The View from the Ground - A Sleepwalker's Perspective

[Dave Brookshaw]

reseru - That's the sort of stuff I want to largely get at as well. I'm curious what the perspective of a Sleepwalker is, primarily from outside the Orders but also from within. What does the secret world look like to them? What, if anything, do they tend to know about Mages? The Orders?

You know the bit in one of the mid-period Dresden Files when Harry goes to the bar and all the minor hedge-magicians hush, because he's a White Council Warden and therefore like a shark in a swimming pool?

That's how a community of Second Sight-ers would feel about their local Adamantine Arrow.

[atamajakki]

You know the bit in one of the mid-period Dresden Files when Harry goes to the bar and all the minor hedge-magicians hush, because he's a White Council Warden and therefore like a shark in a swimming pool?

That's how a community of Second Sight-ers would feel about their local Adamantine Arrow.

Don't make me dream of a Second Sight 2e as part of a Mage supplement, Dave. I want that more than words can convey.

[RomulusGloriosus]

Don't make me dream of a Second Sight 2e as part of a Mage supplement, Dave. I want that more than words can convey.

...wasn't Second Sight just kind of absorbed into the core via Supernatural Merits, though?

[atamajakki]

...wasn't Second Sight just kind of absorbed into the core via Supernatural Merits, though?

Eh, they're still getting a dedicated Dark Era in the Companion, and the Thaumaturges still haven't had an update yet.

[RomulusGloriosus]

Eh, they're still getting a dedicated Dark Era in the Companion, and the Thaumaturges still haven't had an update yet.

Are they really? I mean, I'm not complaining. I'm a big fan. I just saw Second Sighters as basically just being mortals with supernatural merits. Would still buy and read an update on them.

[wyrdhamster]

Eh, they're still getting a dedicated Dark Era in the Companion, and the Thaumaturges still haven't had an update yet.

This run me to the bigger question - Would this Era connect them to Awakened Orders? Or just throw them to Nameless and rising Free Council?

[Axelgear]

You know the bit in one of the mid-period Dresden Files when Harry goes to the bar and all the minor hedge-magicians hush, because he's a White Council Warden and therefore like a shark in a swimming pool?

That's how a community of Second Sight-ers would feel about their local Adamantine Arrow.

I honestly don't; I've never read The Dresden Files (or, to be honest, that much fiction, period). I saw bits of the TV series and an issue or two of the comics, but that's it. I'm starting to feel like I should, given how often it gets referenced around here, though.

[branford]

I honestly don't; I've never read The Dresden Files (or, to be honest, that much fiction, period). I saw bits of the TV series and an issue or two of the comics, but that's it. I'm starting to feel like I should, given how often it gets referenced around here, though.

Dresden Files is less WW personal horror, and more a combination of urban fantasy and detective noir.

It is, however, primarily about a modern wise-ass wizard, the stories are quick, easy and generally fun to read, the setting is quite rich with crossover inspiration, and since it's so popular, allows a common point of reference for discussions of related genres.

If you like Mage, you'll probably like Dresden Files. Check-out a book or two in the series from the library or a friend.

[RomulusGloriosus]

Dresden Files is less WW personal horror, and more a combination of urban fantasy and detective noir.

I mean, Mage DOES lean a little closer to the Urban Fantasy side of CofD than the Horror. (Not that you can't play up the Existential Horror in Mage, or the Urban Fantasy in any other venue.)

[2ptTakrill]

One thing all of the splat books try to make clear is that when it comes to the ordinary Joe's knowledge of the supernatural he has an ounce of truth, mixed in with twenty pounds of wrong.
Knowing about the Awakened is like knowing about UFOs and the Men in Black; rumors, guess work and outlandish theories. It's from this base that we climb the occult ladder through shadowy organizations to true knowledge of the orders.
As for those who actually serve the orders and how they see them, that would depend on factors like how big is the local representation, what are the orders goals in the area and how does the individual serve them. Also does the order have a public face, and if so what is it?
If the local order is made up of six Mages who gather once a month in the back room of the local watering hole to discuss business then they probably settle for giving the waitress and bartender a plausible story, maybe the manager knows a little as he ensures they have access to the back room.
Even in an order the size of a multinational corporation that employs thousands does your secretary really need to know that your five o'clock is to discuss magic and not market shares?
On the other hand if the local order is Mysterium involved in digging up ruins from a time before, everyone involved will know a great deal (they will also all be Sleepwalkers).
Paranoia comes into play as well, those guys at the bar might like to impress the pretty waitress.

[Dark Archon]

CofD mages are semi-visible: anyone with a dot or two of Occult knows the Orders exist, even if only as shadowy groups intertwined with all the publically visible occult societies. There's more Sleepwalker members of the Orders than fully-Awakened mages.

Doesn't that mean that Orders are really bad at covering their tracks? Hell, Guardians of the Veil and Seers of the Throne spend full-time keeping people in the dark (even though they have completely different motivations), and anyone else have their own mystery cults and alike to do the same.

[RomulusGloriosus]

Doesn't that mean that Orders are really bad at covering their tracks? Hell, Guardians of the Veil and Seers of the Throne spend full-time keeping people in the dark (even though they have completely different motivations), and anyone else have their own mystery cults and alike to do the same.

I think you kind of hit the nail on the head there inadvertently. I think anyone with two in Occult is probably aware of a mystery cult or two affiliated with the Orders, because the Orders (especially the Guardians and the Seers) generally tend to distract people by throwing crumbs in the opposite direction. Guardians create cults that are 99% total BS dogma and 1% Supernal Truth, and watch as people scramble and devour and enforce the 99% BS dogma, and wait for that one percenter to have a breakthrough.

[branford]

Paranoia comes into play as well, those guys at the bar might like to impress the pretty waitress.

It's too bad for the guys that the waitress isn't quite human.

Hey, why does she only take shifts after dark...

Mages are too smart and paranoid to just pick any watering hole for their meetings.

Welcome to the CofD.

[RomulusGloriosus]

It's too bad for the guys that the waitress isn't quite human.

Hey, why does she only take shifts after dark...

Mages are too smart and paranoid to just pick any watering hole for their meetings.

Welcome to the CofD.

You mean to tell me there's a bar downtown where wizards hold council in the backroom, and the waitress is a vampire?

I don't even want to know what the deal with the manager is.

[Vent0]

You mean to tell me there's a bar downtown where wizards hold council in the backroom, and the waitress is a vampire?

I don't even want to know what the deal with the manager is.

It's both the 3rd new manager since the bar opened, and the exact same one.