Folks like to rag on Mage for being a pretentious supers game. Since reading The Authority, I figure: Why not? Taking a page from that comic's Doctor (the collective soul of every shaman who ever lived), we'll reduce the Traditions to 10 mages, make them incredibly powerful and have them kick ass for justice.

Background

After the Great Betrayal, the nascent Council of Nine realizes that divided, they are too vulnerable and at the same time, too obvious, because their numbers require consors, cabals and all sorts of social structures that could be subverted by their enemies. The assembled mages decide to bind each Tradition's power into a single, gestalt Avatar that will incarnate across the ages to pursue the liberation of humanity by any means necessary. Thousands give up Awakened power for the sake of these few Oracles and go into hiding, while the Technocracy's power waxes.

Unfortunately, the intervening years are not kind to The Traditions. Technocrats defeat the last Solificati, St. Germain, and Hassan i Sabah soon concerns himself only with his homeland's struggles against Western powers, finally falling in World War 1. Both Oracles are barred from reincarnating due to Technocratic wards and a thickening Gauntlet. The other Oracles go into hiding, and the Traditions seem to have been broken under the weight of the Technocratic seige.

But in the late 18th Century, a new Oracle is born out of the clash between modernity and romance. Calling herself the Hollow, she creates new paths to ancient Concordia and over the next 250 years frees the souls of St. Germain and Hassan. While Concordia is an ideal headquarters for the Traditions, the Saxum Oculorum that controls its journey through subjective reality will only respond to the combined will of all nine Traditions.

The Hollow can't rouse them all to unite until 2001, when Al-Aswad returns with his Nephandi army to finish the job it started in World War II. The Technocracy's efforts work in vain as Al-Awsad and his disciples, the Antediluvians, steadily erode the Union's forces. This crisis brings the Traditions together at last -- and ensures that they'll stay, whether world governments or the Technocrats who influence them want it or not!

Setting

The Time of Judgment has been averted by the Traditions, but there are still plenty of dangers left. People know that the Traditions exist but this doesn't make magic easier, because the Technocracy has portrayed them as religious fanatics with accidental superpowers and what's more, Sleepers need more than the assurance that magic exists -- they need to believe that it will actually enoble them. This changes the basis for the Consensus somewhat, but enh.

The Traditions and the Technocracy are the only Sphere users. Nephandi and vampires are synonymous and use a combination of Disciplines and Thaumaturgy, filtered through the dead-yet-living soul of Al-Aswad. They've recently been defeated in a tremendous battle that killed thousands. There's no Avatar Storm. People know the Technocracy exists as some kind of cross-government body that fights the supernatural with hi technology from G8 super-labs. The Technocracy can't destroy the Traditions without suffering a major PR losss, but subtly contend with them using everything from superhuman assassins to media spin. People are generally aware that other supernatural beings exist too, but know little about them. There are sorcerers about, people with strange ancestries and gifts and so on.

The Traditions

The World's Finest Occultists are the PCs. They control Concordia, the reality-skipping fortress that skims the Horizon. Cncordia is semi-sentient and has its own population. It can open gates to the Inner Planets and Moon Paths/Nihils/Spires to anywhere else.

To make a member of the Traditions we do the following:

Attributes: 8/6/3; may be as high as 5.
Abilities: 21/12/5; may be as high as 6.
Backgrounds: Avatar 6, Dream 5, may choose 5 others, but material Backgrounds will be superceded by the resources of Concordia and native talent much of the time, so these will represent whatever they have if Concordia falls. Concordia acts as a mystic version of the Requisitions Technocractic background at 10 ranks.
Arete: 6; cannot be improved at character creation
Spheres: Tradition Sphere at 6; cannot be improved at character creation. Spend 5 points on other Spheres.
Innate Abilities: These are granted by role. In essence, they are superpowers that have arisen because of self-encorcelling and constant saturation with the magic of a mighty Avatar. You're gonna need Aberrant for this, kids. Unlike other kinds of games, the hero roles are already set (you are incarnating into them, after all) -- and I want to give the super-mages funky names first thanks! Note that you can change their genders as you see fit.

Each of the following are built with 21 Nova Points. Magic can stack with these powers. Replace Quantum costs with Quintessence, and the Quantum score with Arete

Superior (Akashic Brotherhood)

When a diamond lotus from the Western Paradise fell into our dimension, the infant inside was raised byhumble Shaolin monks until he learned of his true incarnation as the archetypal Akashic mage, known in Confucian lore as the Superior Person. One half of a team with The Harvester, his enlightened mind is matched by the body of a warrior-Bodhisattva!

Powers: Mega-Strength-3, Armor 3

The Harvester (Euthanatos)

When Doctor Helekar's twin brother was murdered for getting too close to vampire activity, the tortured soul swore to give himself the power to wreak vengeance – a power that wasn't granted until he was initiated into the secret Kapalikas cult of Calcutta. Coming before the gods of destruction, he laid bare the desires of his heart – and they were found pure enough to not only grant him the Oracular Avatar of the Euthanatos, but to destroy the corrupt cult. Now the Harvester works in the shadows, elminating enemies that Superior's highly developed ethos won't let him touch. The world's gretest warrior knows exactly when the fates will guide his strike.

Powers: Mega-Intelligence 1, Mega-Dexterity 2 (Rapid Strike, Cat-Footed), Mega-Wits 1.

Dreamspeaker (Dreamspeakers)

Tortured by what doctors told him was madness, the World Shaman learned his craft from the spirits, who led him across the world to retrieve the fragments of his predecessor's soul. These were housed in the secret rites of hundreds of medicine worker societies, and only his natural cultural genius allowed him to uncover them. The Dreamspeaker to be had top initiate himself into each and every one of these traditions until his ancestors judged him worthy. Now, he's a spirit-worker and cultural chameleon, except that he more than imitates shamanic traditions. He is their mightiest exponent!

Powers: Mega-Intelligence 3 (Cultural Prodigy, Linguistic Genius).

Czar Vargo (Sons of Ether)

Fools! They banished Czar Vargo from the mirror reality where he could have stopped the First World War! Hm . . . it looks like the same warmongering bastards are here as well! The Mega-Encephalo-Engram of Ether Science has been erased from dozens of worlds in ann attempt to stamp out Science, including this very place! The Hollower brought me, the last surviving carrier of the Engram, to this “Earth” to oppose the bastards once more. Swords! Swords and pistols agsints the Aerial Board of Con . . . er, Ming the Merc . . . oh, Technocracy! Right! Whatever!

Powers: Mega-Intelligence 3 (Scientific Genius, Engineeering Genius).

Thoth (Order of Hermes)

You dimly remember your human life as a Thelemite, a 32nd degree Freemason and so on, and so forth. All that matters was learning that you were really Tohut, mage-god of Egypt and later, founder of the Order of Hermes. In each life you've left the key to unlocking your soul in secret signs. What else have you left for yourself to discover? The apotheosis came when you entered the secret passage in the Great Sphinx, but that was dangerous, because when the Avatar of Thoth came firth looking for a body, your companion – Baron Mortensen – turned on you, revealing himself to be a Technocrat. You know he got a touch of Thoth's power; it worries you, but not as much as having to deal with unschooled, mortal whelps!

Powers:Mega-Intelligence 1 (Occult Genius). In addition, Thoth has access to 15 Background Points' worth of Sorcery Paths.

Singularity (Virtual Adepts)

Singularity is no longer human. Her predecessors have gradually discarded their weak flesh and merged more and more with the information universe. Singularity took the final step and discarded her body. After hacking the Iteration X system knows as Autocthon, she discovered the trapped Avatar of predecessor Alan Turing. When she merged with the Avatar of the Virtual Adepts, she looked back at her body and declared: “Meh.”

Powers:Bodymorph (Energy) 3 (Permanent), Cyberkinesis 3 Mega-Wits 2 (Multitasking)

Lord Hell-Fire (Cult of Ecstasy)

This is rather a bother! A few lifetimes ago you were a shallow English nobleman with a penchant for debauchery – and you liked it, by damn! You didn't know that your paramour: --Marianna something-or-other? -- was holding the very Soul of Ecstasy. Well, you don't like to brag, but you're not entirely unskilled at intimate affairs yourself, since insecurity around other members of the city set inspired you to sweat your brow (and other things) mastering the pornographic suggestions of certain colonial texts. Well, dear Marianna apparently wanted to retire, because after a mind-shattering evening . . . well, you awoke with the power of a veritable Tantric demigod!

After the first century or so, it gets dreadfully boring, especially since, in the throes of passion, you know what those years will bring. Still, Marianna found you beautiful (and still does – you hear her sweet voice always, even if she still won't tell you her name!) and between your inclination and her gifts, you're as handsome as you are sensitive. You wonder where sweet miss M. really is, though.

Powers: Mega-Perception 1 (Analytic Touch), Mega-Appearance 2 (First Impression, Seductive Looks)

Johnny Wotan (Verbena)

Witchcraft rocks. Johnny Wotan and the Ragnarok Orchestra know this and celebrate it by being the greatest hardcore band in two worlds. Before finding the gods, Johnny was a morose studio guitarist bound for the grey hell of coke, booze and too many blown chances. Of course, Jan never know that the black metal artists he worked for were in even worse shape. They'd hired him to play strange guitar rifts designed to rouse the Nameless from his slumber, and planned to eat Jan for lunch after the session. But Jan was none the wiser until his predecessor Odinsdottir burst in, looking to hunt devil worshipers. When the devil-band unleashed their evil music, she looked for Jan to help – and Jan answered, improvising power ballads fit to wrack the Midgard Serpent and sufficient to foul up a Satanic minor key four chord progression. Odinsdottir prevailed, though she was sent to the edge of death. She made Jan the high priest of all the true gods, of which the Norse deities are shadows, and sang the Verbena soul into him.

Rock.

Powers: Mega-Wits 2 (Artistic Genius, Natural Empath), Mega-Charisma 1 (Natural Agitator)

Pale Rider (Celestial Chorus)

The Templars never went to Scotland. They went further west, to Oak Island and south to the unexplored places where they could enjoy monastic peace. But this wasn't meant to last, as colonization and war brought a bad name to the faith and forced the Templar saint to go back to the world and fight for what's right. Pale Rider is the third masked gunfighter to go by the name and the first to truly Awaken into full power. Every American knows that justice rides on a pale horse, with a mask, rose and cross – signs of a warrior priest who'll fight for what's right even if mortal laws lie about it.

Powers: Mega-Dexterity 1 (Accuracy), Mega-Wits 2 (Enhanced Initiative 2)

The Hollow

This is an quasi-NPC. The Hollow holds the mysterious 10th Sphere and represents the evolving zeitgeist of the last 300 years. Her nature is to create, then mediate conflict: science versus romance, idealism versus cynicism. She represents an awareness of plurality. By "quasi-NPC" I mean that the players blue-book The Hollow's adventures, and this informs how the GM plays her. by default, she's a has a classic Hollow One goth/punk style, but plays out more like a chaos magician/King Mob figure.

Antagonists

The Nephandi: Still there, still angry, rebuilding their numbers.

The Technocracy:

See the background. Fortunately no single Technocrat is as powerful as a member of the Traditions -- though they're trying . . .

Marauders:
These mad mages come from alternate worlds and carry a bit of their unreality with them. Their very existence threatens the stability of the Consensus.

The Exalted: The doomed inhabitants of a corrupt subjective world refuse to let their time pass. It's only a matter of time before they seize Elsewhereporting occult technology from the Autocthonian invaders and discover our ravaged planet!

Otherwise, there are plenty of other supernatural megathreats to deal with.