The Orders are large groups of mages in Mage: The Awakening, united along philosophical lines (but not always completely by choice). These groups find newly Awakened mages, provide them with mentors, rotes and other resources, then initiates them into the larger Awakened society. The Orders themselves are much like societies; hiding among the people of the Fallen World (i.e. Freemasons) and manipulating things to suit the goals of the Orders. A gathering of the orders is called a Caucus. Mages without allegiance to an Order are referred to as Apostates.
The Pentacle[]
The Pentacle Orders are an alliance between the older Atlantean Diamond and the Council of Free Assemblies, and join together to form Consilia all around the world. Before the Middle Ages, they were also referred to as the Pentacle, as they were five Orders back then. Two Orders, the Pancryptiates and the Keepers of the Word, formed from related cultural schools dedicated to seeking out magical knowledge and preserving magic safely from Sleepers, and became the Mysterium[1]. From then on the four Orders referred to themselves as the Diamond Precept, the Atlantean Diamond, or simply the Diamond Orders.
The Diamond[]
The Atlantean Diamond claims philosophical descent from various groups originating in Atlantis, the first city of the Awakened. Though these groups were reorganized during the Exile, they credit Atlantis for giving them their beginning groundwork. These Orders, starting from the Middle Ages, are the Adamantine Arrow, the Guardians of the Veil, the Mysterium and the Silver Ladder.
The Council[]
In addition to the Diamond Orders, another order was created with the birth of the 20th century. A large group of Apostate mages known only as the Nameless battled back the longtime enemies of the Diamond Orders and earned themselves a place at the table of Orders. The Diamond entered an alliance with the Council of Free Assemblies, forming the modern Pentacle Orders.
The Throne[]
The Seers of the Throne are another great block of Awakened. The Seers of the Throne are a pyramidical, hierarchical conspiracy divided in multiple Ministries and Tetrarchates that seek to keep the world the way it is, i.e Fallen and humanity in a state of subservience and helplessness to those in power. They, too, trace themselves back to Atlantis (which prompts some of the more conservative members of the Diamond to try to recruit them as allies, instead of the Free Council). The Throne works to enforce the will of the Exarchs, ascended mages of Atlantean origin that are responsible for the Lie. For this reason, they clash with the Pentacle.
Nameless[]
There are multiple smaller Orders without connection to either the Pentacle or the Throne. They are collectively referred to as the "Nameless". These Nameless are often splintered, but some have become quite powerful in their own niches (and are usually declared as Left-Handed).
Once, between roughly 700 and 1100 CE, the Tremere Order was part of the Diamond[2]. They fought, studied, and debated the Mysteries alongside their colleagues in the other Orders, and held positions in their local Consilia and Caucuses. When the Diamond discovered the Tremere were devouring the Reaper Legacies they relentlessly hunted and using those Left-Handed Arts for themselves, it banished them from its ranks. On their way out, the Tremere stole or destroyed evidence of their mem- bership and all detailed information about themselves, locking away histories and scrubbing records (and memories). Over time, remaining knowledge of the Order’s fate became myth, which became superstition, which became vague rumors of a wicked Legacy of Reaper liches. Discovering the truth would be a controversial Mystery for the modern Pentacle.
History[]
Many of the modern-day Orders draw their origins from the four great Awakening Cults and the Darshanas of the Hellenistic Period. The Cults were loose organisations that were mostly local to their nations, while the Darshanas were philosophical views that transcended cults and nations. Later, Cults and Darshanas coalesced into the Atlantean Orders, replacing the numerous disparate mythologies of the Cults with a singular founding myth of Atlantis. The Tyrannoi, a faction of the Arcadian Mysteries would go on to form the first Seer Ministry.
References[]
- ↑ MTAw: Mage: The Awakening Second Edition, p. 44
- ↑ MTAw: Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed, p. 127
Mage: The Awakening Orders | |
The Pentacle |
Adamantine Arrow · Free Council · Guardians of the Veil · Mysterium · Silver Ladder |
The Throne |
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Nameless Orders |