Eschatologists
The Eschatologists
The Eschatologists are a Tradition of mages who have co-opted Levinas's ethical philosophy into a magical paradigm of radical anti-authoritarianism. They reject all totalizing systems, from the Technocracy's Consensus to the more subtle forms of systemic oppression, viewing them as violent forces that erase the unique "face" of the Other. Their primary goal is not personal Ascension, but the achievement of a collective "eschaton"—a state of genuine, infinite ethical responsibility that transcends historical time.
Core philosophy: Beyond the Horizon of Being The Eschatologists believe that reality (and the Avatar) is composed of Quintessence, the raw stuff of Prime magic. However, this Quintessence is constantly being organized, or "totalized," by a consensual narrative (the "historical" or "synchronous" time) that reduces individuals to predictable, manageable parts of a system. Their magic seeks to create radical ethical ruptures—moments of "diachronic time"—by using Quintessence to disrupt these totalizing narratives. By confronting individuals with the unmediated "face" of the Other, they hope to free humanity from the suffocating grip of systemic violence and usher in an ethical future.
Magical practices and Spheres
Prime (Primary Sphere): As masters of Quintessence, the Eschatologists use Prime not to create or strengthen Patterns, but to disrupt them.
The "Face" of Prime: Instead of sensing magic, they use Prime to detect the "totalizing" forces at work, revealing the underlying power structures and systems that oppress the Other. A mage might perceive a corporate building not as a neutral structure, but as a nexus of synchronous energy that violently consumes the individuality of its workers.
Ethical Quintessence: They can use Quintessence to create moments of ethical clarity, allowing a Sleeper to see past their own biases and prejudices and recognize the vulnerability and infinite value of the Other.
Counter-Totalitarianism: By channeling Prime in a chaotic, unpredictable way, they can cause a system to "glitch" or fall apart. A mage could disrupt the Quintessence holding a police officer's gun together, causing it to fall to pieces before their eyes.
Time (Secondary Sphere): The Eschatologists do not see Time as a simple flow to be manipulated. Instead, they focus on the ethical, diachronic nature of time.
"Past" and "Future" as ethical responsibilities: They use Time magic not for divination or time travel, but to create "immemorial" pasts and infinite futures. A mage might weave a story of a long-dead ancestor's injustice (Time 2 + Prime 2 + Spirit 2) to force a powerful figure to reckon with a historical ethical debt.
Redeeming the "Instant": By slowing down time around a moment of intense ethical tension (Time 3), a mage can force a person to confront their immediate moral choice, redeeming the instant from the relentless, anonymous flow of synchronous time.
Correspondence (Secondary Sphere): For the Eschatologists, Correspondence is the Sphere of empathy and connection.
The Proximity of the Other: They can use Correspondence to bridge not just physical distance but also psychological distance. A mage might create a Correspondential link between a powerful CEO and a distant factory worker (Correspondence 2 + Prime 2), allowing the CEO to viscerally feel the worker's fatigue, pain, and alienation.
The Collapse of Distance: By collapsing the space between two individuals, they make it impossible for one to ignore the needs of the other. The mage could make a racist feel the pain of a victim of bigotry (Correspondence 4 + Mind 4), creating a powerful ethical encounter.
Mind (Secondary Sphere): The Eschatologists use Mind magic for empathy and ethical communication, never for control.
Resisting Totalization: Instead of controlling minds, they use Mind magic to reinforce an individual's radical freedom and resistance against totalizing thought patterns. A mage might use Mind 3 to help a Sleeper break free from the insidious programming of mass media.
Sharing the "Face": The highest level of Mind magic for an Eschatologist is not mind control, but the ability to project and share the unmediated ethical experience of the "face" with others.
Spirit (Secondary Sphere): To the Eschatologists, the Spirit World is not just a place of spirits and Realms, but a place where synchronous time breaks down entirely.
Spirits of Totality: They view many powerful spirits as "totalizing entities," expressions of the collective Consensus that suppresses individuality. Their magic aims to resist or subvert these entities, rather than control them.
Entering Diachrony: By using Spirit magic to "step sideways," an Eschatologist can temporarily escape the flow of synchronous history and enter a space of pure ethical potential, where the rules of the totalizing system no longer apply.
Weaknesses and internal conflict
Risk of Insomnia: The constant engagement with the raw, meaningless "there is" of Quintessence, as well as the burden of infinite responsibility, leaves many Eschatologists psychologically fragile and prone to magical "insomnia."
Paradox of Responsibility: The very act of disrupting the synchronous flow of Consensus reality draws paradox, which the Eschatologists interpret as the violent, retaliatory logic of the totalizing system. They see Paradox not as a mistake but as an inevitable consequence of their ethical rebellion.
Conflict with the Celestial Chorus: The Chorus, with their use of Prime, see the Eschatologists as heretics who misuse the sacred energy of Quintessence for chaos. The Eschatologists, in turn, view the Chorus as priests of a totalizing theology.
Anarchic Tendencies: Their rejection of all hierarchy and authority makes the Tradition highly fragmented and prone to internal disagreements about how best to achieve the eschaton. Some might be pacifists who focus on ethical education, while others are radical anarchists who believe in violent systemic collapse.
Following are four animal-like spirits that align with the philosophy of the Eschatologists. They are not personifications of concepts but vulnerable, unique beings that resist totalization. They are encountered through ethical rather than magical or transactional means and challenge the mage's ego.
The Liminal Heron
This spirit is a translucent, impossibly tall heron that stalks the edges of the Umbra's digital and urban realms. It is almost always seen from the corner of the eye or just before a moment of intense focus. Its feathers are not solid but appear to be composed of flickering, out-of-sync images—a broken digital television feed, an old photograph of a city, or the ghost of an abandoned advertising campaign. It never lands but stalks perpetually between worlds.
The Liminal Heron is a manifestation of diachrony, a constant reminder that the present moment of synchronous time is not the only reality. Encountering it calls a mage's totalizing belief in a singular, consistent history into question. The Heron exists "between the frames," revealing the gaps where ethical responsibility has been forgotten. Its presence can induce a dizzying sense of temporal dislocation, breaking a mage's ego out of its comfortable, chronological flow.
Ethical obligation: The Eschatologist who sees the Heron understands their duty is to protect these liminal spaces from encroachment by the Consensus. They might create Umbral wards using Prime magic to obscure the Heron's movements from the Technocracy's digital surveillance or help lost spirits who are similarly caught "between the frames." The responsibility is to the Heron's radical otherness, not to any power it might possess.
The Unburdened Moth
This is a small, pale spirit moth that flutters with a frantic, yet directionless, energy. Its wings are patterned not with colors but with faint, ghost-like numbers that correspond to lost data sets, forgotten social security numbers, and erased census data. It is drawn to places where the Consensus has erased information or history, appearing in the Umbra above abandoned server farms, crumbling libraries, or places of mass historical amnesia.
The Unburdened Moth is the "spiritual trace" of all the individuals and histories that have been erased by the Consensus's totalizing drive for efficiency and control. Its frantic movement is the frantic, silent cry of those forgotten, representing the ethical weight of the unremembered Other. Its presence is profoundly unsettling, forcing a mage to confront their own privileged position within the Consensus's accepted history.
Ethical obligation: The Eschatologist’s role is to act as a witness to the forgotten. They do not try to help the Moth or give it a home, as that would be another form of totalization. Instead, they acknowledge its desperate flutter as the cry of the forgotten. Using Prime, they might attempt to project a small amount of "ethical energy" to give the Moth a moment of fleeting peace, a non-reciprocal gift of recognition.
The Cave-Drawing Ram
This spirit is an ancient, two-dimensional ram, composed of what looks like chalk and cave dust. It does not move so much as it is. It exists in deep, unvisited places within the Umbra that correspond to humanity's oldest, most primordial fears. The ram carries a tremendous, silent weight of trauma. It is not aggressive or malicious, but radiates a passive, enduring horror that is entirely indifferent to the mage who perceives it.
The Cave-Drawing Ram is a manifestation of the "immemorial past"—the collective, inherited trauma that exists before human language or history. Its perfect, two-dimensional form and silent horror represent a pain so profound and ancient that it cannot be totalized or explained. Encountering it forces a mage to feel a sense of a shared, ethical burden from an era before ethics could be articulated, calling their very identity into question.
Ethical obligation: The Eschatologist who encounters the Ram understands that the only ethical response is to endure its silent horror and acknowledge its unending existence. This is a non-reciprocal act of spiritual solidarity with a wound that can never be healed. They may perform Prime rituals to symbolically bear some of the ram's trauma, a ritual of infinite responsibility that requires immense fortitude and leaves a mage emotionally and spiritually exhausted.
The Blind Watchdog of the Third
This is a powerful but helpless spirit that resembles a large, mangy, blind dog. It guards nothing and wanders with an aimless, loping gait through the Umbra's realms, its body scarred by countless conflicts with totalizing spirits. The Blind Watchdog can hear the thoughts and intentions of every being it encounters, but cannot see or act upon what it hears. Its perpetual suffering stems from its inability to act on the ethical injustice it perceives.
The Blind Watchdog represents the "Third"—the ethical space that arises when more than one "face" is encountered, creating a network of complex, conflicting ethical demands. The watchdog's blindness represents the human inability to navigate these competing demands with perfect clarity. It embodies the profound ethical difficulty of prioritizing between different Others. It calls a mage to question their own ethical judgment and the limitations of a totalizing system that provides no easy answers.
Ethical obligation: To the Eschatologist, the Blind Watchdog is the truest ethical challenge. They cannot simply offer to heal the watchdog's blindness, as that would be a totalizing act. Instead, they must offer to listen to what the watchdog hears and, using their magic, attempt to untangle and act upon some of the ethical entanglements it perceives. This is the hardest form of their magic, requiring immense wisdom, empathy, and a willingness to accept that any intervention will be incomplete and potentially paradoxical.
