T R A D I T I O N B O O K : Tradition Book: Dreamspeakers White Wolf WW4662 The Drumbeat of the World As spirit-talkers and shamans around the world, the Dreamspeakers have the keenest insight into the nature of the Umbra — and with their ties to the primordial pulse, they understand that they are more than mundane flesh. Even when marginalized or thrust into categories of convenience, the Dreamspeakers recognize the trials of the modern age as simply one more test in the ongoing struggle to heal the split between materia and ephemera. Now they must find a means to accept one another, different though they may be, in order to rise above the suffering and sacrifice of their people. Is the Heartbeat of Humanity At last, a revised look at the Traditions for Mage: The Ascension. Completely new material covering history, practices, beliefs, special character rules and more. Examine new roles in the wake of the Reckoning and the hidden secrets and powers of the surviving Traditions. Sample file TRADITION BOOK: ™ Sample file By Bruce Baugh and John Snead Contents 1 Credits Authors: Bruce Baugh and John Snead Coming soon for Mage: World of Darkness created by Mark Rein•Hagen Storyteller game system designed by Mark Rein•Hagen Development: Jess Heinig Editing: Michelle Lyons Art Direction: Aileen E. Miles Interior Art: Ron Brown, Leif Jones, Alex Sheikman, Drew Tucker Cover Art: Christopher Shy Layout, Typesetting & Cover Design: Aileen E. Miles © 2002 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire, Vampire the Masquerade, Vampire the Dark Ages, Mage the Ascension, Hunter the Reckoning, World of Darkness and Aberrant are registered trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Werewolf the Apocalypse, Wraith the Oblivion, Changeling the Dreaming, Werewolf the Wild West, Mage the Sorcerers Crusade, Wraith the Great War, Trinity, Tradition Book Dreamspeakers, Guide to the Traditions, The Book of Madness, The Werewolf Players Guide, The Mage Storytellers Companion, Axis Mundi and The Spirit Ways are trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf Publishing, Inc. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned. This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content. Reader discretion is advised. For a free White Wolf catalog call 1-800-454-WOLF. SampleCheck out White Wolf online at file http://www.white-wolf.com; alt.games.whitewolf and rec.games.frp.storyteller PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 2 Dreamspeakers TRADITION BOOK: ™ Contents Prologue: The Patient Returns 4 Introduction: Visions 6 Chapter One: The Goal — The World 10 Chapter Two: The Road — Magic 30 Chapter Three: The Walkers — Shamans and Others 74 Epilogue:Sample The First Step file98 Contents 3 Sample file 4 Dreamspeakers Prologue: The Patient Returns “Life’s splendor forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come.” — Franz Kafka, Diaries, 1921 Stewartsville, Illinois be someone getting left behind. I’m sorry, whoever you are. “Hello! I should have come back a long time ago to check. “It’s okay. I know you don’t want to talk to “See, you’re right. Those things you experience are true. me right now, and I’m not going to try to catch Your inner eyes have opened just a bit, but you don’t yet know you. You’ve been following me for three days enough either to focus them or to close them. Here, think of now, maybe four — was that you in the bus it like this. You know how the world looks when you start to terminal, back…. Never mind. I know you open your eyes after a nap. It’s all strange and distorted, right? won’t tell me, and you want to have some Well, that’s the way it is with your soul, too. Trust me, not private truths. That’s fine. everything is as bad as it looks. If we were different people, “I didn’t know the place would be like this. The last time you’ d be in line to become a shaman, a medicine man. You I saw the old hospital home was back in the fall of 1999, when have the gift of seeing the spirits that live inside everything. I made my escape. There was a little charring from the July fire “Yes, really. I’m not making it up, I swear. I know you then, but the rest stood intact. don’t believe me yet: I can feel your skepticism washing along “You were here then, right? You move your feet in a the ground, like waves of something thick and sludgy. Old familiar way. I remember hearing your steps in the hallway late motor oil, maybe. You’re good with tools, aren’ t you? Did you at night —Dr. Brooks called you and the others the ‘night work in the motor pool, maybe, before this whole place wanderers.’ I always thought that sounded like something out burned down? I don’t recall hearing the moans of hunger of a black-and-white horror movie. Sometimes, when the spirits very loudly in the station, so you must have something medication went wrong, I’d imagine all of you gathering, you can do to feed yourself. ready to feast on me before I could even scream…. “It’s an awful state to be in, not knowing what’s going on. I “By the way, if you really want to stay behind the hedges came here to tell you that there’s an answer. What I’ve done is like that, you ought to just sit down. Squatting leaves you off write down a whole bunch of things that I hope will help. There’s balance if you don’t how to set your haunches right, and I can a little bit of autobiography, and some letters from people I… I hear from the grass that you don’ t. Hey, don’t get upset: See, work with, I guess you’d say. There’s also some transcripts a friend I’m still standing here. It’s just that I hear these things. made for me from visions I had, about what it was like for others to teach me things. Other spirits, that is, not other people. Some “You’ve been hearing things, too, haven’t you? When I of the passages could even go in a training manual, if there were got off the bus, you felt something like a shout or an icepick such a thing for prospective shamans. in your brain? You see inanimate objects move around, and nobody else does. You know that it’ s not just the schizophre- “I’m setting it here on the ground, see? I’ll be going soon, nia, but nobody else will help you. I’m here to explain that to but I’ll be back at the same time tomorrow. The clouds tell me you.Sample I was there, too, and when I made my escape, Xoca — the it won’t rain, even though it looks bad.file You read it, and if you crazy Indian who helped me — told me he felt like there might want to talk with me tomorrow, you can.” Prologue: The Patient Returns 5.