In-character, only a Mage's Paradigm can explain what each of these things are, what they mean, and why it's the way it is. In order to understand the metaphysics of the Mage setting, it is important to remember that many of the terms used to describe magic and Magi e.g., Avatar, Quintessence, the Umbra, and Paradox, Resonance, as well as the game mechanics a player uses to describe the areas of magic in which his character is proficient-the Spheres, look, mean, and are understood very differently depending on the paradigm of the Mage in question, even though they are often, in the texts of the game, described from particular paradigmatic points-of-view. Quintessence can have distinctive characteristics, called resonance, which are broken down into three categories: dynamic, static, and entropic. At the most basic level, the Tapestry is composed of Quintessence, the essence of magic and what is real. The Tapestry is naturally divided into various sections, including the physical realm and various levels of the spirit world, or Umbra. In Mage, there is an underlying framework to reality called the Tapestry. In more extreme cases paradox can cause Quiet (madness that may leak into reality), Paradox Spirits (nebulous, often powerful beings which purposefully set about resolving the contradiction, usually by directly punishing the mage), or even the removal of the Mage to a paradox realm, a pocket dimension from which it may be difficult to escape. The most common consequences of paradox include physical damage directly to the Mage's body, and paradox flaws, magic-like effects which can for example turn the mage's hair green, make him mute, make him incapable of leaving a certain location, and so on. Paradox is difficult to predict and almost always bad for the mage. When it is performed ineptly, or is vulgar, and especially if it is vulgar and witnessed by sleepers, magic can cause Paradox, a phenomenon in which reality tries to resolve contradictions between the consensus and the Mage's efforts. Magic that deviates wildly from consensus is called vulgar magic. When a mage performs an act of magic that does not seriously violate this commonsense version of reality, in game terms this is called coincidental magic. Most Magi' paradigms differ substantially from the consensus. In the Mage setting, everyday reality is governed by commonsense rules derived from the collective beliefs of sleepers. For example, an alchemical paradigm might describe the act of wood burning as the wood "releasing its essence of elemental Fire," while modern science would describe fire as "combustion resulting from a complex chemical reaction." Paradigms tend to be idiosyncratic to the individual Mage, but the vast majority belong to broad categories of paradigm, e.g., Shamanism, Medieval Sorcery, religious miracle working, and superscience.
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It also provides the Mage with an understanding of how to change reality, through specific magical techniques. A paradigm organizes a Mage's understanding of reality, how the universe works, and what things mean. The beliefs and techniques of Magi vary enormously, and the ability to alter reality can only exist in the context of a coherent system of belief and technique, called a paradigm. Because they're awakened, Magi can consciously affect changes to reality via willpower, beliefs, and specific magical techniques. This capacity, personified as a mysterious alter-ego called the Avatar, is dormant in most people, who are known as sleepers, whereas Magi (and/or their Avatars) are said to be Awakened.
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The basic premise of Mage: The Ascension is that everyone has the capacity, at some level, to shape reality.
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In 2005, White Wolf released a new game marketed under the same name (Mage) for the new World of Darkness series, Mage: The Awakening, with some of the same game mechanics but with substantially different premises and setting. The idea of magic in Mage is broadly inclusive of diverse ideas about mystical practices as well as other belief systems, such as science and religion, so that most mages do not resemble typical fantasy wizards. The characters portrayed in the game are referred to as mages, and are capable of feats of magic. Mage: The Ascension is a role-playing game based in the World of Darkness, and was published by White Wolf Game Studio. Stewart Wieck, Christopher Earley, Stephan Wieck, Bill Bridges, Sam Chupp, Andrew Greenberg Mage: The Ascension (Revised Edition) cover