知识之子 Children of Knowledge
我曾为未孵之卵,我曾是狗屎一坨,而如今我乃是火炼真金.
“通过化学改善生活!" 曾经,这句话是核电、塑料聚合物和一系列新兴产品潜力和承诺的代言广告,它保证让生活更轻松、更美好,而对于大多数觉醒者来说,这句话是技官联盟最阴险、最肮脏的一项宣传,许多法师知晓这句话的原型——Unus es ab arte transcendit;est transcendens omnia per artem——
"通过技艺,一人超脱;通过技艺,万物升华。"
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“Better living through chemistry!” Once, that phrase epitomized the potential and promise of nuclear power, plastic polymers, and a host of brave new products guaranteed to make life easier and better. For most Awakened folks, it’s one of the most insidious catch-phrases ever coined by Technocratic propagandists. Even so, other mages know it in its original form: Unus es ab arte transcendit; est transcendens omnia per artem: “By the Art, one transcends; through the Art, all is transcendent.”
在他们漫长的历史上,知识之子——他们更喜欢的头衔是"Solificati "带冠之人——一直在致力于成就一个简单、伟大的目标:通过古老的炼金术和科学技艺达成万物的升华和觉醒.人类修行炼金术的历史可以追溯到苏美尔时期,但大部分带冠之人则将其滥觞归于古埃及的哈特谢普苏特女王,在那里,伟大女王的持杯人学会了通过炼金术揭晓宇宙的秘密,他们发誓只向最有价值之人分享这类奥秘。随着带冠之人的数目与日俱增,他们走遍了波斯和北非,沿着丝绸之路到达印度和中国,大多情况下炼金术士以小团体和个人修行的方式练习技艺,直到他们参与了理性之子的白塔聚会,他们才正式成立了一个炼金术公会.
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Throughout their long history, the Children – better known by their preferred title, the Solificati – have worked toward a singular, shining goal: enlightenment and Ascension through the ancient Arts and Sciences of Alchemy. Although people have practiced forms of alchemy as far back as the Sumerian era, most of these self-styled Crowned Ones trace their history to the ancient Egyptian court of Queen Hatshepsut. There, the great Queen’s cupbearers learned the secrets of the universe as revealed through alchemy, and they pledged to share those mysteries only with the worthiest of souls. In this way, the Solificati grew in number, travelling throughout Persia and North Africa, down the Silk Road to India and China, practicing mainly in small and solitary groups until they formally banded into an alchemist’s guild at the first gathering of what would become the Order of Reason.
不幸的是,炼金术士们很快认识到理性之子对他们的事业——比较客气地说——不太友好.错误的开端导致了一系列的清洗和解离,这也同炼金术的各个阶段相呼应——类似于转化之前必要的腐败。在1445年,于赫尔墨斯会的支持下,带冠之人进行了改革,成为了初始九宗的一员,但随之而来的大背叛者事件再次影响了结社的团结,依据史册记载,随着大叛徒海雷尔(Heylel)被施以轮回秘仪,结社在耻辱之中被解散,消散于时间的迷雾之中,但就和大多历史描述一样,真相与此截然不同,自结社的成立以来,潮起潮落、兴盛衰亡都标志了炼金术的不同阶段,而那次大规模的消退只是下一个伟大炼金循环的必经之路.
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Unfortunately, the alchemists soon realized that the Order was, shall we say, less than hospitable to their cause. The resulting false starts, purges, and dissolution echoed the various stages of alchemy – most notably putrefaction, the stage of decay that precedes renewal. Reforming under the Hermetic aegis in 1445, the Solificati became one of the original Nine Traditions. Soon, though, the scandal involving the Great Betrayer shattered the group’s unity once again. History reports that, in the aftermath of Heylel’s execution, the Solificati disbanded in disgrace and faded into the mists of
time. As is usually the case with such claims of historical fact, the truth follows a different path. Ebb and flow, rise and retreat have marked the Solificati way since that group’s inception. That mass
disappearance was just one more turning of a familiar cycle.
当Solificati在20世纪50年代再次出现时——这次他们自称为知识之子——他们的技艺制造了一种强大的新造物:LSD.现在已经无法判断,阿尔弗雷德-霍夫曼博士和他的团队是否为知识之子的一员,亦或是他们的发明受到了炼金术士的启发,角酰二乙胺预示着一个激进的新信号:通过炼金术(现在的名字是化学),我们可以打开心灵的门扉,大众可以达成升华。新的带冠之人在大众里兜售这种化合物——有时精挑细选,但大多情况只是随意滥发,可以预期的反作用让这种化合物的效果大打折扣,但“感知之门”已经被推开,它不会再轻易关闭.
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When the Solificati reemerged in the late 1950s – this time called the Children of Knowledge – their Art involved a potent new substance: LSD. Whether Dr. Alfred Hoffman and his team were true Children of Knowledge or simply chemists influenced by their discoveries, lysergic acid diethylamide heralded a radical new message: through alchemy (now called chemistry), the mind could open and the Masses could Ascend. The newer breed of Crowned Ones hustled this compound out among the Masses
– sometimes wisely, often not. The predictable backlash blunted the compound’s potential benefits, but “the doors of perception” had been opened and could not easily be shut again.
这种启蒙手段在结社内部也备受争议,Solificati再次分裂成了不同的派系,一些人在90年代加入了赫尔墨斯密会,剩下的人为了合法的头衔争执不休,到了新的千禧年,两个团体都宣称自己才是真正的Solificati——知识之子对此种无谓的争执感到厌倦。
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This psychotropic method remains controversial even within the group. Once again, the Solificati split into factions. Some wound up joining the Order of Hermes in the late 1990s, whereas others jostled for their rightful title like former bandmates quarreling over the old band’s name. By the new millennium, two different groups had assumed the same confusing moniker– the Children growing tired of that diminutive name and the Crowns annoyed by the careless experiments and excesses of their peers. Both groups now claim the Solificati title, each one refusing to acknowledge those other idiots as the rightful heirs to that name.
现代的知识之子不大可能继续在塞满了书籍、论文和奇怪的炼金设备的密室里独自工作,他们更偏好大学研究小组、智囊团、灵修教派和俱乐部等新兴探索团体。在过去的25年间,炼金术士通过狂欢文化、新图腾狂欢和在各国间跳跃的全新吉普赛文化进行全球冒险,以此传播他们的化学福音。他们在“心灵的田野上嬉戏”,扮演化学魔术师的形象,现实的幻象在他们手中被打破、分列和重构,形成崭新的有趣画面,知识之子对他们的游戏非常认真,毕竟这幅图景代表了对现实的全新观点。
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Today’s Children of Knowledge are less likely to work alone in isolated candle-lit cells crammed with books, papers, and bizarre alchemical equipment, and far more inclined to form university research teams, think-tanks, psychotropic occultist sects, and club-going exploration groups. The last 25 years have seen these alchemists spread their chemical gospel through rave culture, neotribal spirit festivals, and the global adventures of nation-hopping neogypsy tribes. “At play in the fields of the mind, they pursue the roles of chemical tricksters in whose hands the illusions of the real world get broken, scattered, and rearranged to form new and entertaining pictures. These Children get pretty serious about their play, though, and those new pictures include new visions for reality.
组织结构:正如结社成立之初那样,Solificati更偏好以一个或者两个炼金术大师、二到三个高级炼金术士和少数潜在学徒为结构的小团体进行聚会,大师们指定学习和活动的议程,达人完善过程,而学徒则通过实践、试验和错误来学习,学术的研究是至关重要的,而保密工作也是如此,鉴于结社和传统宗派和技官联盟的不快历史,保持小心隐秘是没有坏处的,也许失落工坊的联盟最终能为结社正在进行的伟大工作提供必要的安全保障。
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Organization: As they have since the group’s inception, Solificati prefer to gather in small groups centered upon one or two Master Alchemists, two or three Adepts, and a handful of potential apprentices. The Masters set the agendas for study and activity, the Adepts refine the process, and the apprentices learn through practice, trial, and error. Academic study is crucial and secrecy even more so. Given their rough histories with both the Traditions and the Technocracy, this group has every right to feel paranoid. Perhaps this Disparate Alliance will finally provide security for the group’s ongoing Great Work.
人员招揽:为了摆脱刻板的科学成见,新觉醒的Solificati(或称为“蛋”,这是象征孕育和转变阶段的炼金术符号)首先要学习将低贱的金属转变为金和银这一历史悠久的课程,一旦他掌握了这一技艺,蛋会经受大师的测试,检验他是否理解了这项工作背后的隐喻——正确的答案是学徒象征了基础的材料,而黄金代表他最终的潜力。
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Initiation: To shake off their scientific preconceptions, newly Awakened Solificati (called “eggs,” in reference to the alchemical symbol for gestation) begin their training with the timehonored task of transforming base metals into silver or gold. Once she’s successfully completed this task, the egg gets tested by her Master to see if she understands the lesson behind the chore. The correct answer, of course, is that she is the base material and that gold symbolizes her ultimate potential.
专精领域:传统结社成员大多偏好物质领域,部分成员偏好力场、起源或者熵
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Affinity Spheres: Traditionally Matter, though some groups prefer Forces, Prime, or Entropy.
焦点:宇宙本身是一个巨大的能量场,而魔法则是用个人的意志影响和改变一件事物与另一事物之间的振动,象征和引导这些振动的工具——改变观察者的认知,使他能够调整自己对什么是可能和什么是不可能的观点——使得炼金术得以成真.
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Focus: Because the universe is one huge symphony of vibrating energy, magick is simply the application of one’s Will to influence and change the vibrations between one thing and another. The tools that symbolize and channel those vibrations – and that rearrange the perceptions of a viewer so that he can retune his own expectations about what is and is not possible – make such Greater Alchemy possible.
对知识之子来说,万物都是数据、混沌,或者是幻觉、监狱甚至错误,知识——通过炼金术、工艺、疯狂的智慧、欲望的艺术、混沌魔法或者超科技磨练得来——赋予了生活幻象背后的真相,而对带冠之人来说,魔法乃是转变的技艺,它改变、提炼、分解现有的材料,将之重组为崭新的能量。
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To a Child of Knowledge, Everything is Data, Chaos, or an Illusion, Prison, or Mistake. Knowledge – honed through alchemy, craftwork, crazy wisdom, the Art of Desire, chaos magick, and occasional hypertech – confers the truth behind life’s illusions. Magick, to a Solificatus, is the Art of Transmutation; it changes, refines, breaks down, and reassembles existing materials into newly formed energies.
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偏见印象 Stereotype传统宗派:我们曾向他们展示团结的重要,结果这些人把我们踢出门外——操他妈的,我们现在有更重要的事情要考虑,有更重要的目标去达成。
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The Traditions: We tried to show them Unity. They threw us out. Screw ‘em. We’ve got better things to think about…and to do.
技官联盟:他们对团结的观点把一切都搞砸了,徒留一地邪恶、操控以及悲伤.
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The Technocracy: Their version of Unity is fucked up, evil, manipulative, and sad.
失落工坊:我们的新同伴具有那些只有直面挑战才能达成的愿景,是的,我们知晓这类过程。
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The Disparates: Our new companions have the kind of vision that comes only through perseverance against adversity. Yeah, we know a thing or two about that.
This post has been edited by sosgame67: 2022-12-12, 00:40