The Nameless War is the name various Mysterium historians use for the battles of the Diamond Orders during the 19th century against various Apostates that were referred to as the Nameless.
History[]
The 19th century brought many changes in society and many Mages saw this as an ideal opportunity to break free from the restrictions of Atlantean custom. The revolutionary changes in Sleeper society inspired mages, who in turn inspired Sleepers, who in turn inspired more mages, until a sturdy revolution formed that raged concurrent with the ones mortals had caused. But for the best part of a century, many of these mages aimed purely to overthrow the established structure of the Atlantean orders but were unable to reach any sort of agreement on what should replace it. The only thing that united them was their contempt for the current society of Mages. Among them were Kosciej the Deathless, an infamous guerilla fighter, and Razi, a peacemaker and unifier.
Seeking an advantage in their millennia-long cold war, the Hegemonic Ministry of the Seers of the Throne offered the Nameless an alliance against the Diamond[1]. Emissaries offered a marriage of human culture and technological control, sweetening the deal with wealth and temporal power. The attraction was obvious: Nameless mages embraced Fallen fashions and technology as praxes, and were deeply entrenched in mortal culture and fundamentally opposed to the attitudes of the Diamond.
The Seers saw their chance to rid the world of the very idea of the occult, sealing the Fallen World’s cracks and completely controlling the Awakening. The simultaneous answer of the Nameless came on New Year’s Eve, 1899: No. The Great Refusal was unanimous (if only because the columns who accepted the offer were quietly, brutally purged) and refocused the nascent war efforts against the Seers. Within a decade, the Nameless Wars had ended. Convocations offered support and assimilation to Nameless columns, while the Silver Ladder worked to support the allied Assemblies and Nameless Orders as a true fifth Order. The Diamond became a Pentacle, albeit with a point that drew on the Supernal weight of human society and innovation rather than magically emulating a caste of an Awakened City.
- ↑ MTAw: Mage: The Awakening Second Edition, p. 51