Fast Reply

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

超凡公民的崛起 The Rise of the Extraordinary Citizen

---

所有派别的法师都希望带领像迷途羔羊一样的人类走向他们选择的牧场，但他们都被新世界秩序所称的超凡公民的崛起所动摇：一场群众之中的能力、信念和信仰的革命。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Mages of all factions who expected to lead a sheeplike humanity toward their pasture of choice have been shaken by what the New World Order calls the rise of the extraordinary citizen: a revolution in capability, conviction, and belief among the Masses.

20世纪90年代流行的对外物无动于衷的态度表明了人类潜力的停滞不前，而新千年之交发生的爆炸性事件则凸显了完全相反的潮流。尽管消费主义社会的某些部分疯狂生产开心乐园餐和垃圾文化，但政治动荡、技术知识、神秘浪漫主义和宗教信仰的结合点燃了世界性的激变。在世界各地，有数量空前的人使用科技，但也相信魔法。这种明显的“矛盾（paradox，字母p小写）”改变了升华战争的走向。在传统法师将计算机技术融入他们的生活和仪式的同时，具有理想主义精神的技术官僚们发现自己也渴望精神上的满足。与此同时，所谓的“沉睡者”（Sleepers）已经证明自己是双方的积极代理人，他们使用随手可得的技术制造神奇的幻象。从巫师男孩到浪漫的夜裔、天启传奇和电脑特效生成的超级英雄，在这个千禧年间融合的流行文化大乱炖代表着他们对升华战争冲突各方的欢迎。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Whereas the fashionable apathy of the 1990s suggests a stagnation of human potential, the literally explosive events at the turn of the new millennium spotlight the very opposite idea. Although certain elements of consumeristic society scarf down Happy Meals and junk culture, the combination of political unrest, technological savvy, mystic romanticism, and religious convictions ignite worldwide upheavals. Across the world, unprecedented numbers of people employ technology and yet believe in magic. This apparent small-p paradox has shifted the tide of the Ascension War. At the same time that longtime mystics incorporate computer-tech into their lives and rituals, idealistic Technocrats find themselves craving spiritual fulfillment. The so-called Sleepers, meanwhile, have proved themselves to be active agents of both sides, using over-the-counter technology to craft magical visions. From boy wizards to romantic Night-Folk, apocalyptic sagas and CGI superheroism, the pop-culture stew of this millennium fusion represents an embrace of all sides of the Ascension conflict.

简而言之，没有一方获胜，但他们所有人——包括劫夺者——都有机会争获世界共识。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

In short, no one side is winning, but all of them – the Marauders included – have a chance at capturing a worldwide Consensus.

千禧年的超凡公民既不是中世纪传说中战战兢兢的农民，也不是技术官僚理想中顺从的群众。相反，他们......或者，更准确地说，我们......拥抱一个充满活力的时代，在这个时代里，技术、信仰和想象力共存。不过，这个时代的阴影中藏着全球疯狂和自我毁灭的可能性。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

The extraordinary citizens of the new millennium are neither the trembling peasants of medieval legend nor the conforming Masses of Technocratic ideals. Instead, they… or, to be more accurate, WE… embrace a vibrant era in which technology, faith, and imagination coexist. The shadow of that era, though, is the potential for global madness and self-inflicted annihilation.

对未来的选择，最终来说，不在于任何一个觉醒者势力，而在于21世纪的超凡公民。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

And that choice, ultimately, lies not with one Awakened faction or the other, but with the extraordinary citizens of the 21st century.

This post has been edited by 劳伦斯·塔利斯曼: 2023-03-14, 12:50

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

瓦尔戈大王的东征 Czar Vargo’s Crusade

---

他几乎成功了。他明明可以成功的。如果被称为瓦尔戈大王的以太学会理想主义者在试图阻止第一次世界大战的过程中没有胆大妄为，没有过于冒进，20世纪的世界可能已经是一个与我们所熟知的世界非常不同的地方。但是，当瓦尔戈的飞艇舰队在1914年遮蔽了全世界的天空，配备了理论上可以使地球上所有现代武器失效的装置时，他跨过了现实的门槛......也消失在现实的门外。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

It almost worked. It might have worked. If the Etherite idealist called Czar Vargo had not dared too much and gone too far in his attempt to stop the First World War, the 20th century might have been a very different place. But when Vargo’s airship armada darkened skies across the world in 1914, armed with devices that could theoretically deactivate every modern weapon on Earth, he stepped over reality’s threshold… and disappeared over it as well.

一道巨大的闪光之后，整个舰队都消失了。所有的男人、女人和设备都不知所踪。瓦尔戈大王，他的追随者，以及他们计划部署的任何技术都不复存在。关于这一事件的大多数记录和记忆也都消失了；留下来的少数记录难以鉴定、自相矛盾，而且往往荒谬至极。整个世界仿佛倒退了一天，只产生了这个事件发生过的微弱痕迹，但却抹除了实际参与的各方。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

After a huge flash, the entire armada vanished. Every man, woman, and device went elsewhere. Czar Vargo, his followers, and whatever technologies they had planned to employ all ceased to exist. Most records and memories of that event disappeared as well; the few that remained behind were inconclusive, contradictory, and often absurd. It’s as if the entire day had rewound itself, producing faint ghosts of its events but obliterating the actual parties involved.

以太学会坚持认为，瓦尔戈大王被科技联盟消灭了，所有关于他的冒险经历都被新世界秩序在历史记录中划定为不存在。然而，这样的事件似乎超越了哪怕是科技联盟最强时期的能力范围。更可能的是，现实本身吞噬了瓦尔戈大王。如果这是真的，那么也许接下来的整个世纪的事情都是历史上最大的矛盾反冲。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

The Society of Ether maintains that Czar Vargo was destroyed by the Technocracy, with all accounts of his adventures written out of existence by the New World Order. Such an event, however, seems beyond the reach of even the greatest Technocratic influence. It’s more likely that Reality itself swallowed Czar Vargo. And if that’s true, then perhaps the entire century that followed has been the greatest Paradox backlash in history.

善心铸得黄泉路。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Talk about good intentions leading to hell.

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

梦想不可能之事 To Dream Impossible Things

---

就像苏联和英美西方联盟一样，科技联盟和传统宗派之间的休战很快就变成了一场激烈的对峙。第二次世界大战给了双方大量的新玩具和使用它们的理由。几个世纪以来第一次被充满了干劲的传统宗派，在战后的真空期大规模扩张。技术官僚抓住了原子时代作为一个将自己的理想传播到世界各地的机会。1961年，虚拟行者的叛逃使评议会恢复到最初的九席；虚拟行者也为九宗带来了一股广受欢迎的未来主义灵感。结合以太之子，新的传统宗派，将评议会牢牢地带入了这个狂野的世纪。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Like the alliance between the Soviet Union and the Anglo American west, the truce between Technocrats and Traditions soon became a ferocious standoff. World War II had given both sides plenty of new toys and reasons to use them. The Traditions, energized for the first time in centuries, expanded into the post-War vacuum. The Technocracy seized upon the Atom Age as a chance to take its ideals worldwide. The defection of the Virtual Adepts in 1961 brought the Council back to its original count of nine; the Adepts also brought with them a welcome burst of futuristic inspiration. Combined with the Sons of Ether, the new Tradition brought the Council firmly into this wild century.

随着20世纪60年代反主流文化的兴起，传统宗派在流行文化中占据了一席之地。厌战的沉睡者渴望反叛、灵性和奇迹；而传统宗派很乐意提供这样的东西。长期受压迫的人民和文化摆脱了殖民枷锁，将失落的秘艺带回了全球舞台。因此，尽管来自科技联盟的大屠杀愈演愈烈，但传统法师通过流行文化、民权运动、富有想象力的科技以及各种灵性和宗教运动建立了权力基础。在接下来的几十年里，传统宗派和技术官僚在争夺霸主地位的血腥斗争中对峙——双方都被实现“升华”的渴望驱使着，都太过于骄傲以至于看不到自己的天谴。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

As the counterculture blazed up in the 1960s, the Traditions seized their place in popular culture. War-weary Sleepers craved rebellion, spirituality, and wonder; the Traditions were happy to provide such things. Long-oppressed people and cultures threw off their colonial chains, bringing lost Arts back to the global stage. And so, despite a growing Pogrom from the Technocratic Union, mystic mages built a power base through pop culture, the civil rights push, imaginative technology, and various spiritual and religious movements. Throughout the coming decades, the Traditions and Technocracy faced off in bloody struggles for supremacy – each side driven to fulfill Ascension, both too proud to see their own damnation.

愚蠢和傲慢塑造了一个黑暗世界。人们非但没有扬升，反而受苦。尽管取得了宏伟的成就，但人类这种动物仍是一头与自己交战的笼中之兽。在黑夜中行动的怪物仅仅是人类内心的反映，随着最终清算的临近，这场升华战争的真正赢家对每个人来说都显而易见，除了为之而战的法师。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Folly and pride have shaped a World of Darkness. Instead of Ascending, the people suffer. Despite magnificent achievements, the human animal is a caged beast at war with itself. The monsters moving through the night are mere reflections of the human heart, and as a Reckoning draws close, the true winners of this Ascension War become clear to everyone except the mages fighting it.

20世纪90年代预示着一场天启——一个关于罪恶、命运和惩罚的清算。各路势力聚集在一起，在不朽的决胜之战中汇聚。堡垒倒塌。大师败亡。技术官僚们发现他们的队伍中存在着严重的腐化——一种感染了内环的灭世者之毒。当战争摧毁了穹界领域时，其回声也震撼了地球上的一切。幻想家和狂人们用火焰蹂躏着这个世界。魔法就像最近的互联网连接一样紧密，但它的奇迹似乎无足轻重、微乎其微，低劣卑陋。于是，随着双子塔的燃烧和倒塌，一个光明的黑暗时代开始了——一个由不可能的事物组成的、致力于自我毁灭的仙境。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

The 1990s foretell an Apocalypse – a Reckoning of sin, destiny, and punishment. Forces gather and converge in monumental showdowns. Strongholds fall. Masters perish. Technocratic agents spot deep corruption in their ranks – a Nephandic poison that infects the Inner Circle itself. As wars destroy Horizon Realms, their echoes shake things back on Earth. Fanatics and madmen rape the world with fire. Magic is as close as the nearest Internet connection, but its miracles seem petty, small, and mean. And so, as the Twin Towers burn and fall, a bright Dark Age begins – a wonderland of impossible things bent on self-destruction.

然而，法师们总是擅长达成不可能的事。升华尽管被推迟了，但不能被否认。穹界可能会被烧毁，门派可能会破碎，但真魔法永远不会消失。新的千禧年迎来了一场文化大碰撞。科技、宗教和神秘的幻想相互混合，直到没有任何先入为主的观念保持不变。希望之声仍在风中，变革之息再度鸣响。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Mages, however, have always specialized in doing the impossible. Ascension, though delayed, cannot be denied. Horizons might burn and Crafts might shatter, but True Magick never dies. The new millennium ushers in a culture-jam. Tech, religion, and mystic fantasy remix one another’s elements until no preconception remains intact. There’s hope in the wind and revolution in the air again.

在这默示录的年代，升华战争仍在继续。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

In an age of revelations, the Ascension War goes on.

This post has been edited by 劳伦斯·塔利斯曼: 2023-03-14, 12:56

[劳伦斯·塔利斯曼]

未来的命运：最终清算与第六纪元
Future Fates: The Reckoning and Sixth Age

---

20世纪90年代末对传统宗派来说是灾难性的。在《法师》第二版和修订版之间的元剧情线中：

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

The late 1990s prove disastrous for the Traditions. In the metaplot between the Mage 2ndand Revised Editions:

• 赫尔墨斯密会的内部竞争撕裂了多塞梯堡，崇死者大师沃尔曼斯变得行为失常，升华勇士带领一群愤怒的年轻法师进入穹界，并在穹界战争期间将这一场所基本夷为平地。
• 在第二次魔煞战争中，赫尔墨斯秘会与吸血鬼开战，各方都为此付出了巨大代价。
• 1999年6月初的噩梦之周期间，孟加拉国出现了某种神祇般的怪物；科技联盟将核弹投向印度次大陆，而冥界核弹（见第四章）引发了化身风暴和其他的形而上学灾难。
• 不久之后，一支技官军队摧毁了穹界圣所的剩余部分，杀死了大部分幸存的长者，并抹去了评议会的家园。评议会首席消失了，传统宗派群龙无首。一连串的灾难使秘学九宗摇摇欲坠。科技联盟加紧进行灭法，在新千年开始时，升华战争宣告结束。异类门派成员被追捕，其可能被彻底摧毁，而少数幸存者逃到了剩下的传统宗派中。由于化身风暴的维度异常，地球上的技术官僚们与他们的深空科研所的联系被切断，技术官僚们也陷入了混乱，最终还是要领导显然对此无动于衷的人类种族。
• 2001年9月11日的灾难之后，人类似乎变得疯狂。宗教狂热分子在每个大陆都会引发战争。坚持抵抗的传统宗派法师很快发现了一个神秘的游侠议会，但他们无法破译或信任其来源。最终清算到来，最后的第六纪元正在进行。

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

• Hermetic rivalries tear Doissetep apart, the Thanatoic Master Voormas goes rogue, and the Ascension Warrior leads an army of angry young mages into Horizon and essentially levels the place during the Horizon War.
• In a Second Massassa War, the Order of Hermes goes to war with vampires, to the vast expense of all parties.
• During a Week of Nightmares in early June, 1999, some sort of godlike monster rises in Bangladesh; the Technocracy nukes the Indian subcontinent, and the spirit nukes (see Chapter Four) unleash the Avatar Storm and other metaphysical disasters.
• Not long after that, a Technocratic force wipes out what’s left of Horizon, killing most of the surviving elders and obliterating the Council’s home. The Council Primi disappear, leaving the Traditions leaderless. Those combined catastrophes set the Nine Traditions reeling. The Technocracy intensifies its Pogrom, and – by the opening of the new millennium – the Ascension War is declared over. The Disparate Crafts are hunted down and supposedly destroyed, their few survivors fleeing to what’s left of the Traditions. The Technocracy, also in disarray as Earthbound Technocrats get cut off from their Deep Universe Constructs by the Avatar Storm’s Dimensional Anomaly, winds up presiding over an apparently apathetic human race.

鉴于这种真正改变了整个游戏的元剧情线，《法师》游戏的说书人有三个选项：

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Given this literally game-changing metaplot, a Mage Storyteller has three options:

• 现在的情况如同《法师》修订版：科技联盟统治着世界。沉睡者只想要巨无霸汉堡和电视节目。异类门派没有了，传统宗派仍然是一支小小的反抗力量。“化身风暴”仍然有效，将大部分活动限制在地球上。第六纪元将继续带来血腥和痛苦，行神秘主义的魔法按修订版的默认设置承受矛盾。
• 科技联盟的胜利派对还为时过早：当然，科技联盟占了上风，但传统宗派和异类法师的生存情况更糟。傲慢导致大多数技官认为战争或多或少已经结束……并遗漏了现在统治他们一举一动的灭世者领导层。群众们的自我放纵、狂热和对美好明天的希望让所有人都感到惊讶。传统宗派再次团结起来，异类法师联合起来夺回他们的世界。忠诚的技官们发现了内环的腐化，他们在科技联盟内部发动了一场暗影战争，可能会与传统宗派和异类法师结盟，试图将科学的理想从灭世者的渗透中拯救出来。然而，目前，堕落者正在赢得升华战争剩下的一切。这就像第二次世界大战，然而这次各方的赌注更大。
• 这一切都没发生过：与上世纪90年代中期一样，科技联盟和传统宗派或多或少是平等的，灭世者大部分被驱逐出地球，劫夺者太过分散，无法造成太大威胁。异类法师有他们自己的领土，但将升华推向极限的灾难并没有发生，也可能永远不会发生。

《法师》20周年版的成书假设是第二种情况。然而，最后的选择是由你来决定的。谁知道呢？也许第六纪元确实发生了，旧世界确实结束了，而当前的世界只是众多现实中的一个。现实是一件有趣的事情，尤其是在《法师》的世界里，并且往往不是你所期望的……

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

• Things are now as they’d been in Mage Revised: The Technocracy commands the world. Sleepers just want Big Macs and TV shows. The Disparates are gone and the Traditions remain a small, defiant force. The Avatar Storm’s still in effect, confining most activity to Earth. The Sixth Age continues to rain blood and misery, and mystic magick draws Paradox by default.
•The Technocracy’s victory party was premature: Sure, the Union got the upper hand, but the Traditions and Disparates have survived worse. Hubris leads most Technocrats to consider the fight more or less over… and to miss the Nephandic leadership now governing their every move. The Masses surprise everyone with their combination of self-indulgence, fanaticism, and hope for a better tomorrow. The Traditions rally once again, and the Disparates band together to take back their world. Loyal Technocrats who’ve discovered the Inner Circle’s corruption stage a shadow-war within the Union, possibly allying with Tradition and Disparate sects in an effort to rescue the ideals of science from Nephandic infiltration. At the moment, though, the Fallen are winning what’s left of the Ascension War. It’s like WWII all over again, with even higher stakes
• None of that ever happened: As in the mid-1990s, the Technocracy and Traditions are more or less equal, with the Nephandi mostly banished from Earth and the Marauders too scattered to provide much threat. The Disparates have their own territory, but the cataclysms that pushed Ascension to the edge have not occurred and probably never will.
• Mage 20 assumes the second scenario. The final choice, however, is yours to make. Who knows? Perhaps the Sixth Age did occur, the old world did end, and the current world is just one alternate reality of many. Reality’s a funny thing, especially in the world of Mage, and it’s often not what you’d expect…