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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mark Hope" data-source="post: 1919614" data-attributes="member: 27051">Mage had one story that was treated as "official" and a bunch of others that, well, weren't.The official one ("Judgment") is kinda hard to summarise, but basically features [spoiler]Voormas trying to remove death from reality and force his own view of Ascension upon the universe.  The Tenth Sphere (judgement itself) sends emanations back through time to bring about an end to existence as we know it, while the Traditions and the Technocracy struggle to survive in the face of a vanishing Gauntlet.  The characters are given the chance to unite with spirits of judgement in order to survive the chaos and take the fight to Voormas.  Heylel's children crop up in reincarnated form, as does Caine's knife (in a variety of possible guises).  This scenario ties off a huge number of Mage metaplot items in rapid succession and is really the material for an extended chronicle, rather than an end-of-the-world scenario.  The scenario ends with Ascension itself, ideally allowing each soul in existence to experience  personal perfection in unity with all other souls, none of which contradict the other.[/spoiler]  Apologies to fellow Mage fans for butchering that - can't imagine how you'd summarise it in a single paragraph, heh heh."The Revolution Will Be Televised [spoiler]is a Technocracy-based story that plays upon the rifts within the Union and presumes that the characters are battling against dystopian elements for the betterment of humanity.  Again, the Gauntlet falls with predictable results.  The story allows for a "victory", saving the world for humanity and defeating Union hardliners, but also leaves the options open for a world without magic at all, technomagic included.  This scenario is better served, imho, as an addendum to whatever other elements are used from the other scenarios, as it is a tad limited in scope on its own.  Although, if you have been running a Union game, it will fir it very nicely.[/spoiler]"The Earth Will Shake"[spoiler]is straightforward enough and has a massive asteroid that hurtles towards the Earth.  It has a living umbral manifestation with which the mages interact and learn that Earth/Gaia desires celestial union with this force from the stars.  In the final analysis, mages can (at best) prevent Earth from being blown to smithereens - instead it suffers an impact that merely ends civilisation as we know it.  Otherwise there is a planet-killer style impact and nothing survives.  The Dreamspeakers help some to flee into the Umbra, but the world itself dies.  Oh, apart from some amoebas.  They do OK.  An interesting twist allows for a lesser impact to save the Earth from a later doom in 2012 from a passing comet, which might make for a nice epilogue.[/spoiler]"A Whimper Not A Bang"[spoiler] is a very strange tale that has aliens from another universe stealing avatars and magic in order to forge another reality.  Our own universe spirals into mundane stasis and mages wind up trying to save abducted avatars from interdimensional predators, but not for the benefit of Earth.  Paradox itself vanishes and the best hope for mages is to become shepherds of a new universe.  A great idea, although possibly too radical a departure if the chronicle has no touched on anything like this before the end-times roll around.[/spoiler]"Hell On Earth"[spoiler] is reminiscent of some of the Gehenna scenarios.  The Unnamed, First Fallen, Number One Nephandus institutes the Descent of Creation, an inverted Ascension that turns Earth into Hell itself.  Dividing the globe up between his hellish accomplices, he kills the Axis Mundi, destroys the Gauntlet, flattens Horizon Realms, reveals that the Tenth Seat belongs to him and creates everlasting damnation for all souls.  As you do.  It leaves the mages to battle against this or succumb, with the hope that the wheel will turn again, allowing for a new generation of willworkers to take back what was once theirs.  And then it ends amidst the ruins.  Pretty cool, actually.[/spoiler]Ascension is a great book and should probably be read at the start of a chronicle by any Storyteller planning to run an extended Mage game, as its best moments come from the resolution of old plotlines.  If the new Awakening game can manage anything near this, it will have done well indeed.</blockquote>

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