, not without. Their Art links the cycles of the world with the cycles of the flesh. (Life) Common Foci: Ritual tools (wand, knife, alter, pentacle, cup), incense, herbs, caldrons, dance, sex, blood, runes, ordeals, song • Virtual Adepts: Brilliant anarchists, the rebel Adepts carve a new frontier by blending technology with the soul. (Correspondence) Common Foci: Computers, VR gear, weapons, cybernetics, network links, inventions. Hollow Ones (any): Not a formal Tradition, but close. Though they drape themselves in darkness, these young seers carry less baggage in their quest for Ascension than any other group. Common Foci: Any if they choose to use them. |
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