Mastigos

Mages Awakened to the Path of the Mastigos end up in Pandemonium, realm of nightmare.  It is a hellish realm, full of humanity’s horrors and fears given form.  Denizens of this realm take the form of demons, luring the awakening mortal away by using fear or temptation.  Some say that it is a path of scourging, where the mortal’s soul is purified enough to finally attain enough mastery of the self and earn the powers of this Supernal Realm.

Mages who awaken through this path are the embodiment of the Ego.  They are self-made men who choose who they are, and hold powerful convictions.  They are individualists, preferring to think for themselves rather than to bow to tradition.  Lawyers, inventors, rebels, evangelists and intellectuals often awaken to the Mastigos, given their ability to dominate by force of will.

It is no surprise then that the Mastigos excel in two Ruling Arcana that embody their mastery over thought and perception:  Mind and Space.

Mind is the Arcana of Domination and Self Empowerment. With it mages impose their will upon the myriad consciousnesses of the universe and transcend the limits of human potential. Mages proficient in Mind are Philosopher Kings made real, fonts of raw knowledge, skill and charisma.

In combat, a practitioner of Mind magic is a foe unlike any other; he walks unseen, his very gaze can kill, his foes become his servants and he attains puissance in any art with but a snap of his fingers. The art of the Mind is not a vainglorious art, it is bereft of bolts of lightning and storms of fire, yet it was makes it more deadly for it is the death that one never sees coming.

Space is the Arcana of dimension, position and relationships.  Mages skilled in manipulating this Arcana are capable of making a mockery of distances, shattering mortal perceptions of range and safety.  Mastigos Mages have a natural understanding of the illusion of Space, capable of transporting themselves vast distances, and seeing into locations remotely.

Combat against a Space mage is an exercise in futility.  They’re never where they are supposed to be, and are capable of taking pot shots at you over absurd distances.  Furthermore, Space Mages have the capability of making the perfect getaway, vanishing without a trace.