Awakening
Reality is a lie. It’s a false construct made up of deception, human folly, and hubris. Once, the world wasn’t like this, but now? Now it might be doomed to remain forever in ignorance. The Abyss lurks outside, a place devoid of Wisdom or magic, swallowing chunks of existence one bite at a time and spawning entities that find their way back into the Fallen World… either on their own or summoned by some foolish would-be occultist. Its maw is all-consuming, an inevitable coming darkness.
And yet, on the other side of it, are the Supernal Realms and the five watchtowers if legend is true. From there, constructed by the ancient Oracles, they ring with truth like tuning forks. Their vibrations cross the Abyss, the unseen realms, and penetrate into the world we know. Most people can’t sense these vibrations, these emanations, and deny their existence subconsciously as impossible. Yet a select few, a very rare minority of the populace, feels those invisible waves buffeting them to their very soul. A soul and watchtower enter harmony, synchronizing, they find sympathy along the same wave length and that soul is transported across the gulf. There, the humans name is signed alongside all those who came before him, and in that moment the human ceases to be asleep.
And they Awaken.
Returned back to their bodies in the Fallen World, the sympathy to that watchtower remains. Through it, like a conduit, the Awakened soul can draw more of that energy forth to work their will. Theirs is humanities lost potential, its pinnacle, and some would say its birthright; magic. Yet the Abyss still lurks between them and the Supernal Realms, waiting to taint their works if they dare reach too far, and the road they trod upon Awakening is severed. The new mage is threatened on all sides by a reality that will reject what he is if it can and extinguish the spark of potential like a snuffed out candle wick.
Awake in Paradise City
A neophyte mage is left with only his awareness that the world is not as he thought it was and the ability, the understanding, to make his will manifest within the limits of his knowledge and imagination. Poverty, hunger, disease… he need never suffer these things again when he can predict the future, cloud a grocers mind and walk out with his arms full, or simply scrape the unwanted bacteria or viruses out of his system with a thought. Like being born, Awakening is a fundamental change to the core of one’s soul, and is not experienced lightly. What would most people do if quite literally anything was possible for them?
Probably get rich, move up in the world, and have their choice of the best partners. Sure, a little bit of time might be spared for charity but most people in Paradise City couldn’t care less. It doesn’t matter what benevolence you can do for the people below you but how high you can stack the bodies to keep climbing before that inevitable fall. A mage is forced to reconcile this choice in their mind and very soul. Exist for their own gratification and let the Sleeping remain asleep… or strive for something more now that they see how hollow this world really is.
Long ago, supposedly based off ancient codex’s, texts, and manuscripts locked up in places like Constantinople and even, as some profess, Atlantis, came the Orders. Groups of magi more akin to a college of ideas and beliefs than a governmental body and to which mages of various stripes either gravitate towards or avoid like the plague. Five consist of the Pentacle; the Adamantine Arrow, the Free Council, the Guardians of the Veil, the Mysterium, and the Silver Ladder. Though often fractious, these Orders are united by a generally accepted common history and a common pursuit towards enlightenment in whatever manner they feel grants it… and bitter rivalries over differences of opinion exist in the pasts of all five. Without doubt, the Free Council holds much sway in Paradise City, but they’re not alone and their rule is not unchallenged by more conservative elements.
Not all Orders are so relatively benign as a crumbling antique power structure or neo-modern movement that ultimately still moves at the speed of Sleeper advancement on the shoulders of those visionaries who created the city. The Seers of the Throne, servants of realities jailors, the Exarchs, contend with the Pentacle for influence and souls within the grand construct of Paradi City. While all Orders espouse the need for secrecy lest magic be tainted, the Seers espouse the need for ignorance. Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven, and rule they seek to do, by crushing their enemies under foot that they can’t convert. And the temptation is strong… while not the largest Order, the Seers are indeed entrenched deeply into the mortal world and dislodging them is not easy. They can provide the best magical training that money can buy and make a mages life very comfortable. They’re the great, mystical American dream. Who wouldn’t be tempted? No one knows firsthand of any who have ascended anyways and most stories sound like bad internet rumors from those who even whisper of them… why not be more comfortable in this life? The Seers goals, in the end, are perhaps the most human of all the Orders. The desire for their benefit over the sake of others.
Not all Awakened see their experience as a blessing either; Banishers stalk the labyrinth of Paradi City as well; wizards who believe their gift is a curse, that magic is evil, and who work with the tools of such evil to oppress and destroy it. There is no one known ‘Order’ of Banishers yet they spring up here and there, tend to find one another, and congregate into anti-Awakened cells. A human with a gun can still kill a mage if he catches her unawares… a cabal of Banishers can slay a mage and her magic may be powerless to help her. When discovered, Banishers are destroyed without question as they often are irredeemable… and few try. Thus, too, is human nature made manifest through even the Enlightened wills of the Awakened. It’s easier to destroy than create, easier to end a threat than risk salvaging it.
Then there are those whose Awakenings should never have happened, those sleepers who part the veil and come out wrong for the experience. Perhaps they lingered too long near the Abyss on their soul journey to the Watchtower, maybe they were wrong in the head before then, but the Awakening drives some people mad. An insane wizard with an unpredictable mind, enacting his will on reality, should be a terrifying prospect to any normal willworker.
Geography
Willworkers are at once territorial and open. Individual cabals often claim a certain amount of space as their territory, maintaining the resonance of the area to their ends as well as using it as a buffer area to safeguard their sanctum. Trespassing on a cabals established grounds can provoke varying responses, depending on the nature and severity of the transgression. That being said, willworkers are also human, and if your job takes you across another cabal’s territory on the train then it’s something they’ll likely just cope with. It might be respectful to clear it as a formality but many wouldn’t consider it necessary.
One notable feature of Paradise City is it’s ley lines; they enter the city in several places, funneling mystical power along its streets and corridors. They flow and burn brightly, converging and crossing, leading to Paradise City possessing an abundance of hallows. Willworkers have noticed how in some parts of the city the streets and buildings seem to have been tailored to such things and to better funnel them, with energy drifting upwards and pooling into several impressive hallows in High Paradi, atop the monolithic metropolis. Research into this phenomenon has revealed that some of the ley lines energy is being used by powers unknown… and that with the lines converging, that power is vast indeed.
Neither Time nor Fate have been able to divine exactly who, what, or which organizations are making use of this power or even who designed the layout which funnels those lines as the city final draft blueprints are reportedly unsigned… and the one cabal that ever succeeded in obtaining them was found dead in their sanctum within twenty four hours, with no signs of a visible struggle, or attack. Some were eating dinner, some reading, two were in bed together… and they were simply found dead in the midst of whatever they’d been doing, the blueprints gone, and no sign of magic at all as if something had snuffed out the spark of it forever. Divination revealed nothing as if that time in history and existence had been blotted out, undecipherable. Paradise City, it seems, reserves its deepest secrets for itself alone. Unless there were a way, a chance, some new way could be found to explain it…
High Paradi: Like humans, willworkers must possess abundant resources, connections, and status to maintain a living this high. It bears fewer difficulties than elsewhere for them and the number of powerful hallows for the taking, if you have the money, are astonishing. Many are claimed already, of course, but directing ley line flows to create another seems almost too easy. The one major peril of life at this level is the presence of the Seers of the Throne, who unofficially consider High Paradi to be theirs. Conflict between willworkers at this level often manifests as shadow games within shadow games, neither side resorting to actual physical confrontation until ready to finish off their opponent. Even so, style trumps efficiency. After all, there’s no point in doing something well if no one is there to see it.
Upper Paradi: Like High, this district also sees many hallows, and the heavy commercial traffic makes this the bustling district for willworkers. A mage entering, leaving, or visiting the city is likely to come to Upper Paradi and thus, despite its wealth, Upper Paradi possess an element of randomness that isn’t present at the other layers. Maintaining a dwelling here takes considerable resources, as above, but the vast amount of human traffic permits more secrecy by sheer concealment of numbers. Many Seer servants and fledglings are active at this level, making it perilous for the Atlantean Orders to act too openly. The Seers do not have a numerical superiority but they are easily as powerful as two or three of the Atlantean Orders combined in terms of placement, resources, and allies. Money opens doors wherever you go and the Exarchs servants are well-rewarded… and have learned how to wield those resources more sharply than any blade.
Middle Paradi: As with most sleepers, Middle Paradi sees the majority of the Awakened populace here as well. Residential, commercial, and industrial, it offers a variety of urban climates and a degree of sanctum customization that the above layers lack. It’s also more dangerous though most willworkers have little to fear from the average sleeper. The proliferation of technology has done little to make the people’s lives easier here and more altruistic willworkers try to change that… while more selfish ones are content to use their gifts to elevate themselves. Hallows are plentiful but not as potent as the ones above, competition for them is less vicious as a side-benefit as well.
Lower Paradi: While magic can make this layer easier to inhabit it’s still by no means most willworkers desired locale. A stray bullet can kill an unsuspecting mage as easily as any other human and the relative break down of social norms at this level makes things dicey at times. There’s another threat as well though most willworkers don’t like to admit it… Lower Paradi is known as the hunting ground for at least one cabal of Tremere Liches. There are advantages to living this deep, a sanctum can be made extremely private and secure, though the strength of the hallows down here aren’t as potent either. Ultimately, living down here as a mage is still as low class as living down here as a sleeper, and such individuals often face discrimination. The Consilium’s reach doesn’t extend far to this level and many cabals and sanctums this deep are un-registered.
Under Paradi: No known Consilium cabals make their sanctum in Under Paradi yet the place is not devoid of willworkers. Forays descend into its depths seeking lost relics and ruins, while rumors of Scelesti and other less savory beings spread amongst magi in the higher levels. Magi have observed areas of Under Paradi where the darkness seemed almost alive unto itself, refusing to obey Death-users compelling it, and indeed diminishing light as if hungry to consume it. Even Forces spells to enhance a willworkers vision have been known to provide lesser benefit… if not fail outright. Mysterium scholars have noticed that there seems to be a reverse-resonance of sorts; while the physical structure of Paradi City seems to draw ley lines and their power upwards, it also seems to pull other resonances downwards. Where they pool, no willworker of the Consilium knows or is willing to admit. The deeper one goes in Under Paradi, the more one can’t help but feel they’re being sucked down a vortex. Some believe if you traverse to the bottom that a willworker would confront the Abyss itself in physical form. Most mages scoff at such uninformed superstition.