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The Metaphysics of Magick
Misc Gaming Mechanics Index

Introduction
Here are the Metaphysics of Magick, from the point of view of a player of Mage: the Ascension. It (hopefully) explains why the magick system works in the way it does, what paradox is, what is and is not consensual, and all that. It’s meant to supplement the material in the Mage 2nd Edition rulebook, pages 59 to 73 and pages 179 to 186. It’s not an in-character document, since that would mean it would need to be four times as long, to cover all four magickal viewpoints in Mage (the Traditions, the Technocracy, the Marauders and the Nephandi).

Solipsism
Consensual Reality states that reality is not fixed or mechanistic, but is defined by the belief of the masses. For example, people believe the Earth to be round, so the Earth is round. If everyone was to be made to believe the Earth was flat, it would indeed become flat. This is the core philosophy behind Mage: The Ascension and is discussed starting on page 61 of the 2nd edition rulebook.

There are several degrees of consensual reality. At the highest level, reality is entirely consensual and anything can be changed with sufficient belief, and at a lower level, there is a mechanistic, defined “baseline” and consensual reality can create small, minor deviations from this baseline depending on the belief of the masses.

It is not clear which one Mage uses. Mage 1st Edition was clearly in the highest (or one of the higher) categories, as it stated that originally, the Sun rotated around the Earth until a Technomancer by the name of Copernicus helped to make the Sun the centre of the solar system. Mage 2nd Edition has dropped this idea and seems to imply that there is a set baseline, and consensual reality can create small deviations from this baseline.

As for the origins of the baseline itself, no-one knows. It could be that there is no baseline and reality is entirely consensual. It could also be that the baseline is fixed in much the same manner as 20th century science believes it is fixed, and consensual reality can make small changes to the baseline. It could also be that the baseline was defined by whoever was here in the universe before us (The Gods, Gaia, Cthulhu, The Olmecs, Atlantis, Mu and Lemuria, etc) or at the end of the previous cycle of creation/destruction.

Whether or not there is a baseline, and how the baseline came to be, are irrelevant for most Mage campaigns, unless you are dealing with player characters or NPCs sufficiently powerful to be able to alter the baseline, or the whole of reality in general.

Consensual Reality
Mage uses a concept called consensual reality. To understand this, one must first understand solipsism. This is a concept in Philosophy that states that we have no way of knowing or proving that the entire world is not an illusion and that all we can rely on its the data provided by our senses. For example, when we see a green car we have no way of knowing that there is indeed a car there — all we can say is that we believe we see a car and we believe the car to be green. Taken to its highest level, Solipsism could be used to state that we were just brains in jars in some alien science lab, and the entire universe we perceive is some incredibly sophisticated virtual reality experiment by an alien scientist. Solipsism cannot be proved or disproved and, as a result, is not often used in modern philosophy. It is, however, very important in Mage.

The Consensus and the Ascension War
The Consensus is reality as it is believed in and perceived by its inhabitants. It is not the same as the laws of physics. Rather, the consensus is simply the definition of the universe in the minds of its inhabitants. Sure, people believe in science, so the laws of science are a part of the consensus. However, people also believe in other non-scientific elements such as astrology and acupuncture, so these are also parts of the consensus. (In the World of Darkness, both these work).

Currently, the consensus is dominated (but not completely controlled) by the Technocracy. This means that technocratic things such as Physics, Chemistry and Biology work for everyone whereas things with little belief to support them, such as psi-powers, magick and astrology, do not always work or cannot be performed by those who are not mages or in some manner supernatural.

The entire Ascension War between the Tradition Mages and the Technocracy is about the control of reality through the consensus. The Technocracy want their sciences to become the sum total of all reality, and the Traditions want to keep reality more flexible and return magick and the other mythic threads (such as astrology and Mayan crystal skulls) to the Consensus.

Mages, whether they be Technocrats of Tradition mages, work outside of the consensus, using a power known to the traditions as “magick” and to the technomancers as “true science”. They develop new rotes, powers, materials and devices and then try to get these items accepted into the consensus. So far, the Technocracy have been the most successful and therefore are the major influence in controlling reality. For example, the technomancers of the 18th and 19th centuries experimented with Forces effects and discovered a way to harness energy to create light or transfer power. They dubbed this effect “electricity” and by virtue of demonstrating it repeatedly, and writing numerous scientific texts on the subject, got electricity accepted into the consensus. Electricity therefore became a part of reality. Before this point, it would have been easy to use lightning or electrical-based effects in a number of ways. After the theory of electricity, however, only “scientific” methods of dealing with electricity worked and the other methods would become “magickal”, needing Arete rolls or gaining paradox. Again, this is what the Ascension War is all about - control of reality. The Technocracy have been winning it since the 1400s and look likely to retain the upper hand well into the 2000s and beyond.

Sleepers and the Consensus
The sleepers are the most powerful force within the consensus, simply because there are so many of them. What the sleepers believe or do not believe defines what the consensus currently is. However, the Technocracy, the Traditions and other supernatural groups attempt to influence the beliefs of the sleepers, so as to change reality to their own vision.

Let us take the example of a sleeper (either a scientist of bunch of students, it matters not) measuring the speed of light. Since (under the reality model of Mage) we can assume that the Technomancers defined the speed of light and got that accepted into the consensus, the only way for a sleeper to measure the speed of light and not get the “correct” value is if his experiment has insufficient accuracy, or he makes an error in the procedure.

Technomagic and the Consensus
Now lets assume we are an awakened scientist, either a tradition mage like a Son of Ether (SoE), Virtual Adept (VA) or a technocrat. Note that an awakened scientist is very different from a mundane scientist, who counts as a sleeper.

Being awakened, the mage or scientist has the ability to affect reality directly and is not limited by the consensus. So, when he measures the speed of light he will get whatever result he wants or needs to. One of the principles on which the Sons of Ether (SoE) was founded is the fact that the result of scientific measurements depend on the observer and not the data in question (SoE tradition book). This is actually a feature of consensual reality.

Let’s consider an awakened scientist casting a “flying spell”. In this case, being a technomancer, rather than reciting mystic mumbo-jumbo and calling on the spirits of the air, he will build an “anti-gravity flying platform”. When he measures gravity or light speed, or whatever else he needs to measure to build the machine, you can bet that if he makes his Arete roll, he will get exactly the value he needs to make his machine work, regardless of what the consensus says the value is. Likewise, his “new experimental device” will give off antigravity rays, regardless of what the consensus says about antigravity rays being fictional.

Hence, his machine flies. However, the machine disagrees with the current consensus and this is what creates the phenomenon known as paradox. The will and the avatar of the awakened scientist says one thing, reality says something else, and paradox springs up to try to right the situation.

Mystic Magick and the Consensus
The mystic mage (Order of Hermes, Verbena, Celestial Chorister or what have you) works a little differently to the awakened scientist (technomancer). In order to cast a flying spell, he does not bother building an antigravity flying machine. Instead, he recites mystic mumbo-jumbo; summons the spirits of the air and Hey Presto! He flies. He has done the same as the awakened scientist (Technomancer) in that he has used his will and his avatar to change reality directly and allow himself to fly regardless of what the consensus has to say about witches on broomsticks. He has, however, gone about this in a different manner to the Technomancer, but the end result (flying) and the overall method (direct reality change, ignoring the consensus) is the same. Hence, he also suffers paradox. The will and the avatar of the mage say “Look at my flying broomstick”. The consensus says “There are no such thing as mystical flying broomsticks” and paradox results.

What Mages Do Not Realize
Astute readers of the above two sections might now be wondering what happens when the mystic sees the technomancer’s anti-grav platform, or vice-versa. They might also have noticed that both the mystic and the technomancer are deluding themselves. That’s right - neither mage sees true reality. Both mages see only what they expect or believe to see.

The technomancer sees “antigravity rays” emanating from his machine and the mystic sees “spirits of the air” lifting his broomstick (or whatever other method they used). But both have performed the same magickal effect using a focus and the same Spheres! The main reason for this is again, consensual reality and so much being based on individual belief and willpower.

This is one of the reasons mages get to lose foci as they increase their Arete. They gradually realize that their real power comes from within themselves and not their mystic trappings, so can drop foci as their Arete increases.

Inter-Tradition Interaction
This still does not answer the question of what happens when the tradition mage looks at the awakened scientist’s flying platform and what happens when the technomage looks at the mystic’s flying broomstick.

Firstly, both will recognize the devices as being “magical” in that they were created by an awakened person (either a mystic or an awakened scientist), and they may well recognize which tradition created the devices. Further than this, Mage 2nd Edition does not define exactly what each mage sees.

There are several possibilities.

One is that when the mystic one looks at the antigravity projector, he will see that the “antigravity waves” are very similar to the mystical energy that he is familiar with, and eventually, after further study, recognize that mystic energy making occult patterns very familiar with his own magick system. He may even perceive the machine as “trapping” an air spirit, or whatever. If the same was true for the technomancer looking at the broomstick, he might recognize the device as being carefully shaped to act as a natural focus for particular types of natural energy that carries sub-atomic waves which when vibrated in certain ways interact with other waves and produce “antigravity particles” that negate gravity.

Another is that the mystic will look at the anti-grav platform, scratch his head in puzzlement and go “What on Earth is this rubbish? This can’t fly under any known scheme of magick!” and the technomancer will look at the flying broomstick and say “What on Earth is this rubbish? This cannot fly using any realistic scientific model!”

No doubt there are other possibilities.

Remember that mages only see what they believe they will see, and do not have the knowledge of the inner workings of true reality that the reader of this document is assumed to possess (if he followed sections [1] to [8] above, that is).

However, the first model is far more likely than the second, as if the second were true, inter-tradition magick would be impossible. Yet it is possible (but difficult) for a Son of Ether to co-operate with a Dreamspeaker when using magick. “My science will make a machine that will create an ectoplasmic chamber which will imprison the air elemental that your magick will summon, then we will both fly!”

Local Paradigms and Nodes
Reality as defined by the consensus is not the same all over the world, due to the different beliefs of people in different parts of the world. This is why the consensus itself is different, depending on the area you are in.

In a mundane science laboratory, filled with scientists who believe in and follow the tenets of science practically everyday, and devote most of their working time to furthering it, the technomantic parts of the consensus will be stronger than they would be in a city or suburban home. Similarly, in a remote and undisturbed monastery in the mountains of Tibet, the more mystical parts of the consensus will be stronger than they would normally be.

For this reason, some normally consensual devices may not function in all parts of the Earth and some normally non-consensual devices may function in some parts of the Earth. For example, a piece of high technology like a laptop computer may indeed cease to operate, or operate unreliably, in a place with a strong mystical aura, such as the aforementioned monastery. In those places there is less support for the item within the local consensus and it will not function as efficiently, and may even be subjected to paradox in extreme cases (in which case they cease to be mundane and become magickal, and an awakened person must roll Arete to kick-start them, as for magick).

Similarly, “cutting edge” science (like Quantum Tunneling and Nuclear Fusion) tends to be limited to science labs. It is not only expensive, but just plain may not work in the middle of the high street. Those using mythic threads or consensual items currently indefinable by science (such as astrology or acupuncture) might find their abilities increased in some areas where the consensus is less technologically oriented, and might find them reduced or ineffective in places such as science labs or computer rooms.

Even the awakened are not immune to these effects. A Hermetic Mage would find his magical abilities reduced in a mundane science laboratory and an awakened scientist would find his abilities reduced in The Land That Time Forgot Next To The Valley Of The Dinosaurs In Remote Mandalay.

Page 184 “Magickal Geography and Influence” in MtA 2nd Edition has more to say on the subject.

Nodes are explained in Mage: the Ascension 2nd Edition. Here I would just like to say that a Node is very often aligned towards a particular paradigm, if only because mages tend to live on top of them. Here the presence of the node and the large number of awakened individuals (compared to the rest of the world) will result in the node having similar effects to that described under local paradigms, but the effects will be much stronger. The same can also be true of a wizard’s sanctum, where the mage’s own personal paradigm (his own mini-consensus) will be the dominant one, and of horizon realms. Do not send Hit Marks into a Verbena horizon realm, and do not send mythic creatures into a Technocracy horizon realm, or major paradox will result.

We allow in our game, for a very large number of individuals over a very large amount of time to actually also create a node. For example, many churches are co-located with nodes. Is this a case of “The Church was built on a node” or “The node sprang up because of the church”? For the same reason, most of the mundane science labs and universities are very minor technomantic nodes.

Active Disbelief
What causes thing to be not supported by the consensus and thus become non-mundane and possibly suffer paradox? Is it merely sufficient for a thing to be new in the consensus and thus have no belief supporting it, or is active disbelief required?

Mage 2nd Edition in the “Magical Geography and Influence” section (page 184) implies that active disbelief is required for a thing to stop working, since technological devices function in most places on Earth, even in under-developed countries who still do not fully believe in all things technological. However, all those places are part of the modern world and still touched by the technocracy, even if only lightly. So it is quite possible that their paradigms do support the devices, or at least do not contain active disbelief. In the section on “Hidden Places” on the page overleaf it states that high-tech devices would not work in “areas the technocracy has never won”, which strengthens the idea that the consensus must support something for it to be considered mundane as opposed to magical.

There is, however, a counter-argument that states that the consensus itself is not limited to only human beliefs. Mage 2nd Edition does indeed state that while humans are the dominant force in shaping the consensus (and thus reality), they are not the only force and it is quite possible that in these hidden places, those older forces still hold sway and provide the force of disbelief. So, there is no right or wrong answer and you must select which you will use in your campaign. In the vast majority of cases, it will make no difference which belief model you use, but now and again, it will crop up. If sleeper scientists are to be able to easily advance the consensus, however, we recommend using the “active disbelief is required” model.

Pushing the Boundaries of Sleeper Science
It is not necessary for every new discovery to be made by a mage. Firstly, remember that the consensus in a mundane science laboratory is slightly ahead of the rest of the world in terms of technology base, and secondly, that a thing can be consensual if based on current technology and there is no active disbelief working against it (assuming that active disbelief is required, see that section). Of course, the scientist must then publish sufficient scientific papers to get his new theory accepted by other scientists so that it can be duplicated in other labs, and from there be incorporated into experimental or prototype equipment, and from there into mundane equipment so that it can be accepted into the consensus.

If you choose not to use “active disbelief is required” and use instead that an item must be supported by the consensus, then it is harder, but still not impossible for a mundane (unawakened) scientist to expand the consensus.

Mythic Threads

Just a reminder that the consensus is not the laws of science, but rather, the laws of science are a subset of the consensus. The laws of science were invented by the technocracy to explain their own forms of magick and get them into the consensus, whilst simultaneously debunking the mystic arts as practiced by the tradition mages. However, despite this, the technomancer’s domination of the paradigm is not completed and many “mythic threads” such as astrology remain. Furthermore there are abilities and phenomena currently unexplainable by science, such as ESP and psi-powers, acupuncture, bigfoot, the loch ness monster(s), and suchlike. Thus it is possible for these to exist inside the consensus, and therefore not accumulate paradox, whilst still being unexplainable by science.

Bygone Creatures
Ah, Dragons. Mmm... :-) has to pay quintessence to breathe fire. Read as this “gain paradox to breathe fire, then spend the quintessence to purge it” and bygones do, indeed, gain paradox.

A bygone creature has to eat quintessence or sicken and die, unless it happens to be lucky enough to be in an area where the consensus supports it. They do not gain paradox and the dragon in the 2nd Edition Rulebook does not accumulate paradox even when breathing fire. Why is this? Surely if no-one believes in dragons, then dragons must accumulate paradox? has to pay quintessence to breathe fire. Read as this “gain paradox to breathe fire, then spend the quintessence to purge it” and bygones do, indeed, gain paradox.

Now, the paradox wheel on a Mage’s character sheet is for both quintessence and paradox. Gaining paradox prevents gaining quintessence, and a sufficiently high rating in the Prime Sphere (6) can purge paradox. So I put forward the theory that a bygone does accumulate paradox. It then eats the quintessence and uses it to purge the paradox and get rid of it. (Yup, my Mage PC would love to know how it does this). The dragon in the rulebook has to pay quintessence to breathe fire. Read as this “gain paradox to breathe fire, then spend the quintessence to purge it” and bygones do, indeed, gain paradox.

Crossover: Other Supernaturals (Vampires, Garou etc)
Note that this deals with them in Mage and players who don’t use Mage or don’t use a lot of crossover might want to ignore this. However, we use Mage and Werewolf together as the philosophical and metaphysical base for our entire World of Darkness, since no other game can carry the load.

Of course, the big question is why do Vampires, Garou, Sorcerers, Changelings, etc not gain paradox? If they are part of the consensus, that would be OK, but how can they be? All the sleepers know vampires are just a myth!

(a) Refer to the Bygones section and it could be argued that they do gain paradox in the same manner as bygones. Vampire blood is known by mages to contain quintessence and vampires must consume a point of this each day in the same manner as bygones. Like bygones, the powers of the vampire are fixed and the paradox they suffer takes fixed forms.

(b) Another theory states that Vampires, Garou etc have a powerful founder and the will/avatar of the founder deals with this. For example, if a Mage is embraced, his avatar is changed and his new one is incapable of working true magick. So Vampires possess a shard of Caine’s avatar, and the Garou are protected by Gaia, both of which have the power to protect them from paradox.

(c) Of course, it is also quite possible that the vampires, Garou etc are all part of the consensus so they are allowed to use these powers and are not punished by paradox. After all, they all get to vote in it, and people have lived in the shadow of these creatures for a quite a long time. In fact, if the werewolves are to be believed, during the Impergium the Garou themselves would have been the dominant force shaping reality. Lest the Order of Hermes chime out “But we ruled the consensus in the Dark Ages”, it is to be remembered that both the Garou and the Vampires have a powerful supernatural founder (God’s will exercised through Caine for the Vampires, and Gaia for the Garou) and their founder’s own share in the creation of the consensus will be powerful. Sorcerers use low-powered ritual magicks often based on science (for example, Alchemy or Herbalism) or stage magick (Conjuration) and for this reason, their powers might still be consensual, while the more blatant “wave my hands and throw fireballs” magick of the traditions is clearly not consensual.

(d) One could claim that paradox is a fluke of Magely magick or avatars, but this is essentially very similar to [c] above. The only real difference between mage magick and vampire thaumaturgy - according to mages - is that the mage uses non-consensual powers and the vampire powers are fixed as part of the consensus, and all non-consensual things suffer paradox. This strengthened by the a number of facts, one being that high-tech items stop working in the Hidden Places and other remote spots on Earth and that only things that are non-consensual gain paradox, as proved by technocracy mages whenever they get the consensus changed.

The last argument of point (d), about the consensus changing, together with the mage’s line of “that which is non-consensual causes paradox” form quite a convincing argument for case (c) to be the correct one, and this is therefore the case that we use in our campaign.

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