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[Michael]

It can be, though I don't believe it's a necessary part of them. SoS says that ruins can have a 'path aspect', before stating that Temple Guardians are defined by their environment, using a path aspect as an example....

[Michael]

Unless I've missed something there's no problem with infiltration. It's not a hard rule, it's a feature of the setting that the C&Cs don't allow dual-memberships....

[Michael]

The Danse Macabre has altered versions of the big 5 covenants as world-wide conspiracies....

[Michael]

I think that's up to you. There's always the option of just not answering, or just saying you work for the government, or saying you work for a cover branch of the government. Hunter has always been pretty light on the concrete details of how the various conspiracies actually function....

[Michael]

Well, they do, but there's probably not a ratio. If you read the sample settings it seems a lot more varied than that. Like, Swansea in Wales clearly has a society of vampires, but only the population for about 3 or 4.

As for your idea, it's more or less present in the old Requiem 1e demo. There's an elder who lives in his former home that's been turned into a historical museum (if I remember right), and keeps a childe captive to feed from....

[Michael]

Today I was emptying my email inbox only to find a download link for the Player's Guide to the Contagion Chronicle... Which I'm not even sure when it was released.

Is it widely known that a third of it is about Mage interacting with the other supernatural beings?

Like, it's really cool, and I've not seen anyone mention it. There's stuff for investigating the other splats as well as suggestions for yantra generated by their various powers.

[Michael]

I was going to comment on this in the kickstarter thread but thought it maybe deserved a separate thread.

It struck me reading their 2e description that their backstory fits the Ahnenerbe far better than the Thule Society. (Which if I remember correctly, they originally might have been way back when Hunter 1e was first revealed).

[To clarify for anyone who doesn't know, the Abnenerbe were a sort of thinktank under the aegis of the SS that Hienrich Himmler charged with discovering archaeological and anthropological evidence of Atlantis, Aryans and other stuff.]
...

[Michael]

I think the ambiguity comes from the Syndicate being both the 'economic' convention (for want of a better word), ie. they cover economic technology and an actual international cartel/syndicate organisation with specific interests and concerns.

Like, I can see why the elders of the Syndicate wouldn't be happy with the Soviet Union. But I could definitely see younger members thinking that this is the new project to get in on the ground floor of. I mean, that'd fit with the greater theme in Ascension of older quasi-immortal mages crowding out younger mages.

[Michael]

I'd say that's more or less right.

[Michael]

As mentioned, Methodologies aren't sub-Ministries (as they are for the Technocracy). A Methodology is essentially a way of categorising what an individual Pylon (cabal) does. However, the idea is that the Methodologies have become institutions of their own that work at cross purposes with the ministries. So Seers that might be technically members of different ministries might nevertheless have much more in common because they share the same methodology.

That said, it's, in my opinion, a little underdeveloped in the book, as there are only three listed. That said I really like the...

[Michael]

I've not had a chance to read it fully but the stuff looks really cool. It's interesting that the author directly addresses the fact that the generic (for want of a better word) cosmology of Mage is in part descended from the ideas of people in this era.

Also, the back-cover left me grinning.