Newsgroups: alt.games.whitewolf
From: Phil@philm.demon.co.uk (Phil Masters)
Subject: Orphans Within the Traditions?
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Reply-To: Phil@philm.demon.co.uk
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Date: Sat, 22 Apr 1995 08:33:23 +0000

Recently, in this group, someone said - without being challenged - that 
most people on the verge of Magickal awakening were found and adopted by 
the Traditions or the Technocracy, while those who weren't, ended up as 
Orphans, and (if they survived) usually got recruited by some Orphan 
clique such as the Hollow Ones. However, that seemed to me to miss a 
fairly crucial point about the nature of Awakening.

As I understand the way Magick is supposed to work, members of the 
Traditions can do this stuff because they have mentally encompassed and 
internalised their group's world-view, and these world-views in turn 
incorporate techniques by which the universe can be manipulated. (In the 
same way that Technocratic science incorporates the possibility of 
engineering, and maybe psi.) Therefore, for a Tradition Mage, the 
world-view comes first, the Magick second. An Orphan, on the other hand, 
develops the powers first, without (necessarily) any philosophical 
infrastructure; the Magick just *works* for such an individual, with no 
explanations required. Any world-view - such as Hollow One nihilism - 
comes later. Which is why the game's disregard for any Orphan groupings 
other than the poseur-punk-goths tells you so much about White Wolf.

However, the Traditions *are* on the look-out for nascent talents, and 
unlike the Technocracy, they are (mostly, usually, one hopes) unlikely to 
bust a gut trying to make a recruit conform to their ideologies - or to 
exterminate those who don't conform. Therefore, it seems likely to me that 
each Tradition will, in any year, recruit a percentage of 
recently-Awakened Orphans, *after* the recruits have gained their power.

These recruits would very likely learn and eventually express much of the 
surface philosophy and most of the trappings of the Tradition, but they'd 
still be Orphans, with no bias as to Spheres and no need for foci. (In 
game-mechanical terms, they'd be Orphans, pure and simple.) In fact, 
they'd probably be permanently slightly embarassed, as they would keep 
instinctively doing stuff that their friends and teachers would regard 
as impossible and somewhat indisciplined. This strikes me as an amusing 
possibility for role-playing.

Actually, I can imagine most of the Traditions having a stock view of such 
Orphans:

"Brother Kent is undoubtedly touched by the One, but he must learn that 
this blessing does not excuse him from paying due respect to the rules and 
order of the Chorus. It's very unfortunate, really; in the old days, we'd 
have sent him out into the wilderness to become a hermit for a few years, 
let him cure the odd pilgrim, tame some lions. But there aren't enough 
wildernesses nowadays. In fact... Brother Kent, how often must I speak to 
you about levitating during Matins?"

"The Spirits have touched Climbs-Like-Spider. Hmmph. Sometimes, the 
Spirits don't know what they are doing, I think. Has no respect for an 
elder shaman."

"She's a psycho-Kirlian wild talent! I told you! In that paper I published 
last year - or was it the year before, good grief, I can never keep track 
of dates - the ambient etheric modulations permit this if the individual 
has precisely the right beta wave frequency. Quick, Tode! Bring me the 
cerebro-scanner and my number seven microstatic inductor!"

"Y'know, Hank really knows how to parteeee... But even we gotta worry 
'bout someone who just gets off on nothin' at all. I mean, ecstasy is the 
secret of insight, of course, but if the joy comes from nowhere, what's 
the insight gonna be into? It could even be like the other Traditions say 
- when he comes down, he's gonna come down sooo hard..."

-- 
Phil Masters
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Quotation confesses inferiority."
       - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Letters and Social Aims", 1875.