Let’s be honest: Certain mages are awful human beings. Although slavery is officially illegal throughout much — though not all — of the modern world, “the peculiar institution” has a very long and traditional pedigree, one that a handful of cultures have yet to abandon, and which flourishes in the technological world under the rubrics of human trafficking, bonded servitude, wage slavery, and captive or prison labor.

Do mages practice such things? Yes, some of them do. Not often openly, but they do.

Chattel slavery, the literal ownership of human beings, became distinctly unfashionable during the 1800s. In mod­ ern times, slaves tend to be people who have been trapped by lures of “jobs” they can never escape: prisoners of war or legal systems who’ve been put to work by the authorities; would-be refugees who wind up getting sold by “transport­ ers” who were supposed to help them find safety; runaways and kidnap victims who get put to work by pimps and other captors; abused children whose parents rent them out or sell them, and adults who grew up in such situations; residents of areas captured in war, or taken over by corporations, who are subsequently forced to work or die; or people whose low-caste status within their society makes them slaves by default if not by name. Unlike the Servants described above, these people aren’t compensated with anything other than the barest of essentials and the fact that they haven’t yet been killed. Some corporations and other “employers” allow their slaves to keep a little bit of income, in theory; somehow, though,

that money always needs to go back to the employer’s pockets, leaving just enough to assure nosy authorities that the slaves are technically being paid, and thus are not enslaved as far as the law is concerned.

Mages, of course, can use those tactics, and employ other methods, too: mental bondage through subtle or bla­ tant influence (detailed in How Do You DO That? under “Uncanny Influence,” pp. 114-136); captivity in a Horizon Realm or Construct; Igorism, as described above; mystic pacts that compel servitude (typically from spirit-entities, but occasionally from organic beings too); creating servitor beings through magick, hypertech, or both; invocation of ancient cultural traditions that demand service to the Awakened Ones; servitude compelled by magickal oaths or punishments; and the threat of catastrophic retribution unless the mage’s whims are fulfilled. Especially for mages with a particularly draconian fondness for “the Old Ways,” the democratic distaste for slavery is a passing trend that contradicts the will of history.

Unlike servants, slaves have no choice about their con­ dition unless they decide to risk their lives to change it, and receive no respect except occasional titles meant to divide slaves against each other (body servant, as opposed to field hand) and petty flatteries that confuse an abused person’s perceptions in the abuser’s favor (“I love you and I’m doing this for your own good…”). Some slaves may be treated better than others; at the end of the day, though, these folks remain essentially, if not legally, property.

Because slavery of any form demands obedience, slaves are abused until most, if not all, thoughts of rebellion are crushed. The strongest chains, of course, are the ones we put on ourselves, and so an enslaved character usually believes their situation is hopeless, probably even deserved. Mind games (magickal or otherwise) forge the most effective shackles, and so mental cruelties supplement and occasionally replace physical force. Slave masters, meanwhile, believe they’re to­ tally justified — even moral — in their behavior. Convinced of their innate superiority, these people can (and do) commit atrocities that sustain their power, cloaking that ruthlessness in genteel facades and pretentions of kindness that reinforce the effects of their abuse. When those slave owners possess the power to command Reality itself, revolt against them seems damn near impossible.

Grotesque, sadistic punishments are hallmarks of slave culture. If the masters own many slaves, those punishments are as public as the masters can afford to make them. For mages, whose talents allow them to torment minds and souls with­ out leaving a mark on the body (or who can magickally heal whatever damage they inflict), those penalties can be literally hellish. Willworkers who attempt to seem respectable avoid extravagant displays of cruelty, but ones whose ethos places them above pesky considerations like morality or compassion become the most fearsome slave owners imaginable.

For what should be obvious reasons, slavery and its related abuses are hot-button topics in an RPG. Many troupes may choose to avoid them altogether. Slave owners might not consider themselves to be evil, but… well, they really fucking are. The Fallen have the most obvious connections to slave-based companionship, though not all Nephandic companions are slaves. Other factions have a history with slavery, too, and that history nearly ended the Council of Traditions many times over. Even now, the Syndicate employs indirect slavery by way of corporate exploitation, and the lowest dregs of Iteration X are slaves in all but name. You can choose to leave these elements of Mage’s setting off your gaming table, and you should do so if the subject trips triggers for anyone. Sadly, in our real world, millions of human beings actually are 21st-century slaves… and in the World of Darkness that situation is even worse than in our own.

In case it’s not already clear, this entry is in no way, shape, or form an endorsement of slavery or the mindsets that defend it. Enslaving people is reprehensible, and the Storyteller is advised to treat such characters (and their players) as compassionately as a master treats his slaves.

Suggested Traits: Unless you’ve employed elaborate rit­ uals to compel service from spirit-entities, it’s pretty hard to enslave beings of inhuman capabilities. Even human beings are difficult to enslave for long unless their wills have been broken, their circumstances appear hopeless, or they’ve been convinced that slavery is what they deserve. Also, slaves lead extremely limited lives in terms of the things they can learn or the time they can devote to bettering themselves. Hence, enslaved companions tend to have low Traits in all areas ex­ cept the ones that benefit their masters most. High Physical Attributes (and often Appearance, too, depending on the type of slavery involved) are common among such “associates,” and combat-oriented Traits are rare unless the slaves have been spe­ cifically trained and conditioned for fighting. Hard work and hard living generally reduce such characters to low Willpower ratings, and Flaws that represent the physical and mental toll of slavery are almost essential for characters of this kind.

Suggested Templates: Except in cases of slavery through powerful magicks, enslaved characters are normal human beings with one or two notable Traits and several deficient ones. Human Resources may be considered slaves of a sort, but the closest representation of a character like this in game terms is probably the Homeless Survivor template with an even lower Willpower than usual.

Mahalia Sanchez

What’s wrong with wanting to dance, to sing, and to become famous? Nothing, really, but things that sound perfect and amazing rarely work out that way. Mahalia was entranced by the recruiter’s pitch: She’d work in a small bar for a year, singing at least a six-hour set twice per week. From there, she would record a pop single or two, and get picked up by a local radio station, and by the end of that second year, she would hit it big. He told her, “If you don’t get noticed in the first

year, you can come home at any moment, no problem.” So Mahalia signed the paperwork, sold the few things she owned, and left Puerto Princesa in the Philippines for Seoul, South Korea. When she arrived and met her recruiter, he asked to see her passport — only so that he could get a copy of it, of course, to ensure she was paid correctly and would receive her proper health benefits.

In the car, he talked endlessly about the amazing things she would do. When they got to the small town near the American military base, Mahalia thought nothing of the situation. Even arriving at the bar that evening didn’t fully set off the warning bells it should have. Mahalia saw a bar full of women and men — many of them American service members, even — and thought it was a great location to make a name for herself. No, it was the second night when things finally clicked… when the woman who ran the establishment beat her around the head for not “dressing right.” Mahalia soon realized she had made a grave mistake. Those beatings continued, never hard enough to leave serious bruises where it would disturb the “Army boys” but enough that Mahalia realized she wasn’t allowed to think for herself any longer. Mahalia was well-fed when she arrived, but slowly lost what weight she had through a “diet” she’s now physically forced to uphold.

The first night she was “encouraged” to “go on a date” with a soldier was brutal. Mahalia wasn’t interested in men (she never had been) but she couldn’t refuse the order and she knew what would happen if she tried. That night became a nightmare, and then her madam beat her when the client refused to pay. Mahalia was forced to “date” at least once per week, and then forced to continue up the charade of “dating” certain men in order to get even more money from them. She never even got to sing; when she tried to sing, while working or even after hours, she was beaten for “getting too big for herself.” A few months ago, a soldier she was forced to string along offered to pay off her “contract,” effectively buying her from the madam. Despite her growing revulsion about men in general, Mahalia resolved to take whatever path she could in order to escape this prison. Sadly, some of his friends talked him out of it. Now he won’t return her calls. She was beaten for this offense, too… for squandering the money her jailers had hoped to make by selling her off.

Although Mahalia has retained her pretty features, the light has gone out in her eyes. Painfully slender and small, she moves now more like a robot than like the woman she once was. Her “boyfriends,” of course, rarely notice — the one thing they want, she still appears to have. A caring person might notice the wary way she moves or the flat tone in her voice, but caring people, in her world, are few and far between. A functionary at a Technocratic playhouse, Mahalia has noticed a certain “shine” that a handful of her clients seem to have. Her life, however, has no magic to speak of… not that she perceives, anyway. Magic is the lie in the back of a limousine, snuffed out by the things you must do to survive.

Despite the Union’s best efforts, many Sleepers still believe in magic and other supernatural forces. That’s especially true in cultures where technological materialism and mystical faith coexist on essentially equal terms, as discussed in the Book of Secrets entry “Do You Believe in Magick?” (p. 287). Some people discover that they have a natural talent for unAwakened magic, while others learn it though years of dedicated practice, or attain sudden powers thanks to drastic bargains with supposedly “impossible” forces. Regardless of their attitude towards Awakened magick, such people do not count as Sleeper witnesses if you’re checking for Paradox, nor do their powers (if they have any) gather Paradox or rework Reality in the flexible manner of Sphere-based magick.

Such “adept” mortals are not always, shall we say, friends of the magi — or of the Technocrats, either, for that matter. Quite a few of them mind their own business, pursue their own agendas, and get rather hacked off if some arrogant willworker decides to make them his bitch. “Hedge wizards,” for instance, aren’t fond of such depreciative terms, and de­ mon-pledged Infernalists tend to consider themselves superior to anyone and everything they meet… except, of course, for the demons they serve.

The following entries typify unAwakened characters with unusually potent abilities… folks who may be as likely to face off against smug mages as they are to walk slightly in their shadows.