Paradox (MTAs)

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Paradox, the only thing that stands between a mage and ruling the world. The fact is that the world is a dark and unbelieving place. Mortals refuse to believe in anything supernatural, and while vampires and werewolves are capable of ignoring this disbelief, it hits mages like a sledgehammer.

Paradox is the force of belief in the world slamming home the fact that you are twisting reality in ways that it should not turn, and that you cannot do that without consequences. Paradox afflicts mages that try to change reality in a vulgar way. If you can cache your magic among coincidence then you can easily avoid Paradox, but if your magic breaks the bounds of reality around you, Paradox will ensue.

Paradox can take a variety of forms, including backlash, which directly damages you, it can cause temporary, long term, or even permanent flaws to afflict you. It can cause you to lapse into a magical madness known as Quiet, and you can even be catapulted into a Paradox Realm or hounded by Paradox spirits.

[edit] History

Historically, mages in the Dark Ages only had to deal with Backlash, a chance that their magicks would fail. By the Renaissance, this Backlash had become a Scourge which reacted according to the beliefs of the local populace. Sometimes the Scourge would help the casting mage, sometimes it would hinder.

At the Battle of Naseby on June 14, 1645, Scourge changed forever. Due to the high levels of vulgar magic being used at the time, the Scourge became a purely negative force, punishing any mage who used too much vulgar magic. It became Paradox.