Concordia has fallen. The Ascension War has been lost. For a time, the Avatar Storm made contact with Masters beyond the gauntlet all but impossible. Ancient � things have awakened to the North and fallen to rest again. The World has changed, magic has changed with it. Once, the Technocracy was a monolithic empire, a united front that destroyed the safe houses, the homes, and the lives of the members of the Traditions. Things have changed. Now the Technocracy struggles as the Traditions struggle. The Avatar Storm cut their Front Lines off from Control, leaving young Agents in charge of their own decisions� like it has left Initiates and Disciples in charge of the future of the Traditions.
Times have changed, boys and girls. It�s OUR world now. It�s OUR future now. Old men with ancient agendas and even older powers don�t force their doctrines down our throats anymore. Every Mage is in control of his own Ascension, and has the right to seek it in any way they please. Oh, but it�s not all cookies and cream, folks. We still have to dodge a younger, sometimes more fanatical Technocracy, though at times you run into the occasional Agent willing to work with ya. But we�re in the same boat. Both of our organizations have been rejected by the mundanes. There will be no mass Ascension. There will be no Global Awakening. The Masses have decided that they don�t want it. So what do we do? We move among them, finding the choice few who DO want to Ascend and move them along, teaching them our ways and how to use their will to shape reality. We dodge the paradox bullet and hit-mark strikes, every night searching for the candle in the dark that will guide our paths.
Old man Senex has gone and done a pretty screwed up thing. One of the only great Masters still around, he pulled his Tradition, the Euthanatos, together for some huge ritual in one of the Shard Realms� from the grapevine, it�s said that he succeeded in �resetting the Wheel,� whatever the hell that means. But, one can�t deny that it seems we all have a clean slate these days.
But the Avatar Storm has ended, and the Masters can return, right? Wrong. The �Storm�s over, but there are no Masters coming to the tyrannical rescue. They�re gone. Plain and simple. Oh, the occasional one does appear from time to time, moving among his or her business before vanishing again. Maybe we�re just not worth the effort, folks� but for one, I�d rather make and play by my own rules than an old musty tome�s. Rumor has it, the Technocracy�s Control is in the same way. No contact. Hell, maybe Masters from both sides duked it out in an Umbral showdown and destroyed each other� but who gives a shank? We�re here. It�s our time now. Our time to decide our own destinies.
