High Level Games
High Level Games
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Store
    • Storytellers Vault Products
    • Fantasy One-Page Adventures
    • DMs Guild Products
  • Podcasts
  • Video
  • Trusted Resources
  • Join The Team
  • About
  • Contact
    • Star Trek Adventures
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Store
    • Storytellers Vault Products
    • Fantasy One-Page Adventures
    • DMs Guild Products
  • Podcasts
  • Video
  • Trusted Resources
  • Join The Team
  • About
  • Contact
    • Star Trek Adventures

Welcome to the High Level Games Blog, News, and other stuff to take your games to the next level!

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com

3 Ways To Use Autochthonia In Mage: The Ascension

20/3/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
The concept of Autochthonia in the World of Darkness was first introduced for Iteration-X. Void Engineers discovered a machine planet on the opposite side of Earth’s orbit of the Sun. The Computer, an Artificial Intelligence that is guiding Iteration-X, is based there and a powerful element within the Convention wants to live in communion with The Computer and Autochthonia. The story goes: The Computer is a spirit inhabiting the physical computer, and since It-X has no capacity for Dimensional Science, they fail to realize this. I think this is an interesting story hook, and it's one I’ve always wanted to use in a Technocracy game. Iteration-X and the Void Engineers are my two favorite Conventions, hands down.

A side note, this concept of an Alternative Earth on the other side of the Sun comes to us from the Greek philosopher Philolaus who hypothesized the presence of an Antichthon (Counter-Earth) which has been used in various works of speculative fiction over the years. It’s a pretty simple, yet engaging concept.

In Exalted, Autochthon and Gaia side with the Gods during the Primordial War. Autochthon is the being that created Exaltation. He ultimately leaves Creation and takes hundreds of thousands of human beings with him, to help control the processes of his body. The Alchemical Exalted and the Autochthonians are forced to return to Creation because their Godworld is dying. I bring this up because it creates a ton of cool ways to make Autochthonia in Mage even more interesting than it already is.

1) Alchemical Ascension:
In a previous article, I talked about the possibility of using Sidereal Exalted as the source of Avatars in Mage. Their control over Fate is similar in many ways to Mage. However, what if Avatars are instead a creation of Autochthon? For this plotline, the Age of Exalted ends with the Death of Autochthon. His Alchemical Exalted escape to Creation, attempt to save him, but they fail. Moments before his death, Autochthon briefly reawakens and puts into place his last protocol. He creates a method by which he could be reborn. He recalls and absorbs all his Exalted, then splinters himself into a seemingly infinite amount of soul shard/Avatars. He plans for these Avatars to survive the dark times approaching and to work toward the inevitable rise of science, reason, and technology to restore him to life. Control is the combined Avatars of 10 powerful Aspects of Autochthon himself, who are close to enacting their plan: the death of Gaia and the rebirth of Autochthon on Earth.


2) The Computer Is the Wraith of Autochthon:
Imagine, if you will, that the Malfeans are the lasting essences of the dead Primordials. This is one of the plotlines from Exalted, and it fits perfectly with Wraith: The Oblivion’s unanswered questions on who or what these beings are. Now, one of the plotlines in Exalted: The Autochthonians is, if Autochthon dies, does he join the ranks of his fellows whom he plotted against and killed, or do they trap him in some form of eternal torment? This plotline requires that Autochthon has some method of keeping himself separate from the other Malfeans, after his death. He retains control over his Spectre, perhaps, and has been plotting a way to escape the Underworld and possess his body. The Mage books posit the idea that The Computer is not a true AI, but instead is a Spirit. Instead of an Umbral spirit, what if it is possessed by Autochthon’s Wraith? He would be a planet sized, mechanical Risen. What does this mean for Iteration-X? Maybe nothing bad, but… what if Autochthon didn’t have as much control over his Spectre as he thought?



3) Autochthon Never Died:
The Alchemical Exalted succeed. They find a way to bring more souls into the world of their Machine God, and they save him. He continues to slumber, but he does not die. Thousands and thousands of years pass, and the Machine God begins to transform from a contained flat world into a sphere orbiting an external Sun. Internally, the Humans and Alchemical Exalted within Autochthon notice no changes. Until the Machine God, once more, begins to run out of resources and therefore starts dying from a form of starvation. Unlike eons before, Autochthon has moved far from Creation/Gaia/Earth in the Void and the method previously used to invade Creation is impossible. Brave Autochthonians find a way to send an emissary to Earth, an early Craftmason or some form of Artificer perhaps? Over thousands of years, these Autochthonians infiltrate society and lead humanity to finally find the body of Autochthon in the Void. The leader of the Void Engineers, Tychoides, is himself an Alchemical Exalted, who has been working to return home. Yet, he is tainted and not allowed to return.



These are just a few story hooks I thought might make sense. I’m sure you might have others, or think my ideas are terrible. Tell me what you think and if you think you’d use these.

With 17 years of playing rpgs, Josh started with Mind's Eye Theater LARPs and loves the World of Darkness. He recently launched,www.keepontheheathlands.com to support his gaming projects. Josh is the administrator of the Inclusive Gaming Network on Facebook. He’s a player in Underground Theatre’s and One World By Nights Vampire LARPs and is running both a Mage game and a Dark Ages: Vampire game. He’s a serious advocate for inclusive gaming spaces, a father, and a recent graduate from the International Peace and Conflict Resolution graduate program at American University in Washington, D.C.


Savage Worlds: Fast, Furious, and Fun! - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
2 Comments
James
10/5/2017 09:40:20 pm

What are your thoughts on tying it into the Threat Null metaplot?

Reply
What is ascension link
11/7/2017 11:31:37 pm

Your work is very good and I appreciate you and hopping for some more informative posts

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    All blog materials created and developed by the staff here at High Level Games 

    ​

    Picture
    Click here to support our community for as a little as $1.00 for exclusive content, free downloadable stuff, and even discounts on role-playing game items.

    Archives

    February 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    13th Age
    2d20
    2nd Edition
    3.5 Edition
    3Deep
    4th Edition
    5th Edition
    7th Sea
    Acquisitions Inc
    Actual Play
    AD&D
    AdventureLookUp.com
    Adventurers!
    Aether Sea
    A+ Fantasy
    After Collapse
    Alignment
    Amazing Tales
    Amazon
    Anima: Beyond Fantasy
    Anime
    Apocalypse World
    Atomic Robo
    Australian
    Award Winning
    Basic Fantasy
    Belly Of The Beast
    Big Eyes Small Mouth
    Black Lives Matter
    Black Void
    Blades In The Dark
    Blood Pangea
    Board Games
    Book Of Exalted Darkness
    BrigadeCon
    Burning Wheel RPG
    Call Of Cthulhu
    Capers RPG
    Casual Roleplaying
    Changeling: The Dreaming
    Chaosium
    Character Arcs
    Character Creation
    Chris Spivey
    Cinematic RP
    Classics
    Comic-books
    Conventions
    Corvus Belli: Infinity
    Crawl
    Creators
    Critical Role
    Cthulhutech
    D100 Dungeon
    D20
    D&D
    D&D Beyond
    Deadlands
    Defenders Of Tokyo
    Degenesis
    Detako Saga
    Discord
    DMsGuild.com
    Dnd
    Dndbeyond
    Doctor-who
    Double-cross
    Dread
    Dresden-files
    DriveThruRPG.com
    Dr. Who
    Dungeon Crawl Classics
    Dungeons
    Dungeons And Dragons
    Dungeon Slayers
    Dungeon World
    Dystopia Rising
    Encounters
    Era: The Consortium
    Era: The Empowered
    Esper Genesis
    Evil Hat
    Exalted
    Faith RPG
    Fandom
    Fantasy-age
    Fantasy-flight
    Fantasy Grounds
    FATE
    Fate Accelerated Edition
    Fate Core
    Fate Rpg
    Fate-rpg
    Final Fantasy
    Forgotten Realms
    Fragged Empire
    Free League Publishing
    Furries
    Game Design
    Game Lore
    Gencon
    Ghosts Of NPCs Past
    GMTips
    Golden-sky-stories
    GoodmanGames.com
    Grognards
    GUMSHOE
    GURPS
    GURPS Lite
    Halloween
    Harlem Unbound
    Harry-potter
    Hero Builder
    Heroes Against Darkness
    Heroes-unlimited
    HERO System
    High Level Games
    Historical Fantasy
    HLG Con 2018
    HLG Reviews
    Homebrew
    Humble Bundle
    Indie
    Interface Zero 2.0
    Interview
    Invisible Suns
    Japanese RPGs
    JRR Tolkien
    Kickstarter
    KoboldPress.com
    KULT
    L5R
    Lankhmar
    LARP
    Lasers And Feelings
    Legendlore
    Legend Of The Five Rings
    LexOccultum
    LOTR
    Low Magic
    Mage
    Mage: The Awakening
    Magic And Steel
    MAID
    Mayhem
    Mazes And Minotaurs
    Meikyuu Kingdom
    Mekton Zero
    Mental Health
    Middle Earth
    Mighty Narwhal
    Mini Six
    Modern Adventures RPG
    Modiphius
    Monarchies Of Mau
    Monsterhearts
    Monte Cook Games
    Morra
    Mummy: The Curse
    Mutants And Masterminds
    Mythender
    Narrative Games
    Nechronica
    Night's Black Agents
    Novel
    NPC
    Numenara
    Odyssey Of The Dragonlords
    One Shot
    Online Gaming
    Orun
    OSCRIC
    Osr
    OVA
    Palladium
    Pathfinder
    Pathfinder 2.0
    PbtA
    PDQ
    Pire: The Masquerade 5th Edition
    Play By Post
    Player Tips
    Podcast
    Powered By Apocalypse
    Power Outage RPG
    Preview
    Promethean: The Created
    Pugmire
    Pulp
    Puzzles
    Questlings
    Ravenloft
    Ravnica
    Red Markets: A Game Of Economic Horror
    Research
    Review
    Review Article
    Rifts
    Risus
    Role Play
    Roll20
    Romance Of The Perilous Land
    Ryuutama
    Satanic Panic
    Savage Rifts
    Savage Tokusatsu
    Savage Worlds
    Seeds Of Wars
    Setting
    Settings
    Settlement Building
    Shadowrun
    SIGMATA
    Snowhaven
    Social Combat
    Social Systems
    Solo Play
    Standard Roleplay System
    Star Trek Adventures
    Star Wars
    Storytellers Vault
    Suited RPG
    Summerland
    Supplements
    System Design
    Table Top
    Tabletop Simulator
    Tales From The Loop
    Tales Of Equestria
    Talislanta
    Tariffs
    Teenagers From Outerspace
    Ten Candles
    Tenra Bansho Zero
    The Dark Eye
    The End Of The World RPG
    The Great Long Dark
    The One Ring
    The Very Important Task
    Titan Effect
    To The Temple Of Doom
    Trial Of Cthulhu
    Trinity Continuum
    TSR Marvel Super Heroes
    Ttrpg
    Twitch
    USTR
    Va
    Valiant Rpg
    Vampire: The Masquerade
    Video Games
    Villian
    Volo
    Vs Ghosts
    Warhammer
    Warhammer 40K
    Werewolf: The Apocalypse
    Westbound RPG
    Wild West
    World Building
    World Of Darkness
    Writing Tips
    Year Zero
    Zweihander

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly