Editing The Gift:Characters (section)

===The Unchained===

The Unchained are dedicated to the proposition that people need to "free" their minds.  Members seem to have different conceptions of what “freeing the mind” is and pursue it in many different ways.  Some study science, some meditate, some create art, some alter their consciousness with drugs; any path to the goal is acceptable.  The Unchained makes use of both Hermetic and Wiccan rituals, as well as many from other traditions and some they made up themselves.  While some Unchained are ascetics, The Unchained as a whole are famous for partying hard.  The stranger and more extreme the party, the more likely it is to help the guests to free themselves.  Emotional release is seen as a transformative tool to achieve new perspectives and different states of mind.  More extreme members of the order have been known to deliberately drive themselves or others insane, in the hope of gaining magical insight through loosening the bonds of reason.

Despite the love of freedom and pleasure, apprenticeship is a lot of hard work and study only the academically successful ever become mages.  It is emphasized to the student that freeing the mind is an arduous process and the very opposite of going with the flow.  Academic training is designed to allow the student to bring out their full potential as a human being.  Spells taught focus on illusion and mind control, as an aid to breaking down the barriers between the mind and the world.

Cost:  28 points

Skills:  Artist (Any), Botany, Chemistry, Computer Operation, Dancing, First-Aid, Herb Law, Meditation, Psychology, Musical Instrument (Any), Naturalist, Occultism, Ritual Magic (Western Hermetic), Ritual Magic (Wiccan), Symbol Drawing (Unchained).

Spells:

Illusion and Creation:  Complex Illusion, Control Illusion, Independence, Initiative, Know Illusion, Perfect Illusion, Simple Elusion.

Mind Control:  Daze, Disorient, Fascinate, Foolishness, Forgetfulness, Wisdom.


House Stances

Magic:  Magic is the only thing that can free your mind.  So free your mind.

Themselves: Just another gang of fools looking for enlightenment.

The Council:  They love rules, so they hate freedom.  Magic should liberate humanity, not bind it.  They know some good tricks, though.  Their house Flying Crane produces some incredible art.  Perhaps they can be corrupted.

The Circle:  Weird and wonderful.  I’m glad their path works for them.  They badly need to update their information technology, though.

The Cooperative:  They are not very safe, not very sane, and not always fun, but they are the safest, sanest, most fun group of mages that you are ever going to find.

Independents:  The Golden Path mages can show you things from a new perspective.  What could be better?  The Temple of the White Garland would produce genuinely good art if they could only get over themselves.