I’ll Lie To You

Mage: The Awakening, Open Development

With 71 votes, the Lie won out. So, picking up from where we left off;

The universe isn’t only the Supernal, defining concepts, and the Fallen, embodying them. When mages use their Sight, they frequently see signs of corruption, warped or nonsensical symbols infecting the world. If the symbols of the Supernal Realms represent everything that’s True, providing meaning to the platonic concepts the Fallen World embodies, then the Abyss is everything that can’t be. Every so often, part of the Fallen World becomes so overwhelmed by the poisonous anti-symbols of the Abyss that impossibility breaks through to become real, an intruding Paradox that damages the world around it. On rare occassions, these intrusions happen “naturally.” More often, mages overextend themselves or fall to a moment’s weakness when casting spells, accidentally allowing something of the Abyss through. Both are drops in the ocean, though, compared to the Lie.

The Lie is a curse, a spiritual affliction affecting every human soul. It closes the eyes of humanity to their potential, makes them ignore or rationalize away the supernatural and suppresses magic when their souls near it. Deep in his soul, every human knows that he is powerless and insignificant, without the ability to affect the universe’s laws. It’s all-pervasive, written into the fabric of reality. No matter how confident or successful the person, the Lie is always there, worming away at her. Telling her she’s only human, as if there’s anything “only” about it.

The Lie is the combination of harsh Supernal truths – the symbols of tyranny, oppression, slavery, and control – and the paradoxical energies of the Abyss, making Sleepers simultaneously vulnerable to those occult symbols’ influence and masking that influence from them. When confronted with the Supernal, whether its rare natural manifestations or, more often, obvious magical effects caused by spells, the Abyss in Sleeper witness’ souls lulls them, forcing them to forget. Other supernatural occurrences don’t provoke the Abyss that obviously, but the Lie still has a subtle effect, predisposing the inhabitants of the World of Darkness to silence, putting the thought of the monsters among them out of mind. Some people, especially those with minor magical talents themselves – are free of this “Quiescence”, but are still affected by the greater Lie. Still unable to see past the Fallen World, but able to remember magic clearly, mages describe these people as “Sleepwalkers” – not Sleepers, but not Awakened.

Mages see through the Lie when they Awaken; each of the five Paths reveals a facet of it. They’re still human, still part of the Fallen World, but they can look past it, guided by their Paths. Often, Awakening is triggered by a confrontation with the Lie, a crisis where the mage-to-be refuses to accept it.

The Lie is too elaborate and too finely targeted to be an accident according to the Orders. There’s a guiding intelligence behind it. Mages know that some symbols have a semblance of life. They summon Supernal entities, pulling them from the Supernal World into the Fallen. Most are content to let mages come to them, but the occult symbols bound up in the Lie are evidence that something, deep in the unseen Supernal Realms, is actively trying to cripple humanity’s ability to perceive beyond the Fallen World. More than trying – it’s succeeding.

What this enemy is depends on the tale, but the Diamond and Seers use the Greek word for “rule from the outside.”

“Exarch.”

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Sleepers

Mechanically, every human character in the World of Darkness that isn’t Awakened or a Sleepwalker is a Sleeper. In the Fallen World Chronicle, the Sleeper rules extend the Integrity rules found in the God-Machine Chronicle, Strix Chronicle, and Idigam Chronicle, centered around that most Magely of Breaking Point questions:

What Have You Forgotten?

The basics of being a Sleeper are as follows;

If a Sleeper character perceives an obviously magical effect caused by Supernal magic (whether it’s the powers of a Supernal entity or a mage’s spell) they immediately suffer a Breaking Point against Integrity.

If a Sleeper is present when a mage tries to cast a spell with an obviously magical effect, they add a die of Paradox Risk. Multiple Sleepers don’t add more dice, but apply a dice trick to the Paradox roll: 9-again for a couple of people, 8-again for a dispersed group like urban foot traffic, and rote factor for a large crowd.

Sleepers who come into contact with obvious spells after they’ve been cast slowly dispel them, in an effect mages call “Dissonance”

Quiescence: The scene after a Sleeper witnesses a spell – whether they caused it to crumble under Dissonance or not – they forget about it. Their memory warps, and they rationalize the event away or substitute a non-magical equivalent. Convincingly reminding them (including using magic to do so) causes them to suffer another Breaking Point, and then forget again.

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Next Week! How the Abyss affects – and is the byblow of – mages, or how mages see through the Lie themselves? Paradox or Mage Sight?