The Awakening (U/C)

[Azorius Beat]

The

A w a k e n i n g
(Horror/Mystery/Action/Romance/Friends & Family/Magic etc.)

Introduction

Bullets whizzed past Zeno’s left ear, one of
them close enough to nearly nick his lobe. He
didn’t flinch or give it any mind as he steered his
motorcycle with one hand, the other clutching a
spread of playing cards. He had a choice to make
in the road ahead. Traffic had come to a complete
halt, and the sidewalks were too crowded to allow
him to leap the curb and evade his pursuers that
way. That left him with one choice: Should he take
the left-hand alley or the right?
As he concentrated, calling out to his higher
instincts for an answer — they always had an
answer — he noticed pedestrians turning his way,
shocked by the sound of gunfire from behind him.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the
sedan had closed on him, going way faster than he
expected. Damn, are they getting help from
somebody? he thought.
He turned the handlebars to the right and
gunned the engine, peeling down the alley. The
choice had barely been conscious, a glimmer of
knowing in which way the odds were stacked. He
chose the more favorable option — and cursed as
he saw a chain-link fence straight ahead. What ********—? Those assholes do have help!
He heard the squeal of tires behind him as the
sedan pulled into the alley. Any second now, the
guns would start firing again and his luck would
run out. Time to try a different trick.
He reached out with his will and yanked his front
wheel into the air as if an invisible crane pulled
it. He then let it go and his body English did the
rest, maneuvering over the fence as if it were the
most natural thing in the world. My ma always
hated Evel Knievel. She was afraid I’d try that
s**t myself. This one’s for you, ma!

 

[Azorius Beat]

The

A w a k e n e d

Once the soul Awakens, a person can never truly be part
of normal life again. His friends and relatives are still trapped
in Sleep, unable to understand what he’s going through no
matter how hard they try. He can change reality with force
of will, for he knows the truth behind the Lie, and can
contact the higher world that is closed and unknown to those
he loves.
It’s little wonder that mages retreat into their own underground
world of occult secrets. To those known in life before,
a mage seems to withdraw into solitude or hangs out with a
new group of friends that he never introduces to his old ones.
He never calls anymore, or comes around for a beer. He drops
out of their lives and is soon forgotten. He enters a new world,
one fraught with the kind of socio-political snipping one
would expect more from politics than mysticism.
Mages adhere to ancient forms of social interaction: the
traditional master-apprentice relationship, the respect for
those of higher rank (i.e., mystical attainment), and the
obedience due one’s betters. To most mages, democracy and
other forms of social egalitarianism are fads, products of a
world wherein one Sleeper is little different from another, at
least when judged from a magical perspective. One mage can
definitively demonstrate to another his superiority in the Ars
Mysteriorum, so ideals of equality are meaningless. Nonetheless,
modern mages come out of a world that has struggled for
centuries to establish such values, so it is little wonder that
they inculcate them into the society of the Awakened — a
society normally more concerned with ancient Atlantean
customs than modern values. For the first time in ages, the
orders struggle with new ideals. To some, this is a breath of
fresh air, hinting at new possibilities in a struggle long
defined as nearly unwinnable. To others, it is a distraction
from a mage’s true purpose and another example of how
Sleepers can taint even the souls of the Awakened.
All that aside, mages still share commonalities and customs.
The most basic, foundational identity a mage can claim is the
Path upon which he walks, the means by which he draws down
the higher into the lower (or, as some mages prefer to describe
it, opening the inner world to the outer world).