ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

In Mage, libraries are all treated as equal, without any differences between Traditions. Clearly more can be done with this.

The Order of Hermes have the classic libraries: old leatherbound tomes containing arcane secrets, veiled in metaphor, code and sheer nonsense.

Celestial Chorus are somewhat similar with their religious libraries. Imagine holy books from many religions, commentaries on them, books filled with hymns and learned speculation about the nature of God.

Dreamspeakers do not use books, they use places or objects as sources of knowledge and insight. An old mask, worn by centuries of shamans contains great wisdom, if you can hear it. In a cave the mage may hear the whispers of the spirits. Old stories hold ancient wisdom, if the mage learns to listen to them in the right way.

The Akashic Brotherhood prefers to meditate on ancient texts containing riddles, profound truths or just beautiful poetry. The important thing is not really the text, but the meditation that results and hopefully leads to enlightenment.

The Virtual Adepts use pkzipped packages of data, containing .txt files, sourcecode, sample programs and images. The important thing is not to read the information, but to make the sourcecode work and experiment with it.

The Sons of Ether have shelves filled with "scientific" books. Here you will find all discredited theories of the ages, from Orgone and N-rays to books by Kerevan and "The Collected Works of Robert E. McElwaine". Probably also a lot of plans for weird machines by forgotten inventors, a few sketches by Leonardo and a lot of science-fiction (for inspiration).

The Cult of Ecstasy, Euthanatos and Verbena seem to prefer to learn from experience, not from stored information. I can imagine how a Cultist performs a series of carefully planned orgies to explore his relation to the world, a Euthanatos spends some time talking to dying (or dead) people and a Verbena runs skyclad out into the wilderness. Some Euthanatos have piles of discarded papers, letters found in garbage cans or suicide notes they study to understand death and entropy better.

What happens if someone tries to read the library but is of the wrong Tradition? I think this is hard, since the teachings of each Tradition are closely linked to their philosophy. So the student must succeed at understanding the information first. The difficulty will depend on how advanced the library is and if it is accessibly written.

Order of Hermes: Intelligence + Occult

Akashic Brotherhood: Intelligence + Meditation

Dreamspeakers: Intelligence + Culture

Virtual Adepts: Intelligence + Computer

Sons of Ether: Intelligence + Science/Technology (depends)

Celestial Chorus: Intelligence + Theology (Enigmas?)

If "libraries" of the following Traditions exist:
Verbena: Intelligence + Survival
Euthanatos: Intelligence + Intuition
Cult of Ecstacy: Intelligence + Awareness

And yes, I know I have forgotten the Hollow Ones. I just don't understand them.