Paradigm are the high order of wizardry within the continental United States. Their magical tools are symbols of power. The yuppie has his business card, cellphone, cufflinks, sports car, Harvard ring. The police officer has his badge and uniform. The politician has certain key buzzwords. These are their foci.

The Paradigm finds its members fluctuating between the gospel of the True Ideal and the Architects of Progress. The True Ideal strive for immortality and redemption via transforming into paragons - men and women who personify perfectly the symbols they have wrapped themselves in: the Hero Cop, the King Maker, the Crime Lord. It is a daunting task, and those who attempt it frequently stumble and fail.

The Architects of Progress are amoral, convinced that the Ideogrammation can still be steered in their favor. It is the left-handed path, to be sure, but ever so much easier. Here be dragons in the form of hedge fund managers, politicians, and lawyers.

Do not confuse the Guilty with the True Ideal. The Guilty are simply Architects who attempt to hold on to some sort of moral code, policing their ranks. It is one thing to attempt to direct the Ideogrammation with symbols and honeyed words and a different thing entirely to serve its whims.

The Iroquois are the low order, the hedge wizards, the shamans of American pop culture. They know the secret rites to travel the invisible highways like James Dean and incantations to the lesser and greater Elvis summonings. They seek the Green Glass Grail, the platonic ideal of Coca-Cola, hidden somewhere along Route 66.

The Big Rock Candy Mountain is where the Old Gods of America, the Free Men of the Woods, went into exile ahead of the power of the Ideogrammation. The Iroquois both hope and fear that the Green Glass Grail will bring about their return from that distant realm.

When the rail-roads were finished and the old gods fled, the hobos defended the world from The Behinder and the hideous Things What Ride the Rails at Midnight. The hobos went on to their reward while the Behinder's ilk, the American titanspawn, hid and slunk into the gutters and alleyways fleeing the malevolent luminescence of the Ideo.

To this day Paradigm men summon Behinder demons from the sewers to do their dirty work in exchange for power and protection, while the Iroquois seek the Last True Hobo who will lead them on their Grail Quest.

They have it so much easier in the Old World. There the demons are bound, they have the ancient rituals to keep the Outsider out, and their wizards consumed all the ambiant magic before mass media could unleash the Ideo in their lands.

All they have to worry about is the constant back-stabbing politicking and warfare between the hundreds of high, low, and high-and-low orders of magic they got over there.

That's the Old World charm. No spirit wars to worry about, just an academic rival summoning a vampire to eat your face while you sleep.

Which raises trouble when the various factions meet and mingle. Well-traveled Paradigm know at least some of the basics of the Old World glyphs and wards - their close relationship with the Free Comtes means that they have some tutoring. Likewise, when those of the Old World come they are forced to rely upon these American symbols.

One common method requires the financial sections of no less then three but no more then nine widely circulated newspapers.

These American wizards, who feel uncomfortable around magazines, radios, and televisions (because the Ideo can reach out and get you through them), prefer to use a series of pneumatic tubes built by DARPA in case of nuclear war and then forgot. By circulating their leaflets and information in this obscure manner it doesn't join the mass consciousness and thus cannot be a medium for the Ideo to move thorugh.

Of course wizards use magazines, tv, and so on all the time; but in their work. Pop culture is something to conjure by and not to be taken lightly; so as a personal matter of culture and paranoia their secret communiques go through the pneumatic tubes.

The Scions of Turin felt that the internet could be kept safe from the machinations of the Ideogrammation with it cut off from the corrupted ley-lines. Forced to face facts in the wake of the Pop-Up Offensive the wizards have all but abandoned it, having uninformed vassals do the dangerous work for them. Worse still is the influence Outsiders can now wield through the satellites in orbit.

The Outsiders.. if someone's crazy enough to serve those things, I've never met them and I don't want to. I have no idea what one would ask you to do. They're a big question mark in everyone's book, and that's what makes them a threat. No one knows what they are, where they come from, and what they're after. The best we can hope for from them is that they'll get bored and leave.

The servants of the Outsiders come in all sorts of shapes and forms, living on the fringes of global society. The group that has reached most notoriety is the Church of New Flesh, who rose in Japan and tried to release some sort of bio-weapon on the subway. The press said it was sarin gas, but we know differently. Like we know how all the members of that Church had at least three eyes.

I hear in the States, especially in LA, that there's this group called Urban Red, a kind of urban exploration group that serves as a front for an Outsider cult. They explore the sewers and storm drains, looking for big, vacant spaces under the city to do.. whatever the fuck it is the Outsiders want them to do. All I know is that the homeless population of the city's been dropping rapidly.

Rumors abound that Ray Gun One Eye attempted to drop the captured essence of the first Outsider discovered over the Kremlin to shatter the Cold War. Those in the know point to the Challenger Disaster and mutter darkly that this entity known as the King was tricked for a short while, promised a trip back to its realm. The glyphs on the shuttle were not enough to contain its wrath.

Further down the rabbit hole, some wonder if other shuttle disasters were due to the same creature...

The new gods live in the cities, gods of lightbulbs and car crashes; gods of trash compactors and beer cans; gods of red light districts and emergency rooms. Pray to them, if you're brave enough. Bargain with them, if you must. Ignore them at your own peril.

The Paradigm has always been fascinated with these new beings, nurtured forth under sigils such as the G and the E. Woefully, as the Ideogrammation caused more and more of these devices and spirits to be manufactured away from the New World they have a harder and harder time communicating with them. No matter, there are always new ideas springing forth like sparks around a fire...

The New Gods run their pantheon like a business. So there are perks, their workers get a lot out of making deals... but are expected to put a lot in in return. More than most people are actually capable of giving. The God is your boss, who you report to and who pays you for your work. You are asked to do a lot, but have a fair bit of freedom in how you operate.

The Old Gods are not dead, but weakened. They have adapted to the changing faces of the world, but they are not what they once were. And in their weakened state, they find new gods nipping at their heels. Those in the Old World tend to believe, to their folly, that these "old" gods are similar to their own - this is a mistake rarely made more than once in practical circumstances. Paul Bunyan, John Henry, the ghosts of Sherman's march, the Sidehill Gouger - these are the old gods, the old stories, and they are beginning to exist again, mutated by the Ideogrammation and the very stories of the Iroquois.

The Old Gods work on a different model which, though adapted to a more modern face, still has a lot of feudalistic roots. The Old God is a lord to which you swear fealty and serve loyally. You do what he tells you and have little self-determination otherwise. You may not be asked to do as much, but when you are asked you must obey to the letter.

To be sucinct about it, whether it's Iroquois getting too wrapped up in the Grail Quest and Hobo prophecies or megalomaniacal Paradigmists suffering from The Guilt (they say that Paradigm wizards have the stain of their forebearers giving the Ideo it's first life in the public consciousness upon their souls), the fight against the Ideo spirits can lead you down dark path.

Their are worst things than the mere evil of the Behinder's humbled devils or even the blindingly cold light of the Ideo. Things from the Beyond the Beyond, whose messages were unlocked by the early space probes.

These are the Outsiders, things so inhuman they make demons shit themselves. Those versed in the Folly speak of these beings as the genus loci of the universe itself - personifications of entropy, celestial fire, and the motion of the cosmos who are bemused by this universe in miniature they have found.

>Iroquois seek the Last True Hobo who will lead them on their Grail Quest
I want to taste whatever you are on so much...

What's with hate towards lawyers and politicians anyway?

At least someone who has been consumed by the shining fire of the Ideo will have the same sort insane logic as an Old World fey lord. Genii loci always do. And even demons of dark emotions and the cess of the world like the Behinderspawn in America have understandable motives (greed, lust, shadenfreud). But Outsiders...

And if you think groups like Urban Red or The Church of New Flesh are bad, wait until you meet one of the outsiders solo-agents in a deep ally on a dark and stormy night.
The might have been men once, but they've made the dark pact, and now they are at the same time more and less than human. A friend of a friend led a group of the Guilty against a being called the Suicide King, and I tell you, he swears he can still hear the cries of his friends as they turned against themselves..

>>12809641
/tg/ I don't know what to say.. You've been shitty all day and suddenly you bring me this fucking awesome setting material.

Thank you.

mfw reading this thread

GREAT SETTING OP

>>12809838
The Iroquois have their stories of great orators and statesmen, but it is the Paradigm which knows the sad truth - the Idoegrammation has festered and polluted the notion of such men in the eyes of the public, making their existence that much harder.

That is not to say that some of the Paradigm -aren't- politically active; they simple serve as kingmakers.
---
High weirdness is the norm. All hail Emperor Reagan. The coronation was held in secret, when the man was more than half-mad with age. It was a holy madness, as few know this but the man Joshua Norton took an Irish wife. The Ray-Gun was his descendant and rightful heir to the Empire of America and Protectorate of Mexico.

Deep in the halls of the Pentacle, the Pentagon Below, blind men click their tongues in invocation to the dead Ray-Gun; hoping their false god will save them.

The Iroquois know that in parts of the country at midnight you can see Reagan McCool and his twisted shadow-aspect, Ray Gun One Eye, do battle.

There are lesser orders, mostly cross-contamination from Europe. The Free Comtes sometimes cross the pond to jam culture and cause mayhem, their affinity groups flash mobbing, performing live, spontaneous symbolic rituals in the middle of crowded places. Their ultimate goal is to use this psychological alchemy to gain immortality as avatars of the mass consciousness.

The harder-edged members of the Iroquois and Paradigm view this as dangerous consortation with the Ideogrammation by foreign practitioners who don't know any better and tend to come down on the Comtes hard each time they surface in the States.

But even the American wizards are broken apart. The American Gods are weak and their hold on the ley lines tenuous at best. The Clerics of Madison Avenue must pursue ever more arcane methods...focus groups, social media, the lost Roman science of demographics to hold onto their power. Some are said to sell their very essence to the K Street Masters, giving shares of their soul in exchange for power. Those who lose a controlling interest transform in to beings of pure hunger and greed.

It's a common belief that all Hoboes are Iroquios and vice versa. Nothing could be further from the truth. While all hoboes are wise, few are skilled in the arts of magic, and not all cunning men follow the honorable path of the hobo. The Noise exists to combat the control of the Ideo over music, battling passionless pop with blind rage and discord at their public rites masquerading as block parties.

>>12809877
a) what about all the other indians?
b) negroes, where do they fit?

The presence of a President is not a thing to take lightly.

All Secret Service personnel carry a coin in a pocket of their suit made from a melted Lincoln Continental.

There is a magic bullet, though it took two presidents for it to reach its true power. Its second baptism was completed when it was retrieved from Reagan McCool's body and has been used countless times to slay America's enemies, carefully gathered from the target to be reshaped and reused.

The parallels between the Lincoln and Kennedy assassination are no accident; they are runes and portents, carefully crafted by the Paradigm. Part of their Great Work, they had hoped to use the energies they channeled from these rituals to bring about the Thousand Years of Progress. Instead they failed, nudging the ley-lines too far and leading to the birth of the Ideogrammation.

Residual energy still remains, however; Dallas is still awash with the stuff, although it is fading fast.

Copy pasta? I remember someone posting an American Gods type of setting before.

>>12809918
who cares?

>>12809901
The Red Men have seen their own gods driven away for the most part, joining the Free Men of the Mountains in a begrudging peace. The Thunderbird remains as their herald, and wise Iroquois know how to call upon it for aid. It is no surprise that much of the Iroquois' technique mirrors the Red Man, but the Ideogrammation has been even less kind to them.

John Henry and Brier Rabbit have and always shall be part of the mythos of America - those men and women, rudely taken from their homeland to the New World, have had their culture added to it in the melting pot.

It is unfortunate that the Ideogrammation has had as easy a time corrupting their stories as it has everything else.

---

In short:, this is equal parts Americana and satirical takes there-of.

>>12809936
Just wondering. Goddamn.

>>12809954
sorry, that was more of a "Who cares, this is amazing!"
than a
"fuck you for asking"

"Built Ford Tough" is more than just a marketing slogan.

In the New World, everyone clings to their superstitions, their good luck charms - the teams you root for, the schools you go to, the things you own. Most people understand that there is something going on, but if pressured they could not quite put it in words. The War of Ideals is waging around them, with the Paradigm working to either tame or hold back the Ideogrammation while the Iroquois Boys battle the Behinder while they continue their quest.

It is interesting to note the psychological impact this close relationship with the New World has with Americans. Part of their perceived rudeness abroad is due to their confusion thanks to the bound ley-lines - it is like a sailor coming to port after years at sea, unable to stand straight.

>>12809722
so...
where does 4chan fit into all of this?
also, for some reason I keep picturing this app happening in the 70's

Beware ye Iroquois who steep yourselves too deeply in the Hobo Heresies, the eyes of Paradigm are watching. They will not let your grail stop their Ten Thousand Years of Progress. Certainly the walls aren't cracking, certainly the Ideo aren't coming for them.

Certainly they will gain back control of the things their corporations unleashed.

And when they do The America of the Future will be a reality.

Disgruntled Iroquois whisper at their bus stops and halfway homes that the Ideogrammation was not the mistake that the Paradigm claim, but part of their long term plot for control. The Paradigm argue that it is the stain of the Equation breaking free on that Blackest of Fridays.

Ha! You think the Old Wind Gods and the New Black Gods of the Air would allow any of the earthly factions to delve into their realm? Look at what their wrath has already done to some of the greatest Hobo fortresses, and now look at the growing ink spat from the Leviathan? Good luck crossing the blue without their blessings.

Rumors such as these tend to keep the Iroquois in the States, but those who have braved venturing abroad claim to have found markings left by the First Hobos in shanty towns and forgotten radio stations. Could the Grail have moved beyond their grasp?

Unknown armies can be used to great extent here.

>>12809990
Ave Ideogrammation.

We glorify it for keeping us entertained when we are bored.

We worship it for fulfilling our base needs.

We accept it for giving us an identity which is not of our creation.

We feed it by the creation of new models of infection for it to spread.

We guard it as the first strands of crystallized vibrations weave together into ultraviolet silk as it prepares it cocoon.

We will be its first meal when it is reborn.

AVE IDEOGRAMMATION!

---

Certain heretical Paradigm, after long consultation with members of the Old World and their own studies, are beginning to feel that the Ideogrammation may not be malevolent after all. It is simply different, holding more similarities with the Ousiders than would make one comfortable.

An even smaller number whisper that what the Ideogrammation works for, past the mindless consumption and the loss of identity, is preparing the world, not just America, for something better.

The Cocoon Prophets, when they are discovered, are driven from their lofty perches and destroyed like the dogs that they are.

>>12810028
Exactly my thoughts. Avatars are pretty much perfect for the Paradigm wizards.

The Red Sox Folly carried out by the Ruthful Babe was not a curse but an action of sacrifice for his home city. It was due to this that there was sufficient latent power stockpiled for the GIs to carry the banner of the American Dream during the Second World War.

This stockpile was consumed when America failed to beat its swords back into plowshares following the war. Iron Cutter Ike tried to prevent this but ultimately failed. It was due to this that the Paradigm decided that the Heir of Camelot must fall.

>>12810070
so then...
Moot is (one of) the Idogrammeton?
fuck...
FUCK
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKK

It is important to know that it is not just the Ousiders which are able to create solo-agents, able to carry out their will.

The Pentacle Below, the Wounded Pentagon, has a servant known only as Special Agent Eight six three dash eff dash eight dash are zero - it is named after the special order which gave it form and its power. It has a clearance higher then God and serves the Trinity: Security, Government, Control. It is unclear, in fact, whether there is just one Agent Zero or legion - conflicting reports, and conflicting descriptions, place it in every city where there is an FBI headquarters.

The power of change and rebellion is part of the cultural fabric of the new world. If the status quo is not to your liking, then change it. There has been a growing movement in recent ages of a magical and cultural idealogical backlash against chasing the paradigm.

Generations of young wizards, tired of chasing after unobtainable symbols of power and becoming paragons of power have struck their own paths. Seeing the system as fundamentally flawed and held too tightly by the already established, they see America turning more and more into the Old World.

This unorganized movement has various goals, some wish to distribute the symbols of power evenly, others to build a thousand different paradigms to dilute power while others truly just wish to see the cities burn.

It is somewhat ironic then, that shadows and murmurs have slowly gained strength. Men and Women who seek to upset the Paradigm slowly BECOMING paragons themselves.

This is of course not lost on any wizard with some sanity left. Some have rejected this power outright, others have tried to use it to benefit their movement or worst, themselves.

The culture war has yet to spark, but each side is preparing. And stuck in the middle are those of the Iroquois and the Paradigm which are still busy fighting their two-front war.

Of course, just because the core of the two groups are busy fighting the good fight does not mean that there is not room for rogue agents. With the budding culture war, the similarities between these so-called Third Revolutionaries and the Ideal faction of the Paradigm is not lost on the wizards of America which are in the know.

They have their usefulness, of course. The Architects have been known to book them passage across the Great Blue to the Old World so that their attempts to undo the ancient glyphs will keep their rivals on their toes. A massive volcano shook the continent after some idealistic fool attempted to unchain an Alfar - many Skalds lost their lives putting it back in its prison.

The Paradigm has not been welcome back to the country since.

>incantations to the lesser and greater Elvis summonings

I have no fucking idea what this is and I want more of it.

This is... this is awesome. Delicious in every sense of the word. And I demand more.

There is, of course, so much more to chart out in the New World.

Some grumble that the distinction between the Paradigm and the Iroquois Boys is artificial, nothing more than a line drawn between the elites and the masses.

Others are confused exactly /how/ these men and women are able to perform what they do. Is the best a Paradigm can hope to do is read your mind and control it, impotent otherwise? Or might one of the Iroquois Boys, by tearing a mint Micky Mantle card, cause a rain of destruction around him?

Worse yet is just how wide-spread the public knowledge of the War of Ideals is... is this a secret thing, or is it an insurgency where all play their part?

Finally, there is a dearth of stories concerning how one becomes a Thaumaturge. Is it a common thing, as some of the Paradigm claim when they say that anyone can live the American Dream? Or is it only through hard work and trial, as claim the Iroquois?

It is, perhaps, up to others to decide this. At this point, the original teller of tales must depart. Good luck with your discoveries.

>>12810228
Wait, that's it?

Don't leave us hanging! Otherwise this thread'll die before we can come up with more ideas!

Wow, what a setting. Is this on 1d4chan or is it copypasta from the archives?

Or was this just posted for the first time?

Either way, this setting is fantastic.

>>12810383
Combination there-of.

The idea's been on sup/tg/ before, but I keep refining it. That and it's always nice, every few months, to bring it out and show it to new people I suppose.

This >>12810228
right here just about sums up the last of my problems with it.

My bit:

There are some in the new world who reject the endless and empty rat race of the Paradigm and the just plain evil of the Architects of Progress. They are new rebels, channeling the spirit of the likes James Dean himself they say.

These brave but also reckless rebels reject the rigid structure of magic, and seek ways to undermine and plow through the undercurrents of the arcane, to come up with new and perhaps more accessible breeds of magic. Their success is few and far between but their changes are paradigm changers.

Ironically the rejection of classical ideals have simply lead to the pursuit of new ideal paradigms. Most of these so called rebels are unaware that they have fallen into a newer even more dangerous rat race to become the greatest Rebel. A few enlightened wizards have come together to find a way to break this spell, but have thus far been unsuccessful.

The Audio Wars rage on across the cultural spectrum as new generations of younglings take to the music and war with each other. I was there when the first negro magicians spawned the licks of the jazz beat that laid the foundation for Americana.

I was witness to the first British Invasion, when The Beatles Warrior Four laid waste to Americana and even the mighty King was forced to hold his ground.

I have seen the rise of the 60s when a generation of revels and iroquios joined together to form a powerful spell of love, freedom and expression that completely crushed the Paradigm War Machine Avatar in Indochina and I subsequently saw the movement self destructing in an orgy of arcane overdose and breakdown of dreams.

I have seen the rise of rock, then of metal and all Europe was swept up in the fires of Americana.

I was participant during the second british invasion when the Oasis Conspiracy laid a full frontal Brit Pop bombardment. We held the line... but barely. Cobain volunteered himself as avatar of grunge and his sacrifice allowed us to hold our ground.

Today I am an old man playing on street corners but I know a storm is brewing....

The Leaders of the Five Pointed Americana

Lady Gaga of the Fame, new Queen of Pop, uniamously succeeding the long time Prince of Pop.

Jay Zee, Arch Wizard of Rap, which had displaced the now diminished Lords of Jazz

Lord Billy Ray Cyrus holds onto the Seat of Country with great anxiety, fearful of the many contenders to the country throne.

Old Man Dylan, wise and kind hearted friend to the downtrotten. Master of the singer songwriters and political activists.

The decaying body of Johnny Cash, resonating still with the power of James Dean sits upon the worn out Rock Throne. None have yet to claim this throne.

>>12810697

Damn that would be great setting in itself...

>>12810697
What about Justin Bieber?
His power is even greater than Lady Gaga of the Fame, and his ideal is empowered further still by the hate of his self-proclaimed enemies, whose numbers rival his supporters.

Clearly, there must be a power behind him, though he seems but a tool.

>>12811626
Come for the Thaumaturgical Americana, stay for the Music: the Recording.

>>12810121
>>12810143
>>12810103
This explains the continual success and immortality of Anonymous.
Also, Moot is actually a member of the Paradigm, who is trying his best to harness the energy of the Ideogrammeton.

bumping with something that seems related to this great topic.

the inside of Clutch's latest album all folded out.

its got hobos cities a giant circle thing. yep totaly related.

Wish i could find that image showing Abe Lincoln as Shiva The Destroyer

It is important to keep in mind that, unlike the Old World warlocks, that the Paradigm and the Iroquois Boys are not some monumental structure - like all things American they are simply the most recent forms taken.

Both sides did not form until almost a hundred and thirty years had passed since the Constitution was penned. Before then there was only the Band of the Serpent - a loose coalition of disparate ideas and ideals. It is whispered that He With Six Eyes, He Who Foretold Richie the Impoverished, He Who Tamed the Thunder, formed the Band after a falling out at a French faction of the Hellfire Club. Mountain men and country lawyers, farmers and plantation owners, patriots and pirates - it was from this that the seeds were formed.

Faced with this brave new world and the horrors of the Behinder, these men worked together to form a union perfect in nature, a thing to marvel upon and gaze in wonder.

The Civil War and Sherman's Harrowing drove a wedge between these men and women - the groups became more insular, afraid of brothers turning upon brothers. The Paradigm might find its philosophical birth here, with its members more focused upon preserving the nation no matter the cost and no matter the solution. Disgusted with this, the first Hobos journeyed westward; here they focused their attention upon the Behinder and its ilk which had begun to breed in the shadows.

Whoever it was which plotted the death of Lincoln, all agree that it was a necessary sacrifice to draw the wounds closed. Things festered, of course, but there was hope.

ITT: troll thread with image from an album by an artist 90% of /tg/ won't recognize due to shit taste in music

>>12814520
>troll thread
wat

The first War to End All Wars fractured them further - it was the newly formed Paradigm who brought the American Dream across the waters, seeing themselves as patriots spreading the good word while the Free Men stayed behind to battle the dark.

Upon their return, and under the guard of The Cool One, the Architects of Progress began their Great Work - a massive undertaking to both strengthen America forever and banish the Behinder and its ilk for good. Now comfortable with their tools of power, they turned to strange schools of alchemy and numerology, working the Stockmarket Exchange as one would a finely crafted instrument or machine.

>>12814540
Well, not exactly, I don't know how to describe this thread, but please realize OP that you have no grasp of reality

Everything was going perfectly. Financial empires rose, men worked and struggled, and the money flowed. And, on the Friday which would go into infamy, the last share was sold... and rather than Progress, what greeted them was the birthing scream of the Ideogrammation.

How, then, did they fail?

Opinion is divided. The few remaining Architects, half-mad in their gilded cages, would argue that they have not - the work is simply incomplete. The Guilty bring to mind tales of Babylon, of hubris akin to the old kings across the Great Blue and the damage due to silver - to this day the Guilty avoid this metal. The Ideal speak of going against the American Dream, of doing what was not meant to be done.

The remaining thaumaturgists, however, claimed blood libel - the Paradigm had unleashed the Ideogrammation on purpose.

>>12814584
>the supporter
Are you some kind of covert bumping agent, disguised as an idiot?

>>12814609
Long story, beyond your shit taste in media

>>12814628

The worst part is that it -worked-.

Lashing out almost mindlessly as it gained new purpose, the Ideogrammation drove the Behinder and its ilk to the shadows and the forgotten places with almost no effort. In doing so, it almost broke the spirit of the nation and wrapped its tendrils around the unsecured ley-lines - it is now a part of the dream itself.

And so, the thaumaturgical America is fighting a four-front war. On one side is the Behinder, desperate to destroy the Ideogrammation before turning on the warlocks who thwarted it. On the other is the Ideogrammation itself, the monolithic construct seemingly content to lash out when it notices overt dissent but otherwise too busy with its own plans. On the third are the immigrants, the Old World wizards hungry for power as well as the Outsiders curious about this new plaything.

And, worst of all, and echoing a common theme, is brother against brother as both the Paradigm and the Iroquois work to weaken the other to keep them from making the same sins.

Alternatively, the Ideogrammation was born when the Atom was first split - but you get the general idea now.

Someone in here before suggested that I take a look at Unknown Armies for the mechanics, and I will agree that it certainly is close thematically. The Paradigm certainly -are- close to Avatars, although I could see them wearing different hats depending upon the role before them.

Unfortunately, Adepts just don't seem to work well for the Iroquois boys for the most part. The whole "you must give to get" part makes sense, but these are not so much obsessed people as, well, your abuelita rubbing an egg on your bruises. Urbanomancy is the closest thing I could think of that -might- work.

The rituals though? Those are fucking -gold-. I wouldn't mind some more Americana-flavored examples.

Anyway. Do carry on. I seem to have run out of images which serve to fit the mood of the thread, so I leave it up to y'all to come up with something interesting. Still not quite sure HOW someone gets in on the Folly/thaumaturgical aspect...

>>12814702
Take a look at the Unknown Armies site: http://ua.johntynes.com/

There is a ton of terrible thought out shit on there, but there are also some neat custom adept ideas, including some based on travel or life on the road or whatnot. The Iroquois could be a medley of different mystically attuned people. Most of them simply people who stumbled upon a ritual or two, some of them urbanomancers or similar and various representatives from the other adepts, many of whom are not even aware that what they are doing is tied to a particular obsession. They just know that what's worked in the past has always revolved around a particular thing, and they just assume they have some neat ritual they came up with.

Down south there appears to be a stalemate going between the forces of the Lone Republic, which had taken cover under the might of Americana, and the ghosts of the Aztecs, which rests under the Mexican Protectorate.
Grand River and its surrounding areas are the site of battles fought by the Border Wraiths, the Coyotes, and the State Jumpers, and the blood shed has fed the old god of the Grand River.
Nobody knows what will happen when this god demands a higher sacrifice.

>>12814628
>>12814609
Dammit you guys, don't spark a Battle of the Flames here, the Captcha is watching. Think of the children!

>>12814734
Just gonna add on to what I said here. It seems like this setting works really well in UA if you assume that it is much easier to gain mystical power by being an Avatar or having a few rituals rather than being an Adept.

Being an Avatar just means conforming your behavior to that of a certain archetype. You don't even have to believe in what you do.

Being an Adept requires that you are, on some level, insane. Something in your mind doesn't work quite right, and it causes you to interpret the world in a way that is vastly different from what you'd consider normal. This level of obsession and mental instability brought to a point of mystical attunement is most likely very rare as it also doesn't lend well to things like holding down a stable job.

So the vast, vast majority of the Iroquois would gain their power through rituals, which works with the hard work theme because it is much more difficult for a normal person to cast rituals without the aid of being an adept and being able to accumulate magical charges (relatively) easily. The most powerful among the Iroquois are likely adepts, whether they know it or not, which is why they're so much more effective at performing the rituals the rest of the Iroquois have access to - they have an easy source of mystical mojo to call upon.

Some of the Iroquois will even be Avatars, in an ironic twist. They're so committed to a certain role in the movement that they've become mystically attuned to an archetype that represents that role. It could lead to some interesting scenarios if they're found out, depending on how closely the other Iroquois associate avatars with the Paradigm.

>>12814734
I'll take a look into that, then.

It would certainly explain why on earth the Iroquois have a tendency to go batshit and weird...

That and now I'm picturing a cop being shot while on duty, selling his soul to his Badge with his dying breath, and coming back alive and being welcomed into the Paradigm. Not sure why.

>>12814841
What would keep the Paradigm from, likewise, using rituals?

It would be fitting, though - if they forget to uphold the behavior, all that they have left is the same gutter-tricks that everyone else has...

Hrm. Might make sense, now that I look at it. Both sides have people who use rituals - they're all able to get a charge from Americana. It's just that the Paradigm are typically Avatars and the Iroquois are typically Adepts with some bleed over.

I suspect part of what makes the Architects so frightening is that they are obsessed enough to unleash hell.

One question: can we flesh out other countries? So maybe there's Thaumaturgical England or somesuch. And what of South America?

>>12814885
Short story: fuck 'em.

Long story: Anything done in the Old World is going to be done via rituals of some sort. It's meant to be boring in the game, with all these assholes showing up to cause trouble.

If you'd like to flesh out some of them, like the Free Comtes and the Plutonium League (numerologists that play about with stock markets - the Guilty HATE them) feel free.

>>12814880
The scary part of the paradigm is probably that since they're so much more likely to be Avatars, there are going to be many more Godwalkers among them (in case you haven't read that far into UA, a Godwalker is the single person on Earth who best represents a given Avatar at one time and are able to actually have a customized power that can be insanely powerful - one example in the book is an Avatar of the Merchant who is able to make deals with time itself and rewrite history in a minor way. Someone who has cancer not only is cured but never got it in the first place. Imagine what happens if some Godwalkers make a coordinated effort to accomplish some task.

By the way, all of this stuff is excellent and I am stealing it for that UA campaign that I will never get to run because I can't find a group willing to play it.

>>12814955
Feel free.

I'm a writefag trying to get an idea out of my head.

And. yep, totally out of fitting macros now...

>>12814932
Well, makes sense if the Old World is dull, bureaucratic kind of magic, but South America is still New World. Used to have powerful gods, but then Conquistadors come along and wreck their shit.
Some other places in the New World that could be 'explored': Cuba, the Carribbean, Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii.
Some other groups I'm thinking of: Four Dragons (Chinese bureaucrats), Southlanders (Colonial Aussies), Dreamwalkers (Native Aussies), Octoberists (Communist Russians)...
hmmm, a spark lit my brain. Maybe Octoberists used to have a lot of power, but the Paradigm sucked it after they won the cold war. How's that?

>>12814932
Is Asia also completely irrelevant in this? I can't think of anything at the moment, but there has to be some way to tie mystical shit to the Japanese internment camps or the railroad networks largely constructed by immigrant Chinese workers.

I think a good explanation for some of the exclusion of Europe and Asia from most of the mystical stuff of this setting could revolve around WWII. The Holocaust and the use of atomic weapons against Japan did more than kill millions and cause physical damage. In Japan, mystical energy itself became irradiated in a sense. Those trying to wield magick there draw not only power into themselves but insanity (think saidin from Wheel of Time). Every charge gained and spent is another step towards the madhouse. I'm not sure what to do about mainland Asia.

Europe is marred by the demons of the Holocaust, and anyone who wields too much mystical power had better be feeling lucky or have very good protection set up because something's gonna be paying them a visit...

Africa could have been mined out by colonization, with centuries of having its resources and people spirited away by Western powers also having the effect of draining it mystically. Practitioners of magick find it more difficult to wield their powers here.

>>12815039
A longer reason is that I am still working on getting the damn thing to work properly, and expanding it out into too many new areas will just kill it. You give me workable methods to bring people into the War of Ideals, then we'll talk.

Although, this is important: the Ideogrammation IS America. The New World is defined by its lack of constraints on the ley-lines and genius loci. The further it spreads, the more it does to release things. Such a damn shame it seems to turn you into mindless, consumerist drones...

And, of course, the Paradigm (and even certain Iroquois) LIKE that, because it means that they can use their powers over there.
>>12815063
The story I'm working on is set in the 1980s; the East is still our shoe-less servants running about doing what we demand. Part of the reason for all of the New/Old World intrigue instead of anything else.

>>12815063
Africa is too tied up, wasted by Colonialism, ravaged by wars and plague. But that sort of chaos is the kind of thing that breeds new kinds of magic, and so African wizards of today are unlike any seen.
Just like it was the cradle of humanity, it is the cradle of magic as we know it.

Holy shit, what about Siberia? Is it a wasteland for magic?

>>12815125
I see... so the world is in the midst of the cold war. Which could be caused by the Paradigm's interest in controlling the Outsider Over Kremlin... or is it? Or are they more interested in winning a culture war against their Russian counterpart? Look at the space race, it seems fishy.

>>12815183
The Paradigm is well-known for doing what they think is the right thing, only to mess up horribly. Such as landing on the moon and attracting the attention of Outsiders.

Unless that was all part of the plan...

>>12815263
This means that UFOs are actually agents of Outsiders, scouts sent to distract Americana's Ideo. Does explain the rash of UFO sightings in the years before and after the first man went to space, and also in the 1980s. What do you think? Is this a plan by the Paradigm to enable them control the masses, or is this something else entirely?

The reason the fall of the Soviet Union came as such a shock to economists and political scientists is that none of their metrics for predicting the course of international affairs could account for the mystical scheming that really brought about the failure of communism. It's not that capitalism was a superior material system - it's that it had more powerful magick behind it.

(goes beyond the 1980s setting, I know, but if used in a campaign the characters can run into Paradigm members who are plotting the downfall of the Soviet Union via mystical means)

>>12815263
Rumors have it that the moon landing created the Outsiders themselves - the entire space race, the cultural awareness of outer space, all that created mystical power that was unleashed when Armstrong first set foot on the moon. The Soviet Union and America competed not just for the glory of being the first to land a man on the moon but for control over this new mystical force born out of humanity's fascination with outer space.

Has anyone archived this?
Because we should archive this.

ALSO
Japan is almost fully lost to the Ideogrammaton. The works of Paradigm wizards require their full attention, to the expense of human contact, sometimes down to the cost of even basic hygiene. And yes, while the Atom Bomb did not help, it was the sudden act of surrender while the ghosts of recently killed soldiers howled for blood and a national 'death before dishonor' that more-or-less permanently tainted the ambient magic of the place.

Where before simple nature gods required standard propitiation before helping, they are hunted, wild things, and but for the stabilizing effect of the Ideogrammaton, would indeed have wrought terrible things on humanity.

That there is no appreciable Iroquois presence to concentrate fighting the Outsider has wrought new things: the Outsider, starting in the sixties, has tried to subvert and use the Ideogrammaton. It has had limited, but worryingly consistent success.

Mexico is undergoing a change of their own, the new gods have gained enough power in Mexico to challenge the Old Gods and Aztec ghosts that existed in the land for centuries before.

The drug mafias are just the tip of the iceberg as to say, each drug mafia driven ever more by New Gods of Greed and Excess. The Old Gods push for violence the need for blood drives the mafias to kill.

We are the Recorders. For countless ages of man we have sat in dimmed rooms, plied oceans of paper,and gazed into the very fabric of time. We are those that time does not touch and in return we do not touch time, merely record its progress. Herodotus was the first success of our ranks, the early recorders were reckless. They would try to manipulate the events of the past to restructure the present, causing untold catastrophes. It is said that the disasters of the Minoans was the result of these early Recorders trying to prevent their civilizations downfall.

Our numbers dwindle as the Ideo devours our ranks and subverts the old god of History. Its agents block our carefully crafted sigils and glyphs to keep History in order by flooding the shelves with flashy book sleeves and bold print. They craft networks that distort the fabric of history with illusion. Don't think it's true? How many Recorders have you seen that are still young? How many times in your life have you have referred to the past as "5 years back" instead of using the date? Its coming, the death of History, and in that gap the Ideo will grow stronger.

This been archived yet?

Archive? This thing needs a goddamn wiki

It is a monster newly hatched from an egg of madness, still clucking lines of joy and despair as one neverending poem. It must be raised, studied, and nourished to its full potential.

>>12818523
I suppose we -could- add it to 1d4chan.

>>12818660
Except no one is.

No man is an island, especially among the warlocks and shamans of the New World.

The split between the groups is an ideological one more than a formulaic one. The Paradigm has more to fear from the Ideogrammation thanks to them tapping into the public consciousness - they are more likely to draw its attention, or be perverted by its machinations. Part of the reason the Paradigm congregate together is simply to watch one another's back; with enough warning it is possible to cleanse someone of the Ideogrammation's taint.

Rightly or wrongly, the Iroquois Boys tend not to care much about the Ideogrammation. So much of their power comes not from tapping into the ley-lines themselves but from dealing with the genius loci of places - the Ideogrammation may be part of America for now, but it is not the whole. Like jailed cons bargaining cigarettes for favors, the Iroquois know how to deal with these beings and work around the taint.

No, their concern lay more with the Behinderspawn, the Id of the American Dream. Urban legends may have replaced the tall tales of the Wild West but the creatures are still out there, haunting subways and forgotten places. Once, the Free Men of the Mountains would capture these spirits in mason jars and distill them into moonshine or simply bury them at the crossroads with Hobo Sign to bind them. Now they must be more careful and cunning, relying upon tagging and word of mouth to destroy these things.

Because the worse has begun to happen. The way of the Hobo is becoming distorted - it is unclear who exactly is to blame. It could be the Behinder, urging drug epidemics. It could be the Ideogrammation, causing public health programs to be cut and thus flooding the streets with those unprepared for the Way. Or, perhaps worse of all, the Iroquois have simply become outdated.

So you say you want a revolution?

Uprisings and riots are nothing new to anyone involved in the War of Ideals - the hardest part is getting the public to actually stand up and take part. It used to be simpler, of course - the Paradigm recall fondly the days where simple images and patriotic fervor were enough to ensure an action. For the most part, the Paradigm now sticks with smaller actions. General labor strikes. Public opinion and exit polling. Something as simple as an increased police presence. Of course, when they do decide to unleash their full power they are capable of massive damage - drawing upon the emotional turmoil brought about by a high-profile trail, for example.

The Iroquois, meanwhile, make their deals and use the Hobo Way. One ritual favored by them has been used to great effect in driving out people they feel have broken the Code. Turning the notion of the Broken Window policy upon its head, they begin a campaign of small, almost unnoticeable destruction - a shattered window pane here, a carefully placed bit of litter. The targets soon find themselves the center of a community maelstrom, with pressure brought to bear on all sides. In time, they submit and begin to act properly, at least in the eyes of the Iroquois. Then the community rebuilds itself stronger, like a fracture in a bone.

Unfortunately, this only works in places where people have pride in their community - this ritual has backfired spectacularly in places such as Cabrini Green and other public housing works.

So much of the relationship these days between the Iroquois and the Paradigm is due to simple misunderstandings on all sides.

When the magi of the New World were the Band of the Serpent, their numbers were made up of members of all social strata working in tandem. As the country changed and evolved, they simply grew apart. Worse still is how their methods now seem to contradict one another. Where the Paradigm is about authority and responsibility, the Iroquois represent freedom - their inability to reconcile these concepts is only made worse by the schism in the public.

Some do work together, and when they do so successfully they are able to accomplish great things. It may simply be too late.

Tapped out yet again, and completely out of macros which make sense for this setting sadly enough.

I hope this remains an interesting read, and I welcome any other ideas that people feel like tossing in. There is still the matter of how secret this War of Ideals actually is, as well as what it takes to be drafted into it.

Some example rituals and powers would be entertaining as well. I'm mostly interested in seeing what y'all can come up with.

this has been archived right?

Everytime this comes up in /tg/, I understand it less and less.

>>12820273
You say that like a bad thing.
>>12820192
Nope. It might be better served by tossing new ideas into the bucket rather than just asking for archival, though.

>>12820331
>You say that like a bad thing.
It is.

>>12820341
Any particular reason? Does it just make less sense - as much sense as "Gordon Gekko wanna-bes and hobos fighting a secret war" can in the first place?

What about normal people?
Do they actively know of the wizard consiparicies and the hobo quest?

>>12820668
See
>>12809985

In short, apparently... "yes, but if anyone asked them why they kept that signed baseball around they'd just laugh it off and say it was lucky".

Meanwhile, the Paradigm or the Iroquois Boys would break into your house to steal it. I'd imagine that there's an active blackmarket out there with curio collectors and the like passing around both real and fake bits of Americana.

>>12820790
So, is this a masquerade then?

>>12820921
Do you think it should be?

The guy that posted this keeps saying that he's still working on stuff like that. Near as I can tell, it's akin to voting - majority of Americans just don't CARE. Maybe it's what the Ideogrammation is working towards, along with weakening civic pride. Everyone's heard the stories, it just takes those willing to run the risk to poke their head up.

Could be like in Deadlands, where the purpose of the game is less to beat shit and more to spread stories about how shit can be beat in - the more active someone is, the more likely the Behinder or the Ideogrammation is to go after them. The problem is that if you don't get involved, if you don't live up to the ideal in the Paradigm or if you don't work towards the Grail in the Iroquois, you lose your mojo.

See that as a commentary on America myself. If you don't work towards something, there's no way you will ever get to take part in the Dream.

>>12821022
I like the idea that most of the population has no idea that there is anything mystical about the world. Those in the know don't really have to go to great lengths to hide what they're doing because most people rationalize it as something mundane anyway. Mystical power plays could be seen as political or economic. Iroquois rituals could be seen as parlor tricks or have such subtle effects that a navigation or misdirection ritual could be misconstrued as someone being very good at moving through the city or someone having bad luck one day and getting lost a lot.

Alternatively, do something similar to Unknown Armies and have an entire powerful organization dedicated to keeping magick secret. They don't discriminate between Paradigm or Iroquois - if you don't do a good job hiding your mystical tracks, they'll come hunt you down. Their core philosophy is that magick should be practiced discreetly or in a way that the public does not realize that what is being done is unnatural.

>>12815063
Africa should have an apocalyptic magical landscape, not a barren one. It would be bare if no one lived there. As it is, the devastation of the environment and cultural sphere, along with the brutal wars, enslavement, and viciously oppressive colonial regimes in some places would leave a devastated, nightmarish spiritual environment.

The old gods of centuries past are largely dead, or absorbed into the newness of VouDon and Candomble. The Lion of Judah is also a large force for some, and it is believed that he will return one day, to rule, throwing down the influence of Babylon, across the sea, ending the reign of the corrupt, white devil.

Bump of love for this thread.

>>12821388
That sounds like a combination of The Guilty (the policing agency of the Paradigm) and, well, the Ideo itself. You do things too obviously, you're either going to have people who are personifications of police and federal agents showing up to ask questions... or you get mind-taken.

I think that something closer to, say, the Cold War than a masquerade. People know that something is going on, but they don't know the details.

The Sandbaggers could be a pretty good example of this, now that I think about it. You just get there and you do your job.

Holy shit! This is a day old thread. We have a really slow moving board...

this ever get archived?

>this whole thread

Oh god, this is -delicious-!

RISE FROM THE ASHES, THREAD!