ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

A month or two ago I posted a general article on various possibilities for the demographics of mages. With some further thought, I've arrived at the following more exact figures for my version of the World of Darkness. I'm sure most of you would dispute the numbers I've come up with, and that's alright; everyone's game is different. I hope, though, that this article will give you some ideas of the things one needs to consider when crunching the numbers for Mage.

Total Demographics

Each of the nine Traditions has somewhere between 700 and 900 mages. This makes about 7,200 Tradition mages total, or roughly 1 Tradition mage per 750,000 people. The Technocracy has about half as many mages as the Traditions (3,600) and the Nephandi a quarter as many (1,800). The Marauders are hard to enumerate, but should be about an eighth as many as the Traditions (900). There are a quarter as many Orphans as the Traditions (1,800), including the Crafts, Hollow Ones and the elusive Ahl-i-Batin. There is about 1 mage per 350,000 people.

The Traditions

Talent: Apprentices make up roughly 10% of Tradition mages, Disciples 50%, Adepts 30% and Masters 10%. The Apprentices will likely be under the tutelage of an Adept or Master, while maybe 25% to 50% of Disciples are still mentored by a mage of greater power. Most Masters and many Adepts have some sort of student or mentored Disciple. A few Masters and Adepts will specialize in teaching and mentoring, but rarely with more than a handful of lesser mages under their charge. Disciples will rarely take on students, unless they are the only mage of a particular Tradition that is available.

Chantries: About a quarter of Tradition mages are independent, not connected to any Chantry. A "typical" Chantry has between 3 and 5 Cabals, with between 3 and 5 mages per Cabal, or about 15 total members. There are about 360 Chantries world-wide. Roughly a third of Chantries are unified or one Tradition Chantries. Another third are mixed, shared by two or three Traditions. The remaining Chantries are open Chantries, with members of four or more Traditions. Each Tradition has about a dozen unified Chantries and another two dozen mixed Chantries (each shared with one or two other Traditions). Each Tradition has members in about 30% to 50% of all open Chantries.

There is about one Chantry per 15,000,000 people. Most Chantries will pick one geographic region as their particular "turf", usually near their most powerful Node. Bear in mind that most Chantries have interests (and even Nodes) in more than one region. Each area of 15 million people will have one Chantry "in residence", but will likely have two or three other Chantries whose physical location is elsewhere, but with an interest in the area. The outside Chantries may or may not be on good terms with the locals.

Most Chantries control one Node per Cabal, with an average strength of 2 or so per Node. Only Chantries with 10 or more total points worth of Nodes will have a Horizon Realm. This is maybe 40% of all Chantries. Most of those Horizon Realms will be fairly small: Doissetep class Horizon Realms should be comparatively rare (maybe 1 per 10 Chantries).

Subgroups: Each Tradition has about a half dozen subgroups with between 20 and 100 members. These make up about 50% of a Tradition's membership. The remaining 50% are more generic either fitting the mainstream stereotype of the Tradition, or belonging to subgroups too small to properly hold a title. Note that some subgroups overlap between more than one Tradition. The Gnostics are an overlap between the Celestial Chorus and the Cult of Ecstacy, while there is a Voodoo subgroup that is an overlap between the Verbena and the Euthanatos.

What is known: The masters of each Tradition know most of their peers. They are familiar with all the subgroups and know of the existence of nearly all the unified and mixed Chantries associated with the Tradition. They are likely to be familiar with the more important members of most other Traditions, the major Chantries and subgroups. The Adept will know most of their Tradition's member, the subgroups, the most important masters and most of the unified Chantries. They will have spottier knowledge of other Traditions, a random percentage of masters, Chantries and subgroups. Disciple will know even less: masters important in their area, Chantries with immediate influence in their region, other Traditions and subgroups that they have crossed paths with. An apprentice will likely know only her master and a few other mages, her own Chantry and subgroup, and perhaps the ancestral Chantry of her Tradition as well.

Demographics by Region

In order for the demographics of the Traditions to work along the lines presented in the books, I had to skew the population figures heavily toward the Western world. I apologize for the Eurocentric presentation, but without creating another two or three oriental Traditions, this is the only way I could get it to work. Even with the figures as skewed as they are, India and the Far East loom large on the Mage scene.

Europe (600 million people, 80 Chantries): Europe is the primary home of three large Traditions: the Order of Hermes, the Celestial Chorus and the Verbena. It is also the birth place of Technocratic magick, so the Sons of Ether and the Virtual Adepts have important strongholds here. The Akashics, Dreamspeakers and Euthanatos are comparatively rare.

The Former Soviet Union (300 million people, 15 Chantries): The Former Soviet Union has a fairly even mix of Traditions, being on the cross roads of several worlds. Since the fall of the Communists, numerous Chantries have come under attack and many have fallen. The exact cause of this is unknown, though it is widely believed the Technocracy is stepping up the Pogrom in the region. Travel to and from the spirit world in the former Soviet Union is becoming more and more difficult.

The Middle East and North Africa (270 million people, 10 Chantries): There are comparatively few Chantries in this area, a random smattering of holdings. It is widely believed that the elusive Ahl-i-Batin have perhaps a dozen or so hidden Chantries in the region (and a few more scattered around the world), and they jealously protect their land.

Subsaharan Africa (450 million people, 25 Chantries): The Dreamspeakers are strongest here, with the Verbena a distant second. Other Traditions have a handful of Chantries spread through the continent, largely in former European colonies.

India and Vicinity (1080 million people, 50 Chantries): The Euthanatos are the ascendant Tradition in India, though there are a good number of Akashics, Choristers and Cult of Ecstasy mages as well.

Japan and Korea (210 million people, 10 Chantries): Akashics are prevalent here, though there are a good number of Dreamspeakers and Virtual Adepts in the region also.

China and Vicinity (1200 million people, 60 Chantries): The Akashics call China their home, but there are good percentages of Euthanatos, Dreamspeakers and oriental Hermetics as well. Strangely enough, many Sons of Ether find the area to their liking (remember the fiendish inventions of Dr. Fu Manchu).

Southeast Asia, Australia and Polynesia (450 million people, 25 Chantries): This area has become another crossroads through the centuries, as the trading ships of various empires have crossed this region. The area has a reasonably good mix of Traditions. The Cult of Ecstasy finds the port cities of Southeast Asia particularly to their liking.

South America (300 million people, 20 Chantries): Dreamspeakers are common in the jungles of South America, but Celestial Chorus mages and Verbena witches are frequent as well.

Mexico, Central America and the West Indies (150 million, 10 Chantries): The region is much like South America, but with fewer Dreamspeakers and a greater mix of other Traditions.

U.S. and Canada (300 million people, 50 Chantries): North America has a fairly even mix of Traditions, being the melting pot of culture it is.

The Technocracy

The Technocracy has about 600 to 800 mages per Convention. Their level of talent has about the same range as the Traditions (10% Apprentice, 50% Disciple, 30% Adept and 10% Master). Technocracy Constructs tend to be smaller than Tradition Chantries, with 2 to 4 Amalgams and 10 or so mages. Constructs are concentrated in the Western world. In places like the United States and Europe, there are as many Constructs as Tradition Chantries, while in places like Africa and Southeast Asia, there are one fourth as many Constructs as Tradition Chantries.

Note that despite the fact that the Technocracy is outnumbered by the Traditions, they have two major advantages that help them keep the edge in the Ascension War. Technomancers work together far better than the mages within each Tradition, not even considering the disputes between differing Traditions. Their main advantage is they have great numbers of enhanced minions to protect them and attack their enemies. The Technocracy has a huge amount of resources to bring to bear on any particular problem, and are experts at marshalling their forces.

The Nephandi

The Nephandi tend to be, on average, more talented than Tradition mages. This is because their dark masters give them "special help". They have roughly 10% Apprentices, 40% Disciples, 35% Adepts and 15% Masters. Their road to power is a quick one, but ultimately doomed. Many Nephandi (50%) reside entirely in the Umbra, making their numbers seem smaller than they actually are. Of those on Earth, about 50% are independent, not tied to any particular Labyrinth. Thus, Nephandi Labyrinths on Earth are small (about 10 mages) and rare (maybe 50 or so on the entire planet). Labyrinths tend to be secluded as well.

The Nephandi do not have traditions per se, but are marked by the demons they serve. About 40% of Nephandi worship infernal forces, while 30% are followers of the Wyrm. A mere 10% serve the creatures of the void, alien beings of the Deep Umbra, but such Nephandi tend to have unusual power. Roughly 20% of Nephandi are "freelance", either serving minor malevolent forces or doing evil of their own accord, without any master.

The Marauders

Marauders have the highest power curve of all mages. They have very few (5%) apprentices (it's sink or swim amongst the Marauders), maybe 35% Disciples, 40% Adepts and 20% Masters. The high level of power amongst the Marauders is to a large degree because many of them were talented mages of the Traditions, Technocracy or Nephandi before they went mad. Most (75%+) Marauders live in the Umbra; they rarely appear on Earth. The few that do tend to be weaker than normal (so they do not attract as much attention or Paradox) and loners.

Marauders can be grouped by their origin. About 40% of Marauders were formerly Tradition mages, 20% Technomancers and 10% Nephandi. The remaining 30% were Orphans, either going mad, or (in about 15% of cases) Awakening immediately as a Marauder. Note that this means roughly 4% or 5% of mages succumb to madness at some point in their career, and become Marauders. The chances increase as a mage grows more powerful.

Orphans

Orphan mages have the shallowest power curve. A third of all Orphans are loners, not associated with any other mages. Such Ophans are about 20% "apprentices", 60% Disciples, 15% Adepts and 5% Masters. Note that Orphan "apprentices" are not usually being tutored by another mage; rather they are in the first stages of their own personal development.

The other two thirds of Orphans are divided up into a dozen or so Crafts, each with between 40 and 120 members. The Hollow Ones are a particularly large Craft with perhaps a couple hundred members. The Ahl-i-Batin, once a Tradition in their own right, can now be properly described as a large Craft (again with a couple hundred members). The power curve of the Crafts is a bit better than that of solo Orphans, closer to Traditions. Crafts will have a few Chantries of their own and a few will associate with Tradition Chantries as well.

Hedge Mages

No description of mage demographics would be complete without first considering hedge mages. Hedge mages are much more common than true mages. Hedge mages of respectable power (such as those described in Ascension's Right Hand) number perhaps 1 per 100,000 people. In more primitive societies, hedge mages are more common, as frequent as 1 per 10,000 people. Most hedge mages (66%) are independent loners or gather in small groups. These hedge mages have little awareness of the rest of the supernatural world.

There are a number of hedge traditions as well, but most of them are quite small, with between 20 and 100 current members. There are several hundred such traditions, and not a few of them are completely ignorant of each other and the rest of the supernatural world. Most such hedge traditions, however, are at least aware of a handful other related or opposed hedge traditions, with whom they interact. Hedge traditions tend to be fairly limited geographically, with most of their members living in one particular part of the world.

Perhaps 5% of all hedge traditions are directly associated with one or more of the true mage Traditions, working as Custos and having a greater awareness of the Ascension War. Most Traditions have one or two such associated hedge traditions. A good percentage of hedge mage Custos come from such associated traditions. There are hedge traditions associated with the Nephandi as well, though the Nephandi are also fond of finding and corrupting individual hedge mages.