Challenging Supernal "Truth"
I've gotten into a lot of White Wolf material for some time and more or less recently had been invited to Mage to play and potentially an ST.
Please note I am not attempting to "challenge" canon-as there really is no strict canon. These are some musings and ideas about a possible re-interpretion if the metaplot especially if you want an even darker flavor of Mage.
So as I read a lot about the metaplot of Mage, a nagging question keeps coming to me-and that is if the idea of "Supernal Truth" is even "true" at all. I guess the know-it-all atmosphere of mage society and perspectives seemed to have me thinking about its potential fragility. But then I was pleasantly glad to have found the Chronicler's Guide that did have some setting variations in which the source of magic was something different altogether, and quite horrible too.
The question gets more compelling when considering one of the core themes of Mage is hubris. Some of the material such as Magic Traditions points out the idea of the supernal being present among sleeper lore and experiences, maybe even sleeper magic (why don't they suffer quiesense though?) yet most awakened are too arrogant to talk to them. Yet, they claim to be always chasing after more and more mystical knowledge, yet when they get it, they may also scoff it off as just another “Fallen” lie. So there can be massive holes in the understanding of magic, ones massive enough to challenge many beliefs hold dear, not just Atlantis but everything else. For example, most mages might be frustrated at paradox, and thus claim its a force meant to sabotage magic-but it could also be that its to keep mages in line and prevent magic from corrupting the world rather than being something often described as "evil".
Then there are the other supernatural beings with their own perspectives and magic. The mummies especially speak of a different system of magic from their old empire. I see an interesting contradiction in which a mage's perspective seems rather privileged and special compared to the others, after all the "Awakened" have seen the "Truth" and the world is a "Lie"-even the Shadow and (changeling) Arcadia, while they revel in their own "Truth" realms. And they say that this is the true and natural state of humans. Yet beasts regard them as just another monster, and so do some other groups as well. If I can recall a snippet of the mage perspective of beasts from the Beast corebook is that they are just interesting sleepers, and don't prod much further than that, which probably indicates bias on the types of knowledge mages pursue-perhaps those kernels of knowledge that don't uplift their status and instead equalize it are ignored! One can interpret that both sides are flawed and unreliable of course.
The Supernal seems to all about meaning, and that the world is meaningful and glorious in its perfection (at least before Exarchs), and yet somehow only mages are privy to it; the others, even the purified loose connection to the Supernal when changed, so there are a lot ways to explore the idea of Supernal Lies and maybe even Abyssal Truths-that maybe things really are meaningless and contradictions are part of the natural order of things, not from an “infection” of the Abyss. I also saw this thread about philosophical antagonists that got be intrigued, especially about the idea of a form of magic that runs on a completely different idea of “Truth” butting heads with “Awakened" magic.
It would be a spectacular and horrid twist if say, the Abyss was right all along and it was the "Supernal" that was the infection. Or maybe both are and a third other is the natural state.
So I am asking here if anyone has explored these ideas in their own games.
Please note I am not attempting to "challenge" canon-as there really is no strict canon. These are some musings and ideas about a possible re-interpretion if the metaplot especially if you want an even darker flavor of Mage.
So as I read a lot about the metaplot of Mage, a nagging question keeps coming to me-and that is if the idea of "Supernal Truth" is even "true" at all. I guess the know-it-all atmosphere of mage society and perspectives seemed to have me thinking about its potential fragility. But then I was pleasantly glad to have found the Chronicler's Guide that did have some setting variations in which the source of magic was something different altogether, and quite horrible too.
The question gets more compelling when considering one of the core themes of Mage is hubris. Some of the material such as Magic Traditions points out the idea of the supernal being present among sleeper lore and experiences, maybe even sleeper magic (why don't they suffer quiesense though?) yet most awakened are too arrogant to talk to them. Yet, they claim to be always chasing after more and more mystical knowledge, yet when they get it, they may also scoff it off as just another “Fallen” lie. So there can be massive holes in the understanding of magic, ones massive enough to challenge many beliefs hold dear, not just Atlantis but everything else. For example, most mages might be frustrated at paradox, and thus claim its a force meant to sabotage magic-but it could also be that its to keep mages in line and prevent magic from corrupting the world rather than being something often described as "evil".
Then there are the other supernatural beings with their own perspectives and magic. The mummies especially speak of a different system of magic from their old empire. I see an interesting contradiction in which a mage's perspective seems rather privileged and special compared to the others, after all the "Awakened" have seen the "Truth" and the world is a "Lie"-even the Shadow and (changeling) Arcadia, while they revel in their own "Truth" realms. And they say that this is the true and natural state of humans. Yet beasts regard them as just another monster, and so do some other groups as well. If I can recall a snippet of the mage perspective of beasts from the Beast corebook is that they are just interesting sleepers, and don't prod much further than that, which probably indicates bias on the types of knowledge mages pursue-perhaps those kernels of knowledge that don't uplift their status and instead equalize it are ignored! One can interpret that both sides are flawed and unreliable of course.
The Supernal seems to all about meaning, and that the world is meaningful and glorious in its perfection (at least before Exarchs), and yet somehow only mages are privy to it; the others, even the purified loose connection to the Supernal when changed, so there are a lot ways to explore the idea of Supernal Lies and maybe even Abyssal Truths-that maybe things really are meaningless and contradictions are part of the natural order of things, not from an “infection” of the Abyss. I also saw this thread about philosophical antagonists that got be intrigued, especially about the idea of a form of magic that runs on a completely different idea of “Truth” butting heads with “Awakened" magic.
It would be a spectacular and horrid twist if say, the Abyss was right all along and it was the "Supernal" that was the infection. Or maybe both are and a third other is the natural state.
So I am asking here if anyone has explored these ideas in their own games.
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