Mage Application (VA)

[divbox=gray][center][size=140]General Questions[/size][/center][/divbox]
[size=110][b]1.[/b] [color=#80FFFF]What is Awakening and explain its connection to Avatar.[/color][/size]
Awakening is the moment you suddenly realize that reality is not what it seems like, and it's not all just black and white as it seems, the whole worldview of the person who's getting awakened would change, whether it's in a single moment that it's just bursting into him and shattering all he/she knew at once or it's tiny clues that slowly build up like a puzzle until the whole thing would make sense once the puzzle is completed. The Avatar is pretty much the guide of the mage, it could be anything and appear in any shape, from a member of your family to a computer on wheels that is farting protein powder. The first time you might see your Avatar would be when you awaken, although it would not necessarily appear during the awakening, it could appear later on. Your Avatar holds the key to mystic understanding. the closer you are to your Avatar the more you'll understand.

[size=110][b]2.[/b] [color=#80FFFF]How does Avatar affect Seekings[/color]?[/size]
Let's first talk about Seeking, Seeking could start in many ways, it would mostly happen during times like meditations, being under drug substance, sleeping, being in a life threating situations or other sudden traumas. The environment of the seeking could be pretty much anything, from a kindergarten backyard to a cave that leads to the gates of hell. During the Seeking the Avatar would present a challenge to the mage which he has to pass in order to reach further. The Seeking would mostly be in a deep symbolic realm in the mage's imagination, some might assume the Avatar "takes" the consciousness of the mage to another world while some might say that it's all in their head. The mystery the Avatar would present could be many things, it could be facing your fears, discovering more about yourself or even embracing who you actually are. In order to solve the mystery the mage would probably have to pay attention to the environment around him, since it's mostly the small clues around that would assist the mage to complete the challenge and get further. If they mage would fail to complete the challenge they'd "wake up" with a feeling of a missed opportunity. However, if they would complete the challenge they would wake up with deeper understanding. In game terms a mage who successfully completes the seeking process would gain +1 Arete which determines the excellence of the mage.

[size=110][b]3.[/b] [color=#80FFFF]What is Resonance, and Synergy[/color]?[/size]
Resonance could be described as the trail that you leave behind you after casting magick. Like anything you do in life, you leave footsteps and clues behind you, when it comes to magick it's called Resonance. The Resonance would reflect not only what you do with your magick but also your intentions behind it. In some cases, the echo of the Resonance could be so intense that it would be able to disrupt reality. Take a witch for example who tend to cast a lot of vulgar magick that is related to death or decay, the potent Resonance might make her skin smell like a corpse or at extreme cases make stuff decay upon physical touch.
Synergy is quite similar to Resonance, the difference is that Resonance is related and echos from the Mage himself while Synergy is the same but echos out of places or objects. A great example of Synergy could be a haunted house, think of a house of a sorcerer who uses his magick to mess with spirits or entities from another realm. Doing such consistently in the same place would make the Synergy echo it.

[size=110][b]4.[/b] [color=#80FFFF]Explain what Backlash is, and what it leads to.[/color][/size]
In order to explain about Backlash it's important to know about the Consensus and what Paradox is, how it's made and how it's related to the Consensus. The Consensus is reality as we know it, the belief of the masses, mainly the Sleepers. We all know it today as a world of Technology and the general belief is that Magic(k) and supernatural things that do not make mathematical sense simply does not exist. Not to mention that people even take people who think such stuff is real to be crazy or insane. That's shaping the Consensus to be all scientific. That's why the Technocracy has a huge advantage over the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions. The Consensus is by their side since they do not believe in mystics but science, and they cast their magick through science. Now okay, the Technocrats (actually all Technomancers in general) cast their magick through sciense.. but why it's giving them an advantage? When you cast magick that is going against the nature of the Consensus there is a risk of gaining Paradox. Paradox gain would mostly occur when casting 'Vulgar Magick', magick that is clearly unnatural. For example, shooting a fireball straight out of your hands like a Kamehameha. When Vulgar Magick is performed in front of Sleepers the Paradox gain is even higher. 'Coincidental Magick' is the opposite to Vulgar Magick, it's most of the time small things that would make sense. For example, conjuring a knife inside of your backpack then pulling it out instead of conjuring it in your hand straight out of thin air.
Now Backlash is the moment of Paradox discharge, the more Paradox you have during the Backlash the more dangerous the discharge could be. The backlash would inflict damage and could turn the mage's life into hell, it could be physical damage and it could be a mental one. In some cases, it might even send the mage to a state of insanity called the Quiet. In game terms, the Backlash could happen at random time (up to the Storyteller) when the Paradox rate of the mage would reach or exceed 5. The player would roll their Paradox rate against the difficulty of 6 and the Backlash effect would depend on the successes.

[size=110][b]5.[/b] [color=#80FFFF]What are the three components of Foci, and how does each of them affect Magick[/color]?[/size]
Foci is another word for Focus, Focus is made out of three components which are Paradigm, Practice, and Instruments. When a mage would like to perform magick he would need to cast it in a way that would fit their Focus. For example, a Virtual Adept will not use holy symbols and pray to god to impose the effect into reality, some mage would do that, but that definitely wouldn't fit every mage.
Paradigm would be the worldview of the mage, the way that he believe the magick works. For example, a mage with the Paradigm Everything is Data would believe that it's all a code, the whole universe is made out of 0's and 1's, a computer-like reality. It does not necessarily mean that the mage is atheist, they could believe in God, but they'd probably take God to be some kind of a complex code as well. Practice would be how you put your Instruments according to your Paradigm. Instruments would be the tools that you use in order to cast your magick, it could be objects such as wands, books, cards, computers and it could also be stuff like dances, movements or even symbols. The mage could transcend his Instruments and discard some after advancing further, however, Technomancers find this process to be way harder. In order to cast magick there should be a connection between the Paradigm to the Practice to the Instruments. As mentioned above, A Virtual Adept who believe it's all data will not use holy symbols and pray to god to impose the effect into reality.

In addition, a mage could work without his Focus, but it's not coming easy, especially not for Technomancers. Either way in game terms when trying to do so the mage would have to spend a Temporary Willpower dot and cast his magick with +3 difficulty.

[size=110][b]6.[/b] [color=#80FFFF]What is Ascension, and how do different factions (including your character's) view it[/color]?[/size]
Ascension is the moment when a mage maximizes his ability and knowledge, the moment the mage holds the key to the universe. At this point, the mage has already transcended all of his instruments and would be able cast magick with nothing but his will. Such achievement wasn't achieved by many and some even consider it to be just a myth, as people just love to exaggerate. Some would even see it as being in a higher state of existence, a moment of transcending the capabilities of the mortal shells we all live in. Some would see it to be the ultimate control of the consensus. The opinions about this state are really varied and each mage could see it their own way really, Danna, for example, does not believe in things that can not be proven. Therefore she would doubt it, yet respect it and take it as a possible option.
In game terms, a mage would reach Ascension the moment he would be reaching Arete 10/10, not something that is really common.


[divbox=gray][center][size=140]Character Creation[/size][/center][/divbox]
[b]Character Name[/b]: Danna_Walker
[b]Character Age[/b]: 21
[b]Character Starting Arete Rating[/b]: 3
[b]Character Starting Spheres (6)[/b]: Forces (3), Data (2) and Matter (1)
[b]Character Affinity Sphere[/b]: Forces
[b]Character Avatar Essence[/b]: Questing
[b]Character Avatar Rating[/b]: 2
[b]Character Affiliation (Tradition, Technocratic Convention, Craft, Nephandi/Marauder)[/b]: Traditions
[b]Character Instruments[/b]: brain/ computer interface, computers and IT gear, devices and machines, gadgets, nanotech, numbers and numerology, devices and machines
[b]Character Story[/b]:
(Write a quick story about your character, including their Awakening, etc 500-1000 words)
It was another stormy night in the middle of October, Danna and her family were sitting in front of the table, holding hands while closing their eyes and praying to Jesus for the food that is on their table. Danna didn't mutter a word while her face seemed unamused, simply holding her family's hands and co-operating to what she claims to be complete bullshit and a pure waste of time while letting the food getting cold. Danna grabbed her plate and went back to her room, completely ignoring her family and started eating on her computer desk while trying to keep developing a new dimension in the video game she's working on. After 2 hours of excessive coding, script compiling and testing as she became sleepy and decided to "close her eyes for a few minutes" in order to rest and re-focus. She was closing her eyes while thoughts running through her mind about the game she's working on. Not a while passed and Danna accidentally found herself falling asleep. About 20 minutes later a sudden flash of lightning struck the roof of her house and made the ceiling go on fire. Danna woke up in panic and to her surprise everything around her looked like the Matrix, everything was made out of C++ codes. From the bed she was laying on to the flames that is burning the ceiling. She was looking around her while trying to figure out what's going on and how she can turn off the "cyber" fire that literally looked like a code, the heat felt so real. She started running in circles around the room, yelling in panic while having no clue how to deal with such fire. Seconds later a hologram of her favorite anime character appeared (Aiko), she slowly loaded herself and into a solid entity that stood "alive" right in front Danna's face with some kind of electronic device that looked like a laptop. Aiko started running some code on her device and out of a sudden, a cuboid of water appeared on the ceiling, washing the room and the flames was gone. Danna rubbed her eyes while being shocked from the views and screamed "Aiko? wh..what are you doing here? and why my room is all... cyber?", "Hey there Danna, seems like you finally made it. Relax, you're still actually in your room, and the fire is gone now" she replied with a robotic voice. Aiko opened her palm and a hologram of a code was floating over it. "You just spawned water with that device? what the fuck is going on" Danna said as she appeared to be extremely confused, "Babygirl, soon enough you'll understand that everything could be done with the right mindset, and you got it all" Aiko replied then conjured a teddybear out of thin air. "What the fuck? I'm still damn confused, what's going on?" as she asked. Aiko laughed a bit, placed her finger on Danna's lips and said: "Your intuition would show you the way" as everything started to fade out of a sudden and look again like reality. Danna found herself in the middle of her room standing on her feet, pale and wet from the water. It never felt so real, intense feelings of fear and excitement were rushing through every fiber of her body. She felt inspired by the visions yet shocked by the lightning. She grabbed a squeegee and scraped the water out while thoughts about the perspective she got from the illusions were crossing her mind.
A day later Danna couldn't resist the curiosity, she felt like she is going insane. "How is this even possible? am I losing my mind?, but.. it was literally REAL yesterday.. I was wet after all, maybe it was not an illusion", she opened her programming software and started writing a code that did not make much sense. It has been a few hours of attempts to achieve something, ANYTHING. Suddenly in one moment, she found herself sending an intense beam of electrons in a direct way through her USB camera and her computer monitor started displaying it all in X-Ray vision. The success was real, she felt like a God for a moment. One idea led to another and she started making a whole collection of useful programs and even installed some modifications to her cellphone.
Later that week at 3:21 PM Danna was working on a new invention as she heard somebody knocking on her door. She made her way to the door to welcome the guest as she suddenly saw a thin looking guy with blue hair carrying his laptop. He got into the house before she managed to mutter a word, "It's nice to meet you Danna, close the door. We gotta talk" he said while making his way towards the kitchen. She couldn't be more surprised and said "Yes, and who are you supposed to be?". He laughed a bit and replied, "O1v3r0z it is, but feel free to call me Oliver". Danna wasn't sure what's going on but he was surely full of surprises and mystery, she closed the door and duo sat at the kitchen table. Oliver opened his laptop and said "Okay so it seems like you've made a damn nice progress there" while hacking into her computer. A few seconds later the laptop displayed Danna's screen. "Hey, what are y..", "Shh, it's alright. I'm here to help you progress further, newbie" he said while opening his programs and introducing Danna to things that were way more advanced. The both started sharing their experience and switching ideas, eventually Oliver came with the offer to be Danna's guide if she would work at his company which is currently working on developing a new Windows Interface. Danna has definitely accepted the sudden offer. "Good" he said, and not a minute later he started ranting about the Virtual Adepts and it's unknown roots, The many years war between the Council to the Technocratic Union and most importantly to keep everything as natural as possible after painfully describing the burning effects of the Paradox.
Two years later Oliver's company offered Danna to sign on a contract that would offer her residence and a company car in Palomino Creek, which is bringing us to the present when Danna is trying to blend in.

[divbox=gray][center][size=140]Game Questions[/size][/center][/divbox]

[size=110][b]1.[/b] [color=#80FFFF] When do you think is the right moment for a Mage to use Magick (Coincidental & Vulgar)[/color]?[/size]
Mages got freehand when it's coming to magick, they can do whatever they want. However, it could be dangerous as I stated above. Mystic mages need to be extra careful since the modern Consensus doesn't help them at all. A mage wouldn't want to risk himself with the burning effects of the Paradox, therefore they would mostly avoid using Vulgar magick and use it wisely. Vulgar magick is going clearly against the Consensus and it's the "safest way" to gain Paradox, when performed in public the Paradox gain though. If you want or need to cast magick, especially in public you better try to keep it Coincidental. However, if you got no other option and you're in an emergency situation such as life-threating one you might need to use vulgar magick to save the day.

[size=110][b]2.[/b] [color=#80FFFF] Considering the faction you're applying for, should your character reveal his/her true nature to others[/color]?[/size]
Danna wouldn't really be busy revealing her nature around since it's not other's business to know what she does on her free time with her equipment. However, she will reveal her nature to other mages from the Traditions since having allies is never a bad thing. Revealing her nature to the masses would definitely be a terrible idea though, you can't expect everyone to support you, especially not with the power you hold. Many people might dislike the idea and say it's dangerous, you can't know what they'd plan to do to stop you. Not to mention the Technocratic Union is huge and their pioneers are lurking everywhere, you don't want to find yourself in troubles, so why don't you simply keep your mouth shut and enjoy your benefits like a good boy?

[size=110][b]3.[/b] [color=#80FFFF] Describe how your character would cast a typical spell according to his/her Foci.[/color][/size]
Danna would relate whatever she wanna cast to the code components that pretty much create reality when they're all combined together, she'd treat everything as data and when she changes reality she would assume she's manipulating, injecting or removing a part of reality's code. For example, Danna might want to transform a silver ring into a wooden one for whatever reason. She'd look for the location coordinates (X, Y, Z) of the ring in real time as she would run a code on her computer that'd replace whatever contains silver within that range into wood.

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[size=180]       REGULATIONS:[/size]
[size=110]   By submitting an application, you acknowledge & agree with the server & race related rules, as well as the regulations below:[/size]
[list]
[*] Your character [i]can[/i] be racechanged to human or CK'd if you break any of the rules.
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