Keith Xenos, Son of Ether
Mage: the Ascension is my favourite roleplaying game, and this is my favourite
character for that game. Mage is published by White Wolf games, and is set
in their 'World of Darkness', which they described as 'gothic punk'. For those
of you unfamiliar with Mage, here's a basic rundown: in this setting, reality
is subjective, it just seems objective because almost everyone believes the
same thing. A Mage is someone who can change reality through sheer force of
will, however, most people can't just believe enough to warp reality, so
they need to focus their belief. There are different groups of Mages, called
Traditions, who teach different methods of focus, which can vary from faith
and prayer to hermetic or cabalistic magic, to shamanism, to rock and roll
and mind expanding drugs, to meditation and martial arts, or to just about
anything you can think of. The tradition to which Keith Xenos belongs is
the Sons of Ether, which focus their will through pseudo-science of B movies
from the fifties, Victorian science, and all sorts of weird devices and inventions.
I intend to use this character in the setting of Newford, a fictional city
in the Great Lakes area, which was created by Charles de Lint. I've
read several books by this author and think he's great, and my girlfriend
agrees. So there.
In both the Character History and the short story "Getting Acquainted" I've
made a link from words which people who aren't familiar with Charles de Lint
or Mage: the Ascension wouldn't recognize. Just click on the link and you'll
be taken to the bottom of the page where I've defined these terms as best
I can.
Character History: A brief summary of Keith's
upbringing and awakening.
Character Sheets: Click on thumbnail for larger image.
Getting Acquainted: A short story about Keith's
first week in Newford and his first brush with one of Mage: the Ascension's
major antagonist groups.
Ethership Desktop: Should the character develop enough, I would like
to have him build an ethership. According to the Sons of Ether, space is not
filled with a vacuum, but with the Ether for which the tradition is named.
The ether is a breathable substance with it's own tides and currents, and
several Sons of Ether sail through it on large boats. This one is an amalgamation
of an Avro Arrow and a Bluenose Schooner, which I put together with the best
of my amateur abilities and assembled in Photoshop, presented here as an 800x600
desktop picture.
All Mage: the Ascension stuff copyrighted to White Wolf.
All Newford stuff copyrighted to Charles de Lint.
Nothing here is used by permission, my views aren't their views, etc. What
do you expect from free advertising, anyway?
