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[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

第五章：升华勇士
Chapter Five：Ascension Warriors

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当他进入洞穴，他听到从洞中传来的声音：
“使大地颤抖，使列国震动的，是这个人了。”
——丹尼尔·C·马特，“婚礼庆典”于《基础卡巴拉》

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As he entered the cave, they heard a voice from inside:
“This is the man who shook the earth, who made the kingdoms tremble!”
— Daniel C. Matt, “The Wedding Celebration” from The Essential Kabbalah

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宝剑十 Ten of Swords

释义：解脱；牺牲，瘫痪，问题的结束；奖励与惩罚；结束和开始；放手

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Associations: Release; sacrifice; paralysis; the end of a problem; reward and punishment; ends and beginnings; letting go…

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好吧，这看起来真的不太妙。

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Well, THAT doesn’t look good.

纠缠我的这个RD（Reality Deviant，现实干犯）真是难缠。他重重地打到我好几次，然而，我的支援貌似堵路上了。

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The RD I’d been tangling with is a grease spot on the floor. He tagged me good a few times, though, and my backup seems to be stuck in traffic.

在这样的时候，我感激肾上腺素。休克还没有到来，一旦来了我的性命就要倒数了。

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On days like this, I’m thankful for adrenaline. The shock hasn’t set in yet, and once it does I’m going to be down for the count.

肋骨肯定断了。我能看到其中一根从我衬衫裂开的地方探出来，血腥程度令你难以置信。难怪我们总是穿黑衣。血在黑色衣服上不太显眼。

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Broken ribs for sure. I can see one of them peeking through the gash in my shirt. Blood like you wouldn’t believe. No wonder we always wear black. The blood doesn’t show up much on black.

右臂功能保有26%。我剩下的队友全倒了。字面意义上地溶解成了几滩水洼。愚蠢的狼人。他们从来不安安静静地来，而这人早就准备好了对付我们。

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Right arm’s at 26% functionality. The rest of my team is down. Puddles, really. Stupid werewolves. They never come quietly, and this one was ready for us.

他妈我支援呢？

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Where the hell’s my backup?

行吧，评估一下情况。反复的钝器创伤。可能有脑震荡。我可以数出四处锐器伤。肋骨断裂，右臂可能骨折。视力模糊。大量失血。耳鸣不是一个好的迹象。

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Okay. Assess the situation. Repeated blunt trauma. Probable concussion. Four sharp-trauma injuries I can count. Broken ribs, possible broken right arm. Blurry vision. Substantial blood-loss. The ringing in my ears is not a good sign.

嗯……我不知道我血管里的灼热感是肾上腺素的增强，还是自启动检测和识别的避免措施的开始？现在，这个措施已经在罗伊斯、法布尔、坎贝尔和奇亚库马特工的身上完全启动，我对这个过程的评价可比学术上的生动的多。

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Hmmmm. I wonder if the burn in my veins is boosted adrenaline, or the start of self-activated detection-and-identification avoidance measures? Now that Agents Royce, Faber, Campbell, and Chiacuma have been fully activated, my appraisal of the effects is a bit more than strictly academic.

不，我必须活着。总得有人作报告。

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No. I have to maintain. Someone needs to make a report.

"这里是帕塞尔(Passel)，"我对着我的通讯器低语道。

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“This is Passel,” I whisper into my com.

"我们被击倒了。我的后援在哪？"

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“We’re down. Where’s my backup?”

"情况得到控制？" 调度中心的声音听起来稳定而平淡。

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“Situation contained?” Dispatch’s voice sounds steady and flat.

"确认，得到控制。"

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"Affirmative. Contained.”

"坐稳了，帕塞尔特工，"她告诉我。"支援在路上了。"

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“Sit tight, Agent Passel,” she tells me. “Backup’s en route.”

随着我血管里的灼烧感加剧，我想知道她是在说实话，还是我会成为人行道上的下一滩水洼……

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As the burn in my veins intensifies, I wonder if she’s telling the truth, or if I’ll be the next puddle on the sidewalk…

This post has been edited by 劳伦斯·塔利斯曼: 2023-03-14, 13:08

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

熟悉的敌人 Familiar Enemies

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法师的历史是谎言的编年史。每个团体、学派、派系、教派、宗派和诸如此类的组织关于何时发生了什么以及谁对谁做了什么都有自己的一套说法。其中包含了大量的传说，以及一厢情愿的想法、文化上的短视和彻头彻尾的骗局。在问及关于其行为背后的历史时，你很难从一位法师那里得到直接的回答。所以，为清楚起见，我们将在《法师》20周年版规则的这一章节中作出尽可能直白的表述。

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Mage history is a chronicle of lies. Each group, sect, faction, cult, Tradition, and what-have-you has its own version of what-happened-when and who-did-what-to-whom. There’s a ton of legendry involved, as well as wishful thinking, cultural myopia, and flat-out deception. You’ll rarely get straight answers from a mage when you ask about the history behind his practice. And so, in the interests of clarity, we’ll be as straightforward as possible in this section of Mage 20th Anniversary.

与此前版本的《法师》（除了《巫士圣战》）不同，《法师》20周年版并不默认以宗派为中心的观点。相反，我们呈现了广阔范围内的潜在法师角色。随着范围的扩大，玩家能以更广阔的视角体验觉醒者的经历，所以下述章节的特点是，你将从一个现实并不确定的世界中得到尽可能客观的看法。

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Unlike previous editions of Mage (aside from Sorcerers Crusade), Mage 20 does not default to a Traditions-centric viewpoint. Instead, we’re presenting a wide range of potential Mage characters. With that range comes a bigger perspective on the Awakened experience, so the following chapter features as objective a view as you could possibly get from a world in which reality is anything but certain.

那难道我们就都得和和气气地接受你的主张吗？并非如此。在某种程度上，知道所有人既是对的又是错的让这场升华之战——或者，更准确的说，让这些战争——得到了极大的缓解。所有派系都同时拥有智慧与腐化。传统宗派打了一场漂亮的浪漫之战，却忽视了他们的胜利可能带来的潜在恐怖。科技联盟以秩序之名压迫其他所有人，却往往会在这一过程中压坏自己的人民。被其他派系称为异类法师或门派的零散团体照料着自己的地盘，但缺乏更大规模团体的那种力量或凝聚力。与此同时，劫夺者和灭世者为他们所追求的噩梦般的目标——大规模的疯狂和天谴——弹冠相庆。而对那些被称为“野法师”的人而言，生活就是在更强大的势力面前不断的挣扎。最后，所有的法师——不论他们属于哪个派系还是没有派系——都发现自己要和吸血鬼、狼人、猎人、精魂、恶魔、换生灵、人类对手以及现实本身作斗争。无论你偏爱哪个派系——特别是哪个都不爱的话——法师的道途在最好的情况下也危险重重……她最大的敌人也许就是她的内心。

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Does that mean we’re going all kumbaya on your ass? Not hardly. In a way, knowing that everyone is both right and wrong throws the Ascension War… or, more properly, its wars, plural… into greater relief. Every faction holds both wisdom and corruption. The Traditions fight a good romantic fight while ignoring the potential horrors of their victory. The Technocracy oppresses everyone else in the name of order, often crushing its own people in the process. The scattered groups known by other factions as the Disparates or Crafts tend their own turf but lack the power or cohesiveness of the larger groups. And the Marauders and Nephandi celebrate nightmarish goals of mass insanity and damnation. For the so-called “orphans,” life’s a constant struggle in the wake of greater forces. And all mages, regardless of their faction or lack of one, find themselves pitted against vampires, werecritters, hunters, spirits, demons, changelings, human rivals, and Reality itself. No matter which faction you prefer – especially if you favor no faction at all – a mage’s Path is perilous at best… her biggest enemy perhaps being the one within.

正如在之前的章节提到过的那样，法师必须以其所行之事为傲。这种骄傲反过来又会导致傲慢、妄自尊大和自我欺骗。因此，觉醒者的历史是一段漫长的故事，有关如此的自以为是、以至于连现实都要在他们的触碰下颤栗的个人与团体。即使是出于最好的意图，这些团体和个人也会在他们离开时留下尸体……他们越是忠于自己的理想，留下的尸体往往也就会越多。不过，他们制造的最大伤亡是确定性的错觉——-因为，正如任何法师很快就会了解到的那样，不存在单一的、客观的真理。

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As previous chapters have mentioned, a mage must be proud to do what he does. That pride, in turn, leads to hubris, egotism, and self-delusion. The history of the Awakened, then, is a long tale of people and groups so full of themselves that reality trembles at their touch. Even with their best intentions, these groups and people leave corpses whenever they go… and the more devoted to their ideals they are, the more corpses they tend to leave. The greatest casualty, though, is the illusion of certainty – for, as any mage soon learns, there’s no such thing as a single, objective Truth.

法师与好人、坏人或明确的现实无关。它有关于由你自己决定何为真实以及虚妄。因此，即使是在这里，专门用于介绍觉醒者历史的章节之中，罗生门效应也适用于你读到的一切。请带着批判性的观点审视一切，并铭记，真相——不论它可能是什么——位于字里行间，而非哪一个派系的观点之中。

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Mage isn’t about good guys, bad guys, or clear-cut realities. It’s about deciding for yourself what is and is not true. And so, even here, in a section devoted to Awakened history, the Rashomon Effect applies to everything you read. Take it all with a few shakers of salt, and remember that truth – whatever that might be – lies somewhere between the lines, not in any single faction’s view.

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何人，何事，何处以及为何 Who, What, Where, and Why

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为清晰起见，本章被分成了几个小节，每一节都介绍了特定的团体或主题：

• 第一部分：一部觉醒者的历史涵盖了法师社会的演变，从它神话般的开端到现代。
• 第二部分：秘学九宗探讨了幸存者为之自豪的这一联盟。他们为实现一个属于奇迹的时代而不断奋斗。
• 第三部分：科技官僚联盟呈现了启蒙科学的管理力量和无情的控制。
• 第四部分：异类法师考察了拒绝加入议会或科技联盟的一些最重要的学派。
• 第五部分：堕落者揭示了灭世者的堕落愿景比任何人意识到的都要强大。
• 第?*!部分：狂人让读者不安地看到了当劫夺者吞下所有理智并让其他所有人被其残渣噎住时会发生什么。

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For clarity, the following chapter is divided up into several sections, each one dealing with a specific group or subject:
• Part I: An Awakened History (pp.121-135) covers the evolution of mage society, from its mythic beginnings to the present day.
• Part II: The Council of Nine Mystick Traditions (pp.136-165) explores this proud alliance of survivors who strive toward an age of miracles.
• Part III: The Technocratic Union (pp.166-195) presents the governing force of Enlightened Science and implacable Control.
• Part IV: The Disparates (pp.196-223) examines some of the most prominent sects that refuse to join either the Council or Technocracy.
• Part V: The Fallen (pp.224-233)reveals the Nephandi, whose vision of Descent is more powerful than anyone realizes.
• Part ?*!: The Mad (pp.234-243) takes an unsettling look at what happens when the Marauders swallow sanity whole and make everyone else choke on the remains.

以上都不是？None of the Above?

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对于本章涉及的所有宏大的元剧情线，请记住一点：

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For all the monumental metaplot covered in the following chapter, remember this:

你完全没必要非得参加升华之战不可。

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You don’t HAVE to fight the Ascension War at all.

在一些方面，本章节是可选的。你的法师可能不属于这里描述的团体中的任何一个。你可以去看看野法师条目，然后在你自己设计的团体中玩转自我觉醒或不结盟的法师。下面的元情节可以遵循各色未来命运选项，并且有可能根本不存在于你的编年史中。法师的规则可以变得相当复杂，但你的编年史完全没必要这样。

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In several ways, this chapter is optional. Your mages might not belong to any of the groups described here. You could just check out the Orphans entry (pp.214-215) and then run selfAwakened or unaligned mages in groups of your own design. The following metaplots could follow various Future Fate options, and they might not even exist within your chronicle at all. The Mage canon can get pretty elaborate, but your chronicle doesn’t have to be.

法师有一个广阔的世界，如你所愿，这个世界可以是史诗的，也可以是温情的。

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Mages have a vast world, but that world can be as epic or as intimate as you want it to become.

This post has been edited by 劳伦斯·塔利斯曼: 2023-03-09, 09:49

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

那么术士呢？What About the Sorcerers?
根据《黑暗世界：术士》的修订版规则，传统宗派的行列之中现在既有未觉醒的下位法师也有觉醒者法师。然而，考虑到下位魔法系统涉及的复杂性和难点，这种合并在《法师》20周年版中被略过了。如果你的团队想以法师之中的术士为主角，那就去做吧。下面的章节和规则不涉及这个问题——这里根本没有足够的空间用以公正地处理这个想法。

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According to the Revised edition of World of Darkness: Sorcerer, the Traditions now have unAwakened hedge magicians as well as Awakened mages among their ranks. Given the complexities and complications involved in hedge magic game systems, however, that merger has been ignored in Mage 20. If your individual troupe wants to feature sorcerers among the mages, go for it. The following chapters and rules do not address that subject – there’s simply not enough room here to do justice to the idea.

译注：实际上在2022年，Onyx Path官方推出了基于《法师20》规则用的《术士》资源书。详情见链接

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

第一部分：一部觉醒者的历史 Part I: An Awakened History

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这一切从何而起呢？

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Where did it all begin?

这一直是个问题，不是吗？特别是当你与觉醒者讨论此事时，这不是一个你可以肯定地回答的问题。真相，我们假设真的存在那么一个的话，那它一直在神话中纠缠不清。不过，我们确实知道一点。

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That’s always the question, isn’t it? And especially when you’re talking to and about the Awakened, it’s not a question you can answer with surety. The truth, assuming one exists, keeps getting tangled up in mythologies. We do know this much, though:

这一切源于一场爆炸。

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It started with a bang.

根据许多的神话，宇宙之声——一句话、一首歌、一记霹雳——穿透了空无一物的虚空，将其充满无限可能。一，或无，成为了所有。这可能是某种大爆炸，或是一声石破天惊的“唵”，抑或是一个神性存在将自己粉碎了投入无限之中……说真的，这些可能性不都只是以不同的方式看待同一件事吗？不管是什么原因，总之，虚空破裂了，造物流溢了出来。

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According to many myths, a cosmic Sound – a phrase, a song, a thunderbolt – cracked through the empty Void, filling it with possibilities. One, or Nothing, became All. Was this some Big Bang, a titanic OM, a godhead shattering itself into infinity… and really, aren’t they all just different ways of looking at the same thing? Whatever the cause, the Void broke and Creation spilled forth.

度过了无限的时光。群星闪耀。转动的石球冷却后成为世界。有人说，在那些最早的日子里，神圣的手穿过水面，将事物各得其所。众神间的战火肆虐着，而他们的屠杀塑造了宇宙。神祗们纷纷把自己的仆人投入深渊，而神性亦把自己撕成两半——光明和黑暗，划分成过去的破碎外壳和现在的明亮球体。也许这只是对自然力量的神话化叙述......或许还有其他的情况。而真相，就像它经常遭受的待遇那样，被时间和空间所掩盖。

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Infinities passed. Stars blazed. Balls of spinning stone cooled to become worlds. It’s been said that in those earliest days, holy hands passed over waters and set things into place. God-wars raged and their carnage shaped the universe. Deities cast their servants down into an Abyss, and that Divinity tore itself in half – Light and Darkness, the broken shells of what was and the bright spheres of what is. Perhaps it was simply a mythologized play of natural forces… or maybe there was something more. The truth, as it so often is, was lost to time and space.

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[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

觉醒纪元 The Awakening Era

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这些力量塑造了我们所知的地球——也许是天堂的御宝，或者，只是众多在宇宙中旋转的岩石中的一块。无论如何，地球一直是我们的家。传说中，在最初的日子里，众神，我们世界中的巨人，在这个家园上行走。他们塑造了它，确立了对它的统治，选择了他们的人民，并使我们的世界成形。

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These forces shaped the Earth we know – a crown jewel of Heaven, perhaps, or just one spinning rock among the multitude. In any case, this has always been our home. In the First Days, legends claim, the gods walked across that home, giants in our world. They shaped it, claimed it, chose their people, and set our world into form.

有些人声称，元神，即分裂的太一的鲜活碎片，化身为人类的肉体；其他的传说中，我们从兽类中崛起，成长为这个世界的主人，或者，我们是作为某个伟大种族的仆人出生的，而那个伟大种族现在已然被时间所遗忘。有些故事中描述到动物和人类曾经同属一家，是一个有着多层外皮的民族；另一些神话则说，存在一个独一的神，祂拥有着一个庭园，而我们因不服从祂而坠落。据称，我们很久以前就聚集在世界的中心须弥山，或在一座巨大的塔周围，这座塔颤抖着，然后轰然倒塌在废墟中。这些即是原始时代和伊甸时代，当人类的起源从众多神话中升起的时候。可以肯定的是，魔法和人类的历史都是在这个巨大的时间跨度中开始的。

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Some folks claim that Pure Ones, living shards of the divided One, incarnated themselves into human flesh; other tales say we rose from beasthood to claim this world or that we were born as servitors to some Great Race now lost to time. There are stories telling how animals and humans were once family, one People with many skins; other myths tell of a single God who claimed a Garden from which we Fell through disobedience to Him. We are said to have gathered long ago at Mount Meru, the center of the world, or around a great Tower that trembled and then fell to ruins. These are the Primordial and Edenic Ages, when human origins rise from myths. What is certain is that both magick and humanity began in this vast span of time.

在我们是猎人之前，我们人类才是猎物。据称，一场大堕落将我们从伊甸园中赶出，破坏了我们世界的天伦和谐。怪物们追着我们到山洞里，用爪子探入我们最深的记忆。从某种伟大的恩典中堕落后，我们成为恶魔和魔鬼的掌上玩具。这是掠夺者的时代，当时我们像受惊的老鼠一样在阴影中四散奔逃。不过，随着时间的推移，火与石、魔法与信仰将怪物们赶了回去。我们形成了部落、信条和技术，它们将我们与野兽区分开。

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Before we were hunters, we humans became prey. A Great Fall supposedly cast us down from Eden and wrecked celestial harmony in our world. Monsters chased us to our caves, clawing their way into our deepest memories. Fallen from some greater grace, we became toys for demons and fiends. This is the Predatory Age, when we ran through the shadows like frightened mice. In time, though, fire and stone, magick and faith drove the monsters back. We formed tribes, creeds, technologies, and they separated us from the beasts.

也许众多王国崛起了——我们现在只记得传说中的名字，如亚特兰蒂斯、姆、海伯利亚和挪得。或者，也许我们只是在尘泥中挣扎了数千年，紧抓着工具，从野蛮的起源中将自己拉出。我们有过大灾难——我们对此了解颇多：众多火灾、洪水、冰河世纪和陨石。那些传说中的王国（如果它们一开始就存在的话）沦为废墟。在这个大灾变时代，人类进步了，被击碎了，又重新崛起了。傲慢，我们致命的骄傲，可能要为这个破碎的时代负责。如果这是真的，那么同样的骄傲会将我们从废墟中带回来。

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Perhaps kingdoms rose – empires we remember now only as legendary names like Atlantis, Mu, Hyperboria, and Nod. Or maybe we just scrabbled in the dirt for millennia, grasping at tools and pulling ourselves up from feral origins. There were cataclysms, though – we know that much: fires, floods, icy ages, and falling stars. Those legendary kingdoms (if they’d existed to begin with) fell into ruins. In this Cataclysm Age, humanity advanced, was broken, and rose again. Hubris, our fatal pride, might have been to blame for this Shattered Time. If this is true, though, then that same pride brought us back from ruin.

而魔法和科技指引了前路。

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And magick and technology led the way.

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

传奇纪元 The Legendary Era

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在漫长的部落时代，人类的残余开始向上挣扎。部落又一次缓慢地扩张到村庄、城镇和城市。在这一切之中，觉醒的领袖们铺平了道路，与怪物战斗，向人们分享他们的秘艺。金属制品、陶器、巫术、语言、数学和神话都促进了更伟大的东西的诞生。然而，一些法师成为了暴君，奴役他们的对手或将定居点夷为平地。在帝国的黎明中，大城市成为智慧、贸易和战争的中心。印度、中国、美索不达米亚和非洲见证了我们记忆中的文明的最初激荡。一个英雄时代从他们身上诞生了——一个在神话和经文中回忆的时代，在这个时代，神、人和怪物在这个初露曙光的世界上战斗。

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In a long Tribal Age, the remnants of humanity began to struggle upward. Once again, tribes swelled slowly into villages, towns, and cities. Through it all, Awakened leaders paved the way, battling monsters and sharing their Arts. Metalwork, pottery, witchcraft, language, math, and mythology all led to greater things. Some mages, though, became tyrants, enslaving their rivals or burning settlements to the ground. At the Dawn of Empires, large cities became hubs of wisdom, trade, and warfare. India, China, Mesopotamia, and Africa saw the first stirrings of our remembered civilizations. A Heroic Age arose from them – an age recalled in myths and scriptures in which gods, men, and monsters battled across this dawning world.

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

古典纪元 The Classical Era

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利剑和咒语开辟了通往古典时代的道路，那个时代为我们的现代奠定了基础：以色列。特洛伊。巴比伦。秦。梅罗伊。奥尔梅克人、波斯人、努比亚人、迈锡尼人、雅利安人等等。庞大的帝国创造了更伟大的文明，将贸易和战争带到他们所接触的每一个地方。广泛的旅行和征服网络横跨非洲、亚洲和欧洲，交换魔法、商品、技术和信条。一个令人振奋的炼金术成就孕育了直到今天仍然存在的派系。经文被写入经典，文本被记录在案。尽管我们现在称为澳大利亚和美洲的遥远陆地将在两千多年内与这种相互作用隔绝，但这些地方开始见证自己的艺术和文化的成长。

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Swords and spells carved a path toward the Classical Era, when the foundations were laid for our modern age: Israel. Troy. Babylon. Qin. Meroe. The Olmecs, Persians, Nubians, Mycenaens, Aryans, and so forth. Vast empires forged greater civilizations, bringing trade and war to every place they touched. Extensive networks of travel and conquest crossed Africa, Asia, and Europe, exchanging magicks, goods, technologies, and creeds. A heady alchemy of achievements bred sects that still exist today. Scriptures were written, texts set down. And although the distant landmasses we now call Australia and the Americas will remain isolated from this interplay for over two thousand years, these places began to see their own Arts and cultures grow.

在这一进程当中，来自世界各地的法师们联合在一起结为团契，或者彼此划分为交战的部族。崇死者、欢喜徒、空明修士和宫廷巫师与巫师、萨满、贤者、祭司和先知发生冲突或联合。哲学家和工匠培育了艺术和科学；先知们宣布严厉的言辞和奇迹。现代法师派系的起源开始了他们彼此之间的问题之舞，形成了甚至现在仍在继续的竞争和联盟。魔法、信仰和科学开始相互区分，导致了关于真理和异端的斗争。有时，这些对手相敬如宾；在其他时候，他们之间的冲突把众多城市化作尘土。

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Through it all, mages from around the world joined together in fellowships, or else divided themselves into warring clans. Thanatoics, Ecstatics, Akashics, and courtly wizards clashed or joined with witches, shamans, sages, priests, and seers. Philosophers and artisans cultivated Arts and Sciences; prophets hurled harsh words and miracles. The origins of modern mage-sects began their problematic dance with one another, shaping rivalries and alliances that continue even now. Magick, faith, and science started distinguishing themselves from one another, leading to battles over the source of truth and heresy. At some times, these rivals met respectfully; at others, they turned cities into sand and ash.

大约起源于这个时期的书面语言保存了这一时期的名字、事件和帝国：伊姆霍泰普、亚伯拉罕、*苏莱曼、黄帝和老子、杰胡缇和瑟希塔、摩西、代达罗斯等等。时至今日，英雄、神明、传说和法师之间的界限依然模糊。一些伟大的壮举发生了，其中一些我们还记得，许多却丢失了。在那段朦胧的早期历史中，真相也充其量是值得商榷的。

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Written language, originating around this time, preserved names, events, and empires from this period: Imhotep, Abraham, Suleiman, Huangdi and Lao Tsu, Djhowtey and Sesheta, Moses, Daedalus, and many more. The lines between heroes, gods, legends, and mages of this time remain blurry to this day. Great things happened, some of which we remember, many of which got lost. In that hazy early history, truth is debatable at best.

*译者注：此处苏莱曼可能指代伊斯兰教文化中的“先知苏莱曼”，即犹太-希伯来文化中的“所罗门王”。在阿拉伯语里， “苏莱曼Suleiman”即是“所罗门Solomon”的转写。

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喜马拉雅战争 The Himalayan Wars

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其中一场冲突具有特殊意义：喜马拉雅战争。公元前900年左右，印度的崇死者和亚洲的空明修士之间彼此形成了深刻的误解；这种误解引发了一场持续数个世纪的战争，在敌对的双方之间留下了永久的不信任。由于双方都信奉轮回，在整个冲突中被杀的法师不断重生，再次进行战斗。在后来的日子里，人们会说这场冲突是有意发生的——为了铸造他们后来的道成肉身，两个团体都需要为此燃起战火。但无论是哪种情况，对所有相关的人员来说，结果都是相当悲惨的。空明修会——起源于现今的西藏某地——向东和向西进一步发展，而他们的对手则在印度次大陆进一步扎根。秘法冲突中最为恶劣的行为在*东南亚与北非地区时隐时现了600多年。

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One of those conflicts holds special significance: the Himalayan Wars. Around 900 BCE, groups of Indian Thanatoics and Asian Akashics suffered a profound misunderstanding; that misunderstanding provoked a war that raged for centuries and left permanent distrust between the rival factions. Because both sides embraced reincarnation, mages slain throughout the conflict kept being reborn to fight it again. In later years, it will be said that this conflict was intentional – a fire through which both groups needed to pass in order to forge their later incarnations. In either case, it was rather miserable for all concerned. The Akashayana – originating somewhere in present-day Tibet – moved further east and west, whereas their rivals dug in further in the Indian subcontinent. The worst elements of mystic conflict flickered across Lower Asia and Upper Africa for over 600 years.

*译者注：此处原文为"Lower Asia and Upper Africa"，为英语文化中的非正式地理名词，前者用于指代以"中南半岛"与"马来群岛"为主的东南亚地区，后者用于指代"与撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲地区"相对的北部非洲地区。

战争是整个时期的标志；凯尔特人遍布欧洲；希腊人、波斯人、亚述人、努比亚人、中国人、朝鲜人、雅利安人、埃及人、希伯来人和其他文化的人用敌人的鲜血与皮囊为他们奠基。伟大的发现和艺术也定义了这一时期，但整个世界似乎都在战争中。一个群体的伟大往往来自于将其他群体踩在地上。似乎一次只能容下一个真相。

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War marked this entire period; Celts ranged across Europe; Greeks, Persians, Assyrians, Nubians, Chinese, Koreans, Aryans, Egyptians, Hebrews, and other cultures wet their foundations with the blood and skins of their enemies. Great discoveries and arts defined this period too, but the entire world seemed to be at war. The greatness of one group often came from stomping other groups into the ground. There can be room, it seemed, for only one truth at a time.

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根据你的意愿塑造现实 Shaping Reality to Your Will

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在这一时期，法师们发现了一个奇怪的原理：现实并非一成不变；其规范根据主导此地的信念而变化。如果你统治一片土地，你统治它的人民，那么你也开始统治它的现实。某些形式的魔法或技术在某些地方繁荣，但在其他地方行不通。这一发现导致法师们为领土而战——开始塑造我们今天所知世界的形而上学帝国主义。

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In this period, mages discovered a strange principle: reality is not constant; its parameters shift and change depending on the dominant beliefs. If you rule a land, and you rule its people, then you begin to rule its reality too. Certain forms of magick or technology prospered in some places and failed in others. This discovery led mages to fight over territory – to begin a metaphysical imperialism that shaped the world we know today.

一些法师成为了征服者或君主；然而，大多数人将自己的权力置于王座之后，或者替那些似乎对这个群体或那个帝国不满意的神代言。相当多的法师只是划定自己的领土，并保护它们不受敌对法师的侵害。“法师”这个词就是在这个时候出现的，它用于描述一个献身于某些波斯神的祭司团体……实际上，是一种优等的法师。尽管如此，这种神圣的、神秘的献身精神的内涵最终将用于描述那些用意志力扭曲现实的人。

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Some mages became conquerors or monarchs; most, however, put their power behind the throne or spoke for gods that seemed unhappy with this group or that empire. Quite a few of them simply staked out their own territories and defended them from rival mages. The word “mage” appeared around this time, defining a priestly order dedicated to certain Persian gods… really, a select type of mage. Still, that connotation ofsacred, mystic dedication will eventually define the folks who bend Reality with force of Will.

匠艺——启蒙技术的秘艺——伟大的哲学家、科学家和工匠们重新定义了可能性。这些男男女女与神秘主义者并肩，创造了神话时代以来最伟大的文明。神奇的机器和巨大的建筑成就主宰了古典世界。与先知、预言家和女巫的血腥秘艺相比，这些成就让所有其他门派看起来都很野蛮。这种紧张关系——文明的秩序之师与野蛮的混沌之群——成为人类文化决定性组成部分。

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Artisanship – the Art of Enlightened Technology – attained new heights in China and Greece. Great philosophers, scientists, and artisans redefined possibility. Side by side with mystics, these men and women forged the greatest civilizations since the mythic Hyperborian Age. Miraculous machines and titanic feats of architecture dominated the Classical world. In contrast with the bloody Arts of prophets, seers, and witches, these achievements made all other crafts seem positively… barbaric. That tension – civilized Masters of Order versus barbaric Hordes of Chaos – became a defining element of human culture.

在这些成就的阴影下，其他的派系则破坏了文明。某些法师和邪教致力于传播腐化和骄傲，而另一些则疯狂地破坏他们所接触的一切。“劫夺者”和“灭世者”这两个名字的出现还在遥远的未来；然而，在传奇纪元和古典纪元的角落，仍然可以感受到它们的影响。

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In the shadows of these achievements, other sects undermined civilization. Certain mages and cults dedicated themselves to corruption and pride, whereas others went mad and destroyed everything they touched. The names Marauder and Nephandi were still far in the future; their effects, however, could be felt along the seams of the Legendary Age and Classical Era.

其他地区也改进了他们的启蒙秘艺。在每一块大陆上，人类文化都蓬勃发展，每个大陆都有自己类型的神秘主义者和工匠。尽管中国、波斯、希腊，以及之后的罗马都定义了这个时代的历史，但你可以在世界上任何地方找到法师：变形师、药师、巫师、祭司、哲学家、治疗师、工匠和预言家。某些法师致力于增进公众的利益，但其他法师召唤怪物并通过恐惧来统治人民。人类的足迹广为散布；险棘横在人类和精魂界域之间变得越来越厚。信仰与文化塑造了人类……而再一次地，人类反过来又重塑了我们的世界。

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Other regions, too, refined their Enlightened Arts. On every continent, human cultures thrived, each with its own types of mystics and artisans. Although China, Persia, Greece, and soon Rome defined this era’s history, you could find mages anywhere in the world: shapechangers, medicine-folk, witches, priests, philosophers, healers, craftsmen, and seers. Certain mages worked to improve the common good, but others summoned monsters and ruled through fear. Humanity spread; the Gauntlet thickened between the human and spirit realms. Belief and culture shaped humanity… and humanity, in turn, reshaped our world. Again.

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现代法师派系浮现 Modern Mage Factions Emerge

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在整个古典时代形成了一些团体。尽管其中的许多在很长一段时间内都不会以如下的名字为人所知，但他们最终将定义现代的现实之战：

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Several groups took shape throughout the Classical Era. Although many of them won’t be known by the following names for quite some time to come, they’ll eventually define the modern battles for reality:

• 赫尔墨斯密会，出现在埃及、希腊、努比亚和罗马。
• 筑龙尊师，中国的神圣工匠与技术专家。
• 毕达哥拉斯主义者，其对魔法和技术的应用催生了神秘主义派系和技官派系。
• 戒律学院，启蒙匠艺的最高学府。
• 空明修会，空明修士间互为手足组成的团体，其神秘之道涉及和谐与暴力。
• 转轮之民，团结在一起，以免受空明战士攻击的崇死者修士。
• 阿里巴廷，从喜马拉雅战争中出现，成为一支致力于平衡与团结的力量。
• 厄琉西斯教派，其狂喜、死亡和重生的奥秘将影响数千个神秘主义派系和秘密社团的兴起和实践，无论是觉醒者还是其他。
• 伟大之母神庙，以其众多名讳在整个古典世界组成了势力网络。
• 密特拉教派，一位英雄神祗的战争祭祀。
• 德鲁伊，以松散的联盟指导着凯尔特之地的自然祭司。
• 恩戈-阿米，来自上非洲的努比亚巫师-工匠。
• 乌佐玛，来自非洲北部和中部的讲灵者，他们的道路将被分散但不会被遗忘。
• 巫龙，中华帝国的宫廷巫师。
• 弥赛亚之声，在耶稣的传教之后出现。
• 塔夫尼，受智者苏莱曼的启发，波斯和阿拉伯神圣秘艺的“编织者”
• 佛教圣人，改变了亚洲宗教和世俗信仰。
• ……以及亚伯拉罕先知，他们炽热的话语启发了犹太教、基督教和伊斯兰教。

在东南亚、北非和南欧充满活力的交汇处，这些群体和其他组织创造了帝国、魔法、技术和信仰的黄金时代。
它持续了几个世纪…但没有什么能永远持续下去。

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In the vibrant intersection of Lower Asia, Upper Africa, and Lower Europe, these groups, and others, create a Golden Age of Empires, Magic, Technology, and Faith.
It lasted for centuries… but nothing endures forever.

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

圣杯与苇笔 The Cup and the Reed

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根据赫尔墨斯密会的传说，我们可以将秘学九宗和科技联盟的组建追溯到古埃及的一次聚会。两位统治者--哈特谢普苏特王后和图特摩斯三世--据说在公元前1480年左右的某个时候召集了来自已知世界的一众圣人、神职人员、工匠和预言家。从这些不同的人中形成了两个团体——伊西斯的捧杯者和托特的苇笔——统治者们短暂地联合了交战的各个派别，为未来的结盟创造了共同的基础。

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According to Hermetic lore, we can date the foundations of the Nine Traditions and Technocratic Order to a gathering in ancient Egypt. Two rulers – Hatshepsut and Thothmes III – supposedly gather a collection of sages, clerics, artisans, and seers from across the known world sometime around 1480 BCE. Forming two orders from these disparate individuals – the Cupbearers of Isis and the Reed of Thothmes – the rulers briefly unite warring factions and create common ground for future alliances.

在以后的岁月里，如果有人回忆起，这场聚会将被称为神话。不过，赫尔墨斯密会一派坚持认为，在他们的档案中有相关证据……或者至少，在多塞梯堡陷落之前，这种证据曾经存在过。在任何情况下，这些团体或结社都为更好地理解魔法、信仰和科学提供了基础。从这一点开始，这三种秘艺都将发展、进步和繁荣……虽然经常通过彼此的联盟和战争来实现。

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In later years, this gathering will be called a myth, if it’s recalled at all. The Hermetics, though, insist they have proof in their archives… or at least, that such proof used to exist before the fall of Doissetep. In any case, these orders, or lodges, provide a foundation for greater understandings of magick, faith, and science. From this point onward, all three Arts will grow, advance, and prosper… often through alliances and wars with one another.

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

《以太之书》The Kitab al-Alacir

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扎根于这个纪元的发现，各种希腊的观察资料最终被阿拉伯学者收集到Kitab al-Alacir："以太之书"。这部自相矛盾的文本涵盖了神话、谜题、对话、哲学，以及对无法编纂的真理的沉思。这部受人尊敬的古老作品并没有像凡人所理解的那样呈现事实，而是激发了那些能够把握其中微妙含义的人的觉醒。在创作几个世纪后，《以太之书》仍然是以太学会的重要教科书，他们将其形而上学的复杂性视为理解的基础。

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Rooted in the discoveries of this era, a variety of Greek observations are eventually collected by Arab scholars into the Kitab al-Alacir: “Book of the Ether.” This paradoxical text spans mythology, puzzles, dialogues, philosophies, and ruminations on truths that remain impossible to codify. Rather than present facts as mortals understand the term, this venerable work inspires Awakenings in the people who manage to grasp its slippery implications. Centuries after its composition, the Kitab remains an essential textbook for – of all people – the Etherite Scientists, who view its metaphysical complexities as the foundation of understanding.

《以太之书》将特洛伊比喻为宇宙，将特洛伊战争隐喻为人类的意识，它假设认识包括可以被接受的理念与应当可能存在的理念之间有永恒的冲突。因此，每个人都必须成为“特洛伊英雄”，在追求终极真理的斗争中追求荣耀。因为只有最勇敢和最投入的灵魂才有决心成为这样的英雄，所以大多数人在这个形而上的特洛伊城的城墙内外都将只是士兵。

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Using the analogy of Troy as the cosmos and the Trojan War as a metaphor for human consciousness, the Kitab postulates that understanding involves a perpetual conflict between what can be accepted and what must be possible. Each person must therefore become a “hero of Troy,” pursuing glory in the struggle for ultimate truth. Because only the bravest and most dedicated souls possess the determination to become such heroes, most people will remain mere soldiers inside or outside the walls of this metaphysical Troy.

在这场冲突中（以及整本《以太之书》令人费解的批注中），每个读者都必须找到自己的答案。然而，这部作品的核心似乎是：一切都是现实的，但并非一切都是真实的。当我们把现实的东西变成真实时，我们创造了艺术和科学的奇迹；当我们捏造事实来否认某件事是现实的时，我们就会制造灾难。

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In that conflict (and its labyrinthine commentary throughout the Kitab), each reader must find his or her own answers. The core of the work, though, seems to be this: everything is REAL, but not everything is TRUE. When we take what’s real and make it true, we create miracles of Art and Science; when we craft truths to deny that something’s real, we create disaster.

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

秘法盛世 The High Mythic Ages

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当受帝国压迫的 “野蛮人”开始啃食帝国，渗透帝国，并逐渐将其摧毁时，裂痕就出现了。基督的诞生预示着旧神的陨落。随着诸部落的文化发展壮大，不同的信仰产生了冲突。埃及、希腊、迦太基、以色列、罗马、波斯和其他帝国的狂妄导致了它们的扩张、崩溃和落入他人之手。汪达尔人、西哥特人和匈人把城市变成了废墟。中华帝国在内部战争和外部入侵的并举中风雨飘摇，最终分裂成三个交战的王国。到公元600年左右，古典帝国基本消失了......而随他们一同消失的，是它们对大众现实的掌控。在这种帝国和派系的起伏中，魔法、信仰与科学的宏伟之举主导了这个时代。

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The cracks appeared as “barbarians” oppressed by empires began to gnaw at the empires, infiltrated them, and gradually tore them down. The birth of the Christ heralded the fall of older gods. Faiths clashed as tribal cultures grew to hordes. The hubris of Egypt, Greece, Carthage, Israel, Rome, Persia, and other empires led to their expansion, collapse, and assumption into other hands. Vandals, Visigoths, and Huns turned cities into ruins. China’s empire teetered between internal wars and external invasions, eventually breaking into three warring kingdoms. By around 600 CE, the Classical empires were mostly gone… and with them, their hold on mass reality. In this surge and ebb of empires and sects, grand acts of magick, faith, and science dominated the age.

后来的日子将把罗马崩溃后的时代称为黑暗时代，但这种想法确实不正确。尽管大多数希腊-罗马文化在欧洲历史的夹缝中滑落，中国仍然遭受重创和分裂，但其仍然强大。南亚享受着印度的黄金时代。朝鲜和西藏作为充满活力的地区政权而出现，玛雅文化在南美与北非地区的阿克苏姆也有类似的扩张。异教魔法的黄金时代统治了欧洲，凯尔特人、皮克特人、日耳曼人、斯拉夫人、斯堪的纳维亚人和希腊-罗马人的法师都在施行他们的秘艺。基督教法师开始在整个欧洲铸造跨文化帝国，非洲柏柏尔-摩尔人征服了伊比利亚半岛。与此同时，先知的军队在非洲、中东、亚洲部分地区和欧洲部分地区传播了新生的伊斯兰教教义。恩戈-阿米和他们的人民为了逃离穆斯林的扩张，进一步深入非洲，沿途建立了城市和教派。这种人口的流动和文化的混合助长了巫术的黄金时代。

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Later days will call the era after Rome’s collapse the Dark Ages, but that idea really isn’t true. Although most of Greco-Roman culture slipped between the cracks of Europe’s history, China remained battered and divided and yet still strong. Lower Asia enjoyed the Golden Age of India. Korea and Tibet emerged as vibrant powers, with similar expansions of the Mayan culture in Lower America and the Axum in Upper Africa. A Golden Age of Pagan Magick dominated Europe as Celtic, Pictish, Germanic, Slavic, Scandinavian, and GrecoRoman mages worked their Arts. Christian mystics began to forge a cross-cultural empire throughout Europe, and African Berber Moors conquered the Iberian Peninsula. Meanwhile, the armies of the Prophet spread the new-born creed of Islam across Africa, the Middle East, parts of Asia, and segments of Europe. The Ngo-Ami and their people crossed further down into Africa to escape this Muslim expansion, founding cities and sects along the way. This mix of culture and liberty fueled the Golden Age of Wizardry.

没有罗马的中心化影响和技术，在异教范式的帮助下，欧洲大部分地区成为了对任何足够强大的法师的 "开放领土"。三国鼎立的局面为整个中国提供了类似的自由，而印度、北非和阿拉伯-波斯文化（也受到入侵的打击）则将高等魔法接受为其现实的一部分。世界上大多数人都认为魔法是完全真实的，所以那些技法符合区域文化的法师（几乎所有的法师都是如此）享有宏大的权力。古典纪元广泛的文化交流与蛮族的征服所释放出来的神秘自由相结合，使魔法秘艺在这一时期达到了前所未有的高度。随着新的炼金术——源于希腊和阿拉伯法师之手——这些秘艺使得对于神秘的追求达到了辉煌的程度。当现代巫师谈到“秘法时代”时，他们通常指的是这个时代。

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Without the centralized influence and technologies of Rome and aided by the Pagan paradigm, most of Europe became “open territory” for any mage strong enough to take it. The embattled Three Kingdoms provided similar freedom throughout China, whereas the Indian, North African, and Arab-Persian cultures (also battered by invasions) embraced high magick as part of their realities. Most of the world accepted magick as perfectly real, so mages whose practices fit the regional cultures (as nearly all of them do) enjoyed grand power. The extensive cultural exchanges of the Classical Era combined with the mystical freedoms unleashed by the barbarian conquests refined the mystic Arts to unprecedented heights by this period. With the new Art of alchemy – originated by Greek and Arabian mages – these Arts allowed for a glorious range of mystic pursuits. When modern wizards speak of “the Mythic Age,” they’re usually referring to this era.

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鲜血，激情，与元素 Blood, Passion, and the Elements

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听到传统法师谈论它，你会认为欧洲中世纪是一个充满无限奇迹和壮丽的时代。事实上，那个时代肮脏、残酷、充满痛苦。各个采邑制封地在战争和饥荒之间摇摇欲坠，而日益腐败的教会的影响越来越大，在风暴中提供着安慰。怪兽充斥着夜晚，而辛劳充斥着白天。为了适应罗马行道和城市而被砍伐的森林重新生长，变得茂密而危险。道路废弛，废墟倒塌。各路国王和军阀试图维护罗马的法律和体制，工匠们保留了失落的古典时代的技术。基督教僧侣成为法律、科学和文学的守护者，他们的图书馆是科尔多瓦和拜占庭之间保存此类知识的少数地方。骄傲的异教徒深入到鲜血、激情和元素的古道中，用充满了嫉妒、恐惧和钦佩的含义来丰满“女巫”一词的意思。

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To hear Tradition mages talk about it, you’d think that the European Middle Ages were a time of unbridled wonder and magnificence. In fact, the era was nasty, brutal, and filled with pain. Fiefdoms trembled between war and starvation, with the growing influence of an increasingly corrupt Church offering comfort in the storm. Monsters filled the nighttime hours, and toil filled the days. Forests that had been cut back to accommodate Roman roads and cities regrew, thick and perilous. Roads crumbled and ruins tumbled. Various kings and warlords attempted to preserve Roman laws and government, and artisans retained technologies of the lost Classical Age. Christian monks became the keepers of law, science, and literature, with their libraries being the few places between Cordoba and Byzantium where such knowledge was preserved. Proud Pagans reached deep into the Old Ways of blood, passion, and the elements, filling the word “witch” with connotations of envy, horror, and admiration.

这个时代的确存在某种自由……被谋杀、被吸干或被拖进瘟疫患者推车的自由。异教法师和他们的基督教同行在整个大陆范围内进行着神秘的战斗；穆斯林给基督教世界的边缘施加着压力，享受着欧洲人难以想象的繁荣。但在这个荒凉的时代，那些战争、瘟疫和外敌入侵从未到达过的地方，出现了希望的闪现。这是一个充满活力的时期，充满了探索、实验和汗牛充栋的魔法。然而，对于普通欧洲人来说，这也是一个令人沮丧的时代。许多人信奉魔法的秘艺，哪怕只是为了缓解极度贫困、饥荒、农活和战争之苦。

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There was freedom of a sort in this age… the freedom to be murdered, sucked dry, or hauled off in a plague-cart. Pagan mages and their Christian counterparts fought mysterious battles throughout the continent; Muslims pressed the edges of Christendom, enjoying a prosperity few Europeans could imagine. There were flashes of hope in this desolate age, places where the wars, plagues, and invasions never reached. And it was a vigorous time, filled with inquiry, experiments, and lots and lots of magick. Still, it was also a dismal era for the common European. Many folks embraced the mystic Arts, if only as relief from crushing poverty, famine, field work, and war.

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信仰之网 The Web of Faith

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对伊斯兰来说，这是一个科学、信仰和魔法几乎无法区分的黄金时代。Mokteshaf-Al-Nour——“执光人”——体现了这一融合，将安拉的信条与古老的智慧结合起来，打造出新的神秘技术。塔夫尼是一个松散的游牧民族群体，在650年以这个名字组建了一个单独的团体；724年，阿里巴廷创建了一张信仰之网；756年，中东法师组成的联盟终于结束了统治中东长达六个世纪的魔君之年。穆斯林和犹太学者收集了零散的古典成就的残余，然后在此基础上进行了扩展。卡巴拉主义，一个精心设计的犹太神秘主义传统，来自于这种思想的融合和文化的繁荣。

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For Islam, this was a Golden Age in which science, faith, and magick became almost indistinguishable. The Mokteshaf Al-Hour –“Collectors of Light” – epitomized this fusion, combining Allah’s creed with ancient wisdom to forge new mystical technologies. The Taftâni – a loose collection of nomads until then – forged a single group under that name in 650; the Ahl-i-Batin created a Web of Faith in 724; and in 756, an alliance of these mages finally ended an infernal Devil-King Age that had dominated the Middle East for six centuries. Muslim and Jewish scholars collected the scattered remnants of Classical achievement, then expanded upon them. Kabbalism, an elaborate tradition of Jewish mysticism, came from this conflux of ideas and prosperity.

伊斯兰教扩展到整个地中海欧洲和上非洲，在先知的旗帜下融合了努比亚、埃及、波斯和阿拉伯的各种异教和古典传统。王国在非洲内陆蓬勃发展，在那里，恩戈-阿米推出一种融合了埃及、希腊、穆斯林、琐罗亚斯德教和异教非洲元素的非洲高等仪式魔法。其他的团体也出现了，但在这所谓的“中世纪”期间，恩戈-阿米、乌佐玛、巴蒂尼、塔夫尼和执光人以及未结盟的索汉奇（sohanci，“巫师”）统治着该地区。

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Islam expanded throughout Mediterranean Europe and upper Africa, melding various Pagan and Classical traditions from Nubia, Egypt, Persia, and Arabia under the banner of the Prophet. Kingdoms thrived in the African interior, where the Ngo-Ami pursued an African discipline of High Ritual Magick that blended Egyptian, Greek, Muslim, Zoroastrian, and Pagan African elements. Other groups appeared as well, but the Ngo-Ami, Uzoma, Batini, Taftâni, and Mokteshafi, along with unaligned sohanci (“wizards”), dominated the region during these so-called “middle ages.”

在欧洲，北非柏柏尔人和阿拉伯人统治了伊比利亚半岛的大部分地区——今天的西班牙和葡萄牙——当时被称为安达卢斯，是中世纪欧洲文明的顶峰。与大多数欧洲国家一样，安达卢斯被划分为经常分裂的诸多小王国，成为学术、艺术和魔法的中心，罗马、希腊和埃及的许多“失落”秘密在这里继续繁荣。尽管后人会将这个时代称为“摩尔征服”，但安达卢斯持续了700多年，在相对和平与繁荣中培育了穆斯林、犹太和基督教文化……和平最终以两个国家的血腥崛起而告终，这两个国家将摧毁安达卢斯的文明，并带来横跨五大洲的征服、奴役和战争的时代。

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In Europe, North African Berbers and Arabs ruled most of the Iberian Peninsula – modern-day Spain and Portugal – then known as Al-Andalus, a pinnacle of medieval European civilization. Divided, like most of Europe, into often-fractious kingdoms, Al-Andalus became a hub of scholarship, art, and magick where many of the “lost” secrets of Rome, Greece, and Egypt continued to flourish. Although later generations will dismiss this era as “the Moorish conquest,” Al-Andalus lasted over 700 years and nurtured Muslim, Jewish, and Christian cultures in relative peace and prosperity… a peace that ends in the bloody rise of two nations that will crush civilizations and usher in an age of conquest, slavery, and war across five continents.

巫师和女巫、牧师与骑士 Wizards and Witches, Clerics and Knights

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经过几个世纪敌对派系之间的小冲突，赫尔墨斯密会于767年的冬至之夜齐聚一堂。诺斯替预言家崔诺玛女士预见赫尔墨斯之道即将崩溃，因此她召集盟友创立了一个神秘的联盟。这些巫师被细分为12个学派，他们致力于一种协同形式的高等仪式魔法。密会很快就享受到可能是其最大的胜利，通过击败了一名土耳其亡灵巫师，并从他手中夺取了一个名为多塞梯堡的宏伟要塞。

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After centuries of skirmishes between rival factions, the Order of Hermes came together on Midwinter Night, 767. Lady Trianoma, a Gnostic seer, foresaw the imminent collapse of the Hermetic way, so she gathered allies to establish a mystic alliance. Divided into 12 Houses, these wizards pursued a synergetic form of High Ritual Magick. The Order enjoyed perhaps its greatest triumph soon afterward, defeating a Turkish necromancer and, from him, seizing the massive stronghold called Doissetep.

而大约在同一时间，一个基督教武士-法师团体向查理曼大帝宣誓效忠，这与亚瑟王和他的卡美洛骑士团的古老传说相呼应。这些圣骑士们借鉴了古典知识、罗马化基督教以及后来即将被称为“骑士精神”的思想的萌芽。认识到了潜在的威胁，异教徒法师结成了松散的联盟，这些联盟有时被称为灵语者、强大之人和旧日信仰。

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Around the same time, an order of Christian warrior-magi swore fealty to Emperor Charlemagne, echoing an older legend of King Arthur and his Knights of Camelot. These Palatine Knights drew upon Classical lore, Romanized Christianity, and the nascent form of what will soon be called “chivalry.” Recognizing a potential threat, Pagan mystics banded together in loose confederations sometimes referred to as Spirit Talkers, Valdaermen, and devotees of the Old Faith.

当然还有一些其他的团体，而他们的秘艺和造物很快就会粉碎这个世界……

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And there were other groups too, whose Arts and Craft would soon shatter this world…

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真龙天子 The Dragon Emperor

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在亚洲，分裂的中国在混乱中度过了这一时期的大半时间，被战争、阴谋、异议和蒙古人和突厥人的定期入侵所撕裂。各个部族的大工匠们忙于发明武器、修筑防御工事和研究其他战争技术。与中国本身一样，巫龙也将自己分成了不同的派别——一些派别与空明修士结盟，而另一些派别与他们作战。空明修会则完善了毁灭性的自卫秘术，但开始转向更和平的修道生活。尽管中国、吐蕃和印度各法师派系之间存在内部分歧，但以前的“战争铁拳”们现在空明之道的指导下争取团结……而且，在大多数情况下，他们寻得了团结。

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In Asia, a divided China spent most of this period in chaos, torn by war, intrigue, dissent, and periodic invasion from Mongols and Turks. The High Artisans of various clans kept themselves busy inventing weapons, fortifications, and other technologies of war. Like China itself, the Wu Lung divided themselves into various factions – some allied with the Akashics, others battling against them. The Akashayana, for their part, refined devastating Arts of self-defense but began to withdraw to a more peaceful monastic life. Despite internal schisms between various Chinese, Tibetan, and Indian factions, the formerly “warring fists” strove for unity under the Akashic Way… and, for the most part, they found it.

在一位被称作虬髯客的强大的战士预言家、一位名叫李靖的龙骑士以及改变性别的空明修士红拂女的帮助下，一位名叫李世民的英雄法师于618年左右重新统一了中国，成为627年的唐龙皇帝，唐太宗。几年内，他打败了蒙古人，而他的儿子征服了朝鲜，唐王朝自此将两个对手都纳入了一个不断壮大的中华帝国。中华帝国的复还让巫龙和筑龙尊师重新焕发了生机，此时筑龙尊师通常被称为五金龙（或五元龙）。而不幸的是，空明修会并没有那么幸运。他们背负着几代帝王对他们的不满（而巫龙在其中的挑唆加剧了这种不满），在终其整个时代遭受着攻击与迫害。

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Aided by a powerful warrior-seer known as Curly Beard, a dragon-rider called Li Tsing, and the gender-changing Akashayana warrior-concubine Chang, a heroic mage named Li Shihmin reunited China around 618, becoming the T’ang Dragon Emperor Daizon in 627. Within a few years, he crushed the Mongols, his son conquered Korea, and this T’ang Dynasty absorbed both rivals into a growing Chinese Empire. China’s return to glory reenergized the Wu Lung and Dalou-laoshi, by this time often known as the Five Metal (or Elemental) Dragons. The Akashayana, sadly, were not so fortunate. Burdened with generations of imperial displeasure (exacerbated by the Wu Lung), they suffered attacks and persecutions throughout the era.

近300年来，中华帝国作为一个统一的帝国统治着该地区。然而，和以前一样，阴谋、入侵和背叛摧毁了帝国。然而，此时，巫龙、五金龙和空明兄弟会已经发展成了决定他们最终未来的样子。

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For almost 300 years, China dominated the region as a single unified force. As before, though, intrigues, invasions, and betrayals cracked the Empire. By this time, however, the Wu Lung, Metal Dragons, and Akashic Brotherhood had attained the forms that would determine their ultimate futures.

在未来，美洲见证了各种派系的兴起和繁荣。然而可悲的是，即将来临的遥远东方的风暴将抹去他们成就的几乎所有痕迹。

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The future Americas saw various sects rise and prosper. Sadly, the coming storm from the distant east will wipe away almost every trace of their achievements.

This post has been edited by 劳伦斯·塔利斯曼: 2023-03-14, 11:51

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

巫士圣战 The Sorcerers Crusade

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革命始于有先见的男男女女。沃尔夫冈·冯·雷希曼（Wolfgang von Reismann）就是这样一个人。997年夏天，他被好战的巫师和掌握魔法的暴君所激怒，在法兰克福召开了广场集会。这个由大工匠、富商、无休的手艺人、狂热的神职人员和神圣的武士组成的联盟由加百列使徒、石匠兄弟会和纯思社组成……这一联盟很快就会将秘法盛世彻底摧毁。

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Revolutions begin with men and women of vision. Wolfgang von Reismann was one such man. Angered by warring wizards and sorcerous tyrants, he convened the Gathering of the Square in Frankfort during the summer of 997. This assembly of High Artisans, rich merchants, restless craftsmen, zealous clergy, and holy warriors formed an alliance of Gabrielite Knights, Enlightened Craftmasons, and the Cabal of Pure Thought… an alliance that would soon blow the High Mythic Ages apart.

与此同时，赫尔墨斯密会使自己分崩离析。在1003年至1012年间，睿魔尔学派和炽炎派消灭了德鲁伊学派达德涅派。睿魔尔派的首席秘密地转化成了吸血鬼，并把他的学派变成了一个属于不死怪物的氏族。当基督教得势时，异教法师开启了古巫之道，并将魔法兽类引导至异界。十字军东征使基督教和穆斯林的法师和凡人相互对抗了200多年，导致了新派系的诞生，其中包括强大的圣殿骑士和赫尔墨斯秘会的歌罗学派……未来的以太之子的第一次亮相。

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Meanwhile, the Hermetic Order ripped itself to pieces. Houses Tremere and Flambeau exterminated the druidic House Diedne between 1003 and 1012. Tremere’s Primus secretly became a vampire and turned his House into a clan of undead monstrosities. While Christianity gained power, Pagan mystics opened the Paths of the Wyck and herded magical beasts into the Otherworlds. The Crusades pitted Christian and Muslim mages and mortals against one another for over 200 years, leading to new sects that included the powerful Knights Templar and the Hermetic House Golo… the first stirrings of the future Sons of Ether.

非洲和欧洲法师派系之间的联盟破裂了，赫尔墨斯密会则继续分裂。叛逃的歌罗学派帮助成立了自然哲学家协会，吸血鬼氏族睿魔尔在1201年煽动了一场全面战争。当伊斯兰教开始进入印度时，欢喜徒和崇死者团体组成了阿难陀盟派，以保护他们的古道不受穆斯林纯粹主义者的影响。英国的一位理想家，史蒂芬•崔凡纳斯以狮心王理查陛下的名义为穷人辩护；被神话为“罗宾汉”的崔凡纳斯将国王的奖赏变现成汉萨同盟：一个商人、工匠和手艺人的联盟，为一个强大得多的宗团树立了支柱。

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Alliances between African and European sects fractured, and the Hermetic Order continued to do the same. The defecting House Golo helped found the Natural Philosophers Guild, and the vampiric House Tremere incited an all-out war in 1201. Ecstatic and Thanatoic groups formed the Ananda Diksham to protect their ways from Muslim purists as Islam began to push its way into India. An English visionary, Stephen Trevanus, defended the poor folk in the name of his majesty King Richard the Lion-Hearted; mythologized as “Robin Hood,” Trevanus turned his reward from the king into the Hanseatic League: an alliance of merchants, artisans, and craftsmen that erected the pillars of a much more potent Order.

随后，大炮轰鸣。

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And then, the cannons roared.

1210年，密法盛世的衰落开始了。石匠大集会为悬而未决的理性之子组织的建立奠定了基础，然后，用新进铸造的大炮和自古已有的背叛，在当年秋天便摧毁了赫尔墨斯密会的盟誓之地迷雾峰。蒙古入侵者——带着自己的战争萨满——在欧洲、亚洲和中东肆虐。20年后，天主教会正式宣布成立宗教裁判所，以清除欧洲的异教徒、女巫、犹太人、穆斯林和巫师。“慈悲之谋”粉碎了弥赛亚之声，而工匠、炼金术士、商人行会和手艺人们并肩作战，抛开分歧，于1250年成立了金色盟约。升华战争已经打响。

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1210 began the fall of the High Mythic Age. The Craftmason Convention laid the groundwork for a pending Order of Reason and then, with new-forged cannons and age-old treacheries, destroyed the Hermetic Covenant of Mistridge that fall. Invaders – bringing their own war-shamans – tore through Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Two decades later, the Catholic Church officially declared an Inquisition to purge heretics, witches, Jews, Muslims, and sorcerers from Europe. A Mercy Schism shattered the Messianic Voices, whereas Artisans, alchemists, merchant guilds, and Craftsmen fought, put aside their differences, and, in 1250, they formed the Golden Guild Alliance. The Ascension War had begun.

在亚洲，蒙古皇帝成吉思汗在大约1280年间将中原纳入其帝国，采用了中原的技术武器和治理方式。元朝与日本之间的神风战役为空明兄弟会带来了新的盟友：神道法师，他们的萨满传统与道教元素很好地融合在一起。即使在亚洲，启蒙科学和觉醒魔法之间的冲突也扭转了过去的潮流……或者这么说，风水轮流转。到了1300年，这种局势越发清晰。

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In Asia, Mongol Emperor Genghis Khan absorbed China into his empire by roughly 1280, adopting technological weaponry and governance. The Kamikaze War between China and Japan brought new allies to the Akashic Brotherhood: Shinto mystics whose shamanic ways blended well with the Taoist elements of the Way. Even here, the clash between Enlightened Science and Awakened Magick turned the tide… or, in this case, the winds and weather. By 1300, the writing was clearly on the wall.

下一个世纪见证这场风暴变成了一股浪潮。宗派之间合众为一，又分崩离析。圣殿骑士被称作“公正王”的法国国王腓力四世出卖并摧毁。一位转轮之民先知召集了来自印度、欧洲、亚洲和中东的法师。穆斯林和欧洲工匠断绝了联系，尽管马里非洲帝国的曼萨·穆萨皇帝派遣使者前往欧洲，以便这些工匠的加盟……

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The next century saw that tempest become a surge. Sects came together and broke apart. The Templars were betrayed and apparently destroyed by a French king called Phillip “the Fair.” A Chakravanti seer called together mystics from across India, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Muslim and European Artisans severed ties, although Emperor Mansu Musa from the African Empire of Mali sent emissaries to Europe so they could join…

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白塔公约 The Convention of the White Tower

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1325年3月1日至3月25日，理性之子建立了。来自欧洲、中国、中东、印度和马里的代表们在一座曾被他们暗杀了的赫尔墨斯密会大师所拥有的塔楼里聚集在一起，最终形成了技术官僚联盟。在一个内环理事会的指挥下，形成了如下八个公约组织：加百列使徒、高阶行会、科希安誓环、空间探索者、天体大师、石匠兄弟会、发明家协会和智冕会。而这反过来又引燃了一个多世纪的公开和秘密战争。1335年，智冕会退出了理性之子，其组织被暂时摧毁，从而很快被称为刀锋团的影子执法者取代。不久之后，“鬼哭之乱”迫使巫龙和筑龙尊师与空明兄弟会和他们的萨满教盟友对抗；新的启蒙技术将空明兄弟会赶入蒙古、西藏和日本的偏远山区。金刚手菩萨们伤亡惨重，失去了他们曾经有过的大半影响力。与此同时，在中非，尘巫战争摧毁了该地区的大部；业已衰落的恩戈-阿米以恩戈马的名字进行了重组，并加入了一个新的派系，即安灵师，以击败身为劫夺者的尘女巫。在这一个半世纪中充斥着瘟疫、清洗、猎巫、宗派战争、暗杀、阴谋，巫士圣战已然全线开战。

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Between March 1 and March 25, 1325, the Order of Reason began. Called together in a tower once owned by an assassinated Hermetic Master, delegates from Europe, China, the Middle East, India, and Mali forged the alliance that would eventually become the Technocratic Union. Under an Inner Circle council, eight Conventions form: the Gabrielites, High Guild, Cosian Circle, Void Seekers, Celestial Masters, Craftmasons, Artificers, and Solificati. This, in turn, kicked off over a century of warfare, both open and covert. The Solificati left the Order in 1335, to be temporarily destroyed and soon replaced by shadowy enforcers called the Ksirafai. Not long afterward, a Screaming Ghost Purge pitted the Wu Lung and Dalou-laoshi against the Akashics and their shamanic allies; new Enlightened Technologies drove the Brotherhood into remote mountain retreats throughout Mongolia, Tibet, and Japan. The warring fists suffered heavy casualties and lost most of the influence they once held. In Central Africa, meanwhile, the War of the Dust-Witch devastated large portions of the region; the Ngo-Ami, now in decline, reformed under the name Ngoma and joined a new sect, the Madzimbabwe, to defeat the marauding Dust-Witches. A century and a half of plagues, purges, witchhunts, lodge wars, assassinations, intrigues, and all-out wars began the era of the Sorcerers Crusade.

飞艇升上天堂，地狱降临地球。欧洲、亚洲和非洲爆发了更多的瘟疫、更多的女巫狩猎、更多更大规模的战争。1420年，巨疫之年打破了恩戈马与安灵师的联盟。加百列使徒建立的恶狼会蹂躏了日耳曼人的罗姆人和异教徒定居点。炼金术士、石匠兄弟会和赫尔墨斯密会在意大利北部的城邦发动了血腥的工坊之战，阿帕•布劳达克斯与恶魔达成了协议，并建立了一个自己的恶魔部落……一个很快就由他的儿子，狂人忒斯古尔指挥的部落。真实十字会的文迪加将军在不列颠群岛开始了一场野蛮的清洗……这场清洗被夜影阻止了，夜影是这场大屠杀中唯一的幸存者，也是传统宗派圣叶的创始人。

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As airships rose into the heavens, hell descended to Earth. More plagues, more witch-hunts, more and larger wars all erupted across Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Year of Great Sickness broke the Ngoma/ Madzimbabwe alliance in 1420. The Gabrielite Wolf Guild ravaged Germanic Romani and Pagan settlements. Alchemists, Masons, and Hermetics waged bloody Lodge Wars across Northern Italian city-states, and Appa Bloodax made pacts with demons and created an infernal horde of his own… a horde soon commanded by his son, Tezghul the Insane. General Wyndgarde of the True Cross began a savage purge throughout the British Isles… a purge stopped by Nightshade, the only survivor of one of his massacres and a founder of the Verbena Tradition.

九大宗派在此时进入了一个缓慢但辉煌的开端，因为中东的欢喜徒“先知”瑟沙尔开始集结法师盟友。1440年，夜影、瑟沙尔、弥赛亚之声的瓦洛伦主教和赫密大师巴德瑞克·拉萨尔在迷雾峰的废墟中会面，讨论建立一个新的法师联盟，以对抗理性之子。在非洲，一个巨大的白色幽灵的景象预示着多年的战争和瘟疫，而在亚洲，空明修士和左道印度教徒之间的战争再次开始。“狂猎之十年”席卷了英国，向世人宣告圣叶乃是一支可怕的力量。1448年，理性之子的代达罗斯之徒围攻了多塞梯堡，当巫师们将据点转移到遥远的异界领域时，多塞梯堡在地球上的存在被摧毁了。第二年，当第二次迷雾峰聚会遭到代达罗斯之徒的袭击时，巨龙和飞艇发生了激战。吸血鬼联合了起来，忒斯古尔的部落杀出立陶宛。代达罗斯之徒发出“烈火盟誓”，要在全世界开展灭法运动。

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Those Nine Traditions got a slow but brilliant start around this time, as the Middle Eastern Ecstatic Sh’zar the Seer began to collect mystic allies. In 1440, Nightshade, Sh’zar, Messianic Singer Valoran, and Hermetic Master Baldric La Salle met in the ruins of Mistridge to discuss a new mystic alliance to combat the Order of Reason. In Africa, visions of a titanic white ghost heralded years of war and plague, while in Asia fighting began once again between Akashics and Hindus of the Left-Hand Path. A Decade of the Hunt swept through Britain, establishing the Verbenae as a terrifying force. And in 1448, the Daedalean armies of the Order of Reason besieged Doissetep, whose Earthly manifestation got demolished as wizards shifted the stronghold to a distant Otherworldly Realm. The following year, dragons and airships clashed as a Second Mistridge Convocation was attacked by Daedalean troops. Vampires united and Tezghuls’s horde invaded. The Daedaleans swore an Oath of Fire to exterminate magick throughout the world.

但是传统法师们已经受够了。

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But the mystics had had enough.

反击需要时间。反击需要外交。秘学九宗的建立经历了磨难、设想、战斗和穿越已知世界和巫觋之路的旅程。反击需要异类法师们的参与：传统法师团体，如恩戈马和塔夫尼，但他们拒绝遵循评议会的计划。但在1457年至1466年之间，秘学九宗评议会诞生了：阿里巴廷、转轮之民、天国颂歌、梦语者、赫尔墨斯密会、自然派、智冕会，以及圣叶团结在了一起……即便只是短暂的一段时间。

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It took time. It took diplomacy. It took ordeals and visions and battles and journeys across the known world and through the Paths of the Wyck. It cost the participation of the Disparates: mystic groups, like the Ngoma and Taftâni, who refused to follow the Council’s plans. But between 1457 and 1466, the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions was born: the Ahl-i-Batin, Akashic Brotherhood, Chakravanti, Chœur Céleste, Dream-Speakers, Order of Hermes, Sahajiya, Solificati, and Verbenae stood united… if only for a short time.

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评议会的崛起……以及陨落 The Council Rises... and Falls

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一切的开始是如此一帆风顺…

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It all started out so well…

“九人长征”见证了由九位代表组成的“第一同盟”——每个宗派指派一位代表——从委员会的总部——穹界位面出发，执行宣告联盟和发布战争的任务。三年来，他们广交朋友，肃清敌人。他们作为榜样引领了传统宗派和理性之子的其他团体。但在1470年春天，智冕会代表海雷尔·提欧密（Heylel Teomim）带领第一同盟踏入了代达罗斯之徒设置的陷阱。经过一场大规模的战斗，第一同盟被粉碎了。大多数成员被杀害；其余的被抓获；先知阿凯瑞忒斯逃脱并领导了救援任务；海雷尔，当时被称为大叛徒图阿巴斯（“憎恶”），被带到穹界位面接受审判，判处轮回秘仪之刑，并被摧毁。在审判过程中，智冕会的首席被暗杀，派系第二次四散。

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The March of the Nine saw a First Cabal of nine hand picked representatives – one from each Tradition – set out from the Council’s home-realm of Horizon on a mission of alliances and war. For three years, they made friends and annihilated enemies. Their example led other groups from both the Traditions and the Order. But in the Spring of 1470, the Solificati representative – Heylel Teomim – led the First Cabal into a Daedalean trap. After a massive battle, the Cabal was shattered. Most members were slain; the rest were captured; the seer Akrites escaped and led a rescue mission; and Heylel, then called Thoabath (“Abomination”) the Great Betrayer, was taken to Horizon, put on trial, sentenced to Gilgul, and destroyed. In the course of the trial, the Solificati Primus was assassinated, and that group scattered for a second time.

在这场失败之后，剩下的宗派隔离在自己的穹界领域中。忒斯古尔在欧洲和亚洲横冲直撞，但他最终在赫斯战役中被理性之子击败。胜利的理性之子在持续1475年整年的考肯迪娅战争中袭击了穹界领域。然而，尽管那次袭击对九宗乃是毁灭性的，评议会还是击退了代达罗斯之徒的围攻。不久之后，一位加百列使徒大师的遇刺引发了一场报复行动，这场报复行动以臭名昭著的“燃烧时代”达到了高潮：一段近乎毫无间断的迫害时期，法师、无辜者和任何其他不幸接近他们的人都被处以痛苦、可怕的死刑。因此，秘学九宗转入地下……大约300年来，他们一直在那里，重建自己的力量，而理性之子巩固了世界各地的现实。

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In the wake of this defeat, the remaining Traditions sequestered themselves in Horizon. Tezghul rampaged across Europe and Asia, but he was finally defeated by the Order of Reason in the Battle of Harz. The triumphant Order of Reason attacked Horizon in a Concordia War that lasted throughout 1475. As devastating as that attack was, however, the Council defeated the Daedalean siege. Shortly afterward, the assassination of a Gabrielite Master sparked a retaliation effort that climaxed with the infamous Burning Times: a period of near-constant persecution in which mages, innocents, and anyone else unfortunate enough to be near them was put to painful, hideous death. And so, the Nine Traditions went underground… and for roughly 300 years, they stayed there, rebuilding their strength while the Order of Reason consolidated reality worldwide.

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[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

边栏：阿瓦隆的理想 Ideals of Avalon

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即使在觉醒者中，关于亚瑟王时代的真实细节也会被时间和浪漫主义所掩盖；例如，后来对卡美洛的印象涉及到的概念和技术在其500多年后的历史中都还不存在呢。不过，卡美洛的理想和它的英雄们还是在传统法师和技术官僚们的心中熠熠生辉。

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Even among the Awakened, authentic details about the Arthurian Era wind up obscured by time and romanticism; later impressions of Camelot, for example, involve concepts and technologies that won’t exist in common history for over 500 years. Still, the ideal of Camelot and its heroes shines to mystics and Technocrats alike.

最初由罗马化的不列颠建立，后来被称为卡美洛的王国的历史开始于公元600年左右。卡美洛的创始人将神秘的凯尔特人和皮克特人的实践与罗马的仪式秘艺结合起来，将古典艺术、基督教神秘主义和异教元素艺术巧妙地融合在一起。这些有远见的人锻造了先进的盔甲和武器，还与英国的妖精居民和被称为芬尼安的狼人达成了协议。通过提供宽容和相互保护的堡垒，王国得以繁荣。潘德拉贡王朝与摩根氏族（Clan of Morrigan）缔结神圣的婚姻，摩根氏族拥有与土地有着天然联系的女巫祭司血统，但该王朝保留了来自罗马的技术秘艺。通过与妖精、精魂和神灵的交流，卡美洛崛起，吸引着各方的精英。

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Originally founded by Romanized Britons, the kingdom that will later be known as Camelot begins sometime around 600 CE. Mingling mystic Celtic and Pictish practices with the ritual Arts of Rome, the founders of Camelot devise a sophisticated blend of Classical Artisanship, Christian mysticism, and Pagan elemental Arts. Forging advanced armor and weapons, these visionaries also strike pacts with Britain’s fae inhabitants and the werewolves known as Fianna. By presenting a stronghold of tolerance and mutual protection, the kingdom prospers. The Pendragon Dynasty shares a sacred marriage with the Clan of Morrigan, a witch-priestess lineage tied innately to the land, yet the dynasty retains the technological Arts of Rome. Through communion with the faeries, spirits, and gods, Camelot rises to attract the best in every side.

在亚瑟的父亲乌瑟（Uther）统治时期，巫师梅林（Merlin）（也称为梅利尼乌斯（Merlinius））提出帮助潘德拉贡王朝；当亚瑟成年后，他们两人在王国的鼎盛时期呈现出阳刚之气：魔法和威严并肩作战。一段时间以来，他们的工作都很顺利。

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In the reign of Arthur’s father Uther, the wizard Merlin (also called Merlinius) offers to aid the dynasty; when Arthur comes of age, the two of them present the masculine face for the kingdom at its height: magick and majesty working side by side. And for a time, they work well.

是好色的格温威法尔（桂妮薇儿）的影响力摧毁了卡梅洛特？还是基督化的叛徒兰斯洛特？还是异教徒女巫莫甘娜？国王和土地之间是否有一个神奇的契约被打破了，或者他们是否因为融合宗教而失去了神灵的青睐？每个传说都讲述了一个不同的故事，其中可能不止一个故事是真实的……甚至可能一个真实的也没有。无论是什么原因，卡美洛最终都陷入了一场大规模的战斗，几乎所有参与战斗的人都因此丧生。敌军烧毁了王国，城堡最终成为废墟。濒死的亚瑟被带到阿瓦隆，他在那里等待英格兰最需要的时刻。（考虑到他在第二次世界大战或撒切尔时代没有出现，最后一部分故事可能只是英国人的一厢情愿……）

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Is it the lusty Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) whose influence destroys Camelot? Or the Christianized betrayer Lancelot? Or the Pagan witch Morganna? Is there a magical pact broken between the king and the land, or do they fall out of favor with the gods for mingling religions? Every legend tells a different story, and more than one of those stories may be true… or even, perhaps, none of them at all. Whatever the reason, Camelot falls in a massive battle that kills nearly everyone involved. Enemy forces burn the kingdom, and the castle eventually falls into ruins. Dying Arthur is taken off to Avalon, where he supposedly awaits England’s hour of greatest need. (Considering that he didn’t emerge during World War II or the Thatcher era, this last part may be wishful thinking…)

所以，到底谁是亚瑟？最终来说，他是一个象征。尽管圣叶、赫尔墨斯密会、天国颂歌、圣殿骑士、加百列使徒，甚至迭代法X最后都将他据为己有，但真正的亚瑟是一则比任何真实人物或派系都要伟大的神话。在卡美洛和阿瓦隆的理想中，这个符号表达了几乎任何人都能感受到的优秀品质。荣誉、勇气、智慧、领导力——几乎没有法师不想反映出这些美德，即使是灭世者也一样。因此，阿瓦隆的神话，超越了它的历史现实，成为了各地法师们充满活力的典范。

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So who was Arthur? Ultimately, he’s a symbol. Although the Verbena, Hermetics, Choristers, Templars, Gabrielites, and even Iteration X will eventually call him one of their own, the real Arthur is a myth larger than any real person or faction. In the ideals of Camelot and Avalon, that symbol speaks an eloquent gospel almost anyone can relate to. Honor, courage, wisdom, leadership – few mages, even among the Nephandi, wouldn’t want to see those virtues in the mirror. And so, the myth of Avalon, beyond its historical reality, has become a vibrant paragon for mages everywhere.

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

征服时代 An Age of Conquest

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同一时期的亚洲给整个世界带来了某种启示。在1350年代，一个由强盗组成的流寇联盟，即红巾军，开始颠覆元朝的统治。到1356年，一个名叫朱元璋的还俗僧人（据说是空明大师）指挥了红巾军。红巾军成为了一支具有强大神秘力量的纪律严明的军队，通过发展秘密的、通常是魔法的结社网络从而遍布整个地区。朱元璋以其贤明的方式赢得了平民百姓的拥护，并将红巾军的影响力扩大到了朝鲜。经过多年艰苦的战争，朱元璋自称洪武皇帝，并于1368年建立了明朝。

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That same period brought a sort of Apocalypse to the world at large. In the 1350s, a marauding confederacy of bandits, the Red Turbans, began to undermine Mongol China. By 1356, a former monk (said to be an Akashic Master) named Chu Yung-Chung took command of the Turbans. Forming a disciplined military force with substantial mystic power, the Red Turbans spread throughout the region in a network of secret, often magickal societies. Winning the common people over through his virtuous ways, Chu Yung-Chung expanded the Turbans’ influence into Korea. After harrowing years of war, Chu Yung-Chang declared himself Emperor Hung-Wu and, in 1368, initiated the Ming Dynasty.

明朝成为了秘密结社的温床——其中一些由空明兄弟会、巫龙和五金龙鼓动，另一些则独立于他们。过去仁慈的洪武大帝变成了一个偏执的暴君。随着皇帝将中国的影响力扩大到新的地区，中国在遭受起义和入侵的冲击时，财富和知识也丰富地积累起来。洪武的继任者们逐渐失去了对越来越多的秘密结社的控制，当欧洲探险家（其中许多是代达罗斯之徒）在16世纪将他们的影响力传播到中国时，明朝已经摇摇欲坠。

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Ming China became a hotbed of secret societies – some instigated by factions among the Akashayana, Wu Lung, and Metal Dragons, others independent of them all. The formerly benevolent Hung-Wu turned into a paranoid tyrant. As the Emperor expanded Chinese influence into new regions, China grew rich in wealth and knowledge even as it was rocked by revolts and invasions. Hung-Wu’s successors lost control of the growing number of secret societies, and by the time European explorers (many of them Daedaleans) spread their influence into China during the 1500s, the Ming Dynasty trembled toward collapse.

在即将被称为中美洲的地方，阿兹特克帝国在整个大陆的上部地区带来了残酷的启蒙。尽管那个帝国拥有人类世界中一些最先进的文化成就，但它的神灵却对鲜血有着难以抑制的渴望。所有的帝国都是残暴的，但阿兹特克人推出了一种可怕的大规模宗教祭祀……主要是使用其他来自较弱文化的囚犯身上进行的。几十年后，这一神圣的祭祀职责将摧毁阿兹特克帝国。

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In what would soon be called Central America, the Aztec Empire brought brutal forms of enlightenment across the upper part of the continent. Although that Empire featured some of the most advanced cultural achievements in the mortal world, its gods possessed an implacable thirst for blood. All empires are brutal, but the Aztecs refined a horrific form of mass religious sacrifice… practiced mostly on prisoners taken from other, weaker cultures. In a few decades, that sacred duty would annihilate the Aztec Empire.

在14世纪中期，一对伊比利亚武士君主——阿拉贡国王斐迪南和卡斯蒂利亚女王伊莎贝拉——巩固了权力，获得了天主教会和理性之子的援助，推翻了安达卢斯剩余的穆斯林国王，并联合了一个新的国家：西班牙。随着财富、权力的增长和傲慢的泛滥，君主们将犹太人、穆斯林、非天主教教徒和敌对的法师赶出了西班牙。伊莎贝拉——1490年，纯思社最有权势的成员之一——将她的“告解者”托马斯·德·托克马达（Tomás de Torquemada）列为王国的天罚使者。理性之子在取得胜利的同时，基本上不受秘学九宗干扰地从西班牙和葡萄牙发起了一项探索、成就和征服计划。这一计划反过来引发了人类历史上最血腥的三次暴行：征服美洲、西班牙宗教裁判所和三角贸易。由于邻国葡萄牙的“有益”竞争，西班牙将升华战争扩展到非洲和即将被称作“阿美利加”的地方。

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During the mid-1400s, a pair of Iberian warrior-monarchs – King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile – consolidated power, obtained aid from the Catholic Church and the Order of Reason, overthrew the remaining Muslim kings of Al-Andalus, and united a new nation: Spain. Flush with wealth, power, and hubris, the monarchs purged Jews, Muslims, non-Catholics, and rival mystics out of Spain. Isabella – by 1490 one of the most powerful members of the Cabal of Pure Thought – installed her “confessor,” Tomás de Torquemada, as the Throne’s personal scourge. The Order of Reason, riding a combination of victories and mostly freed from the interference of the Nine Traditions, initiated a program of exploration, achievement, and conquest from Spain and Portugal. This program, in turn, initiated three of the bloodiest atrocities in human history: the Conquest of the Americas, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Triangle Trade. With the “helpful” rivalry of neighboring Portugal, Spain expanded the Ascension War into Africa and the soon-to-be Americas.

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[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

大炮，锁链与教堂 Cannons, Chains, and Churches

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接下来的几个世纪难以简单地一概而论。然而，在全球范围内，这是一个技官统治的时代。13世纪末开始的欧洲文艺复兴将古老的异教徒时代的所有痕迹都赶入了烈火与荒原之中。各种形式的科学从亚洲最远的地区发展到美洲的海岸。然而，这并不是后来的世俗科学，而是一种探究与虔诚的强烈融合，在这种融合中，一位科学家可能第一天被誉为一个属神的人，第二天就被套上异端的长袍。理性之子在被剥夺了两个最严峻的大敌之后，便开始吞噬自己的孩子。

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The following centuries defy easy summation. Across the globe, however, it was an age of Technocratic dominion. The European Renaissance, which began in the late 1300s, drove all traces of the older Pagan age into the wilderness and the flames. Science of all forms blossomed from the farthest reaches of Asia to the shores of the America. This, however, was not the secular science of later years but a furious blend of inquiry and piety in which a scientist might be lauded as a man of God one day and shoved into a heretic’s robe the next. The Order of Reason, deprived of its two greatest enemies, began to devour its own children.

高阶行会现在的财富超越了早期最狂野梦想中的财富，开始转变为腐败的辛迪加。奴隶制、征服、鸦片和黄金成为其权力的基础……并成为其最终的诅咒。在新兴的大国时代，黄金胜过了一切边界，资助了所有的努力。天体大师、加百列使徒和主宰空间探索者都依赖于高阶行会的支持，因此他们通过向公会不断扩展的国际贸易公司网络注入黄金来回报。为普通民众发声的石匠兄弟会“以进步的名义”被边缘化。无声的威胁、安静的利刃和荒谬的处决成为理性之子内部的标准做法。被认为是违背现实的机器很快就成为了凡人君王的常用工具。在全世界范围内的其他文化都落入了欧洲统治的枪炮、锁链和背叛之下。

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The High Guild, enriched beyond the wildest dreams of an earlier age, began its transformation into the corrupt Syndicate it would become. Slavery, conquest, opium, and gold became foundations of its power… and of its eventual damnation. In the emerging era of vast nations, gold trumped all borders and funded all endeavors. The Celestial Masters, the Gabrielites, and the Explorators who dominated the Void Seeker Convention all relied upon the High Guild’s favor, so they repaid it by pouring gold into the Guild’s growing network of international trading companies. The Craftmasons, who spoke for the common folk, got marginalized “in the name of progress.” Quiet threats, silent knives, and grotesque executions became standard practice within the Order of Reason. Machines that had been considered crimes against reality soon became common tools of mortal kings. Across the world, cultures fell to the guns, chains, and treacheries of European dominance.

曾有一段时间，一名由科技吏官组成的敌手组织将他的影响扩大到整个穆斯林世界。Mübarek Maharet Meclisi（或称神圣科学庭）整合了执光人和奥斯曼土耳其人的较新学科的要素。在对欧洲基督教和波斯穆斯林边界的冲击下，充满活力的土耳其人设计出了连代达罗斯之徒都羡慕的技术。正如欧洲在其各个帝国之间进行的长期战争一样，伊斯兰教也根据世俗倾向的逊尼派和宗教正统的什叶派的区分划分为几个帝国：奥斯曼、伊朗（波斯）、桑海和莫卧儿，后者在15世纪扩展到印度和亚洲。几个世纪以来，这些对立的技术帝国在大炮轰击、瘟疫、战略创新以及偶尔的贸易和技术联盟方面进行了相互交流。只有宗教正统观念的分歧才使这些团体没有完全统治全球......这一因素则在几个世纪后被科技联盟清除了。

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For a time, a Technocratic rival expanded its influence throughout the Muslim world. The Mübarek Maharet Meclisi (or Court of Sacred Sciences) consolidated elements of the Mokteshaf Al-Hour and newer disciplines of the Ottoman Turks. Pounding against both the Christian European and Muslim Persian borders, the vigorous Turks devised technologies that even Daedaleans envied. Just as Europe conducted a perpetual state of war between its various empires, so Islam followed the division of secular-tending Sunni and religiously orthodox Shi’a into several empires: the Ottomans, the Iranians (Persians), the Songhai, and the Mughals, who expanded into India and Asia during the 1500s. For centuries, the rival technocracies traded cannon volleys, plagues, innovations of strategy, and occasional alliances of trade and technologies. Only the divisions of religious orthodoxy kept these groups from utterly dominating the globe… a factor that got purged by the Technocratic Union a few centuries later.

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“新世界”秩序 The "New World's" Order

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在美洲，欧洲入侵者摧毁了阿兹特克、玛雅和印加文化，几乎烧毁了所有可以烧毁的东西。西班牙和葡萄牙把非洲俘虏运到他们的南美 “属地”工作，激发了上欧洲文化圈的类似竞赛。在几十年内，英国、法国、荷兰和日耳曼国家将纷纷在北美洲启动自己的殖民计划。疾病、技术和对美洲原住民的合纵连横，撕裂了美洲文化，削弱或摧毁了已经发展了数千年的部落和国家。欧洲、非洲和亚洲之间的跨文化交流隔绝，大洋洲和美洲的文明对此进行了斗争，但最终在欧洲和穆斯林-亚洲的扩张面前崩溃了。

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In the Americas, European invaders demolished the Aztec, Mayan, and Incan cultures, burning almost everything that would burn. Shipping African captives over to work in their South American “possessions,” Spain and Portugal inspired a similar race from Upper European cultures. Within decades, England, France, Holland, and the Germanic states would initiate their own colonial programs in North America. A combination of disease, technology, and strategic division of ancestral enemies tore through the American cultures, weakening or destroying tribes and nations that had been evolving for thousands of years. Isolated from the cross-cultural exchanges between Europe, Africa, and Asia, the civilizations of Oceana and the Americas put up a fight but eventually collapsed in the face of European and Muslim-Asian expansion.

中国的探险活动一直延伸到北美海岸，随着日本进入了一个强大的新的统一时代，中国也退出了探索的行列，而探索活动是由佛教和神道的法师领导的，他们的精神信仰并不反对技术的发展。"禅宗科学 "在理性之子的影响之外，完善了民用领域、神秘领域和军事领域令人印象深刻的技术。崭露头角的科技吏官再次发现了一个拥有令人羡慕的发明创造的对手。在欧洲征服美洲获得的巨大资源的支持下，理性之子向东方的地平线进发，进入中国、日本、暹罗和朝鲜。到了17世纪中期，理性之子的势力已经扩展到了世界各地。

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China, whose explorations reached as far as the North American coast, withdrew into itself as Japan surged into a powerful new and united era, led in part by Buddhist and Shinto mystics whose spiritual creeds did not oppose technology. “Zen science” refined devastating techniques of civil, mystic, and military technology outside the Order of Reason’s influence. Again, the budding Technocracy found a rival with enviable creations. Enriched by the monumental resources of European conquest, the Order of Reason reached into China, Japan, Siam, and Korea from beyond the eastern horizon. By the mid-1600s, the Order of Reason extended around the world.

然而，统一仍然是一个漫长的过程。欧陆强权之间的竞争，加上天主教和新教各派教义之间的血腥分裂，使欧洲长期处于战争状态。欧洲技官与穆斯林和中国技官的不断争斗共同推动了三者的技术创新......而且，随着时间的推移，这种竞争激发了一种日益增长的“大局观”思维意识。“这难道不是更有意义吗？”高阶行会问道，"将所有这些了不起的思想家联合成一个宏伟的联盟？" 通过武力、诱惑、贿赂和外交的相互作用，欧洲的理性之子走向了全球整合、改革和控制的阶段。其实这并不奇怪，一个由偷来的黄金、奴隶制、种族灭绝和征服铸就的联盟可太容易被腐蚀了......

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Unity, however, was still a long way off. National rivalries between the European powers, plus the bloody schisms between various Catholic and Protestant creeds, kept Europe in a perpetual state of war. The constant battle with Muslim and Chinese Artisans drove innovations in all three technocratic factions… and, over time, inspired a growing sense of “big picture” thinking. “Wouldn’t it make more sense,” the High Guild inquired, “to unite all of these marvelous thinkers into one magnificent Union?” Through interplays of force, temptation, bribery, and diplomacy, the European Order moved toward global consolidation, reform, and control. It’s not surprising, really, that a Union forged from stolen gold, slavery, genocide, and conquest would be so easily corrupted…

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燃烧时代 The Burning Times

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传统法师宗派经历了漫长而丑陋的磨难，“女巫”或“异教徒”等词可能会让任何人被送入火堆。在经历了大背叛和由此产生的分裂之后，评议会发现秘学九宗变成了秘学八宗，而这八个宗派都被世俗事件所分裂。当欧洲人进入美洲时，属于梦语者宗派的美洲原住民要求他们的欧洲同行进行干预……然而他们经常被拒绝。日益增长的奴隶贸易使非洲传统法师分裂为来自上非洲和象牙海岸的“文明”非洲巫师-祭司和来自被掠夺文化的“部落”邻居。

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Mystic sects suffered a long and ugly tribulation in which words like “witch” or “heretic” could send anyone to the flames. Nursing wounds from the Great Betrayal and resulting schisms, the Council found itself reduced to eight Traditions, all of them divided by secular events. As the Europeans pushed into the Americas, the Native Americans belonging to the Dream-Speaker Tradition demanded intervention from their European counterparts… and were often refused. The growing slave trade split African Traditionalists between the “civilized” African wizard-priests from Upper Africa and the Ivory Coast, and their “tribal” neighbors from the cultures being pillaged.

欧洲的法师们也面临着类似的分歧，尤其是在天主教神职人员和那些认为新教是更真实信仰的神职人员之间。相比之下，赫尔墨斯秘会着拥有巨大的财富。这一时期的大多数统治者要么是法师（比如伊莎贝拉），要么像女王伊丽莎白一世一样，在他们的工资打款单上有法师。一个秘密结社的时代开始了，到处都是法师和他们的沉睡者随从。但尽管有觉醒者在其中施加影响（或者可能是恰恰是因为觉醒者），不同国家之间的战争让这些法师在觉醒和凡俗领域全线决斗。与此同时，穆斯林巴蒂尼和其他教派的基督徒越来越疏远。穆斯林在印度、希腊和东欧的征服也使转轮之民和巴蒂尼之间保持着高度的紧张关系，而整个欧洲的猎巫活动使圣叶与几乎所有人都处于持续的战争状态。

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European mages struggled with similar divisions, especially between Catholic Choristers and the ones who considered Protestantism to be a truer faith. The Houses of Hermes, in contrast, enjoyed enormous wealth. Most rulers in this period either were mages (like Isabella) or, like Queen Elizabeth I, had mages on their payroll. An Age of Secret Societies began, propagating lodges, sects, temples, and orders filled with mages and their Sleeper acolytes. But despite Awakened influence (or perhaps because of it), wars between their various nations kept those mages dueling in both the Awakened and unAwakened realms. Meanwhile, the Muslim Batini and the Christians of other sects drew further and further apart. The Muslim conquests in India, Greece, and Eastern Europe kept tensions high between the Chakravanti and Batini too, and the witch-hunts throughout Europe kept the Verbenae in a constant state of war with almost everyone else.

一种奇怪的差异分裂了议会：来自受压迫文化的更传统的法师彼此靠拢，而所谓的文明巫师和神职人员则看不起那些野蛮人。一个由梦语者（17世纪时他们已经把宗派名字里的连字符丢掉了）、圣叶和转轮之民，善终者组成的粗糙同盟对抗赫尔墨斯秘会和天国颂歌的联盟，后者的许多人都是从征服时代发展壮大起来的。在这种紧张局势中，自然派——此时更倾向于称自己为“克罗诺斯先知”或简称“先知”——经常在这两个群体之间扮演调解人的角色。空明修会和巴蒂尼进一步使自己远离了冲突。从理论上讲，所有宗派都支持统一，但基督教、伊斯兰教和亚洲分裂土地之间的战争使得统一似乎是一个非常不可能的理想。简而言之，评议会的情况一团糟。

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An odd division split the Council: the more traditional mages from oppressed cultures drew closer to one another, while the so-called civilized wizards and clergy looked down their collective nose at those barbarians. A rough confederation of Dreamspeakers (the hyphen dropped out of use during the 1600s), Verbenae, and Chakravanti-Euthanatos aligned itself against the Hermetics and Choristers, many of whom prospered from the Age of Conquest. In this tension, the Sahajiya – by this time favoring the title Seers of Chronos or simply the Seers – often played mediator between the other two groups. The Akashayana and Batini removed themselves further from the conflict. Theoretically, both favored Unity, but the warfare between Christendom, Islam, and the divided lands of Asia made that seem like a very unlikely ideal. In short, the Council was a mess.

蓄奴的赫尔墨斯密会成员的存在几乎毁了评议会，因为尽管奴隶制从一开始就成为人类社会发展经验的一部分，但三角贸易提供了一种工业化形式的文化灭绝。在传统宗派中，种族间的紧张关系一直紧绷着，当“白”的概念——一种基于肤色的优越感——开始流行时，这种紧张关系达到了一个新的高度。赫尔墨斯密会和天国颂歌，其中许多人信奉个人和文化优越的概念，在整个时代都享有个人和政治财富，“杂种”圣叶（其拉丁语复数ae放弃使用，转而使用更简单的a）、“声名狼藉”的克罗诺斯先知和崇死者，尤其是“种族低劣”的梦语者，巴蒂尼和空明兄弟会都远离了他们的贵族法师兄弟。在此期间，超过三分之一的梦语者离开了议会，使传统宗派进一步边缘化。而剩下的萨满们更接近于欢喜徒和女巫……但也并没有摆脱对他们的巨大疑虑和不断加深的怀疑。

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The presence of slave-owning Hermetics almost destroyed the Council of Traditions, for although slavery had been part of the human experience since time began, the Triangle Trade provided an industrialized form of cultural extinction. Ethnic tensions, always high within the Traditions, reached a new peak when the concept of “whiteness” – a state of skin-color-based superiority – began to take hold. As Hermetics and Choristers, many of whom embraced the concept of personal and cultural superiority, enjoyed personal and political fortune throughout the era, the “mongrel” Verbena (whose Latinate plural ae dropped out in favor of a simpler a), the “disreputable” Seers and Thanatoics, and especially the “racially inferior” Dreamspeakers, Batini, and Akashics all drew further away from their aristocratic cousins. Over a third of the Dreamspeakers left the Council during this period, further marginalizing the Tradition. The remaining shamans drew closer to the Ecstatics and witch-folk… but not without huge misgivings and deepening suspicions.

在某种程度上，这些分裂创造了一个充满活力的异界魔法时代。每个势力都为了自己的目的塑造了穹界领域，其中一些领域帮助保存了他们消失的文化。然而，代价是秘学评议会八个宗派内部的停滞和异议。

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In a way, these divisions created a vibrant age of Otherworldly magick. Each faction shaped Horizon Realms for its own purposes, and some of those Realms helped preserve their vanishing cultures. The price, however, was a period of stagnation and dissent within the Council of Eight.

在传统宗派的空缺中，一个理性和疯狂的时代成长了起来……

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And in that void, an age of Reason and Madness grew…

混沌与越轨 Chaos and Transgression

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腐化和疯狂，就像奴隶制一样，都不是什么新鲜事。毕竟，在光与秩序存在之前，无尽的虚空与混沌就存在着了。灭世者（Nephandi）——他们的集体名字来源于拉丁语nefas（“越轨”）和古代美索不达米亚教派Nif'ur'enDaah（“食死者”），在征服时代已经存在了数千年。然而，那个时代赋予了他们强大的权力。骄傲滋生傲慢；财富滋生罪恶。奴役或摧毁整个大陆的人民所带来的冷酷无情，为灭世者的影响力提供了肥沃的土壤。当凡人政权发现邪教和黑弥撒就在他们之中时，想拔出他们的毒牙却也为时已晚。

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Corruption and insanity, like slavery, are nothing new. Before the Light and Order existed, after all, there were endless Void and Chaos. The Nephandi – who draw their collective name from the Latin word nefas (“transgression”) and the ancient Mesopotamian sect called the Nif’ ur ‘en Daah (“Eaters of the Dead”) had existed for millennia by the Age of Conquest. That age, however, gave them a deep hold on power. Pride breeds hubris; wealth breeds iniquity. The callousness that came from enslaving or destroying the people of whole continents provided a fertile ground for Nephandic influence. By the time mortal authorities detected the cults and Black Masses in their midst, it was far too late to dig out their fangs.

疯狂也在文明的夹缝中繁荣起来。劫夺者（名字来源于maraud，一个法语单词，意为兴奋的公猫）一直处于文明的边缘，现在他们的存在开始变得更加广为人知。这些疯狂的魔法师曾经是孤独的，现在聚集成一群又一群分享疯狂的疯子。在那个时代的疯狂中，这些家伙似乎出奇地适应；毕竟，对于那些为了娱乐而把人活活烧死，同时宣称自己是文明的顶峰的国家来说，除了他们还有谁是更好的吉祥物呢？

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Madness prospered too, in the cracks of civilization. The Marauders (named from maraud, a French word for a highspirited tomcat), who’ve always been present at the edges of civilization, began to make their presence more widely known. Once solitary, these demented enchanters now clustered into groups of shared insanity. In the madness of the age, these entities seemed strangely appropriate; what better mascot could there be, after all, for nations that burned people alive for entertainment while proclaiming themselves the pinnacle of civilization?

在新世界的海洋和森林中，欧洲国家和他们的流放犯们为了取得成就而奋力拼搏。海盗和私掠船横行大洋；侦察兵和亡命徒在荒野中探查。土著文化为他们消失的土地而加强防守并奋力战斗；然而，枪炮、细菌和钢铁的涌入使它们进一步走向灭绝。曾经被德鲁伊视为神圣的森林被砍伐，变成了船只。一个新的魔法师道统，通常被称为巴塔，是由非洲俘虏、欧洲大师和美洲土著医生融合而成的。像恩戈马这样的古老团体似乎消失在文明粉碎机中——有时像安灵师一样被同化为其他派系，有时则消失在奔向更文明世界的狂奔中。

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In the seas and forests of the new world, European nations and their cast-offs jockeyed for accomplishment. Pirates and privateers filled the oceans; scouts and outlaws plumbed the wilderness. Native cultures dug in and fought hard for their vanishing lands; the rush of guns, germs, and steel, however, drove them further toward near-extinction. Forests once held sacred by the Druids got cut down and turned into ships. A new magickal lineage, often called the Bata’a, came together from the fusion of African captives, European masters, and Native American medicine-folk. Older groups, like the Ngoma, seemed to disappear into the grinder – sometimes assimilated, like the Madzimbabwe, into other sects, other times vanishing in the headlong rush toward a more civilized world.

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术士，工匠和异端 Sorcerers, Tinkers, and Heretics

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与此同时，数百年的宗教战争和迫害终于开始平息。当然，在开明（和启蒙）的人看来，这种屠杀是不合理的。他们坚持认为，科学、哲学和艺术比每周在城市广场上烧人烧书更能为社会提供更多的东西。随着印刷机等技术革新在欧洲及其殖民地传播扫盲知识，理性之子开始从神圣的热情转向世俗的逻辑。火热的文艺复兴转化成了启蒙运动……无论如何，至少对欧洲白人男性是如此。

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Meanwhile, the centuries of religious warfare and persecution finally began to wind down. Such carnage was, of course, unreasonable in the eyes of enlightened (and Enlightened) men. Science, philosophy, and the arts had more to offer, they insisted, than weekly burnings in the city square. As innovations like the printing press spread literacy across Europe and its colonies, the Order of Reason began to move itself – and its influence – from sacred fervor to worldly logic. The fiery Renaissance became an Enlightenment… at least as far as white, European males were concerned, anyway.

随着猎巫之火在欧洲大陆逐渐平息，秘密结社蓬勃发展：玫瑰十字会、共济会、波罗社团，等等。这些社团中的大多数仍是非觉醒者所控制，但少数则为觉醒法师和启蒙工匠提供了庇护。在理性时代的阴影下，神秘学的魅力绽放。每个宫廷中似乎都有术士、工匠和异端。

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As the witch-fires dwindled across the continent, secret societies flourished: the Rosicrucians, Freemasons, the Poro Society, and far, far more. Most of them remained in unAwakened hands, but a few harbored Awakened mages and Enlightened craftsmen. In the shadow of a dawning Age of Reason, occult fascinations bloomed. Every court, it seemed, had sorcerers and tinkers and heretics to spare.

这些结社为门派提供了一个完美的港湾：异类门派一并抵制传统宗派和理性之子的合并。这些团体的成员数量从一把就能数的过来（如希波吕忒姊妹会，她们保存了古代的女神之道），到分散在松散网络中的数百名成员（如知识之子，他们在秘密的繁荣中茁壮成长）。在以后的日子里，强大的巫龙也将被视为这样一个群体；然而此时，他们仍然还享有帝国的宠爱和天子显而易见的授权。然而，由于他们与五金龙的无休止的冲突，他们的权力正在减弱，而五金龙很快就会取代他们从而大权在握。

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These societies presented a perfect harbor for Crafts: disparate sects that resisted consolidation into either the Traditions or the Order of Reason. The rolls of such groups ranged from a handful of members (like the Sisters of Hippolyta, who preserved the ancient Goddess ways) to hundreds of members scattered throughout loose networks (like the Children of Knowledge, who thrived in their secret prosperity). In later days, the mighty Wu Lung will be considered such a group; at this time, though, they still retained Imperial favor and an apparent mandate from the Sons of Heaven. Their power, though, was ebbing as a result of their endless conflict with the Metal Dragons, who would soon replace them in the seats of power.

在整个穆斯林世界，奥斯曼人及他们的神圣科学庭超越了伊朗和莫卧儿的对手。与正在扩张的基督教帝国一样，奥斯曼帝国采用了技术、宗教、哲学和蛮力的混合体来吸收或征服他们所到之路上的每一个人。即便如此，从美洲掠夺的财富（以及从美国森林建造的船只）还是给了基督教国家一个优势。17世纪让位给18世纪，英国、法国、西班牙、葡萄牙、比利时、荷兰以及崛起的俄罗斯和德国在世界各地插上了自己的国旗。

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Throughout the Muslim world, the Ottomans and their Court of Sacred Sciences overtook their Iranian and Mughal rivals. Like the spreading Christian empires, the Ottomans employed a mixture of technology, religion, philosophy, and brute force to absorb or conquer everyone in their path. Even so, the riches plundered from the Americas (and the ships built from American forests) gave the Christian powers an edge. As the 1600s gave way to the 1700s, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, and the rising powers of Russia and Germany planted their flags across the world.

当然也有反对意见。祖鲁人、切罗基人、易洛魁人邦联（其成立的部分灵感来自第一同盟的梦语者，“行鹰”），以及最终取代印度莫卧儿王朝的印度教玛拉塔帝国……这些文化和其他文化让帝国征服的脚步停顿了下来。中国衰落了，但日本繁荣了，变得强大到足以将自己与吞噬世界其他地区的“大博弈”隔绝。随着时间的推移，这些文化将成为男孩们冒险故事的素材，在故事中，据说勇敢的白人男子制服了所谓的野蛮外国人。然而，在18世纪初至20世纪初，他们是一支强大的力量，即使没有阻止，也减缓了帝国的狂潮。

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There was opposition, of course. The Zulu, the Cherokee, the Iroquois Confederacy (inspired, in part, by the First Cabal’s Dream-Speaker, Walking Hawk), and the Hindu Maratha Empire that finally displaced the Indian Mughal dynasties… these cultures, and others, gave the larger empires pause. China declined, but Japan prospered, becoming powerful enough to shut itself off from the “great game” that was swallowing the rest of the world. In time, these cultures will become fodder for boys’ adventure tales, wherein supposedly brave white men subdue so-called barbaric foreigners. Between the early 1700s and early 1900s, though, they were powerful forces that slowed, if not stopped, the raging tide of empires.

与此同时，高阶行会、发明家协会、科希安誓环和空间探索者主宰了理性之子。似乎到处都需要他们的黄金、利剑、船只、药品和枪支。更微妙的手段需要高阶行会和刀锋团用柔和的语言和锋利的刀子来达成。高度冒险和背信弃义定义了这个时代。石匠兄弟会和纯思社仍然保有他们的影响力，但这种影响力已经开始减弱。天体大师们展示了我们的世界是多么的广阔，而加百列使徒和石匠兄弟会们背后的中世纪理念开始显得相当古怪……并最终过时。

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Meanwhile, the Guild, Artificers, Cosians, and Explorators dominated the Order of Reason. Everywhere, it seemed, needed their gold, swords, ships, medicines, and guns. More subtle methods demanded the soft words and sharp knives of Guildsmen and Ksirafai. High adventure and treachery defined the age. The Craftmasons and Cabal of Pure Thought had their influence, but that power had begun to wane. The Celestial Masters had shown just how vast our world truly is, and the medieval ideals behind the Gabrielites and Crafters began to seem rather quaint… and ultimately obsolete.

也许美国革命——一场由加百列使徒鼎力支持的石匠兄弟会的表演——是为了向整个理性之子发出一个讯息。如果是这样的话，几年后，它在海地和法国的续篇为理性之子提供了一个进行激烈革新的借口。到19世纪，理性之子制定了一个进步和创新的时间表。统治世界似乎不仅可取，而且可能。中世纪的名字让位于工业化的名词：发明家协会变成了机械师；高阶行会变成了一系列的注册代理公司; 一个由发明家和理论家组成的兼容并蓄的同好会给自己取名为伏特学会，理性之子内部开始形成一座象牙塔……给几个代达罗斯之徒的派系带来了不祥的结果。

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Perhaps the American Revolution – a sure display of Craftmason power backed by Gabrielite fervor – was meant to send a message to the Order of Reason as a whole. If so, its sequels in Haiti and France a few years later provided the Order with an excuse for drastic renovation. By the 1800s, the Order had instituted a Time Table of progress and innovation. World dominion seemed not only desirable but possible. Medieval names gave way to industrial titles: Artificers became Mechanicians; the High Guild became an array of incorporated Proctor Houses; an eclectic fraternity of inventors and theorists took up the name Voltarians, and an Ivory Tower began to form within the Order… with ominous results for several Daedalean factions.

在这一切中，评议会陷入了困境，他们创造了令人印象深刻的穹界领域，但在地球上却失去了一席之地。沮丧的巴蒂尼宣布评议会是团结的阻碍。梦语者叛逃加入了切罗基的誓言团契、祖鲁的狮子大师和成长中的巴塔等团体。空明兄弟会遭受了几个世纪的迫害，已经油尽灯枯，而且太过远离世俗事务，日耳曼圣叶离开了议会，以享受其本土文化的澎湃力量。克罗诺斯先知现在常常四散，作为纯粹的欢喜宗而活动，他们在欧洲的神秘学地下活动中蓬勃发展，但他们也加入了印度教兄弟的团体，如大虎社、迦梨罗闍和令人恐惧的*无畏派。曾经是温和派的这些教团，现在达到了令人震惊的穷兵黩武的边缘……与之相匹配的是他们在转轮之民中的令人厌恶的盟友，现在更喜欢他们的希腊名字“善终者”和血腥的具有挑衅意味的魔法。困惑的赫尔墨斯密会和痛苦的天国颂歌将他们的传统同伴斥为仅有一腔热血的业余爱好者。灾难即将来临。

*译者注：无畏派（Aghoris）：名称为梵语，意为“无惧之人”。这一密宗教派演变自印度教中崇拜湿婆的嘎巴利卡教派，以进食尸体作为仪式以及苦修的方式。

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And through it all, the Council floundered, making impressive Horizon Realms but losing ground on Earth. Frustrated Batini declared the Council an obstacle to unity. Dreamspeakers defected to join groups like the Cherokee Fellowship of the Oath, the Zulu Lion Masters, and the growing Bata’a. The Akashic Brotherhood, depleted after centuries of persecution, seemed too remote for practical matters, and Germanic Verbena left the Council in order to enjoy the surging power of their home culture. The Seers – now often dismissed as mere Cultists of Ecstasy – flourished in Europe’s occult underground, but they also joined their Hindu brethren in groups like the Grand Tiger Society, the Kalika Rajas, and the frightening Aghoris. Once moderators, these Cultists attained a shocking militaristic edge… an edge matched by their disgusted allies in the Chakravanti, now favoring their Greek name Euthanatos and a bloody approach to defiant magick. Puzzled Hermetics and distressed Choristers dismissed their fellow Traditions as hot-blooded amateurs. The stage was set for catastrophe.

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

蒸汽与钢铁的胜利 The Triumph of Steam and Steel

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清洗开始于工业革命；它随着美国、海地、法国和其他地区的叛乱而提速。伴随着拿破仑的征服——他是一名科技吏官，即使并非启蒙者，也是字面意义上的技术官僚，他完善了战争和治理的技术——而在维多利亚女皇登基时，清洗也达到了顶峰：她是一名科技吏官，其影响力定义了一个时代。

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The purge began with an Industrial Revolution; it picked up speed with the revolts in America, Haiti, France, and elsewhere. It spun through the conquests of Napoleon – a technocrat in method if not Enlightenment, who refined technologies of war and government – and ascended a throne in the form of Queen Victoria: another technocrat whose influence defined an age.

传统宗派和科技联盟都认为维多利亚是代达罗斯大师。凡人的历史将她描述为一个忧郁的道德家，具有令人印象深刻的政治智慧。在她的治理下，英国成为当时地球上最强大的国家——在战场上鲜有对手，在人类成就的各个领域都受到尊重。维多利亚的英国横跨全球，培育了其他国家都纷纷效仿的工厂、军队和国际公司。当然，这并不是文明的顶峰——这是一个充斥着肮脏和污染的国度，充满了可怕的贫穷和令人窒息的压迫。不过，维多利亚的时代定义了一种新的繁荣：蒸汽和钢铁的胜利。

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Both the Traditions and Technocracy considered Victoria a Daedalean Master. Mortal histories presented her as a melancholy moralist with devastating civil acumen. Under her governance, England became the most powerful nation on Earth – rarely rivaled on the battlefield and commanding respect in every sphere of human achievement. Victoria’s England spanned the globe, nurturing factories, armies, and international corporations that every other nation emulated. This was not, of course, the pinnacle of civilization – it was a filthy, polluted realm of horrific poverty and seething oppression. Victoria’s age, though, defined a new prosperity: a triumph of steam and steel.

辉煌与背叛 Brilliance and Betrayal

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三个新的科技吏官派系定义了这个时代：从伏特学会内部产生了一个混合了赫尔墨斯神秘主义、穆斯林的学术、欧洲人的聪明才智和桀骜不驯的傲慢的组织，被称为电力工程师；一个安静但富有远见的对数学现状不满者的协会诞生了差分工程师；而一群环球旅行的、自称为骷髅钥匙的暴躁贵族则加入了新生的象牙塔派别。这三个团契体现了天马行空的发明精神、精打细算的远见和正义的拳脚。与他们相比，怨天尤人的加百列使徒和愤世嫉俗的石匠兄弟会就像一个不太开明的时代的尴尬回潮。

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Three new technocratic sects defined this era: from within the Voltarian group came a wild hybrid of Hermetic mysteries, Muslim scholarship, European ingenuity, and defiant hubris called the Electrodyne Engineers; a quiet but visionary association of mathematical malcontents begat the Difference Engineers; and a globe-trotting pack of rowdy aristocrats who called themselves the Skeleton Keys joined the nascent Ivory Tower faction. Between the three of them, these fellowships embodied the spirit of wild invention, calculating foresight, and righteous fisticuffs. Compared to them, the grumbling Gabrielites and indignant Craftmasons felt like embarrassing throwbacks from a less-Enlightened age.

即使把他的传统法师对手推向了无足轻重的边缘地位，理性之子也开始显示出自身的老迈。在位的大师们已经有几个世纪的历史了——在他们自己的逻辑中也是个异类存在。宗教狂热者已经变得令人厌烦，他们在过去六七个世纪里所流的血似乎充其量只能对理性的事业起到反作用。在这个不断扩张的世界上，金钱和贸易似乎是衡量现实的真正标准——比上帝更真实，比教条更有成效，能够在所谓的更原始的文化的累累白骨上，以人类本身的愿景建立帝国。

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Even as it pushed its mystic rivals toward the edge of insignificance, the Order of Reason was showing its age. The reigning Masters were centuries old – aberrations to their own sense of logical propriety. The religious zealots had become tiresome, and the blood they’d spilled over the last six or seven centuries seemed, at best, counterproductive to the cause of Reason. Money and trade appeared to be the true measures of reality in this expanding world – truer than God, more productive than dogma, able to build empires in the image of Man, building over the bones of supposedly more primitive cultures.

理性之子是用古怪的迷信和自相矛盾的宗教废话造就的。已经有足够多并驾齐驱的帝国与技术了。过去几个世纪表明，团结可以通过武力来实现……因此，在维多利亚女王的暗中影响下，理性秩序成为了科技联盟。

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The Order of Reason was done with quaint superstitions and divisive religious nonsense. It had had enough of rival empires and technologies. The last few centuries had shown that unity could be imposed through force… and so, in the shadows of Victoria’s influence, the Order of Reason became the Technocratic Union.

一系列会议和联盟将欧洲理性之子、中国的五金龙以及新组建的美国中崛起的技官派系联系起来。奥斯曼人也被邀请参加会议，但世俗的穆斯林技官和虔诚的穆斯林工匠之间的分裂拆散了神圣科学庭……当然，这叶正是欧洲议会的意图。当这一努力汇集在一起时，代理公司联合领导了这场革命。这些有钱人以欲望之艺的有力形式，为决定理性之子的未来秘密地交易着：全球财富、全球影响力、全球权力……并给那些长期阻碍进步的令人讨厌的宗教狂热分子画上句号。

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A series of meetings and alliances linked the European Order, the Chinese Dragons, and rising technocratic sects in the newformed United States. The Ottomans were invited to the table as well, but a schism between secular Muslim technocrats and pious Muslim artisans cracked the Court of Sacred Sciences… which, of course, was exactly what the European Guildsmen intended. As this effort came together, the Proctor House Coalition led the revolution. Wielding a potent form of the Art of Desire, these money men made secret deals for the Order’s future: global wealth, global influence, global power… and an end to those annoying religious zealots who’d held back progress for so long.

所有的会议记录最终都“丢失”或“修订”了。所有相关方很快都死了，或被深深地藏了起来。但在一系列迅速的行动中，石匠兄弟会、加百列使徒和其他“迷信分子”一并被罢免。外部历史学家称这其为闪电清洗：科技吏官派系之间的一场快速而残酷的战争。随着20世纪的开始，闪电清洗照亮了一个新世界秩序。从那时起，科学，而非信仰决定了世界的道路。

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All the records of the meetings wound up “lost” or “revised.” All the parties involved were soon dead or deeply hidden. But in a series of quick strokes, the Craftmasons, Gabrielites, and other “superstitionists” were deposed. Outside historians called this the Lightning Purge: a quick, brutal war between technocratic factions. As the 20th century began, the Lightning Purge illuminated a New World Order. Science, not faith, determined its path from then on.

取代了旧的代达罗斯公约组织，一系列新的团体继承了科技吏官的衣钵：迭代法X，机械师的计算机化改进版本；先祖原人，他们将科希安誓环在生物学和生命领域的探索与良性进化的潜力融合在一起；虚空工程师，他们将旧有的空间探索者和天体大师打造成一个独一的开拓者组织；在“理性与控制”下巩固了明显领导地位的新世界秩序；电力工程师和差分工程师；以及辛迪加——这些代表新科技联盟利益的辛迪加会员（“话事人”）——他们在金钱和放纵之举的掩护下，形成了新秩序中的真正领导层。象牙塔取代了邪恶的、过时的刀锋团。最后一个旧团体消失了，而新科技联盟其明显的目的终于实现了。

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In place of the old Daedalean Conventions, a new array of groups took up the Technocratic mantle: Iteration X, a computerized refinement of the Mechanicians; the Progenitors, who melded the Cosian explorations in biological life with the potential for advanced evolution; the Void Engineers, who forged the old Explorators and Celestial Masters into a single pioneering entity; the New World Order that consolidated apparent leadership under Reason and Control; the Electrodyne and Difference Engineers; and the Syndicate – the syndics (“ones who represent”) of these new Technocratic interests — who, behind a screen of money and indulgence, formed the new Order’s true leadership. The Ivory Tower replaced the sinister, outmoded Ksirafai. That last group disappeared, its apparent purpose finally fulfilled.

这一切怎么发生的这么快？石匠兄弟会和加百列使徒是如何被消灭的？纯思社——一个致力于宗教正统的团体——什么时候赶走了上帝只留下机器？人们想知道，一群无神论的欧洲新贵是如何让穆斯林、道教和儒家大师转向他们的事业的？

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How did it all happen so quickly? How were the Craftmasons and Gabrielites virtually exterminated? When did the Cabal of Pure Thought – a group dedicated to religious orthodoxy – drive God out of the Machine? And how, folks wondered, did a group of atheistic European upstarts turn Muslim, Taoist, and Confucian Masters to their cause?

这种激进的转变几乎可以被认为是......如同魔法一般。

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Such radical transitions could almost be considered… magical.

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一个时代的结束 End of an Age

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随着工业帝国将普通人置于齿轮之间，反抗的火花点燃了人们对神秘主义追求的新的迷恋。神秘主义社团突然间似乎无处不在。这可能是赫尔墨斯密会在各个秘密结社中玩的一场长线游戏吗？这种做法的确值得称赞。欢喜徒艺术家们在欧洲 “世纪末”派的波希米亚狂欢节上翩翩起舞，或者在美国国界的边缘以Los Sabios Locos（“疯贤”）的身份战斗。使人患病的污染和对工业胜利的极度绝望助长了崇死者的热情……特别是在世界大战和西班牙大流感疫情导致了新世纪的巨大死亡人数之后。回想起他们红巾军时代的胜利，空明修会在义和团运动中重燃斗志，天国颂歌在北美和南美招募了新的信徒。圣叶也在当时的神秘主义复兴和艺术叛逆中蓬勃发展，因为新异教这个词——最初是一种侮辱——现在成为了荣誉的标志。对非洲和美洲原住民文化遭受的破坏感到震惊的梦语者们采取了一种无声的福音派式的反抗；尽管许多人——包括他们的盟友——将这种姿态视为某种“高贵野蛮人”的波澜不惊，但它掩盖了一种强大的、润物细无声的意志。只有巴蒂尼似乎放弃了希望；这个宗派在世纪之交后不久就退出了。然而，到那时，又有一个团体加入了这一行列。

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As industrial empires ground the common people between the gears, flickers of defiance ignited a new fascination with occult pursuits. Mystic orders suddenly seemed to be everywhere. Could this have been the Order of Hermes playing a long game throughout the various secret societies? They’ll certainly take credit for doing so. Ecstatic artists danced through the bohemian bacchanals of Europe’s fin de siécle (“end of the century”), or else fought on the edges of the American frontier as Los Sabios Locos (“the Crazy Wise Ones”). The sickening pollution and crushing despair of this industrial victory fed Thanatoic fervor… especially once the Great War and the Great Influenza Epidemic initiated the monumental death tolls of the budding century. The Akashayana found a new sense of purpose in a Boxer Rebellion that recalled their Red Turban victories, and the Celestial Chorus recruited new devotees in North and South America. The Verbena, too, thrived in the occult revival and artistic rebellions of the time, as the term neo-pagan – originally an insult – became a mark of honor. Appalled by the destructions of African and Native American cultures, the Dreamspeakers adopted a quietly evangelical defiance; though many folks – their allies included – took this pose as some form of “noble savage” serenity, it masked a powerful, subversive Will. Only the Batini seemed to give up hope; disgusted with the Council’s divisive stagnation, that Tradition walked out shortly after the turn of the century. By then, however, another group had joined the ranks.

电力工程师在闪电清洗中发挥了重要作用，他们的机器粉碎了加百列使徒的抵抗和石匠兄弟会的秘艺。然而不久之后，技官的内环试图控制住这些骄傲的发明家。在宣布以太（高等电力科学中的基础元素）实际上并不存在时，内环使用了新的大众通信技术来取代以太学会。因此，电力工程师们于1904年退出了新的科技联盟，并以他们的旧绰号“以太之子”加入了传统宗派中。

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The Electrodyne Engineers played a vital role in the Lightning Purge, their machines crushing Gabrielite resistance and Craftmason Arts. Soon afterward, though, the Technocratic Inner Circle tried to rein in the proud inventors. Announcing that the Ether – a foundation element to Electrodyne High Science – did not actually exist, the Inner Circle used new mass-communication technology to put the Etherites in their place. As a result, the Engineers quit the new Technocratic Union in 1904 and joined the Traditions under their old nickname, the Sons of Ether.

要只是说这之后的事情进行的并不顺利，那就太轻描淡写了。

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To say that this didn’t go over well is an understatement.

几十年来，工业大国及其相关的科技吏官在他们所谓的原始野蛮人和叛逆乡村男孩身上测试着他们最致命的设备。每隔一段时间，一支军队就会向敌人的部队抛出一些新的革新产品，看看它能起什么效果。然而，没有人准备好应对当两个由科技联盟支持的超级大国掏出他们最大最劲的枪时发生的事情。当一个新兴工业化的日本在日俄战争中与沙皇俄国交火时，这一切就开始了，为即将到来的恐怖表演拉开了序幕。几年后，维多利亚女王的纸牌屋在第一次世界大战的碾轧下倒塌了。当战争结束时，西班牙流感的大流行又造成了2000万人死亡......科技吏官制造暴行的真正能力范围已经显现。

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For decades, the industrial powers and their associated Technocrats had tested their deadliest devices on people they called primitive savages and rebellious country boys. Every so often, an army would toss some new innovation at a rival’s troops to see what it might do. No one, however, was ready for what happened when two Union-backed superpowers hauled out their biggest guns. It started when a newly-industrialized Japan crossed guns with Tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese prelude to the coming horror show. A few years later, Victoria’s house of cards collapsed in the grind of the First World War. By the time it ended… and that influenza pandemic racked up another 20 million dead… the true scope of Technocratic atrocity had been revealed.

巫士圣战是狂野脱缰的。闪电清洗是不可思议的。各种瘟疫、战争、帝国崩溃和内战都给人类带来了苦难。然而，从没有人见过围绕着世界大战进行的机械化种族灭绝：坦克、飞机、毒气、机枪、可以在整个郊区外轰击一座城市的大炮，以及整整一代男女，即使他们的身体还没有完全死亡，他们的思想和身体已经被打碎了。仿佛某种史诗般的可怕魔法已经控制了人类。而最糟糕的事情还在后面......

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The Sorcerers Crusade had been wild. The Lighting Purge had been incredible. The various plagues and wars and collapsing empires and civil wars brought their share of misery. No one, however, had seen anything like the mechanized genocide surrounding the Great War: tanks, planes, poison gas, machine guns, cannons that could pound a city from an entire county away, and a generation of men and women whose minds and bodies had been shattered even when their bodies had not quite died. It seems as though some epic, awful magic had taken hold of humanity. And the worst was still to come…

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咆哮 Roar

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在全球战争和瘟疫之后，所谓的失落的一代开始了神秘主义的复兴。唯灵论、秘密社团、激进的艺术运动、异教复兴和激进的无神论都为觉醒者教团和其他教团提供了自愿的入门者。科技联盟抖抖身子，通过大屠杀来整顿世界，常常错过了赫尔墨斯密会、天国颂歌、欢喜徒、崇死者，甚至空明宗的崛起力量。毕竟，在这个“咆哮”的时代，有很多干扰因素，最明显的是俄罗斯革命、中华帝国的崩溃、日本帝国的迅速崛起，以及欧洲的反德浪潮……这种浪潮激发了未来的恐怖。

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In the wake of global war and plague, the so-called Lost Generation dove into the occult revival. Spiritualism, secret orders, radical art movements, Pagan reclamation, and militant atheism all provided willing initiates for cults both Awakened and otherwise. The Technocracy shook itself off and sorted through the carnage, often missing the rising power of Hermetics, Choristers, Ecstatics, Thanatoics, and even Akashics. There were, after all, plenty of distractions in this “roaring” era, most obviously the Russian Revolution, the collapse of Imperial China, the rapid rise of Imperial Japan, and the anti-German backlash in Europe… a backlash that inspired the horrors to come.

随着意大利、美国和俄罗斯的技官实验取得成功，越来越多的虚无党壮大了觉醒者的队伍。这些人抛弃了一切形式的旧智慧，滑入了传统宗派和科技联盟的夹缝中。虽然在以后的岁月里，他们会被视为无聊的哥特小孩，但被认为是“孤儿”的虚无党是一个真正的20世纪神秘主义宗派……后来密会对这一事实的忽视将付出极大的代价。被崇高的传统法师鄙视为“自我觉醒的乌合之众”，虚无党发现自己被当作征募的备胎和炮灰。他们的待遇并不好。

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As Technocratic experiments in Italy, the United States and Russia took hold, growing numbers of Hollow Ones swelled the ranks of the Awakened. Forsaking all forms of old wisdom, these people slipped between the cracks of both Traditions and Technocracy. Although they would be seen in later years as bored Goth kids, the orphaned Hollowers were a true 20th-century mystic tradition… a fact the Council would ignore at great cost later. Disdained by lofty mystics as “self-Awakened rabble,” the Hollowers found themselves treated as recruiting stock and cannon fodder. The treatment didn’t sit well with them.

在咆哮的1920年代，所有派系的法师都建立了自己的影响力。新的大众媒体技术帮助聪明的法师传播信仰并塑造现实。以太学会可能是电影、杂志、报纸、录音和广播领域最精明的学生，但他们并不是唯一的学生。就连“野兽之王”阿莱斯特·克劳利也尝试过录制仪式，但不知何故，他被认为是几乎所有神秘主义者团体的成员，但从未在一个觉醒者传统宗派中明确现身。

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Throughout the Roaring ‘20s, mages of all factions built their influence. New mass-media technologies helped smart mages spread beliefs and shape realities. The Etherites might have been the most astute students of film, magazines, newspapers, sound recordings, and radio, but they weren’t the only ones. Even the Great Beast, Aleister Crowley, experimented with recorded rituals, somehow managing to be considered a member of almost every mystic group while never definitively appearing in a single Awakened Tradition.

战争的丑陋后果......以及更丑陋的全球大萧条......分裂了秘学九宗和科技联盟。战后奥斯曼帝国的解体和十几个帝国大国的技术饥渴——再加上社会动荡和将非洲和亚洲分割成欧洲 "属地"——使紧张局势在这个动荡的时代不断升级。美国的沙尘暴是魔法战争的遗产吗？许多罢工和骚乱是由觉醒者的势力煽动的吗？到底是谁在操纵席卷美国的有组织犯罪家族......那些关于三K党猎杀梦语者和巴塔的传言背后的真相是什么？*精妙之人到哪里去了？世界是否正朝着一个可怕的黑铁时代发展？随着20世纪20年代和30年代向另一场世界大战迈进，谜团无处不在。

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The ugly aftermath of war… and the even uglier global Great Depression… divided both the Council and the Union. The post-War disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the technological hunger of a dozen imperial powers – combined with social upheavals and the partitioning of Africa and Asia into European “possessions” – kept tensions rising in this volatile age. Was the American dust bowl a legacy of magickal war? Were the many strikes and riots instigated by Awakened factions? Who was really running the organized crime families sweeping across the USA… and what was the truth behind those rumors about the KKK hunting Dreamspeakers and Bata’a? Where did the Subtle Ones go, and was the world headed toward a dreadful Age of Iron? As the ‘20s and ‘30s lurched toward another World War, mysteries were everywhere.

*译者注：精妙之人，Subtle Ones，即退出九宗后消失踪迹的阿里巴廷。

事后看来，有一件事是显而易见的：堕落者正在与我们的世界下一盘大棋。

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One thing, in hindsight, is obvious: the Fallen are playing chess with our world.

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严酷的考验 The Crucible

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从电影院里播报的新闻短片上看，这一切都令人惊叹。德国、意大利和日本的新生事物似乎都充满了活力和希望。他们的机器是地球上最优良的机器之一，他们的人民饮食良好，纪律严明。能言善辩的领导人激发了伟大的奉献精神。这看起来就像一个成真的技官梦想——明日世界熠熠生辉的景象。

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From the newsreels, it looked marvelous: Germany, Italy, and the newcomers in Japan all seemed vital and full of hope. Their machines were among the finest on Earth, their people well-fed and disciplined. Eloquent leaders inspired grand devotion. It looked like a Technocratic dream come true – the shining face of Tomorrow.

我们都知道之后发生什么了。

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We all know what happened next.

第二次世界大战分裂了传统宗派和科技联盟；轴心国或同盟国两边的法师都有加入。尽管有一些传统法师逃跑躲藏了起来，但大多数人都明白这其中的利害关系。当轴心国的暴行被揭露并引以为傲时，被怀疑是启蒙者的轴心国领导人的残暴本性被揭露，真相变得显而易见：灭世者已经打出了所有的弹子，而他们很可能已经赢得了胜利。

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World War II split the Traditions and Technocracy; mages on both sides joined the Axis or the Allies. Although a few mystics ran and hid, most folks understood just how high the stakes were. As atrocities came to light and proud, supposedly Enlightened Axis leaders were revealed as monsters, the truth became obvious: the Nephandi had gone for all the marbles, and they very well might have won.

那是一个矛盾的时代——一场启示录级的宇宙大决战。魔法和机器从地球的一端冲突到另一端。只有南美洲真正幸免于难。图勒协会的德国神秘主义者与欧恩博士的恐怖三人组发生冲突。日本的 “血坊主”和 “烈风大队”与被称为 “幽冥虎”的崇死者/梦语者/欢喜徒派系和空明修会的“窃语之拳”交战。差分工程师——这时他们被称为虚拟行者——突破了技术官僚的序列，帮助英国最高司令部破解了神秘的德国密码。一种不同的密码来自美国的“风语者”，从他们的名字就可以看出他们与梦语者的关系。九宗中最激烈的分歧莫过于圣叶的自相残杀；对于一个其初创成员是英国女巫和日耳曼符文师的传统来说，这种分裂具有瓦格纳歌剧式的悲剧色彩。

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It was an age of Paradox – a cosmic Armageddon of mythic proportions. Magick and machines clashed from one end of Earth to another. Only South America was truly spared. German mystics of the Thule Gesellschaft clashed with Doc Eon’s Terrific Trio. The Japanese Bloody Pillar and Fiery Wind Brigade battled the Thanatoic/ Dreamspeaker/ Ecstatic sect called the Ghost Tigers and the Akashic Whispering Fists. The Difference Engineers – by this time called the Virtual Adepts – broke Technocratic ranks and helped the British High Command crack mystic German codes. A different sort of code came from the American Wind Talkers, whose ties to the Dreamspeakers were obvious from their name. Perhaps the bitterest divide pitted the Verbena Tradition against itself; for a Tradition whose founding members were a British witch and a Germanic runesman, that split held the tragedy of Wagnerian opera.

有一段时间，技术官僚的领导层支持轴心国的战争机器。然而，随着轴心国恐怖的本性和程度变得越来越暴露无遗，内环加入了反对轴心国的普通技术官僚的行列。同盟国，尤其是俄罗斯和美国，背后的技术力量，改变了力量的平衡。希特勒的部队发现他们的小道具频频发生故障，他们引以为傲的机器噼啪冒火，他们的技术革新要么停滞不前，要么在矛盾的闪光中爆炸。1943年末，科技联盟的高层与秘学九宗评议会的大师会面，这是史无前例的举动；现在，这两个派系联合起来，粉碎了图勒协会、午夜之狼（代达罗斯之徒建立的恶狼会的残余）和阴影太阳协会——纳粹政权的灭世者核心。尽管某些技术官僚和传统法师一直和轴心国站到最后，但他们的结局几乎是注定的。

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For a time, the Technocratic leadership stood behind the Axis war machine. As the extent and nature of the horrors became unavoidable, however, the Inner Circle joined the rank-and-file Technocrats who’d turned against the Axis. The technical acumen behind the Allied powers, most especially Russia and the U.S., shifted the balance of power. Hitler’s forces found their gadgets malfunctioning, their proud machine sputtering, their innovations stagnating or exploding in bright flashes of Paradox. In an unprecedented move, high-ranking Technocrats met with Council Masters in late 1943; now united, the two factions crushed the Thule Society, the Midnight Wolves (a remnant of the Daedalean Wolf Guild), and the Shadowed Sun Society – Nephandic cores of Nazi power. Although certain Technocrats and Tradition mages hung on until the end, that end was almost certain.

回想起来，广岛和长崎的核爆也可以看作是巨大的矛盾反冲。但也许他们是一场可怕的决胜局中开场的第一球……

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In retrospect, the detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki could be seen as titanic Paradox backlashes. But perhaps they were the opening volleys of a terrifying endgame…