Personality Archetypes: Nature and Demeanor

Archetype means “ruling impression.” In Jungian terms, it refers to certain significant figures that inspire human tales and behavior. For Mage, the personality Archetypes provide roleplaying guidance, offer potential motivations, and give you a way of contrasting your mage’s outer guise with her inner truth. Think of them as a Tarot deck of sorts: a series of symbolic figures that reflect human experience. A Trickster Archetype, for instance, represents the clown whose tricks conceal a deeper lesson, inspire caution, and point out just how vulnerable you might be if you don’t keep your wits about you.

As we saw earlier, each Mage character has two Archetypes: the obvious Demeanor and the inner Nature. These Archetypes could be similar, but will rarely be the same; even the most honest people need their secrets, after all. From your character’s perspective, Demeanor is how you present yourself to other folks, and Nature is how you see yourself when all your masks come off. In the ruthless world of the Awakened Ones, it’s dangerous to let people know too much about you, so pick your character’s mask carefully — they’ll be wearing it for quite a while.

Demeanor Traits are easy enough to change — you just start acting differently and choosing new priorities in life. Nature, on the other hand, is difficult to change. It takes a life-shifting circumstance to cause such transitions, and you might not even recognize yourself in the mirror when such a shift occurs.

In game terms, Nature also provides you with an opportunity to refresh your Willpower Trait. When you accomplish something that’s in tune with your Nature, your Storyteller might give you one to three Willpower points to replace the ones you’ve spent over the course of the story. This benefit applies only to refreshing a depleted Willpower Trait — you don’t get new Willpower dots for acting according to your Nature. When you purchase new Willpower dots, however, you can help justify that boosted Will if you’ve been successfully following your Nature.

Every Archetype has its strengths and weaknesses. Consider that strength to be the inner spark that inspires you to persevere when things get rough. Your Archetypal weakness, on the other hand, reflects a personal flaw — some obstacle in your Path to Ascension and a stumbling block in daily life. Both aspects combine to make you, for better and worse, the person you are.

The entries below offer a sample of the potential range of Awakened Archetypes. Feel free to create new ones that suit your character’s personality and vision, so long as those new Archetypes have strengths, weaknesses, and a way to restore your Willpower when you kick ass, take names, and fulfill the purpose of your Nature.


Activist

The world is broken. Help fix it. Speak truth to power, dig up secrets, call people out on their shit, and reveal your plans for a better world to anyone who will listen. While apathetic cowards sit back and tune out, you step up and do whatever needs doing. Sure, folks might consider you a pain in the ass, but at least you’re making a difference!

Action is your greatest strength. You’re not one to sit things out. There’s no time to waste on mindless self-indulgence and no room to stay scared of what might happen. The wolf’s already halfway through the door, and you refuse to let that bastard win.

Even so, your constant Outrage wears thin. There’s never room to sit back and enjoy life. As far as you’re concerned, complacency is a sin. Your fury’s justified, of course, but it gets old all the same. Before you can truly Ascend, you’ve got to balance righteous pyrotechnics with calm acceptance. Life never has been — and never will be — perfect. Finding a place of serenity within your storm is an essential part of your transcendence.

Regain Willpower when you successfully confront abuse, right wrongs, or reveal an actual conspiracy and, by doing so, bring it down.


Architect

Structure is essential. Without it, life is chaos. It’s up to you to provide stability and create things that endure. A builder, a craftsman, a designer for better tomorrows, you feel best when you’re constructing things of value and shaping the foundations of a better tomorrow.

Dedicated Purpose guides your designs. You’ve got one eye on your tools and another on the legacy you’ll leave behind. While other people dream, you do. Contentment is not your style; there’s always room for improvement somewhere.

Obsession, though, is your weakness. As far as you’re concerned, your way is the best way, and that fixation sometimes interferes with your ability to see the world in any way other than your own. To Ascend, you’ll have to learn to accept imperfections, diversity, and designs that differ from your own.

Regain Willpower when you create or provide something with lasting value or importance.


Artist

Magick is an art, and Reality is your canvas. Guided by inspiration, you reshape the world in accordance with your vision of the Truth as you see it. Perhaps you’re a literal artist — a dancer, a painter, an author, a performer — who uses artistic media and intentions to focus your Awakened Arts; or maybe you’re a more abstract form of artist, employing artistic principles to guide the reality you create. You could, of course, do both. Regardless of your tools and affiliation, your vision reaches beyond mere physical or metaphysical technique, encompassing a greater Truth. Art, after all, speaks for those who have no voice, and so you speak on their behalf.

Expression is your gift to the world. Through art, you channel feelings and observations into a form that other folks can recognize. Ideally, the things you express resonate with a wider audience, inspiring them to change their world on an even greater scale.

As with many artists, though, you tend to get Stuck in Your Own Head. Your vision can become so self-focused that no one else can understand what you’re trying to express. At worst, this can lead to egotism, disconnection, depression, and insanity. Artists have a long tradition of going bugfuck nuts, and the Path of Artistry runs dangerously close to the Path to Marauderdom.

Regain Willpower whenever you create a work of art in your chosen medium that communicates a sense of sublime Truth to your intended audience.


Benefactor

It’s a cruel world, but you make things easier. Generous sometimes to a fault, you supply whatever you can provide: money, advice, protection, maybe just a shoulder when someone really needs to cry. You can’t just turn blind eyes to suffering and need. It’s your moral duty to do whatever you can do to make things right. When things get tough, you call upon your inner White Knight and charge in, bringing gifts, guidance, and occasional force when nothing else will do.

Altruism is all too rare, especially in the World of Darkness. Helping people is your pleasure. Magick, as far as you’re concerned, is a tool for helping folks less fortunate than yourself. To do less is an abuse of the powers you possess.

On the flipside, though, you often feel Obligation even when you’re not actually needed. This, in turn, can become resentment — both on your part and on the parts of people who now feel, rightly or wrongly, that they owe you. Sometimes, you just need to back off, chill out, and let people do things for themselves. Martyrdom isn’t always the best Path toward Ascension.

Regain Willpower when you provide help that someone else desperately needs. The key here is that desperate part. Teaching Sunday school isn’t meeting that level of need; if you used your Arts to assist disabled kids, however, you’d clearly be making a difference in their lives.


Bon Vivant

Grabbing hold of all the fun you can find, you’re a devotee of excitement and experience. It’s all too easy to weep and moan in this world. Fuck that noise. As far as you’re concerned, it’s better to laugh your way to hell than to zone out or crawl all the way to your inevitable grave.

Joie de vivre (“love of life”) is your defining strength. Nothing gets you down for long. Your ability to find enjoyment in even the darkest circumstances is an inspiration to the folks around you. More than simply being the life of the party, you bring the party wherever you might go.

Your Superficiality, though, can be a trap. Not only do your fun-seeking ways bring you into risky situations, they also trivialize things that really do need to be taken seriously. Pleasure in itself is not wrong; to Ascend beyond such superficial concerns, though, you’ll need to face whatever pain you’re hiding beyond that party-hearty façade.

Regain Willpower whenever you have a truly awesome time and bring other folks along for the ride.


Caregiver

When people need you, you’re there. Although you might lack the resources of a Benefactor or the vision of an Architect, you give time, work, and compassion to folks in need. This, to you, is merely what we, as human beings, should do for one another. Perhaps you act out of religious devotion, a generous philosophy, or a simple need to love and be loved in return. Whatever your reason, you’re the one people turn to when the strains of life become too much to bear without help.

Kindness provides a wellspring for your strength. It keeps you going and provides the emotional reserves you’ll need in such a fucked-up world. Because kindness often inspires other people to be kind in return, you’re often treated well. This sustains your love at times when joy seems hard to find.

That said, there’s a distinct Insecurity behind your generosity. Maybe you feel as though folks will ignore you unless you make yourself valuable to them. People also take advantage of you at times... which, in turn, fuels your insecurities. To go beyond the role of potential doormat, you’ve got to recognize your own worth and stop seeking validation from other folks.

Regain Willpower when you successfully protect, comfort or nurture someone who really needs it. You’ve got to actually help that other person in some way, but whether or not they acknowledge your assistance, you still feel good about yourself.


Conformist

Every team needs players. That’s what you’re there for. Let some other hotshot go for the glory; you’re the strong center that will hold no matter what comes. For obvious reasons, this is a common Technocratic Archetype. Other groups, however, have people like this too — it’s not a group, after all, if no one treats it as a team. As far as you’re concerned, stability is a virtue, not a fault.

Cooperation is your greatest strength. Your reliability stands as an example for others to follow. When malcontents try to tear things down, you’re the walls, floor, and foundation of your group. It’s not your place to call the shots, but if a plan makes sense, you’re the first one to follow through.

In the long run, though, your eternal Compliance cripples you. Sure, it’s great to provide support for other people’s work. If you want to reach toward Ascension, you’ll need to know when and how to become your own boss. As long as you choose to be a cog, you’ll never leave the factory floor.

Regain Willpower when you support an effort that goes according to plan because you were there to back it up.


Contrary

Inversion is an essential part of real life. For every rule, there must be exceptions. You live to turn things inside out, undercutting assumptions by showing their weak foundations. You’re the Devil’s Advocate, pointing out flaws by embodying the opposite of what folks expect.

A successful Contrary displays Insight; your inversions succeed because they point to a deeper truth. If you’re serious about this path (that is, if you’re an actual Contrary, not simply an asshole), then you’re a jester with a clue. That ability to see beyond appearances is extremely useful in the Awakened realm.

And yet, your perpetual Subversion can be annoying, intrusive, and outright destructive. Certain assumptions really are true, and inverting them doesn’t provide any particular wisdom. If you seriously want to reach beyond appearances, you have to realize that your own contrariness can be its own limitation. True wisdom comes through a balance between rejection and acceptance.

Regain Willpower whenever your inversion of expectations leads folks to realize how false those expectations had been.


Crusader

People need a hero, and you’re there to fill that role. Driven by a higher purpose — religious conviction, moral ethics, a philosophical ideal — you strive for a better world. The sword you wield might be more symbolic than literal: a scientist or teacher can be a Crusader too. The struggle, though, is what defines you. A better future must be built upon the foundations of our flawed world, and your duty compels you to demolish the obstacles so that reconstruction can begin.

Your admirable Zeal propels you through every challenge you face. Lesser souls might falter, but you will not.

Fanaticism, though, is the mark of a Crusader. Your convictions leave little room for compromise. When everything looks like a nail, it’s hard to stop hammering. Until and unless you learn to temper your enthusiasm and question your own assumptions, you’re just chasing shadows of your own extremism.

Regain Willpower when you accomplish some great deed in the name of your higher goal. As a player, you need to define what that higher goal is, and then follow it even when it hurts you. A true Crusader’s beliefs are not governed by convenience.


Director

You’re here to sort things out, lay down the law, and make sure that people follow through on things that must be done. The designated adult in all situations, you take your responsibilities to heart. Firm guidance and clear command are hallmarks of your approach. When stuff needs to get done, you’re the best person to run the show.

Leadership is your gift to the world. While other folks stand around dithering, you know what to do, how to do it, and what will happen if things aren’t done properly. You’re good at motivating people, and tend to be the most organized one in your group. People look to you for guidance, and you rarely let them down.

Your Intolerance, though, sometimes trips you up. The real world never does run smoothly, and you can drive yourself (and everyone around you) crazy trying to implement your vision. In order to Ascend, you must integrate other possibilities into your approach. Collaboration might sound like a bad word to you, but a truly great leader learns how to accept compromise.

Regain Willpower when you lead a group to accomplish a challenging task.


Entertainer

Life sucks. Good thing you’re here to brighten things up! Maybe you’re a satirist, kicking holes in the delusions surrounding you; or an actor, speaking for the folks who’ve forgotten what they needed to say. You could express the yearning that other people feel but cannot articulate, or simply bring a smile when joy is hard to find. Whatever it is that you do, though, it transcends mere silliness. Although you’re not as driven as, say, the Artist described above, you are an artist too, revealing truth through entertainment.

You’re Fun and Entertaining to be around — important gifts when folks are fighting for their lives. Beyond that, you inspire people to look past despair and find beauty and humor even in ugly situations.

Ego, however, is your biggest hurdle. Doing what you do, it’s pretty easy to get lost in your own illusions of importance. Now, you need a strong ego in order to put yourself out there day after day; unless you learn to balance it with authentic self-reflection and restraint, however, you’re just setting yourself up to be a punchline somewhere down the road. Ascension demands more than artistic sensibilities. To transcend your limitations, you need to swallow your ego and accept that you can’t always be the star.

Regain Willpower when your work makes some significant change in the lives of people around you.


Guardian

Shepherding the weak through the Valley of Darkness, you are truly your brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. You save your great vengeance and furious anger for those who would poison and betray your brothers, sisters, and so forth. Pop-culture quotations aside, you take your duty seriously... someone, after all, needs to protect folks who cannot, or sometimes will not, protect themselves. In essence, this ideal guides all Awakened factions; even the Fallen, in their twisted way, often justify themselves by claiming to be guardians of a rejected world.

Courage is your calling card. It takes guts to do what you do, and by all the Gods, you’ve got fortitude to spare.

Admirable though it may be, your dedication to Self-Sacrifice could be your Achilles’ heel. Lots of would-be Guardians wind up ground into mulch by constant conflict. A knight needs battle, true enough; but until ze learns when to stop fighting — to step aside, perhaps, and let people defend themselves or else make their own decisions — a Guardian can become a martyr, a bully, or just one more monster in a world already full of them.

Regain Willpower when your actions directly save a weaker group or character from assured destruction.


Hacker

Every system is a locked vault, and you’ve got the keys. If you don’t have ones that work, you’ll make new ones — that’s half the fun of life, after all! Puzzles excite you; limits just piss you off. Especially given the sheer amount of abuse that’s built into any system, the world needs folks like you to tear down impediments and set reality free.

Imagination is your greatest strength. You see things not as they are, but as they could be once you get done with them! Driven to dismantle existing systems and then put them together in interesting new shapes, you tend to pepper your compulsions with sincerely-held philosophy. You’re not a vandal, for crying out loud — you’re a visionary who refuses to accept shit sandwiches handed out as lunch.

Sometimes, though, you go too far. Perversity leads you to tear apart things that weren’t broken... things that may, in fact, have been better left alone. Although it might seem philosophically valid to tear down the wards on a wizard’s lab, those wards might have been laid that way for reasons you didn’t understand until it was a little too late.

Regain Willpower when you detect a flaw in some important structure, system, or device, or else when you puzzle out a way to improve something that was supposedly designed well to begin with.


Heretic

Grab your chainsaw and line up the sacred cows! Whatever your companions regard as “orthodox” and proper is, to you, anathema. Perhaps you follow a confrontational approach to your culture’s institutions; or you undermine authorities that you consider to be corrupt. You could introduce a decidedly unconventional change to an established tradition (or Tradition), or revere a path or godhead that most folks consider to be “evil.” Linguistically, heretic combines implications of choice, belief, and the act of taking something valuable. Whether your heresy is religious, philosophical, political, or some mixture of them all, you refuse to accept the popular (and perhaps demanded) creed.

Integrity drives you. After all, if you did not possess immense (often dangerous) degrees of integrity, you would simply go with the flow, not resist it the way you do.

And yet, that Iconoclasm could get you... and other people... killed. That is, after all, what often happens to heretics. Folks don’t like to have their cherished beliefs overturned, and so as you run through life’s market flipping over tables in the name of your belief, remember that one of those tables could very well land on top of you.

Regain Willpower whenever you challenge a commonly held conviction and manage to change people’s minds about that belief.


Idealist

Cowards accept what is. You know how much better things will be once the flaws in the system have been purged. Guided by a great ideal — spiritual devotion, political philosophy, scientific theory, compassionate humanity — you refuse to remain shackled by defeatism. Your Ideal is correct. You know this to be true. Now is the time to bring it about. Once you do, everyone else will see just how wrong they’ve been... and how right you are.

Conviction is your life’s blood. Whether you’re a scientist chasing inspiration, a theorist assured that this theory cannot fail, a religious devotee, or some other sort of Idealist, you possess near-unshakable faith in your ideal — the kind of faith that shapes reality.

Like most fanatics, though, you’re Dogmatic to a fault. Blind to any potential flaws, you’ll fight — sometimes literally — to assure the truth of your beliefs. All mages are idealists to a point; in your case, though, this devotion seems stifling. When (not if, when) reality falls short of your ideals, you might wind up depressed, violent, or — as with many Marauders — insane.

Regain Willpower when your beliefs are tested to the breaking point yet do not fail.


Innovator

There’s always a better way. You spend your life looking for methods and inventions that improve on what has gone before. Sure, past achievements are wonderful enough... but if you just add this, shift that, approach the issue from this other angle instead, then you’ll make a good thing that much better or fix an obvious flaw in a promising design.

Creativity is your strong point. No practice, tool, or traditional method is too good for improvement, especially not at this crucial point in human evolution. Let other people follow the established paths — you’re busy drawing up the next road toward a goal most folks don’t even know exists.

Your Restless Unorthodoxy, though, can get you in trouble. Especially if you belong to a sect or faction based on established results and protocols (the Technocracy, the Hermetic Order, the Akashayana, and so on), your innovations might be someone else’s heresy. Many mages have been burnt at stakes both literal and symbolic for doing the things you do, and a missed step could make (an) ash of you.

Regain Willpower when your inspiration leads to a helpful new breakthrough.


Kid

Either young in years or young at heart, you give the impression of needing to be taken care of by older, wiser folks. That impression may be deceiving, but you’re glad to use it to your best advantage. You could be an actual child — somewhere between post-toddlerhood and late adolescence — or chronologically an adult with a childlike personality. Whatever your actual age might be, your concerns are simple, capricious, and typically self-involved.

There’s a kind of Innocence to you, and it provides the source of your strength. People want to protect that sense of wonder and hope and tend to offer you a compassion they might not feel toward other folks.

The extreme of innocence, though, is Immaturity. Trusting too easily, acting too rashly, jumping into things without considering their potential consequences... you’re guilty of all these things and more. You can slide from charming child to spoiled brat in the space between two heartbeats, and the traits that inspire people to take care of you can become infuriating as well. If and when you want to reach a higher state, you’ll have to put certain childish things aside.

Regain Willpower when you bring out the nurturing side of someone who doesn’t normally care much for other people.


Loner

Fuck the world. Everything you need in life you’ve got inside yourself. Even in the middle of a crowd, you’re alone... or at least, you feel that way. People don’t understand you, and you don’t care enough to try to understand them. It’s not that you’re a sociopath or anything (although you just might be one) so much as it’s that you just don’t connect with that whole social animal thing at all.

Self-Reliance is your blessing. You’re so used to doing everything yourself that you rarely depend on another person’s aid. Ascension, so far as you understand it, is a solitary task, so why bother asking for assistance with that goal?

Trouble is, your Disconnection cuts you off from empathy and the wealth of human experience. Until and unless you let down the barriers and connect with other living things, you’re doomed to a lonesome and limited existence.

Regain Willpower when you achieve some meaningful goal without help from anyone else, especially if your accomplishment benefits other people too.


Machine

Flesh is weak. You are not. Whether or not you’re an actual cyborg, you have the relentless drive of a Terminator on PCP. Flaws do not concern you. Limits are for the mewling meatbags known as human beings. Compassion is for weaklings. Fatigue is for lesser entities. If and when you fall short of perfection, you understand that such failure is just a challenge to do better next time.

A Diligent, Stoic creature, you push yourself to the limits of endurance. Everything you do is done to exacting standards, without complaint or hesitation. The Technocratic Union loves operatives like you.

As far as other people are concerned, however, you’re Creepy and Prone to Burn-Out. Whatever illusions you harbor about your perfection, you’re as flawed as any other mortal thing. Even machines have limits, and unless you learn to acknowledge your own, you’re headed toward the scrap heap, not Ascension.

Regain Willpower when you transcend the limits of mere flesh, bone, and steel, accomplishing something that no one else has managed to do.


Mad Scientist

Science is not a field for cowards and fools. You understand that technology expands only when brave souls such as yourself dare the unthinkable and push past the established norms of hidebound preconceptions. Yes, those cowards and fools do falter when they behold the scope of your temerity. Let them! Just as Vesalius defied taboos when he performed dissections or Galileo challenged the Church with his discoveries, so too must other visionaries stand firm and expand the reach of science... visionaries including, of course, yourself.

You do, in fact, have Vision. It’s probably your greatest strength. Pursuing that vision despite all obstacles, you move the boundaries of reality through sheer determination.

Problem is, you are Batshit Insane. There are reasons that other people have not dared the things you do or, if they have, that they’re reviled names in the Halls of Infamy. The Technocracy, Virtual Adepts, and especially the Etherites might depend upon minds like yours, but they also keep a wary eye out for the times when you’ll go too far — because you will.

Regain Willpower when you successfully bend the rules of your technomancer sect while still applying something that seems oddly like science (see the sidebar SCIENCE!!!) and manage to avoid invoking Paradox. This feat should feature a bizarre stroke of ingenuity that shouldn’t work and yet somehow does. (Simply using magick does not count — after all, you’re not some kind of sorcerer!)


Martyr

It’s your glory to sacrifice yourself for the greater good. Precisely what this greater good looks like is up to you. It’s probably based on a religious creed — possibly, but not necessarily, Islam or Christianity. Then again, you may want to give your all for a secular cause you believe in, maybe a political ideology, a philosophical ideal, or simply the opportunity to be heroic in ways only you can perform. This sacrifice doesn’t have to be fatal, though it’ll probably wind up being terminal eventually. Until then, you tend to put yourself in a position to suffer so that someone else might thrive.

Sacrifice is a mighty thing in magick. The willingness to surrender one’s self to a greater end is one of the most obvious (and famous) Paths toward Ascension.

That said, such Self-Deprecation can have unfortunate consequences far beyond simple hazards to your health. Martyrs tend to get on people’s nerves, wind up being taken advantage of, and deal with abuse that has nothing to do with the greater good. Worse, perhaps, people like you often resent the beneficiaries of their sacrifice, many of whom might not want you to sacrifice yourself at all.

Regain Willpower whenever you manage to make a noticeably positive difference in someone else’s situation by giving deeply of yourself.


Mentor

You’ve got knowledge and experience that can benefit other people, so you share it as freely as you can. This might involve having a single pupil, apprentice or protégé, or it could involve several people learning what you have to teach. More than simply a teacher, though, you make a personal investment in your student’s progress. An instructor can leave the classroom at the end of the day, but a Mentor’s role might last for life.

Dedication is your source of strength. It’s important to you that other people share in what you have to offer. Because you care about the results, and probably about the students too, you’ll put yourself out there in surprising ways. (See the Background Mentor for certain effects of a mentor/student bond.)

On the other hand, you can be Pedantic. Lecturing becomes a habit, with every circumstance providing an opportunity for more lessons. Occasionally, even the most accomplished teacher must step out from behind the podium. Your potential for Ascension depends in part upon humanity, and that’s a hard thing to hang on to when you’re always in the Professor role. (There’s also a great potential to develop problematic and possibly unethical bonds with your protégé, but that’s an entirely different sort of lesson to learn.)

Regain Willpower when your guidance helps your pupil(s) accomplish something that had been beyond their reach before.


Monster

Heaven lacks glory without the threat of Hell. It’s your noble chore, then, to be the Agent of Infamy. An obvious choice for Nephandic mages (though not, by a long shot, exclusive to their kind), this Archetype embodies unapologetic villainy. As Voltaire (the singer, not the philosopher) put it, “It’s so easy when you’re evil”... easy, fun, and satisfying!

You Reveal Dark Truths that many people are afraid to face. When you show up, Pollyanna runs screaming for the hills. Your existence undercuts the comfortable lies of polite society. Anyone can play a hero, but a memorable villain is worth their weight in blood.

The problem, of course, is that you’re Depraved. There might be a heroic heel-turn in your future, but that’s unlikely. Chances are, you’re headed for the Cauls; if you haven’t Fallen with the Nephandi already, you probably will soon enough.

Regain Willpower by performing spectacular acts of heartlessness and ruin.


Prophet

Speaking capital-T Truth, you bring a sacred message to a wounded world. That message might not necessarily be religious, though it’s at least got religious undertones. Regardless of its nature, it’s capital-I Important in ways that simple opinions could never be. Traditionally, a Prophet becomes the chosen representative of Truth, throwing light into shadowed corners and forcing folks to look at their own hypocrisies. It’s not an easy cross to bear, but Truth will not be denied for long.

Insight is your greatest strength. Prophets tend to see things that are hidden to most people: secrets, omens, visions of the future, and so forth. Even if you lack the blessing/curse of prophecy, few mysteries escape your sight.

Ruthlessness is the traditional flaw of Prophets. Driven by their vision of Truth, such people tend to be impatient, fanatical, and defiant of mortal power. You’ll probably score lots of points for guts, but you might find those guts roasting on a spit in some ruler’s torture garden. True Prophets often meet unhappy ends... and they tend to take their followers down with them when they go.

Regain Willpower when you speak Truth to power and inspire a successful change.


Rogue

You make rebellion look good. More than just some scruffy malcontent, you challenge convention with stylish dispatch. Attitude is your first, last and middle name, and it’s the only label you accept. You give not one precious fuck for authority, and when you finally head towards that Big Dirt Nap, you plan to go out laughing.

Defiance is your life’s blood, the pillar of your soul.

Your problem, though, is Selfishness. So dedicated are you to your own individuality that you’ll ignore the concerns of other folks. Before you can become a valuable part of your society (much less a candidate for transcendence), you’ll have to learn to let go of your own whims and take the bigger picture into account.

Regain Willpower whenever you manage to score a victory against the forces of oppressive authority.


Romantic

In a world filled with ugliness, you seek and find beauty. Said beauty could be tragic (as detailed under the entries for Romance and Tragedy in The Book of Secrets’ Chapter Five section Storytelling, Genre, and Mage), but that sense of melancholy makes it pure. High drama is your heartbeat. Passion is your joy. In the words of Patti Smith, you “seek pleasure... seek the nerves under your skin.” This quest is often painful, but that pain tells you you’re alive.

That Passion provides your deepest strength. When other folks hesitate, you plunge in, reveling in the raw excitement of life’s dance.

Enchanted by that dance, you can be pretty Careless about its effects. Like the original Romantics, your excesses hurt a lot of people. Eventually, you’ll need to develop a greater sense of responsibility and moderation if you ever wish to Ascend.

Regain Willpower when you throw yourself into a gloriously ruinous affair or reveal life’s howling beauty to a previously hesitant soul.


Sensualist

Sensation is a drug to you. The jittery rush of adrenaline, the caress of this week’s lover on your skin, the raspy pull of a brush through messy hair, even the dull burn of a broken heart — you chase those dragons with bright abandon. The obvious choice for an Ecstatic mage, this compulsion finds new expressions in the Art of magick. The first thing you learn in each Sphere, after all, is perception. For someone like you, that’s all the reason in the world you need in order to learn each Sphere and savor its sensations.

Receptiveness is your gift. Your devotion to sensuality inspires you to challenge yourself. You’re not shy about sharing, either, and your delight in even the most painful stimulations can get other people to explore them with you too.

Hedonism is your curse. Those indulgences can drive you to do stupid, reckless, selfish things. You tend to haul other folks along with you for the ride, and although you might cherish the resulting agonies, your companions are less likely to appreciate them... or you... after a few disasters.

Regain Willpower when you get a chance to revel in some potent sensual experience... especially if you get to share with someone else. (Novelty, though, is key; when you do the same thing over and over just to get a rush, that rush fades to boredom in no time.)


Survivor

Nothing stops you. Hardened by previous ordeals, you’ve developed a sense of self-preservation that keeps you going when lesser souls surrender to the odds. You’ve got little patience or sympathy for people who won’t do whatever it takes to endure hardship. “Shut up and step up or get the fuck out of my way” is your motto. Other folks might not make it through, but their weakness won’t lead to your death.

Perseverance is your defining trait. You do what you need to do with what you have to work with. Obstacles are just logistics, and excuses never healed a broken leg.

Your weakness, though, is a profound Callousness. You’ve shut down so much in order to keep going that folks often wonder if you feel anything at all.

Regain Willpower whenever you survive a difficult situation through stubborn cunning and a refusal to give in.


Traditionalist

Devoted to tradition, you preserve the legacy of bygone wisdom. New ideas are shaky, untested by time, and thus flawed. The Old Ways often are best. They were good enough for our ancestors, and they’ll be good enough for future generations too.

Your Consistency is a virtue. Especially in an age like ours, in which novelty defines mainstream culture, it’s good to have someone as authentic and dependable as you.

Rigidity, though, can destroy you. Stasis tends to lead to Entropy, especially where mages are concerned. Though your dedication to tradition is admirable enough, you’ll need to learn some flexibility if you want to adapt in this age and eventually transcend it.

Regain Willpower when your efforts prove the value of old-fashioned ways.


Trickster

The world is your plaything. People are your toys. A Lord or Lady of Misrule, you work an eternal scam against the dull background of everyday existence. Unlike the Contrary, you’re less interested in political subversion than in personal gratification. It’s not that you don’t care about your companions — you do. Still, when life is one big joke, it’s better to be the setup than the punchline.

Cleverness is your claim to fame. Your tricks display considerable flair. Unbound by typical concerns, you upend the order of gods and kings. Nothing holds you back except the few scruples you might actually possess.

Untrustworthiness is your crown of thorns. Charming as you might be, there’s an edge to you that smart people perceive. Your own tricks often backfire on you too, leaving you with less than you’d had at the beginning of that scheme. If and when you want something better for yourself, you’ll need to know when to stop laughing and start taking ownership of your actions and their consequences.

Regain Willpower when your clever plans result in a big gain for you and your companions or a big loss for your enemies.


Tycoon

Money makes the world go ‘round, and you’re at the controls for that particular ride. You’re probably wealthy, with vast Resources at your command. Power is your drug, influence your bread and butter. Sure, you like the money and all the goodies it can bring. It’s the game, though, not the prize, that provides your true reward.

You’re Savvy, with an eye toward long-term profits. Calculating enough to get things done, you’re a master manipulator and an asset to your cause. You know how to shake up your world, bringing good things to everyone concerned.

That said, you’re a Greedy bastard. “Enough” is not part of your vocabulary. It’s been said that gold blinds those who love it most, and in your case that’s probably true. Before you can Ascend to greater things, you’ve got to love more than money, power, and the game of winning both.

Regain Willpower when a long-shot plan of yours pays off in grand style. Not simply with money — that’s too easy — but with influence, love, or other marvelous achievements.


Vigilante

The law is a farce. True justice comes only from those willing to take it up themselves. When the system is utterly corrupt — and you know that it is — someone must live beyond the law. That someone is you: the nightmare of unjust souls. Though you’ll do everything possible to protect the innocent, guilty parties must pay... often with their lives. You’re the Fist of Justice in an unjust world, and no sacrifice is too great for the common good.

Retribution is the hammer in your soul. This dedication keeps you going long after other folks would have given up. Delay is acceptable, but compromise is not. Extremism in pursuit of justice is no vice at all.

Unfortunately, your Ruthlessness poisons both your cause and your soul. Tangled up in the idea of beating whomever you’re after, you can’t look yourself squarely in the mirror. If you could, you’d see how little difference there is between you and your enemies. To rise beyond this sort of thing, you’ll have to leave the warpath and cultivate compassion beyond vengeance. True Justice is more than simple punishment.

Regain Willpower when you inflict major suffering on your target of choice. This target must be larger and more powerful than a single person. It could be an organization, a mage-sect, a government conspiracy, or an aspect of the underworld. Whatever it is, it’s big enough to consume your entire life... or end it. Such vigilance is an endless task.


Visionary

Beyond typical perception, there’s something more. You see it, though few other people do. Even by mage standards, you’re a radical seer. Though you spend lots of time and energy chasing your vision, that deeper goal is worth whatever its search might cost.

Inspiration guides your steps, inspiring you to see what others can’t or won’t perceive. You visualize some great ideal — the return of your people’s glory, a world-changing technology, a path toward Earth’s redemption, that sort of thing — with the passion of a true believer.

Your weakness, though, is Pride in your stubborn search for truth. To Ascend, you must learn humility, seeking visions that other people can enjoy as well.

Regain Willpower when you convince folks that your vision is worth their devotion too, or when your actions turn your vision into practical reality.


Zealot

A flipside to the Heretic, you pursue your beliefs with extreme enthusiasm. Moderation, to you, is weakness — a true believer will do pretty much anything for the cause! Whatever your cause may be — a political philosophy, a theological creed, a social movement, whatever matters most to you — it’s something that inspires and guides your behavior, associations, activities and, most importantly, your focus: the beliefs, practices, and instruments through which you shape your magickal feats. Obviously, the player for a Zealot mage must determine, in detail, what zir character believes in, why ze believes in it, how it shapes zir personality, and what it takes to challenge and perhaps alter or destroy that belief. Zealots hold deeper convictions than even the average mage would hold, and so it’s vital to know what those convictions might be.

Conviction is your armor, shield, and sword. That steadfast confidence in your beliefs will stand with you when no one and nothing else will do.

Such Extremity, however, can inspire abhorrent acts in the name of your beliefs. A Zealot, after all, is by definition someone who will sacrifice anything and anyone for the cause. A Zealot mage, in particular, can be a terrifying force. The Fallen, Mad, and Technocracy have plenty of uses for such people, and even the supposedly moderate Traditions and Disparates have members who’d sooner kill a busload of kids than step back on their convictions.

Regain Willpower whenever your deeply held beliefs are proved right through your behavior.