IC Awakening Guidelines Sketch

This is a "cheat-sheet" for an IC Awakening! It doesn't hold MUSH or Staff to a "contract", it's just here to help the prospective Awaken-ee go through the OOC process. By being as complete as we can make it, hopefully that will speed things up for Staff. :)

Whooping Crane helped me write it. Thanks, W.C.

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For a sorcerer/psychic Awakening:

Numina and other Sorceror/Psychic-specific benefits (e.g. Mana background, merits) are refunded in XP. (You get as much as it would cost for you to buy that thing from 0 to its current level.) However, all such XP must immediately be spent on mage-specific stuff (e.g. Arete, spheres, Avatar, merits); any excess is lost.

Race-specific flaws may be converted to mage-specific flaws (e.g. Psi Focus -> Phylactery). If it's not a 1:1 replacement, then staff will decide how it affects XP.

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1. ACQUIRE LORE MAGE. The Awaken-ee purchases Lore Mage with their own XP, to represent IC teaching sinking in. An IC teacher is not required, but warmly recommended, as it leads to more RP! Other possible lead-ins are Occult Library or a Mage Contact. Then again, an Awakening can be utterly spontaneous (although less spontaneous Avatars tend not to do this).

A non-Mage supernatural might even help bring it about (The "catalyst" could be the pain and trauma of a horrifying attack by a crazed were-lynx, for instance).

As a generalization, an Orphan might have no Lore Mage at all, while the Traditions try very hard to be responsible and impart Lore Mage 3.

2. SUBMIT THE +REQUEST. The Awaken-ee submits a +request to be Awakened. Only Mortals can be Awakened. Bloodbonded characters are eligible but not those who are currently Ghouls.

Tradition and Faction. The Awaken-ee chooses their Tradition and Faction OOC. An Awaken-ee need not be the same Faction or Tradition as their IC mentor, but if they differ, it's appropriate and polite to inform them of this before they opt-in to RPing the IC mentorship. :)

If the Awaken-ee decides mid-training that they're heading in a different direction, it's also appropriate and polite to inform their mentor before proceeding further.

Depending on circumstances and the Tradition, it could be a very strict and elaborate apprenticeship, perhaps with humble service as a Consor. At the other extreme, it might be very hectic and school-of-the-streets.

Obsolete Stats You should include requests to remove stats that don't make sense any more, such as Mana. At staff's discretion, the points may be fully or partially refunded.

Numina abilities are lost in an Awakening. Depending on the Mage, it might be appropriate to take a cognate Sphere, for instance, 'Mind' if the Numina was 'telepathy', but this isn't required.

Paradigm. The player writes up a Paradigm (as a +note). It always includes how your character believes Magick works. If you're drawing a blank, read Guide to the Traditions, which has a whole section on building Paradigms, or look up your Tradition online. A Paradigm is also how (physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually) the character accomplishes a Magickal effect. Poses when doing Magick will spring from your Paradigm. (It can't just be 'I cast Mind and now I have a thought shield'.) Mages of the same Tradition have similar Paradigms. This enables them to share Rotes (well-studied "classic" Magickal effects) and to pool their talent and power to work on an effect together.

Foci. The player describes their foci for each Sphere (+notes). This is worth a bit of thought, as it's permanent. Foci must at least be about palm-sized. They can be fragile (a corsage orchid) or durable (a fat jack-knife), unusual (a statue of a monkey) or commonplace (a shoe). Foci are thematically harmonious with Tradition and Paradigm. A Verbena might require a branch of a particular tree while a Hermetic might use a symbol-laden wand. At the same time, Foci are also individualized; they reflect the predilections of the character and their avatar.

Arete. Arete 1 is added free. Higher Arete can be purchased at this time according to the usual XP schedule (Arete 2 for 8 XP, Arete 3 for 16 XP, etc.)

Avatar. Avatar 1 is added free. There's a ONE-TIME opportunity to buy a higher Avatar via the +request at the normal Mage Freebie fee for Backgrounds (1 XP per dot).

Spheres.6 dots are distributed to Spheres (maximum of their Arete) for free.

Essence.The player chooses their Essence: Dynamic, Primordial, Questing

Resonance.The player chooses their Resonance: Dynamic, Entropic, or Static. (It can be more specific.)

Optional: Mage-related Flaws and Merits. There are a few Mage-specific Flaws that could appear at this point. Primal Marks or Strangeness, for instance. The event could cause other side effects. For extra drama, consider taking a new Phobia, a reduction in a stat (Appearance? Dexterity?), a physical disability (Celestial Chorister deafened by angelic trumpet?). There can even be personality changes (Code of Honor because the Avatar is Knight of the Round Table? Addiction to Alcohol because the Awaken-ee is having trouble coping?).

Optional: Mage-related Backgrounds.

Some new things will be acceptable if it's plausible enough they were there all along. If a Flaw/Merit conflicts with the character's established IC history, however, the character is ineligible. For example, a pre-Awakened Mortal with Fame 3 could not have had Arcane 3 all along. The MUSH allows purchase of many Mage-specific things *after* character generation to represent acquiring them through related RP. There's no particular need, for instance, to pick up "Node".

4. AVATAR INSPIRATION!!! Before Awakening, the Awaken-ee is of course a mortal Sleeper. All Sleepers have Avatars but they are slumbering Avatars. In very rare cases, a mentor Mage may be able to wake this Avatar up. The identity of the Avatar is not granted by a mentor calling something new to fuse with the Awaken-ee, it is the activation of pre-existing entity. To add to the fun, however, the one running the Awakening PRP might write up an OOC Avatar Inspiration, describing the personality of the Avatar, give it an appearance if it manifests, give it an appropriate name, and so on.

To write this, the inspirer will need the Awaken-ee's Tradition, Faction, Essence, Avatar rating, and a handle on the Awaken-ee's background. (The Awaken-ee can accept or rewrite this; it's just part of the extra fun of experiencing an IC Awakening.)

5. AWAKENING PRP. Once the +request is done and your character sheet has officially been made into a Mage, it's great if an IC PRP Awakening scene can be run! It could be deliberate, such as an initiation. It could be incidental, such as a fateful traumatic event. In either case, it occurs immediately in the MUSH timeline, not retroactively.

When a new Changeling appears, it's canon for Changelings for miles around to converge and help them out (the 'Dream Dance', a.k.a. 'Chrysalis'). Similarly, we could do a PRP in which an Awaken-ee is discovered. Many people in the World of Darkness possess oracular ability.

For a Son of Ether, for instance, we could say that the character's arrival caused a significant fluctuation that several Mages simultaneously detected, and then triangulated its location. A fun thing about this kind of IC event is that the arrival might also have been noticed by some bad guys.

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