Mage the Awakening: Archmage

Jumpchain
By /u/therainbowsquid

Most awakened never reach this point. Most awakened assume that the legends are
fake. You, against all odds, managed to awaken a second time, and become a
seeker. Be warned jumper, this is where shit gets real, so to speak.
+1000 CP

Origins/Ententes:

Archmages generally assign themselves into factions called ententes soon after
their second awakening. Pick one and only one:

The Alienated (free): Archmages who wish to restore the gods the exarchs kicked
out to the supernal realms

The Aswadim (free): Archmages who reject both the fallen and supernal, instead
favoring the abyss. Are you really sure you want this?

The Bodhisattvas (free): Archmages who seek the Ascension of every single
sleeper/awakened in the fallen world.
The Exemplars (free): Archmages who respect the Pentacle Orders and want to give
them more supernal symbolism

The Siddha (free): Archmages who perfect their arcana, strengthening the Ars
Mysteriorum

The Tetrarchs (free): Archmages who worship the throne, hoping to gain power
from the Exarchs

General Perks:

Archmastery (Free and Mandatory): You have successfully crossed the abyss,
withstood the supernal trial, and become an archmage. This means several things.
Your soul cannot be removed/destroyed, all 10 arcana are ruling, experiencing an
effect that should return you to your plane of origin (such as being banished) will
send you back to your golden road, you can have ochemata (sub-souls), you can
constantly sense the interior of your golden road, you treat sympathetic
connections of “unknown” as “described” even without knowing the target’s real
name, and you do not need a teacher to raise arcana.
 Alienated Perks:
(Everything here is discounted (-50%) if you chose Alienated as your Origin)

Hope (-100 CP): The Chronicles of Darkness is a pretty fucked up place, let’s be
honest. However, like the supernal gods of old, you have hope in your heart. You
are completely insulated from the ambient depression/dread of grimdark worlds

Divine Symbolism (-300 CP): Using yantras related to the divine, especially the
gods you hold close, will give you considerably more magical power than usual

Holy Attainments (-600 CP/-1000 CP): Your devotion to the supernal pantheon has
given you the innate protection against your mind being altered. Anything from an
Outer God to a bottle of Whiskey will not be able to damage your mind. However, if
you are willing to spend an additional 400 CP (200 CP if discounted), then this perk
gains another ability.

You are now immune to “hax” or esoteric powers being used against you, so long as
you have more raw power than the user.
 Aswadim Perks:
(Everything here is discounted (-50%) if you chose Aswadim as your Origin)

Secret Corruption (-100 CP): Unless you are an extreme idiot and explicitly tell
people about your dark powers (any of them), people will simply not know about
your more unsavory abilities.

A Second Chance (-300 CP): If people find out about your evil magics, they will be
much more willing to forgive you, let their defenses down, and treat you with
unnatural respect. Note that this will not change the opinion of the most devoted
and moral people.

Power of the Abyss (-600 CP/-1000 CP): Paradox is power, and letting it into your
magic has given you it in spades. All of your powers can now be infused with
paradox (even out-of-universe ones). However, if you are willing to spend an
additional 400 CP (200 CP if discounted), then this perk gains another ability.

You are now completely and utterly immune to the negative

consequences/disadvantages of dark/evil/chaotic powers. For example, you could
become a chaos psyker in Warhammer 40K, and never get bad mutations/spawn,
no matter how little precautions you take.
 Bodhisattva Perks:
(Everything here is discounted (-50%) if you chose Bodhisattva as your Origin)

Rising Charisma (-100 CP): Bodhisattvas are heavily interested in the sleepers of
the fallen world, as their goal is to make everyone ascend. You as a result have
amazing charisma, allowing you to navigate almost any social situation, and reliably
convince 99.9% of people anything.

Will (-300 CP): Your desire to save humanity from the pain of the lie is beyond
description. You know what needs to be done, and you are able to do it. This perk
gives you utterly inhuman (but not infinite) willpower

MacGuffins (-600 CP/-1000 CP): Quintessences are usually hard to find, and take a
while, but not anymore. You find it extremely easy to get materials/specific items
for your plans (this doesn’t exclusively apply to Quintessences) However, if you are
willing to spend an additional 400 CP (200 CP if discounted), then this perk gains
another ability.

You now no longer need Quintessences to cast Imperial Spells. They still need to be
ritually cast, and you can’t make them into rotes/praxes. (this does exclusively
apply to Quintessences)
 Exemplar Perks:
(Everything here is discounted (-50%) if you chose Exemplar as your Origin)

Old Connections (-100 CP): You have the habit of being invited and allowed to be in
organizations, even if you shouldn’t normally be allowed (ie, being a member of the
US Senate despite being 7 years old)

Pentacle Symbolism (-300 CP): Invoking Pentacle-esque yantras into your casting
will make it drastically more powerful than it has any reason to be

Hieromagus (-600 CP/-1000 CP): No, this does not make you into them, but it does
do something pretty close. You are considerably more likely to get involved in
ancient prophecies and legends with this perk, but not guaranteed. However, if you
are willing to spend an additional 400 CP (200 CP if discounted), then this perk
gains another ability.

You are able to actively let aspects of prophecies in settings become true in specific
people/places/times, once per 10 years or jump. So yes, with THIS perk, you could
conceivably become the Hieromagus.
 Siddha Perks:
(Everything here is discounted (-50%) if you chose Siddha as your Origin)

Occult (-100 CP): Spending time studying the arcana hasn’t come without
additional benefits. You have insane knowledge on the occult, and you will gain
relevant information in every new jump.

Mental Prowess (-300 CP): You have a beyond-genius IQ in fallen world terms,
capable of outclassing almost every mortal in sheer thought alone.

Growth (-600 CP/-1000 CP): You are capable of breaking the limits of any aspect of
yourself with extreme effort, allowing you to grow to heights unimaginable.
However, if you are willing to spend an additional 400 CP (200 CP if discounted),
then this perk gains another ability.

You are now completely and utterly without limits, and although you might not
know how to grow, there will always be a way. Maxed out firearms? There’s a book
that explains how to shoot the sun out of the sky. Maxed out Arcana? There’s a
reclusive archmage that will tell you the secrets if convinced. Ascended? Well
wouldn’t you know, there’s an even higher plane in the tapestry than the Supernal
Realms!
 Tetrarch Perks:
(Everything here is discounted (-50%) if you chose Tetrarch as your Origin)

Exarch Benevolence (-100 CP): Your superiors, no matter how normally cruel, will
treat you with extreme compassion and respect. Not enough to openly offer you
their position, of course.

Obedience (-300 CP): Your inferiors, no matter how normally rowdy or rebellious,
will be willing to throw themselves in front of a fire for you. Note that this will only
apply to your companions if they already treated you as being above them

Gifted (-600 CP/-1000 CP): Being a servant of the throne has its benefits. People
with more power than you (especially ones you work for) will be extremely inclined
to give you items, wealth, social connection, and powers. This can get almost
comedic in some circumstances. However, if you are willing to spend an additional
400 CP (200 CP if discounted), then this perk gains another ability.

You are now considerably better at learning magic systems, with more
powerful/versatile systems being less affected by this perk. Archmagery, for
instance, is now twice as easy to learn. This is represented by Gnosis and Arcana
purchases being discounted in the Supernal Magic section.
 Supernal Magic:

What you’re likely here for. All Origins get ​+2000 MP​ for this section. CP may be
converted to MP at a 1:1 Ratio, but not the other way around.

Gnosis (-200 MP, can be purchased 4 times): The driving energy behind magic.
Required in order to cast imperial magic. (All origins come with Gnosis 6, unless
specific drawbacks have been taken)

Arcana (-200 MP, can be purchased several times): The actual aspects of the
supernal that (arch)mages use to manipulate reality. Arcana are divided between
Gross Arcana (Time, Space, Matter, Forces, and Life) and the Subtle Arcana (Fate,
Mind, Death, Prime, and Spirit). (All origins come with one arcana at 6, unless
specific drawbacks have been taken)
 Items:

Golden Road (Free and Mandatory): Your personal pocket dimension/connection to

the supernal realms. You are almost completely safe in your golden road. You can
import any previous planes/dimensions you have into this

Quintessence Collection (-100 CP (can be bought multiple times)/-200 CP/-400 CP):

One of the biggest barriers to imperial spellcasting is that Quintessences are
required. This limit has been partially alleviated for you. For each individual
purchase of 100 CP, you may already have a quintessence for any specific imperial
spell you want. For 200 CP, you will regularly find 6 or 7 dot quintessences in your
warehouse. For 400 CP, you will regularly find 8 or 9 dot quintessences in your
warehouse.
 Companions:

Import (-50CP/-200CP) take 2 of your pre-existing companions for 50 CP each and

import them as archmages with origins and 800 CP

Generic CofD resident (-50 CP): With this, you can create/recruit a generic
person/supernatural from the Chronicles of Darkness. Anyone from a mortal
average Joe to a Obrimos master. Don’t expect to be able to customize them more
than their supernatural template, and their two main splats in said template

Specific CofD Resident (-100 CP): You can now fully customize a
person/supernatural from the Chronicles of Darkness, even more so that what a
character sheet would normally allow you to do. (No Archmages or above can be
bought with this)

Fellow Seeker (-200 CP): You can take a canon archmage as a companion, Any
archmage can be taken (But you’re probably going to take Aaliyah, aren’t you?)

Anyone (-300 CP): You can now take literally any named character in the CofD.
Want an Exarch? This is how.
 Drawbacks:
(Take as many as you think you can handle)

Time Change (+0 CP): This jumpdoc assumes that you are entering the Chronicles
of Darkness in the modern age. You may instead enter the jump at any point in
time that is not before the fall of Atlantis.

Setting Change (+0 CP): You may fundamentally change the Chronicles of
Darkness in any way you wish, save for the most bullshit and power-gamey AUs
(ie, a setting where the Exarchs never rose and Atlantis still exists)

Bad Shadow Name (+100 CP): You chose an extremely stupid-sounding shadow
name after becoming a mage, and you are more or less stuck with it. Note that it
will not cause any direct magical consequences, other than fellow awakened taking
you less seriously

Fallen World Conflict (+200 CP/+400 CP): For the 200 CP version of this drawback,
a large amount of a supernatural type doesn’t like you and wants you dead. For 400
CP, the entire supernatural type considers you an enemy worthy of death. This can
be taken multiple times for different templates

Late Bloomer (+300 CP/+500 CP) For an additional 300 CP, you haven’t become an
archmage (at least not yet), and are instead just an average mage. For 500 CP, you
are just a sleeper (Note that becoming an archmage in this jump will resolve this
drawback)

Paradox (+300 CP): Your awakened magic is more prone to paradox, making safe
spells harder to do. In case you are wondering how dangerous that can be, let’s
just say that imperial paradox can result in situations almost guaranteed to turn
you into a living gateway to the abyss. And that’s ​without​ this drawback

Past Adventures (+400 CP): If you have spent at least 10 years in the Chronicles of
Darkness as a mage in previous jumps, you may take this drawback to merge your
history with this jump. Note that this cannot be taken if you fully resolved all of the
bad shit in the CofD previously.

Abyssal Troubles (+500 CP/+700 CP): The Abyss is a dangerous place, and you are
now going to have to deal with it. For the 500 CP version of this drawback, you are
more prone to having to deal with abyssal entities/corruption. For the 700 CP
version of this drawback, you will find a high level abyssal entity hanging out in
your golden road soon after starting this jump. Failure to remove him as a threat
will result in you becoming a Qliphoth (which does not count as a chain failure,
unless you want it to)

Pax Arcanum Violation (+200 CP/+400 CP/+600 CP/+800 CP): The archmage
community believes that you have violated their cold war rules, and you cannot
convince them otherwise. You get 200/400/600/800 CP for
Minor/Medium/Major/Severe violations.

Hot War (+1000 CP): The Exarchs now personally believe that you are the fated
one destined to bring their era of control to an end, and your death will save their
plans for all eternity. The sad part is, they’re technically right. You will only be
allowed to leave this jump once you have kicked the Exarchs off of their supernal
thrones. Have Fun!
 Jumper vs. Chronicles of Darkness
(Optional Endjump Scenario)
The Chronicles of Darkness is a horrible place. Atrocities are committed on a daily basis,
conspiracies lurk in the shadows, and the world is a husk of what it could have been.

It’s turned against you.

Every named character, everyone with importance to the world, all wish that you never existed.
Although it might take a while, many of them will set aside their fundamental differences to kill
you. The only way to stop them is to either remove them as threats, or pacify them.

Needless to say, this is a Herculean task. However, if you are capable of truly putting an end to
their hostility, you will be rewarded.

You will gain a spark, and your chain will end on a triumphant note.

I do hope you know what you’re doing if you pick this Scenario.
 Ending Choice:

Stay: Are you sure about this? Ok, you get to stay in the CofD, and your home life
will be taken care of.

Go Home: Maybe all of this magic was too weird. You will wake up in your bed with
all of your powers and items.

Move Forward: More jumps to go to, more mysteries to be found. Godspeed,

jumper...
 Notes:

Ascending will not end your chain. You will still maintain extreme powers over
reality/conceptual immortality, but you are not omnipotent.

Imperial Spells have the following practices:

6 dot: Dynamics. Create an effect that updates and changes by itself, without being
“pre-programmed” by the mage
7 dot: Entities/Excision. Either add or remove fundamentally supernatural elements
to/from a pattern.
8 dot: Dominions. Either create sub-souls called Ochemata or worlds called
Chantries
9 dot: Transfiguration. For the duration of the spell, become capable of doing any
effect with the chosen arcana
10 dot: Assumption. The only thing known about it is that the Siddha claim that it is
capable of direct Ascension. Everything else about it is left unknown. Fanwank
responsibly.

Changelog:
Version 1.1: Fixed the color scheme/layout, added new items, changed some flavor
text, made a spark scenario.
Version 1: Jumpdoc Created.