Everything

Normally, Paradox does not strike after a spell has been successfully cast; if Paradox was retroactive, after all, then all mages would probably be dead. However, the force of Unbelief (described in Mage 20, Chapter Ten, p. 553) hovers over illusions, thanks to their complex metaphysical relationship to human consciousness and the Consensus of reality. As a result of that relationship, an illusion that remains apparently believable also remains coincidental. One that breaks that apparent believability invokes Paradox. And if that happens, then one of two things (Storyteller’s option) occurs:

• The illusion essentially disintegrates under the force of Unbelief. Flaws become apparent, the illusion wavers, and the Effect breaks down and disappears, usually within seconds; or…

• The mage takes Paradox as if she had cast a vulgar with witnesses Effect. The illusion continues to exist, but the Paradox points get added to the mage’s wheel. Essentially, the force of Unbelief settles into the mage herself, and while this won’t trigger an immediate backlash (yet…), those points will get counted and make that mage’s life difficult the next time she does suffer a Paradox backlash.

Whatever their nature, illusions deal intimately with matters of truth and deception. They are, after all, created to deceive, and they spread their influence by manipulating the audience’s relationship with reality. And so, even in our age of creative deception, illusions are tricky for everyone involved – for the witnesses because they cannot be trusted, and for the mage because you never quite know what will happen if and when people see through the things she has created to deceive them.