adepts

    The Virtual Adepts are a strange Traditions indeed. Many do not consider them full members of the Traditions, mostly because they were members of the Technocracy not so long ago. Many hold a low opinion of them, even though the Adepts have saved many mages with their special knowledge of technomagick and the Technocracy. The Adepts see themselves as Saviors at the Gates of Oblivion. Other Tradition mages have less pleasant names for their kind.
     The rlationship the Adepts have with the Technocracy is a two way street -- the Adepts loathe the Technocracy, while the Technocracy would like nothing more than to see them exterminated. Many Tradition mages, not wanting to become cannon fodder, will not associate with the Adepts unless forced. Many agents of the Technocracy tend to become more ruthless than usual when faced with Virtual Adepts and will stop at nothing to destroy them. This kind of behavior rightly frightens other mages. Some Technocracy leaders, however, take a more pragmatic approach, rightly sensing the kinship beneath the hate. Those Technomancers who manage to convert Virtual Adepts back to the fold win valiable allies.
     The roots of this relationship go back to the breakup between the Conventions and the Virtual Adepts. The Adepts hurt the Technocracy very badly by taking copies of many Technocracy files to the Traditions. The Technocracy responded by rounding up as many Adepts as possible and torturing them. There are some who say that even today, Adepts from this era are being tortured in horrifying experiments about the pain threshold of the human body. Given the state of Technocracy advances in this area, it is not enirely impossible.
     Bring most distrusted Tradition hasn't stopped the Virtual Adepts. They regularly join bands of adventurous mages in storming Technocracy strongholds. While many eschew personal contract, they realize the necessity of getting into the midst of things and dirtying their hands a bit. Many of the other Traditions rightly believe that the Adepts have some kind of personal vendetta with the Technocracy. The knowledge that the Adepts have of the Technocracy makes them formidable allies in any raid against Technocracy holdings.
     As masters of all things digital and electrical, Virtual Adepts live by the adage that Information is Reality. Many also believe that information is a living, sentient force that wishes to be freed from its "top secret" classifications and encrypted files. Dealing in information is a heavy part of Virtual Adept society, althought they hold certain types of knowledge in higher esteem than an Order of Hermes mage would.
     Virual Adepts are also masters of deception and trickery. Using certain abilities they have honed since before leaving the Technocracy, the Adepts use deception in normal combat as well as in attempts to garner passwords for remote computer systems.
     The Adepts have mastery over the Sphere of Correspondence. As such, they often avoid locations where combat is taking place. In a pinch, they will appear to aid their falling comrades. Adepts think very well under pressure and have an uncanny knoack for "hacking" out of a solution to a nearly impossible situation, even if others around them are lying on the floor crying for help.
     The Adepts prefer to meet others of their kind in a virtual reality, a consensual hallucination where physical abilities and appearances do not matter. They have even breached a foothold into what some say is an entire Realm made up of nothing but information. This place is called the Net. The Net is entirely too big to be explored in one lifetime, but teams of Adepts are busy mapping it and cataloguing its strange inhabitants in preparation of AScension, when they will rescue the huddled masses of Sleepers from the rotting ball of Earth. They want to Awaken them in a gleaming virtual reality that will never grow old and never die.

Primary Sphere: Correspondence