Left Hand Paths in the Ascension to Awakening ( A to A pt 2)
There are always those to whom power is a drug. Power becomes its own end, or at least so desirable for other ends that the cost is discounted. Then there are those who simply don't understand the dangers of what they do, and those for whom magic breaks their mind, and leads them far from the path of reason. Whether selfish, foolish, power-hungry, or deluded, these are the Left Hand Paths.
Banishers: There are mages who cannot deal with what they are, once their eyes are opened to the many truths of existence. They miss their solid, comforting, singular world view. They think that Awakening is a curse, that mages are a blight. Some go so far as to use their own magic to hunt other mages, to try to 'save' them, or their 'victims'. Some even work for worldly organizations that hunt the supernatural, either rationalizing that they must use their 'evil' power for some good, or deluding themselves into thinking the source of their power is entirely different, that they serve 'God' or some such being, by hunting 'witches'.
Liches: Who wants to live forever? These mages do, and while they find many ways to do so, almost all of them leave the path of Wisdom, and stray far from any semblance of morality. To live forever takes a singular selfishness and disregard for others, and a disregard for the costs. Some become spirits, some become ghosts, some become thoughts, memories, disembodied minds. Some steal souls to fuel their eternities, worse even than vampires. After all, they just drink your blood.
Marauders, the Mad: One bad day. One truth too far. A traumatic Awakening. A person broken by trauma even before they awaken. A person intentionally broken in the process of Awakening by another of the Mad. A person so obsessed with what they can do that they ignore entirely, not only what should be done, but all concepts of restraint. All these and more are sources of the Mad, also called Marauders, mages who twist reality to their will in seeming total defiance of Paradox, with no reliance on Wisdom. For an extreme example, consider what the Joker might be like as a mage...
Nephandi: The quintessential Left hand path, it's not so much a single path as a category, mages who have accepted an Enlightened view of existence that might be better described as a Darkening. Nihilists, sadists, hate-mongers, they actively push the world toward whatever version of Armageddon suits their personality. Some worship Elder Entities of the Outer Dark, or demons, or devils, or Maeljin Incarna...or manipulate them for their on purposes. The result is the same, cults of unspeakable evil ruled over by mages who wield magics and perform acts so repulsive that the Mad recoil...and they are, for the most part, horribly sane.
Reapers: Takers of souls. Not all become liches, but all who step into the realms of soul theft have left the path of Wisdom. Just because 'nothing is forbidden' doesn't mean everything should be done. But there is much power here, and those who desire power above all else will gladly break this basic taboo. They could be in any of the other categories as well, but just as often they are not, their only 'evil' being the soul stealing magic itself.
Scelesti: A very specific sort of Nephandi, edging very close to the Mad, these mages have chosen to channel the forces of Paradox itself. Many of them conform, interestingly, to the singular paradigm of the Diamond Orders, and channel the dark forces of what they call the Abyss, the gap that has opened between the material, or 'Fallen' world, and the Supernal Realms. However they do it, they wield Paradox like a weapon, against reality, against other mages. It is a slippery slope indeed, and full of hidden traps that are likely to see one devolve fully into Madness. For them, the Abyss is sometimes a patron, sometimes an elder entity itself, sometimes just the inevitable end of all things.
Is there one great evil behind them all, pulling the strings? Of course there is. Of course there isn't.
Everything is true. Nothing is forbidden.
What do you believe?
Coming soon, breakdowns of Arcana/Spheres and availability to various character types.
