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PATHS of
PARADOX & ECSTASY
For White Wolf's

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"i've quit this a million times, can't quite stay away --
one more time, i'll be okay..."
-- toad the wet sprocket, "come back down"



©1999 White Wolf Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Image:"Peregrine Landed,"by L.T.C.

        Sliante'.
        I call myself Peregrine Gray.  Some call me Peregrine Gray, Larta magus bani Jerbiton, Sixth Degree Adept... they also call me Riser To The Third Star, or even Jim Pathfinder.  I'm a young white male (not getting any younger), a poet, a wanderer, and a god on this earth.  Good to meetcha.  These documents are my views and gathered info on the Awakened Ones in this World of Darkness, and on other matters that are related to magick and Enlightenment... which may just be another word for Ecstasy, yeh?
        I look at these things a little different than alot of people do.  Some people, mostly the pattern-types, feel the need to divide the Awakened Ones into categories, "Traditions" and such, when such divisions in practical reality don't exist.  I've been around this globe one or two times, and I've met a good number of mages; except for the wizards of the Grand Hermetic Houses and the church-mages of the Celestial Chorus, most of'em don't really adhere to any sort of organized hierarchy.  I mean, a death-mage is more likely to be familiar with other death-mages than with some cybermancer who thinks death is just "the long, dark byte"... but that doesn't mean that all death-mages are card-carrying members of Club Euthanatos.
        Now, that's not to say that "Club Euthanatos" doesn't exist.  Or Club Verbena, Club Dreamspeaker, Club Chorus, etc.  There's a whole cadre of so-called "Ascension Warriors" called the Council of Seven, wherein the Grand Order of Hermes has gathered mages of different styles into seven traditions, and united them to fight the Technocracy, to make the world a safer place for magick.  That's what they say, at least.  From what I can tell, they're little more than self-important and power-hungry reality terrorists.  Not much better than those mad mages, the Nameless Ones.  A bunch of witches, shamans, death-mages, church-mages, and assorted oddballs all led by the Hermetic magi in self-righteous and destructive attacks on the Union, which is just as ruthless as the Council.  The world is as it is, but these folks think they have the right to shape it in their own image.
        Anyway, look on, and have fun...
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AD ASTRA
        This is the Page where I detail my perceptions, musings, and theories on the Astral World and the Otherworlds -- Faerie, the Umbra, Hells, Heavens, Earths, etc.  This page is very extensive, take a look!!!  (May 29-99: This page is now up and available, though some of the sub-pages may not be...)

Go to AD ASTRA


HALLSof the FAE
        I didn't like Changeling: The Dreaming.  Too much emphasis on cute chimera and childhood imagination -- not enough fey myth and ancient terror.  AND, you only get to play half-fae.  So this is the section where I've revamped the idea of fae in the WoD, according to what I would want to play or run -- full-blooded fae folk of various shapes and sizes, from lords of the daoine-sidhe to the glittering armies known collectively as The Faerie Host.  Character Generation has been changed, and new backgrounds are added; much was inspired by Ars Magica and general myth/folklore research.

       Go to my revision -- FAERIE: THE LOST KINGDOM

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FAE LINKS

EX MISCELLANEA
        So, sometimes I come up with whole @*!%-loads of Mage stuff, but it doesn't belong or really fit on any of the other pages... this is where it all goes.  Story ideas, musings about the game, all kinds of junk.
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Go to Ex Miscellanea


 Go to my WoD Compilation Page
 Also: My new Mage Forum Archives


THE CEREMONIALISTS
        "We follow a tradition that has had millennia to mature and grow, a praxis that crosses many level and transcends them all.  The ways of High Magick and ceremonialism provide a dependable and consistent basis for the shaping of reality, and the ways in which we pursue our praxes are time-honored methods proven to produce understanding and power safely and reliably.  Why play with primitive tools, surrounded by muck and mud, when you can look to the words of Hermes Trismegistus and his earliest followers to find a way to conquer all that?  Why remain ignorant to the multi-layered meanings of the very words we all use, every day, when with a few years of study those doors can be opened for you?  Why settle for a fraction of the understanding, a portion of the comprehension?  We reach across the worlds, we hear the magick inherent in the many languages, we read the movements of the planetes and the stars, we know the meaning behind the symbols used blindly and ignorantly by other mysticks.  And we make you an offer: join our society, and if you are worthy, we will teach you these, the greatest of secrets."
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        Summary: Ceremonialists are those who believe that their magicks come from the precise and complex rituals they enact, and that these powers are highly dependant on arcane forms and conditions, such as planetary positions, solstices and equinoxes, or even time of day.  Where others are limited to only -3 to difficulties by using Difficulty Modifiers (pg. 171 of M:tA 2nd Ed.), I allow the Ceremonialists as much as -5 to difficulties.

Go to THE CEREMONIALISTS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

THE TECHNOMANCERS
       Summary: My ideas on the Technocratic Union... taking away the labels and "Mage Clubs", leaving Willworkers with believable and detailed beliefs and philosophies.  Explains the ways in which technomancy can work.

Go to THE TECHNOMANCERS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

THE PRIMALS
   Summary: The Primals are mages who believe that their magicks come from deep within themselves -- raw inner power channeled by will and sparked by passion.

Go to THE PRIMALS
  This Page UNDER CONSTRUCTION
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

THE HOLY ONES
   Summary: Holy Ones are mages who believe that their magicks come from a deity or deities, or perhaps spirits, and that their powers are only channeled through them, the human vessels.

Go to THE HOLY ONES

TABLE OF CONTENTS:



THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS
   Summary: Transcendentalists (or "Easterners")are mages who believe that their powers come from aligning or submitting themselves to greater, natural cosmic powers and forces, such as the Tao (the Way) or Kharma and Dharma.

Go to THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS
  This Page UNDER CONSTRUCTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS:


 
 
 


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