The Traditions
🧙♂️ The Traditions of Madison
"Nine paths. One hope. Many regrets."
The Nine Mystic Traditions operate in Madison as both defenders and rivals. Tied to the **Capitol Node**, the **New Avalon Horizon Realm**, and the now-fractured **Gahara Pact**, these factions stand between consensus and collapse—though not always together.
As of 1985, the Traditions are fractured, uncertain, and haunted by past betrayals. Some remember the seals. Some question whether they were ever intact.
🏛️ The Council of Traditions
The Council meets at a hidden Chantry beneath Bascom Hill, sealed by Correspondence and layered with paradox wards. In theory, all Nine have equal voice. In practice, power is shifting.
- The Council is divided into **Moderates**, **Traditionalists**, and **Disparate Sympathizers**
- The seat of the **Primus** is currently unfilled after the death of Elder Pharos in 1982
- Jay Dee is the acting architect of New Avalon and “First Hermetic among Equals”
- Lea Nosson Goodwin is the Chorus’ representative—and secretly under internal fracture
- Lacy Z. Rivere speaks for the Hollow Ones and the Disparate Alliance—but is barely tolerated
🔮 Traditions Active in Madison
Order of Hermes
- **Leaders:** Jay Dee, Leon Keone Bone, Sophia “Sable” Moreau - **Focus:** Maintaining the Capitol Node, containing paradox, protecting New Avalon - **Current Crisis:** Their leadership is crumbling. Jay Dee may be broken. Sable may be a ghost.
Virtual Adepts
- **Leaders:** Abel Washington (missing), Damien “Echo” Reyes (digital echo) - **Focus:** Defending New Eden, building recursive reality architecture, stabilizing Digi-8 - **Current Crisis:** Abel is vanishing into code. Echo is presumed dead but still active. Digi-8 may be the next Nameless host.
Dreamspeakers
- **Leader:** Glory of the Morning - **Focus:** Holding sacred balance with the Garou, spirits, and the Dreaming - **Current Crisis:** Spirits refuse to speak. The Totem Grove is silent. Their pact with the Garou is broken.
Verbena
- **Leader:** Susheela Pantaleone Fabian - **Focus:** Nature’s vengeance, Caern defense, Capitol Node blood rites - **Current Crisis:** Susheela may be a weapon forged with Nameless-tainted Quintessence. She's ready to declare war on the Technocracy and Jay Dee.
Akashic Brotherhood
- **Leader:** Ann Johnston - **Focus:** Mind-Zone defense, paradox meditation, echo suppression - **Current Crisis:** Her defenses are failing. Mind loops are increasing. Alternate selves are appearing.
Cult of Ecstasy
- **Leader:** Peggy Fitzgerald - **Focus:** Ecstatic rites, Dreaming rites, Umbro-fusion at Olbrich Gardens - **Current Crisis:** She made a Fae bargain to hold the Caern. If the Council finds out, it could cost her everything.
Euthanatos
- **Leaders:** Aadhira Hebbar, Marcus “Shade” Kincaid, Selene Vargas - **Focus:** Death balancing, soul weighing, breach punishment - **Current Crisis:** Aadhira’s return may trigger a prophecy. Shade is a recursion ghost. Selene may be a living blade of paradox.
Celestial Chorus
- **Leader:** Lea Nosson Goodwin - **Focus:** Sealing rituals, spiritual unity, memory maintenance - **Current Crisis:** Lea has a second persona: Alexa, a Nameless-born sleeper agent. The Council just found out.
Sons of Ether
- **Leader:** Evan Adams, Dr. Elara Voss (status uncertain) - **Focus:** Reploid stabilization, digital memory echoes, chrono-thread repair - **Current Crisis:** Evan’s constructs are feeding off corrupted Nodes. Elara is trapped in time recursion.
Hollow Ones (Disparates)
- **Leader:** Lacy Z. Rivere - **Focus:** Freedom, anarchy, consensus rupture, urban prophecy - **Current Crisis:** Addicted to vitae. Secret deals with Kindred. Disparate alliance is fraying.
🧠 Thematic Overview
- **Paradox is no longer punishment—it’s the collapse of identity**
- **Traditions are divided by ideology, trauma, and mistrust**
- **Echoes of previous failures haunt their present**
- **Only together can they stand against the Nameless—but unity may come too late**
📌 Related Pages
🧭 Quick Summary Table
| Tradition | Leader(s) | Status | |-----------|-----------|--------| | Order of Hermes | Jay Dee, Leon, Sable | Crumbling, fragmented | | Virtual Adepts | Abel, Echo | Leaderless, corrupted | | Dreamspeakers | Glory | Spiritually blocked | | Verbena | Susheela | Radicalizing | | Akashics | Ann Johnston | Mind-looped | | Ecstatics | Peggy | Fae-compromised | | Euthanatos | Aadhira, Shade, Selene | Dangerous, vital | | Celestial Chorus | Lea / Alexa | Spiritually split | | Sons of Ether | Evan, Elara | Unstable, brilliant | | Hollow Ones | Lacy Z. Rivere | Cornered, defiant |
"Nine Traditions. Nine wounds. One chance to remember what they fought for."