Product Description

Every day, the Abyss claims more Supernal knowledge, more lore is lost to the steady crumbling of history and to the mortality of the Awakened. There are those who claim that mages should be looking to the future, but how can they, when they have allowed so much of the past to be lost already? What good does new avenues of learning do if they cannot hold onto what is already known?
The Mysterium stands against that crumbling and preserves the lore of the scions of Atlantis. Whether they are dedicated scholars peering into long-forgetten secrets in dusty libraries or two-fisted adventurers looking for traces of the Supernal in mankind's archaeology, the Awakened owe the Mysterium much for the preservation of their lore.
An Order book for Mage: The Awakening
A comprehensive examination of the origins of the Mysterium, stretching back into the misty legends of Atlantis.
Details of how the Mysterium approaches its Supernal mandate to gather and preserve all knowledge, as well as the secrets of the Atlantean Mystery tradition at the core of the order.
A variety of new spells, artifacts, imbued items and legacies for use in your Mage: the Awakening chronicle

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #731973 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

Mysterium is a good supplement for the setting
The book has a lot of interesting information in it, describing several things about the nature of the world from the perspective of the Mysterium. It's well-written, and has a lot of useful organizational descriptions and story hooks in it.

The game mechanics items were worth reading, and they did a good job of supporting the described notions of differing approaches between the Mysterium and the Free Council. (Especially look at the different mechanics they cover for skills and electronics.)

Some of the rotes should either be extremely common outside the Mysterium, however, or have an explanation given as to why not. That's the biggest flaw in the book I saw. (They have a rote for copying grimoires, for example. That's something that would proliferate unless it is somehow extremely difficult to develop.)

All in all, it's a good book for those playing Mage: the Awakening. Even if you deemphasize the orders in your, you may still find some value in it. The legacies and rotes give some new ideas as to mechanics for spells and systems. I simply wish they had explained a touch more about the rotes describing how they had been secured over the years.

Solid, but not the stuff of legend (well, technically it is, but...)
As a Mage player and die-hard Mysterium fanatic, I would recommend this book. It contains many practices and philosophies of the Mysterium that aren't mentioned at all in the Mage core (the Mysterium's central tenet is nothing in the two books).

Outside of it's usefulness to players wishing to play Mystagogues, or possibly for a Storyteller wanting a Mysterium basedplot-hook, the book has very few other uses. There are a handful of spells and new artifacts, but not enough alone to justify purchasing this book. I'd put it low on the priority list of useful Mage books.

Also, as a minor nitpicky point, this book is the most poorly proofread of the many White Wolf books I've purchased over the years, and the clarity of the writing makes some of the chapters puzzling at best.

So, if the book has limited usefulness, poor editing, and confusing content, why did I give it four stars? The White Wolf authors continue to amaze me with their sheer ingenuity. Every single book, I'm always blown away by another amazing idea that can create a dozen character concepts or spin a dozen plot hooks. This book doesn't reach the same heights as, say, Tome of the Mysteries, but I'm still quite fond of it.

Bottom line: Buy if you plan on including the Mysterium in depth in your chronicle, otherwise, there are more important Mage books to add to your library first.

Scholars and Keepers of Secret lore for Mage
This splat book covers the scholarly mages of the Mage the Awakening rpg game. It also offers lots of background ideas for creating characters in the mold of Mysterium including an interesting Indiana Jones type of treasure hunter, mages who seek the lost treasures and artifacts of los Atlantis. Included are new rotes and spells and a very in-depth description of this order. A must for the Mage the Awakening fan.