Open your eyes, and see the world for what it is. Most people believe that it's just the simple stuff of everyday life. Mages know better: They can feel the very fabric that makes up the world, pull its threads to change it and bend it to their wills. The world isn't set in "physical laws" or "immutable constants" it's the playground for every imagined whim, fantasy or nightmare of mages. Belief is the first part of magic. Most people don't believe in magic, so for them, the world is a comfortable, banal place, devoid of spirits, monsters or super-science. Humans want to believe in a world that's comfortable, understandable and accommodating, so that's the world they get. People who don't want to see magic go about their lives without the slightest inkling that there could ever be anything beyond their little experiences. Only the mages, who believe in magic and wonder, find those hidden corners where spells have power, science is malleable and every legend is truth. The second part of magic is will. Because billions of people want and believe in a safe, predictable world, the world follows suit. But not everyone sees the world this way, and mages realize that they have the power to change it. With belief in magic and the power of will, a mage turns the world and shapes it by desire. Few people ever Awaken to this will. Those few who do can tear away the comfortable illusion that most people see. Mages have the will and the belief to work their magic on the world and that magic forever changes their lives in return. Magic is not just formulas and spells. It is not simply chants and prayers. It is not just rigorous lists of powers. It is not merely the application of internal energies. Magic is all of these things and more. Magic is whatever mages believe in. Magic is calling down fire from the sky, leaping through the air, healing the wounded, casting curses upon enemies, building impossible machines, walking through dreams, charting the worlds of space and guarding the Earth from Things Beyond. It's every power that a person could ever dream. By the mage's will, so it is done. Once a mage opens the doors of magic, the world is never the same again. Mages consort with myths and dreams, vampires and ghosts, curses and treasures. Hidden away where people can't or won't see them, these mythic threads weave their way through a world superficially like our own. While mages are just as human as anyone else, they experience the mystical world alongside the mundane. An unsuspecting viewer would see only the cities, politicians, industry, criminals, musicians and desperate masses indeed, a world just like ours. The mage sees all of this but also knows the hidden undercurrents. Perhaps it is our world, and nobody knows ...except for you.
