ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

This is just a note of explanation regarding the Continuum and Nexus pages in this section. What is presented below amounts to the author's notes and includes some of the reasoning behind the Continuum, which will hopefully show the logic behind some of the ideas.

The Continuum and Nexus basically represent a change of direction for Mage. Originally, it started out as a little homage to a rather obscure (but very Magey) early 80's British science-fiction series called Sapphire and Steel, starring Joanna Lumley and David MacCallum. The series itself is a bit heavy but the stories are excellent and the ideas are quite unique. If you can get hold of some of the videos of these they are certainly worth watching. It revolves around two agents who are dispatched by an unknown extra-dimensional organisation to deal with the invasion of very alien creatures who dwell "beyond the Corridor of Time". Indeed, one of the nasties they face bears an uncanny resemblance to a Nephandi Pure Form (found in the back of Mage).

This got me thinking as to how I could incorporate them into Mage and the result was the Continuum. Originally, this was designed to replace the Cult of Ecstasy as the Tradition that specialised in Time (I felt that the CoX had very little connection with Time) but in the final draft I decided to keep the Cult as a Tradition and put the Continuum outside the Traditions and the Technocracy. Thus they are neither a Tradition nor a Convention - they're just the Continuum. The role of the Continuum itself is to guard reality against invasion by the Darkness (the Nephandi).

The full supplement is multiple pages. The first document is a complete description of the Continuum itself and the second of its Paradigm. The rest of the pages are described largely in terms of the Continuum's Paradigm which means it is advisable to read through the Paradigm page first so the rest of the documents can be more easily understood.

After that comes a description of the Continuum's Chantry Realm, Nexus, the Shade Realm of Time. Unlike Doissetep (in the Shade Realm of Forces, described in the Book of Chantries), the connection between Nexus and the Continuum is very strong — so strong in fact that it is more like the relation between Iteration-X and Autochthonia. Nexus is definitely the home ground of the Continuum and they operate at a distinct advantage there. Because of this, outsiders may gain Paradox in Nexus. While this may seen a little controversial, it is not too hard to believe when one considers that Tradition magick suffers just as much (if not more) on Autochthonia, since it is so alien to the Technocratic paradigm.

Nexus is also the link to the Virtuals, a new kind of plane in the cosmology of the Tellurian. These are essentially alternate worlds in which history took a different route. Any and every possible world is represented somewhere in the Virtuals that Nexus can access.

This supplement contains the rules for creating and using these Virtuals. After that comes Nexus itself and also a few of the Virtuals. Then it briefly glosses over Central Office (the actual Chantry of the Continuum, located in Nexus) and the Continuum's policy regarding the Virtuals and its allies and enemies.

It is important to note that the existence of the Virtuals may tip the balance in the Ascension War, since they contain a vast amount of Quintessence. I have endeavoured to make the reasoning behind the Virtuals follow that described in Mage (ie. make it continuous and "realistic" in Mage terms). For this reason, the Continuum zealously guards the Virtuals, allowing only those individuals from the Traditions that it trusts implicitly into Nexus (ie. actively employs) and remains outside the Ascension War. Should any of the Traditions or the Technocracy break through and plunder the Virtuals, they will have a vast amount of Quintessence and resources at their fingertips - certainly enough to win the Ascension War!

An Alternative Chronicle: The Continuum vs. The Technocracy

The rules presented herein are designed to fit with the normal Mage background without changing the slant of the game. One can either have adventures on Earth or roam through the Virtuals but neither should have a significant effect on the other. The Virtuals should remain largely separate from the rest of reality, outside the Ascension War.

While these rules are designed to be used alongside the existing Mage background, it is also possible to change the whole slant of the game using them. One obvious alternative is to have the Ascension War fought almost exclusively in Nexus and the Virtuals. This would take the form of the Technocracy (who seek to control and solidify reality in the Virtuals) against the Continuum and the Traditions (who seek to prevent this and let each Virtual evolve on its own to its own destiny). In effect, the arena of the Ascension War is now infinitely larger. Not only does it take place on the Earth we know but it also rages across all the other possible Earths. However, I have not included specific details of how to manage this, as I feel that it is too great a change to the background. However, individual Storytellers may wish to do so and the rules provided here can give a necessary starting point.

Virtuals & Rotes

Two things are noticeable by their absence; full descriptions of the Virtuals and their Inhabitants and the Rotes that the Continuum use.

I have not described the Virtuals in any detail because I feel these should be up to the individual Storyteller to design. I have put in a few ideas (listed below) but basically the Virtuals should be personalised to how each Storyteller envisions the alternate Earths. Besides, there are far too many possibilities out there.

The Virtuals mentioned are:

Aegypt

An Egyptian civilization survives to the present day.

Sauron

A Dinosaur civilization flourishes, humans do not exist.

Lucifer

Life never formed on Earth.

Neverland

All higher lifeforms mysteriously disappeared from Earth two years ago.

Lemuria

The Dreamspeakers won the Ascension War (primitive societies).

Terra Prime

The Technocracy won the Ascension War (high technology).

Reich

The Nazis won the Second World War.

Armageddon

The Cuban missile crisis erupted into nuclear war.

It should be noted that if there was a general theme to the Continuum, it should be that of mystery. The Virtuals that the Continuum explores are not the inhabited ones (like Reich or Aegypt) but are rather the ones that are left myseteriously untouched by sentient life (eg. Lucifer and Neverland). I think that designing Virtuals along these lines would do the Continuum the most justice.

As for Rotes, there aren't any here primarily because I haven't gotten around to thinking about those yet. If I get round to thinking some up (that are uniquely Continuum-oriented) I'll try and get them published. Hopefully, the Continuum should be usable as it stands using existing Rotes and Talismans. Remember that they're Technocratic mages that require devices for their effects (see 'foci' in the Continuum Description).

However, one important thing to note about the Virtuals is that because of their unusual (Time-like) nature they can be entered using either Spirit 3 (stepping sideways) or using Time 3 (as a direct equivalent to Spirit). I should have mentioned this in the rules but I forgot.

Bibliography

I hope you enjoy these new rules and hope even more that you find them useful. I've left a lot of the specific details about background deliberately open-ended so that Storytellers can decide for themselves what to include in the Virtuals.

Some inspiration is always a good thing and there's plenty of it out there. Here's a brief list of things that may prove useful.

Books

Furious Gulf by Gregory Benford - an excellent hard sci-fi book in its own right, this is the third book of the Galactic Centre Tetralogy. It describes an inhabited region inside a huge black hole and an area of altered space-time inside it known as the Lanes. The idea of the TimeStone (and a few other things) were adapted from this book. It gives the right kind of feel to how Nexus should be.

GURPS Time Travel by Steve Jackson Games - the definitive book on how to handle time travel in roleplaying games, though I wouldn't advise using it as a reference for handling the Virtuals. However, there is a section set aside to alternate universes which gives lots of ideas for the Virtuals. Generally an excellent book.

TORG by West End Games - Now this is a real gem. The world books for this make excellent Virtuals. I'm sure I would love the game itself if I could only get used to those cards!

TV Series

There's loads of time travel series flying about (Quantum Leap, Time Tunnel, etc.) but only a few are going to provide much inspiration for Nexus and the Virtuals.

Sapphire And Steel - Obscure but very under-rated early 80's British science-fiction series that provides much of the inspiration for the Continuum. If you want to get the right kind of atmosphere for stories involving the Continuum (as well as some nice ideas for Nephandi), try and get hold of this. I know it's available on ITC Video in the UK but I'm not sure if it's easily available elsewhere.

Sliders - I don't know much about this brand new science-fiction series (which I believe has just started in the U.S.) but it sounds very similar to the ideas presented here. It involves a group of people who "slide" between alternate timelines. Apparently its very good but I haven't had a chance to see it yet. I'd imagine (from the description) that it'll be a good source of ideas for Virtuals.

There's probably more. Undoubtedly the odd episode of the Star Trek series (Yesterday's Enterprise, for example) springs to mind but they're a bit too futuristic to be much use.

I recommend X-Files because that's a really good series as well (but its got nothing to do with the Continuum).

Acknowledgements

Finally, but by no means leastly, I must thank those responsible for helping me to get this all published. Certainly, without the contributions of DJ (Shelby) Babb and Anders Sandberg, this monster would never have gotten off the ground. Many of the ideas in here came from these two guys and I really appreciate the patience and time that DJ and Anders put into helping me and for putting up with all my emails. And of course I am indebted to Anders for putting this on his Mage Page. It's an honour to be here! Thanks a lot, guys!

That's it for the preface. Enjoy the Continuum and Nexus. If anyone has any questions, comments, ideas, etc. then I can be contacted at: (Email removed)

Thanks for reading this and enjoy the show!
TTFN,
Constantine Thomas