Books — Mage the Awakening

The Power to Remake the World

In an age long gone, mortals dethroned the gods and seized the heavens for their own. And for it, they were flung down into the world of clay, their minds clouded by ignorance. Only a bare few remember their birthright - the power of magic. If they cannot claim the heavens, they will make their own kingdoms on Earth.

A Storytelling Game of Modern Sorcery

• Provides everything you need to tell your own stories in the occult world of the Awakened, including details of the various orders and paths of magic, and many secrets of the World of Darkness. Requires the World of Darkness: Storytelling System Rulebook for play.
• Presents the most comprehensive and freeform magic system ever achieved in gaming, allowing characters to cast nearly any spell imaginable.
• Features Boston as a fully fleshed-out, ready-to-play setting.
• Features artwork by the acclaimed Michael Kaluta.

The Dragon’s Talon

Existence is war. The Exarchs’ power cannot be thrown off by calm words and gentle gestures. The Banishers won’t relent if they see you’re harmless. Sometimes you need to fight harder than you’ve ever fought before — swift and unbreakable, like arrows made of adamantine.

A Character Book for Mage: The Awakening™

• The history, society and culture of the Adamantine Arrow
• Artifacts and spells to aid the Arrow’s constant struggle
• Allies and antagonists of the Ungula Draconis

"Listen. Can you hear it? The thunder of your soul, roaring within the thousand thousand worlds that exist within you.

Gods are there, inside you. Worlds of dream and knowledge, chains of purest gold that bind you to each and every other mind that walks this earth.

Sink beneath this base flesh and find the noble self within. Read the words written on your soul. Speak the names you find there. Set yourself free."

— Aristarchus, Moros lorekeeper of the Adamantine Arrow

This book includes:

• Information on navigating Oneiros, Temenos and the Anima Mundi
• Dangerous denizens of the Astral, including the daimon spirit guides
• Artifacts and things of dream to aid a mage’s dreamquest
• Six sample realms awaiting the adventurous

Suffer Not the Witch

Only a few have the vision to see magic for what it is — anathema. Those who wield this unnatural power must be converted or destroyed, lest they unravel the fabric of the world itself. This is the crusade of the few, the zealous — the Banishers.

A Character Book for Mage: The Awakening™

• A look at the varied motives and methods of those Awakened who oppose magic
• Magical spells and tools used by the Banishers
• Sample cults and cabals, and guidelines on roleplaying the crusade

That Old Black Magic

The first European mages to arrive in New England made dark compacts and concords that still affect the region to this day. From ancient oaths signed in blood to the dying curses of witches, Boston's modern mages are bound by fates not of their own making. The region's history weighs heavily on the shoulders of all... even from beyond the grave.

A Sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening

* Provides complete details on Mage's signature city, including a detailed secret history, geographical overview, and details on magical movers and shakers, malcontents and looming threats.
* Includes new spells to cast, and much more for Mage players.
* Full of cabals for Storytellers to use as allies and antagonists, as well as plenty of story seeds and other tools. A ready-to-play setting.
* Builds on the material in the Boston appendix of the Mage rulebook.

Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras reveals the world throughout its long and storied past.

Through sixteen eras, you’ll learn the secret history of the world, from the flame-lit tales of the Neolithic to the drug-fueled rebellion of the 1970s. Delve into the past, and learn that the Chronicles of Darkness began long before the modern nights.

Dark Eras: To the Strongest

When Alexander heard from Anaxarchus of the infinite number of worlds, he wept, and when his friends asked him what was the matter, he replied, “Is it not a matter for tears that, when the number of worlds is infinite, I have not conquered one?”

— Plutarch, Moralia

In the rise and fall of Alexander the Great’s Empire, armies marched and cultures clashed. In the birth pangs of Hellenistic civilization, Awakened sorcerers all over the ancient world met, fought, and joined together.

In the chaos of Alexander’s assassination and the wars that followed, Cults became Orders amid conflicts still burning in the present day.

This is a single chapter from the larger work, Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras. Now available on its own in PDF and Softcover formats.

"Oppenheimer was no mage, but how can you say he wasn't a wizard? I'm sure he'd never seen any Watchtower or Atlantis god-king or any of your other old myths. But he conjured up something the world had never seen before and changed this Earth forever. No mage had ever done what he did, but we consider ourselves the Awakened people. I'll bet you anything that when he saw the flash, he woke up, whether it was like us or not. Imagine what we can do when we see through the Lie and recognize that magic and science are all the same thing: wondrous."
— Morton, Libertine Futurist

Modern Magic, Modern Myths

Rethink it. Rethink what you know about magic. About human history. About what's real and what's myth. The Free Council is questioning everything. Sometimes this leads to new breakthroughs in sorcery. Sometimes this leads to disaster. What it never creates… is trust.

• The definitive guide on the youngest of the five Orders of Atlantean magic — a must for any Mage player.

• An insider's look at the Free Council, including unique cabals blending technology and magic, new spells and rotes, and artifacts utilizing both science and magic.

• A history of the Free Council and an exploration of the cults, clubs and cells that make up its unusual social structure — and how to tell thrilling stories using it all.

The chronicle takes the characters deep into the World of Darkness, revealing some of the secrets of the Awakened.

Download this free booklet for everything you and five of your friends need to play your first game of Mage: The Awakening, White Wolf's all-new Storytelling Game of Modern Sorcery. Discover the hidden and mysterious world of the Awakened.

Words of Power

Hidden within the covers of innocuous books, written in fire on pages of brass, uttered in ancient tongues on mysterious recordings — the power of the Supernal can be trapped in physical form. For those who unlock the secrets of the grimoires, great majesty and great peril await.

Grimoire of Grimoires includes:

• 18 new grimoires offering great power and great danger
• New spells, legacies and blessings conferred by these works of power
• Peculiar new grimoire forms, from a popular fantasy series to a black metal album

"Who are we? Don't ask for secrets if you cannot keep them. Do you wish to take this step? Good. We are the secret police of the Awakened, charged with our task by the kings of lost Atlantis. We watch and judge the Gifted for any sign of malpractice of their Art, for we knew of old that the Abyssal taint of miscast spells risks the very universe. To remain pure, magic must be kept secret - and we make sure it stays that way."
— Coatlicue, famulus Susceptor of the order

This book includes:

• The history, culture and society of the spies of old Atlantis
• Factions within the order, the three Veils of initiation and the 49 Masques worn to change identities
• New spells, enchanted items and Legacies

"Imagine Awakening again. Imagine walking in a universe of dust, feeling it shape to your desire and retreat from your wrath. Imagine knowing that everyone and everything you ever cared about can be changed, forever, by your actions, the actions of your peers and those of your rivals. Imagine the fear, the crushing responsibility and the intoxicating, addictive power.

Would you trust anyone with this? Would you trust yourself, Heirarch?"

— Aaliyah, Bodhissatva

A supplement for Mage: the Awakening

- Full Rules for archmasters, including the Practices of the sixth to ninth Arcana dots.

- Details of the Threshold, the trials that await a mage attempting to become an Archmage.

- Information on the World of Darkness as seen by archmasters; the Ascension War between rival visions for the Fallen World, the alliances Archmages form to promote those visions, the strange realms they explore and the godlike entities they encounter.

- Exploration of the Supernal Realms and the nature of Ascension.

- A minigame portraying Archmages in the Supernal.

- Storyteller advice for chronicles of cosmic scope.

From beyond, they come.
They are spawned of That Which Is Not, and they hunger for That Which Is.
There are a thousand-thousand blasphemies reflected into the gaze of the Abyss, and a thousand-thousand more beyond sight. One by one, slithering in secret, they crawl into the world. The day will come when the Awakened look up from their tomes and ruins and petty factionalism, and wonder where all the light in the world has gone.
But it will be too late, then.
--Govannon, Guardian of the Veil, archivist of Abyssal manifestations

This book includes:

• More than 20 strange Abyssal entities and phenomena, including rules on how they enter the Fallen World, their goals and how to send them back into the void.
• Ample story seeds and advice for using the creatures presented herein.
• Speculation on the nature of the Abyss, including its effects on the physical world, Twilight, Shadow and the Astral planes.

The Major Arcana

Each key, each trump, is a step along the path of the mage. From the dangerous ignorance of the Fool to the completion of the World, each card holds a secret. Seek Justice, pursue Strength, trick the Devil, and defy Death — the cards will show you the way.

• Storytelling the journey through the Tarot as a Mage chronicle
• 22 different cabals, legacies, Artifacts, and other ready-made story materials, each one tied to one of the Major Arcana
• Advice on cartomancy, story seeds for every Tarot card, and more

"It wouldn't be magic's cutting edge if it didn't make someone bleed."
— Carbon, founder of the Cloud Infinite Reapers

The Price of Disobedience

All societies have rules--even societies of mages. But rules were made to be broken. For the Awakened, shattered laws raise sinister forces. The Left-Hand Path tempts sorcerers with forbidden power, fulfilling their desires at the risk of ostracism, madness or damnation. In exile, more of them thrive than the Pentacle admits, challenging the peril to their souls ... and uniting in common cause. Look Beneath the Surface.

A Character Book for Mage the Awakening

• The magical practices banned by Consilium and order
• Details on Apostates and Heretics, mages on the fringe of Awakened society
• Secrets of the Mad, dangerous and obsessed mages whose Wisdom failed
• The hidden threat of the Tremere liches, their goal of summoning the Sixth Watchtower and their methods of Reaping souls
• The history, society, philosophy, and powers of the Scelesti, mages who worship the Abyss

Heritage of the Exiles

After the Fall of Atlantis, mages wandered as exiles in the wilderness, forced to eke a living without the protection of their grand city. With new eyes, they explored the world they had so long ignored, unhindered by Atlantean creed. They discovered that magic was not born in Atlantis — it had always existed, hidden in the land itself. Sometimes, even Sleepers knew more of it than mages. From this primal knowledge, the exiles created legacies whose names have reverberated throughout time.

• 13 new legacies for players to choose from
• Long-awaited details on many legacies introduced in the Mage rulebook, from the Dreamspeakers to the Thrice-Great
• Includes 2 “Left-Handed” legacies — mages who follow a dark path — and 1 “techgnostic” legacies, for mages who mix magic and technology

Time is a cycle.
Beginning.
Middle.
End.
All part of the cycle.
Genesis mandates conclusion;
a start necessitates a closure.
The tims is nigh for the conclusion.
This is the end.

— Durandal, prophet of the Cult of the Doomsday Clock

Mages aspire to greatness, and none more so than those who craft their souls with the techniques of the sublime—legacies that invoke awe and terror. Legacies: The Sublime details 13 all-new legacies, the specialized magical paths that result from soul-shaping and grant unique mystical attainments. Each legacy features a detailed history and organization along with its own unique attainments. Legacies: The Sublime also provides complete rules for designing your own legacies.

160-page supplement for Mage: The Awakening

This book includes:

• 13 new legacies for players to choose from
• Extensive advice for players and Storyteller on creating their own legacies
• Two all new "techgnostic" legacies, for mages who mix magic and technology.

Reality is glass, is gingerbread and sugar, is chalk. We break pieces away. We take pieces apart. We reassemble them to suit ourselves. The seams are there for those with the eyes to see. The flaws are there for those with the hands to split them. The configurations are born from those with the minds and wills to create them. This is how it has always been. This is how it will aways be.

— Virbius, King Under the Branches, Thyrsus seer

This book includes:
• A variety of different approaches to the Mage chronicle, from genres such as noir and action to the concept of tiers of power
• Variant interpretations of the magic system, such as Weird Science or psychic powers
• Enhancing the player-focused facets of the game, sample chronicles, and more

The 1940s began and ended with war. The war that opened the decade was fought with bombs and guns, and ended with a weapon more powerful and horrific than anything the world has seen. In the meantime, the citizens of the United States rebuild their society. The war didn't touch the country directly, as it did Europe, but the losses were palpable all the same. Millions of American men went to war, and thousands upon thousands did not return. Many that did returned changed and haunted, and the music and Hollywood glamour of the rest of the decade could not drown out those nightmares.

Would this new Fallen World have a place for mages, or had Sleepers outgrown any chance of Awakening?

This book includes:

• A brief historical look at America in the 1940s, from a mage's perspective.
• Player and Storyteller advice on chronicles set in this time period.
• A Storytelling Adventure System story set in the 1940s, complete with a pre-generated cabal.
• A new legacy: the Quiescent.

Mage Noir is a supplement for the World of Darkness game Mage: the Awakening.

Twenty Years and Counting...

Add the Traditions in your Awakening game, or bring the ten Arcana to Mage: The Ascension. Pit the Seers of the Throne against the Technocracy for dominion over the world, and let your Nephandi call forth the Abyss. This guide will help you translate the feel and core elements from each version of Mage into the other's game system and background, or combine them into a unique cosmos for the Awakened.

The Journey Continues

Mage Translation Guide includes:

• Translations of all of the orders, Ministries, Traditions, and Conventions between versions of Mage
• Conversions for the magic and Paradox rules between systems
• Guidelines for converting spells between systems

The Fractured Prism

The higher truths of the Supernal World are constantly broadcast down into the Fallen World, distorted into a thousand different forms — such as the occult beliefs of Sleepers throughout the world. A mage versed in these traditions can see past the Sleeper’s occult trappings to the Supernal truth, like a faint light that is invisible to the blind. Privy to such culture-bound magical secrets, these mages wield power unknown to others.

A sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening™

• 7 magical traditions, from Santeria and Taoist sorcery to the rites of the Knights Templar and Appalachian Hoodoo hexery.
• Unique spellcasting rules and benefits for mages versed in a magical tradition
• Advice about incorporating magical traditions into chronicles and stories.

Sapientia Ex Libris

Every day, the Abyss claims more Supernal knowledge, more lore is lost to the steady crumbling of history and to the mortality of the Awakened. There are those who claim that mages should be looking to the future, but how can they, when they have allowed so much of the past to be lost already? What good does new avenues of learning do if they cannot hold onto what is already known?

The Mysterium stands against that crumbling and preserves the lore of the scions of Atlantis. Whether they are dedicated scholars peering into long-forgetten secrets in dusty libraries or two-fisted adventurers looking for traces of the Supernal in mankind’s archaeology, the Awakened owe the Mysterium much for the preservation of their lore.

• A comprehensive examination of the origins of the Mysterium, stretching back into the misty legends of Atlantis.
• Details of how the Mysterium approaches its Supernal mandate to gather and preserve all knowledge, as well as the secrets of the Atlantean Mystery tradition at the core of the order.
• A variety of new spells, artifacts, imbued items and legacies for use in your Mage: the Awakening chronicle.

Awakening is a blessing.
It's pure enlightenment, arcane
knowledge, untold Mysteries,
unimaginable power.

Awakening is a curse. It's all-consuming addiction, existential despair, desperate loneliness, dangerous hubris.

Awakening is knowing you can do whatever you want, and then doing it. Damn the consequences if you like, but your damnation doesn't erase them. Bending reality to your will intoxicates you, but you're not the only one who can. Staring into the Abyss frightens you, but if you can just learn enough and work hard enough, you can conquer even that – can't you?

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed includes:

• Full entries for Awakened antagonists that you can pick up and use in your chronicle, with traits, story hooks, and more
• Second Edition rules for Banishers, the Rapt, Scelesti, and the Tremere
• A guide for Storytellers to help run scenes of conflict between mages

I used to be so foolish. I used to think that the world was too small for me, that I was always destined to break through the invisible doors that kept me enclosed among the mundane. Oh, and I was right about that — and I was terribly wrong, too.

Oh yes, I was always destined to break through those doors. I’ve done it. But I was wrong when I thought the world was too small. It isn’t. It’s too large. There’s so much space out there between the stars and behind the doors… so much space that the things that should never have come to be thrive out there, pulsing and growing and waiting.

Waiting for fools like me.

— Chashmal of the Mysterium

For use with The World of Darkness and Mage: The Awakening rulebooks.

This book includes:

• A collection of dangerous threats for any Mage game, antagonists ranging from the living mage to horrors born of no womb
• A treatment of Mage as a potential horror game, with advice on how to bring the terrifying, maddening and gruesome elements of magic into a chronicle
• Dangers that go beyond simple entities — constructs, locales, even conditions and infections poised to plague the Awakened

"The Exarchs are real.
The Dethroned Queen,
cast out of the Heavens by wiser gods than she,
proves they’re real. You can doubt her existence,
but doing so only proves your ignorance.
The Dethroned Queen was real.
Soon you’ll see.
Soon you’ll get it.
Then you’ll believe."
— Jonah Reed, Seer of the Throne, prior to his execution

This book includes:

• A complete Storytelling chronicle for Mage: The Awakening
• Five complete and compelling playable stories, each centered on an ancient mystic artifact and building to an epic conclusion
• New spells, spirits, artifacts, characters and legends make this chronicle an exciting example of the game in action

For use with the World of Darkness Rulebook.

"Since the times of the Exile and dispersion from that great polis
have the Awakened formed together in unity and purpose.
These cabals are the cornerstones of our society,
the blocks from which shall be built a new city.
Each sanctum is a part of this shining, dispersed city,
each Hallow a jewel in its treasury.
Let it be known that no man,
spirit or creature
shall violate such sanctity.
At the price of death."
— Simon Magnus, Silver Ladder warlock, illuminator of the Lex Magica

Ivory Towers Reaching for the Heavens

The Fallen World resists the efforts of mages to impose higher realities onto the mundane laws of nature. The very disbelief of Sleeper souls can unravel spells, but mages can build strongholds that establish a foothold for their Supernal Realms. In these sacred sites, mages can perform wonders akin to those of their Atlantean ancestors.

A sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening

• A detailed look at mage society and its sectarian politics, from its Hierarch leaders to its Sentinel enforcers.
• Reveals the inner world of mage sanctums and demesnes, anchors between the mundane world and the Supernal Realms.
• Example sanctums for both Atlantean orders and their rivals.

This book includes:

• Details on the Protocols and Great Rights of mage cabals, and the laws of the Lex Magica presided over by the Consilium.
• Expanded rules for the sanctum, Hallows and ley lines, including new Merits and spells.
• Information on Seers of the Throne pylons and Banisher cults, including sample groups.

Some things are best left forgotten. But why should that hold us back?
The ancients hoarded their magic and sealed it in secret redoubts, hidden from Sleepers and the debased spells of our age. The lords of these storehouses are long gone, but their enchantments remain, enigmas to confound us, their heirs in magic. In some of these places, the guardians charged with their protection still wait, ready to destroy interlopers.
But I have a map, and I know certain secrets.
Are you with me?
— Athos, Mysterium explorer

Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten

The exiles of Atlantis hoarded their artifacts in magically sealed and guarded redoubts, hidden from Sleepers and common spells. The masters of these storehouses are long gone, but their enchantments remain, enigmas to confound all who would seek them — but seek them some do. Mages obsessed with the power of the ancients scour the material and Shadow realms for these places, ignorant of the things that still guard them. Few of these explorers ever return.

A chronicle book for Mage: The Awakening™

• Surveys the hidden temples, storehouses, libraries and refuges of the ancient Atlantean mages
• The legend of Atlantis and how it has changed throughout the ages, including many forgotten theories about the Awakened City
• Temple guardians, enchanted items, and all manner of beasts found near Atlantean ruins
• The secret Atlantean "temples" of Astral Space

Puppeteers and Puppets

We are the masters of the world. We control the Machine, watch every human cog spinning within it. We have gained power over the material world and the supernatural. And all we had to do was trade our freedom for eternal servitude to those above us.

A Character Book for Mage: The Awakening™

• The history and society of the Seers of the Throne, from individual cults and pylons to the Greater Ministries
• Spells, Supernal Artifacts and altered minions employed in the Seers’ agenda of control
• Sample antagonists, lore on the Exarchs, new Legacies of power, and more

Did they tell you magic is sealed away by the Abyss?
That the Supernal Realm can’t affect the Fallen?
That you’ll never see the Watchtower again?

Nothing is ever that simple.

The curse keeps Sleepers from seeing it,
but we are Awakened.
We see past the Lie with our Sight every day,
grasp the Supernal with our spells
and seek the Mysteries.
And what Mysteries we find!

Artifacts of the true gods.
The machinations of Exarchs.
The denizens of the Supernal World.
Two thousand years of soul stones,
grimoires, and scholarship.
The Perfected Metals. Awakening itself.

Where will you begin?

— Halcyon, Mastigos

An in-depth look at Supernal Mysteries for Mage: The Awakening Second Edition,
this book contains:

• Expanded rules for Mage Sight and Supernal Entities.
• New Yantras and advice for ritual magic.
• The Perfected Materials, and expanded rules for creating magical items, soul stones, grimoires, and more.
• Artifacts, secret beings, symbolic places, and other manifestations of the Supernal Realm.
• Advice and rules for encountering an Awakening in process, playing through one during a chronicle, and for the effects of an Awakening gone wrong.
• Dozens of spells and Merits.

The Burden of Vision

It’s not about the lust for power. It’s about the need for a grander world. Enlightenment is the birthright of all mankind; the Supernal is there for all to grasp. Do you have a plan to take us there? No? Then step back and let us show you the way.

A Character Book for Mage: The Awakening™. This book includes:

• The history, methodology and ultimate goals of the Silver Ladder.
• Internal functions of the Silver Ladder, from initiation into the Cryptopoly to their complicated codes of law.
• New spells, Artifacts, imbued items, Legacies and characters to pursue the shared dream of Hieraconis.

Conjuring From the Deeps

There are things not of this world. Things that lurk in the margins of the universe, lying in the layers between worlds. They can hear us, see us from afar. And they can be called. Will you be one of those who bind them to their service?

A Character Book for Mage: The Awakening™

• An expanded focus on mages who summon unearthly entities as a path to power
• Elaboration on ways to call on the Fallen, the Supernal, the Abyssal and things that may be even beyond such terms
• Systems for otherworldly pacts, compacts, Legacies, Merits, spells and more

*"You who would harness thunder to the chariot of your will and wield the winds with your breath - do you think these things are owed to you? That they will yield to the investigations of your mind, as a ripe fruit to the knife? Does the water obey the stone? No, the water, with its supple flow, carves the stone.

So does magic carve your soul.

As the sea hides its secrets from the land, so magic cloaks itself, revealing its depths only to those who plunge in. The Temple of the Mysteries lies sunk deep below these torrents, under the sediment of centuries. Can you hold your breath long enough to dig it out?"

— The Tyrian, rumored archmaster*

This book includes:

• Advice on creating your own spells and understanding how cultural beliefs affect magic
• Speculations on the nature of archmastery and the rumored Abyssal Watchtowers
• A plethora of new spells and item enchantments

No one can do it all alone. Anyone who tells you they have all the answers is Lying.

Throughout the millennia, the mages of the Pentacle Orders have gathered – to share knowledge, to protect one another, to seek Mysteries, and to push back against the servants of the Lie.

But it didn't happen all at once, or without struggle. Nothing good ever does.

Tome of the Pentacle includes:

• A timeline of the Pentacle Orders from prehistory to modern day.
• An examination of the modern Pentacle orders worldwide and cities across the globe with story hooks and Mysteries you can use in your game.
• A look at how Consilia and Caucuses interact on a larger scale and factions within the Orders
• A full-fledged New York City setting for a Mage chronicle.

Glimpses of a Higher World

When a mage Awakens, she touches one of the five legendary Watchtowers. The Atlantean kings erected these mystical spires in ages past to call out to slumbering souls, beckoning them to claim their birthright: the power of magic.

A Guide to Paths for Mage: The Awakening™

• Details on the histories, practices and societies of the five Paths
• Charts of the many symbolic correspondences between the Supernal Realms and real-world occult systems
• Sample Path characters and new Legacies