From: pfstrack@email.unc.edu (Paul Strack)
Newsgroups: alt.games.whitewolf
Subject: History of the Cult of Ecstacy
Date: 5 Jan 1995 20:43:48 GMT
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
NNTP-Posting-Host: isisa.oit.unc.edu

THE CULT OF ECSTASY
 
   More than any of the other traditions, the Cult has a strange and 
mysterious heritage.  Other mages find claims of its lengthy history 
incredible.  Ecstatics (as member of the Tradition are often called) 
seems to appear, disappear, reappear, only to vanish again.  There does 
not seem to be any real continuity, plan or order to its existence.  
When asked about their history, most of the Cult simply laugh.
 
   The thread holding the Cult together is their unity of purpose, and 
their advanced sense of Time.  Ecstatics throughout history have worked 
to free people of their social illusions, shake up the status quo, and 
break out of the restrictions placed on them by society.  When society 
changes, the Cult changes along with it.  Often old groups disappear 
completely, replaced by something new entirely.
 
   This is true with mage society as well as society in general.  Many 
divisions of the Cult are drawn from other groups of mages, as members 
of the more conservative Traditions split off and adopt Ecstatic 
philosophies.  Nearly every other Tradition has a group of mages who 
have been "too deeply influenced by the Cult of Ecstasy", and are viewed 
with suspicion.  Ecstatics views these groups as members of the Cult, 
and members of these groups will often claim allegiance to both their 
old and new Tradition.
 
   The Cult often goes so far as to claim ground breaking members of 
other Traditions were, if fact, Ecstatic mages.  According to them, many 
wonderful advances originated from the Cult, up to and including the 
creation of Magick itself.  This is partly true, and partly to annoy 
other mages.  
 
   Their emphasis on individuality, chaos and testing the boundaries of 
social mores would make it impossible for the Cult to maintain any sort 
of unity, if it were not for one thing.  The Cult's understanding of the 
Sphere of Time helps it maintain continuity.  Ecstatic mages have 
contacted each other through Time, both forward and back, explaining the 
Tradition's goals and outlook, and strengthening the bonds between what 
would otherwise be incredibly diverse groups.  There are even whispered 
rumors of Ecstatic Oracles of Time travel up and down the Time stream, 
helping the Tradition toward it's goals.
 
   These goals can be extremely difficult for other mages to understand.  
Most Traditions want to change the world in a specific way, promoting a 
particular belief system.  The Cult wants to shatter beliefs, break 
beyond the boundaries of what is and is not acceptable, and discover the 
wonders that lie beyond.  Ecstatics seek Ascension through means that 
other mages consider frivolous, immoral, or even self-destructive.
 
 
 
 
 
A HISTORY OF THE CULT
 
   "OK, see, here's where we are coming from.  Or going, depending on 
which way you swim up the stream of Time.  To know why we're here, you 
have to understand how reality is hardening.  That's the Technocracy, 
see.  They stiffen things up, put limits on it, make little list of what 
you can and cannot do.
 
   "They aren't the only one's either, I'm sad to say.  For example, the 
Choristers and the Hermetics are duking it out for control of Europe.  
Er, excuse me, were duking it out for control of Europe.  Yeah, yeah, 
this was the Middle Ages, don't interrupt the story.  They have 
different ideas about the way things should be, and are willing to fight 
for it, with themselves, and the Technocracy.
 
   "Well, we thought maybe we should do something about.  First we got 
together in Rome.  What?  Rome, you know, Caesars and arenas and what 
not.  Anyhow, we talked to some of the Choristers, pointed out some of 
the deeper teaching of this Jesus guy they are so hot on.  Some of them 
got the point, split off and started looking for their own way.  These 
are the Gnostics.
 
   "Then we talk to this Hermetic guy named Crowley.  Hunh?  Aleister 
Crowley.  Yeah, at the turn of the century.  I see you've done your 
homework.  So anyway, we show him some cool stuff, hook him into some 
greater knowledge and viola!  He splits off from Golden whatsit Hermetic 
thingee that he was a part of and founds the Thelemites.  Too bad about 
Crowley, though, he comes to a bad end.
 
   "Anyhow, I could go on all night with other stories like this, but 
the point is, we're running around, trying to show these guys that 
they're missing the point of life by fighting so hard, struggling to 
make things just right.  It's not enough though.  Some of them get it, 
but most don't.  Most of them, they say 'This is serious stuff, we have 
to take care of it before we can do anything else.  Besides, it's the 
only way.'
 
   "So, a few, clever individuals, I'll let you guess their Tradition, 
thought that this was a 'bad thing'.  So, they get together and do a 
really big thing.  The hardest thing the Cult has ever done.  We make 
magick.  What?  How can we make magick to show mages another way?  Look, 
if you're going to obsess on causality, I can stop this story right now.
 
   "Anyhow, making magic was a big thing, and I'd tell you the details, 
but its one of the things behind the Walls.  Walls?  Things what man was 
not meant to know.  Holes in Time where you can't see what's happening.  
The making of magick was one of them, and there are others as well.  One 
of them is coming up soon, as a matter of fact.
 
   "Magick changes everything.  With magick, it becomes incredibly 
obvious to even the densest of individuals that you don't have to spend 
all that time and effort running around with your head up your butt.  
There's a sweeter way to anyone who opens their eyes.  And open them 
they did.
 
   "The other mages said 'Wow!  Look at this.  With power like this, I 
could live like a king until the end of my days.  Hmmm.  Or, I can use 
it as yet another tool in the glorious struggle to make everyone else 
think the way I do.  Yeah!  That's the ticket.  This'll be great.'
 
   "We were pretty flabergasted.  We hand them magic, proof positive 
that things don't have to be any one particular way, and what do they 
do?  They use it to beat on each other some more.  By the time they're 
done running magic through their grubby little hands, it's little more 
than just another way to harden reality.  It's pretty embarrassing, I 
tell you.  Here we were, trying to make things better, and we end up 
making them worse instead.
 
   "Oh well, no point in crying about it.  No matter how hard they try, 
magick is magick, and you can't put limits on the limitless.  A few 
people figure it out on their own, realize how stupid the endless 
fighting is, and go off on their own to do something really worthwhile.  
Bringing a few smiles into the world.
 
   "Eventually a few of the mages realize that no matter what they do, 
magick will always be a breach in the 'way things are', and decide to 
put an end to it.  This is the Technocracy.  They decide that, OK, it's 
useful, but too uncontrollable.  Let's get rid of it.  They proceed to 
do everything in their power to get magick out of the world entirely.  
And that's what their doing up to this day.
 
   "What?  Well, yes, I did say earlier that the Cult made magick to 
stop the Technocracy.  Then how can the Technocracy have been created to 
stop magick?  Sigh.  Have another toke, and all will become clear."
 
   Note:  If you asked a different Ecstatic for a history of the Cult, 
you would very likely  get a completely different story.  Either that, 
or a curt dismissal of how "History is unimportant.  Know where you are 
instead."

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paul Strack            | "When I die, I want to go peacefully in my 
pfstrack@email.unc.edu |  sleep like my father, not screaming in
                       |  terror like his passengers."