ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

To understand Paradox we need to look at what situations cause Paradox points to accumulate. According to the rules, casting both static and vulgar spells will cause Paradox points to accumulate. Nothing else does, though and it should be noted that Paradox spirits appear to be a separate phenomenon from Paradox points.

Interestingly, the term paradox may be inappropriate at it more describes the side effects of accumulating Paradox points than it does the actual cause of Paradox. To find a consistent theory I started with the one case where a mage should not be able to accumulate Paradox: the Umbra. The Umbra is in many ways a realm of chaos were the mage may impose her will without penalty. I.e. all spells cast by a mage are treated as if they were static magick. This makes sense in the Umbra as there are no rules for the mage to violate so Paradox should not be invoked. Ah, but there is a case where a mage will gain Paradox in the Umbra.

This is the clue that reveals what Paradox truly is. The one case where you can gain Paradox in the Umbra is if the mage botches a spell. Nothing else causes Paradox to accumulate. If you look at what happens when a mage gains Paradox, you will find something interesting. The Paradox points go on the same track as Quintessence on the character sheet. Further Paradox can even prevent the gain of Quintessence if enough are gained.

My theory is that Paradox points are actually Quintessence points that are channeled into the mage's Avatar and cannot be utilized by the mage in a deliberate manner. Supporting this theory is what happens both during Quiet and when Paradox points are burned. If this accumulated quintessence is leaking out of the Mage in a form of uncontrolled wild magic we see what is called burning Paradox. Quiet, on the other hand, is more the raw quintessence leaking into the mage's perceptions and effecting the mage's personal reality.

Now to see how the theory holds up when known examples of Paradox gain are studied. If the mage is in the Umbra, where no rules govern other than what the mage chooses to impose, Paradox is only gained during a botch. If the mage is in a realm there are local laws or beliefs governing that reality. If the mage chooses to cast a vulgar spell he must violate the local laws to do so.

Here we can begin to get a better feel for how reality is built. The mage casts his vulgar spell but because he is violating local reality he must channel energy from somewhere. At least part of this energy comes directly out of the local reality and becomes trapped in the mage's Avatar. This is where the 1 point of automatic Paradox for vulgar (without witnesses) comes from. It is now also possible to attract the attention of Paradox spirits when this spell is being cast. A more likely explanation of the Paradox spirit is that it is either an agent of the Weaver or an aspect of the force seeking to maintain the existing order.

If the mage is standing before Sleepers and casts a vulgar spell, it is possible to gain even more Paradox than any other case. What is occurring here is the Sleepers act as focal points for the force maintaining the local realm's laws. Thus any attempt to violate local reality will have even more force that must be dealt with usually by having it stuffed into the mage's Avatar in the form of Paradox points.

More importantly, it appears the gaining of Paradox points or raw quintessence (whichever you care to call it) is caused by fighting the local reality. Reality is actually quite flexible and willing to help any mage willing to work with it. If the mage devises a coincidental effect that fits and feeds energy to the local reality it will actively aid the mage. Editor's Note: This suggests the local reality wants to gain quintessence from the mage. However, mages don't always spend quintessence to create effects. Also, if reality wants to gain quintessence why does it give quintessence to the mage in the form of Paradox points?

That ends the theory part. Lets see how well this works in practice. It explains why vampires, werewolves and others don't experience Paradox. Mages are the only beings who work magic by rearranging reality. Everyone else must use the powers that they can find within the local reality. Editor's Note: This is terribly vague. They trade the limitless power of a mage for the assurance of continued power.

It also separates Paradox from Paradox Spirits which seems a good idea. This way they are unrelated phenomena. Paradox spirits are either agents of the Weaver seeking to maintain the local laws of reality. I would suspect that a mage with a large amount of Paradox (raw quintessence) would stand out like a spotlight to such a spirit. Also, the act of botching on a large scale would attract their attention.

From the above observations I would probably do a few things different than the published material. Lets go to an old example of shapechanging into a dragon while inside a warehouse (vulgar without witnesses). Then going outside to the city. Most people are of the opinion that you would start racking up Paradox points. From the above theory of Paradox that would not happen. What would happen instead is a very good chance of attracting a very nasty Paradox spirit, unless you could provide one hell of an explanation to nearby Sleepers (like a bunch of friends around with movie cameras filming).