A Sourcebook for

Mage 20th Anniversary Edition

Credits
Writers: Brooke Chang, Hiromi Cota, Jose Garcia, Alan
Gowing, Joshua Heath, Victor Kinzer, Lauren Roy, Hilary
Sklar, Rachel Wilkinson
Developer: Lauren Roy
World of Darkness Developer: Matthew Dawkins
Editor: Matt Click
Art: Emmanuel Desiati, Mirko Failoni, Mike Gaydos,
Ken Meyer Jr, Drew Tucker
Art Director: Michael Chaney
Creative Director: Richard Thomas

Special Thanks
My husband Greg Roy, who first put Mage: The Ascension
in my hands 20 years ago.

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Check out the Onyx Path at http://www.theonyxpath.com

2 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick

 The Disparate Alliance 19
Prelude: According To Plan VII
Ahl-i-Batin 19
Introduction 10 The Bata’a 19
Money Makes the World Go Round 10
Children of Knowledge 20
The Root of All Evil 10
Hollow Ones 20
This Book at a Glance 11
Kopa Loei 21
Media Inspirations 11
Ngoma 21
Chapter One: Orphans 21
Money and the Mage 13 Sisters of Hippolyta 21
Who Needs Money Taftâni 22
When You Have Magick? 14
Templar Knights 22
Personal Wealth 14
Wu Lung 22
Pooling Your Resources 14
The Technocratic Union: Everything Old Is New Again 23
Conflicting Interests 15
A Failure of Minor Stature 23
The Traditions and the Invisible Hand 15
The New Normal 24
Akashic Brotherhood/Akashayana 15
Mad Money 27
Celestial Chorus 16
Organized vs. Disorganized 27
Cult of Ecstasy/Sahajiya 17
The Banks of the Bai Dai 28
Dreamspeakers/Kha’vadi 17
Money-Making Marauders 29
Euthanatos/Chakravanti 17
Lifestyles of the Rich and Fallen 30
Order of Hermes 17
Ars Cupiditae 30
Sons/Society of Ether 18
Money Laundering 31
Verbena 18
The Nephandi at Work and Play 31
Virtual Adepts 18

Table of Contents 3
Chapter Two: Sacred Ground 59
Creating Rich Characters 35 Social Media 59
Your Money and Your Life 36
Chapter Four:
Climbing the Ladder 36
Membership Has Its Privileges 61
Developing Your Backstory 37 A Magickal Sandbox 62
Archetypes of the Wealthy 39 Greenhill Clinic 62
New Archetypes 40 Spa Practitioner 64
New Merits and Flaws 44 The Constellation Club 64
Chapter Three: The Elite 66
Monetary Magick 47 The Connoisseurs of the Levant 67
Privilege Upon Privilege 48 Finders, Seekers 67
Rotes 48 The Oakenash Foundation 69
Correspondence 48 Wealthy Conservationist 70
Entropy 49 F474 M0R64N4 70
Forces 50 F474 M0R64N4 Members 71
Life 51 Cheops Supplements 72
Matter 52 Cheops Wellbeing and their victims 73
Mind 52 The Escapists 74
Prime 54 Privileged Survivalists 75
Spirit 55 The Sensational Adventurers Club 76
Time 55 Adrenaline Junkies 77
Paradigms 56 The Arcologists 77
Everything The Arcologists 79
Has Value 56
More is More 56 Chapter Five:
Philanthropy in All Things 57 The Best Money Can Buy 81
It’s Good at the Top... 81
Power Trickles Down 57
...But It Also Gets Lonely 82
Practices 57
You Can’t Take It with You 82
Appropriation 57
All the Comforts of Home 82
Charity 57
Crafting With Cash 83
Investment 58
Treasures and Wonders 85
Media Control 58
Doissetep’s Treasures 85
Instruments 58
Works of Art 87
Artifacts
and Antiques 58 Designer Drugs 89
Contracts 59 Wonders 90
Cryptocurrency 59 We Have People for That 92
Employees 59 Places to Go, People to See 94
Governments 59 The Sky’s The Limit 94
Markets 59 The WinnipesaukeLake Chantry 96
Physical Media 59 Bespoke Reality Zones 97
Precious Metals 59 Casino of Bliss and Destruction 98
Holy Mission of Zion Church 98

4 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick


Chapter Six:
Storytelling the Rich and Famous 101
The World’s Your Oyster 102
Genre 102
Allowing for Excess 102
Six Questions 103
Wealth as a Character 103
Within the Group 104
Sharing the Wealth 104
Rich Peoples’ Problems 104
Things Money Can’t Buy 105
A Sudden Change of Fortune 106
Never a Dull Moment 107
Wolves in the Woods 107
A Rescue Mission 107
A Friend in Rehab 108
The Yachting Party 108
A Mysterious Statue 109
Strange Gift 109
Race for the Stars 109
Table of Contents 5
VI The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
 According
To Plan
Carter Colfax owns a private island out in the middle
of the umbra. That’s not such a big deal on its own — there
are plenty of quiet skerries out here for the brave to build
Wonders upon. It’s which island he’s claimed, and what
he’s done with it, that makes Cassie second guess the whole
plan. Eerie structures surround Carter’s mansion, built by
the spirits he’s bribed or bought off. And what a hefty price
that must have been.
Anyone who’s anyone is here tonight, arriving in their
etherships or other flashy transportation. Impossible vessels
line the docks and the drive, alongside Bugattis and limousines
that couldn’t have just driven here, but clearly did.
Anyone who’s anyone. There’s the problem: Cassie and
Jack are big, giant nobodies. She feels how much she doesn’t
belong here. It’s in the way the other guests carry them-
selves, a walk trumpeting a moneyed upbringing at finishing
schools. It’s how shabby the dress that cost her a month’s
wages looks beside couture whose price tags equal the gross
domestic product of some countries. She tries not to stand
too close to anyone else gliding up the long walkway, lest they
notice her and point her out to everyone. Every time some
perfumed, bejeweled partygoer brushes past her, she braces
for it, expecting their entire scheme to be up before they’ve
even gotten through the door.
“You’re fidgeting,” says Jack. They look perfectly com-
posed, in a suit perfectly tailored to their tall, slim frame.
When they first modeled it for her, Cassie had stop herself
from running a finger along the smooth fabric. It had been
made for Jack, and only Jack, whipped together by a tailor
who dressed the stars. While it was a simple gray wool with
black pinstripes, it was quite clear that no other suit like it
existed in the whole world. One of a kind. Unique. That was
how the rich liked it: I have something no one else can ever own.
Jack hadn’t paid for the suit, of course. This whole night
has been on Michael’s dime. Except for Cassie’s dress, that
is — she’d insisted on paying for it herself, which in hindsight
had been the wrong time to refuse Michael’s largesse.
Michael’s the only one of the three who actually belongs at
a party like this. His family runs a huge company, the kind that
has branches upon branches of subsidiaries under it — so big
that anything people buy, or read, or wear, or watch is probably
somewhere under that umbrella. Michael grew up rich, and it
shows. He moves along the drive smiling and waving, stopping
now and then to shake hands and offer a pithy comment before
smoothly disengaging and moving the three of them along.
No one asks him to introduce Cassie and Jack. If she
didn’t know better, she’d think Jack was throwing off some
kind of Mind Effect to hide them, but they’re not doing a
damned thing just yet. That’s the plan: no magick until they’re
inside. Don’t draw attention. They have one shot at this.
At last, they get to the door, where a bouncer is checking
names against a list. Here’s the first potential failure point:
Cassie and Jack aren’t on it. Michael’s got it in hand. He
flashes his invitation and a thousand dollar grin, and says,
“They’re with me.”
This is the sort of party where the invitations might read
plus one, but if you bring more than that, all you have to do
is say “They’re with me,” and the bouncers don’t dare argue.
Because the next phrase, if they balk, is “Do you know who
I am?” and it only gets worse from there.
The bouncer looks at them. He shrugs and unhooks the
velvet rope. “Have a nice night,” he says, as they sail on past.
•••
Inside, it’s a Who’s Who of Tradition elites. Cassie
wonders if this is what it was like at Doissetep, well before she
Awakened. Jack always described it as full of old Hermetics in
dusty robes with ink stains on their sleeves, but Jack’s rarely
impressed by anyone, and half of what they say about the
Order is aimed at needling Michael.
Prelude: According to Plan VII
 “Eyes up,” says Jack now. “You two ready?”
Michael nods, his gaze already locked onto Colfax. Their
host is halfway across the cavernous ballroom, in the middle
of a cluster of mages. He’s eating up the attention, showing
off some trick with a tongue of flame. “I’ve got the easy job,”
says Michael. “I’ll see you two at home.” Then he’s off, that
grin spreading wide again as he works his way into the cluster.
All Michael has to do tonight is be himself and keep Colfax’
attention away from Cassie and Jack. That, and get them into
the party in the first place, which he did.
“It’s all champagne and canapés for him now,” mutters
Cassie. “The lucky bastard.”
“Sure,” says Jack, guiding her toward the archway that
leads deeper into the mansion, “but we get to have all the fun.”
No one notices them as they slip out of the party and
into the hall.
•••
Elementals flicker in cages, illuminating walls that appear
formed out of dripping candle wax. Cassie trails her fingers
along the smooth surface. It’s cold as marble. She sees flashes
as she moves; memories of the entities who lived here before
Colfax moved them out dance in her vision. She looks for
traps as she goes, alarms they might trip or spirits bound to
act as lookouts. It’s all quiet. Nothing worth stealing out here.
Jack hurries along ahead of her, cat-quick and just as quiet.
They spent weeks seeking and summoning those displaced
spirits, coaxing descriptions of the mansion’s layout out of
them. Twice, Jack ducks into an alcove and pull Cassie in with
them. They count too softly to hear; the only reason Cassie
knows they’re doing it is the puff of breath tickling her ear.
The patrols are right on time, both of them Initiates from
the Order earning their place in the hierarchy.
“So precise,” says Cassie, once they’ve moved along.
“They’re new at this.” Jack fiddles with a coin, flips it,
nods in satisfaction when it comes up heads. “Someday they’ll
learn that precision’s great for alchemy, not so much for guard
duty. You don’t want thieves to be able to predict your moves.”
The candlewax halls give way to more standard-looking
ones. Art hangs on flat walls, pieces Cassie’s sure are supposed
to be in the Louvre, or the Met, or the Uffizi Gallery. Any of
these could come home with them and they’d be set for life,
but they have their eyes on a bigger prize.
They come to a dead end, but that’s an illusion. Cassie
sits on the floor while Jack takes up the watch. This is where
Cassie feels comfortable: in front of a puzzle, away from the
crowd. There’s a door here, beneath a tangle of Forces and
Matter. She just needs to reveal it. She sets to picking apart
the threads of the working, and has to hand it to Colfax — or
whoever he hired — it’s well made.
It’s still not a match for her. She’s been picking locks
since she was seven. This isn’t all that different.
VIII The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Five minutes later, and she’s through. The threads fall
away and the door swims into focus.
Jack grins. “Let’s go claim our prize.”
•••
Treasures fill the room. Grimoires in glass cases, chal-
ices and crystals, sculptures and talismans. Cassie’s fingers
itch with the possibility here. It would be so easy to tuck
half a dozen things into her pockets — she chose this dress
specifically because it has them. She could slip the pair of
ruby rings off their velvet pad and onto her fingers, don the
diamond necklace.
But they’re here for one thing only. Anything else puts
them at risk of discovery. Colfax’ security seems lax, but the
wards he placed on his treasures are solid.
Mostly.
Here, on an end table next to a plush armchair, sits a
fat little diary. Its leather cover is worn with age, its pages
swollen from various mementos tucked between. Jack stares at
it, their pale eyes alight with excitement. “It’s real,” they say.
“It’s real. And it’s almost free.” Even as she speaks, Cassie
can see the protections on the diary fading. Some spells need
to be re-upped, and the hourglass is running out on this one.
It had been a gamble, one Michael set in motion years ago.
He and Colfax were old rivals, coming up in both Sleeper
society and the Order at the same time, always trying to best
each other. When he learned Colfax had bought the diary,
he’d gone to work.
Some time ago, Michael had managed to switch out the
planetary alignment chart Colfax relied on with one that was
only off by a few hours. The other mage could’ve figured it
out at any time, double checked the chart against another,
but that wasn’t his way, and Michael spent a small fortune
on a perfect forgery. Far as Colfax knows, the protections are
good until tomorrow night.
The spell fades.
Cassie picks up the diary carefully and wraps it in the silk
handkerchief Jack offers. “We did it,” she breathes.
“Now we just have to get out of here,” Jack says.
Outside the door, something howls.
•••
Cassie never sees what it is. Jack grabs her by the arm
and drags her along in their wake, all caution thrown to the
wind. They pelt along the hall, past the artwork, past the
candlewax walls, the invisible beast snarling and snapping at
Cassie’s heels. She can’t see it, but Jack can. From the terror
on their face, she’s almost glad it’s beyond her perception.
Jack turns down another hall, leading them away from
the ballroom and the patrolling Initiates. They twist and
turn, past bedrooms and libraries, ritual spaces and dining
halls whose tables are set for guests that never come. At last,
with a cry, Jack pulls them through one last door, and they
tumble out into the night. The beast howls in fury behind
them, unable to cross the threshold.
“Don’t stop,” says Jack, “that’s not the only guard dog.”
They don’t stop running until they’re halfway down the
drive. By now, the commotion has spread to the ballroom. The
sounds of shouting carry out from inside, but the bouncers
are still close to the house.
“Wanna go for a ride?” Jack asks, dangling a set of keys in
front of her nose. “I figure we deserve to go home in style.”
“Who’d you lift those off of? And when?”
They laugh. “I have to keep some secrets. Let’s go, Cassie.
Tomorrow you’ll be a very, very rich woman.”
Prelude: According to Plan IX
 Arthur: Because in a 747, the pilot’s up top, and the first-class cabin’s in the nose, so no one would walk through.
But you’d have to buy out the entire cabin. And the first class flight attendant...
Saito: I bought the airline. It seemed neater.
— Inception (2010)

Money Makes
the World Go Round
So does magick.
Why not put them both together and reap the benefits?
This book explores what it’s like to be a mage of means,
whether you’re a wealthy Tradition mage, a mover and shaker
in the Disparate Alliance, or a member of the Technocratic
Union watching — and manipulating — the world’s markets.
Whether you’re hanging out in corporate boardrooms or
simply living a life of leisure and luxury, you have just about
everything you could ever want. For the rest? You have a gold
card and any number of people who will happily help you
procure anything you can dream of.
But this is Mage, which at its heart is a game about hope
and transformation, and about dreaming bigger. If you had the
money and Will to change the world, how would you do it,
exactly? Who would you lift up? What corrupt systems would
you tear down? What do you build in their places?
While you’re at it, of course, you get to have a little fun
along the way. You’ve got access to Wonders other mages
could never afford, the ability to jet across the world in an
instant, and the means to be pampered wherever you stay.
No one ever said you have to sleep on a lumpy mattress while
you’re setting things right.
The Root of All Evil
Let’s get this out there: Money is problematic, and all
around the world, the rich are getting richer. CEO pay sky-
rockets while the minimum wage remains stagnant, and hasn’t
been an actual living wage for years. If billionaires paid their
fair share in taxes (or paid them at all, ahem), the United
States could easily wipe out student debt and medical debt and
provide homes for the unhoused and meals for schoolchildren,
and the rich would still be able to fire fake spacemen into
orbit in very expensive cars, just because they can.
This book attempts to acknowledge that imbalance, and
call out greed, corruption, and abuses of power that come
with living in a capitalist society. At the same time, we’ve
tried to leave space for those If I hit the lottery daydreams.
So if you want your characters to use their money to fix
society’s problems, you can do that. If you’d rather blow it
all on flying cars and voidships, you can do that, too. You
can be Dolly Parton or Bruce Wayne, Prince T’Challa or
Adrian Veidt.
There’s no lining in the pockets of that last suit. Might
as well spend it while you’ve got it.

10 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick

This Book at a Glance Media Inspirations
Chapter One: Money and the Mage — An overview of These books, movies, and television shows portray dif-
how mages interact with wealth. What can money buy, when ferent aspects of the lives of the wealthy: from cool gadgets
you can bend Reality to your will? This chapter looks at how to piles of silk shirts, from portrayals of being at the top to
the Traditions, Disparates, Technocracy, Marauders, and what it’s like to lose it all, they grant a glimpse into the lives
Nephandi approach wealth. of the 1 percent.
Chapter Two: Creating Rich Characters — This chapter Movies:
guides you through creating a character with Resources 6+, Black Panther (2018)
including some questions to consider when fleshing out their
The Great Gatsby (both the Robert Redford (1974) and
backstory, how the various Archetypes approach money, and
Leonardo DiCaprio (2013) versions)
expanded Backgrounds, Merits, and Flaws for wealthy wizards
Iron Man (2008)
Chapter Three: Monetary Magic — Explore new rotes
based around money, wealth, raw materials, access, and in- Ocean’s 8 (2018)
fluence, plus new paradigms and instruments geared toward The Social Network (2010)
rich characters. TV Shows:
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges — This Billions
chapter introduces several organizations for wealthy characters
to join, recruit as allies, or face off against as adversaries. The Blacklist
Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy — What do you Schitt’s Creek
spend it all on, anyway? This chapter discusses elements of Veronica Mars
a rich mage’s lifestyle, and introduces high-ticket Wonders Books:
rich mages can collect. Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan
Chapter Six: Storytelling the Rich and Famous — This The Perfect Couple, Elin Hilderbrand
chapter provides tips for Storytellers running games for rich
characters, as well as provides story seeds and plot hooks. Nonfiction sources:
The Captured Economy: How the Powerful Enrich
Themselves, Slow Down Growth, and Increase Inequality,
Brink Lindsey and Steven M. Teles
Freakonomics, Steven D. Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Million Dollar Listing (Bravo TV)

Introduction 11
 How can he explain that to him? The world is not run from where he thinks. Not from border fortresses, not even from Whitehall. The
world is run from Antwerp, from Florence, from places he has never imagined; from Lisbon, from where the ships with sails of silk drift
west and are burned up in the sun. Not from the castle walls, but from counting houses, not by the call of the bugle, but by the click of the
abacus, not by the grate and click of the mechanism of the gun but by the scrape of the pen on the page of the promissory note that pays
for the gun and the gunsmith and the powder and shot.”
— Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

It was lovely, up in the cloud. Dana stood on the edge of the
observation deck, peering over the side and down at the valley
below. Beside her, Sean sipped at a scotch so peaty she thought its
scent might knock her overboard.
“How much of this is yours?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Most of it. All of it. I’m not really sure. The
land’s been in my family forever.”
“Was it always so green?”
“No. That’s all new.” He beamed at that, and pointed to an acre
of brilliant purple flowers a mile or so off. “That’s my latest. Tulips.”
“They’re out of season!”
“Not here, they aren’t. I can grow them anytime. Any color.
What’s your favorite? Name it and I’ll name a variety after you.”
He’d brought her up here to impress her, she knew. So far, it
was working, but on a purely scientific level. She wanted to know
how he was growing it all. He was a Verbena, which accounted for
plenty, but Dana wanted the secret.
The urge to pitch him over the side was awfully strong.
Instead, she took the glass from him and took a sip. She managed
not to grimace as the scotch went down. Her mouth tasted like she’d
licked a chimney. “Royal blue,” she said, handing the glass back.
“Done. Give me a week and I’ll send you a bouquet.”
“What if you brought me down there now and gave me a tour?
I want to watch one bloom.”
He looked wary.
She didn’t blame him — plenty of people had heard about his
endeavors. The tabloids were always publishing stories about spies
and thieves getting escorted out of his company’s office buildings
or arrested breaking into his labs. She imagined there were plenty
of others who slipped onto the grounds unnoticed and absconded
with an armload of flowers, but she’d already had a look at some
of those pilfered plants — a theft she’d paid a lot of money to have
carried out. The flowers told her nothing once they were picked.
What a waste.

Not to steal it, precisely, but... To experiment. She had fields She smiled again, gently. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to push. It’s
laying fallow back home that could feed thousands of people, and just so exciting. You’re doing really amazing work.”
here Sean was, growing flowers to impress girls. “Eh. It’s a hobby.”

Chapter One: Money and the Mage 13

 Somehow, Dana didn’t scream. “It could be so much more.
With the right partner, you could really make a difference in
peoples’ lives. Maybe I could write up a proposal for you?”
He looked out over the fields, and signaled for the cloud’s
pilot to steer them back toward the mooring. “Maybe. I’ll think
Who Needs Money
When You Have Magick?
Once you can bend Reality to your will, what’s
the point of money? With the right Spheres,
a mage can conjure anything she needs, from
clothing to food to shelter. Feeling peckish?
Life lets you grow a ripe, red apple from a
barren tree. Winter weather got your teeth
chattering? Conjure yourself a summer breeze
with Forces. This goes for the finer things,
too. Those tickets to the opera, and a dress
to dazzle in? That’s just a matter of ... well ...
Matter. Still, it takes time — maybe even years — to gain the
necessary proficiencies in the Spheres to conjure those things
at will, and in the meantime, you have to eat and pay the rent.
It’s also simply easier to use money over magick, when
you’re dealing with Sleepers. Mages live in a world where
currency dominates the Consensus. It’s possible for a mage to
get everything from food and lodging to broadband internet
through judicious application of magick, but sooner or later,
doing so will draw attention from the Technocracy, Paradox,
or worse. Most of the time, it’s easier, safer, and more reliable
to simply pay for necessities the same way Sleepers do.
Now push all that out to a larger scale — global markets,
real estate, commodities — they all form systems that are easier
to work within than against.
Reduced to its basic elements, the most convenient way
to store and exchange “value” in the modern era is to use
money. The more representations of value the mage has, the
more they can exchange for what they need or want. In that
sense, money isn’t all that different from magick: It’s the man-
ifestation of directed intent, described in economic terms. In
fact, the Syndicate bases its entire system of metaphysics on
that comparison.
Personal Wealth
Beyond basic subsistence, many mages need some degree
of wealth to support their magickal practices. Physical instru-
ments cost money, especially consumable ones. Guitar strings
need changing; the whisky eventually runs out. That adds up,
even if you’re not buying top shelf liquors. High-tech parts
for equipment can get costly fast, if you’re building a piece
of Etherite equipment or a Virtual Adept’s trinary computer.
Practitioners of the Art of Desire have to look and act the part,
14 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
about it. I have some ideas for the tulip names. Would you like to
hear them?”
Dana sighed. Small steps. She could write the proposal in her
head while he rattled off his list, at least. “Go on.”
but boutique clothing stores and fancy restaurants won’t let
you get away with skipping the bill.
The same rules apply to aspects of the mage’s Backgrounds.
When you meet one of your Contacts for coffee to chat them
up, who pays? Who buys the books in your Library? Whose
name is on the deed or lease of your Sanctum? As with basic
needs, it might be possible to take care of all these things without
spending money, but in most cases it’s not worth the trouble.
Mages of certain practices may benefit from simply having
wealth — and being seen wielding it. Practitioners of the Art
of Desire, Dominion, and other practices that rely on manip-
ulating social relationships know that the value of your bank
balance extends far beyond a short bout of retail therapy. Black
credit cards and a spot at the top of Forbes’ list of billionaires
are the modern equivalent to noble titles in medieval times.
The designer suit and Italian supercar are shorthand for “This
person is powerful.” Being perceived as someone to be reckoned
with makes others try to curry favor with you. Those higher
up on the food chain must eventually acknowledge you as an
equal — or a threat.
A mage’s pre-Awakening experiences influence their
perspectives on money. A Celestial Chorister who comes from
affluent origins may not view money as the root of all evil
like other members of their Tradition, while an Etherite who
got through university on a needs-based scholarship might be
highly uncomfortable with the idea of their inventions ever
being sold for profit. A willworker’s practice, instruments, and
paradigm speak volumes about their relationship with wealth.
Pooling Your Resources
Joining a cabal can alleviate some monetary concerns and
exacerbate others. Members sharing an apartment or house
split their bills like anyone else with roommates. Some band
together to start businesses, charities, or even scams, which
require some form of shared buy-in — and may lead to argu-
ments over how the profits should be divvied up. Members who
follow a common magickal paradigm, like a group of Etherites
sharing lab space, might pool some of their individual wealth
to procure shared instruments, materials, or the workspace
itself. Likewise, communal Backgrounds like Chantries often
have to be paid for somehow.
 Some expenses go beyond the practical: groups of mages
frequently develop longstanding rivalries with members of their
cohort. Money grants edges that magick can’t: being able to
bribe your way past guards, having a private jet and dedicated
pilot available to whisk you and your friends halfway across the
world, or sniping that grimoire just before the auction closes
all require deep pockets. Having a bigger, cooler, more secure
Sanctum than your competitors never hurts, either.
Conflicting Interests
A large portion of a mage’s magick-related expenses come
from having to deal with Sleepers. Most Awakened can’t rely
on the mien of mundane authority that Technocratic Black
Suits exude. When confronted by bystanders demanding to
know what the hell just happened, it’s easier to pay to make the
problems disappear instead of risking using Mind magick. A
wad of cash has amazing powers to encourage spontaneous
forgetfulness, or to convince the person who caught it on
camera to delete the file.
Some mages take the same approach with friends and
family. If they explain away time spent on magickal pursuits
as “traveling for work,” it behooves them to spend money on
souvenirs from their supposed business trips — perhaps even
actually traveling to get them. Others take loved ones on lavish
excursions in an effort to maintain or repair relationships. A
weekend whirlwind trip to Paris can’t fix all the cracks in a
fracturing marriage, but it can shore things up a little longer.
When like-minded mages come into conflict over a fixed
resource — whether mundane, like the use of a building, or
magickal, such as the Quintessence generated by a Node — it’s
usually possible to avoid major conflicts by simply agreeing to
The Traditions and the Invisible Hand
The various Awakened factions’ views on
wealth and its value are as diverse as the fac-
tions themselves, but all nine Traditions share
common themes in the way they spend money.
Sometimes, it’s a matter of convenience. A
Chantry staff member can devote more time
and energy to their duties if their Tradition
pays them a living wage, and it’s far simpler
to buy ancient tomes from private collections
than to steal them. Other times, the Traditions
have to spend money to maintain their influence, whether it’s
by keeping a front business open or greasing palms to secure
influence on the city council.
Here are a few ways that individual Traditions turn their
wealth into power.
share. Few mages are so far removed from mundane life as to
have forgotten lessons like, “don’t hog the only copy of the
Legemeton, other people need to use it too.”
Financial conflicts between mages can be much trickier
to resolve, especially when it’s not just the mages’ interests, but
their very viewpoints at odds. A Chorister who funds outreach
ministry might have different visions for a community space
than a Verbena who runs a pagan bookstore. An eco-conscious
Dreamspeaker from Cameroon might fund and organize protests
against a Ngoma-owned logging company in the same country.
Within the Traditions, cabals and individual mages occasionally
bring their competitors before a Tribunal (M20: Book of Secrets,
p. 212), but the judges have rightly refused to hear any case that
doesn’t involve an actual crime. The Adjudication Courts of the
Disparate Alliance (M20: Book of Secrets, p. 234) have taken a
similar approach, and on the few occasions where Tradition and
Disparate mages have found themselves at odds, neither side has
had enough faith that the factions’ respective leadership could
work together to bother asking them to do so.
As a result, whether and how financial conflicts between
Awakened are resolved often comes down to the parties’ will-
ingness to compromise. Community-minded mages strive to
find an agreement that benefits both sides, and there’s been at
least one case (involving a Lakshmist Euthanatos and a Fortunae
Hermetic who had invested in competing companies) where
mages who started on opposite ends of a deal pooled their
resources to ensure they profited no matter which side “won.”
Unfortunately, the same stubborn attachment to personal
beliefs that allows mages to manipulate Reality itself makes
those compromises rare. More often, the conflict stagnates as
the Awakened involved silently agree to disagree, and set to
work trying to best one another.
Akashic Brotherhood/
Akashayana
The spiritually-inclined sects of the Akashic Brotherhood
consider the pursuit of wealth a distraction from the goal of
achieving samadhi, or worse, view it as a corrupting influence.
Through their access to the Akashic Record, a member can sift
through the collective memories of those Akashayana who’ve
gone before and get a firsthand look at how the flow of curren-
cy shaped world events — for better or for worse. The typical
Kannagara monk or Vajrapani warrior focuses on righteous
thought and deed to avoid the traps of samsara. Some Theravada
Buddhist ascetics who collect alms from laypeople even take
vows against accepting money in place of food, though others
who operate within capitalist systems acknowledge the value
in simply putting money in the hands of those who most need
Chapter One: Money and the Mage 15
it. Across the world, Akashayana dedicate funds toward repair
and upkeep of their temples and ashrams, or opening dojos
to welcome new initiates.
Li-Hai iconoclasts acknowledge that wealth can be used
as a force for good in the right hands, but their inclinations
toward “heroic experience” often lead them to conflict with
parties who are both wealthy and corrupt. A small but growing
number of Li-Hai have taken it upon themselves to become
righteous auditors, using forensic accounting skills that any
financial-crimes detective would envy to dig up evidence of
misconduct and send it to the local tax bureau. On the other
hand, the Shi-Ren sect aren’t opposed to using money in
their efforts to expand Akashic political influence. Campaign
donations, lobbying, expensive gifts, and other maneuvers
transforming money into influence are all vital to their efforts
to assert their dominance in the political sphere.
Celestial Chorus
Two points earn near-universal agreement across the en-
tire Celestial Chorus: Greed is indeed one of the deadliest of
sins, and charity is not only a virtue, but a moral and religious
obligation. The pursuit of earthly riches has disrupted the
Chorus’ song in the past. As a result, most Choristers avoid
placing too much importance on how much money they have.
Vows of poverty — intended to focus the mind on spiritual
pursuits by eliminating material temptations — are as common
16 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
in the Chorus’ monastic communities as they are among their
Sleeper counterparts.
Chorister Chantries sometimes collect tithes from their
members, and Choristers of greater means are strongly encour-
aged to give to charity. Individual members donate directly
to their chosen causes, or submit their tithes to the Curia’s
financial officers for redistribution (once the Tradition’s bills
are paid, of course). Today, the financial officers of its Curia
must tread carefully, ensuring their spending benefits the needy
rather than fills Exarchs’ and Presbyters’ pockets. Faith-based
initiatives to help children in need are always popular causes.
In recent years, the number of donations made to climate
change advocacy groups has climbed (though not without
opposition), and Muslim Choristers in particular have made
an extra effort to raise funds for humanitarian aid to Syrian
refugees. Meanwhile, Choristers from across the religious
spectrum have poured their support into interfaith programs,
using dialogue between believers as a bridge to showing them
the unity of the One.
A small minority of the Chorus’ members see the material
world, including money, as inherently evil. On the opposite end
of the spectrum, another small minority (primarily American
Protestant Christians) follow the prosperity theology doctrine:
the belief that security and wealth are divine rewards for keeping
their faith. Most Choristers are less concerned with wealth,
and more interested in the intent of those who possess it,
acknowledging that accumulating wealth can serve the greater
good through charitable acts.
Cult of Ecstasy/Sahajiya
As another primarily spiritual Tradition, the Cult of
Ecstasy views the pursuit of wealth as a distraction from the
spiritual experience. On the other hand, many of the meth-
ods the Sahajiya use to walk the path of Ascension seem like
distractions to outsiders. Combined with the Cult’s generally
tolerant attitude, this means most Ecstatics don’t have the
sometimes-antagonistic relationship with money that Traditions
like the Celestial Chorus do. If a particular Cultist gets their
high from the adrenaline rush of closing a high-stakes business
deal, none of their fellows will accuse them of doing it wrong.
Although it’s rare for the Cult of Ecstasy to organize efforts
across the entire Tradition, its individual members fund the things
they enjoy. Many Ecstatics are patrons of the arts, whether they
throw a few coins into a fire-spinner’s hat, donate five bucks to
their favorite indie band’s crowdfunded new album, or bankroll
an entire local performing arts festival. A perpetual imbiber with
money to burn might open a dispensary or head shop, or become
an angel investor for a startup brewery, distillery, or cannabis
producer — and yes, Ecstatics both make money from and invest
in the production and sale of harder, often-illegal drugs.
Other Sahajiya channel money into ventures like lobbying
for the legalization of recreational drugs, hiring lawyers to
defend Cultists and Sleepers who run afoul of those laws, or
funding research into medical uses of psychoactives like LSD
and psilocybin. The drug-legalization efforts, in particular,
have led to a noticeable uptick in political activity among the
Cult’s younger members. Some older Ecstatics have embraced
this change with gusto, eager to pass the torch on to a new
generation of activists, while others grow concerned that the
newfound emphasis on politics will distract the Sahajiya from
their true purpose.
Dreamspeakers/Kha’vadi
Dreamspeaker beliefs emphasize respect for both one’s
physical and spiritual environment and the welfare of the
community over an individual’s pursuit of wealth. Trade took
place among and between societies to which the Kha’vadi be-
longed, but simply having valuable items wasn’t treated with the
same sort of reverence among the Dreamspeakers’ cultures as
it was in other cultures of the time. Then colonialism, driven
by European greed, swept across the globe and did irreparable
damage to those societies. After that it became impossible for
the Dreamspeakers to separate the modern Western concept
of wealth from the destruction colonialism had wrought. For
many, the idea of accumulating wealth became poisonous by
association.
For the majority of Kha’vadi, however, their grief and
outrage over the wrongs of the past are met with the pragmatic
realization that colonial economic systems aren’t going away
anytime soon. A medicine-worker’s primary responsibility is to
see to the welfare of their community, whether by convincing
animals’ spirits to allow themselves to be hunted, ensuring that
the most vulnerable members of their community can afford
to pay for basic needs in a modern wage economy, or financing
political lobbying and media campaigns to raise awareness of
the hardships that the Dreamspeakers’ people face even today.
Many modern Kha’vadi dedicate time, money, and magick
toward supporting movements led by indigenous organizers.
Their vision for shaping the world includes returning stolen
and unceded lands to their original caretakers, preserving and
reviving elements of native peoples’ cultures and languages, and
dismantling white supremacist systems. Well-off ‘Speakers fund
powwows and festivals, cover bail fees for arrested protestors,
and back political candidates from indigenous backgrounds
who will help center native voices and causes.
Euthanatos/Chakravanti
To the Euthanatoi, the pursuit of riches is a distraction
from their service to the Wheel. The Chakravanti know
better than most how easily greed can turn a good apple bad,
and to what lengths a person might willingly go if it means
fattening their bank account. Often, they’re the mages who
get called in when a profit-seeker’s corrupt actions carries him
beyond the possibility of redemption. As such, Euthanatos
Acaryas implore their students to see wealth in the context
of the Dharmachakra, specifically the spokes of responsible
guardianship (Pravitra), self-control (Dama), compassion
(Daya), and avoidance of temptation (Tapas). If having more
money allows the student to provide for their wards and act
compassionately toward others, the Dharmachakra encourages
it, but if the Chatra pursues wealth to excess, they’ve strayed
from their spiritual path.
When it comes to their magickal focus, a significant
number of Chakravanti interpret their role as instruments of
fate through the lens of probability. This led to the formation
of a sub-faction called the Lakshmists: devotees of the goddess
Lakshmi, credited with bringing good fortune into her followers’
lives. Playing the stock market and other forms of gambling
are some of the “Locksmiths’” favorite pastimes, and their skill
in doing so is seen as a side effect of greater enlightenment.
Order of Hermes
The Order of Hermes believes wealth is simply another
form of power to be mastered by the exercise of one’s True
Will. Whether fighting for Ascension or earthly power, gaining
the win or maintaining the upper hand requires an exorbitant
amount of spending. The Order hasn’t always been on the right
side of history; many of its mages benefitted from colonialism
and slavery, growing rich at the expense of others’ freedom
and autonomy. With the loss of Dossietep and the Archmages,
today’s Hermetics strive to rebuild the Tradition while avoiding
their predecessors’ mistakes.
Chapter One: Money and the Mage 17
 Although they’d never stoop to putting wealth ahead of
their Great Work, most Hermetic mages wouldn’t oppose
including profitable side projects in their pursuit of enlight-
enment. Nothing says a magus can’t refine their skill with the
Ars Temporis by looking a few minutes into the future while
day-trading — in fact, it’s one of House Fortunae’s favorite tricks.
Likewise, why wouldn’t a Verditius alchemist, upon turning
lead into gold, melt it into ingots and sell it for thousands of
dollars per ounce? The Order’s only requirement is that if a
Hermetic mage is going to pursue wealth, they should make
sure they succeed. The Hermetic path is about mastery of
oneself and the outside world. Nothing less will do.
Among the Houses of Hermes, and possibly the Traditions
as a whole, the magi of House Fortunae are considered the
living embodiment of financial wizardry. Focused on exploring
fate through mathematical practices like numerology and sa-
cred geometry, it was only natural that House Fortunae would
eventually establish themselves in the world of economics. In
fact, the Fortunae have become the de facto financiers of the
entire Order of Hermes; after all, someone has to pay for all
those magickal libraries and wizards’ towers.
Sons/Society of Ether
Science is many things, but cheap isn’t one of them. This
was true when the Etherites fled the Technocracy and it’s true
today — Nikola Tesla is far from the only Etherite to die poor
and alone after a lifetime of unparalleled Genius. Tales of
extraordinary accomplishment followed by lifetime destitution
are drilled into the psyches of Etherite initiates — it’s easy to
reject everything the Union stands for, but until the war for
Reality is won, the fight for funding continues unabated.
Despite the need to keep the lights on, Etherites don’t
engage in simple capitalism. They may need funding, but they
don’t have to unquestioningly accept the current economic
paradigm. More than any other Tradition, the Etherites build
resources through communal ventures. Every city worth living
in boasts a collection of Etherite-run maker spaces. While the
Tradition’s leaders graduate to personal sanctums to avoid the
fatal touch of Paradox, they cut their teeth building commu-
nity workshops that ignite the spark of Genius in any Sleeper
motivated enough to pursue creation.
These workshops distribute financial burdens, subvert the
rugged individual motivations woven into every dollar — digital
or otherwise — and craft something truly enduring. They pro-
tect vulnerable initiates from the burden of financial collapse,
and provide a steady flow of new talent, often allowing the
Etherites to find those recruits before the Technocracy. This
communal approach often extends to live-in coops, counter
culture business incubators, and a myriad of other ventures.
Verbena
Along with the Dreamspeakers, the Verbena are the
Tradition most opposed to the entire concept of wealth, at
18 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
least in the modern economic sense. Money is a construct,
one that has no place in the natural world. You can’t pay the
sun to rise an hour earlier or set an hour later. You can’t pay
plants to grow, prey to walk into a snare, or predators to look
somewhere else for their next meal. A person who throws
money at every problem just proves they aren’t wise enough
to handle life’s challenges.
Many Verbena also find it difficult to look past the damage
both Sleepers and Technocrats inflict on the environment
in their pursuit of wealth. The harms the planet suffers as a
result of “natural resource development” are one of the main
reasons the Verbena despise the Technocracy. The Tradition’s
approach to dealing with wealth on a day-to-day basis varies from
coven to coven, and even from Verbena to Verbena. Staunch
traditionalists with strong attachments to archaic ways distance
themselves from wealth as much as possible. They leave admin-
istrative functions involving money to junior Verbena or even
Sleeper acolytes, and look with disdain upon those willing to
(literally) sell out to the Technocratic vision of Reality.
More open-minded members of the Tradition accept that
money has a power all its own — a power that’s both useful and
worthy of respect. Money might not make plants grow, but it
can buy the land the plants grow on, and the fences and No
Trespassing signs that protect those tender shoots from outside
interference. It can fund conservation groups, lobby elected
representatives to put green initiatives on the ballot, and hire
cleanup crews to repair some of the damage already done.
Overcoming their Tradition’s general disdain for gadgets, a few
Verbenae have even invested in companies that develop green
technologies, in order to reduce humanity’s future impact on
the planet. Some of these efforts been more successful than
anyone expected. However, it remains to be seen whether
the elders accept this victory or dismiss it as playing to the
Technocracy’s strengths.
Virtual Adepts
No one is more interested in wrenching the economy
from the Syndicate’s vise grip than the Virtual Adepts. Adept
resentment over the rapid expansion of hypereconomics within
their realm drives far more of the Tradition’s agenda than most
admit. The war over digital dominance continues, often invisi-
bly, to inform the Virtual Adept’s relationship with money. The
Adepts failed to stop the Syndicate from leveraging the Digital
Web to transform currency from bills and coins to ethereal
1s and 0s in the late 90s, but they understood that losing one
battle, no matter how devastating, doesn’t end the war. The
Adepts eventually stepped aside and allowed the economy to
flow entirely through the Digital Web, waiting for the perfect
moment to pull the rug out from underneath the suits.
In January 2009, Hisao Naito shook the Digital Web’s
foundation when he mined the Cryptcoin genesis block and
rewrote the definition of currency. Predictably, the Syndicate saw
cryptocurrency as both an existential threat and an unparalleled
opportunity. They immediately sought to buy it up, but found
no true owner to approach. The Syndicate committed to ever
more daring adjustments to try to gain control of Cryptcoin,
before Hisao disappeared from the face of the Digital Web.
When the Financiers swept in to lay claim to the source code
repository, they met no meaningful resistance.
The Adepts now run an unending campaign of cryptocur-
rency mutation, abusing the open source backdoors they built
The Disparate Alliance
The causes and endeavors into which the
Disparate Alliance funnels their money are, well,
disparate. Even the level of wealth that individual
Disparates possess varies widely: The Ngoma and
Wu Lung are essentially modern nobility, and the
Templar Knights descend from the founders of
the modern banking system. Meanwhile, mem-
bers of the Bata’a, Hollow Ones, and Kopa Loei
often come from disadvantaged and exploited
backgrounds. However, even groups as diverse
as the Disparate Alliance can pursue common goals, both within
their Crafts and across them. With Alliance-wide projects like the
Adjudication Courts being tentatively successful, small numbers
of Disparates dare to hope that further cooperation among the
Crafts might prove fruitful. In the meantime, each Craft spreads
its wealth around in other ways.
Spending heaps of money tends to get you noticed, which
runs counter to the Disparates’ desire to keep their alliance
secret for the time being. Individual Crafts have made an art
out of evading the Technocracy’s notice; those whose fortunes
flourish know how to hide their transactions or obfuscate
their wealth with subsidiaries and shell companies. Others
invest in areas — and people — that are generally beneath the
notice of white billionaires and their financial advisors. When
Craft leaders come together to discuss matters that affect the
Alliance, they tend to eschew the types of flashy expenditures
that might alert other mages to their machinations. Let the
Hermetics flash their gold, and the Syndicate their gold cards;
subtlety guarantees that the Disparates will endure.
Ahl-i-Batin
Every Batini must purge their lives of earthly delights to
complete initiation. This ascetic denial of luxury was once ab-
solute, and it leads many to the erroneous conclusion that all
Ahl-i-Batin eschew the earthly tether of currency entirely. While
most Batini lead simple lives of devotion and discipline, their
ancient war against the Nephandi often requires the Subtle Ones
to infiltrate halls of power and finance where the Fallen hold
sway. To reach some of the most insidiously hidden Fallen, a
Batini must inhabit the realms of finance for years or decades.
This requires looking the part: wearing expensive clothes, driving
into Cryptcoin’s base code. They’ve forked the currency over
a dozen times creating more secure and democratic monetary
systems with each iteration, proving that currency can persist
without centralized financial control. Their influence over an
ever-expanding collection of dark web economic systems ensures
the Tradition is never without resources. They’ve shifted the
power dynamics in the Digital Web — and within the halls of
finance — beyond recognition.
luxury cars, dining in five-star restaurants, and the like. For the
most devoted Batini living lives of excess without succumbing
to temptation is a constant reinforcement of their resistance to
Nephandic corruption. If a devotee of Unity cannot withstand
the temptation of simple coin, what chance do they have if
they’re ever dragged before the Cauls?
Whether the Batini are truly “pure” in the face of monetary
temptation is a matter of much debate among their newfound
Disparate allies. Old habits die hard, and while the Subtle Ones
had to reveal themselves to join the Disparate Alliance, most of
their dealings are still obscured in layers of arcane occultation.
Their secrecy may be necessary, but it doesn’t engender trust.
The Bata’a
Though the Bata’a mainly operate on a local level, even
the smallest sects have connections with others throughout
the world. They raise money for members and their commu-
nities, doing the work when governments and systems fail:
buying supplies for schoolchildren and medication for the
sick; paying bail funds and legal fees for the incarcerated;
providing food and housing for those in need. Old white
men in the halls of power try hoarding wealth for them-
selves; the Bata’a thrive in spite of them. It’s not unusual
for political activists with ties to Bata’a communities to find
their expenses covered by a donation from another part of
the country, or even the world. The Chain of Souls reaches
far, and ultimately benefits all.
Bata’a houngans and mambos can sometimes be among
the wealthiest members of their communities, providing
services for pay in the same way as any professional. They’re
fortune-tellers and healers, often working in concert with med-
ical professionals. They create talismans and banish malevolent
spirits or curses laid by others.
Communing with the loa can also be expensive. In the
Haitian Vodou tradition, many houngan and mambos have to
purchase land on which to build a hounfò (the “house” which
the loa visit) as part of their apprenticeship. Bata’a from all of
the group’s denominations frequently purchase a wide variety
of spiritual supplies, and may even own a botánica where those
supplies are sold.
Chapter One: Money and the Mage 19
Children of Knowledge
Transmutation is the very heart of alchemical paradigm.
Few Enlightened orders have reinvented themselves as often as
the Children of Knowledge and their Solificati predecessors.
This diversity is reflected in their magick, which straddles the
line between mysticism and technomantic discipline. It’s fitting
then that the Children control such profound financial resources,
despite their rejection of any legitimate financial paradigm. The
Children laid the foundation of their financial empire when they
released LSD into the world along with a dream of untethering
humanity from its worldly attachments, but Paradox doesn’t
let a mage simply ignore Consensus in favor of their preferred
Reality. A successful master must build the world they wish to
see within the shell of the world that is.
In the 1960s the Crowned Ones didn’t just hustle their
newly distilled Enlightenment out to the Masses, they built
expansive underground economies to keep control of their
creation out of Syndicate hands. Their devotion to secrecy was
absolute, but they were far from perfect. When they did slip
into the public eye, their production operations were written
off as cults or hippie communes, but the Children developed
a small, strange empire to protect their great work.
The old communes and co-ops of the 60s and 70s gave way
to more respectable operations in recent years. The Children are
20 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
as likely to rub elbows with Silicon Valley burners as they are to
run DEA regulated research labs, laboring to move their work
from the fringes into the heart of Consensus. While it’s rare
to find a Solificatus with significant individual wealth, many
of them control substantial research grants, small communal
drug production, or international festivals designed to bring
all the Craft’s financial interests together.
Hollow Ones
The Hollow Ones don’t have a problem with wealth, ex-
actly; it’s wealthy people and their worldviews they can’t stand.
The Darklings pride themselves on being on society’s fringes,
which often puts them at odds with anything respectable —
and people who use words like “respectable” unironically are
usually part of the establishment, whether they’re wealthy or
powerful Sleepers, hoity-toity Tradition types who look down
their noses at the Hollowers for not being real mages (whatever
the hell that means), or Technocrats who don’t like anything
that doesn’t fit neatly into the boxes they define. It just so
happens that those stagnant institutions control a lot of the
wealth in the world, and none of them are willing to share with
people who don’t play their game — which no self-respecting
Hollower is willing to do. That often gets them left out in the
cold, but the Hollow Ones don’t mind; after all, they’ve made
their own way for this long.
 On the other hand, most Hollowers aren’t big on money
as the root of all evil, either. Hollow Ones who come from
disadvantaged backgrounds might see refusing to take money
when it’s available as the height of foolishness, and even the
ones who aren’t hurting for cash rarely turn down the oppor-
tunity to buy something nice for themselves. After all, genuine
Victorian-goth dresses aren’t cheap.
Kopa Loei
Polynesian traditions are the beating heart of the Kopa
Loei. When those traditions are honored, mana wells up not
only within the land, but within the Kopa Loei themselves.
Practitioners of the “emerging” art of Primal Utility are
too prideful to see how their art was merely a reimagining of
the first working, not a bleeding edge innovation. The Kopa
Loei rejected the Syndicate’s Primal Utility for generations as
a source of oppression. That changed decades ago with little
fanfare as they realized the venture of a community and the
venture of a capitalist are only different if you believe them
to be so. This understanding led the Kopa Loei to commit to
a steadily expanding network of Mäori- and Hawaiian-owned
businesses.
Unlike the consumptive excesses of the Union, the Kopa
Loei are building a new paradigm of business, centered on
the community and defined by the principles of kaupapa and
the cultural grounding of tikanga. The majority of Kopa Loei
business investment rests in land trusts and community cen-
tered businesses, but their portfolios are expanding, shifting
to a focus on gathering stakeholders from Mäori, Hawaiian,
and other Polynesian cultures, building capital and power
that cannot be undermined without compromising the very
paradigms their old oppressors hold so dear.
A thriving community is wealth, to the Kopa Loei.
Kanakakahuna protect the Sleepers in their jurisdictions.
Together, the ali’i, kahuna, and he ho’okele moana act as
caretakers for their lands, both ancestral and newly-settled.
This flies in the face of many Tradition and Technocratic
strategies, where acquisition is valued over preservation, but
it’s not the Kopa Loei’s job to teach those other mages what
they have no desire to learn.
Ngoma
With their history as advisors to the royal courts of
Nubia and Central Africa, and their evolution into the mod-
ern-day affluent classes of the same regions, the Ngoma are
no strangers to wealth. They’re committed to improving the
fortunes of Central Africa, and the means by which they do
so vary from Suktamke to Suktamke. As microfinance spreads
throughout the African economy, a Suktamke may become a
microfinancier, offering loans with their communities (and
enforcing their repayment when necessary) instead of waiting
for bureaucracy-bloated international charities to decide that
their people are “worthy” of aid.
On the macro level, the Ngoma provide startup funding
for a wide variety of business and scientific programs, from
telecommunications firms in Angola and a nuclear research
institute in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to mining
and petrochemical companies across the entire region. The
loans are made with the understanding that the profits will
be reinvested in helping the community, and the Ngoma have
no reservations about punishing corrupt executives and offi-
cials who decide to skim too much for themselves. However,
a prudent Suktamke takes care not to lean too heavily on
self-interested power players. Sometimes, the most expedient
way to help a community is to bribe the people in charge, and
the Ngoma would rather not risk the elites refusing to take
their money out of spite.
Orphans
Orphans who learn to blend money and magick often find
that their relationship with money changes, especially if the mage
in question uses magick to get money when they’ve never thought
about it before. Imagine how most people react to finding an extra
bill in their wallet or seeing a bank balance that’s higher than they
expected — or in more extreme cases, winning the lottery. Multiply
that by as many times as the Orphan can successfully pull off
their trick, and add the fact that not having a more experienced
mentor means the Orphan probably won’t have any warning
when Paradox makes their arcanely-acquired funds go poof, or
makes them the target of an unusually thorough tax audit. Or
Technocratic operatives show up at their door to bring them in
for a chat with the local Syndicate manager.
Provided they avoid the dangers of mixing money and
the Awakening, Orphans’ financial priorities are as eclectic
as their magickal styles. If they’ve fallen in with some kind of
support group, they might put their newfound or expanded
wealth toward helping their fellows. Other Orphans donate to
charity, or if they’re used to being broke, just enjoy being able
to pay all their bills for once. Not everything a mage does has
to be a high-minded metaphysical pursuit, after all.
Sisters of Hippolyta
Money is a touchy subject among the Hippolytoi. For
many of the Sisters, money is just one more tool of patriarchal
control. After generations of struggle the most successful busi-
nesswomen still earn considerably less than their male peers,
proof enough for the most radical Sisters that true equality
will require a revolutionary approach. You can’t just buy into
hypereconomics when it’s designed to keep you under foot.
The Sisters are nothing if not democratic though, and
more than a few have built financial empires, seeking to
topple cis male dominance within the business and financial
spheres. Progress may be slow, but there are Hippolytoi who
have amassed substantial influence in a variety of industries,
their most significant progress being in the nonprofit sector.
Many Sisters find ways to lift up women around the world,
Chapter One: Money and the Mage 21
facilitating microloans, teaching seminars on financial health
and opening a business, or hosting summits and retreats in
settings designed to empower. They sponsor women running
for public office, and fund legal battles for those who struggle
to afford representation.
Successful direct action reminds the men in power what
the alternative is to letting go of their stranglehold on the
world’s economic bounty.
Taftâni
Money isn’t wondrous; it’s dull, and still, and monochrome.
For centuries the Taftâni marveled at why so many were bound
by the High Guild’s machinations and the hypnotic workings
of the Invisible Exchequers. Then the first Taftâni left their
nomadic isolation, lured by the thrum of humanity filling
the cities rising into the desert night. Impossible towers of
glass and steel spiraled into the heavens, lights danced across
the night sky, and unimaginable music wafted through these
new temples to excess. The Weavers’ relationship to money
changed forever.
Today the Taftâni rule in the most unlikely of places: the
apparent Technocratic stronghold of Dubai. They haven’t just
appropriated the Union’s tools — they have, with all the flair
of Solomon, dominated The City of Gold. Taftâni magick
permeates the technomantic paradigm so elegantly the Union
doesn’t know how to respond without undoing centuries of
anthropic development. The Syndicate is still trying to take
ownership of the Dubai Design District back from the Weavers,
a truly futile effort. This new temple to Asha is filled with one
Taftâni-owned design firm after another.
Wonders aren’t so much created in the Dubai Design District
as they spring forth into the world fully formed as though dreamed
into existence. The Weavers never imagined they’d discover their
oldest enemies in these technomantic strongholds. Yet, as though
born from the same primordial dream they spin their magick
from, the Djinni walk the streets of Dubai. The Djinni have been
transformed by the modern world, but they remember their old
captors. Some bargain with the Weavers, co-running business or
collaborating on stranger schemes. Some are not so forgiving,
and many among the Taftâni wonder if any of their newly forged
contracts are bound in good faith.
Templar Knights
For centuries, the Templar Knights wielded wealth like a
bludgeon against any enemies of the church. When they were
ousted from the Order of Reason, they saw who stayed true to
22 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
their holy responsibilities and who turned from God’s grace
by trading holy honor for wealth and comfort. The lessons
learned from that betrayal are still raw among Templar masters.
Any Knight who builds a personal empire of wealth is
doomed to lose their brethren’s trust, but one cannot wage a holy
war without resources. Each Templar lodge controls profound
reserves to arm the grand Militia Christi, in the form of bank
accounts, real estate, and troves of holy relics that might be sold as
a last resort. No single Templar is given direct ownership of these
resources, though in many Lodges responsibility for managing
the order’s funding falls to the same person for decades. Newer
lodges institute rotating terms of financial stewardship among
their members to limit temptation. Several older Templars resist
such changes, prompting the most radical Knights to invoke the
corruption of the old Gabrielites before the fall.
Templars take care of their own. Aspirants always have a
warm bed, nourishing food, and, when needed, military support.
Wu Lung
To the Wu Lung, nothing is more pure in all of existence
than gold. Degrading the sacred metal by reducing it to simple
currency is one of the greatest sins. It protects and purifies,
weakening Technocrats’ power when wielded properly. It’s also
a convenient distraction — opponents consider the Wu Lung’s
accumulation of gold as little more than shallow vanity, a mis-
conception which the Dragon Wizards are happy to exploit.
The Wu Lung heavily recruit Ch’uang Shih who come from
the worlds of international business and finance. Gold may be
more than the unwashed Masses of the world understand it to
be, but collecting the divine metal requires unparalleled wealth.
Sifu who devote themselves to the divine arts don’t have time
to teach their prospects how to run a business.
By pulling so heavily from up-and-coming stars within
international corporations, the Wu Lung often find themselves
at odds with the Black Water Dragons. While both groups seek
to expand Chinese business holdings, the Wu Lung’s refusal to
embrace the People’s Republic’s state-owned business model
has singled them out as a primary threat to the Black Water
Dragons’ interests. This conflict has pushed the Wu Lung’s
business interests away from Chinese nationals. Every year
more Ch’uang Shih share their Chinese lineage with other
cultures; this transition compromises established notions of
“purity” within the order. It seems like it’s only a matter of
time before the old guard who use that outdated notion to
maintain their current power die off. It’s unlikely there’ll be
anyone left among the Dragon Wizards to mourn their passing.
 The Technocratic Union:
Everything Old Is New Again
It’s easy to think money is eternal and unchang-
ing. Merchants, markets, and trade routes have
always carried money and goods from one corner
of the world to the other. Yet the Technocracy
refined and perfected money as it exists today.
The coins of old, with their delicate ridges,
revealing the marks of filed debasement are no
more than symbols now, an evocation of an old
trusted story in common citizens’ minds: money
is real, solid, tangible. That illusion protects the
Masses from seeing how ephemeral currency actually is and heads
off the uncontrollable correction such a revelation would create.
The Syndicate didn’t devise their Enlightened Economy
quickly, and despite the company line it wasn’t always a perfectly
mutual process. Before the Union’s reorganization, the Golden
Guild and the Invisible Exchequers had different visions of how
money should work in the world. The Guild supported early
labor movements and trusting wealth in the hands of lower
classes, while the Exchequers poured their energies into banks
and financing. Integrating their visions into a unified paradigm
took time. The Long Depression plagued the final years of
the Albertian Technocracy. The newly reunified Syndicate set
to work purging the errors of their past and building a stable
world economy. Through The War to End All Wars and a
global pandemic, the Convention kept the world’s monetary
systems moving and ushered in the Gilded Age. The Board
navigated countless market corrections during this period
with unparalleled grace, so when the Great Correction hit
the Consensus in 1929, no one was prepared for the Board’s
complete inability to mitigate the damage. The Union spent the
next 16 years managing a global financial collapse and another
World War that much of the Union management team blamed
on the aftershocks of the Syndicate’s grand failure.
When the dust finally settled, the New World Order tight-
ened the leash on the financial Convention. Funding for all
of the Union’s great works was provided through Enlightened
patronage and philanthropy prior to the grand failure.
Afterward, the NWO introduced the first annualized budget
among other small but significant changes to Union monetary
policy. No Conventions were changed, but the establishment
of public research grant programs redefined scientific funding,
universal health care became a norm across much of the globe,
and a decades-long cold war gave the NWO an opportunity
to prove that authoritarian communism might actually be a
viable alternative to unchecked capitalist excess.
The pendulum doesn’t swing in one direction forever. In
1989, the Berlin Wall fell. When the NWO’s ongoing experiment
in open authoritarianism failed, the Syndicate was ready to take
back the paradigmatic dominance they lost after the crash. It
took decades to shift budgetary control away from government
programs and back to private industry, wearing away at the
NWO’s punitive anti-trust programs while outsourcing work
the Board felt should never have been included in government
budgets. In the end the Syndicate reclaimed complete control
of Union funding and held it in a vise grip for decades.
A Failure of Minor Stature
The economic crash of 2008 tore open old wounds. The
NWO opened the central budgeting office, which deployed
compensation procedures to rein in the worst of the market
correction. The Financiers begged for funding while simultane-
ously panicking as they watched their markets over government
paradigm crumble.
The adjustments to the timeline caused by the crash
aren’t dramatic, but they’re shared on a need-to-know basis,
largely because the aftershocks of the correction are still being
mapped and the risk for confused execution is significant.
What’s clear is the NWO is directly influencing Union budget
choices again, but they haven’t wrested program decisions away
from the Syndicate like they did after the Great Correction.

Not Very Mutual Are We?

The history of money in the Technocratic Union is a history of conflict. The Syndicate believes that only through the
carefully guided, but ultimately open market can humanity discover their best selves. The New World Order believes
in the absolute management of every aspect of human life, including how the unEnlightened spend their money. The
most extreme Mirrorshades believe the common citizen can barely be trusted to decide the fate of their paychecks,
let alone that of Reality.
What unifies these seemingly incompatible groups within the Union is their absolute belief in the Union’s mission. The
leaders of the NWO and the Syndicate both understand they have a place in the Timeline’s completion, and when it’s
clear their path has given way to statistical inevitability, or uncontrollable market correction they do what is necessary
for the Union, even if it means swallowing their pride. What is hypereconomics without a little competition after all?

Chapter One: Money and the Mage 23

Some in the Union believe this is because the Great Recession
wasn’t catastrophic enough to justify such radical changes to
management. Others believe the NWO and the Syndicate
came to a power sharing agreement instead of repeating the
reactionary mistakes of the past.
The New Normal
With the Syndicate’s Disbursements handling the oper-
ational budget, the Union enjoys a far more flexible funding
structure than it has in generations. Researchers are encour-
aged to build personal IP portfolios from their grant funded
research. When Disbursements dismiss a program as “not worth
the investment,” operatives can always try their luck in the
private sector and prove the pencil pushers wrong. Hypertech
must be classified as non-deviant and pass rigorous statistical
breakdown analysis before it goes to market. Despite the regu-
latory oversight, members of the applied science Conventions
Future Fates:
Market Anomalies
The changes presented here may seem like a dramatic
shift for the Union, and in many ways they are.
Market instability in the 21st century could justify
these changes on their own, but the metaplot you’re
using in your game could also significantly affect
what’s going on behind the scenes. The following
future fates discuss the specifically economic
dynamics connected to the options listed in Mage:
The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 169.
The Union remains Earthbound: The Dimensional
Storm still rages through the ether, and the
Union remains cut off from both Control and the
Conventions’ most senior leaders. The flexibility
the rank and file is now seeing is a direct result of
the Union as a whole lacking central management
and having to reinvent itself on the fly. With such
restructuring comes chaos and instability, as the
Union struggles to keep the world running without
the resources trapped beyond the storm.
The Storm has faded, but the scars remain: The
storm is over and management is back, but too
much damage was done to return to the old status
quo immediately. The Union moves carefully; the
alternative is total statistical breakdown. Their goals
haven’t changed, and the ultimate end point of the
timeline is unaltered. Management is concerned
that reining in the freedoms to which operatives are
now accustomed may be difficult, and with such a
diverse business portfolio they aren’t wrong.
Nothing has changed: The storm never happened,
and the current changes in the Union are legitimately
a response to statistical breakdown in Consensus.
The shifts are calculated, and despite appearances
everything is going according to plan.
24 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
have more direct influence over the deployment of their own
inventions than ever before.
This change in approach is the result of a rapid acceleration
of statistically inevitable events. The unexpected emergence of
social media by ordinary citizens was a shot across the Union’s
bow. The need for a unified vision is greater than ever, but
so is the need for agile implementation of Union policy. The
Syndicate trains candidates from all Conventions in hypereco-
nomic adjustments so Financier oversight isn’t necessary for
every new business venture.
Cross-Convention training allowed the Syndicate to quickly
integrate cryptocurrency into their existing market paradigm
when the Virtual Adepts introduced Cryptcoin. Sharing in-
formation made the Union’s responses to Occupy Wall Street,
and emergent anti-capitalist sentiments on all social media
platforms vastly more effective.
Hypereconomic adjustment outside the Union’s halls is
becoming the new normal. Watching the Virtual Adepts ma-
nipulate markets is cause for alarm, but the majority of these
changes come from Sleepers. Crowdfunding, the gig economy,
a resurgence of small businesses — just as the Ivory Tower gets
a handle on one, another unEnlightened innovator comes
along and changes the game all over again.
The Syndicate has its hands full acquiring anomalous
ventures and transforming them into Union assets as rapidly
as possible. The volume of startups flooding the market has
forced the Financiers and their business partners across the
Union to make some hard decisions. Ventures owned by deviant
forces were once prime targets for neutralization. Now, agents
apply intensive triage criteria in their reviews — even against
businesses whose executives are known Reality Deviants. If
they don’t represent an imminent threat to anthropic stability,
they’re monitored for change but allowed to operate.
This change in policy spawns dozens of longitudinal studies
on the effect of including Deviant subjects in technomantic
paradigms. After decades of classification as an “unaccept-
able risk,” Ivory Tower academics jump at the opportunity
to get meaningful data on whether embracing portions of
the Technocratic paradigm will change Deviants more than
Deviants compromise the Consensus. While there have always
been isolated cases worth studying, the 21st century’s rapid
economic changes have transformed the phenomenon into a
discipline to which a Technocrat can devote their life’s work.
Syndicate
Progenitors and Void Engineers hold grants. Ivory Tower
chairs and directors manage budgets. Some mystics are even
intelligent enough, or subversively influenced enough, to
recognize the worth of investing. They want to feed their
family after all, keep a roof over their head, buy that third
yacht they’ve been drooling over. Unlike their peers, Syndicate
agents don’t merely possess capital; they cultivate it. Even
Enforcers recognize that they’re part of a network of resources
facilitating the reconfiguration of Consensus Reality at its most
fundamental level.
Enlightened Financiers understand debt is a bet made with the
market. They gamble on their ability to extract profit using a loan’s
capital more quickly than the loan’s interest can chip away at it. It
takes a particular alchemy to transform such a liability into an asset.
The intersection of risk, primal capital, will, execution, and often
any sense of self outside the bounds of a committed venture not
only proves a recruit worthy of membership in the Syndicate, being
able to manipulate those things is an Enlightened working. Other
Conventions might attribute this to a heightened understanding of
statistics, probability, and the markets, but Hermetics, Children of
Knowledge, and members of the Ngoma perform similar operations
and call it what it is: magick.
The Syndicate influences every corner of the economy.
No asset class is too risky for investment. Where others build
businesses, purchase land, or just buy their way up the social
ladder, a true Syndicate master believes desire is a trap that
entangles capital in a singular goal. The Enlightened aren’t
subject to that trap; they set it. The savviest Financiers are always
trading one primal venture for another, never content with
their current portfolio. Every investor seeks opportunities to
buy out an enemy, or fund an unexpected strategic opportunity.
This flexibility drives the cross-Convention ventures
springing up across the Union. Operatives from the applied
Conventions are no longer content to request funding and
hope their proposals are chosen. They demand direct owner-
ship in their projects, sometimes with Syndicate partnership
and sometimes without. A diverse portfolio is the best defense
against unexpected market correction.
New World Order
“Mutual Funding for Mutual Vision Brings Mutual Gain,”
the words engraved in the Primium-laced marble framing the
main entrance to Central Budgeting are a reminder of what
happens when you give up too much control to the free market.
The Union was founded on scientific patronage controlled by
the glorious Genius of the Golden Guild, tempered by the im-
peccable risk evaluation of the Invisible Exchequer’s actuaries.
Mutually defined scientific funding was unheard of in the Order
of Reason, and no one dared buck tradition for decades after
the Union was reorganized. That all changed during World
War II. The rapid deployment of chemical and nuclear weapons
shook the Union to its core. The foolishly short-sighted wrote
off the worst atrocities as Statistical Inevitability, but upper
management knew the Syndicate’s free market approach to
scientific funding left too many untracked discoveries waiting
to wreak havoc on the world.
At the height of The Cold War, the NWO claimed
unparalleled power, exacerbating and encouraging conflicts
between the Soviet Union and the United States while the
Chapter One: Money and the Mage 25
two powers competed in a race for scientific supremacy. This
move expanded Union paradigm among the Masses more
quickly than anyone could have imagined. Their gain was the
Syndicate’s loss.
Everything changed when the Berlin Wall fell, and the
expansive government programs of the past crumbled like so
much statistical noise. The NWO recognized that fighting
this shift in paradigm would only speed the advancement of
Statistical Inevitability, so they bided their time. Patience is
always rewarded with opportunity; the Order’s came after the
financial crisis of 2008. The shift has been slow, and a series
of profound statistical anomalies rippling through world in
recent years has slowed their progress, but a new generation
of citizens is growing into their own with a belief in mutual
governance over laissez-faire market dominance.
Most NWO expenditures are earmarked for field oper-
ations. Apprehending and eliminating Reality Deviants — or
bringing them in for Social Conditioning — costs money in
travel fees, equipment, and the occasional bribe, all of which
an operative is expected to account for in their expense re-
ports. While a Black Suit’s line in the budget can seem quite
austere, Q Division’s more than makes up for it. Producing
bleeding-edge technology for the other Methodologies is astro-
nomically expensive, but ultimately worthwhile.
Iteration X
When Virtual Adepts first unleashed the internet on
the world, the Iterators were tasked with bringing the Reality
hackers to heel. The heady days of the dotcom boom and bust
were fought on etheric fields of unformatted digital space. At
the height of the war, the Iterators were convinced the Adepts
would be bested once and for all. Instead, hot and heavy battles
cooled to an ongoing cold war, one from which the Machine
Convention has garnered a tidy profit.
Now Iterators helm hundreds of digital startups, which
come and go like waves on a virtual sea. Tech CEOs used to
be Enlightened Financiers. Now they’re Enlightened technol-
ogists, wielding hypereconomics as readily as universal base
code. They learned their tricks from the Syndicate, and many
of them still have Financier partners, but the Digital Web
changes too quickly for the Syndicate to helm these ships.
Even upper management in Media Control understands the
need for Iterators in the C suite.
The machine Convention left behind the old monolithic
designs of the past, and now changes Reality weekly in ways
so small it’s nearly imperceptible. The monolithic waterfall is
replaced by agile, ceaseless progress embodied by the values
shared at every agent’s orientation: Deliver A Perfect User
Experience, Understand the Human to Better the Machine,
and Iterate to Evolve.
The Iterators used to believe humanity would become a
machine, evolving past themselves into something grander.
When the first unEnlightened citizen joined the great machine,
26 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
it wasn’t because they finally overcame their humanity. It was
because some part of the machine began emulating the hu-
man psyches contained within. The Iterators almost purged
this Avatar as a Deviant aberration, but then they saw what it
enabled. Whole industries derive from the computer’s emer-
gent Avatar — machine learning, user experience, computer
psychology, and every iteration of the Digital Web makes it
easier for humans to connect, to relate to the machine, blurring
the line between human expression and digital integration. The
world has never seen such a technological revolution and the
Iterators own it from the ground up.
Progenitors
The Progenitors have an old reputation as lab rats, never
coming out of their cleanrooms to see the light of day. For
centuries the Progenitor policy was to leave the money to
Disbursements — just get results and the funding will keep
flowing. The Progenitors understand how to remove a syn-
thetic organ or nanite swarm in mid-rejection, and they’re all
too comfortable with the brutal logic of triage when working
within a pre-approved research protocol, but the Convention
doesn’t train its agents for a total rejection of its paradigm.
The anti-vaxxers seemed like one more Deviant fringe
movement at first, but no intercession from Media Control
helped, and when the Feed got involved things spiraled wildly
out of control. What were once manageable deviations about
GMO food stock, superfoods, and “toxin” cleanses began man-
ifesting in increasingly common and dangerous media. Upper
Management ruled the entire situation a Statistical Inevitability
brought on by uncontrolled rollout of medical hypertech and
shut down all mitigation overnight. The Progenitors wanted to
cry foul, but they knew Management was right: responsibility
had to be assigned.
Decades of Syndicate Financiers cutting corners, inflating
prices, and hoarding the wonders of medical technology for
only the wealthiest of society broke a generation of citizens
desperate to understand why they were left to suffer if such
perfect medicine existed. It was all so predictable and it
happened on the Progenitors’ watch. When the prognosis
was released within the Convention, there was no question
about the necessary treatment. The Progenitors are fully com-
mitted to the NWO’s move to reclaim budget control under
the purview of government oversight. The Convention now
directly supports hundreds of faculty startups based on their
Ivory Tower research. Thus far the Syndicate has ignored this
proliferation of micro-industrial development. That’s likely to
change when they realize the scope of the patent portfolio the
Convention is amassing, and how unwilling the Progenitors
are to relinquish control of their discoveries for extra profit.
It’s not quite hypereconomic mastery, but that’s by design.
Void Engineers
No other Convention’s financial portfolio has evolved
as quickly or dramatically as the Void Engineers’. Only a few
decades ago grants, public programs, and the political whims of
the New World Order’s public research programs dominated the
Void Engineers’ financial priorities. Increased militarization of
space ensures the Engineers won’t be free from the shackles of
government funding any time soon, but every news story about
private missions reveals how carefully the Void Engineers are
reshaping their place in the Technocratic Union.
The Engineers blacklisted private funding for generations,
almost leaving the Union due to Syndicate programs designed
to remove inefficiency from the Union’s budget, but two de-
cades ago the Engineers started aggressively courting Syndicate
capital, in many cases actively building cross-Convention amal-
gams with Financiers. The leeway Syndicate agents are given
to bypass the restrictions of NWO-controlled grant programs
have opened new vistas of advancement potential beyond the
subspace barrier.
Mad Money
The Marauders are, by their very nature, difficult
to pigeonhole. Each Marauder is an enigma unto
themselves with no shared leader, holy book,
or ideology. No two Mad are alike, and while a
cabal may share a specific focus, most operate
on their own. They’re dangerous mages. Some
have fully embraced their dementia; others
aren’t aware of their split from Reality. While
some camouflage their true nature, others are
about as subtle as a brick to the face. When they
have a small fortune to play with, they become even more unruly.
Marauders gain money in one of three ways: They can create
it, they can earn it, or they can steal it. Creating money is as sim-
ple as using Matter to manifest something valuable such as gold,
diamonds, or stacks of hundred dollar bills. For an Awakened,
earning a living is equally simple. A plastic surgeon boosts their
business with Life, while another Marauder uses Entropy or Time
to manipulate and predict the stock market or the lottery. A dis-
tributor or a smuggler may use Correspondence to transport large
quantities of cargo across long distances. Still another uses Mind
to control the a millionaire’s psyche, forcing them to sign over
their inheritance. Forces can turn a vault door into tissue paper.
Once the Marauder has their hands on the money, they go
to work. Instead of purchasing a new house or car, they might
acquire a decommissioned nuclear submarine, a 22-foot gold
statue of the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, or the actual
Taj Mahal. They could purchase a private island in the middle
of the Indian Ocean, proclaim it a sovereign nation, and declare
themselves emperor-for-life. While a Sleeper might use $100 million
to purchase a Manhattan apartment complex, a Marauder could
tear the whole thing down and build a giant ziggurat instead.
Marauders can also specifically target financial institutions
for disruption. Turning the money inside a bank vault into
The NWO carefully monitors this shift in policy. The
intensity of the Engineers’ shift away from government
management and funding is seen as a potential indicator of
growing unmutualism within the Engineers’ ranks. In truth
the Engineers are sick of justifying their work to pencil pushers
who don’t understand the potential human colonization of
the void represents, or the threat the horrors hidden in the
unformatted void actually pose to the Mudball.
The Void Engineers’ new-found Syndicate allies don’t ask
for statements of work, budget justifications, or ethical evalua-
tions of the inclusion of human subjects in phase 3 anthropic
adjustment trials. With private ownership comes freedom. The
culture in the Convention’s rank and file is undergoing a sea
change, as members pursue their own theories and leverage
the resurgence of unEnlightened interest in rocketry, planetary
sciences, and space tourism.
scrap paper would have disastrous effects on a local economy
as well as raise several puzzling questions. Making a fleet of
supertankers with 50 million barrels of crude oil disappear can
destroy a corporation and send the entire energy market into
a tailspin. Should a Marauder ever decide on a whim to ring
the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange, financial
markets could turn sideways. Literally.
Organized vs. Disorganized
When the Awakened abuse magick, eventually it can cause
a permanent state of Quiet. All Marauders have this disconnec-
tion. Perceptual Marauders are aware of their deviation from
society and obfuscate their madness to better move through
the world. By contrast, actualized Marauders exteriorize their
psychotic manifestations, with no internal filter or self-aware-
ness. Both believe they’re sane, but the former is aware their
divergent behavior may arouse suspicion. The latter either isn’t
aware or doesn’t care.
Some mages borrow the dichotomy system developed by the
founders of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit in the 1970s to
describe the Mad. The rubric classifies serial criminals into two
categories: organized and disorganized. Perceptual Marauders
tend toward organization, while actualized Marauders fall under
the disorganized bracket.
Organized criminals usually come from a good home, have
college degrees, a steady job, and may even maintain a family.
Sober in their conduct, they tend to be older and can interact
inconspicuously with society. When committing a crime, they
plan meticulously. Whether it’s targets, the location of the crime,
or the disposal of bodies, organized criminals cover their tracks.
Because they can avoid detection, they often elude capture.
Meanwhile disorganized criminals are the opposite. Less ed-
ucated, they come from broken homes wrought with abuse. They
Chapter One: Money and the Mage 27
live alone, work at unskilled jobs and have poor social skills (as
the privileged classes deem them). Younger and often under the
influence of drugs or alcohol, they commit crimes on impulse. As
agents of chaos, they do nothing to mask their actions. Bodies lay
openly at the scene of the crime, along with fingerprints, DNA
evidence, and even the occasional murder weapon.
Now take a Marauder, organized or disorganized, and hand
them a million dollars. Disorganized Marauders are rare, or at the
least, don’t last long. Their impulsivity often leads to extravagant
purchases, public acts of violence, and little effort to cover their
tracks. Instead of a cross-country killing spree via car, the mage
might purchase a bright pink Cessna XLS and start setting capital
buildings on fire in alphabetical order. Rather than laying low in
an apartment, a Marauder could purchase 100 acres in the middle
of Utah and start populating it with an army of mutated bison.
Alternatively, at the scene of a crime, she might leave a priceless
figurine from the Ming Dynasty as a calling card.
Sanity Sinks
The modern economy is rife with “disruptors.” New busi-
ness models rise and fall in the same quarter. Sleepers become
instant-millionaires selling non-fungible tokens, and markes move
based on billionaires posting memes. In such a turbulent setting,
it can be hard to immediately discern mundane innovations from
a Marauder’s madness seeping into the economy. Does the newest
28 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
form of currency stem from Sleepers playing off a meme, or is it
a Marauder’s vision bending the blockchain?
This uncertainty has confounded Syndicate operatives, who
must decide whether to watch and wait or step in and correct a
burgeoning market. Batini spend long hours debating whether a
town’s experimental economy is influenced by one of the Mad,
one of the Fallen, or neither. Economists throughout Awakened
society debate whether there’s anything salvageable in the financial
havoc a Marauder wreaks.
The Banks of the Bai Dai
The Bai Dai remain the most formidable and violent
faction within the Marauders. Functioning as a sizeable cabal,
they want to restore the old days of free magick by making
the Consensus easier to manipulate. This requires, in their
minds, the elimination of several billion humans. In recent
years they’ve funneled millions of dollars into the hands of
terrorist organizations across the globe. They go out of their way
to quietly conduct money to anarchists and fascists worldwide.
However, their business interests aren’t overtly criminal.
Most of their funds go to less violent —though no less lethal
— organizations. Bai Dai hold stock in Sloppy Sandwiches, a
worldwide fast food chain going out of its way to avoid plant-
based supplements. Along with other similar companies,
cardiovascular disease spreads, contributing to 17.6 million
deaths each year. The Mad Ones also own shares in Circinus
Brands, a prominent tobacco company whose products help
add seven million deaths to that tally.
Money-Making Marauders
In broad terms, the Marauders use their vast fortunes to
fund industries harmful to humankind. They’re so rich the
public views their machinations as merely eccentric rather
than maniacal. But there are a few creative mages who use
their money for specific aims.
The Doomsday Device
Dr. Theodore Jansen was a geology professor at the
University of California, Berkeley, during the 1980s. Already
Awakened, his primary area of focus was the San Andreas
Fault — the boundary between the Pacific and North American
tectonic plates. He asserted a devastating earthquake would
hit California on December 1st, 1986, at precisely 4:06 AM
Pacific Standard Time. His belief in this inevitability was so
certain he staked his professional reputation on it.
After the intended hour came and went without incident,
Dr. Jansen became the laughingstock of his department. His
funding dried up, students abandoned his classes, and within
months, UC Berkeley placed him on forced sabbatical. Jansen’s
depression gave way to obsession, and as a full blown Marauder,
he decided to use his fortune to exact his revenge.
From a small patch of desert in neighboring Nevada, and
obfuscated by powerful wards, his revenge on the academic
community comes in the form of a doomsday device. Based
loosely on Nikola Tesla’s electro-mechanical oscillator of 1893,
the device creates earthquakes. Jansen’s oscillator remains under
construction and is currently 800 feet tall and 300 feet in di-
ameter. Built from concrete and steel, the endeavor has burned
through seven different engineering firms over twenty years.
Once completed, Jansen plans on teleporting it on top
of UC Berkeley. He also seeks to send it back through time,
detonating the oscillator at exactly 4:06 AM PST on December
1st, 1986. Per his calculations, the resulting 9.1 magnitude
earthquake and subsequent aftershocks will kill hundreds of
thousands and cripple California’s economy with roughly 76
billion dollars’ worth of damages. More importantly, it’ll prove
that he was right all along.
The Collector
Marauders have a reputation for committing devastating
acts of zooterrorism. Awakened spread stories of one of the
Mad dropping a Bygone in a public area or on top of a Chantry,
recounting the details with a combination of fascination and
horror. Along with the Paradoxical backlash, the beast wreaks
havoc before its ultimate destruction. Reagan Yeun has turned
zooterrorism into an art form.
Named after the U.S. President who granted her parents
political asylum, Reagan is a Chinese American who earned
her engineering degree from MIT and spearheaded one of
the most successful construction firms in New England. With
private and government contracts, Yeun Engineering builds
and maintains bridges, bunkers, laboratories, prisons, and
defense installations across the globe. Standing at five feet,
five inches, Reagan dresses in crisp-black tailored Armani suits
with stylish pops of crimson red, bright violet, or forest green.
Accompanied by her entourage of lawyers and assistants, she
travels the globe on a Gulfstream G700, owns a fleet of Maserati
sedans, and controls properties in six different countries across
four continents. On paper, she’s a legitimately successful busi-
nesswoman worth $3.6 billion.
Reagan Yeun used her fortune and magick to build the
Ark — the largest and most secretive zoo in the world. Located
on Mount Chacaltaya in the Bolivian Andes, the Ark is an
engineering triumph. Complete with its own nuclear generator
and internal water recycling center, the facility is the size of
three professional football fields. Entirely hidden within the
Andes mountains, the Ark houses fifty creatures from various
realms including captured elementals, fabled beasts, demons,
spirits, and even an adult dragon. When committing acts of
zooterrorism, Reagan finds it much easier to transport beasts
from her facility in Bolivia, rather than snatching them with a
portal from some parallel realm. She even works on commission,
selling or trading her collection to other zooterrorists. And,
she’ll give a discount to anyone who includes a bag of licorice
flavored jellybeans in their payment.
The Angry Voice of the People
Nadia Ularu is one of the richest women in Europe. As
Chief Operating Officer for Omni European, a subsidiary of
Omni Television with ties to Pentex, Ularu holds great sway over
the minds and opinions of an entire continent. At fifty-five,
she appears fifteen years younger with auburn hair, hazel eyes,
and an athletic figure. Her signature look is to dress in billowy
white clothing and silver jewelry.
Born into poverty in Bucharest, Nadia married a wealthy
industrialist when she was nineteen. Two years after they said,
“I do,” her husband died in an unfortunate yachting accident.
Nadia was the sole inheritor. She has since repeated this pro-
cess four more times over twenty years: marrying into wealth,
attending a funeral, and shedding a tear as an executor reads
the will. Each of her intended has died horrifically, ranging
from choking on a piece of steak to crashing their car on the
autobahn. Behind closed doors this has granted her the title
of White Widow, though only the brave (or the foolish) would
ever dare say so to her face.
Of course, Romanian police and Interpol agents have
attempted to investigate Ularu on more than one occasion.
But with mastery over the Sphere of Mind, Ularu has either
changed their thinking or caused them to go insane, just as
she did for her husbands. She then went on to use her mental
manipulations to build Omni Europe, the third largest media
empire within the European Union.
Chapter One: Money and the Mage 29
 While the Fourth Estate is often a force for good in the
world, Omni Europe News or OEN is anything but. It feeds into
the basest assumptions, impulses, and prejudices humankind
has to offer. It sensationalizes the headlines, painting foreigners
and refugees as violent criminals responsible for the world’s
problems. It distorts fact into fiction calling rival outlets “fake
news” and spreads disinformation without batting an eyelash.
OEN normalizes authoritarian politicians and gives a platform
Lifestyles of the Rich and Fallen
The Fallen reject the idea that humans are
decent, hopeful, altruistic individuals at
heart. They recognize the species for what it
is — evolved meat puppets with eyes. To the
Nephandi, man is greedy and cruel, fighting
and fornicating their way through an endless
series of delusions and outright lies. When
they’re not screwing over their fellow humans,
they numb themselves on saturated fats, phar-
maceuticals, and reality television. For the
Fallen, it doesn’t take much to add fuel to the fire, especially
when someone has more money than a small industrialized
country. Using their nefarious gifts and vast wealth to corrupt
society, they ensnare disaffected youth, greedy politicians,
media personalities, religious zealots, and angry masses in
their manipulations.
Ars Cupiditae
Ars Cupiditae relies on finesse rather than force. Any of the
Awakened can compel action through magick. A Mind Master
can turn a rival into a marionette. With a Forces rote, a mage
can pummel her enemy into submission. The practitioners
of Ars Cupiditae prefer when a pawn, oblivious to manipula-
tion, acts on their own. At its core, the Art of Desire is about
achieving one’s goals by influencing the goals of others. The
Fallen turn fantasy into reality through subtle social influence,
force of personality, and endless bags of money.
A Nephandus’ ideal target of opportunity is someone
who finds themself in a precarious financial situation. Maybe
they invested all their money into Kodak or Blockbuster, and
now find themselves under investigation by the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Perhaps they contracted a life-threaten-
ing illness, only to discover their insurance doesn’t cover the
medical bills. Good targets are addicted to drugs or gambling,
forever trapped between their desires and their better selves.
And more often than not, these desperate people fall prey to
the Fallen.
Once one of the Fallen identifies a potential pawn, they
appeal to their target’s desires. Great knowledge, a banging
body, obscene wealth, celebrity, revenge, salvation, the Fallen
stokes the longing. Over time, the victim indulges their craving
30 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
to racists who rely on coded language to seem legitimate.
Ironically, Ularu has no need to mentally influence the public
when it comes to systemic racism. OEN exploits preexisting
prejudices all on their own.
European paparazzi recently spotted Ularu vacationing in
Champagne, France with one of the continent’s most eligible
bachelors — a racer training for the Monaco Grand Prix.
enough times that what was once a standalone favor transforms
into addiction. Meanwhile, the Nephandus takes steps to iso-
late people from their sources of support. Family members,
friends, and anyone else who might be able to intervene on
the pawn’s behalf suddenly find themselves betrayed and their
bridges burned.
Eventually, the victim is alone with only the Nephandus
to understand and love them. In too deep, these broken people
become pawns willing to obey any command. Then, in time,
the Nephandus promotes the pawn into a rook. After that,
with several new subordinates under them, the cancer grows.
The Nephandi bring entire networks under their direct control
by transferring underlings to other departments or satellite
stations. Entire sectors fall to the corruption. One bad bank
can foreclose on a mortgage, but one bad banking sector can
decimate an entire housing market.
The Nephandi employ these tactics on other mages as well.
Awakened have desires, after all, and are just as susceptible to
greed and jealousy. The Fallen nurture their targets’ hubris
and convince them the ends justify the means. The desperate
rationalize stealing money — it’s for a good cause, after all. The
more they pull in, the more likely they’ll need to launder their
ill-gotten funds to avoid detection. Before they realize it, the
Awakened is indebted to the Fallen, acting through coercion
or outright corruption.
Separate from any larger organization, some mages from
the Disparate Alliance make tempting targets for the Fallen.
Hollow Ones and Orphans, without a larger structure to fall
back on, can be easy prey: they’ve got college loans to pay back,
rent due any day now, crappy health insurance (if they have
any at all), and a gig economy job that barely pays the bills.
Nephandi serve as financial patrons to these independent mages,
functioning as their only real economic lifeline, though they
don’t usually advertise their allegiance. Other Disparates, such
as the Ngoma, Taftani, and Wu Lung, prove far less susceptible.
This isn’t the same as being uncorruptible — the Fallen merely
need to think bigger to draw out their targets’ greed.
Meanwhile, most Tradition mages and Technocrats want
to climb their proverbial ladders. To do so they need power
and influence, and many mages are willing to cut corners to
expedite their ascent. Nephandi assist them by working within
moral grey areas. They help purchase properties, bribe govern-
ment officials, offer low interest loans, and pay off student
debts. The Nephandi remind the Awakened that, despite their
magick, money still solves most problems.
Money Laundering
A criminal mastermind can have all the money in the
world, but if they don’t know how to conceal it, the tax man’s
eventually going to come knocking. While a Nephandus can
create gold bricks out of thin air or store mountains of cash in
a pocket realm, the moment they spend that money, red flags
rise and government agents who love puzzles and got straight
As in math will gladly and relentlessly pursue its source. Newly
christened millionaires with zero financial history don’t just
appear as blips on the radar; they’re giant flashing beacons. An
armed robbery, criminal enterprise, or perfected alchemy spell
produces money that doesn’t fit under a mattress. Therefore,
unless a Nephandus chooses to live off the grid, they must find
a means of disguising their fortune. Someone has to launder
those ill-gotten gains through a clean financial system. This
usually happens one of three ways.
Blending occurs when a criminal funnels dirty money into
a cash-based business like a fast food chain, Laundromat, car
wash, etc. Clean and dirty funds are intermixed in the daily
balance sheet over a long period of time, muddying the source
of the illegal money. A second method of money laundering
is smurfing (yes, those ones). The criminal enterprise hides
large amounts of money by making smaller installments across
multiple banks. Though the transactions are right there in the
open, because they’re so well-distributed, no one’s looking at
them until some lawyer pulls a target’s financials. By that point,
the damage is usually done.
A third method uses a corrupt banking agent. The cloaks
illegal funds through a series of financial gymnastics, shell
companies, and offshore deposits. Using a tax haven with
minimal regulations and zero records, such as the Cayman
Islands, Liechtenstein, or Cyprus, a dummy corporation can
then ship the money back to the United States as a tax-exempt
direct investment. For a small fee, the agent can invest the money
through a third party in untraceable digital cryptocurrencies,
real estate, art, antiques, and so on.
Money laundering is by no means a solely American phe-
nomenon. Drug kingpins, terrorists, and corrupt politicians
are ubiquitous worldwide. All told, between $8 billion and $2
trillion enters the world economy on a yearly basis, which is
four times the size of even the richest corporation.
The Nephandi
at Work and Play
While many Fallen operate independently, others fall
into various factions with similar agendas and methods. Each
group uses their wealth differently and occasionally cooperates
to achieve their chaotic ends.
The Golden Bulls
Sponsors of the Golden Bull, such as the Midas Key
Society, are dark purveyors of capitalism. Through political
action committees, the pharmaceutical industry, and Wall
Street sharks, the Bulls bend entire financial systems to their
will. Their purpose is not merely to make money, but to pit
financial forces against one another to create conflict, uncer-
tainty, and chaos.
From the Panic of 1893 to the subprime mortgage fallout
of 2007, the Bulls have ridden numerous boom-and-bust cycles.
By manipulating mortal proxies, the Bulls benefit from risky
investments, lobbying politicians to deregulate the market,
and funnel money to less-than-scrupulous clients. Mortal
pawns do most of the illicit activity, and by preying on the
greedy and the needy, the Bulls exacerbate the problem. Wall
Street brokers, underwater homeowners, college graduates
with insurmountable student debt, and anyone who’s had to
navigate the health insurance industry are all, knowingly or
unknowingly, pieces in a giant game.
The Bulls operate at their best through controlling an
economic concept known as rent-seeking, wherein they increase
one’s share of existing wealth without creating new wealth.
Corporations who control a vital resource can prevent new
companies from entering the market. Because they have so little
competition, and because they control such a necessary product,
they have zero incentive to produce better products or to provide
better customer service. Rent-seeking applies to those economic
areas most hated by consumers, including cell phone companies,
the airline industry, Big Pharma, and cable companies. Not
surprisingly, the Bulls have their fingers in all of them.
The Technephandi
The Technephandi who operate within the Syndicate
prefer the moniker Technician. They primarily build, sell, and
maintain advanced weaponry from armored HIT Marks to cus-
tomized laboratories. With billions in cryptocurrencies, their
capabilities are almost limitless. Their crowning achievement
is the formation and proliferation of the dark web. These areas
of the internet aren’t indexed by web search engines and are a
source for illicit transactions. Operated via small peer-to-peer
networks or private servers, individuals use the dark web to,
among other things, hire criminals and hackers, purchase illegal
pornography, and acquire drugs and weapons.
Operating within the dark web is the international hacker
group known as Blue Screen of Death. Funded exclusively by
the Technicians, BSoD offer their services to private companies,
corrupt governments, and criminal elements. In return for
payment in Cryptcoin or some other digital currency, BSoD
conducts denial-of-service attacks, maintains sock puppet
factories to spread propaganda, and uses phishing expeditions
to steal data.
The Technicians also dabble in the illegal gun trade. While
giant ray guns and custom tanks are rare, the bulk of their illegal
Chapter One: Money and the Mage 31
arms trafficking involves mundane weapons ranging from small
arms to portable anti-aircraft missile systems. Corrupt defense
contractors such as Tyr Logistics and Full Force Solutions fuel
this phenomenon by selling weapons to third parties who, in
turn, funnel arms into the hands of rebel armies, terrorists,
and criminals. From organized crime to white supremacists,
arms-trafficking has no end of customers.
The Malfeans
The Malfeans associated with Pentex or similar corpora-
tions seek to slowly drown the world in a sea of toxic waste
and environmental disasters. With bare minimum adherence
to safety measures (and at times blatant disregard thereof)
companies dispose of their caustic waste spills and radioac-
tive contaminants in public waterways and in underfunded,
populated areas. If and when federal governments fine these
companies, the costs are easily paid and ultimately repeated,
albeit sometimes after a minor name rebranding.
Meanwhile, the Malfeans invest billions of dollars to prop
up the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions like
coal plants, oil companies, and petrochemical agencies. As
the pollution grows, the Malfeans lobby politicians, pouring
money into campaign war chests in return for deregulating
environmental protection agencies or defunding groups curbing
climate change. To date, most would say their efforts have been
successful. Record heat waves, melting glaciers, raging wildfires
on multiple continents, and devasting hurricanes have become
commonplace. While everyday Sleepers decided climate change
was a hoax, the Malfeans egg them on, promoting their view-
points and amplifying their anti-science rhetoric.
The Decadenti
Operating out of modern-day Hellfire Clubs, the Decadenti
offer forbidden fruit to the desirous for the low-low price of
one’s very soul. Suffice to say, they are experts in the Art of
Desire. Their victims range from the affluent seeking to acquire
more power to trailer trash looking to get out from underneath
a mountain of debt. Whatever the ask, the Decadenti provide.
A wonderous plastic surgeon can make someone taller
and more beautiful after a single procedure. They heal the
cancer-ridden, provide zero-interest loans to the impoverished,
and gift faded celebrities a second chance in the spotlight. The
person who covets their neighbor’s spouse suddenly finds the
neighbor dead of a heart attack. The failing political campaign
inexplicably wins in a landslide election.
After selling their soul, the elite clubs usher the victim into
a rich and decadent lifestyle. Surrounded by lavish parties and
all-expenses paid vacations, the victims feel as if they’ve finally
arrived to live their best life. The clubs sail around melting
glaciers and go hunting for endangered species on safari. They
experience the life of millionaires.
Only after this whirlwind ride do Decadenti finally come
to collect. They force the politician to back a controversial bill
32 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
eliminating food stamps. The celebrity must sponsor a cosmetic
company known for animal testing. The prison guard who only
wanted to pay his father’s debts must suddenly kill an inmate.
Decadenti victims must either embrace their corruption or
rebel. A word of caution: the rebellious never last long.
The Infernal
Infernal cults, such as the New Rite Church or the Hidden
Trinity of the Black Watch, believe they’re carrying out Satan’s
will. Whether raging teenagers and their damned rock ‘n’ roll
or corporate CEOs who secretly serve the Devil, these infernal
cults function best in divided societies. The rich versus poor,
right wing versus left wing, these divides are easy to spot and
are even easier to manipulate. Servants of the infernal influence
systems at the city, state, and federal level.
The infernal pawns of the Nephandi donate to fringe groups,
extremist organizations, and anyone who enjoys erecting statues to
demonic idols. Corrupted Sleepers often place these idols in key
areas throughout a city and mask them with clever architecture
and paid-off city planners. Privately, the servants gather on the
new moon of every month, enacting antiquated rituals to the
Devil. Ironically their rituals are usually disconnected from any
actual demonic entity, but the velvet robes are quite comfortable.
The few Nephandi agents in their midst don’t bother to correct
them. They simply collect their yearly tithe and continue to hand
out “Satan’s” marching orders.
Hammer Security Response
While infernal cults may operate with peak proficiency
in the domestic arena, foreign theaters fall under Hammer
Security Response. During the 1980s, when civil strife was
rampant across the Middle East as well as Central and South
America, Colonel Erik Rose Hammer founded the Christian
mercenary firm known as Hammer Security Response. Though
they have since splintered into various private military groups,
they continue to operate as fully armed security consultants
across five continents.
Composed mostly of former military and law enforcement
agents, many of these mercenaries are loyal only to a paycheck
and function for any government willing to pay their fee. HSR
safeguards fossil fuel companies in Iraq and Saudi Arabia,
mining operations in South America and Africa, and shipping
routes through Central America. They handle State Department
security, counterterrorism actions, and occasionally even hunt
down criminals if the bounty is high enough.
Domestically they handle crowd control, police training,
and border patrol. With an annual budget of $30 billion,
HSR drives across deserts in state-of-the-art armored personnel
carriers, flies over mountains in converted CH-47 Chinooks,
and has access to predator drones, shoulder-fired missiles, and
an endless stockpile of assault weapons. HSR and their sister
agencies contribute to the breakdown of society and conduct
licensed genocide with impunity.
Los Sangrientos
Armed with modern weapons, extensive media contacts,
and a bottomless treasure chest, Los Sangrientos pit drug cartels
and government agencies against one another. These bloody
encounters exacerbate the so-called drug wars and secretly pay
homage to the bloody deities of Mesoamerica.
The illegal drug trade is a 400 billion-dollar market. With
cocaine out of Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, and with heroin
pouring out of Afghanistan, the flow of illegal narcotics is never
ending, winding its way into every port to eventually meet the
small-town market. Los Sangrientos protects the cartels and drug
kingpins, providing them with physical protection in the form
of armed guards and financial security in the form of capital
investments.
They hire mercenaries, secure shipping routes, pay off
border agents, engineer underground tunnels, and acquire
satellite footage. On the flip side, Los Sangrientos donates to
law enforcement, pays off criminal informants, and occasionally
hand agencies such as the DEA or Interpol a needed victory. This
strategy keeps both sides of the war on drugs on equal footing
and contributes to its overall longevity.
Los Sangrientos has also wormed their way into Big Pharma,
specifically targeting analgesic manufacturers. Paid-off doctors
prescribe pain medication in massive quantities with little
oversight to addict an entirely new and much more affluent
generation. With 40,000 deaths each year, opioids are now the
leading cause of accidental death in the United States. And while
people die, drug providers receive unprecedented dividends. To
make matter worse, they’re often protected by politicians who
find themselves entirely indebted to Los Sangrientos.
Chapter One: Money and the Mage 33
 Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.
— P. T. Barnum
I’ve been painting for days. Maybe I’ve slept; I don’t really
know. My head’s full of images, and all I want to do is get them
out where people can see them.
It never comes out quite the way it is in your head, does it?
You have the idea fixed solid, but your hands never truly capture
what’s there in your mind’s eye. I could will it onto the canvas,
I suppose, but that’s cheating. I could will it straight into my
audience’s heads, but that’s just asking for trouble.
Still, I can’t help but put a little bit of myself in there, mix
my thoughts into the paint, let the brush redistribute them. Now
anyone who looks will see a tiny glimpse of what I see. They’ll
carry that with them, out into the world, and when they talk about
the painting, they’ll refine the message, put it in their own words,
make it all a little more real.
A little more Real.
Tonight’s the gallery opening. I have half a dozen interested
bidders already, and the paint’s not even dry. My phone pings with
another offer. I send it to my agent; the money’s her job, not mine.
Funny, isn’t that? Twenty years ago, I would have been buoyed
for days if someone told me they’d give me a hundred bucks for one
of my works. Now they’re dropping half a million, two million,
ten — and the offers feel like so much spam.
I step back from the canvas, and it’s all there, in splashes
of crimson and ochre, and half a dozen shades of blue. My hope
for the world, made a little more solid. I won’t name the piece.
It doesn’t matter what it’s called, though the gallery will call it
something like “Blue No. 12” for tax and authentication purposes.
They’ll sell prints of it, and eventually put it in their program
and collection books. It’ll make them millions, a portion of which
comes back to me.
I’ll put that money back into canvases and paints, a place
with better lighting, somewhere in the city. Somewhere with
windows I can open to let in the air. I want to hear the thoughts
I’m sending out into the world echo off the buildings, amplified
in strangers’ voices. A little bit of hope and love, out there in the
world. A little bit of rebellion.
Wake up, I’m telling them, even if they don’t understand
they’re Sleeping. It’s all there, in the curve of that line, in the
interplay between light and dark.
Wake up.
I may need a bigger canvas. The side of a building, a mural
ten stories tall. The more eyes on the message, the more likely the
Sleepers might stir.
How much does it cost, the side of a building? Or the whole
building if they won’t rent me one façade?
I pick up my phone, call my agent. She can handle the details.
I need to buy more paint.
Chapter Two: Creating Rich Characters 35
 Your Money and Your Life
Money plays a part in your life from the moment
you come screaming into the world until the
hour of your death. How much wealth you or
your family has or doesn’t have, whether you
have to scrape for every last penny or have a
bottomless trust fund, those experiences shape
your personality. Sometimes it’s obvious — a
person living paycheck to paycheck is keenly
aware of how one flat tire might start a cascade
of bounced checks and overdraft fees. Someone
born with a silver spoon in their mouth never has to worry
about where their next meal is coming from, aside from having
to decide which upscale restaurant they’d like to dine at.
Likewise, a shift in fortune has its own impact. How does
a slow and steady climb to riches change someone, versus an
overnight windfall? What takes you by surprise? What problems
did money solve? What new ones did it drop on your doorstep?
What did you think money would fix, but didn’t?
This chapter expands on the character creation rules in
Mage 20, exploring the influence wealth might have on existing
traits and introducing new ones.
Climbing the Ladder
Your Resources are more than just an abstract number for
your character to solve problems with — more than any other
Background, they can significantly influence your character
concept. Consider your reasons for buying this Background
above five dots: doing so gives your character a literal wealth of
ways to resolve difficulties within the Chronicle, but each tier
also comes with additional complications and responsibilities
which should be considered and developed at character creation.  of aspiring academics through college; the only thing stopping
Resources ••••• •
At Resources 6, your character wants for nothing. She can
travel in luxury at every opportunity, wear the finest clothes
for casual events, and throw away every disappointing meal
and never go hungry. Her wealth maintains multiple homes,
all fully furnished to a luxury standard. She’s hired household
staff, personal assistants, or a small retinue to protect and assist
her. Life is easy and effortless. This level of wealth arms the
character, at least on a personal level — cars, weapons, a small
contingent of bodyguards, ancient relics — if she can find them,
she can have them.
Characters are also far more prone to public scrutiny at this
level. Outside of major cities, the most withdrawn of millionaires
becomes a local celebrity: the modern-day aristocrat living on
the well-tended country estate or the ominous house on the
hill. Even in the most affluent districts of London, Brunei, or
New York, the rich are more likely to be segregated from the
broader populace, living in an upmarket neighborhood, in a
36 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
spacious apartment, or a small house with far more floor-space
than most city residents could even dream of. 
Resources ••••• ••
At Resources 7 and higher, the source of your character’s
wealth becomes increasingly important. Vast savings held
in bank accounts or secret vaults are easier to monitor and
free of complications. Wealth locked up in investments and
company shares, while at greater risk of being lost through
player actions, also ties your character to powerful corporate
entities with whom she can negotiate for other assets. Sitting
on the board of a pharmaceutical company provides unique
opportunities to influence medical research, whereas owning
a stake in an arms and munitions supplier allows her to supply
military weaponry to powerful clients.
Sheer wealth is not a direct substitute for other
Backgrounds, such as Influence or Backup. Purchasing and
supplying rare and expensive equipment through legal and
black-market channels takes far longer than requisitioning it
through a more specialized Background, and repeated pur-
chases of unusual equipment or assets leads to scrutiny from
tax officials and company shareholders. Even Bruce Wayne
is held accountable for his excessive lifestyle and corporate
mismanagement, and the Storyteller remains the final arbiter
on what your character’s wealth can achieve, as well as how
quickly she can achieve it.
At this level of Resources, placing people in the charac-
ter’s debt is effortless; the money needed to buy a house or
cover the cost of a life-saving operation is trivial. In the time
it takes for her to eat lunch, she earns enough to put dozens
her is whether she cares to.
Resources ••••• •••
At Resources 8 and higher it’s almost impossible for wealth
not to be enmeshed with the financial markets. Finances at this
level include labyrinthine vaults filled with bonds, gems, and
rare metals — assets that are impossible to move quickly. The
character’s financial backing ties her to multiple influential
companies or a single corporate behemoth. Without other
Backgrounds, her affiliation may be a formality only — the
wealthy heir of the company founder, or an entrepreneur hedged
out of control by their own board of directors. Even without
the controlling bid, she has the capacity to create and crush
other companies, twisting the market to acquire goods, fund
research, and deter rivals. With time and skilled negotiating
she can disrupt air travel by purchasing all of the planes in a
city, cancel major sporting and music events by booking the
venues at an inflated rate, and reshape towns and roads into
occult patterns and glyphs through persistent urban investment. 
Resources ••••• ••••
At Resources 9 she’s not an industry icon; she’s the industry
icon. Her wealth influences and is influenced by world events.
Storms, earthquakes, and disease can threaten her finances or
provide new investment opportunities. When her company suffers,
thousands face unemployment. Her reach is international. Her
whims dictate the newest trends and innovation — if the mood
strikes her to launch a rocket into space or found an underwater
city, she has the means to make it happen. If she can anticipate
it, she can brace herself and the thousands she chooses to protect
from any level of calamity, short of the planet itself blowing up.
Additional hazards present themselves to mages at this level
of wealth. The ability to fund and steer innovation is Consensus-
changing at this level. Advancements in scientific and medical
research can be accelerated with funding; any member of the
Technocratic Union with this level of financial independence
is an obvious target to rivals both within the Union and from
other Traditions. Her wealth is a threat, a target, and an asset to
be co-opted by other mages. With so much money to spend, a
skilled heist could deprive the mage of millions without her notic-
ing for months or even years. Wealthy characters bound to older
Traditions fare no better: any large-scale projects they fund to alter
the zeitgeist struggle to avoid scrutiny at even the earliest stages.
Resources ••••• •••••
At Resources 10 the only things testing the limits of your
character’s wealth are other countries and corporate behemoths
... and if the circumstances are right, she can simply buy these
things too. She has the wealth necessary to change Consensus
by multiple methods, if she can uncover the best means to do
so. She could establish a new country utterly isolated from the
rest of the world and engineer the local media to create almost
any version of Reality for the fledgling nation she could possibly
desire. Here, at the upper limits of human wealth, your character’s
not just a kingmaker, but a world-maker.
A mage with this level of wealth must be shrewd and wary
in their day-to-day lives. Even the most sympathetic mage will
see her as a significant threat if they discover the extent of
her financial power. If her fortune is too vast to topple, the
simplest solution may simply be to attack her directly. But first
her enemies need to get to her. There are many ways to respond
to this attention — alter egos separating her Awakened life
from her Sleeper interests, a fictitious benefactor responsible
for her wealth, or a visage of power and influence capable of
beguiling or intimidating all would-be thieves. When subtlety
fails, she has access to private armies and the most advanced
security money can buy. Whichever defense she chooses, she
must be sure to choose something before everything she holds
valuable is taken.
Developing Your Backstory
As you develop your character’s backstory, consider how
their Backgrounds have influenced the life they’ve lived and
the choices they make. This is especially important when
considering Backgrounds of 6 or higher, since they represent
a staggering level of investment and impact your character’s
life and history. Consider the potential for roleplaying hooks
which you and the Storyteller can explore over the course of a
campaign. Useful questions to develop your Resources include:
Where do your Resources come from?
Money leaves a footprint in the Sleeping world. It isn’t
simply conjured out of thin air (though there are exceptions). 
Inherited wealth comes from somewhere. Dutiful parents,
generous mentors, mysterious benefactors — who bestowed this
windfall upon you, and why? Such gifts are rarely given with-
out conditions. If your benefactor is still alive, they might be
heavily involved in your life. What do they expect of you? Can
they restrict your access to the money, or rescind it altogether?
Is the money split between yourself and someone else? Can
anyone challenge your right to it, either by competing for it
or taking you to court?
Earned wealth also has an origin. Consider the actions,
conflicts, and sacrifices necessary to achieve this level of wealth.
What resources (and Resources) did you start with? Did you
make canny investments or a groundbreaking discovery? Are
you a celebrity or someone who works in a profitable industry?
Some pioneers earn their fortune through skill and hard work,
others earn it by enlisting the skills of others. What came to
pass to put this fortune in your hands, and how quickly did
you earn it? Sometimes, the race to corner the market means
attacking the competition or burning bridges with friends
and business partners. Who’s out to destroy you, and is it
business, or personal?
Have you always been wealthy?
A character born into luxury has a different relationship
with money than one who grew up in abject poverty. If you
grew up in excess, you might never have known a life without
a personal driver or house staff. You never missed a meal or
lay awake shivering in a cold room to keep the heating bill
down. Instead, you visited many countries, partied with pow-
erful people, and had closets full of perfectly tailored designer
clothing. These experiences shape your skillset — your privilege
allows you to learn to fly a plane and sail a boat, but you may
not know how to change a fuse or mend your own clothes.
Your wealth, and all the opportunities and luxuries it affords
you, are the norm.
Conversely, a character born into poverty measures expen-
diture in a hugely different way. Being poor and living day to
day is frustratingly, paradoxically, more costly than having the
money and means to invest a few months or years ahead of
yourself. You budget in the short term, and you suffer for it.
Over a long enough timeframe a mortgage is cheaper and more
profitable than paying rent, but how can you scrape together a
down payment? Quality shoes last for decades where a cheaper
pair falls apart after a single year... but buying the good shoes
Chapter Two: Creating Rich Characters 37
now means you can’t afford groceries this week. In the United
States, medical insurance is great — if you can afford it. One
accident or unexpected illness can leave you destitute. Learning
to cook, grow food, maintain your house and car, and make
and repair your own clothes aren’t hobbies, they’re necessities.
As income drops, this ratio between means and expenses
becomes even more extreme. Being homeless, even if you’re
couch-surfing around multiple friends’ houses, limits your
ability to cook for yourself, forcing you to overspend on fast
food and ready meals when you can scrounge together the
money to eat. A single night’s shelter in a hostel or cheap hotel
could cost the equivalent of a week’s rent.
Consider your character’s childhood, the necessities he
takes for granted, or the daily chores he still undertakes to save
money and remain self-sufficient. Is his wealth something to
be used, or something to be protected?
How do you store and
access your Resources?
What does wealth look like for your character? Is it a thriv-
ing corporate enterprise, or an investment portfolio? Physical
hoards take many forms, such as currency, rare art, gemstones,
gold bars, and bonds. Is it instead an abstract digital force
conjured up with the wave of a bank card? It may even be real
estate: ample tracts of land and lavish apartment complexes
waiting to be sold. If someone were to seize his wealth what
38 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
would it look like in their hands?
At the highest Resource levels, moving your wealth around
is a glacial process requiring teams of accountants and legal
experts, perhaps even a retinue of armed guards manning wag-
ons full of gold or with briefcases handcuffed to their wrists.
When you spend enough money to purchase a city, what does
the act of paying look like?
Consider these details and the security measures and
practicalities nested around wielding this level of financial
power. If attempts were made to steal your fortune, how would
the thieves go about it?
Who else contributes to and/or
depends on your Resources?
Consider your character’s revenue stream, as well as their
financial collaborators and dependents. If your Resources
are tied up in a corporate machine, you’ll need to speak with
investors, business partners, board members, employees, and
consultants to keep it healthy and growing. If you’re an industry
lead or celebrity, consider the impact of the media and public
opinion on your wealth — hosting charity events and large-
scale social events may be a necessity to maintain a respectable
public persona. At the highest levels of Resources you might
get involved politically, donating to election campaigns and
funding rallies to promote your pet causes. If your finances are
static and tied to considerable savings and investments, they
must still be monitored and protected. A vault needs guards, a
hotel needs staff, and the wealthiest figures in the world need
an active entourage of staff and assistants to make their daily
responsibilities manageable.
When your character’s fortunes fluctuate, increasing or
dwindling by large amounts, people are affected. Business
partners and employees could be left destitute or unemployed.
Companies, or even entire industries can buckle without your
support. Do family or friends depend on your Resources, and
if so how would they react if you lost or refused to share them?
What’s at stake for your dependents, and who among them is
a few missed payments away from becoming an enemy?
What do you desire most
that money will never buy?
Everyone yearns for something no amount of money can
buy, though what that is takes many forms. For some it’s the love
of a specific person, or the company of someone long dead. It
can be a state of mind, of long-lost childhood camaraderie, or
a safe home. It’s power and treasure beyond mortal currency,
something no sane person would ever trade for money. It could
even be the respect of someone disinterested in — or actively
repulsed by — the trappings of wealth.
Consider your character’s wants and ask yourself if (or
when) they came to realize some things cannot be bought.
Some are quixotic, chasing windmills in a deluded hope to one
day have enough money to earn their heart’s desire. They may
instead be a pragmatist, someone who has always known to
strive for other things, relying on their Resources as a tool only
when appropriate. Some fall into a conflicted middle ground,
newly aware of their own limitations as a mage, teetering on
the verge of a heartbreaking realization that, with all of the
money in the world, they’re still, ultimately, powerless.
How did your character come to this conclusion? Did she
strive for years to create a stable home, only realizing too late the
effort made to amass this fortune forced her and her loved ones
apart? Did she misinterpret what was needed to make someone
happy? Did she experience a great loss or victory in her past which
defined wealth as a panacea, or did this loss prove some things
don’t have a price? As one of the Awakened, these questions
strike a parallel with your character’s relationship with their
own magick. Does she see this correlation, or does she place
her hopes in magick helping her achieve what wealth never can?
Are your Resources
the means to an end, or the end itself?
The greatest question your character can ask of themselves
is why they are holding on to the wealth they have at all.
Comfort comes from far less money than this. If she worked
for her wealth, why was it important? If she was given it, has
she paid it forward in kind? And if not, why not? Wealth can
be a benchmark of success, or a badge of accomplishment. The
appearance of wealth can further your goals and prepare you for
a personal mission or vendetta. Is your fortune a side-effect of
your dedication to your work, or a windfall you never thought
to use? Is it simply greed and determination which drives you,
or a greater cause?
Often, this question has no simple answers. Your character
may have complicated — and sometimes contradictory — feelings
regarding her wealth. Her Resources may even be an obstacle
in her own Ascension.
Archetypes of the Wealthy
Any trait, when pushed to an extreme, can define and
redefine your character. Wealth is no different — money
changes people.
The Archetypes explored in other Mage books cover a wide
range of concepts you can use to define your character. Consider
the ways in which your character’s Archetype and Resources
interact, and the roleplaying opportunities created from the
combination of assets and motivations they have available.
Wealth as a Weapon
Some Archetypes are motivated by the need to act, the
desire to add something new to the world or fix that which is
broken. For these characters, wealth is a weapon or a tool, part
of their arsenal to make their vision a reality. An Activist with
considerable wealth can do more than create petitions and write
letters to local governors; they can fund charities and election
campaigns to promote the change they wish to see. A wealthy
Activist has access to mass-media, trade embargos, mercenar-
ies, and even assassins to further their cause. Architects and
Benefactors, likewise, are capable of realizing their personal
goals on grander scales, financing projects to bolster the re-
search, industries, or people they value. A destitute Crusader
or Zealot has a bad reputation, but a wealthy one has an army.
Some agendas are more personal. A Mad Scientist’s
vision, and the means to make it a reality, are increased with
high Resources, but so is the equal risk. Every invention and
discovery is a gamble, and the Mad Scientist perpetually raises
the stakes. A low-Resources character makes do with a prototype
teleporter capable of transporting peanuts through a solid wall
whereas a high-Resources character stares up at a gate the size
of a city block, untested and pulsing with trans-dimensional
energy. Likewise, a Vigilante with access to extreme wealth
is not limited to bare-knuckle assaults or dumpster-diving
in alleyways for evidence. Resources can give your character
access to a forensics laboratory, top of the range surveillance
and combat gear, and an international information network.
Proactive Archetypes are always waging a crusade of some
sort and are more likely to take risks to maintain a winning
position. Wealthy characters following this trend value a public
presence to maintain their social clout and are driven to establish
allies and investments to keep the war effort funded. The com-
plication of spending, maintaining, and expanding a financial
powerbase adds additional moral risks. When your wealth is
Chapter Two: Creating Rich Characters 39
a vital tool in pursuing your personal goals, but preserving it
requires you to raze forests or grind rival businesses into dust,
difficult decisions must be made. If you’re not careful, or if
you become too unscrupulous in financing your own fight, you
may become the target of someone else’s personal vendetta.
Wealth as a Shield
Archetypes who choose to maintain a status quo, taking a
cautious or more reactive response often view their wealth as a
shield or bulwark against danger, something to hold onto and
only use when necessary. Caregivers and Guardians, dedicated
to the welfare of others, may stockpile vast resources such as
food or fuel, or invest in affordable housing or bunkers to
shelter people in an emergency.  you some fancy paints and that sweet Fender.
Loners and Survivors, ironically, find the highest levels of
Resources challenging to live with — they have all of the tools
they need to pursue a life of self-reliance, but must endure an
exceptional level of public scrutiny and financial delegation to
maintain it. The idea of becoming a modern-day Beast hiding
from the world in their fairytale castle is powerfully tempting.
The wealthy Loner risks becoming a figure of urban legend,
forever battling to reconcile their desires for isolation with
the lifestyle needed to fund it. Traditionalists suffer from a
similar quandary — staying ahead of the market and weathering
the constant barrage of public opinion demands innovation
and a willingness to listen and adapt to evolving social trends.
Depending on the values they espouse, a Traditionalist risks
turning their livelihood into a culture war, defending their
views with an intractable zeal and creating binary social schisms
where none previously existed.
Characters who act to prevent and anticipate change, rather
than instigate it, have less need to maintain a public persona
or take risks to enhance their wealth. Their Resources may be
presented as a single, static hoard or windfall, a tool to rely on
in times of need rather than a constant revenue stream, or may
reflect the character retiring into social obscurity and leaving
their day-to-day duties in the hands of delegates or business
partners. This approach may seem static but can generate its
own roleplaying opportunities as multiple high-end expendi-
tures cause your Resources to decline.
Wealth as a Toolbox
Some Archetypes treat their Resources more like a toolbox,
viewing money an extension of their overall arsenal. Their
wealth doesn’t change their actions but makes them grander
and more obvious. The Prophet upgrades from an online
journal to a series of high-production podcasts and web sem-
inars advertised on social media. The Mentor invests in their
prospective students, providing sparring equipment and training
aids to enhance the process, or providing shelter, employment,
and excursions to focus the students’ time and free them from
distraction. The Kid indulges in their carefree outlook, their
hobbies and gifts extravagant and freely shared. Bon Vivants,
Innovators, and Sensualists experience life without restraint,
40 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
free to scream their desires from the highest rooftops. High
Resources become a declaration of the character’s true nature,
a brazen demonstration of what you are and what you want
from the world.
For Artists who prefer to remain anonymous or hide
their work until the grand unveiling, wealth lies in the raw
potential for expression. They spend money on the materials
needed to refine their craft, on canvases, time at the forge, or
hours in the recording studio. The world’s their exhibition
space, whether they’re performing in a coffee shop, carving
their initials into the side of a landmark, taking the stage in a
public park, or tagging a crooked politician’s bedroom walls.
Money might not buy renown or rave reviews, but it sure gets
Wealth as a Cloak
Where other Archetypes use their riches to boost their
ambitions, some use it as a cloak, wrapping themselves and their
assets in layers of obscurity. This may be a matter of protecting
their privacy — you can get a lot more done when the paparazzi
aren’t splashing your every move across celebrity-watch websites.
It’s also, often, a matter of mistrust. Some people will only see
your money, not the real you. Others will hide their own true
selves, contorting themselves into whatever they think you (or
your bank account) want them to be.
A Romantic works best when their declarations of emotion
are a surprise; she may enjoy the guise of the pauper to enhance
the reveal, though sometimes, “surprise, I’m rich!” might not
be met with the enthusiasm she hopes. The Trickster knows
to keep all of their cards close to their chest — if your targets
dismiss or underestimate you, you’ve got the upper hand. The
Machine and the Monster, both living calculated existences in
constant debate with abhorrent normalcy, choose their fights
carefully, biding their time while their work to change and
improve continues behind closed doors.
Personal, hoarded wealth gives each of these Archetypes
freedom to retreat from the world when they need to, but a
public revenue forces many of them to lead double lives. They
wear a corporate or celebrity mask to interact with the world
and maintain their Resources, while the True Self hidden un-
derneath smirks at the ruse or gnashes its teeth in frustration. 
Whichever approach you choose, consider the enhance-
ments and contradictions created by your combination of
Archetype and Backgrounds. Look for ways to explore their
relationship over the course of the Chronicle and encourage
the other players and the Storyteller to do likewise.
New Archetypes
New levels of Resources create new opportunities to
explore your character. The following new Archetypes can
help delve into your character’s relationship with wealth and
power in all its forms.
Archivist
A place for everything, and everything in its place.
Knowledge is power, but power fails when it’s lost or disor-
dered. Too many books have been burnt, too many libraries
ransacked, too many antiques lost to greed. You refuse to let the
legacies of the past fall to chaos; you refuse to let humanity’s
collective genius falter by even a single step. No knowledge is
truly forbidden, You hunger for it all, collecting and catego-
rizing everything you uncover for the betterment of yourself
and others.
It takes tremendous Diligence to pursue this path. Even
the most learned academic cannot master every science or
philosophy, but this knowledge isn’t for you alone. You may
be a studious dilettante or a master of one specific field. Either
way, you pursue every opportunity to expand and record your
learning, creating a system to document and recollect every
pertinent detail at the moment it’s needed.  things which matter to you and find a way to fit them together. You
Sometimes old lore is abandoned for good reason, as dead-
end research perpetuates bad ideas and newer studies surpass
older work. You struggle to leave even the most irrelevant or
disproven notion behind, and your Obsession with collecting
knowledge risks drowning you in redundancies. As a Mage,
you grapple with this dilemma more than anyone, knowing
even the most esoteric and abstract of details holds the secret
to unimaginable power.
— Regain Willpower when information you previously
recovered is instrumental in answering a colleague’s question
or considerably advancing their goals.
Bravo
You’re a professional thrill-seeker and risk-taker. You put
yourself in harm’s way for others, a gladiator or sell-sword
in the modern age. You might be a bare-knuckle boxer, a
hostage-recovery specialist, or an ambitious young trader in a
financial firm. No matter the arena, you live to take risks and
beat the odds. Regardless of whether you’re loyal to a specific
employer or a mercenary seeking a challenge, you laugh in the
face of danger — if you can get paid and applauded for doing
it, so much the better.
Beating the odds time and time again gives you a Self-
Assured nature, keeping you calm and ready when the mission
inevitably goes awry. You don’t always succeed, but your wins
are a net positive, and your reputation for success keeps em-
ployers knocking at your door whenever a crisis looms. You
know just how good you are.
This certainty comes at a price. Knowing your own value
gives you an Arrogance which demands recognition whenever
you place your life on the line. You don’t have to beat every
rival, but you need to know you can make them bleed if it comes
to a fight. You aren’t a martyr to someone else’s cause; your
life and skill have value. Some say success is its own reward,
but if the victory leaves no witnesses, without reward or praise
what’s the point?  sumption of a new possession provides you with exceptional joy.
— Regain Willpower when you’re praised or rewarded for
successfully completing a significantly risky task at another’s behest.
Consolidator
The machine is greater than its component parts. The
choir is louder than the lone voice. The empire holds more sway
than the disparate countries. There is power in the whole. You
know the world is a better place when everyone strives towards
a common purpose, and you have the power and will to make
that a reality. Some may resist your guiding hand, misled by
false ideals of independence, but one way or another you will
convince them. Integration breeds strength.
Your Appreciation for the potential in all things is a gift you
long to share. Every project, person, and enterprise you encounter
is an opportunity to assess and steer the world towards greater
things. Whether it be allies, businesses, or ideas, you acquire the
build bridges between bitter rivals, rescue struggling businesses
from bankruptcy, and turn small ideas into miracles. With your
help, the weak survive and the worthy flourish.
Placing your own views above others runs the risk of
Tyranny. You struggle with rejection and opposition, viewing
anyone who spurns your offers of alliance as an enemy Other to
be defeated and consumed for the greater good. Failure among
your own assets is equally frustrating, forcing you to cut away
your own empire’s weak flesh to preserve its overall strength.
— Regain Willpower when you enhance the quality of a
long-term project by personally acquiring assets or allies, or by
dismantling or removing failing assets which hinder your success.
Consumer
The world is a marvelous place, filled with treasures of the
ages and new wonders created every day. Thanks to centuries
of human ingenuity there’s no shortage of gadgets and relics
to play with, art to collect, and outfits to wear. Whereas the
Bon Vivant relishes new experiences, you’re driven to acquire
new possessions. Whether it be an old masterpiece or a new
gimmick, you constantly seek the best the world has to offer.
You live in constant Fascination. Like a human magpie,
you find allure in the sheen and shine of the material world.
The smallest discovery rejuvenates you, and when all of Reality
is a treasure trove every day becomes an adventure. You’re not
greedy; when something valuable has lost its appeal you can
let it go and share it with the world. You delight in finding
others to share your enthusiasm.
Sometimes, the giddy high never comes, and only the
Hunger persists. You feel a numbness when your possessions
fail to stimulate you, so you move on to newer, rarer, more
expensive sources of pleasure. As your tastes become more
refined and harder to satisfy, you risk succumbing to excess
in the pursuit of increasingly shallow happiness.
— Regain Willpower when the purchase and use or con-
Chapter Two: Creating Rich Characters 41
Entrepreneur
Life is a gamble, but not everyone chooses to throw
dice. Sometimes a gamble is a new idea to be expressed or an
opportunity to seize. That’s where you come in. As an entre-
preneur you like to take risks on new businesses and projects,
investing your wealth, time, and reputation on the luck of the
roll. Unlike the entrepreneurs of the Sleeping world, however,
you can gamble with even greater stakes, hunting for lost nodes
and risking new rites of magick to secure the next big win.
Ambition drives you. Your eyes look ever upwards, to
the Sleepers and Awakened alike who hold more power than
you. You strive to be better, to do better in all things, and your
friends and business partners find themselves caught up in
the ride. Whether you succeed or fail, it’s one hell of a trip.  awake at night fearing your closest friends are aiming their own
To reach those lofty heights you need to take risks, and the
biggest payoffs are always the hardest to predict with the most
to lose if they fail. Temptation is high, and repeated losses can
make you Reckless with your own resources and those of your
allies. To master your own faults you need to learn patience,
before a downward spiral of failure destroys you and everyone
you work alongside.
— Regain Willpower when a mission or project you have
invested in leads to a substantial victory or pay-off.
Hoarder
Change is coming. There’s always a new threat on the
horizon, a new peril beyond the predictions of the Sleeping
world. It’s impossible to fully anticipate what you’ll need in
the future, so you prepare for everything. Like the dragons of
legend, you hold on to the things that have use to you. Your
stockpile may include weaponry, rare books, fuel, canned food,
or even boxes of wigs and stacks of archived newspapers. Your
hoard is an extension of your sense of self, something to keep
close by and access in times of need.
This state of readiness has advantages. Self-Reliance is a
boon for any mage, and it frees you from doubt and distraction
enough to focus on the refinement of your magick. You may
measure your wealth in an unconventional way, but you know
money isn’t as useful as the resources it can provide. Others
may scoff at your habits, but you’re rarely found wanting when
the same challenge arises a second time.
The threat of developing a harmful Compulsion is real for
you. Preparing for every danger can turn the act of stockpiling
into a comfort mechanic. If you don’t keep yourself in check,
you gather resources with no practical use, store material to
excess, and lose yourself to a labyrinthine cage of your own
creation to feel safe in the face of increasing uncertainty.
— Regain Willpower when you overcome a significant
challenge with the aid of your own stockpiled assets.
Machiavelli
Power is everything: it’s in a finely tailored suit, a stern
word, an endorsement from an influential ally. Power is nothing.
42 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Power is a carefully crafted illusion, not something you can
possess, but what you can take for yourself from others when
the impulse arises. You pursue your ambitions with a ruthless
clarity, exercising deceit and intimidation where necessary.
You’re not needlessly cruel — it benefits you to be loved and
feared. But when you must choose, it’s far better to be feared.
Your Cunning is your greatest weapon. When your oppo-
nents can estimate your true strength, they can prepare for you,
so you never let them see it. You use bravado and misdirection
to present a mask of false power to drive away weaker threats.
You hide your greatest power — when your enemies finally
strike, they’re already ten steps behind.
What you can do, anyone can do. Sometimes you lie
daggers at your back. Paranoia urges you to deeper levels of
secrecy and ever more tangled webs of deceit. You want to be
trusted, and you want to trust in return, but the simple truth
is no one is truly trustworthy,
— Regain Willpower when a lie about your true capabilities
aids you in thwarting an enemy’s plans.
Mediator
Extremist views are a bane to rational dialogue. The modern
need for people to oppose one another in increasingly binary
debates, pushing down all disagreement and dismissing even
the most rational of counterpoints, creates an increasingly
fractured and uncaring society. You refuse to let the world rip
itself apart. By teaching those around you to be mindful of
their own mistakes and prejudices, you can help align their
thoughts and heal the rifts before they become too wide.
You’re a creature of Sympathy. No view is truly alien;
even the most irrational ideas are forged by experience. When
you disagree with someone, you can see the events and per-
sonal concerns shaping their position. Trading experiences
and perspectives and introducing new ideas is a crucial step
in changing people for the better. Finding common ground
between two opposing forces and seeding it with the potential
for agreement invigorates you.
Spending so much time contemplating other viewpoints
leaves little time to nurture your own. Plagued by Indecision,
you struggle to commit fully to your own ideals or positions. If
you’re not careful, you become a perpetual fence-sitter, unable
to take a stand in any conflict because you’re too committed
to seeking compromise.
— Regain Willpower when you resolve a conflict by making
opposing figures reach a compromise or agreement.
Mogul
You’re at the forefront of a major enterprise or industry,
steering innovators and market leaders towards success. This
authority can take many forms — you almost certainly have
substantial Fame, Influence or Resources at your disposal,
but a Mage can also demonstrate their authority with Backup,
a Cult, Legend, or Status. You’re an icon of success in your
chosen field, a benchmark for the Sleeping and Awakened
worlds to aspire to.
Ambition guides your every action. You might be a canny
investor, a skilled inventor, or an influential media magnate.
Your public contributions might be your own creations or the
projects of others you’ve guided towards success. What matters
to you is discovering excellence in the world and making it
public, forever ensuring your name and mark is attached to
greatness.  In difficult times, the Pride you feel when those closest
Striving to be the biggest fish in the pond is emotionally
taxing. Taking first place means everyone’s the competition.
Jealousy arises each time a new challenger enters the field and
each time someone beyond your influence celebrates a victory.
Sometimes your own judgment and excellence isn’t enough,
and you give in to the temptation to sabotage and belittle your
rivals. You create a lot of enemies this way, but in the end isn’t
everyone a potential enemy already?
— Regain Willpower when your or your subordinate’s
achievement garners professional acclaim from your peers or
is substantially broadcast to the Sleeping world.
Nepotist
You can’t save everyone. Even the wealthiest and most
powerful mages struggle to improve lives on a global level, and
creatures more powerful than you have destroyed themselves
trying. You learned to choose your battles and dedicate your
time to those closest to you — your family and closest friends.
You don’t wantonly spoil your loved ones; your greatest joy
comes from giving them the tools, responsibilities, and oppor-
tunities to fulfill their own potential.
to you achieve success grants you clarity and purpose. When
they succeed, they pay their success forward in kind. In this
way legacies are created. In this way empires are built and
maintained. You can’t always be there for the people who
matter to you, but knowing they can take the reins in your
absence reassures you. 
This reassurance gives way to Frustration when your ex-
pectations aren’t met. When you entrust a duty to another you
expect a return on your trust, time, and effort. Failure gnaws
at you and plays havoc with your judgment. Their failures are
a reflection of your own, and you’re quick to scold or correct
any mistakes made in your name. Worse than failure is when
Chapter Two: Creating Rich Characters 43
those close to you refuse the crown you offer. After all you’ve
fought to achieve, having your legacy rejected cuts deep. When it
happens you lash out in anger, denying your loved ones utterly.
— Regain Willpower when a close acquaintance or family
member succeeds at a duty or responsibility which you have
entrusted to them.
Steward is so enmeshed in the public consciousness you can close a
You defend what they won. You maintain what they created.
Where the head leads, the hands act in their stead. Some call
you steward, seneschal. Some regard you as nothing more than
the silent figure in your master’s shadow. As the custodian of
a home, business, legacy, or place of power, you have control
over a great deal of authority which you wield on another’s
behalf. You may be a servant in name only — your master may
be long dead, your order inactive or shattered, your oaths of
service impossible to complete. It doesn’t matter. What you
now have, you protect with total dedication, because it isn’t
yours to lose.
The Dedication you show in defending your domain baffles
your colleagues. Gifted with wealth, power, and responsibility,
you resist the temptation to squander what you’ve been given.
Instead, you choose to nurture, to build and expand, and to
protect with force if you must.
Command without the crown is a pitiable job. History
remembers the king, not the vassal. When you give yourself
over too much to your duties you risk Self-Sublimation as your
own wants and objectives become alien to you. Blind loyalty
can break your sense of self over time, and if you don’t take
measures to acknowledge your personal needs and desires you
may lose yourself to identity-crushing subservience, and eternal
duty without reward.
— Regain Willpower when you defend a substantial asset
entrusted to you from attack, or significantly expand an asset
on another’s behalf.
New Merits and Flaws
The upper echelons of society live their lives in an arena
where fame and knowledge are weapons. The following Merits
and Flaws help emphasize the perils of this battlefield.
Dilettante (1 or 3 pt. Mental Merit)
You have an expansive skillset. Whether through long
periods of isolated reading, a privileged upbringing with easy
access to learning material and recreational learning, or some
form of mental conditioning, you have managed to retain an
impressive foundation of knowledge in many skills.
As a 1 pt. Merit, untrained Skill rolls no longer suffer a
+1 increase to their difficulty.  fresh tissues because you consider socks unsanitary. Perhaps
As a 3 pt. Merit, your ability to retain residual knowledge is
superhuman, and you can recall highly specialized and abstract
information from the most tangential of sources. Drawing on
those past experiences aids you in your present endeavors.
44 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Gain one automatic success on a complementary roll (Mage
20, p. 389) or an untrained Skill roll.
Fail Upwards (2 pt. Social Merit)
Some people are too rich, too famous, or just too damned
suave to fail. Even when they do, they come out smelling like
roses. You’re one of those people. Your reputation for success
factory and spin it as giving thousands of people a vacation,
or cause an oil spill and be lauded for cleaning up the beaches
afterward. No matter what you do, someone approves, and the
approval is all they remember in the long run. 
Once per story when you botch a Social roll in public you
can use this Merit to turn the roll into a single success. Doing
so doesn’t change the blunder you’ve made, but your reputation
and natural charm causes the incident to be interpreted as
ironic or humorously transgressive. The target of your blunder
should still feel slighted, and the social faux pas isn’t concealed
in any way, but the overall public view of the incident supports
you for your candor and ability to “tell it like it is.”
Screw the Rules (4 pt. Social Merit)
Patience is a vice. Sometimes a plan hinges on a specific
item or location but acquiring it takes time. When you can’t
afford time, you find other ways to pay. Whether you’re sourcing
a Tang Dynasty figurine for a lunchtime meeting or purchasing
an entire airline company for the sake of a mid-air heist later
that week, you have ways of fast-tracking the bureaucratic
process to get what you want, when you want it.
Once per story arc you can speed up a purchase, paying
bribes and hiring experts to have the paperwork signed and
the item in your possession in a matter of hours. Goods and
services require an additional dot of Resources to be fast-tracked
in this way. Rare and illegal goods (such as military hardware or
stolen art) may require a substantially higher level of Resources
at Storyteller discretion.
The item or service must be for sale for this Merit to
work — it cannot force a task or transaction from an unwilling
buyer — but at Storyteller discretion it may make it possible
to acquire the item through illegal means, such as organized
theft. Be warned, hurried efforts (whether they succeed or fail)
to acquire rare and valuable goods in this way risk leaving an
evidence trail incriminating you.
Eccentric (1 or 2 pt. Flaw)
You possess an unusual habit or belief which the typical
person finds unsettling. Perhaps you collect your bodily fluids
in jars to stop the government harvesting your genetic code,
or you walk around your home with your feet wrapped in
you refuse the opinion of scientists or academics because you
don’t trust the opinions of elitist “experts,” or you refuse to
travel in red cars because doing makes other vehicles angry at
you and goads them into driving you off of the road.
 Your unconventional behavior inflicts a +2 penalty on
Social rolls to make a positive first impression. As a 1 pt. Flaw
your eccentricity is a personal hindrance you struggle to sup-
press from others, at least in the short term. As a 2pt. Flaw it
is a belief or habitual compulsion which impacts your public
life, making it almost impossible to hide.
Financial Partner 2-3 or 3-4 pt. Flaw
Prerequisite: Requires Resources •••• or higher
You aren’t in complete control of your finances. One or
more individuals monitor your spending and are able to exert
limits over your Resources. This Flaw can represent many things,
such as a business partner, a corporate board member, a fellow
guardian of an ancient treasure, an estranged spouse, or even a
parent or child with power of attorney. While not completely
antagonistic, your Financial Partner shares your Resources
and uses them to pursue their own agenda, sometimes making
significant purchases of their own or restricting your activities.
The value of the Flaw determines the Partner’s animosity.
At 2 pts. (3 pts. for Resources 7 or higher) the Partner has fi-
nancial needs and investments of their own which temporarily
reduces your Resources Background by the value of the Flaw
once per story arc. 
At 3pts. (4 pts. for Resources 7 or higher) the Partner has
a controlling hand over your Resources, with the power to
scrutinize and limit access to your finances. You’re expected
to justify significant expenditures. If they’re at odds with your
Partner’s interests, they can be blocked. Repeated efforts to
bypass or deceive your Financial Partner may result in them
attempting a hostile takeover for your Resources, varying from
corporate litigation to assassination attempts.
Chapter Two: Creating Rich Characters 45
 Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
— Oscar Wilde
Freeze Frame’s evening gown was the only pop of color at the
table. The other three seated were dressed in the typical black and
white formal wear expected of older, wealthy men. Soft yellow light
illuminated the top deck of the yacht they dined on, which brightened
the hue of her sky-blue dress.
The dress wasn’t hers, or at least it wasn’t her money that paid
for it. Kreutz, the aging Hermetic next to her, bought it. If the cabal
was going to infiltrate a party with Syndicate operatives attending, he
told her, everyone needed to look the part. While tempted to mention
that rich people her age, the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley, wore the
same T-shirts and jeans she did, she let him buy it for her. She’d profiled
the Technocrats on the other side of the table; they were the type who’d
fawn over a millennial who followed a pervious generation’s rules. Plus,
the pained look on Kreutz’s face as he spent almost a million dollars
on some cloth was worth it.
So, there they were, a Hermetic and an Adept, trying to keep
their targets distracted long enough for the rest of the cabal to set up
wards in the lower decks. Kreutz brought up sports, and it worked for
a while, but the conversation waned.
The two men, one just young enough to be her son and the other
old enough to be her dad, gave each other a look.
“Well,” said the older Technocrat, “This was lovely, but I think
it’s time for my associate and I to make one final round and call it
a night. Stuart?”
The man rose from the table. Kreutz gave Freeze Frame a
panicked look.
He spoke into her mind. They’re on to us!
Freeze Frame shot him a half-smile and said aloud, to no one in
particular, “If you were given ten billion dollars, how’d you spend it?”
Kreutz raised an eyebrow. The older Syndicate operative tapped
his seated partner’s shoulder.
Stuart didn’t get up. “I’d never let it go,” he said. “Why spend
ten billion when you could invest and get a trillion!”
“Stuart—” the older agent started. Then he spoke again, with an
offended tone. “A free windfall and you’d treat it like business as usual?
With some small expenditures, you could buy yourself a politician, get
your name up in lights…”
Freeze Frame started to say something to keep the argument
going, but Kreutz interrupted.
“You give the money. To everyone! As much as you can! It may
not pay for itself in the long-term, but with the good will that you’d
create…”
As the discussion escalated into a shouting match — an excellent
distraction — Freeze Frame sipped her wine. It cost two hundred dollars
a glass but tasted no better than what she bought at the grocery store.
Chapter Three: Monetary Magik 47
 Privilege Upon Privilege
If money can’t buy happiness, it sure can buy
everything else. The wealthiest people hold an
unprecedented amount of power and agency,
far more than anything those in their class
would have dreamed of even a decade ago. With
enough assets, anything and everything is for
sale: castles, yachts, jets, governments, media,
people. With enough planning and chicanery,
wealth creates dynasties that last for centuries.
Rotes
The following Rotes are organized by Sphere. Rotes that
require multiple Spheres are placed into the Sphere with the
greatest influence on its Effect.
Correspondence
With effortless access to transport, the world of the wealthy
is already small. With Correspondence, nothing is off limits.
Point of Sale (•• Correspondence/ • En-
tropy)
Economies are based on the eternal tug of war between
supply and demand, or at least that’s how the Syndicate prefers
it. While the concept of scarcity exists in the ruling paradigm,
there’s always someone who needs something, and another
person who’s more than happy to sell it to them. For that to
happen, they must find each other.
This handy rote has served mages for years, letting them
find exactly what they need. It’s so useful, it’s no surprise the
Technocracy has brought it into the ruling paradigm via map
apps packed with useful algorithms. Most mages outside of the
Conventions, save for those who can program or build their own
phones, stick to more arcane methods. When the NWO can
pinpoint your location with perfect accuracy, it’s best to leave
the smartphone at home.
System: When the mage expresses a desire to buy or acquire
something, Correspondence 2 lets them see the closest place
where they can get it, and Entropy 1 pinpoints its availability.
With one success, the mage knows the closest place to obtain
what they need and exactly how to get there. Further degrees
of success reveal more details such as what the seller wants the
mage to pay or any potential dangers while shopping. Using
this spell at Correspondence 3 or higher allows the mage to see
multiple locations and outcomes.
This is always a coincidental effect.
48 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Now mix it with magick. When the driving force of society
meets the building blocks of reality, the affluent willworker finds
herself in a unique position. Prosperity and all its incarnations
and expressions can be created, manipulated, and inflicted on
others. Some rich mages even bring their opulence into their
worldview, adopting Paradigms that embrace their wealth as a
matter of faith.
These are just a sample of what money and magick can do.
Like wealth itself, the sky’s the limit.
My Summer Home
(••• Correspondence)
Mages often have multiple places they call home. Going
back and forth between these locations is a hassle, and worse,
creates clear travel patterns that unfriendly parties can examine.
While this rote trades physical travel patterns for ones detected
by magick, many willworkers consider it a fair trade, even with
the potential Paradox. As the mage further understands the
universe, this spell becomes the root of what some mages call
“Awakened Architecture,” where gates are an inherent component
of a building’s design.
System: The mage places an inscription or similar alter-
ation on doorways, stairways, or any other transitional spaces
in a building they own. When the mage taps on the inscription
when entering the space, Correspondence 3 opens and closes
a gate to the nearest building with the same inscription, no
matter how far it is.
This effect only needs one success, as if teleporting within
immediate perception. At Correspondence 4, these gates be-
come permanent, automatically teleporting the mage when the
inscription is tapped.
This effect is vulgar when witnessed by Sleepers, or when
a Sleeper knows the distance the mage traveled is impossible.
Corporate Oversight (•••• Correspon-
dence/ ••• Life/ • Mind)
Just like regular mages, wealthy mages often need to balance
their magickal life with their mundane life. This rote allows
them to be in multiple places at once, usually on their own
properties or company buildings. This spell didn’t just rise out
of convenience: Having wealth and power without following the
Technocratic paradigm makes the mage an obvious target. With
this spell, they can appear “normal” for a few precious moments
as they plan their next move.
The Technocracy developed a similar spell to observe multi-
ple places under their influence at once, and as an intimidation
method for Reality Deviants. It’s passed off as an advanced
telephony technique, which works as long as no one realizes that
the “hologram” they’re speaking to is in the room with them.
Who developed this spell first, and thus what its real
intent must be, is a popular argument among mages in lower
socioeconomic classes.
System: Correspondence 4 allows the mage to be in multiple
places at once, Life 3 produces a perfect duplicate of the mage’s
body for each of those places, and Mind 1 lets the mage process
sensory input from everywhere they are, making them capable
of multiple conversations or actions at once.
Each degree of success is one location the mage can be
beyond her current location. If all the places the mage wants
to be are places she directly owns, such as multiple homes and
businesses, each degree of success allows her to project into two
locations beyond the current one.
This is always a vulgar effect.
Entropy
Unlike their Sleeping friends, a rich mage isn’t bound
to the laws of fate and decay. With Entropy, they can shield
themselves from the slings and arrows of misfortune — or direct
them at their enemies.
Ground’s Bounty (• Entropy/ • Matter)
Created during the American Gold Rush and further
developed during the Oil Boom, this spell lets mages sense the
presence of metals, oil, and other substances in the earth created
by decay or pressure over time. While discovering deposits of
gold, silver, and precious gems are obvious uses of this spell, it can
also be used to detect the presence of pipes, wires, or any object
buried within the earth that’s capable of rust, fracture, or rot.
This spell is normally used among wealthy mages as a means
to find new resources for mine expansion, but it’s also devel-
oped a use among the lower classes. Knowing where and how
to prevent — or sometimes create — a burst pipe or an electrical
surge is particularly useful.
System: The mage touches the ground and focuses on the
substance they want to find. Entropy 1 detects the presence of
natural processes of decay or destruction behind its creation or
inevitable destruction, and Matter 1 identifies the object itself.
One success detects the object’s presence. Each further
degree of success reveals a detail about it, such as its purity or
how far beneath the earth it’s buried. This spell only detects
objects within the mage’s immediate environment.
This is always a coincidental effect.
Chapter Three: Monetary Magik 49
Bribing Fate (••• Entropy)
Understanding Entropy means understanding that even
those who wield it aren’t immune from its effects. Everything
ends, sooner than anyone realizes. However, that doesn’t mean
fate can’t be delayed, or that everything leading up to that
ending can’t be forced to go the mage’s way. Wealthy mages
can buy off destiny.
This spell is one of the many ways mages bend the current
situation to their favor. It’s also one of the most expensive, and
rarely seen among lower classes. It’s often joked that this spell
is why rich people rarely face consequences for their actions.
System: The mage physically destroys a large amount of
money or resources. He may burn stacks of currency or stock
certificates, slash an original Monet to tatters, or sink his fanci-
est yacht. Until the end of the story, treat his Resources rating
as one lower. The sacrificed item cannot be repaired, even by
magickal means.
Every degree of success on the Arete roll goes into a tempo-
rary pool of successes. When the player fails or botches a roll,
they may spend one of these to guarantee a success on their
next action. While it cannot protect the mage from the failure
or botch’s immediate physical or social consequences, the event
sets off a chain of events that ultimately lead to that next action’s
success. The pool disappears at the end of the story.
This is a coincidental effect, unless the next action’s success
would normally be impossible.
Black Swan (••••• Entropy/ •••• Mind)
In economics, Black Swan theory is the concept that some
things cannot be predicted or accounted for in markets. These
events, such as natural disasters, pandemics, military operations,
and the surprise closures of major institutions, cause major and
devastating effects on the financial world. The Black Swan is a
sign of pure chaos, a reminder to investors that there are some
things that can’t be priced in.
Masters of Entropy excel in creating Black Swans. In some
cases, a Black Swan might be a last-resort method to provide cover
for a major magickal working. The Technocracy occasionally
engages in a Black Swan event to prompt a “shock doctrine,”
where a disaster makes predatory or authoritarian action more
acceptable to the public.
Though most Black Swans mages create aren’t as dramatic
as a war or a bank collapsing, the effect they have on the world
around them can seem just as dramatic.
System: To create a Black Swan, the mage must envision
the central event, and who is involved in it. Entropy 5 shifts
the fates of those involved, and Mind 4 supplements the fate
manipulation, subtly molding the victim’s minds to allow what
is to happen, as well as creating a sense of shock among any
witnesses. Other Spheres, such as Forces, Matter, or Life, may
be added for environmental Black Swans.
50 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Creating a Black Swan is a Great Work (M20, p. 541-542)
requiring ten successes to complete. Each roll for the ritual takes
five hours. The player whose character casts the ritual must name
at least two established Storyteller characters involved in the event.
When it is complete, the Black Swan event occurs in the next chapter.
This is always a vulgar effect.
Forces
With Forces, the wealthy’s power over nature and technology
become absolute. Nothing escapes their senses, and there is no
act of god that happens without their permission.
Unrestricted Gossip (• Forces)
Entertainment news is filled with the comings and goings
of the ultra-rich. Tabloids spread salacious stories of celebrities,
some based in distorted truth. Television shows dramatize the
lives of the rich and famous, showing how one revealed secret
can destroy a dynasty.
This spell is one of the ways mages play their part in the
intrigue game. When it’s active, a whisper and a shout are one
and the same.
System: Forces 1 heightens the mage’s hearing, allowing
them to hear all conversations in a room, no matter what volume
their subjects are speaking at. This also works if a mage puts their
ear to the wall, or if the voices they’re trying to listen to are cov-
ered by a loud noise like a jet engine or a white noise machine.
One success allows the mage to hear their immediate sur-
roundings. Each further success extends this range by another
room or by twenty feet, whichever is more applicable to the
situation.
This is always a coincidental effect.
Aura of Superiority (••• Forces/ ••• Mind)
While some keep a sense of modesty, the rich have an inher-
ent sense of superiority. They have the best of everything, and
some have lived their entire lives unaware of hardship. If they
experience life at its best, why bother with the rest of humanity?
This spell takes this mindset and transforms it into an
actual, wieldable force. When the aura pushes its victim out,
it’s a manifestation of the truth: they have no right to be in the
caster’s presence.
System: This spell converts the electrochemical signals in the
brain that comes with thoughts of superiority into a telekinetic
force, creating a strong repelling field three feet around the mage.
Every round, every target caught in the area must roll Strength
+ Athletics against the spellcasting roll to avoid being knocked
away. Anyone knocked away is rendered prone.
This aura can also defend the caster from ranged weapons.
Each degree of success increases the difficulty of any ranged
attack to a maximum of +3.
This is always a vulgar effect.
The Sky’s Ruler
(••••• Forces/ •••• Entropy)
While human action alters weather patterns, it can be
said that the rich have driven that action since the Industrial
Revolution. This spell turns that into something more personal,
and, sometimes, for the overall better.
With this spell, mages can change entire weather patterns,
warping a calm hurricane season into a constant deluge of
Category 5 cyclones, or ensuring that an entire region never sees
a snowstorm worse than a few inches. While the spell is rarely
permanent, it’s often impressive enough to make a seasoned
Technocrat think twice before tangling with the mage.
System: Forces 5 conjures or ends the weather itself, while
Entropy 4 reassembles the pattern behind the phenomena into
something the mage approves of. The mage must be present in
the region where they wish the weather pattern to change to
cast the spell.
This effect is a ritual that needs fifteen successes to complete.
Each roll for the ritual takes one hour.
This is always a vulgar effect.
Life
The wealthy mage not only masters their body, they can
master the land around them. Blight, disease, and famine be-
come trifling nuisances.
Stress Detector (• Life)
Even a life of luxury brings stress. In fact, many wealthy
people claim their lives are more stressful than those of a lower
class. Perhaps this is because of the social pressures their peers
exert on them, or the high demands of their careers. Whatever
the reason, there’s plenty of stress to go around, and the mage
knows how to see it.
Mages who use this spell say that viewing stress at work in
a subject’s body is different than reading it in a subject’s aura.
It often appears as a pale red mist, seeping through organs and
constricting them.
System: Life 1 lets the mage see if their target is under the
effects of financial stress and exactly where it physically affects
the subject. The mage doesn’t know why the target is stressed,
and must either read the mood, talk to the subject, or use a
Mind effect to discern the cause.
Each degree of success lets the mage see one more person’s
stress level besides their intended target.
This is always a coincidental effect.
Wondrous Fertilizer (••• Life)
A bountiful harvest has been a sign of wealth for centuries.
Though we live in times when a food surplus is considered a
potential risk to the market, the idea of having plenty and want-
ing for nothing still brings an instinctual respect that mankind
associates with the rich.
This spell taps into that ancient admiration, ensuring a
bountiful crop no matter where it’s grown or how harsh its
environment. Sleeping farmers who see the results of this effect
spend years trying to replicate what they’ve seen, never realizing
that the potential has always been within, if only they’d Awaken.
System: Life 3 influences a plant’s structure from within
the seed, shifting its genetic material to encourage growth and
meet the needs of the land around it. If used on an already
grown plant, it enters a second growth period or becomes ready
for harvest out of season.
One success ensures a bountiful crop on either one large
plant, such as a fruit tree, or one square meter of smaller plants
such as flowers, wheat, or cotton. The crop is twice its natural
yield. Further degrees of success double the yield exponentially.
If cast on planted seeds or sprouts with actual fertilizer, this is a
coincidental effect. With access to farming infrastructure or aircraft,
it’s coincidental even when deployed on an entire field, though
the mage would need to cast it on every additional large plant or
square meter. If cast on a fully grown plant, this is a vulgar effect.
Bet Your Life on It
(••••• Life / ••• Entropy / •• Matter)
Immortality is one of magick’s greatest promises, but few
ever achieve it. Though the human lifespan increases, with many
people living longer than a century, the Paradox living forever
brings threatens to be so immense that those who achieve im-
morality rarely enjoy it.
In a game of chance, the mage puts their opponent’s lifeforce
into the pot alongside any other bets. The winner takes all. Two
kinds of people generally enter into these wagers: the ultra-rich,
and the desperate. For a millionaire, risking a few thousand
(or hundred thousand) dollars to potentially gain extra time is
hardly a tough decision. The desperate may be willing to lose
everything to live just a little longer, or give up a year or two
or ten for a life-changing amount of money — whether they’re
spending it on themselves or a loved one in dire need.
This spell is normally cast by mages on mortals, but other
mages and even Night-Folk have found themselves on the other
side of the gambling table.
System: Life 5 causes the massive biological changes that
stealing lifeforce brings, exhausting cells and damaging tissue.
Entropy 3 manipulates probability to ensure a fair match. Matter
2 serves as the method of transference: as soon as the winner
touches their earnings, the loser’s lifeforce transfers into them.
Invoking the Spheres is only half of the effect. The game’s
winner is determined by an opposed roll with each pool deter-
mined by how the player approaches the game, such as Charisma
+ Etiquette for psyching out an opponent, or Intelligence +
Enigmas for counting cards. If the caster loses, their opponent
regains any Willpower spent. If the caster wins, they heal Lethal
damage by the degree of success or receive an equivalent bonus
to resist poisons or disease for the rest of the story. The loser
takes the degree of success in Lethal damage.
Chapter Three: Monetary Magik 51
 Once per story, the winning caster also gains an Attribute
specialty that matches their opponent’s qualities — a Wits specialty
when up against a clever opponent, an Appearance specialty
when facing a stunning opponent, etc. This is in place for the
rest of the chapter.
When casting this spell on mages or other Night-Folk, the
winner also takes a number of points (i.e., blood points, Rage
points, quintessence, etc.) equivalent to their degrees of success
from the loser. This is converted to the winner’s type of points
one-for-one, and added to their pool. This may temporarily
take them above their normal maximum; once the points are
spent, they’re gone.
Matter
While Matter and wealth are often associated with gems
and precious metals, the Sphere is good for more than simply
increasing the mage’s treasures. Physical currency, crafted items,
and natural resources like oil and coal also fall within its domain.
Seal of Quality (• Matter)
Even the finest crafted objects have flaws. Though they’re
not visible to the naked eye, mages can examine an object on a
molecular level and point out exactly what went wrong with its
construction. This is useful for determining an object’s value
or authenticity.
System: When the mage holds an object, Matter 1 separates
its components and lets the mage see flaws and damages that
would otherwise be hidden or too small for the human eye to see.
One success reveals the flaws. Every degree of success after
provides more information, such as whether they’re inherent or
were introduced after construction, if applying pressure would
break the item, and so on.
This is always a coincidental effect.
To Personal Specifications (••• Matter)
Sometimes even wealthy Sleepers can’t get what they want — a
rival booked the Presidential Suite first, or their town car broke
down in the middle of nowhere, and it’s either accept a ride in
a clunker or wait hours for a luxury replacement to arrive. Not
so with wealthy mages. When they borrow their friend’s junker
of a car or settle for an average hotel room, they can use Matter
to temporarily make objects and places the opulent things that
they’re used to. With a wave of the hands, even the shoddiest
material becomes something glorious.
System: The mage reaches towards what they want to alter,
and Matter 3 makes the object moldable. With their mind’s eye,
the mage reshapes parts of the object into more suitable parts.
For every degree of success, the player may determine a way
their mage transforms an aspect of the object into something
more beautiful, sturdier, or made from higher quality materials.
This Effect lasts until the scene ends.
52 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
This is usually a coincidental effect if the alterations aren’t
obviously out of place.
Money Printer (••••• Matter/ •• Prime)
This spell was developed by a cabal of Hollow Ones looking
to strike it rich by cranking out sheets of cash from a desktop
printer. These days, it’s found more use among the wealthy.
When asked how this happened, the Hollowers answer bitterly:
it’s easier to believe the rich got richer.
Wealthy Awakened claim the real reason is that it’s harder
to trace the funds they create. Money and goods, like anything
else, are tracked through serial numbers or purchases. Even in
the digital age, the Technocracy is the master of the paper trail,
often employing non-magickal methods of hunting down their
enemies. The wealthy can mix new currency in among the old.
Though the money’s creation risks leaving magical signatures
for those who look too closely, by the time investigators crack
the code, the mage is long gone and the rest of their funds are
in circulation.
Traditionally, the object that becomes the so-called “money
printer” is an inkjet printer. These days, 3D printers are a more
popular choice.
System: The mage dedicates an object for the purpose of
creating currency or a good with a high currency value. Matter 5
expands the object’s capabilities, allowing it to print or produce
things regardless of the object’s size or the size of its products.
Prime 2 allows the items the object prints to be created from
nothing.
Each success raises a character’s Resources by 1, to a max-
imum of Resources 10, for the remainder of the chapter. Once
the money is spent, it’s gone.
For rich mages, this is usually a coincidental action when
printing currency or even valuables their class is expected to
have, such as jewelry. However, even if reality accepts this kind
of creation, a sudden flood of money into a market, or the
appearance of a gem larger than known record-holders draws
unwanted attention.
When rich mages print objects they shouldn’t have like rare
weaponry, or for mages who are printing more money or valu-
ables than their class is perceived to have, this is a vulgar effect.
Mind
All someone needs to do to change another person’s mind
is to make the change worth their while. If that doesn’t work,
Mind is a useful shortcut.
Market Research (•• Mind)
“What do you want?” It’s a simple question that’s nev-
ertheless hard to answer. Our conscious wrestles with our
unconsciousness, creating a heady mix of effervescent and
desperate desires. Often, a person says they want one thing, but
only learn too late what they truly desire.
 This spell cuts through the mind’s chaos and gets right to
the point. The target’s desires ring loud and clear, ready to be
exploited.
System: The mage makes eye contact with their target. Mind
2 scans his mind and finds his deepest desires, specifically those
than can be fulfilled right this moment.
Three successes identify a target’s desires, which reduces
the difficulty for any social manipulation on the target by 2.
Further degrees of success allow the mage to learn the desires of
one extra person in the room per success, with the same success
benefits for each individual target.
This is often a coincidental effect, unless the mage uses
a desire that the target has kept secret and does not otherwise
believe has been found.
FOMO (•••• Mind)
FOMO, or “The Fear of Missing Out,” is a worry that makes
a person think that if they don’t get on board with something,
they may never reap the material rewards or bask in its social
benefits. It’s the force behind fads, movements, and pyramid
schemes. At its most innocuous, it’s the need to attend a party
so you’re present when something memorable happens. It’s
also what makes people hand over their savings to get in on the
ground floor of exciting business opportunities, no matter how
strongly the corporate structure resembles a pyramid.
For mages, FOMO is a tool. The uncertainty it creates in
a person allows them to either make a recruitment pitch or
get a pesky interloper to look the other way. Among wealthy
mages, inducing FOMO is one way to keep their investors and
clientele loyal.
System: While making eye contact and having a conversation
with a target, the mage says something about a possible oppor-
tunity or event. Mind 4 forces the target’s mind to obsess over
it, driving them into a heightened state of anxiety that is either
resolved with time or actively pursuing the opportunity or event.
Four successes reduce difficulties for all social rolls to con-
vince the target to pursue the opportunity by 3 for the rest of
the scene. Alternatively, the mage may let the target stew in their
fears, reducing any social dice pools by the degree of success to
a maximum of –5 for the rest of the scene.
If the opportunity or event is within the target’s usual
interests, this is a coincidental effect.
Invincible Mindset
(••••• Mind/ optionally with •• Matter)
A wealthy lifestyle comes with high expectations: what
you’re supposed to wear, how to act, how to talk. Mages who
Chapter Three: Monetary Magik 53
have just inherited a windfall can have a hard time keeping all
the rules straight as they adapt. This can be psychologically or
even physically damaging.
Newly wealthy mages have ways around this. If the problem
is a matter of mental preparedness, what better way to overcome
it than to create a brand-new mind that’s more prepared than the
regular mage could ever be? Masters of Mind have an opportunity
to not only reshape their feelings and attitudes, but to wear and
discard them like clothing. The mage now has the best of both
worlds: a self prepared to deal with the challenges of wealth,
and a self that still remembers the little people.
System: The mage develops an alternative mindset, imag-
ining their ideal self, or how they believe they’re expected to
act. With an incantation, the mage assumes this new identity,
becoming this person for the rest of the scene. With the addi-
tion of Matter 2, the mage adapts a physical object she touches
to look the part: the battered handbag she bought at a big box
store becomes a one-of-a-kind designer purse.
A four-success ritual creates this new mindset for themselves
or for other people to use. Each roll is a half-hour of time. Future
rolls to don and remove the mindset only require one success.
If the mindset isn’t too out of line with the mage’s beliefs,
or the beliefs of the person they’re creating a mindset for, this
is a coincidental effect.
Prime
Primal force comes from all things, including humans’
determination to fulfill their desires. While the Syndicate sees
this as the Sphere’s main purpose, those outside the Convention
know that’s part of a greater whole. Still, wealthy mages can’t
deny its power.
Bank Run (• Prime)
This spell originated among the Syndicate. While it’s still
used in the Convention, it’s also made its way into other Awakened
factions, especially among those with materialistic paradigms. It
works on this presumption: if one aspect of primal force comes
from investment and the symbolic representation of capital, then
all banks, markets, and factories could serve as Nodes.
The spell is simple, but controversial outside of the Syndicate.
While its users argue they’re using a loophole to gain access to
what would normally be an enemy’s asset, its detractors fear its
widespread use is a Technocratic trap.
System: Prime 1 reveals the energy flow in financial and
industrial institutions. If they have a connection to the institu-
tions, the mage may use them as Nodes.
One success makes the primal force in these institutions visi-
ble. Using them as Nodes requires a connection to the institution
as determined by the Primal Ventures chart (Mage 20, p. 527).
This is a coincidental effect.
54 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Value Beyond Vision
(••• Prime/ •• Matter/ optionally
with ••• Correspondence)
As mages explore the primal forces of money, value, and
desire, they realize that these qualities all exist in their own wealth.
With enough personal financial value, the mage no longer needs
to depend on other institutions to draw Quintessence. They can
use their own fortunes as magickal power.
Mages well-versed in Prime and with a full understanding
of its money-related aspects can even use this ability to power
their allies, granting them Quintessence in the same way a parent
grants a child an allowance.
System: Prime 3 allows the mage to draw Quintessence from
the money or assets they personally own. Matter 2 draws this
force from whatever asset the mage uses. If the mage chooses to
add Correspondence 3 to the effect, they may store and channel
Quintessence from any asset they own, no matter how far it is.
Otherwise, they must be touching the item in question.
One success channels a number of Quintessence points
equivalent to the character’s Prime rating into a physical object,
usually something expendable like cash. Anyone with Prime may
draw Quintessence from this physical object as if they were using
Tass. Two successes channel a number of Quintessence points
equivalent to the character’s Resources Background. Further
degrees of success add 1 Quintessence point to the total.
This is a coincidental effect.
Company in a Box
(••••• Prime/ ••• Life/ ••• Matter/ ••• Mind)
Developed by an Etherite in the late ‘60s, this spell is known
for its sheer audacity. To keep Technocrats off his trail, the
Etherite transformed his humble laboratory into a fully-fledged
corporate headquarters and factory, staffed with workers. He
spent the next year hiding in plain sight, amazed at his own
brilliance. Then, he vanished. No one knows if his enemies
finally got him, or the Paradox did.
While his notes on the ritual he created still exist, no one
has yet seen this spell successfully cast in the modern day. Then
again, when a tech startup appears out of the blue, some mages
can’t help but wonder…
System: Prime 5 is the glue that holds this effect together,
allowing Life 3 to create employees, Mind 3 to give those employ-
ees intelligence, and Matter 3 to make a physical headquarters.
According to the Etherite’s notes, he was shocked to find that
each employee had their own individual looks and personalities.
The effect is a ritual that requires 20 successes. Each individ-
ual roll represents five hours of work. When the ritual completes,
the player names the mage’s new company. The character gains
Rank (Company) 5, and may spend 15 dots between Allies,
Contacts, Resources, and Retainers to represent the company.
This is a vulgar effect. In addition to any Paradox taken
during its casting, the caster suffers a point of permanent Paradox.
At the beginning of every subsequent story while the company
is active, the mage suffers an additional point of permanent
Paradox. The company’s employees don’t count as witnesses
when determining Paradox.
Once per story, if the mage takes active measures to inte-
grate their company into wider society, such as entering their
products into the Sleeper marketplace or helping their employ-
ees establish lives outside of the company, at least one point of
permanent Paradox added by the ritual may be removed. What
qualifies as a measure worthy enough to remove the Paradox and
how many points that measure removes are at the Storyteller’s
discretion. This cannot remove permanent Paradox suffered
from other sources.
If the mage removes their last point of permanent Paradox placed
by the ritual, the company is fully integrated into the Consensus.
The company will no longer generate permanent Paradox, and its
employees are free to live their own individual lives.
Spirit
While spirits may seem like they have no need for riches,
everyone, including Umbral denizens, has a price.
Spirit of Capitalism (•• Spirit)
Money really can talk. So can the stock market, a mortgage,
and even the currency exchange desk at the airport. Wherever
trade, markets, or capital may be, so are their spirits. With some
coaxing and a little shop talk, these spirits eagerly gab about
almost anything, like the kind of clientele their home business
sees, or a missing person’s last moments.
System: The mage performs a task that appeases the business
spirit they wish to speak to, such as purchasing an item, signing
a contract, investing, or exchanging money. With Spirit 2, they
reach across the gauntlet to rouse the preferred spirit from sleep.
For each degree of success, the mage asks a question that re-
ceives a clear and truthful answer, no strings attached. Afterwards,
they may converse with the spirit and ask more questions, but
the spirit may request a favor or simply go back to sleep.
This is coincidental effect.
Plain Old Bribery
(••• Spirit/ ••• Prime /•• Matter)
Convincing a spirit to do anything, let alone something
like agreeing to be bound into a Fetish, is difficult. Some mag-
es succeed by sheer force of will, but rich mages have another
workaround: buying a spirit’s loyalty by transforming physical
assets into Essence.
System: Spirit 3 awakens the spirit, while Prime 3 and
Matter 2 rewrite a physical asset’s Pattern into pure Essence.
This Essence tempts the spirit, making them agree on the spot
to the mage’s requests.
The spell requires a sacrifice of at least two Resource dots,
to a maximum of eight at the Storyteller’s discretion. Each
degree of success reduces the sacrifice by one to a minimum
of one dot. When the spell is complete, the player removes the
required Resource dots, and the spirit follows the mage’s orders
for the rest of the story.
Unless the spirit is doing something outlandish, this is a
coincidental effect.
Leaving a Legacy
(••••• Spirit/ ••••• Entropy)
Even those rare mages who extend their lifespan rarely
match spirits’ longevity. Wealthy mages interested in securing
their descendants’ success view this as another potential as-
set. Some seek to protect their children, grandchildren, and
great-grandchildren. Others, confident their descendants will
Awaken, bequeath them with more guidance than their Avatars
alone can provide.
They gift their progeny with the family’s own guardian spirit,
a true pater familias to watch over the mage’s bloodline for what
they hope will be all eternity.
System: Spirit 5 creates a spirit, and Entropy 5 binds the
spirit to the fate of the mage and their descendants.
This is an extended ritual that requires 20 successes. Each
roll represents five hours. Upon completion, the player must
name the spirit, and split the successes amongst the spirit’s
Willpower, Rage, and Gnosis. It begins with 20 Essence. The
player and Storyteller collaborate to determine when the spirit
awakes, and its orders are.
This is a vulgar effect.
Time
Wealthy Sleepers spend their lifetimes attempting to change
the course of history. Wealthy mages don’t have to wait anywhere
near that long.
Storied History (•• Time)
If the measure of one’s wealth isn’t enough to separate high
society from the lowbrow, then heritage and history becomes the
dividing line. Those with old money tend to look down on the
nouveau riche. The richness of a person’s past, both literally and
figuratively, gives a rich person more authenticity than someone
who only recently came into their fortune.
This spell was developed out of that mindset, to help
determine who belongs in the elite’s social circle and who just
stumbled in. It unfurls a person’s history like a film reel, ready
for the mage’s scrutiny.
System: The mage maintains eye contact with a person, and
Time 2 lets them comb through their target’s past.
Each degree of success grants the mage one relevant fact
about the target’s past. While these facts are true, they’re seen
through the target’s perspective, and may not necessarily be
the full story.
This is a coincidental effect.
Chapter Three: Monetary Magik 55
Insider Trading
(••• Time/ ••• Entropy/ • Mind)
Markets can be unpredictable. Even the Syndicate find
themselves dealing with Black Swans and market corrections
that turn into something far worse. When the going gets rough,
there’s only one person who can save their portfolio: the mage’s
past self.
While this spell was developed by a group of Awakened
stock traders to help their bottom line, it’s caught on as an
all-purpose panic button for every kind of crisis.
System: With Time 3, the mage dilates time. She examines
her timeline and determines methods to avoid the unwanted out-
come via Entropy 3, and with Mind 1 transmits the information
through the dilation into her mind from up to one week ago.
When the mage is in a dangerous situation, the player
declares how long ago they want their mage’s warning to trans-
mit, then rolls. For each degree of success, the player chooses a
different course of action to head off the unwanted circumstance,
and play continues as if that preparation was always in place.
This is a vulgar effect.
Paradigms
The most enduring paradigms cross all social
barriers, even those of class. Still, some unique
magickal philosophies emerge among the
wealthy. These four are the most common.
Everything
Has Value
Every economic system uses value as a
concept. Everything is worth something to
someone, and that worth can be perceived, understood, and
manipulated. Value is more than just the amount of currency
needed to acquire something, though many mainstream econo-
mists use it as their standard metric. It’s an intangible but vitally
important concept to life.
Followers of this paradigm understand that and proceed
to its logical conclusion. Everything, from the clothes on a
person’s back to the beings that traverse the Deep Umbra,
has an inherent value. When a practitioner tells a fellow mage
“everything has a price,” they’re not engaging in cliché. They
know that price, and understand its intricacies. Their magick
comes from manipulating it.
While this can be used for traditional workings like the
alchemical milestone of turning lead into gold, practitioners
use it for much, much more. Enhancing their body increases
56 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Future Proof
(••••• Time/ ••••• Matter/ ••• Entropy)
“Nothing lasts forever.” It’s a phrase meant to humble peo-
ple, to remind them that everything is evanescent. A powerful
mage knows better. Not only can things last forever, they can
make them last forever.
This spell is usually reserved for objects the mage considers
too precious or useful to let go. The object stands outside of
time and adjusts to modern aesthetics. Eventually, it’ll change
into a completely new object with the same purpose. For exam-
ple, a slow but reliable laptop in an Ecstatic’s parlor was once a
typewriter. The caster retains perfect familiarity with the object
no matter what shape it takes.
System: Time 5 cocoons the object from age, Matter 5 alters
its shape when necessary, and Entropy 3 prevents wear and tear.
Two successes preserve any object the mage can hold in
two hands. Three successes preserve objects up to seven feet in
length. Four successes preserve vehicles. Anything bigger than
a vehicle follows the “Feats of Time Magick” chart (Mage 20, p.
505). If a transformed object requires a different skill to use, the
player may choose to use the object’s original skill if its rating is
higher than the new required skill.
This is a vulgar effect.
its value, transporting to other realms is buying their way in,
and summonings are nothing more than a business negotiation.
Exactly what determines an object’s inherent base value is a
mystery among the paradigm’s practitioners. Their answers are
based on the society they were raised in. Some believe that just
as humankind creates its own reality, it creates its own values.
Others claim a higher force imbues every object with a specific
value at the time of its creation.
More is More
Too much of a good thing is a great thing.
Accumulation of resources — especially valuable ones — is
power. Sure, everyone claims they respect humble lifestyles. They
participate in performative poverty challenges: feed your family
on $5.00 a week; go a month without buying anything. But when
the time’s up, they fill their shopping carts again.
Gathering things and keeping them for as long as possible
makes life worth living. It doesn’t matter what you’re buying;
simply having a higher collective total than someone else is
enough. The man who only has more dirt than his enemies still
has all the power he needs to bury them. Typically, practitioners
collect liquid funds, real estate, grimoires, magical instruments,
or whatever the mage feels would make them more powerful if
they had it en masse.
 If gaining things is an act of power, then losing those things
is an act of weakness. Following this paradigm means holding
on to gains, even if it ensures that others go without. In practice,
their magick focuses on scarcity, whether it’s keeping the mage
safe from it, or inflicting it on their enemies. When the mage
casts spells, it is born from a place of superiority, every working
the cosmic manifestation of the phrase, “I have more than you.”
Philanthropy in All Things
There will always be people on top. Whether the wealthy
believe they earned their way to that position or were lifted by
their ancestors’ prosperity, they’re the cream of the crop. They
have the money and power to prove it.
Despite being the de facto winners of the rat race, prac-
titioners refuse to bask in their superiority. Those who have
more have an obligation to help the less fortunate. This is for
both emotional and mystical reasons. It’s difficult to enjoy a
finer lifestyle when others outside their door suffer, and so it’s
important to share the wealth — literally. The art of personal
sacrifice — to take something that undeniably belongs to you
and give it to someone who needs it — is inherently magickal.
Practitioners don’t settle for random acts of kindness. The
difference between philanthropy and ordinary charity is simple:
charity eases and soothes ills, whereas philanthropy seeks to
eliminate those ills entirely. These mages walk a fine line, using
wealth and power to create as big a change as they possibly can
Practices
As the rich are capable of things their poorer
brethren are not, so are they able to engage
in practices that wouldn’t be feasible in other
social classes.
Appropriation
No one becomes wealthy spontaneously.
Even lottery winners and trust fund children
obtained wealth from somewhere, but not ev-
eryone came by their riches honestly. Delving into the history of
a person’s wealth often reveals to some form of appropriation.
The mage’s great-grandfather leveraged the bank to foreclose on
a neighbor’s farm so he could build a factory. A cherished family
recipe was stolen, commoditized, and processed for maximum
profit. One person looked at another’s assets, said “this is mine
now,” and became extraordinarily rich.
Appropriation looks the same, whether it’s a Sleeper prac-
ticing it, or the Awakened. Council mages, Technocrats, and
Disparates alike claim Nodes. Mages go to war with one another
for rare magickal items. On a smaller scale, a mage may claim an
ally’s rote for themselves or inflict a curse to steal from a Sleeper.
Some mages try to soften the practice’s blow by offering
compensation or restitution for what they take. Some of these
while ensuring they still have the means to make the sacrifices
that empower them. Their preferred magickal workings tend to
be large and dramatic, such as reviving old towns by restoring
the Nodes that lay within them.
Power Trickles Down
At first, the followers of this paradigm, and those who fol-
low Philanthropy in All Things seem alike. They both believe that
they’re in a far higher standing than everyone else. They both
agree they’re obligated to help the less fortunate. They believe
in taking action to fulfill that obligation.
Adherents of this paradigm believe magick is a cosmic ex-
pression of social mobility. When the rich spend with impunity,
their prosperity makes its way down to the lower classes, raising
their overall quality of life and providing opportunities to elevate
their social status. Trends in fashion, food, and entertainment
start with the upper class and make their way down, creating
new ways to get ahead. This same trickle down and upward
push occurs over lifetimes, eventually leading to Awakenings.
Ensuring the safety and sanctity of mundane and mystical
mobility is a slow and subtle process. Acting too fast or too
bluntly not only makes the lower-class feel manipulated, it also
attracts enemies. Instead, these mages act on a less dramatic
scale, promoting magickal practices into Sleeper lifestyles or
rebalancing a single person’s fortunes for the better.
deals are even fair. Unfortunately, most incarnations of this
practice are merely disguised as an exchange among equals or
come with the threat of violence. For some practitioners, violently
capturing rivals’ assets is the entire point.
Associated Paradigms: Everything Has Value, Might is
Right (Mage 20, p. 570), More is More.
Associated Abilities: Brawl, Firearms, Intimidation, Law,
Politics.
Associated Instruments: Contacts, Sacred Ground, Social
Domination, Precious Metals.
Charity
At its best, charity is selfless. It uplifts the impoverished,
brings comfort to the sick, and alleviates want. At worst, it’s an
ego trip. It puts a person’s name first and foremost, convenient
when he needs to knock an evil deed off the front page.
Sometimes, the act of giving is itself the work. When a
mage commands her town’s yearly harvest to double its bounty,
thus saving the starving residents, her concern for the plight of
her neighbors powers the spell’s effect. Other times, charity is a
means to an end. When a mage donates an immense sum to a
local community center, his money enters their bank account,
Chapter Three: Monetary Magik 57
and thus he can track the comings and goings of each of the
center’s leaders as they spend his money.
While many belief systems demand that charity should
benefit everyone, as a magickal practice it’s always for the
mage’s benefit. The mage who saved her town gets to continue
practicing her art in peace. The patron gets to bring a pillar of
the community under his power.
Associated Paradigms: Divine Order and Earthly Chaos
(Mage 20, p. 560), Philanthropy in All Things, Power Trickles
Down.
Associated Abilities: Art, Cosmology, Crafts, Empathy,
Expression, Politics, Technology.
Associated Instruments: Blessings and Curses, Governments,
Money and Wealth, Physical Media.
Investment
Stale money never grows, unimproved property remains a
patch of dirt, and a lazy mage never achieves mastery. Anyone
who’s lived among the Awakened long enough knows there’s
no progress without risk. This makes things more difficult for a
wealthy mage. When someone lives in a state that demands little
to no risk in their daily lives, it’s easy to become complacent.
So, many rich mages turn to one of the few things that put their
wealth and life on the line: investing.
Investment as a magickal practice isn’t just plunking down
cash. It’s using your will to change or improve a person, place,
or thing to eventually reap the benefits. Sure, the magick may
risk some serious Paradox when using Entropy to save someone
from certain death, but one day that person will have just the
information or resources they need to get ahead. Of course, that
person may end up fated to die in a brand-new way before the mage
sees a return on their investment, but that’s the nature of risk.
Some note this practice’s similarity to the Syndicate’s concept
of Primal Utility. When this practice is applied to Prime, it can
be used in a similar way, but those outside of the Conventions
know that Investment has a far broader range.
Associated Paradigms: Everything Has Value, A Mechanistic
Cosmos (Mage 20, p. 568), Philanthropy in All Things.
Instruments
The rich don’t have to settle for the instruments
everyone else uses. They can dream a little bigger.
Artifacts
and Antiques
Age provides its own kind of power. A newly
crafted violin and a genuine first-generation
Stradivarius may sound the same when tuned
correctly, but one commands more respect
58 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Associated Abilities: Academics, Esoterica, Investigation,
Law, Leadership, Politics, Research.
Common Instruments: Blessings and Curses, Contracts,
Markets, Money and Wealth.
Media Control
The privatization of media was one of the wealthy’s great-
est boons. Figures like Randolph Hearst and Rupert Murdoch
loomed over the media for centuries, changing hearts and minds
with newspaper headlines, television sitcoms, and Internet
lifestyle sites.
Media is one of the fiercest battlegrounds in the Ascension
struggle. While much of it is an inadvertent tool of the
Technocracy, just enough alternative media exists for its enemies
to thrive. The clash between programming and counterprogram-
ming is what reinforces and weakens the ruling paradigms of
consensual reality.
Using convenient media sources greatly expands the range
and scope of a mage’s abilities. A sigil hides in a newspaper’s
daily crossword, revealing an enemy’s location when she solves
21-down. A guided meditation on a video-hosting website siphons
a sliver of each viewer’s lifeforce and implants it in its caster. A
bestselling novel opens new concepts in the minds of millions,
easing the Paradox of a future spell.
On social media, chain letters pass from account to account
because sometimes they truly do what they say, so it’s just safer
to always reblog. What seems like a bogus medical cure (10 Wild
Cures for Poison Ivy! You won’t believe #3!) is a rote written by a
Hermetic seeking its acceptance. Get a million people to click,
and it just might catch on.
Associated Paradigms: Divine Order and Earthly Chaos,
Everything is Data, Power Trickles Down
Associated Abilities: Art, Empathy, Expression, Intimidation,
Politics, Subterfuge, Technology
Common Instruments: Artwork; Books, Scrolls, and
Periodicals; Eye Contact; Fashion; Mass Media; Physical Media;
Social Media; Writings, Inscriptions, and Runes
simply by its history.
Rich mages use this to their benefit. Some other mage
might strive for a chance to use a rare music box built by a
storied Etherite, but a wealthy mage comes home with it after
a fierce private auction.
Casting spells while wielding these objects transfers their
authority into a mage’s vision, which can overcome Paradox.
Sometimes these objects are sacrificed in a working, trading
their inherent energy for a burst of power.
Contracts
If reality is built on long-term agreements like consensual
reality, then it stands to reason it should work on a more per-
sonal level. Understanding the intricacies of law and its many
loopholes is an arcane practice even before magick is introduced.
What makes contracts an effective magickal tool is their
finality. Just sign one, and it’s a done deal. Now that everyone
knows what the score is, it’s time to shake on it and get to work.
It’s a single moment that carries heavy meaning.
Contracts are perfect for pacts, hanging spells, and casting
multiple Sphere spells. Each term in a contract could have its
own effect. If nothing else, it’s an excellent target for sympathetic
magick.
Cryptocurrency
Society has progressed to the point where someone doesn’t
even need physical assets to achieve wealth. As a decentralized,
anonymous medium of exchange with a permanently set number
of units available, cryptocurrency has made people rich, then
poor, then rich again in timeframes as slim as fifteen minutes.
Unlike physical currency, cryptocurrency isn’t as useful a
tool for sympathetic connection, due to its heavy cryptography.
However, blockchains bind multiple computers around the world
together, making it useful for casting spells over the internet and
within the Digital Web.
Employees
Sometimes the best way to get something done right is to
delegate it to someone else. The rich can have a lot of people
under their employ, and thus under their command. Since their
employees are bound to rent, mortgages, groceries, and other
constant financial needs, they’re more likely to look the other
way if it means the money keeps flowing.
Employees can unknowingly acquire materials for rituals,
set up spells, or even be used as components.
Governments
When employees aren’t enough, it’s time to step up to the
next level.
Governments are capable of accomplishing things that
the private sector can’t. Protecting a city from the menace of a
creature from the Umbra could be done with a few blessings at
a major intersection, but that’s thinking too small. With access
to governments, a wealthy mage can create a more permanent
solution, like commissioning a redesign of the city road system
that just so happens to form a glyph that exorcises the creature
for good.
Markets
The Syndicate would like to believe that it’s the master of
the stock market, but the truth is any wealthy mage can use it
for their magick. Some mages argue that markets are consensual
reality in miniature: an immense, powerful force that only exists
because everyone agreed to give it importance. This means that
they’re fair game for everyone who can play.
Markets are constantly in flux. A mage could cast a spell
during the early days of a bear market in the same way that one
casts as spell during a certain time of day.
Physical Media
Even with endless amounts of screens at mankind’s
fingertips, there’s still an important place for physical media
like books or discs. In an age where media is encouraged to be
ephemeral, having something in a tangible form is a comfort.
It can also be magickal.
Some uses are obvious. The printed word can contain gri-
moires and calls to action, and a Blu-Ray can hold a spell that
activates when it plays. However, physical media can also serve
as a sympathetic connection, or even a key to unlock a Gate.
Precious Metals
Precious metals are one of the oldest ways of displaying
wealth and power. Even now, we admire trinkets made from
gold, silver, and titanium.
Large amounts of precious metals have plenty of magickal
uses. They can be alchemically enhanced into powerful alloys to
vehicles for protection. They can be consumed to grant a mage
their inherent beauty. They could even be melted and molded
into a familiar impervious to ordinary weaponry.
Sacred Ground
Some places are more magickal than others. A moment of
history occurred there, or tass flows freely from it. Maybe it’s
the location of a Portal, or it’s about to become one soon. These
places are sacred, lands where even Sleepers feel their power,
even if they’re not sure why.
While any mage could access these sacred grounds to power
their magick, wealthy mages have an edge over the others. They
can buy these places for their exclusive use, removing the public’s
access and building sanctums or Chantries on the property.
Social Media
The world is connected, for better and worse. Hollow Ones
communicate on long-abandoned forums. The New World Order
has access to a continuously updating database. Anyone can share
spells in the guise of a heavily artifacted picture.
It’s even better for the rich. They own entire platforms,
establishing a thin but wide sympathetic net via its userbase.
Their servers provide an easy access point into the Digital Web.
Misinformation that “slips” by the fact checkers under the mage’s
employ can form the basis of an insidious spell on numerous
minds. As social media continues to bleed into non-digital life,
who knows what kinds of magick it could assist in the future?
Chapter Three: Monetary Magik 59
 “Remember, they love money so pretend like you own a gold mine and you’re in the club.”
— Molly Brown, Titanic (1997)
We were down in the sanctum of the Constellation Club in Jerusalem,
looking at the portal. There was something wrong with it, and none of
us knew what. Some kind of green slime oozed around the edges. Erupu
said it felt like something to do with spirits, though it wasn’t actually a
spirit. When we peered into the portal, it glowed the same shade of green,
We’d all heard of problems using the portals over the past few
weeks. Strange reports. I experienced something myself, when travelling
from Paris to Doha for a business meeting. It felt like it took time.
I didn’t look at my watch when I stepped in — why would I? So, no
objective evidence, but I got the distinct feeling something was trying to
delay me or hamper my travel. Several others had similar experiences.
“Something like that happened to me,” Cali told us. “I ported here
from Mexico and it was difficult. Firstly, it seemed to take time, though
I couldn’t estimate how much. As I was about to emerge, mist-like
strands wrapped around me. What you see here is the remains of those.”
The only one here who hasn’t experienced a problem is Erupu.
None of us are sure whether that’s because he’s so damned good with
spirits or because he’s only ported between Nelson and Melbourne
recently. This issue seems to be worse the closer to the center you get.
And here, in Jerusalem, we have the geographic center of the network.
“Do we know anyone we can pay to sort this out?” Cali asked.
“I know someone,” Awotwe said, “In Kinshasa, but she charges
an arm and a leg.”
I shook my head. “We can afford it, but I’m not sure it’s a good
idea to be asking non-members to look into this.”
We thought about it for a while. Correspondence tells us you make
a portal by bringing two points in space together, maybe in a fifth or sixth
dimension and fixing them there. So, what might walk that interdimensional
space? Or could this be something planted by our enemies?
“Could it be some kind of paradox effect?”
“Possibly,” Cali conceded, “Though I’ve not experienced anything
like this before. Have you?”
“No,”
“And this is precisely why I asked you all to be here.”
“You want us to try it out?” Awotwe was quite appalled at the
idea of being a guinea pig.
“I’ll go,” Erupu was always the first to volunteer. “I can just nip
to Paris and come straight back, tell you what I see.”
“Wait!” Awotwe shouted. “Mind link. Let’s share.”
Erupu looked dubious, as if allowing Awotwe into his head was
worse than getting involved with whatever was happening between the
portals. Then he nodded and Awotwe’s eyes rolled back into her head.
Erupu stepped into the portal. The green stuff was sucked in
behind him with an awful slurping noise. Then it swirled out again,
darker and more solid than before.
My phone should’ve rung a second later, Erupu calling from Paris
safe and sound. Instead, Awotwe gasped, screamed, and collapsed
backwards onto the stone floor.
Cali grimaced. ”Doesn’t matter how much we offer, no one’s
going to risk their lives stepping through that.”
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges 61
 A Magickal Sandbox
This chapter covers clubs, organizations, and other com-
munities with which filthy rich mages can involve themselves.
Here you will find groups composed solely of the Awakened,
Sleeper groups that have been infiltrated, and Sleeper groups
mages join on the same basis as anyone else. Some are domi-
nated by the Traditions, some by the Technocracy, and some
by criminal gangs. As the primary condition of membership in
many of these groups is the possession of great wealth, some
may contain vampires, werewolves, and other Night Folk who’ve
made their own fortunes along the way.
These groups are designed to be useful as both allies and
antagonists. The characters might want to join a group and
enjoy the benefits of membership. Others provide mysteries
to investigate, problems to solve, or enemies to overcome. A
Tradition mage might infiltrate a Technocracy-dominated
organization in order to subvert or destroy it; similarly, the
Technocrat might want to interfere with an Order-run facility.
There is no one true way to use these organizations in
your campaign. Let your paradigm be your guide.
Greenhill Clinic
Our exclusive clinic provides a variety of life-enhancing treatments, all of them backed up by impeccable science.
High on a mountain above Switzerland’s
Lake Lucerne sits Bürgenstock, as famous
for its luxurious spas and wellness centers as
it is for the wonderful vistas overlooking the
lake. Even higher (in elevation, price, and
exclusivity) is the Greenhill Wellness Center,
Spa, and Clinic. Here clients can purchase a
variety of spa, wellness, surgical, and medical
treatments along with guaranteed privacy and
anonymity. Founded in 1987 by Torsten Klebs,
a highly respected Progenitor physician with
backing from his colleague Elliot Svensson, a financier with a
particular interest in longevity, the clinic has gone from strength
to strength. With the proceeds from the treatments and suites
that welcome the wealthy public, they set up a secret lab buried
deep in the mountain. There, they and their team work on
projects to reverse the aging process, prolong life and — once
they’ve got it all perfected — achieve immortality. Dangling
forth the prospect of life extension attracts the elite, who book
luxury getaways and add extra treatments and designer products
to their already astronomical bills. These supply the funds the
laboratory needs to continue its vital and groundbreaking work.
Greenhill’s highly skilled staff includes aesthetic surgeons,
psychiatrists, and psychotherapists. It’s known amongst the
62 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Safety Reminder
Some of these organizations are downright unethical
and, even if you utilize them as adversaries, it’s
possible someone at your table might find them
distressing. In the real world, the privileged do
some horrible things to those below them. That
insensitivity is echoed in the descriptions of these
groups; some trade in cultural artifacts, some invade
remote spaces of the world with a lack of regard for
the indigenous population, some ruthlessly exploit
those less fortunate.
When running stories with issues like these, keep
sensitivity and safety rules in mind. Check in with
your players, do your research, and be ready to
switch out a group or adjust a storyline if something’s
doing harm.
rich and famous as a great place for detox, not only from
overindulgence in good food but also from addictions to any
substance or activity you care to name. Clients often emerge
from their spa experience glowing with health and exhibiting
a new and more rationally based attitude to life. Some, sadly,
relapse, but a brief refresher course brings them back to the
straight and narrow. Friends and family often comment on
how youthful older clients look after a visit to the clinic.
“Regulars” often live to a grand old age; such are the life-en-
hancing effects of the programs offered at the Greenhill.
Even wealthy people consider the prices of rooms, pro-
grams, and surgeries at the Greenhill exorbitant, but one
gets what one pays for. Effective treatments in such beautiful
surroundings don’t come cheap. Furthermore, although they
don’t promise immortality, you can’t put a dollar value on
lasting youthfulness and an extended lifespan
Neither the licensing authorities nor most of the clients
know the Progenitors operate the Greenhill facility. Few, even
among the staff, are aware of the underground laboratory,
though some areas are only accessible to staff with high se-
curity clearances. Most of the clinic staff are Sleepers, well
paid and employed on unremarkable contracts. A variable
number of Technocrats continue their research and training
belowground, and it is they who administer the experimental
life-prolonging and youth-restoring processes. Their experi-
mental subjects sign non-disclosure agreements when they
consent to participate in innovative trials. The Greenhill com-
plies fully with standards of Clinical Governance required by
the licensing authorities. Everything above the underground
laboratories is entirely legitimate.
The only qualification for clients of the Greenhill is the
ability to pay. Programs and treatments have a minimum
duration of a week. The Clinic doesn’t accept day visits, as
the psychologists, counsellors, and other professionals need
time to do their work. Treatments vary from detoxifying
spas guaranteeing weight loss and improved appearance,
rehabilitation of addictions both physical and behavioral,
and common or garden aesthetic surgery through to the
month-long “Fountain of Youth” package. All clients must
consent to a counseling program carried out by a qualified
professional: Attitude change is fundamental to all Greenhill
life enhancement programs.
Wealthy mages have spent millions relaxing at this
world-famous facility, initially unaware that the clinic is
anything other than it appears on the surface. Anyone whose
health has been magickally tampered with prior to visiting
the clinic runs the risk of attracting unwanted attention from
the Progenitors.
All kinds of little clues, ranging from their too-good-to-
be true list of procedures, to the employment of specialists
in disciplines considered “fringe” by conventional medicine,
might reveal the Technocracy at work here. The Progenitors
are quick to bury clients who see too much in lawsuits and
non-disclosure agreements, but will take more drastic means
to protect their secrets if need be — including burying them for
real. They also expect the utmost caution from their scientists.
Once, toward the beginning of this century, an experimental
creature — half bat, half butterfly — escaped from the secret
laboratory. The client who spotted it while on a hike met
with an unfortunate accident on his way home. Dr. Jonas
Wellington, the Genengineer responsible for the mutated
creature was only permitted to continue his work at the clinic
under strict supervision.
Of course, like any other experimental facility, it has expe-
rienced a few failures; some addicts relapse swiftly upon coming
back into contact with the forces that led them to addiction
in the first place. Others have ended their own lives, torn be-
tween whatever drove them to their drug and the compulsions
the clinic placed upon them to avoid it. Some elderly clients
prove insufficiently robust to survive the Procedures intended
to rejuvenate them; their death certificates truthfully record
the cause as myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke, or
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges 63
natural causes. Records show the patient received the correct
conventional treatments in every case.
The Enlightened among the clinic’s staff use Processes
to change dependencies and belief structures in their clients’
minds. The Processes they use are invariably coincidental.
They publish peer-reviewed articles in prestigious medical
journals about their methodology to significantly reduce the
risk of Paradox.
No one at the Greenhill spares much time or energy
thinking about those who can’t afford the treatments. Everyone
knows the poor exist but, Greenhill doesn’t take charitable cases.
Occasionally a wealthy client pays for an impoverished friend’s
memberships. The friend receives exactly the same treatment
as they would if they were paying themselves. Greenhill doesn’t
care where the money comes from, as long as they get paid.
Spa Practitioner
Background: Greenhill employees, whether they be
chefs, massage therapists, counsellors, surgeons, cleaners, or
groundskeepers are all highly qualified professionals. The pay
and benefits far surpass those of their closest competitors. The
demanding selection procedure, consisting of exercises, psycho-
logical tests, and multiple interviews, weeds out those who are
incompatible with the clinic’s ethos. All staff at the Greenhill
are perfectionists, and meticulous about their duties. A stint at
the Greenhill looks extremely good on any CV. Many contract-
ed employees choose to renew when their employment period
ends, but those who leave do so with binding non-disclosure
and non-compete agreements in place.
The staff at the clinic believe it is right and proper for
clients to pay for the services they receive. It would be difficult
for someone who believed in socialized medicine to thrive in
such an elitist atmosphere. They believe the scientifically based
treatments they administer are key to improving society. Or, at
least, to improving it for those who are deserving, and don’t
go rocking the boat.
The Constellation Club
A home away from home and brilliant company for those who show themselves worthy.
Gentlemen’s clubs originated in London,
England in the 18th century and swiftly spread
throughout the world. The Constellation Club
prides itself on its policy of admitting persons of
all genders and ethnicities. The only criteria for
membership are wealth, reputation, and status.
Membership can’t be bought by filthy lucre
alone: a certain degree of sophistication — the
kind that comes from being born to the right
64 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Image: Staff act professionally at all times and remain on
the premises except when granted leave. When on leave they
may not associate with clients, past or present. Anyone caught
breaking either of these rules loses their job. On the premises,
staff wear uniforms which clearly indicate their role and rank
in the Greenhill.
There are some professional rivalries between individual
members of staff and between different teams, but they keep
these carefully under wraps in the presence of clients and
superiors.
Enlightened staff are similar in outlook, and they have
access to the restricted areas of the complex which contain the
underground laboratories.
Roleplaying notes: Greenhill staff are invariably polite and
focused on their work. They answer questions patiently, always
adhering to the Greenhill party line: Everything we do here is
scientific and for the benefit of the client. Enlightened staff have
varying degrees of bedside manners: some are warm and kind,
setting guests at ease before a procedure. Others are cold and aloof,
viewing patients as little more than lab rats. All are adept at steering
the curious away from restricted areas should they go wandering.
Suggested traits: Mental attributes are most important to
Greenhill Staff, particularly Intelligence and Perception. Staff
who deal directly with clients, especially the counselling types,
have good Manipulation and at least three dots of Empathy. All
staff have professional qualifications, and their Skills reflect
this. Those who author articles for peer reviewed journals have
some dots in Research. Academics, Science (Biopsychology,
Psychology etc.) and Medicine (with possible specialties in
Psychiatry, Aesthetic Surgery and Rejuvenation Treatment)
are all traits which many Greenhill staff possess.
Among the Enlightened on the payroll, biotech or hyper-
tech skills are mandatory. Favored Spheres are Life, Entropy and
Time. Nearly all choose medicine work or hypertech as their
Practice, though the quest for the Elixir has a long history as
well — an Alchemist or two is always on staff. Tech Holds All the
Answers is the commonest Paradigm in this group, with Power
Trickles Down a close second.
family and having the right kind of education — are absolute
requirements.
Following the Victorian tradition, admission to the
Constellation Club requires nomination by at least half a dozen
existing members, each of whom must have known the proposed
member for a minimum of five years. The selection committee
(whose precise membership and criteria are unknown to any-
one not on the committee) surveys the applications. Members
who nominate an unsuitable candidate have an opportunity
to withdraw their support, otherwise the expectation is that
they will resign their membership. The Constellation relies on
its members to keep the Club properly exclusive.
The Constellation Club maintains chapterhouses around
the globe, establishing a presence in all significant financial
capitals and other cities its members might frequent. The
premises always occupy imposing buildings in upmarket parts
of town: Malabar Hill in Mumbai, Mayfair in London UK,
Chaoyang Park in Beijing, Gombe in Kinshasa. The premises
have a standard layout. Every reception room shares the same
design, with comfortable furniture arranged so as to preserve
the privacy of small groups. Here members may entertain friends
and associates who are not, themselves, members. Discreet
but efficient security guards watch over these rooms. Leading
off from the reception area is a lounge with cocktail service
and a dining room where top chefs offer their creations. All
chapterhouses have a minimum of five beautifully appointed
private suites where members can stay. In the smaller branches,
it’s advisable to book these ahead of time to ensure the suite
of one’s choice is available.
The basements contain areas of particular interest to
mages. Here they can find secluded spaces in which to study
and work and libraries well stocked with tomes best hidden
from Sleeper eyes. These areas count as Sanctum/ Laboratory
3. Some contain Nodes. Others have portals leading to the
basements of other facilities, many relying on the My Summer
Home spell (p. 48). The precise nature and layout of these
networks is privileged to the secretive selection committee, but
they share some of this information on a need-to-know basis.
The advantages of membership are legion. To start with,
the exorbitant annual membership fee provides luxurious
accommodation and gourmet food in cities all around the
globe. A home away from home, as it were, including facilities
to enable a mage to practice her Arts.
Perhaps more significantly, membership provides a chance
to network with other rich and sophisticated people, who may
be in a position to provide information, expertise, or services
of various kinds. Avery McClean won a luxury yacht from the
sixth in line to the throne of Burundi in a high stakes game of
poker. Sakumoto Konami won her company a valuable concession
over an exquisitely prepared dinner of fugu washed down with
Hideyoshi Flying Pegasus Daiginjo Saki, which she enjoyed with
a nephew of the Minister of Transport for Guatemala.
Many members of royal and noble families from Europe,
Africa, and Asia maintain membership in the Constellation Club,
as do captains of industry and Nobel Prize-winning academics.
There are, perhaps surprisingly, few politicians. Politicians, after
all, come and go; aristocracy and academic excellence go on
forever. Similarly, few members have a prominent public profile.
Club members are the powers behind the thrones, rather than
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges 65
the famous or the glitterati. On the few occasions the paparazzi
have caught wind of the organization, the stories stemming from
it proved too dull for print.
Not every member of the Constellation Club is a mage,
though members believe mages dominate the selection commit-
tee. Every member, therefore, has something of value to offer
to the Awakened, although the committee’s precise criteria for
admission remain a well-guarded secret.
The selection committee always strikes a balance between
the Council of Nine, the Technocrats, and the Disparates, with
the other two members being Sleeper aristocrats. When the
committee needs to interview a potential candidate in person,
they employ an intermediary, usually a high ranking member of
staff at the premises closest to the candidate’s base of operations.
Currently serving are Cali Frankland, a member of the
Order of Hermes hailing from Luxemburg. The heir to a huge
fortune, she’s much admired in Awakened and Sleeper society,
though she prefers to keep a low profile. From the Technocracy,
Altinay Karal is a Master of the New World Order and CEO
of a huge technology conglomeration in Karachi. Gholabun
Akande of the Ngoma denies being a member of the selection
committee, but hardly anyone believes him. He is known to be
highly secretive about all of his affairs, but it’s on record that he
owns a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo
although he holds a Nigerian passport. Ferdinand LaRoche, a
filthy rich Sleeper playboy with fingers in many corporate pies
is also rumored to be on the selection committee.
The Club belongs to its members. Fees go toward main-
taining the properties, paying staff, and buying in supplies.
There are several tiers of membership. Some members pay
the lower fee of $1,000,000 per annum, granting them access
to the chapterhouses and invitations to a handful of events.
These members stump up for other services as they require
them. Others pay half as much again, which covers food, drink,
and accommodation in any of the branches worldwide. They
are, on the whole, generous tippers and treat well with those
who serve them well.
Club Members believe themselves to be familiar with the
conditions under which less well-off members of society live.
Few of them have had any real contact with poverty and they
can be shocked when confronted with actual cases of dire
need. Many members are charitable by nature, though most
are more likely to write a check to solve a problem rather than
get too involved with confronting underlying systemic issues.
The Elite
Background: The elite aren’t the same as the rich and
famous. They recognize each other, but few outside of their
golden circles recognise them. Often the children of deposed
royalty, or branches of minor or forgotten nobility, their pedi-
grees stretch back through centuries of privilege. Most parents
prefer to send their children for education in Europe; places
66 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
like Charterhouse, Harrow, Eton, Roehampton, College Du
Leman, or Le Rosey, although some attend exclusive private
schools in other parts of the world. Most are graduates of
Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Cambridge, and other Universities of
similar calibre. Although white men dominated the elite in the
past, in the 21st century this is no longer the case. A certain
amount of mansplaining does go on over cocktails, even in
the hallowed lounges of the Constellation Club, but nowadays
younger members call this out. Some express their displeasure
with smiles and tact, or resort to that coldest of tactics among
the elite, the cut direct. Others dispense with the niceties and
deploy extreme sarcasm and biting wit.
The elite have always been relatively tolerant of sexuality
and gender expression among themselves, even as some seek
to suppress it in the general population — a hypocrisy the
current generation’s members frequently denounce. In the
Constellation Club, no one cares how you present, or who
you sleep with. Wealth and breeding count for everything.
In the world the elite fill a variety of roles, most at the
top of their organizations. They’re the Sleeping directors and
major shareholders of blue-chip companies, owners of oil
fields and shipping lines. None of them “work” as the vast
majority of the human population understands the word. The
mages among them have independent means enabling them
to develop their Arts without having to worry about where the
next meal is coming from.
Image: Whether they’re a Saudi oil magnate, a minor mem-
ber of the Swedish royal family, or a Yoruba princess, everything
about a Constellation member shouts “I am important; respect
me.” This aura of privilege is difficult to ignore, and most people
find it difficult to resist. Members dress impeccably, whether at
a black tie ball or the VIP box at a baseball game.
Roleplaying notes: Constellation members enjoy engaging
with other members of the club, seeking out companions to
discuss pet projects, extravagant trips, and world events that
have caught their interest. The elite are rarely fully aware of the
extent of their privilege. They can be surprised, shocked, and
astounded by the behaviour of the less privileged and by coming
into direct contact with the conditions under which they live.
Suggested traits: Social Attributes are most important to
elite characters, particularly Charisma, though many also have
high Manipulation. Due to their education, the Elite often
have Academics (any speciality) and Athletics. Some pick up
an ability with Carousing during their student years and most
have at least one or two dots of Finance and Politics.
Influence and Status are what the elite are all about. Almost
all will have dots in Resources. Contacts, Backup, and Retainers.
Conversely, it’s rare for a member of the Constellation Club
to have Fame. They tend to avoid the limelight, preferring to
pull the strings from behind the scenes. For Merits, consider
Language and Ties.
An Awakened member of the elite may have their own
Sanctum or, in rarer cases, Laboratory. While Technocrats of
New World Order and Syndicate exist within this circle, as
do Disparates of the Ahl-i-Batin and Bata’a, most come from
The Council of Nine and the Hermetic Order in particular.
As they are a culturally diverse group, a member’s magickal
focus grows from their personal background, rather than
The Connoisseurs of the Levant
You want the Mona Lisa, well, we already got that for a client. How about Gaugin’s Chair? I know where that is. Or we
could obtain Tahitian Women on the Beach, if you prefer.
Beirut is a beautiful city with a history spanning
5,000 years. Sadly the scene of disastrous conflicts
during the second half of the 20th century,
stretching into the current millennium, it retains
a great deal of its Levantine charm. Since its
foundation by the Phoenicians in the Bronze
Age, it’s been a major center of trade. Its safe
harbor and position in the Mediterranean makes
it easy to understand its importance and why so
many civilizations fought over control of it. Beirut
retains much French influence; it was under the
French mandate from the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after
World War I until Lebanon achieved independence in 1943. Thirty
years of peace followed independence, ending with a disastrous
civil war in the mid-1970s and war with Israel in the early 1980s.
The 2006 war, also with Israel, was briefer but left scars on both
nations. Despite all this, Beirut retains its brilliance as a Levantine
city, a glittering place for cuisine, tourism, art, and nightlife.
In the Badaro neighborhood stands Abdulmejit Hasan’s
little shop. It’s had many different names over the years but has
been in the family for longer than anyone can remember. On
a pine shaded avenue, it (along with its neighbors) avoided the
shelling and the bombs. An uninspiring display of dusty statuettes
and costume jewelry fills its window. The shop appears closed
to the uninitiated, but if a client applies the correct sequence of
knocks, Abdulmejit or his daughter Raniyah admits them to a
back room, turns on the electric lights, and provides a refreshing
glass of mint tea.
Abdulmejit and his family — who run branches in Izmir,
Samarkand, and other cities in the Levant and along the Silk
Road — deal in specialty antiques. It’s an old business, and some
interesting items have passed through its proprietors’ hands. A
painting claiming to be the genuine Mona Lisa once came into
Abdulmejit’s great-grandfather’s possession. Abdulmejit himself
proudly displays a painting of Gaugin’s Chair. He insists the one
hanging in Amsterdam’s Van Gogh museum is a fake. Nowadays,
Abdulmejit deals mainly in items brought out of Iraq, Iran,
Afghanistan, and Syria by people fleeing conflicts there. Some
of these have come to him directly; others have passed through
many hands. Among hundreds of mere trinkets of sentimental
value, a substantial percentage are priceless historical artifacts.
from their membership in Constellation. They can adhere
to any Paradigm, though Bring Back the Golden Age, Might is
Right, and Philanthropy in All Things are frequently espoused
by this group. Dominion is less popular among them than
outsiders might expect. Many operate via faith, and High
Ritual Magick is frequently practiced in the Club’s basements.
Occasionally, something in the shop has magickal proper-
ties, of which Abdulmejit is blissfully unaware. Raniyah, on the
other hand, knows precisely which are likely to appeal to her
magickal clientele. She networks extensively with other family
members in the business, seeking out and sourcing magickal
items for these discerning customers.
Due to the clandestine nature of the business (which, after
all, deals in stolen artwork and items removed from their context
by means no ethical archaeologist would tolerate), Abdulmejit
and his associates don’t deal with just anyone. Their prized cus-
tomers are known as the Connoisseurs of the Levant. Possessed
of immense fortunes, all are prepared to pay high prices for
coveted items. None of them are fussy about how those items
are procured.
The Connoisseurs are a loose network. If one gets wind of
an item of no personal interest, he almost certainly knows of
another connoisseur who would clamor for it. Difficulties may
arise if two Connoisseurs are interested in the same unique
item, but these are easy to resolve: Whoever offers the most
money gets the prize. Connoisseurs can request or requisition
items by telephone or internet, but the purchaser must always
organize collection at their own risk. The Connoisseurs have
little in common apart from immense wealth and an interest
in the type of item lesser mortals believe belongs in a museum.
Members of the network derive their wealth from many
sources. As a group, they do not have a common attitude to the
less wealthy around them. Some are generous and charitable;
others are misers who resent every cent spent on anything other
than their magpie obsession.
Finders, Seekers
Background: The shopkeepers, like Abdulmejit, are com-
petent businesspeople with extensive contacts in the Levant
and along the Silk Road. More recently they’ve started dealing
with people coming out of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria
carrying items looted from museums, archaeological sites, and
their own family heirlooms. Mages amongst the shopkeepers’
families are careful to appear no different from their un-Awak-
ened associates, though they may form associations with mages
among the Connoisseurs.
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges 67
 The Connoisseurs themselves have little in common. Many
kinds of rich folk seek out rare objects and keep them in private
collections. The Connoisseurs don’t open their collections to
the public — many of the items they prize have been illegally
sourced — but they may boast of them to friends, family, and
trusted associates. Those Connoisseurs who are known to
each other occasionally arrange exclusive private viewings.
More than one mage has found a valuable Fetish, Talisman, or
Device when visiting a fellow Connoisseur. Connoisseurs are
naturally acquisitive and sometimes a Connoisseur becomes
obsessed with possessing an item in someone else’s collection,
stopping at nothing until she obtains it for herself.
Image: The shopkeepers, whether Sleepers or mages, take
great care not to distinguish themselves from any other mer-
chant in the city where their shop is located. The family has a
long history in the Levant. They command profound respect
in their communities though no one outside the family or the
Connoisseurs knows precisely what they do. Most contribute
generously to community projects in order to retain this respect.
It’s not as if they can’t afford it.
With the Connoisseurs they become creative, bringing
out all kinds of wares they believe to be of interest. They have
an excellent instinct for what would appeal to any specific
customer. Their hospitality is generous. They’re knowledgeable
about all the artifacts on offer. More than one wealthy mage has
fallen into the temptation of desiring some glorious painting
or bronze with no magickal significance whatsoever, unless
you count its rarity or its price. It’s rare for a Connoisseur to
leave a shop empty-handed or with as much money as he had
when he walked in.
The Connoisseurs are just that — collectors. Most have a pro-
found interest in Middle Eastern or Far Eastern artifacts, though
there’s no prejudice against those who wish to procure Western or
African works; those just take a little longer to source. Many have
special relationships with the shop’s proprietors, believing them-
selves to be particularly favored customers. In truth, Abdulmejit
and his colleagues pride themselves on their superior service and
knowledge of every customer’s preferences, interests, and budgets.
Connoisseurs invariably believe they have impeccable taste and
remind their associates of this at every opportunity. Mages amongst
the Connoisseurs can be of any affiliation, though Raniyah will
not deal with Nephandi or, if she can help it, Technocrats.
Roleplaying notes: Abdulmejit can come across as a little
too eager to please with his customers. He is, however, generous
with his hospitality and offers clients endless mint tea and food
lovingly prepared by his wife and daughters.
The Connoisseurs have little in common apart from their
wealth and magpie nature. They stop at nothing to obtain an
item they desire. Their money and influence means locks, keys,
and wards don’t deter them — or, more accurately, don’t deter
the people they pay to procure their goods. There is a certain
avarice amongst them as they are determined to possess items
most people believe belong in public museums.
68 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Suggested traits: For the shopkeepers, Mental Attributes are
key, particularly Perception. Convincing a client to purchase a
particular item, or agree to a higher price requires Manipulation.
Most have at least two dots in Alertness and Empathy which also
helps with sales, and many have dots in Subterfuge and Etiquette as
well. Occult and Investigation help them track down and recognize
items which appeal to the Connoisseurs. The mages among them
are almost invariably Taftǎni and tend to favor Matter and Prime.
Practices include Ars Cupiditae, alchemy and craftwork. Their
Paradigm is typically Divine Order and Earthly Chaos.
Anyone can be a Connoisseur. The only requirements
are vast wealth and an acquisitive nature. That said, the mag-
es among the shopkeepers do everything they can to prevent
Nephandi from becoming members of the network and, though
they don’t outright refuse to sell to Technocrat customers, they’re
unlikely to get the best deals. A Technocrat may not realize
this unless they come into contact with other Connoisseurs
and compare experiences. Connoisseurs are likely to have high
Perception. Academics among them specializing in history,
archaeology, or antiques often have a dot or two in Finance.
Connoisseurs who are mages favor Prime and Matter. More is
More is a popular Paradigm and many practice Ars Cupiditae.
Raniyah
Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Charisma 3,
Manipulation 2, Appearance 3, Perception 3, Intelligence 4,
Wits 3
Abilities: Academics (archaeology) 3, Art 3, Awareness 4,
Belief Systems 3, Crafts 2, Empathy 4, Cultural Savvy 4, Research
3, Occult 3, Finance 2
Backgrounds: Allies 3, Contacts 3, Resources 4
Arete: 3
Spheres: Prime: 3, Matter: 2, Forces: 1
Image: Raniyah is a Lebanese woman in her mid-twenties.
She is small, slim, and elegant. In Beirut she dresses stylishly
in business suits and heels. If conducting her business in more
conservative areas, she dresses as the locals dress. Raniyah’s
attitude is always professional, she prefers not to enter into
personal relationships with her clients.
Roleplaying notes: Raniyah is softly spoken and comes
across as modest and reserved. A consummate businesswoman,
she drives a hard bargain when it comes to buying and selling
antiques. She often wears a headscarf which she pulls over her
face when she’s nervous. She dislikes the Technocracy intensely
and will not deal with them if she can avoid it. She tolerates the
Traditions and tries to be polite, though some impatience may be
apparent to anyone with a degree of Empathy. She is happiest
dealing with fellow Disparates.
Focus: As a member of the Taftâni, Raniyah believes in Divine
Order and Earthly Chaos. She practices Ars Cupiditae. Her
instruments include cards and instruments of chance, celestial
alignments, craftwork, cups and vessels, eye contact, food and
drink, writings, inscriptions, and runes
 The Oakenash Foundation
Forests are the lungs of this world and therefore we seek to preserve them.
A wealthy coven of Verbena set up the Oakenash
Foundation in the United Kingdom (Swindon
to be precise) in the latter part of the 20th
century. When developers threatened to
destroy the tract of virgin forest they had been
using as a grove to make way for a housing
development, the coven got together with their
friends and purchased the forest. They had
to wield a certain amount of influence with
the zoning authorities, but an efficient media
campaign created significant local opposition
to the developers’ scheme. The grove is now private land with
many restrictions on its use. Building is forbidden there, and
trespassing is strongly discouraged.
If they could accomplish this in one place, the coven
thought, why not do it on a larger scale? Oakenash now owns
tracts of forest all over the globe including areas in Guatemala,
Columbia, Brazil, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Europe, the
United States, New Zealand, and Australia. Efforts to pur-
chase forest land in the far East are ongoing. The Oakenash
Foundation is a registered charity with many regular donors
and an active publicity campaign.
It’s not difficult to persuade people to contribute to pres-
ervation efforts. With the exception of climate change deniers,
people are aware of the important part forests play in climate
regulation and the maintenance of biodiversity. Forests also
have immense emotional appeal, as places for tranquil walks
and a space to get away from it all. As well as purchasing tracts
of forested land, Oakenash takes steps to defend its purchases
from encroachment and development. This is an ongoing cost,
and, over the years, has proven more expensive than all the
original purchases put together.
The original stand of bluebell woods just outside the bound-
aries of Savernake Forest near Swindon is not too challenging to
defend. Money and influence buys off potential developers and
teenage vandals who use the place to drink, smoke, and have sex
don’t do lasting damage. Foundation members conduct guided
tours, taking local people and schoolchildren from all over the
country through the virgin forest to learn about ecology and
wildlife and instill in them an appreciation of nature.
Over the past half century, the Oakenash Foundation
has grown from a small coven of rich Verbena mages to en-
compass a broad church of conservationists, both mundane
and Awakened. It doesn’t attract many Technocrats — though
some have attempted to infiltrate with bad intent — but many
Tradition and Disparate mages are sympathetic to the cause.
Their methods have worked less well in the Americas and in
Africa where the challenges are completely different. Oakenash’s
programs have, on occasion, come into conflict with the tradi-
tional practices of indigenous populations who subsist on meat
hunted in the forest or may employ slash and burn methods of
agriculture. Many of Oakenash’s rich donors sympathize with
indigenous people, though few fully understand how their
practices protect and rejuvenate the forests. The foundation has
taken steps in recent years to remedy this, recruiting indigenous
members and placing them in positions of power. Working with
these members and allies in the Bata’a and Ngoma, they continue
educating the membership and changing the more problematic
policies from within.
Serious threats come from illegal logging and mining
operations, land clearance for cattle grazing and, of course,
global climate change. Oakenash Executives, on the whole,
understand most of the actual loggers and miners are poor
local people who are already struggling to make a living. At
the same time, big corporations and government officials who
benefit personally from these short sighted activities are funding
and encouraging the small enterprises. Several governments
and powerful corporations claim climate change is a hoax,
and, even if CO2 levels are rising, it has nothing to do with
human activity.
For all these reasons, Oakenash takes great pains to keep
its holdings secure. Security includes wards, as well as armed
wardens recruited from the local population. As with the orig-
inal bluebell wood, qualified guides conduct tours with the
aim of educating the public about the forests and the value of
maintaining them in their virgin state.
Anyone can become a supporter of Oakenash Foundation.
All supporters can apply to go on the educational tours or
to use the holdings for approved purposes. The more a sup-
porter donates, the more likely they are to get access to the
forests. The Executive Committee is particularly sympathetic
to the requirements of stinking rich mages, as long as they’re
respectful of nature. The Executive Committee remains dom-
inated by Verbena, though devoted environmentalists and
particularly wealthy patrons also hold prestigious positions in
the organization.
In recent times Oakenash has benefitted greatly from
the increased awareness of impending ecological disaster. The
influx of money from concerned citizens helps, though they
still keenly feel the loss of Oakenash forests lost to fires caused
by drought and human carelessness.
Compared to most organizations of the wealthy, Oakenash
are sensitive to the needs of the less well off. They deal with people
living hand to mouth in some of their more remote locations
and must take their concerns on board in order to conserve the
forests. Even when there is conflict with these less privileged
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges 69
people, Oakenash do their utmost to understand the other point
of view and siphon off resources to help promote traditional
ways of life in ways that preserve, rather than destroy, the forests.
Wealthy Conservationist
Background: Oakenash supporters like to put their money
where their mouth is when it comes to conservation. Whilst
some are street level activists, more are active in Boardrooms
and on government committees, though they do like to make
an appearance at demonstrations if they can do so safely. The
foundation accepts small donations, but the ideal supporter has
deep pockets, is a leader rather than a follower, and is highly
influential in society. Many occupy positions of power and
influence. Beyond that, Oakenash has grown into a global move-
ment, so there’s no single way to describe a typical supporter.
There are a number of filthy rich Night Folk among
Oakenash donors and some may even have found their way
onto the Executive Committee. Verbena mages aren’t the
only creatures who have reasons beyond human survival for
conserving the wild.
Image: Fashionably and sustainably dressed, these con-
servationists are indistinguishable from wealthy hipsters.
Many are vegans and avoid wearing leather or items made
in sweat shops. They try to dress and eat sustainably, though
they’re often blissfully unaware that less affluent people who
share their ideals are unable to afford such an ostentatiously
sustainable lifestyle.
F474 M0R64N4
Welcome to the future. Here we have all the jet packs and flying cars you ever dreamed of. We can even provide an electric sheep.
F474 M0R64N4 is a C-sector in the Digital Web
(Mage 20, p. 108) constrained and secured by a
group of the same name. The F474 M0R64N4
is a handful of rich Virtual Adepts. It may seem
strange that a group who so passionately believe
data must be free should constrain it, but they
require privacy to create the multiple avatars and
magickally enhanced self-replicating memes they
unleash to undermine more repressive sectors.
It is only possible to enter F474 M0R64N4’s
sector with the aid of ludicrously expensive
cutting-edge technology. The expectation is that every member
will fund their own entry, though the leaders do subsidize some
exceptionally able amongst the less well-off. Some members prefer
to visit astrally, but in order to get into the sector, they have to
acquire the equipment, even if they elect not to use it to visit.
This equipment forms an essential part of their online security.
Once in the sector, the surroundings are those of a late 20th
century vision of the future with all the associated technology,
70 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Roleplaying notes: Earnest in manner, these conserva-
tionists promote their agenda on every possible occasion, to
the point of boring those who have to listen to them. They
look down on those who, while claiming to be activists, are
unable to afford their lifestyle. They may even fail to recognize
that organic kale costs more than a chemical-soaked chicken
from the supermarket.
Suggested Traits: Ideals, rather than shared skills are what
holds this group together, so they can have any combination
of appropriate Attributes. Some excel at mental tasks, some
have huge social capital, and some are world-famous athletes.
Similarly, their Abilities are those which are the best match
with their profession or path in life. Expression, Etiquette,
Science, Animal Kinship, Finance and Media are common
in this group, though few individuals would have all of those.
Awakened supporters are mostly Verbena, though others
of the Traditions and many Disparates can and do support the
cause. Some Night Folk (notably Gangrel and Glass Walkers)
also contribute their time and money to the Foundation, without
the knowledge of its founding members or their successors.
Creation is Innately Divine and Alive is the most common
paradigm amongst this group though some subscribe to Bring
Back the Golden Age or Power Trickles Down. Witchcraft is the most
common practice, though some practice yoga or shamanism.
The over-riding factor in Oakenash paradigms is the adoration
of nature and a striving to be as one with it.
freedom, and oppression. Those admitted to F474 M0R64N4
use this virtual space to craft experimental memes to release
“into the wild.” The aim is to get inside the various online
bubbles — paradigms or self-perpetuating belief systems created
by Technocrats and by the Sleepers themselves — and cause
people to question their deeply held assumptions and beliefs.
Most people, even mages, who work in the virtual web
have a single icon to represent them. F474 M0R64N4, however,
have found a way to use a combination of Correspondence and
Forces to create multiple avatars, enabling them to be in more
than one place in the Digital Web at the same time. This is
extraordinarily helpful when you’re distributing a particularly
subversive idea. It’s easy for the forces of normality to take
down one instance, but a great deal more difficult when digital
graffiti appears in many places at the same time.
F474 M0R64N4 are a secretive group who formed in the
1980s. While their ideas haven’t changed much since then,
they’re keen to use the latest technologies and methodologies.
Joining the group is difficult as they’re highly suspicious of
outsiders. They subsidize and admit people who show themselves
to be exceptionally talented at riding the waves of the virtual
world, as long as those people are reality hackers with the right
attitude. They don’t advertise, nor do they have talent scouts.
The 21st century joiners came to F474 M0R64N4’s attention
by attempting to hack into their C-Sector and surviving all
attempts to repel them. The group questions these survivors
closely to ensure they are genuine reality hackers. If question-
ing reveals a lack of talent, loyalty, dedication, or the wrong
attitude, the they’re transported to a Corrupted Sector. F474
M0R64N4’s sector is programmed to automatically de-rez the
individual should they dare to approach.
Joining the group carries several advantages. A F474
M0R64N4 mage gets access to the technology needed to craft
magickally enhanced, self-replicating memes and avatars,
able to infiltrate areas of the digital web the group believes to
be controlled by the Technocracy and/or governments, and
admittance to a closely guarded C-Sector of the Digital Web
where they can operate free of interference by the authorities.
F474 M0R64N4’s founders didn’t start out rich. Hank
Crawford and Cicily Parker met in grad school way back in the
1970s. Both were studying cybernetics, and both were Awakened.
It made sense for them to work together. They made contact with
like-minded mages in Europe, Asia, and Africa and, together
made a great deal of money by salami slicing bank accounts.
Taking tiny, unnoticed amounts at a time from hundreds and
thousands of individuals and businesses around the globe, they
managed to avoid coming to anyone’s attention. These days,
they maintain their wealth by speculating on cryptocurrencies
and other, more conventional means of wealth management.
F474 M0R64N4 suffered a major setback in 1997 with
the disruption to the web associated with the destruction of
Doissetep. They lost two of their number and it took three
years for them to recruit, regroup, and recover. With the birth
of the new millennium, observing the lack of ill-effects from
the dreaded millennium bug, they decided to set up their own
secure C-sector in which they could work undisturbed.
F474 M0R64N4 are a powerful force amongst reality
hackers in virtual space, though some argue they’re losing
their ability to change with the times. Nobody claims they’re
losing their touch. Increasingly they face competition from up
and comers to whom F474 M0R64N4 represent the existing
authority. Hacking the reality hackers’ reality? Sounds like a
good way to spend an afternoon.
Considering the amount of time the founders spend in
virtual space, it’s not surprising F474 M0R64N4 are out of
touch with anything happening in meat space. When they do
come into contact with the news or engage in a discussion on
current affairs, they don’t seem to see the relevance. They have
no opinions on the less wealthy. It’s not a matter of importance
to them. They only care about virtual space where money is a
convenience, not a means of survival.
F474 M0R64N4 Members
Background: F474 M0R64N4 formed in the late 1980s
and retains five of its original seven Virtual Adept members.
They’ve recruited selectively since their inception. The original
members are all Boomers but, according to them, the kind
of Boomers who laid the foundations for the authority- and
reality-challenging youth of today. Many youngsters seem to
believe they invented gender fluidity and the fight against
climate change. F474 M0R64N4 vaguely remember being into
these things back in the sixties and seventies. F474 M0R64N4
are web-savvy old hippies, heavily influenced by Philip K. Dick,
Robert Anton Wilson, and Timothy Leary.
Despite their reality hacking credentials, these old hippies
have, in a number of ways, joined the establishment they so
despise. Their wealth has brought them comfortable lifestyles
and they hang onto their money as greedily as any merchant
banker. The vision of the future embodied in their virtual C
realm isn’t the future that actually happened. They continue
to live in the illusion. One problem when you hack reality;
it’s all too easy to hack your own and lose touch with what is
going on in the physical world that (like it or not) surrounds
you. They’re keen to challenge other people’s assumptions, but
as they age, they become increasingly reluctant to challenge
their own. They burst other people’s bubble chambers but are
oblivious to those in which they exist.
Image: In the Digital Web, F474 M0R64N4 use a variety
of icons as their avatars. These are nearly always reminiscent of
late 20th century visions of the future:. Flying cars are popular
as are individual humanoid figures wearing jetpacks. However,
as F474 M0R64N4 are adept at the formation of icons and can
be present as several icons at the same time, they could look
like anything that strikes their fancy.
In the real world they tend to dress casually and colorfully,
favoring loose jeans and tee shirts or maxi skirts and sandals.
Long flowing hair is a frequent feature, but not mandatory.
Roleplaying notes: F474 M0R64N4 are comfortable
in their own skins, whether on or off the Digital Web. The
original members are, essentially, old hippies and calling them
Boomers is a good way to piss them off. The newer members
tend to emulate the founders, though they’re more in touch
with modern trends and attempt to persuade the old hippies
to be a bit more woke and a bit less libertarian.
Old members and new both possess the determination to
undermine all oppressive and authoritarian structures in the
web. They carry out this agenda subtly and with a certain dry
sense of humor. They see themselves as the web’s jokers and
tricksters. The Technocracy see them as dangerous heretics and
social justice warriors senselessly undermining structures that
have taken time and effort to create, needlessly challenging
objective truth. Younger reality hackers see them as boring old
Boomers, imposing their outdated ideas on a flexible reality.
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges 71
 Suggested traits: Mental Attributes are important to
members of F474 M0R64N4 who tend to have a good balance
between Intelligence, Perception, and Wits. Important Talents
are Alertness, Awareness, Expression, and Subterfuge. Their
Skills emphasize Stealth and Technology, and their Knowledges
center on Computer and Science with specialties in Cybernetics
Cheops Supplements
Welcome to Cheops, direct sales company. You are about the join the ranks of those who have profited from their association
with us. Have you seen these testimonies?
Who doesn’t want to be rich? Who doesn’t like
money? Everyone wants to be wealthy, even —
especially — those who are barely scraping by.
Everyone knows pyramid marketing schemes
are illegal but, surely, a mage can pull the wool
over the eyes of authority and get away with it.
The secret is to make sure it’s all done behind
closed doors, and no one squeals or complains.
Fear ensures compliance, as does the promise
of more riches for those bold enough to dare.
A handful of filthy rich mages run this classic pyramid
marketing scheme. They don’t have a physical base; they don’t
need one. They have a credible registered address in Singapore;
an office where secretaries scan and forward physical mail. They
operate through cell phone networks and the internet, which
work perfectly well without magick of any kind. Anyone who
can access the mundane dark web can get access to all the email
addresses and cellphone numbers they require. Some eager new
members consider using rotes like Psychic Interface to get the
information they need to operate, but veterans explain that
would be like using a chainsaw to open a peanut. The scheme
runs fine on purely mundane means. Magick use is reserved for
covering their trail and appearing legitimate when confronted
by the authorities. Anyway, as more and more Sleepers become
part of the pyramid, the mages spend less and less time getting
their own hands dirty.
Cheops was the brainchild of Andre Belushi, formerly
of the Order of Hermes. Andre grew up in a series of trailer
parks in the American Midwest. His mother worked hard to
put him through school, and he repaid her by doing well at his
studies and winning a good undergraduate place. He Awakened
during his sophomore year and joined the Order of Hermes.
Since childhood he had been obsessed with discovering his
father’s identity. Finding out he’d been sired by a rich Adept
Major, who abandoned him before he was even born, was
a turning point in his relationship with the Order. He also
came to the realization that, despite his academic ability and
achievements, his classmates would never get over thinking of
him as trailer trash.
72 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
and/or Computer Science. Academic knowledge and an interest
in Enigmas are also common among members.
All members have the Paradigm Everything is Data, but
practices vary with cybernetics, weird science, and chaos magick
being the most frequent.
He abandoned his ambitions and started to hang out with
old childhood friends who were making names for themselves in
criminal circles. It was then that the idea of Cheops Wellbeing
was born, though it took some years to assemble his inner-circle
of suitably disillusioned mages. The first to join him was Márcia
Delgado Pinheiro, an Chakravanti from the Favelas of Brazil.
Andre and Márcia were joined by others who had become dis-
illusioned with the Traditions’ rigidity. They came to think of
themselves as rebels against the established order and particularly
resented the Protocol concerning the protection of Sleepers.
Rich mages, they observed, tended to respect this Protocol in
name only, just as the rich have always exploited the poor. Now
that the scheme is off the ground, these mages mostly describe
themselves as Orphans. They recruit from among all Traditions
and several Disparate factions.
Most mages who join the scheme feel oppressed by the rich
and privileged and want to dig themselves out of that hole by
becoming rich and privileged themselves. Individuals may feel
some guilt about the abuse of those in the lower layers, but they
stay in the scheme for much the same reasons as Sleepers do.
Either they are dependent on the steady income or they fear being
blackmailed by other Awakened members of the Pyramid. The
Awakened members are less susceptible to the higher echelon’s
use of the FOMO rote (p. 53) which is a favored way of keeping
the middle layers of the pyramid in line.
Cheops sells “health food supplements” which, they claim,
safely boost the immune system and can cure any ailment from
the common cold, through infertility, to cancer. Most of the
supplements they sell are placebos: entirely harmless and inert.
However, the mages at the top occasionally use magick to affect
a miracle cure, and encourage their top-line salespeople to try it
out. This is a particularly popular tactic at mass sales meetings,
where those members offer up enthusiastic testimonials. The
Paradox-attracting potential of performing miracles in front
of an audience of Sleepers is almost insignificant when that
audience is made up of salespeople who desperately need to
believe the supplements they sell are effective. Behavioral
psychology indicates that intermittent reinforcement is ex-
traordinarily effective at altering behaviors. It’s also effective
in cementing belief.
 The executive-level members are currently discussing
branching out into a full blown Ponzi or bare pyramid scheme,
asking punters to invest money without providing any kind of
product for them to sell. This would involve going after the
greedy rather than the desperate — people who have money
to invest. Some argue this would be triple the profits, others
think it would be pushing their luck too far and involve too
great a risk of detection.
Cheops Wellbeing and
their victims
Background: Anyone can be a victim of a pyramid mar-
keting scheme. Such characters come from every walk of life,
though often they’re members of the working class who live
paycheck to paycheck. They’ve got past due bills piling up — one
car repair or emergency room visit from it all falling apart. They
could even be friends or relations of a player character. Due to
their investment and the occasional positive result, they have
absolute belief in the efficacy of Cheops Wellbeing’s products.
Every victim can point to a recruiter who has done well out of
their involvement with Cheops and they believe if only they
worked hard enough, if only they devoted themselves entirely
to the product and sales, they could make a decent living.
The company’s leaders mostly describe themselves as
Orphans who reject the idea of leadership and formal sects.
They certainly want nothing to do with the Ascension Wars.
The founding members believe their scheme benefits their
victims by shaking up perceptions of reality. This is a risky
philosophy and some of the group are on the edge, in real
danger of falling.
The founders and some randomly chosen rubes enjoy
a life of luxury. They have the best of everything, expensive
cars, expensive watches, first class travel, designer clothes and
designer drugs. The pleasure they get from these is balanced
by the constant fear of detection, and not just by the Sleeper
authorities. Although they do not align themselves closely
with any tradition, many, like Márcia, fear the wrath of former
mentors.
Image: Those who benefit from the pyramid scheme live
the life of Riley. They take care to maintain a peak of physical
health which they attribute to the wonderful supplements they
sell. They drive fancy cars, wear nice clothes, and sport jewelry
and watches they earned when they hit certain sales milestones
or recruited a specific number of people to the company.
Roleplaying notes: High-level members are skilled
confidence tricksters who come across as trustworthy. They
demonstrate absolute belief in the efficacy of their supplements
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges 73
Mostly they just come across as normal rich bastards, occasionally
generous but reluctant to reveal the source of their wealth…
unless they’re trying to recruit a new mark.
Lower-level Cheops employees are under constant pressure
to push their products. They have testimonials written by peo-
ple whose health has improved astoundingly after taking the
supplements, and look for openings during a conversation to
mention the next big thing. All, whether Sleepers or Awakened,
are consummate salespeople, but they have an uphill battle:
People are wary of multi-level marketing schemes, and tend to
shut them down quickly.
Suggested Traits: Cheops salespersons favor Social
The Escapists
When the going gets tough the rich head for the hills.
There are many dangers in the world of the
21st century, many things that can wipe out
lives, livelihoods, and humanity’s lifestyles
in general. War, terrorism, revolution, civil
unrest, pandemics, plagues, nuclear accidents,
ecological meltdown, zombie apocalypse. Most
people fear one or more of these, often for good
reason, and take sensible precautions. They
observe good hygiene, keep an emergency pack
by the front door, share contingency plans with
friends and family, and so on.
Rich people can go one further. They plan to escape natural
and man-made disasters entirely, keeping themselves out of the
way of the rest of humanity until things blow over and they can
get back to their normal lives. Even if a situation has no hope
of blowing over, the rich, unlike the average survivalist, plan
to live out the remainder of their lives in comfort. As anyone
who has seen a post-apocalyptic movie is aware, if you have
yourself set up to survive the apocalypse, you’d better keep quiet
about it. Your carefully stashed resources are going to become
highly desirable and you need to plan how to keep them in
your hands, and out of the hands of those who didn’t have
the foresight or resources to pre-plan for such a contingency.
Whilst most survivalists plan for themselves and close
family, or for a close-knit community, the richest Escapists plan
to keep in touch via satellite networks after the apocalypse.
This way they’ll be able to share up to date information about
the situation on the ground and — as long as their fuel holds
out —keep each other supplied with commodities that might
be more abundant in one locality than others. Even after
the apocalypse, the Escapists believe, commerce must go on.
Without commerce, there can be no civilization.
The Escapists maintain a variety of properties around
the globe, each geared toward a different type of catastrophe.
Profound civil unrest or a chemical or nuclear accident might
74 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
and Mental Attributes, primarily Manipulation and Wits.
Suggested Talents include Expression and Leadership. Most
have some Computer knowledge, with skills in Medicine to
back up their product claims. A grasp of the Law helps them
squeeze around regulations to keep their business just this side
of legitimate. Pharmacopoeia is important to them; as they
carefully formulate their products to do no harm, and grant
a few magickally curative properties. A variety of Paradigms
justify their criminal activity, primarily Might is Right, A World
of Gods and Monsters, and Everything is Chaos – You Only Think
it Makes Sense. Spheres important to the company’s activities
include Correspondence, Life, and Mind.
only affect some parts of the planet. Only total environmental
breakdown or nuclear winter is likely to affect the entire globe
at once. In some cases, isolating oneself in an exclusive (and
adequately secure) mountain lodge in the Himalayas for a few
weeks would be sufficient. Others prepare to wait years in a
well-hidden nuclear bunker. No one person owns a property
for every contingency, but, between them, the Escapists’ vari-
ous properties cover just about every kind of emergency. They
even have a contact or two in the Arcology (see below) and an
arrangement to use their facilities should an asteroid or comet
threaten to impact the earth.
The typical Escapist survival kit is extensive. Private jets and
helicopters are available to enable members, their families, and
their staff to reach the facilities before the authorities put effective
travel bans in place. The Escapists travel with their own medical
teams and supplies. The hideaways themselves contain enough
non-perishables to keep them fed for at least a year. Security and
domestic staff permanently stationed in the safe zones check and
replenish these periodically, according to a strict schedule.
The Escapists recruit by word of mouth. If, for instance,
at a gathering of the stupendously wealthy, a guest mentions a
concern about a future breakdown in society, an Escapist might
approach them cautiously in sympathetic conversation. If they
have the right attitude and can meet the membership criteria,
they receive an invitation to join. Conditions for membership
are ownership and maintenance of a suitable property for escape
and survival of societal breakdown. They agree to make this
available, on reasonable request, to other Escapists. Members
join and leave the organization as their fortunes and attitudes
change, so it’s not super-secret. Many wealthy people are aware of
the existence of this network and quite a few of them, whilst not
being members, possess premises that are available for Escapist
activities in an emergency. About a third of the Escapists are mages.
From the point of view of a wealthy mage, not only does
membership provide a safety net in case of apocalypse, it also
grants access to some isolated properties which can, with care,
be used for purposes other than surviving societal breakdown.
Sure, you have to ask the owner for permission to host a small
and exclusive gathering there, but mages tend to do less dam-
age to the property than teenage offspring who might use the
place for a party.
Mundane premises include the aforementioned mountain
lodge in the Himalayas, a nuclear bunker dug deep beneath the
Taklamakan desert, a huge luxury yacht moored in Bermuda
which acts as an anchor for a Horizon Realm, and a private
island in the Indian Ocean which contains a shallowing through
which mages can pass into the low Umbra. Awakened Escapists
keep knowledge of the Horizon Realm and the shallowing to
themselves, though Sleepers are welcome on the island and on
board the yacht. The Bermuda Triangle effect explains away
any activity on board the yacht directed toward anchoring or
accessing the Horizon Realm.
Privileged Survivalists
Background: The privileged Escapist is convinced bad
things are going to happen and is determined to remain in
control of the situation, however terrible it gets. They’ve sunk
a great deal of time, thought, and money into preparing for
the worst. They have a peculiar combination of anxiety and
control-freakiness, though sometimes one member of a family
has the anxiety and another exercises the control.
Some consider the privileged survivalists to be selfish as
they’re determined to save their own skins while the rest of
humanity goes into meltdown. In times of great danger, when
only limited resources exist, the haves believe they’re in danger
of being attacked by jealous have-nots. Members may express,
and even feel, sympathy for those without the resources to
survive, but this doesn’t make them inclined to share their
bounty. Others simply don’t care about the survival of the
less privileged any more than they care about being part of the
one percent of people who control almost half of the world’s
wealth. They either don’t recognize their privilege or don’t care.
Awakened members of this group could be of any sect or
faction, though the Technocracy frown on survivalists in gen-
eral as the stability they are trying to establish would prevent
serious societal breakdown or, at the very worst, enable society
to recover from it in short order.
Image: The Escapists are indistinguishable from the rest
of the world’s richest people. Often, they carry small survivalist
tools on their person: a waterproof wallet with a blister pack of
iodine tablets tucked into a compartment; a belt that unfolds
to reveal tools and hidden money pouches; a tricked-out Swiss
Army knife. As much as those products are intended to be
inconspicuous, the Escapist can rarely resist an opportunity
to show off their features.
Roleplaying notes: These individuals tend to have an “I’m
all right Jack” attitude and show little sympathy for others’ woes.
They believe every person should look out for themselves and
their loved ones. Oh, they understand not everyone has the
capacity to provide for themselves as well as they do, but maybe
they should consider getting a better job, or working harder.
Over cocktails or dinner, they speak of the vast dangers
facing society, it is apparent they fear societal breakdown, but
they still remain supremely confident. They are well versed in
the statistics of risk and their ability to weigh up the odds assists
them when they invest in the markets as well as enabling them
to calculate how likely there is to be an earthquake, nuclear
accident, or revolution.
Suggested Traits: People who are determined to survive
in extreme adversity tend to keep themselves physically fit. The
typical Escapist focuses on Stamina, Manipulations, and Wits.
Among their Abilities are Alertness, Leadership, and Survival.
Though they’ve hired staff and security for most contingencies,
some Escapists learn Firearms for both fighting and hunting. In
case their hired physicians have trouble making the rendezvous,
some also enough Medicine to perform basic first aid. Many
have Area Knowledge of the location of several facilities and
are well-versed in Politics and Finance.
Mages in this group find Correspondence and Time useful
for being in the right place at the right time. Entropy, Forces
and Matter have their uses when predicting natural and man-
made disasters. They’re most likely to be from the Traditions,
though some Disparates have expressed interest in making an
investment. Etherites find this form of survivalism particularly
attractive and have done much to secure the Horizon Realms.
This network also appeals to some Euthanatoi, seeking to rebuild
when entropy inevitably brings about an ending. Paradigms
common among the Escapists are Might is Right, Tech has all
the Answers, or even It’s All Good — Have Faith!
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges 75
 The Sensational Adventurers Club
You haven’t lived till you’ve tried High Orbital HALO jumps, wingsuit BASE jumping simply doesn’t compare.
There are plenty of perfectly legitimate
businesses who cater to the desires of adrenaline
junkies, those who yearn for extreme experiences
and adventures. Some of them are more ethical
than others, and some take better care of their
clients than others. But, once you’ve climbed
K2, waded through the Devil’s pool in Zambia,
Hiked Mount Huashan or bungee jumped Off
Macau Tower, ridden your mountain bike along
Death’s Road in La Paz, Bolivia etc., what do
you do next? Face it, those experiences might
not be precisely cheap, but they’re on a lot of people’s bucket
lists. For most people, any one of these is the trip of a lifetime:
an expense they save up for years to attend. For the fabulously
wealthy, mass tourism threatens to spoil their once-exclusive
activities. Just look at the nose to tail lines forming on the
ascent of Everest!
And that is just the Sleepers.
A couple of decades back, a crowd of Etherites decided
they could do better. Wealth and influence can do a great
deal to hide intrepid adventures from the eyes of society. One
member had the autobahn (A42) closed from Oberhausen to
Dortmund to accommodate a private drag race for ten of her
friends in vehicles that would strike Sleeper eyes as impossi-
bilities. Each contestant created their own prototype and most
decided on fantastical forms. There was a five wheeled vehicle
in the shape of a fire-breathing dragon, the heat from its breath
enhancing forward movement by means of inflating its wings.
Three racers had vehicles that could have come straight out
of a Steampunk novel and, one, which never came into con-
tact with the ground, looked like a Victorian conception of a
space-going vehicle. Although to this day the race’s organizer
Anastasia Goldheart, denies it, nearly half the competitors
were Void Engineers.
The race was so successful that the Club, previously only
open to Etherites and trusted members of other Traditions,
officially (but quietly) opened its gates to Void Engineers. The
Club appeals to the Convention almost as strongly as it does to
the Etherites who founded it. Certainly, they all fear the New
World Order breathing down their necks but a little paranoia
only enhances the adrenaline rush.
One of their better known enterprises is the organization
of High Orbital HALO jumps. These generate Club income
(always handy) and also help to identify potential recruits.
Astronomically rich though members of the Sensational
Adventurers Club are, their tastes in entertainment are ex-
tremely expensive.
Less well-known outside the group is its access to unclimbed
76 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
mountains. At present it isn’t possible to get official permis-
sion to attempt any of Bhutan’s unclimbed peaks, however,
the Void Engineer Zaysu Hisaku worked out a method for
remotely opening a portal. Her team sends up a cloaked and
enchanted drone from Tibet which anchors the far end of
the portal so the team can pass through. They’ll never get
the credit for being the first to scale Gangkhar Puensum, but
they had the thrill of doing it nonetheless. Part of that thrill
was the risk of detection by the Sleeper authorities of Bhutan.
Since then there have been several Sensational Adventurers
Club excursions to the area. Some enjoy the thrill of skiing
down forbidden slopes whereas others are more interested
in investigating why the Bhutanese are so protective of their
mountains. Some mages adept with Spirit have claimed there
are a number of Shallowings in the area.
Club Members expect to include others in their activities
where possible and to use whatever influence they have to help
other adventurers’ schemes come to fruition. Money is essential
to this group, as not every problem can be solved by magic
alone. Wealth and influence are useful tools for circumvent-
ing the limits Sleeper authorities and governments impose to
prevent foolhardy Sleepers from hurting themselves. Members
find out about the group by word of mouth, perhaps whilst
participating on a more publicly available adventure or via a
friend of a friend. They keep in touch by phone, in person,
and in private groups on social media.
The Adventurers see no need to keep their existence secret.
Many non-members, such as local guides and hoteliers, are aware
of the group (though not of their magickal nature) and alert
their contacts to new possibilities. As well as facilitating each
other’s expeditions, Adventurers share ideas for increasingly
daring exploits. Some treat it as a competition, vying with one
another to undertake increasingly dangerous feats.
The Adventurers occasionally subsidize dedicated adrena-
line junkies with fewer resources. They sponsor disadvantaged
Sleeper youth to experience bungie jumping, cave diving,
zipwires, and other extreme sports. These expeditions involve
enough travel to allow the youngsters to experience a different
culture. Although reckless when it comes to their own safety,
the Adventurers are careful to keep these youngsters as safe as
possible whilst enjoying their adventures. Losing one of the
teens would risk attracting Sleeper witnesses, something the
group are keen to avoid.
Due to the nature of their activities, the Sensational
Adventurers Club has a high fatality rate. That’s not a deter-
rent: if their activities were safe, they’d lose their attraction.
Group members rally to support the families and friends of
the deceased. Since the accidents happen in such treacherous
places, it often proves impossible to recover the bodies. More
than one member has used this as a way of disappearing prior
to starting a new life elsewhere.
Adrenaline Junkies
Background: Thrill seekers come in all shapes and sizes.
Intrepid explorers, stunt drivers, mountain climbers, F1 drivers,
and downhill racers can find themselves in the media spotlight,
with all the idolization and jealousy it entails. Those who be-
come members of the Sensational Adventurers crave unique
experiences and can afford to pay for them. Though they invite
photojournalists on their tamer trips, they go to great lengths
to keep their more extreme adventures secret. What they have
in common, in addition to their addiction to adrenaline and
great wealth, is a craving for adventures of dubious legality (if
not completely illegal or utterly unethical). It’s one thing to risk
your own life for the thrill of it, but all too often others, such
as local guides, porters, and mechanics, die along with them.
Image: These adventurers come across as sophisticated
people of the world. They’re well-travelled and fluent in several
languages. Socially competent, they blend in with the rich of
many cultures. They favor sporty, informal clothing but scrub
up well when the occasion demands formal attire. Physically
fit and vivacious, they’re rarely short of admirers.
Roleplaying notes: Adrenaline junkies are up for anything
and, if someone proposes a potentially exciting activity, they
The Arcologists
The Earth’s resources are finite. However hard you work to conserve them, they remain finite.
Out amongst the stars, however, there are infinite resources. Let’s go get them. Seed humanity throughout the Universe
The Arcologists are a top-secret group comprised
of people who sincerely believe the world is
about to come to an end. There is some cross-
membership with the Escapists, but this isn’t
a fear of mere societal breakdown, it’s more to
do with the (not totally irrational) belief the
earth will become uninhabitable within the next
four or five generations. Toward the end of that
period, although it might be possible to survive
on Earth, life would become unpleasant with
small groups of humanity in intense competition
for ever-dwindling resources. These individuals, therefore, are
preparing a habitat at the L5 Lagrangian point between Earth
and the Moon. Several members were previously involved in the
L5 Society (now dissolved).
They operate out of a top secret laboratory on the sea
floor quite near the remote and sparsely populated Kerguelen
Islands, otherwise known as the Desolation Islands. Most of
the 45 humans present in winter and just over a hundred in
summer are scientists. As hardly anyone lives there all the
join in with great enthusiasm and often competence. They
boast about their more legitimate adventures and love to relate
stories about the time they took a group of kids from the slums
of Mumbai across the Atlantic on a tall ship.
Suggested traits: Physical traits are important to club
members. They need Stamina to survive their adventures.
Depending on their preferred activity, Strength or Dexterity
will follow. Many thrill seekers are Charismatic. Abilities will
depend on their favorite activities, but most will have Alertness,
Athletics, Survival, and Acrobatics. Also consider their favored
activities, as many will have Brawl, Drive, Martial Arts, or Media.
A member could be from any sect, though the New World
Order frowns on such unregulated activity. Extreme sports of the
kind the group practices are most likely to appeal to Akashayana
wishing to test their own limits or Ecstatics bored with more
conventional pleasures. The group skews heavily toward its
founding Etherites and Void Engineers. Most members are
skilled in Life, and many will know a thing or two about Time.
Entropy, Prime, and Correspondence are useful as backup.
Suggested paradigms include A World of Gods and Monsters,
Creation is Innately Divine and Alive, More is More, and for some,
a One-Way trip to Oblivion. This group’s practices tend to be
based on the physical and focus on movement in particular.
Martial arts, yoga and, occasionally, chaos magick are popular.
Similarly, instruments revolve around their physical presence;
bodywork and dance are frequently chosen.
time, it was easy for the Arcologists to use one of the smaller
islands as a base to set up a sea floor arcology, or self-contained
habitat. The Arcologists occupying the sea floor construction
keep themselves discreetly supplied, with the help of their
scientists employed on the islands. The structure was set up
over a Node, so there’s no shortage of Quintessence for the
scientists’ needs.
The purpose of the sea-floor arcology is twofold. First,
it enables the Arcologists to experiment with what makes an
arcology work; how physical beings can survive in one and be-
come self-sufficient. Second, it functions as a base from which
to construct an arcology at the L5 point. Currently, working
with some talented — if slightly heretical — Void Engineers,
they’ve managed to set up a Horizon Construct grounded by
the underwater arcology itself. One Void Engineer fondly calls
it a literal example of “As below, so above.”
Currently, the Arcologists are primarily working on keeping
their Horizon Construct grounded and accessible from the
undersea arcology. They dedicate considerable resources to
their defenses, as roving anomalies, echoes of the Dimensional
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges 77
Anomaly, occasionally beset the Construct, causing considerable
damage. The portals they’ve established out to the L5 point
are only suitable for use by Enlightened Scientists and purely
mechanical beings. These, along with a LERMU, spend half
of their time in the Construct and half under the sea. Once
they’ve stabilized the structures sufficiently, a select handful
of extraordinary citizens can join them.
Their ultimate vision is to bring the Construct arcology
through onto the physical plane so it can accommodate the
masses after the Earth itself becomes uninhabitable. Every
Arcologist is fully aware this will take many decades to achieve
but every one, whether Enlightened or extraordinary, believes
this dream will come true.
Half a dozen Void Engineers occupy the underwater
arcology. They work alongside a dozen more extraordinary
citizen scientists with sufficient androids and robots (some
with rudimentary intelligence) to perform the bulk of the
manual and domestic labor. They have outside support, both
physical and financial, from within the Convention as well as
from Extraordinary citizens and unEnlightened operatives.
Increasingly, though, the activities of these Investigators
and Explorers have met with opposition from the Convention’s
Co-ordinators. The Enlightened in the Arcology fear the
78 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Co-ordinators will demand that they terminate their activ-
ities. They’ve heard rumors Nephandi have infiltrated the
Technocracy and the Arcologists are convinced it’s those fiends
who are behind the impetus to put an end to their endeavors.
At the same time, other Technocrats believe the Arcology itself
has been infiltrated. They do, after all, spend a lot of time in
Deep Space.
Invitations to work on the Arcology are discreetly extended
to Void Engineers and talented Sleepers who would be of value
to the project, as researchers, financers, or to work on logistics.
It would be possible, with care, to infiltrate the group on any
of these levels though it would take significant time and effort.
Even the lowliest unEnlightened operative is fanatical about
the security protocols.
Membership in the Arcology grants access to some cut-
ting-edge Enlightened Science involving the ability of humans
and their mechanical associates to survive in places without
breathable atmosphere and with gravity dissimilar to that of
Earth. Artifacts available include magickally modified spacesuits
and deep water diving suits far in advance of anything produced
mundanely, along with the necessary life support systems. The
Enlightened Arcology medics perform body modifications, both
surgical and hormonal, to enable humans to survive in alien
environments. Just as important to most Arcologists, however,
is having access to the Horizon Construct. The Arcology gives
members hope they, or their descendants, could survive the
end of the world.
Arcologists are fully aware the majority of people on the
planet don’t possess great wealth. They feel the Union are in the
best position to correct this. When the off-world habitats are
finally ready for the human race, many present-day inequalities
will cease to exist. Everyone will have their needs met in the
bright new, rational future.
The Arcologists
Background: Arcologists are either Void Engineers or
their unEnlightened associates. Unless, of course, you count
the androids with artificial intelligence or the LERMU based
in the Horizon Construct. They all hold the profound belief
that the only way for humans to survive is to find a way to
live off-planet. They don’t believe governments, or even the
Technocratic Union, take the threat seriously enough. Rather
than working to conserve Earth’s finite resources, they believe
humanity’s destiny is to find other worlds to exploit. Earth’s
resources may be finite, but the Universe’s resources are not.
The L5 Arcology is merely a starting point. Eventually they’ll
take colony ships to other planets, and to the planets of other
stars. Humanity will seed itself throughout the Universe — all
thanks to the application of Enlightened Science.
Arcologists are well-educated, often with several degrees.
They prefer to mix with compatible people, by which they mean
scientists who share their beliefs. Some are merely benefactors
who finance the project and have no direct involvement. Others
work on the project at various levels. Not everyone is undersea
or at the L5 point. Most work on logistics, ensuring the Arcology
has all the supplies and security it needs to remain active in a
world largely hostile or, at best, indifferent to its work.
Image: When not wearing a lab coat, the typical Arcologist
dresses conservatively and takes care not to stand out from any
academic or scientific crowd. As the project itself is top-secret,
outsiders are most likely to run into them at academic or scien-
tific conventions, or in their natural habitat in staff common
rooms at top universities and research institutes. They speak
slowly, carefully, and authoritatively, as if they were giving a
presentation or a lecture.
Roleplaying notes: The Arcologist is always keen to explain
things to other people. Even things the person they are speaking
to understands already. They come across as condescending
and are particularly scathing about any attempts to conserve the
Earth’s finite resources. They use long words and say ‘um’ at lot.
Suggested traits: Mental Attributes are primary for this
group, particularly Intelligence. Dexterity helps in the perfor-
mance of delicate scientific Processes. Primary Abilities include
Alertness, Subterfuge, Research, Stealth, and Technology, with
the greatest strength in Subdimensions and Science.
Awakened Arcologists work in similar ways to more
typical Void Engineers, specializing in Dimensional Science
and Correspondence. Their paradigms are Tech Holds All the
Answers or A World of Gods and Monsters, though some believe
Power Trickles Down. Favored practices include hypertech and
cybernetics. Arcologists’ instruments include books, peer re-
viewed journals, computers, devices and machines, formulae,
and mathematics.
Chapter Four: Membership Has Its Privileges 79
 Where does he get those wonderful toys?
— The Joker, Batman (1989)
Hurtling at terminal velocity toward the planet I begin to rethink my
life choices. Was it really sensible to launch myself from a low-Earth orbital
ship and expect to survive? Sense clearly had nothing to do with it. The last
48 hours were full of things that I likely shouldn’t have done. I shouldn’t have
agreed to dumpster dive the remains of Doissetep. I shouldn’t have joined in
the attack on that Amalgam on the dark side of the Moon. I shouldn’t have
paid for the kilo of cocaine that I left in the ship. Hopefully the autopilot
lands successfully because wasting all of that would be a real shame.
What I should probably do is just hang-out at home, enjoy
some cupcakes, swim a little bit in the pool, maybe have a cocktail
and smoke something herbal. Chill. That’s what I should do. I can’t
remember the last time I relaxed for more than 10 minutes. Instead,
it’s a breakneck 500 kilos per minute hop from one layer of excitement
to the next. I certainly live in interesting times, and it truly is a curse.
Getting talked into this adventure was likely the start of a new
series of bad ideas too. The book I’m carrying in my backpack is Porthos’
grimoire and it’s going to cause a stir because it’s just as much a diary
as it is a book of magic spells. It’s weird too, because since I pulled it
It’s Good at the Top...
The rich lead lives most people in the world can barely
imagine, but between movies and celebrity reality shows, the
99 percent can get a good glimpse into what it’s like to have
out of that fireproof and magickally sealed box I’ve felt like I’m being
followed by some … thing? It might just be the anxiety speaking but
I could swear there’s something hanging around waiting to strike.
The little bit I read of the book is inflammatory and contains some real
whoppers about both the Traditions and some members of the Technocracy.
It’s not surprising that ol’ Porthos had a lot of dirt on everyone he could get
his hands on. What is surprising is that he put it down into a book at all.
The way this is written it seems he wanted someone to find it, eventually.
Probably he did, hoping it would fall into the right hands and it would cause
an explosion even larger than what took out his home.
Well, it’s time to pull the chute… otherwise I won’t survive
this drop. It’s not working … I’m pulling and the damn thing isn’t
releasing. Now I feel like there is something on my back … something
big. Something tearing into me … shit, what is that!?
Famed adventurer and entrepreneur Sarah
al-Hasmini died during an experimental high orbit
skydiving jump today. More information to follow.
scads and scads of money: Luxury apartments, expensive cars,
yachts, jewelry, a stable full of thoroughbred horses. You have a
small army of personal tailors, personal chefs, personal trainers,
Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy 81
and personal stylists. It’s a life of private parties, access, and
excess. Whatever you want, whenever you want it.
When you’re a rich mage? Well, things get even more off
the hook. You walk in halls of power that would astound the
Sleeper elite. You hurtle along impossible roadways in your
sleek sportscar, one designed to work in a Realm where the
rules of physics bend to your whim. Those elite parties don’t
take place on Parisian rooftops overlooking the City of Lights;
they’re hosted on the moon, giving you a glimpse of an entire
hemisphere’s illumination.
...But It Also Gets Lonely
Still, being a rich bastard isn’t always about extravagance
and idleness. You might run a company, and be the kind of
hands-on CEO who cares about employees’ well-being. Maybe
you’re more concerned with market share and investors’
You Can’t Take It with You
So what does the rich mage do, with piles of
money in the bank and magick at your fingertips?
Sure, you can let it sit in an account and grow
interest, but that’s boring. Besides, once you’re
sitting on millions, you can live in luxury off
the interest alone. Following are suggestions
for how your mage might spend her fortune.
For the wealthy mage, if you can dream it, you
can buy it.
All the Comforts of Home
A rich mage can afford to live anywhere she’d like to: in
a Los Angeles high-rise with a corner view, a country mansion
with a few hundred acres, a houseboat in international waters,
or aboard a space station orbiting the planet. With enough
Resources, she might even own one of each. Having homes
away from home gives her a sense of stability and security. She
has a place to entertain high-level guests or stash her various
collections. She might have a safe house entirely off the grid —
both mundane and magickal — for when enemies get too close.
Having a lot of house (or a lot of houses) is its own full-
time job. The mage often brings on caretakers to manage the
property when she’s not occupying it herself. A custos hires
and oversees the rest of the household staff, such as cleaners,
personal assistants, cooks, gardeners, and more. Many of these
folks are Sleepers, unaware of who their employer truly is or
what magickal power she wields, but they know her earthly
influence can make or break them quickly. Even when a staff
member gets the sense there’s more going on with the boss
than they understand, in wealthy households abnormality is
the norm. The rich and famous all have their eccentricities. It’s
staff’s duty to serve discreetly and without comment.
82 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
confidence. Either way, you have a lot of decisions to make,
and the wrong one can send stock prices tumbling or put good
people out of their jobs.
No matter where you go, someone’s going to have opinions
about what you do there. Whether it’s the board of directors,
a congressional oversight committee, or followers hanging on
your every post, your life isn’t entirely your own. You have
appearances to keep up, examples to set, and any number of
people waiting for you to fail.
Wealthy willworkers know just how intensive magickal
surveillance can get. Hackers in the Digital Web and Syndicate
Magic Men track your every purchase. Young mages want to
be you when they grow up, and old rivals are just waiting for
Paradox to take you down. Somewhere, a witch slices her palm,
trying to gain access to your Sanctum or change your luck for
the worse. Who do you trust, when it feels like everyone’s
gunning for you?
The households of the wealthy tend to be spacious not only
because they accumulate more things, but because those items
are bigger. Whether it’s a bedroom set or an industrial oven,
top of the line objects simply take up more space. Now add in
a garage that can house a small fleet of vehicles, an Olympic-
sized pool, tennis courts, and a helipad. Willworkers can skirt
around this if they so choose, hiding a gallery’s worth of art in
a tiny apartment with the aid of Correspondence or Matter,
or creating a portal to their private hangar, but sometimes you
just want to own your own castle. Or island.
Regardless of its size, a rich mage’s home has several
key rooms set aside for magickal purposes. This could be a
laboratory, a conservatory, a garden, or Sanctum dedicated
to ritual magick or building Wonders. Some even have mod-
ern-day holding cells or actual dungeons from the house’s
original construction. Technocrats — whether they have the
local law enforcement in their pockets or not — can imprison
assailants through more official channels, but other mages
sometimes need to keep dangerous adversaries still for long
enough to decide what to do with them, or keep an angry
spirit contained.
Even if they find dungeons distasteful, wealthy mages
often spring for a safe room to retreat to if enemies gain entry
to their homes. Their Sleeper counterparts build rooms with
reinforced steel walls, bulletproof glass, and state-of-the-art
ventilation systems, and hard-wired phone lines to police and
emergency services. A smart mage adds in a ritually prepared
space, warded against several possible intruders and any num-
ber of nasty magickal traps. Rather than an escape tunnel that
lets them out somewhere on their property, a mage’s takes her
halfway across the city, or even the world.
Otherworldly Security
A security detail patrols the grounds at all hours. A guard
sits at the gatehouse, ensuring only those on an approved list
pass the tall, wrought-iron gates. Doormen turn riffraff away
before they even get in the lobby, let alone on the elevator to
the penthouse. Money can buy incredibly powerful protection,
well before magick enters the mix. Many Sleeper security mea-
sures stem directly from Technocratic innovations: surveillance
cameras, motion sensors, biometric scans, and facial recognition
software are commonplace today, accepted by the Masses. Some
mages use them reluctantly, hesitant to strengthen the Union’s
grip on Consensus ... but they’re so damned convenient. A spirit
could tell you who rang the doorbell just as easily as an app
on your phone shows your visitor’s face, but only one of those
things incurs Paradox.
Where Sleepers hire guard dogs, wealthy mages can afford
to buy even more territorial creatures. Like, say, a dragon. While
most Bygones have left the material realms due to Paradox and
Unbelief, the mage has the funds to scour the world and the
Otherworlds until they find the creature they need to protect
themselves. A busy willworker may delegate the search to an
associate, or offer a sizeable reward that up-and-coming acolytes
jump at the chance to claim. Once retrieved, it’s best not to
task the Bygone with guarding an earthly hoard — even if it
does fry a Sleeper burglar to a crisp, their Unbelief runs the
risk of destroying the beast, and the ensuing Burn might take
your valuables with it. Best to charge them with watching over
a Chantry, or a collection housed in a Horizon Realm.
Location
Location, Location, Location: It’s not just a sales adage,
it’s a vital principle. Savvy mages snap up property with existing
Nodes, favorable ley lines, or buildings with particular magickal
significance. Their wealth opens up real estate opportunities
all over the world. Is there a powerful Node on the edge of
a mountain overlooking a lake? With the right amount of
money and a handful of bribes, the lake, Node, mountain,
and everything around it can be yours. This is true for a pent-
house apartment in Manhattan which allows you to spy on a
Technocrats’ amalgam — need some privacy, and the guarantee
that the other units around you aren’t full of Black Hats? Buy
the whole building! Maybe instead, you want to purchase a
forest out from under the feet of the local environmental
group. Make an offer the landowner can’t refuse. Aggressive
land grabs aren’t always the wisest move, however: Wave that
deed around all you want, the piece of paper won’t protect you
from a pack of pissed-off werewolves who call the forest home.
Bureaucracy
Some locations are inaccessible due to government zoning
or other legal restrictions. While they’re usually put in place
to protect the land or preserve wildlife, occasionally, those
places fall into the wrong hands. Determined mages flush with
cash hire lawyers to jam through all the appropriate rezoning,
reorganization, or permits required to purchase an otherwise
unattainable property. Directly bribing a government official
is illegal, but plenty of wealthy Sleepers get around that with
lobbyists and campaign donations. Moneyed mages have even
more tools at their fingertips, whether it’s brute force Mind
magick, or subtler applications of their Arts to sway an official
or a town zoning board to their side.
Crafting With Cash
Materials and components costs can drain a working
class mage’s bank account, preventing him from performing
rituals or delaying his attempt at a Great Work for decades.
Wealthy mages, on the other hand, can plunk down a pile of
cash or hand over the titanium credit card marking them as
one of the company’s elite members, and procure their ma-
terials in a matter of days. Building a Trinary computer deck
using atomically grown diamonds? A set of candles crafted by
a priestess in a grove that was bulldozed a hundred years ago?
The package is in the mail.
Metal and Stone
Alchemists within the Order of Hermes, the Children of
Knowledge, the Akashayana, and other factions depend on
various metals to perform their workings. The Celestial Chorus’
extensive trove of golden crosses and silver chalices aid their
prayers. Templars wield filigreed weapons, intent on drawing
key angels to assist them in their holy missions. Gold, silver,
and platinum can get expensive fast, and even the baser metals
incur expenses when you factor in transit and storage. While
mercury itself isn’t expensive, it requires careful handling,
which a rich mage can afford to delegate out to a hireling.
Jewels, strange stones, stones with faces and symbols carved
into them, and those created under rare geological conditions
can be powerful foci for various rotes and Wonders. Rare
stones such as tanzanite, black opal, larimar, and tourmaline,
and uncommon rose quartzes and diamonds are also key to
rituals and practices. For example, Hollow Ones wear protective
black opal talismans, which protect them from Technocractic
brainwashing. Still, outfitting everyone you know with a be-
spoke pendant gets pricey quick, especially when it comes to
unusual components.
A willworker buying large amounts of gold might draw
the notice of Sleepers who watch the markets, but someone
trading in Primium risks calling down the attention of the
Syndicate’s Disbursements. Smart mages use proxies upon
proxies when they want to acquire some, and everyone in the
chain jacks up their asking price. Less well-off mages are more
likely to discover the intensely guarded secret of its alchemical
creation — or get lucky and scavenge some off a dead HIT
Mark — than they are to afford to purchase it outright. Rich
mages, on the other hand, can not only drop the cash, they
can also pay the appropriate bribes so their contact forgets the
exchange ever happened.
Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy 83
Herbs and Plants
Not everyone’s a Verbena, singing rare herbs and delicate
flowers from the ground with a mix of gardening knowledge
and a few drops of blood. Sometimes you need a rare plant, or
a whole field of them. When you don’t have a green thumb, a
pile of greenbacks will do.
A rich mage can hire soil, space, and caretakers around
the world to cultivate specific plants for all kinds of magickal
uses. All she has to do is supply the greenhouses and fertilizer,
and her private fleet of gardeners and cultivators will do the
rest. This goes further than simply growing a specific type of
nightshade and yanking it out of the ground when it matures.
Often, magical plants need to be tended in a specific way and
cut at specific times in their growth cycle. Why spend your valu-
able time sitting around in the garden for the precise stroke of
the clock, when you can pay someone else to be there instead?
The Power of Influence
As for everything else? When you’re rich and powerful
you simply have to imply you want something and it will
appear. Put simply: People want your favor. They want your
endorsement. They stand to make money simply because you’re
wearing their clothes and jewelry, or you were spotted playing
84 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
with their company’s new cool electronic device. Mention on
social media that you’d like some new pots and pans, and savvy
brand managers fall all over themselves to send you their new
deluxe set. The thank-you picture or unboxing video you post
to your million followers is an entire free advertising campaign.
And if you don’t want to talk it up for free? Here’s an en-
dorsement deal: you sign the contract, they’ll sign the check.
This isn’t magick at work, though some might argue that Ars
Cupiditae made it widely possible on a Sleeper level.
This is true of other mages as well, who may go out of their way
to win your favor. Want a peek at that rare grimoire they acquired
last year? A tour of their laboratory? How about a prototype of
that cool Device they’ve been working on? Casually post about
it on the Digital Web and watch your DMs blow up with offers.
There’s almost always a quid pro quo aspect to these transactions:
These eager mages want your patronage. With your money, they
can purchase the raw resources they need to create their rituals
and spells. Or you rub elbows with one of their idols, maybe you
could put in a good word, next time you see them.
Alternate Rule: Money buys access, making it easier for
wealthy mages to acquire Contacts, Allies, and Followers. As an
optional rule, any mage with Resources 4+ may gain Contacts,
Allies, and Followers at 1 xp per 2 levels of those Backgrounds.
Riding in Style
The rich are world-travelers, sampling the best of what
cities both ancient and modern have to offer. They have private
luxury jets and full-time pilots available to take them anywhere
they want to go, whenever the whim strikes. Breakfast in Paris,
lunch in Tuscany, dinner in Prague? Not a problem. The Sleeper
world’s still waiting for suborbital flights to be commonplace,
but add in a little Correspondence or Forces, and you can put
Los Angeles or Tokyo in the mix.
If you have a private jet or fleet of town cars, your trans-
portation might as well be as tricked-out as possible. Beyond
leather and chrome interiors, a wealthy technomage might
tinker under the hood, adding in new driving modes that let
them slip through traffic, evade police detection, and provide
superior protection in the event of a crash. Their plane not
only has its own king-sized bed and high thread count sheets
for those Boston to Tokyo trips, but its fuel also rarely runs out.
The biggest spenders fit full apartments and Sanctums
into their vehicles, own a voidship or two, or cruise around
and above the world in private floating cities.
Making a Difference
At some point, a mage runs out of ways to spend money
on herself. Or maybe she’s looking to help others first, and
Treasures and Wonders
The Wonders in this section are a mix of high-ticket
items, rare one-of-a-kind artifacts, and expensive
magickal tools. Most mages could only dream of
affording them, were they ever to come up for sale.
For the rich bastard, the only thing that could
stymie the purchase is forgetting where they left
their wallet. This isn’t to say that blue-collar mages
can never possess these things. Many are perfect
targets for a heist, or items a wealthy benefactor
might let them borrow for a time.
Some, like the Delano Super-Car or the Perfect Town
require some degree of upkeep. Taking the Super-Car for a
joyride is great, but at some point it’s going to need repairs,
or at least a tank of gas. The Resources prerequisites below
represent how wealthy the mage would need to be to purchase
the item outright, wherever it might pop up for sale. Upkeep is
listed alongside the prerequisite — this may include things like
repairs and replacement parts, storage, security, and the like.
If the mage’s Resources are lower than the required upkeep,
she may still physically have the item in her possession at the
end of the story, but the Storyteller may require additional
tasks to keep it working, hidden, or secure.
take care of her earthly desires afterwards. Either way, the
world is full of people in need and problems in want of fixing.
It’s not as simple as choosing a cause and flooding it with
funding (though that certainly helps) — like any Great Work,
solving global issues takes time, research, maintenance, and
Will. Rivals, greedy CEOs, the Fallen, and even Consensus
itself resist your efforts. Making a change becomes a lifelong
pursuit, which makes it all the more worthwhile.
Rich mages from the more esoteric Traditions often dedi-
cate a good chunk of their wealth toward acquiring, protecting,
and restoring ancient artifacts tied to their cultural roots. This
is particularly true of the Dreamspeakers, Euthanatoi, and
Akashayana who have had to work against Sleeper governments
around the world. Many removed priceless relics during ar-
chaeological digs, bringing them to their home countries and
displaying them in museums and private collections. Others
claimed them during colonization, occasionally buying them
but often stealing or smuggling them away. Mages work with
Sleeper organizations, ensuring that cultural artifacts are re-
covered and protected appropriately. They also go into those
places Sleepers can’t, whether that’s a museum kitted out with
delicate motion sensors and weight and pressure alarms, or
Otherworldly stashes. Those mages who focus on acquiring
Wonders in this way often hold onto them until they can safely
return them to their rightful cultures.
Doissetep’s Treasures
Doissetep is — or was — home to some of the most power-
ful mages and their Wonders. Owning even a handful of the
devices and trinkets kept there would give any willworker an
edge over their rivals. The items have been the targets of heists,
scams, and schemes over the centuries, and now there’s no one
there to stop adventurers from wandering in and taking what
they can find. Following is just a small sample of the treasures
that can be found in this Hermetic stronghold.
The Crucible of Thig •••• (Device)
Arete 4, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 12 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 6
Though House Thig has long been subsumed into other
Hermetic orders, its legacy for mixing technomantic magicks with
more traditional arts lives on in its creations. As the House pushed
the boundaries of what magick meant, so does the Crucible give its
wielder the ability to stretch past their own abilities, albeit briefly.
The Crucible is a ceramic crucible about 1 foot in diameter. No
obvious markings, runes, or sigils decorate its surfaces; these were
all baked during the firing process. The only physical distortion
which marks as the real Crucible is a bluish tint to the bottom
when held up directly to the noon sun.
Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy 85
 System: A mage may use the Crucible to create a Wonder
as if they had two dots more in a Sphere than they currently
possess. They must have at least 1 dot of the Sphere required
to create the desired Wonder.
Delano Super-Car ••• (Device/Fetish)
Arete 3, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 12 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 7 (Upkeep: Resources 3)
The Delano Super-Car is an 80s-era muscle car. The vehicle
is made of a special black polymer which was crafted by the
Jhonisset, Doissetep’s secret police, for stealth purposes. The car
was upgraded throughout the years and still sports a powerful
computer system for threat tracking, GPS, and control over the
various weapons and gear invested in the car. While the system
was originally controlled by an artificial intelligence, rumors
suggest the car has been possessed by one of the Jhonisset
killed during the attack on Doissetep.
System: Capable of speeds upward of 300 miles per hour,
the Delano Super-Car provides the driver with an additional 3
dice in Drive via a Mind 3 effect. Its Primium roll cage grants
it 4 dots of Primium countermeasures.
Safe Speed: 100
Max Speed: 300
Maneuver: 10
86 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Crew: 1 (1 passenger)
Durability: 10
Structure: 15
Weapons: I
Elemental Cage •••• (Fetish)
Arete 4, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 10 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 4
Once acting as the lights of Doissetep, these cages are
powerful tools which can be used to capture Elementals of
any form. In the Chantry they were used to render powerful
lightning elementals inert except for their illuminative potential.
System: The cage is a fetish that employs a Spirit 4 effect
to capture any slumbering Elemental in the mage’s immediate
vicinity. Once bound, the cage’s owner may command the spirit
to use one appropriate spirit Charm (Mage 20, p. 490-495.)
Golden Tass ••• (Periapt)
Arete N/A, Quintessence 15, Background Cost 7 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 6, Wonder 5
Within Doissetep was a large golden gateway, made from
solid, magickally-strengthened gold. Destroyed in the fight which
tore through the realm, its remnants are infused with massive
amounts of quintessence. Most pieces of Golden Tass are the
size of a quarter and are coveted by Virtual Adepts, Hermetics,
and Etherites as components for other Wonders and Devices.
System: Each piece of Golden Tass holds 5 quintessence,
which it regenerates every 24 hours. Pieces may be melted down
and molded into other shapes using Matter 2 and Prime 4.
Grimoire of Porthos Fitz-Empress ••••
(Talisman)
Arete 4, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 12 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 8
Equal parts spellbook and personal diary, this grimoire
belonged to one of the most powerful Arch-Masters of all time.
It contains Porthos’ musings on magick — especially the Sphere
of Forces, his accounts of significant events in Tradition history,
and his opinions on the future of magick and mage society.
Porthos cataloged his long life in extremely fine detail, and
his grimoire would fill a modest library if it weren’t for the
Matter/Correspondence effect keeping it reasonably portable.
System: The grimoire acts as both a personal and unique
instrument (Mage 20, p. 587-588) for the Sphere of Forces,
reducing the difficulty of Arete rolls for Forces spells by –2.
Once per story, the owner may consult the book for Porthos’
opinion on the Council of Nine, the location of entrances
to important Chantries (Horizon, Mistridge, Doissetep, and
more), secrets related to mages Porthos knew, and other nuggets
of wisdom as the Storyteller feels appropriate. The character
also gains Lore specialties in the Traditions and the Order of
Reason, plus one additional specialty in an Ability or Trait
of their choosing, as long as the Storyteller agrees it plausibly
touches on an area of Porthos’ interest.
Heli-Sanctum ••••• (Device)
Arete 5, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 15 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 9 (Upkeep: Resources 5)
This helicopter was created as the modern day equivalent
of Czar Vargo’s airships. The Heli-Sanctum is a 100 foot long
helicopter built with luxury in mind. Powered by quintessen-
tial energy, it can stay airborne indefinitely. The heli-sanctum
has Primium armor plating and weapons which can generate
Forces 3-level effects, but these are precautionary additions;
the heli-sanctum is made for bliss, not bloodshed.
A cyclical system of water to waste is connected to an
Umbral plane of water so there is always fresh water on board.
This allows for both the shower system which can hold up to 6
people at a time and the hot-tub designed for a party of 8. The
bar is always fully stocked, and the beer kegs never run empty.
The Heli-Sanctum are crafted by Czarina Anastasia,
great-granddaughter of Czar Vargo, or so she claims. These
flying penthouses are for sale, but they don’t come cheap:
Anastasia only crafts a handful of each decade. Two of these
were used as cloudships in Doissetep before its fall.
Safe Speed: 125
Max Speed: 200
Maneuver: 5
Crew: 3 (50 passengers)
Durability: 10
Structure: 12
Weapons: I
Unliving Mask ••• (Trinket)
Arete 3, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 8 pts
Prerequisite: Resources 6
Klaus Hortemone was one of the more controversial
members of the Doissetep Chantry, believing in the eventual
reincorporation of the Tremere vampires into the Order of
Hermes. He received the mask after eliminating a problem for
the Tremere of Paris, though the details of that job are slim.
System: When placing the mask on one’s face and spending
a point of quintessence, the wearer becomes indistinguishable
from a vampire. Their heart doesn’t appear to beat, they don’t
need to breathe, and all supernatural powers show them as being
undead. Vampires cannot see through this effect without Auspex
7+. The user loses access to 1 Arete per night they activate the
mask. This Arete returns at one point per week without use.
Works of Art
The world of the rich bastard is one of taste and excess.
Not necessarily good taste, but what do others’ opinions matter
when you’ve got money? Some wealthy mages collect works
of art for their beauty. Others care more about the bragging
Future Fates: Doissetep
Depending on your game, the Hermetic stronghold of
Doissetep may have been destroyed in a cataclysmic
event in 1997 (Mage
(Mage 20, p. 50). Many of the mages
who made Doissetep their home clearly fall into the
realm of rich bastards, and the Chantry was packed
with magickal wonders.
When the great Chantry exploded, its treasures were
buried in the wreckage and scattered throughout the
Horizon Realm in which it resided. Treasure seekers
and the power-hungry sift through the rubble, trying
to salvage Wonders and fighting over what they
uncover. Other items may have made it back to the
Tellurian, carried by fleeing mages or thrown through
portals in the Chantry’s last moments. Characters may
uncover these Wonders in various auction houses
or collections around the world.
It’s possible that Doissetep survived and rebuilt in
your game, or that it was never under attack at all.
In that case, those items are still tucked away in its
many rooms, ripe for the taking ... if you dare.
Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy 87
rights that go with owning the piece than what’s in the frame.
Still others devote fortunes toward recovering and restoring
damaged masterworks. And, of course, owning a work of art
with magickal properties only increases its value.
Autochthonic Output •••• (Talisman)
Arete 4, Quintessence 20, Background Cost 12 pts.
Prerequisites: Resources 7+
The original 200,000 punch card output of the allegedly
sentient planetoid-computer Autochthonia, the Output fills
two full-size pallets of meticulously labeled boxes. Although
Void Engineer Archmaster Tychoides discovered Autochthonia
in 1893, it was Analytical Reckoner Hadiyah al-Sharif who
installed analytical engines on Autochthonia and recorded the
Output. Strangely, al-Sharif insists she had little to do with
the actual programming, implying Autochthonia was already
alive — or that it achieved sentience rapidly from a small kernel.
Despite being a written work, the sheer size of the Output
also makes it a de facto display piece, taking up a minimum of
55 cubic feet; each punch card is only about the size of a small
business envelope, but they add up. Reading the punch cards
is even more challenging than storing them, as each card rep-
resents binary numbers, which in turn represent numbers and
commands. Understanding the Output entails reading each card
sequentially, with each card building on all of the previous cards’
data. Losing one’s place requires starting over completely. Thus,
it’s little surprise that more than a few readers have violently
assaulted those who dared interrupt them.
System: Reading the entire Output is a Great Work
(Mage 20, p. 543), (Data or Correspondence 3/Mind 3/Time
3/Computer 5; base difficulty 8; 15 successes minimum).
Beginning the process imposes the Addiction Flaw on the reader.
Each day spent reading adds 1 point to the flaw (maximum 3).
Successful completion raises the reader’s Computer Ability to
6 and removes the Flaw.
Brooch of Hollow Essence ••• (Trinket)
Arete 2, Quintessence 15, Background Cost 7 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 5
Created by a Darkling jeweler in the Victorian era, this
gray moth brooch appears to be made of simple glass and silver.
A closer inspection shows that it’s made from a strange metal
and valuable gemstones.
System: This brooch provides a +2 bonus to all social in-
teractions where the brooch is visible. The brooch also reduces
anger, creating a sense of unearthly calm around the wearer.
This reduces the chance of frenzy in all creatures prone to such
a reaction, increasing the difficulty on a vampire’s Self-Control
or Courage roll or a Garou’s Rage roll by 1 while they’re close
to the brooch’s bearer.
88 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
The Collage ••••• (Talisman)
Arete 4, Quintessence 25, Background Cost 15 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 7+
An unknown patron commissioned the enigmatic artiste
Witchfar to create the world’s most expensive painting: The
Collage. In order to construct this work, Witchfar and his
patron stole or purchased the following paintings, collectively
valued at $3 billion:
The Scream Edvard Munch
Masterpiece Lichtenstein
No. 5 Jackson Pollock
Maerten Soolsman & Oopjen Coppit Rembrandt
The Card Players Paul Cézanne
Interchange Willem de Kooning
Salvatore Mundi Leonardo da Vinci
Mona Lisa Leonardo da Vinci
Portrait of a Courtesan Caravaggio (thought to have been
destroyed in WWII)
As part of the creative process, Witchfar decided no
one could know about The Collage before its unveiling and
produced high-quality forgeries to leave in place the originals
that he stole. Because of this, most of the art heists went off
undetected, though the former owners of Salvator Mundi,
Interchange, and Masterpiece caught Witchfar in the act. In each
case, the former owner was assaulted and their authentication
equipment destroyed, making it impossible for them to prove
that their painting had been stolen and replaced. As further
coercion, they received $1 million in cash per day until they’d
been paid the full insured value of their former painting. This
doesn’t sound too bad, except that the deposits were left near
the victims while they slept, regardless of where they slept,
even if it was in a reinforced steel panic room surrounded by
armed guards.
In keeping with Witchfar’s perverse vision of sustainability,
he also turned the remnants of the destroyed paintings into
their own works.
Some have described The Collage as The Scream’s frantic
character presiding over a marriage between Jesus and the
Courtesan, while others insist it’s more of an avant-garde
wanted poster. Less charitable critics call it a “damned mess
of butchered masterpieces slapped together.” Regardless of
opinions of the composition and meaning, no one who views
it forgets it, especially not after they realize that none of the
pieces of The Collage is a reproduction.
The Collage was constructed by Witchfar by cutting out
pieces of ten of the world’s most expensive paintings, including
the Mona Lisa and a lost Caravaggio. The pieces were then
affixed onto a single unwrinkled sheet of gold leaf. Witchfar
built the frame for the delicate work out of the original wood-
block carving for Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa. The
estimated cost of The Collage’s materials is $3 billion, although
its actual value is incalculable.
The elites of the art community are deeply split on the
existence of The Collage; some have offered hefty bounties for the
death of the original patron, Witchfar, and whoever currently
possesses the work, and others simply want to own it, offering
life-changing sums of money to anyone who can acquire it.
System: Openly displaying The Collage marks the current
owner as a target for collectors, art thieves, and enterprising
mages. Some of the past owners have seen this as a feature,
finding the threat of impending murder or theft exhilarating.
Characters staring at The Collage for more than a few minutes
may experience minor, permanent changes to their Genius,
typically taking on an aspect of one or more of the constituent
paintings, as determined by the player and Storyteller. Not all
Enlightened viewers are affected.
The Finger •••• (Talisman)
Arete 4, Quintessence 20, Background Cost 12 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 7+
Carved from the fabled White Tower at Mistridge, France,
The Finger is a 10-foot-tall marble sculpture of a massive middle
finger, thumb folded over the unfurled fingers and the palm
implied by the oval base. In addition to being the largest piece
to survive the Craftmasons’ assault on the Hermetic chantry,
The Finger is the oldest piece of Technocratic art, predating the
official creation of the Technocratic Union by nearly 700 years.
Although the gesture’s popularity was on the decline during
the 13th century when Alex Wilkinson carved The Finger, the
Craftmason selected it to express his disdain for the Order of
Hermes. In addition to serving as a literal and figurative mid-
dle finger to the Traditions, it also gives the owner an excuse
to lecture visitors about the history of the gesture and its 4th
century BCE origins.
System: The statue is a direct insult to the Hermetics
and has a Mind 3 Effect that further distracts Hermetics and
Traditionalists; Social rolls near the statue made by a Tradition
mage have their difficulty increased by 1 (2 if they’re a member
of the Order of Hermes). Openly displaying the statue imposes a
1pt. Enemy Flaw (Mage 20, p. 647) with the Order of Hermes (or
increases an already existing Flaw by 1pt., to a maximum of 5).
Head of Marcus Antonius Piscus ••
(Trinket)
Arete N/A, Quintessence 10, Background Cost 6 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 5
The head of Marcus Antonius Piscus has been in the hands
of a rich Verbena family for nearly two thousand years, and it’s
surprisingly in good condition. The family uses the head as
an oracle and advisor. Its warnings and counsel has kept their
family wealthy and in positions of power for centuries — even
the French Revolution wasn’t enough to topple them.
System: Once per story, by rubbing specially prepared herbs
on Marcus’ head, the user may ask a single question that the
Storyteller answers truthfully and accurately. At any time, the
head may be used as a unique instrument for any appropriate
sphere effects providing –1 difficulty.
The Meeting of the Silent Knives •••
(Trinket)
Arete 3, Quintessence 15, Background Cost 12 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 5
This 1500s-era painting depicts a scene of three men and
two women meeting in the back of a tavern. Each figure has a
knife in their left hand and holds their right index finger over
their mouth in a shushing gesture.
System: Hanging this painting in a room prevents any
effect that would allow one to see, hear, or scry into the room.
Breaking through this effect requires a Sphere rating of 4+.
The Necromancers’ Tarot ••• (Talisman)
Arete 3, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 7 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 6
Created at the height of the Italian Renaissance, the
Necromancers’ Tarot is a bespoke tarot deck featuring death-
themed imagery. The subjects depicted in the major arcana
are said to be famous necromancers from various Traditions,
though not every person pictured has been identified. The last
known owner of the Necromancers’ Tarot was a Boston-based
businessman named Francis Milliner who held an exhibition
of the famed deck in the late 1940s.
System: The deck imitates an Entropy 2/Time 2 effect, giving
the reader insight into her target’s past and future. The deck’s
owner may designate a specific card that represents her target
— the Empress, the Hierophant, the Fool, etc. — and use that
card as a personalized instrument in spells involving that target.
Designer Drugs
Anything a normal person might possess, it’s virtually
guaranteed some rich bastard has a more expensive, flashier
version, including mind-altering substances.
Masterpiece Cocaine •• (Trinket)
Arete N/A, Quintessence 10, Background Cost 6 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 5+
Witchfar’s creation of The Collage left yards of priceless
paintings in shreds. But the artist wasn’t one to waste mate-
rials. Instead, he set ten vats of water and coca leaves to boil
and dropped the remnants of each painting into one of the
vats. Once the oils, tinctures, and heavier minerals had been
cleaned from the canvasses, he pulled the cloth out and refined
the remaining mixture into ten batches of incredibly rare
cocaine. The stimulant sells for around $1 million per 50mg
vial, although prices continue to rise.
Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy 89
 Snorting the drug floods the user’s mind with psychic
echoes from a master painter, making them remember a portion
of the original piece’s brushstrokes and emotions, imparting
creative clarity. Additionally, thanks to the body’s inability to
process the heavy metals in paint, part of each dose becomes
a permanent part of the user’s body.
System: Masterpiece cocaine functions similarly to normal
cocaine (Mage 20, pg. 443), granting the user extra actions, at
the expense of reduced dice pools, although only one health
level in bashing damage due to the quality. Each dose is also
Tass, equivalent to 1 Quintessence. Users with Prime or the
Primal Energy Sphere can absorb this; other users are simply
in for a ride as they absorb a piece of the original artist’s soul,
gaining an extra two dice for any Expression rolls while under
its effects. It’s not all fun; masterpiece cocaine is loaded with
heavy metals from pigments and paints, dealing five levels of
lethal damage to users who botch their stimulant Stamina roll.
Masterpiece Infusers •• (Trinket)
Arete N/A, Quintessence 10, Background Cost 4 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 5+
Further repurposing The Collage’s constituent canvases,
these small bags serve as infusers for hot beverages, specifically
Kopi Luwak (civet coffee) and Da Hong Pao tea. Although
these infusers have been stripped of their paint, the original
patterns are still quite visible, making them display pieces
of their own. Due to the rarity of Da Hong Pao tea, each
masterpiece-wrapped infuser costs $5 million. Civet coffee is
significantly cheaper at a mere $2 million per infuser. Reusing
infusers to make a second pot is common among tea drinkers,
but a third is just gauche.
System: Much like regular coffee and tea, the beverages
created by masterpiece infusers are rich in nootropic purines,
chiefly caffeine and theobromine. As such, users experience
heightened mental focus, granting an extra die for any Mental
roll during the hour after consuming the drink.
Perfect Bliss ••• (Trinket)
Arete N/A, Quintessence 15, Background Cost 7 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 6
Grown in a laboratory, the Perfect Bliss is a lotus/opium
hybrid created by the Children of Knowledge. The high created
by the Perfect Bliss is enough to expand the mind to places
even the Ecstatics envy in their pursuit of passion and release.
In fact, the Cult are the main procurers of the plant outside of
the Children of Knowledge, as well as several wealthy members
of the Syndicate. Looking for the best high crosses the normal
boundaries of the Ascension War.
System: The Perfect Bliss increases the character’s
Awareness by 2 and decreases their Stamina by 1 as it twists its
way through the body. This effect lasts for 12 hours. Regular
(daily for 12 days) use of the drug will impose the Bizarre
Hunger Flaw at 5 points. (M20: The Book of Secrets p. 87)
90 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
but also increases the Mind Sphere by 1 until the end of the
story. This may allow the character to have dots in mind above
their Arete limit.
Wonders
The wealthy don’t play by the same rules as other people.
Where some folks get hung up on red tape or red lights, a
rich bastard walks straight toward what he wants… or has an
underling carry him there.
The Cloud ••••• (Device)
Arete 5, Quintessence 25, Background Cost 15 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 8 (Upkeep: Resources 4)
Nerdy peons jabber on about “cloud-based technologies.”
Those with real power have actual clouds. Spread out over about
a cubic kilometer, the Cloud is a personal vehicle the size of a
shopping mall. It’s important to understand this isn’t simply an
airplane in the shape of cloud or a shape-changing hovercraft;
no, it’s an actual cloud completely under a mage’s control.
Want to fly it to Paris? No problem. Pick up a few million
gallons of water? Sure. Drop a monsoon on the Eiffel Tower
and wash your brother’s date off the observation deck? That’s
probably murder, but the Cloud doesn’t care.
The nanotechnology system controlling the Cloud’s shape,
speed, and heading also lets the owner designate what parts
of the cloud are load-bearing, letting the mage drive their
Bugatti aboard and transport it to Italy’s Stelvio Pass for a
weekend’s drive.
Not only is the Cloud a fantastic mobile base of operations,
virtually invisible thanks to its namesake’s ubiquity, it’s also able
to literally rain down massive amounts of devastation without
anyone being the wiser. Floods, hailstorms, and lightning are
all play toys now. Hell, for a mage willing to get a little dizzy,
they can even turn their Cloud into a tornado.
System: The Cloud is a single continuous cloud of nanites
and water vapor formed through a Matter 4/Forces 5 Procedure.
Like normal clouds, it’s mostly water vapor. Although the
Cloud isn’t particularly fast, it doesn’t need to be fueled, as
it draws energy from a combination of solar power and static
electricity drawn from passing air currents.
This same energy powers its weapon systems, allowing a
total of ten attacks per day, rolling the character’s Dexterity
+ Firearms. Technically, the Cloud can fire an eleventh, but
this results in the Cloud immediately crashing. The Cloud can
be rammed, as parts of it are rigid to permit storage. Flying
the Cloud is a coincidental Effect, though using its weapons is
usually vulgar with witnesses, thanks to the extraordinarily long
range of the weapons.
Safe Speed: 50
Max Speed: 150
Maneuver: 6
Crew: 1 (100 passengers)
 Durability: 6
Structure: 6
Weapons
Lightning: Difficulty 6 (Gunnery), Damage 10 (electricity),
Rate 1, Range 2,000 yards, Capacity 10 shots
Tornado: Difficulty 6 (Pilot), Damage 10, Rate 1, Range
10,000, Capacity 10 ‘shots’
The Eye & The Prize ••• (Device)
Arete 2, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 8 pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 6+
Money attracts attention. For some people, that’s a prob-
lem: paparazzi always in your face, the internet scrutinizing
every meal you order and theorizing what’s in that armful of
Nordstrom bags. Those people don’t know how to use their
wealth as a distraction. A smart mage can pay people to look
the other way. In the old days, this would be accomplished by
throwing a few wads of cash into the air and hurrying away
in the ensuing scramble, but the modern age has ushered in
more effective methods, including a handy device dubbed The
Eye & The Prize.
Imagine this: an assassin on a stake-out, waiting for her
target to come out. She gets a call from her partner asking
what’s going on with their bank account. Within a few seconds,
she’s connected to the bank to find a dozen deposits totaling
$1,000. And they keep rolling in. Now she’s online with the
bank, watching transactions in real time with the amounts
going up. And up. By the time the last deposit comes in an
hour later, she’s millions of dollars richer and has been glued
to her phone the entire time.
Of course, money doesn’t motivate everyone, which is where
the Eye half of the system kicks in. Every person in the world
— even hermits — has a lengthy data trail that the right kind of
leverage can access. After the Eye collates the various database
records, it designs a predictive model of the target’s motivations,
determining the event that’ll causes the maximum distraction.
Thanks to a speech-generating AI, virtually any situation can
be created or faked, from a family emergency to national crisis.
System: The distraction is a two-stage process. First, the
Eye & the Prize gathers enough information to psychologically
profile the targets. Then, it uses the profile to create a scenario
so compelling, they can’t pay attention to anything else. Targets
can be named from a different location, individually pointed out
in real time, or encompass every Sleeper in a specific area. Once
profiled, targets must make a Wits + Alertness roll, resisted by
a dice pool of 9, difficulty 6. Targets who fail are preoccupied
for the next round, or until something more pressing happens,
like taking damage or getting yelled at by an ally.
Although most targets have no means of resisting the
datamining, those that do make their relevant roll resisted
against a dice pool of 7, difficulty 6. The Eye & the Prize’s
net successes are applied to the distraction. This can result
in the Eye & the Prize losing dice during the distraction roll.
Genius Retrieval and Storage ••••
(Device)
Arete 3, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 8 pts.
Prerequisite: Backing 6, Resources 6
While the Technocracy has had cloning technology for
decades, this new form of memory storage assures both the
physical memories and Genius of an Awakened agent are re-
trieved in as close to perfect condition as possible should harm
befall them. This storage device is located in the vertebrae,
near the base of the spine.
System: These devices allow for a perfect clone with no
memory or personality loss problems during backup, using a
Mind 4/Entropy 3/Correspondence 2 effect.
Megalith Moving Crane •• (Device)
Arete N/A, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 5
pts.
Prerequisite: Resources 5
Sure, a mage could use mundane construction teams to
precisely place giant stone slabs for a ritual, but this device,
invented by a Verbena environmentalist, is far kinder to the
location’s natural surroundings. No need for tire treads mar-
ring both the ground and your carefully-constructed circle,
the Megalith Moving Crane is efficient, economical, and
immensely strong.
System: By incanting a command word, the Megalith
Moving Crane can fold up to the size of a lawnmower. Capable
of lifting stones 100 times its weight, the crane’s Prime-infused
steel rope is nearly unbreakable.
Mechanical Sifu ••• (Device)
Arete 3, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 8 pts.
Prerequisite: Do 2, Resources 6+
Built in 500s China, the Mechanical Sifu is an ancient
Wonder constructed by the Akashayana to assist them in their
training. During an era when there were more and more inter-
ested students looking to grow in Do than there were teachers,
the Akashic Brotherhood crafted dozens of these mechanical
people. Using elaborate clockwork gears and tension, the
device is capable of performing dozens of Do maneuvers and
sparring with students of the art. The apparatus appears to be
a person made of solid brass.
System: Spending time sparring with the device is the
equivalent of training with another Do practitioner. Doing so
for a scene grants the owner two bonus dice on combat rolls
for the rest of the session.
Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy 91
X-50 Aetheric Security System
•••• (Device)
Arete 4, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 10 pts.
Prerequisites: Chantry/Construct 2+, Resources 7
The X-50 Aetheric Security System is the top of the line in
Techno-Magickal security! Nothing this side of Autochthonia
could crack it! The X-50 is designed to link up with all magical
paradigms, and understands commands in over 50 languages
including several dead ones. If you’re looking to protect yourself,
your sanctum, or even a random house you’ve just happened
to acquire… well, the X-50 is what you need.
System: The X-50 Aetheric Security System is highly special-
ized and customized. Its engineers work for several weeks with
any Mage who purchases one to determine the most effective
methods of security required both for a specific location and
for the Mage’s paradigmatic view of magic and security. A
combination of Forces, Life, Mind, Prime, and Spirit effects
detect disturbances, and a 2-dot Backup crew (M20, p. 306)
responds to tripped alarms.
We Have People for That
Ask a rich bastard for something, they’ll inevitably say
that they have people for that sort of thing, regardless of what
that sort of thing is. With the proper Resources, the mage
may hire one of the entities below to perform a specific task
for them once per story.
Company Gray (Security Consultants)
Prerequisite: Resources 6+
Company Gray is a subsidiary of the Syndicate that offers
security consulting. Company Gray is ostensibly named after
Lady Jolene Gray, who established the organization in 1895.
No one who has worked for Company Gray has ever been
indicted of a crime.
System: Company Gray can provide everything from highly
advanced secure facilities to bodyguards for key protection
details. Bodyguards are rarely Enlightened citizens but are
frequently outfitted with weapons and gear on the bleeding
edge of current technology.
Financial Beard
Prerequisite: Influence 5+, Resources 7+
Wealth attracts attention. Attention means thieves, vig-
ilantes, kidnappers. Enter the Financial Beard, an employee
who — on paper — possesses billions of dollars and lives a life
of luxury, funded by a Bastard’s rounding error of compound
interest. If harm ever befalls the Beard, virtually nothing is
lost, aside from the loss of an employee.
System: Beards make it harder for would-be assassins and
thieves to find the caster by putting someone else in the cross-
hairs. Anyone searching for the mage who doesn’t already know
about the Beard is looking in the wrong place. A successful
92 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
roll to track down the mage by any means locates the Beard
instead. Additionally, if the mage is known to have a specific
artifact, work of art, or other unique item, the Beard will have
a convincing replica, leaving thieves with a nice-looking copy.
Beards are otherwise unremarkable, just someone who
answered a job ad.
Manticora Acquisitions and Trainers
Prerequisite: Resources 7+
Wealthy Sleepers adopt exotic pets all the time, even when
the law forbids them. Tigers, venomous snakes, monkeys, even
kangaroos — if there’s an open spot in the private menagerie,
the rich will find a way to fill it. Moneyed mages think even
bigger, to animals that have long since left this world. Getting
them to the Tellurian is more complicated than mundane
smuggling operations.
That’s where Manticora Acquisitions comes in. The com-
pany prides itself on rescuing Bygones from extinction, and
offers a variety of training programs. While some species can be
suitable as pets, other, more dangerous Bygones require intense
education for both animal and owner. As per the company’s
name, they specialize in Manticora, but are also renowned for
their drakes, giant eagles, and Chupacabra.
Manticora Acquisitions takes no responsibility for persons
harmed by these animals. Adopt at your own risk.
System: While Manticora representatives do the work of
drawing a Bygone from an Otherworld, care and feeding of the
creature is up to the mage, including keeping them safe in a
Chantry or Sanctum, and fortifying them with a steady diet of
Quintessence. The power of Sleepers’ Unbelief (M20 p. 553)
is a very real danger, and willworkers who take their dragon
for a walk do so at their — and their dragon’s — own peril.
Players should work with their Storytellers to design a
Bygone (M20: Gods and Monsters, p. 183), or refer to World
of Darkness: The Bygone Bestiary for inspiration.
New Hire
Prerequisite: Resources 7+, Enlightenment: 5
Half the fun of running an international conglomerate is
the power that goes with it. But sometimes taking frustrations
out on the rank and file isn’t a sound business decision. That
clumsy engineer might be the world’s best at what she does;
firing her would give the competition a leg up. CEOs with short
tempers and keen foresight (or Enlightened HR departments)
get New Hire.
Part administrative AI, part fake-ID print station, New
Hire is a room-sized personnel solution. When person is fired,
New Hire assesses whether the employee is worth keeping and
for how long. If they’re not, out they go. If they are, New Hire
creates a new identity for them, including a nanotech mask
to disguise them as a new person. With New Hire, executives
can stroll across the floor confident that they won’t see any-
one they don’t like. Gone are the days of needing a backlog
of replacements to fill sudden vacancies, not to mention the
security concerns created by terminating a large number of
employees.
In extreme cases, New Hire prevents especially valuable
employees from leaving the company, by declaring the original
identity dead, cutting off the employee’s ability to survive
without the company’s help. In 96 percent of all cases of a
troublesome irreplaceable employee, New Hire improves their
commitment to the company to near-total.
System: New Hire is a complex system that uses Data 3/
Entropy 2/Life 3/Matter 3/Mind 3 Effects to erase employee
identities, create new IDs (complete with faces and fingerprints),
and convince the employee that this isn’t unusual. These disguis-
es are high quality, equivalent to a •••• Alternate Identity (Mage
20, p. 304-305). Creating a new ID is considered coincidental.
Replika
Prerequisite: Resources 7+
Sometimes “having people” is more than just an expres-
sion; for the rich, it can mean literally creating other beings.
With a sample of DNA and enough behavioral data, a person
can have fully-functional copies of anyone they like. What
they use these people for is not replika’s concern, but satisfied
customers have reported everything from being able to revive a
loved one, to forming their own supergroup of musical all-stars,
to having an orgy with religious figures that would scandalize
half the globe’s faithful.
Thanks to hyperarcheological research, computational
linguistics, and behavior-generating machine-learning, each
replika has a custom-generated artificial intelligence implanted
into its brain, controlling and monitoring every aspect of their
life. Any personality can be reverse-engineered from videos,
sound clips, or even written text to create an AI that is nearly
indistinguishable from the original. Seeing is believing: each
replika is identical to their original, down to their fingerprints
and DNA.
Of course, authentic behavior is rarely what’s truly desired
when creating a replika of someone. Therefore, each replika’s
AI has a library of personality modules, as well as a hypervisor
module that seamlessly blends between behaviors. Popular
modules include combat, debate, and pleasure. Customers
can also directly change modes through voice commands, an
app, or Tech Support (p. 94).
System: A Correspondence or Data 5/Life 5/Matter 5/Mind
5/Prime or Primal Energy 2/Time 3 ritual rapidly grows the
desired body, gives it life, and imbues it with all of the necessary
Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy 93

Consent & Replikas
While replikas can be used in light-hearted stories
— acting as distractions and alibis during a heist,
consulting Einstein on a thorny physics question, or
simply playing that game of catch with the dad you
never met — at their fundamental level, replikas are
cloned humans with their brains overridden by an
AI. Every one of them counts as an enslaved person.
Purchasing one, even with noble intent of giving
a loved one a second chance at life, is a deeply
questionable moral choice.
Exploiting them for sex or violence can never be
consensual thanks to the AI controlling them. Check
in with your players and establish safety rules before
introducing replikas into your Chronicle.
components of life, with one glaring exception; replikas do not
have souls. Since replikas are nearly indistinguishable from
their source human, being found with one can be grounds for
kidnapping and also counts as human slavery. Though replikas
are adept at virtually everything, they regularly reduce their dice
pool to avoid outshining their owners.
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3, Charisma 3,
Manipulation 3, Appearance 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3
Places to Go, People to See
Rich mages are everywhere. Some live side-
by-side with everyday folks in big cities or
have homes in the Hamptons. Others buy up
swaths of land and put up high-tech security
fences and signs reading No Trespassing or Keep
Out. This Means You — where “you” refers to
any Sleepers who might come wandering by.
The Sky’s The Limit
Everything’s for sale, and rich mages know how to think
big. But sometimes, you need a space that’s entirely your own.
Following are some places characters may create or visit, for
use in your chronicles.
Personal Town •/•••/•••••
Prerequisite: Resources 6+/7+/8+, Influence 4+/5+/6+
Any crime punishable by a fine is legal for rich people.
Rich mages rarely even notice that fine; they tear down the
highway like they own the road, because they do. The patrol
94 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Abilities: Alertness 4, Brawl 4, Melee 4, all other Skills &
Knowledges 4
Health Levels: OK, –1, –1, –2, –2, –5, Incapacitated
Image: Identical to the source
Roleplaying Notes: Whoever your source was, you’re the
original and your owner is your best friend.
Tech Support
Resources 6+
Just because someone is rich doesn’t mean they know dick
about how to use technology. To get around that, expert systems
are included in the many bells and whistles in rich bastards’
phones. These systems mimic support and personal assistant
functions, much like virtual assistants. However, they’re designed
to do much more than just solving tech problems and scheduling
meetings; they also simulate toadying and groveling. Early tests
determined that customers from a specific demographic don’t
simply call support for help; they do it to berate someone for a
few minutes while the problem is handled.
System: Tech Support is an artificial intelligence con-
struct that “lives” somewhere near the owner, likely a nearby
phone. Unlike more famous virtual assistants, Tech Support
is a full-fledged AI, indistinguishable from a real human. As
such, it can do anything an above average human could do
over the internet or by phone. The amount of programming
and development required to achieve this is complete overkill
for something this banal, but that’s the point.
captain? On the payroll. The Mayor? Directly working for
the mage, implanted with a control chip, bribed, who cares
— they’re bought and paid for. Traffic lights? Programmed to
recognize all her cars.
There are no red lights, no traffic, no tickets, no police
response. Nothing. This is the mage’s town and problems here
evaporate. Unsightly buildings get knocked down as soon as
work crews can get their equipment into position. Businesses
she favors pass all inspections and get the best press coverage.
Those she despises get shuttered or find themselves under
new management.
System: Within the designated area, nothing the mage
or associates under her protection do is a crime. Any official
investigations end as soon as they start, so long she’s in town.
Any would-be rivals will have their work cut out for them as
everything that can go wrong does. Although some Personal
Towns use Sphere magick, particularly Entropy and Mind, to
accomplish the control, it’s mostly just money. A lot of money.
Of course, some mages prefer to have their own rural area,
seeking their own private Idaho or equivalent, which is why
Personal Towns are mainly a factor of population.
 Size Population Urban Size Rural Size System: Private Worlds are an upgrade to Sanctums and
Laboratories (Mage 20, pg. 323-4), providing most of the same
Small 1,000 Block Small town
benefits of a ••••• Sanctum, with the following exceptions:
Medium 10,000 Neighborhood Large town
• Significantly more room; Sanctums top out at the size
Large 100,000 Borough or All rural coun- of a small apartment, while Private Worlds are about
District ties in a region the size of the Moon.
Private World • Private Worlds can be accessed by anyone who touches
Prerequisites: Resources 7+, Sanctum 5 the Key and wills themselves into it. By the same token,
Owning a city, state, or cloud is cool, but it’s nothing no one, not even the owner, can enter the dimension
compared to having your own world, which is what the richest without the Key, making Keys one of, if not the, most
of the rich do. Why use magic or hypertechnology to bend precious things the owner has.
the rules of the world when you can completely rewrite them?
Custom-built wonderlands, Private Worlds exist in their own • Private Worlds exist in the Horizon, not the Earthly
pocket dimension — a Horizon Realm. Like many Horizon plane, meaning that absolutely nothing within its
Realms, each Private World is connected to portable anchor boundaries is subject to the Paradox Effect. Although
point: a Key. this means that rival mages can theoretically invade and
use Effects without suffering Paradox, they’d be fools
Because of the vast number of incredibly dangerous Realms
to do so because…
within the Horizon, finding a specific Private World without
the Key is virtually impossible and wildly hazardous. Entering • Uninvited guests suffer one automatic health level in
a Private World with the Key is just as hazardous, at least aggravated damage per turn simply for existing in the
without an official invitation from the owner. Unauthorized wrong place, as the Private World attempts to deconstruct
visitors are rapidly deconstructed, as the Private World recycles them. Inviting someone in is a simple action that the
the constituent parts.

Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy 95

 owner or any invited guest can perform, but only from
within the World. This stipulation has led to more than
a few unintentional deaths.
The Winnipesauke
Lake Chantry
Sanctum 8
Node 4
Governor’s Island is one of the most expensive places to
live in New Hampshire, boasting several dozen homes with
values over $10 million. The Island is connected via bridge to
the town of Guilford. The Winnipesauke Lake Chantry sits
on the grounds of an ancient Dreamspeaker node. European
settlers murdered the island’s Native American protectors,
then left it barren for nearly 100 years until it became the
property of Benning Wentworth, the governor of the New
Hampshire colony.
The node was rediscovered soon afterward by a member
of the Seers of Chronos who purchased the plot and built up
his home over several decades. Nathaniel Hartwell was enam-
ored with the island and would likely still live there if he had
not been killed in the mid-1800s by members of the nascent
Technocratic Union. The property was again purchased by
mages in the late 1990s and a new chantry was plotted out
and finally built in 2003.
Layout
The Chantry itself is a mansion like the other homes on
Governors Island — 22 rooms on the official record, more that
aren’t. The building is three stories with a large gym, a movie
theater, two kitchens, and a large patio overlooking the lake.
The home’s fixtures and furnishes are expensive but under-
stated, the very picture of reserved splendor.
Alongside the main house is a large boat house. Three
boats are moored here. The boathouse also contains one of
two entrances to the Chantry’s umbral reflection. Next to the
boathouse, embodied spirits tend the herbs and plants in the
greenhouse
Underneath the mansion are a series of basements and
subbasements, only two of which appear on the official records.
The laboratories are here, including a ritual space. From this
area, the powerful wards which protect the Chantry are gen-
erated. These wards have been fluctuating with the attitude
of the node’s guardian, acting as a bit of a spiritual beacon to
other awakened mages. The second entrance to the umbral
layer of the Chantry is here in the shared office and appears
to be a normal oak door with an engraved gold star.
The house has no mortal servants. Instead, biomechanical
robots infused with spirits provide the cleaning and mainte-
nance, and work in the greenhouse. From a distance of at least
a meter they appear to be fully human. From time to time these
servants need to be serviced.
96 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Security
In addition to their magickal safeguards, the Winnipesauke
Lake Chantry has state of the art mundane protections.
The entire complex can be controlled via biometrically pass-
word-protected tablets. All doors, windows, and entry ways
are alarmed and have video image threat recognition. A small
orbital satellite keeps constant watch on the complex. While
the satellite has some magickal protections in place, it’s no
longer the cutting-edge piece of machinery it was at the time
of purchase. Things become obsolete fast, and the house’s
orbital protection is due for some upgrades.
Magickal Elements
Wards inscribed on the underside of the bridge alert the
house’s owners to anyone crossing with an Awakened avatar.
Wards placed on the property’s perimeter alerts occupants
to the presence of Night-Folk in the proximity. These wards
completely lock out all wraiths and specters, though there are
very few of these entities in the immediate area.
Each umbral entryway is blocked magickally from use by
anyone except chantry members, or if they have a willing chantry
member who accompanies them. The umbral reflection of the
chantry is a perfect simulation of the entire mansion, except
a large open space in the center of the mansion where a large
sugar maple grows. This tree is the spirit center of the node.
The Chantry comes equipped with various types of
technomantic Devices and Wonders, including two virtual
reality machines in the game room, allowing for access to the
Digital Web.
Electric Powwow Machine •••• (Device)
Arete 4, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 18 pts.
A huge fan of bands like A Tribe Called Red, former Chantry
resident Jeremy Spirit Seeker put together a device to help create
the right mindscape for rituals of all sorts. The Electric Powwow
Machine’s rhythms can be programmed with hundreds of beats
for various magickal purposes. Unlike a normal machine, it is
also Awakened and capable of summoning spirits and can boost
the magickal power of its user.
System: The Electric Powwow Machine provides a magickal
synergy bonus to any mage who uses drums to reach an ecstatic
state. This reduces the difficulty of all Spirit-related magick by
1. With a Spirit 4 Effect, it can summon spirits for the user
to consult with.
Hliðskjálf •••• (Talisman)
Arete 4, Quintessence N/A, Background Cost 20 pts.
This traditional Norse High Seat sits in a common area
overlooking the lake. While the technology throughout the
Chantry allows its owners to keep an eye on the island and
ensure they’re safe, the High Seat Hliðskjálf takes things one
step farther. Anyone seated upon it can see through the eyes and
hear through the ears of all creatures on the island, including all
Sleepers. Further, this Wonder has been modified to allow the
user to activate any mechanical element throughout the house and
even link up directly with the satellite in geosynchronous orbit.
System: Use of Hliðskjálf causes a –4 to all rolls to focus
within the room while on the High Seat. Sitting on the seat
for a scene provides a +4 to Investigation rolls for 24 hours.
Governor’s Island is inhabited by many wealthy Sleepers —
using the seat to spy on the neighbors’ conversations about
their business ventures and board meetings grants the user a
+2 to Finance rolls until the end of the chapter.
Bygones
The Chantry is home to a mated pair of manticores. While
these creatures generally shun others of their kind, they’ve
been slowly integrated, so they at least tolerate one another
and have produced several cubs over the years. This pair is one
of several which have been the source of a resurgence of these
creatures in the world, but they suffer severe paradox reactions
in the presence of Sleepers, so their return from the brink of
extinction is still in question.
Manticore Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 6, Stamina 4,
Charisma 3, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3, Perception 2,
Intelligence 1, Wits 3
Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 1, Awareness 2, Brawl 4,
Intimidation 5,
Willpower: 3
Health Levels: OK, OK, OK, OK, −1, −2, −2, −5,
Incapacitated
Armor Rating: 2 (6 soak dice, total)
Powers/Advantages (see Gods & Monsters): Alien
Impression 3, Armor 2, Claws 3 (9 dice), Mesmerism 3,
Nightsight, Venom 3 (3 aggravated damage)
Image: In ancient times, the first Manticore was believed
to be a sinful capricious tiger. The creature has the body of a
lion, the tail of a scorpion, the voice of a bird and the face of
a human being.
Roleplaying Notes: Much like a tiger or lion, you are a
hunter. You focus on those who wear bright clothing first when
you attack, or you follow the orders of your masters. You
avoid others of your kind, except your mate, who you allow
to live.
Bespoke Reality Zones
Money is both a great motivator and a great manipulator.
With enough funds, the rich can shift perspectives by bom-
barding the media with advertisements, documentaries, and
popular TV shows and movies. They can craft museums and
amusement parks whose exhibits and rides support a specific
point of view. Every ticket sold is a mind ripe for influencing.
The below are a series of Zones which have been construct-
ed to shift, adjust, and funnel Sleepers’ beliefs toward specific
effects. Here, normally vulgar Effects become coincidental, due
to the hard work of marketing departments and clever engi-
neering encouraging Sleepers’ suspension of disbelief. When
casting spells in the Zone, reduce the difficulty on Arete rolls
by 1. The first vulgar spell a mage succeeds on doesn’t add a
point of Paradox — witnesses write it off as a bit of amusement
park magic, a hot streak at the casino, a religious experience,
etc. However, subsequent vulgar spells risk Sleepers’ Unbelief
kicking back in, and generate Paradox as normal. Paradox
incurred by a botched roll is reduced by 1.
Ashram of Joy
Due east of Acapulco in San Pedro Las Playas, the Ecstatic
Martin Pascal established his compound, the Ashram of Joy.
Large trees and fences separate the Ashram from both the
town and the nearby resort, ensuring its privacy. Designed as
a full amenity religious retreat, the Ashram of Joy supports a
population of 200 people, 150 of whom call the Ashram their
permanent home. The Ashram is close enough to Acapulco
for visitors to come and go without setting off any alarm bells,
and Pascal keeps up good relations with the local government
and police, who he pays to stay far from his property.
Pascal established the Ashram to create a center of en-
lightenment amidst what he sees as the debauchery common
in Mexican resort towns. Here, Pascal and his associates teach
meditation for self-understanding, compassion for others,
and a sense of responsibility to the world and its people.
Their common mantra is, “I am responsible for my brothers
and sisters, and they, to me. Together we can bring joy and
harmony to all.” Many vacation-goers come for a few days’
worth of self-reflection and peace, and end up extending their
stays. They participate in Ecstatic rites, including ingesting
some mind-altering substances. Through meditation, dance,
and music, attendees experience life-changing epiphanies and
otherworldly visions far outside their everyday experiences.
For nearly a decade, founder Martin Pascal was a Syndicate
Magic Man, making the money rain. With the economic down-
turn of 2008, he suffered a crisis of conscience, and questioned
his commitment to the Syndicate and the Technocracy. He faked
his own death and disappeared to Nepal, where he was taken
in by Tantric Ecstatics who saw a great future of hope and joy
for him, if he dedicated himself to a different path. In 2015 he
established the Ashram in San Pedro Las Playas, and he quickly
used the money he’d ferreted away to buy off questions about
who he was and what he’d be doing at the Ashram.
In addition to aiding Sleepers in their spiritual journeys,
the Ashram offers safe harbor to any Technocrat willing or in-
terested in leaving their Conventions. While this is dangerous,
Pascal’s influence in the town and the aid of his staff have thus
far prevents Technocratic intervention or observation. To date,
the Ashram has assisted a small handful of Agents in escaping
the Union, and sooner or later he’s going to be exposed.
Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy 97

Casino of Bliss and Destruction
Located in Venice, the Casino of Bliss and Destruction
has been the bane of evildoers and the blessing of wonderful
people for a little over a century. Decorated to resemble Dante’s
Inferno, the casino causes a visceral fear response in those who
harm others. Greek Thanatoics claim some form of the Casino
has existed forever, and they may be right. The Casino was built
in a thoroughly refurbished ancient Roman structure, and has
been kept up to exacting code standards since its inception.
The perfect blend of ancient architecture and modern class
and amenities, the Casino’s upper three stories cater to down-
on-their-luck Sleepers. The innocent, naïve, and hopeful tend
to hit it big, winning life-changing sums at the tables. Few of
those guests ever see the sub-basement. Here, particularly high
rollers drop large sums into the pot. They gamble with money,
property, even their lives. Those who prey on the innocent
leave the Casino stripped of their assets, or with their lifespans
significantly shortened ... if they leave at all.
The Casino is designed to generate hope in the destitute
and downtrodden. By focusing in on those who can and will
do good with their winnings, it generates a sense of possibility
that other things can and will go right in one’s life. Further,
the games in the Casino’s basement eliminate sharks, ruffians,
and those who use their money to overtly harm others. Where
the upper levels resonate with patrons’ altruism and good
intentions, pit bosses down below play on gamblers’ greed
and paranoia, urging them to up their antes. Problem is, the
house always wins.
Elena Frangos and Tadaaki Galatas, a pair of married
Euthanatoi, are the current owners of the Casino of Bliss and
Destruction. They’ve each taken a vow of justice and hired
like-minded mages to oversee their tables.
Your luck changes here isn’t simply the Casino’s slogan,
though the phrase is emblazoned on advertisements and
souvenir coins. It’s literally what happens within its walls, as
everyone from the pit bosses to the blackjack dealers to the
waitstaff take a look at their guests’ fortunes and nudge them
in one direction or another. Visiting mages bring Sleeper
associates and rivals here, in attempts to help or hinder their
own business ventures.
Holy Mission of Zion Church
Nestled in the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg,
Tennessee is the immense Holy Mission of Zion Church, run
by the Celestial Chorus. Established in 1988, the church is a
beacon for Christians throughout the area. Miracles are said to
happen here, and the church is known for a mix of Pentecostal
ecstasy and Baptist fire and brimstone, mixed with talk of love,
charity, and a sense of Unity before the Lord. Holy Mission of
Zion has 40 staff members who live on-site, expanding the church
into its own mini town with a grocery store and communal
kitchens. Church leaders both advocate for and are from the
immigrant community, and have established a cross-cultural
98 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
relationship with a local mosque and two small synagogues.
The church leads an interfaith alliance which spreads across the
state of Tennessee, serving upward of 8,000 people per week.
Everything about the Church is designed to help produce a
sense of wholeness and supportive unity within its congregation.
Hymns play a central role in this, with attendees encouraged to
lift their voices in song. The harmonies power a Mind Effect,
encouraging feelings of goodwill and unity that last for several
days after services end. Preachers perform minor miracles on
stage, using Life magick to heal the sick or Spirit to give the
faithful a glimpse of the divine.
Unlike some other megachurches, Holy Mission doesn’t
ask its adherents to open up their pocketbooks to fund its
pastors’ extravagant lifestyles. Charitable donations go directly
back to the community. Sales of its albums bring in plenty of
royalty, and subtly help spread the church’s message as local
radio stations pick them up and viewers share their social
media channel’s videos.
Carrie Banks is a woman who’s seen almost everything and
still believes in the goodness of humanity. After a complicated
childhood, she escaped into Nashville and took up with a band.
She was a savvy manager of people and equipment and knew
just what to do to create a sense of closeness and harmony
amongst people who were volatile and frustrated more often
than not. During a show in Israel, Carrie Awakened, struck by
the majesty of God in song. While never a talented musician
on her own, Carrie has an eye for recognizing talent in others.
She managed bands for nearly 30 years, finally receiving a
vision from God to return home to Tennessee and build the
Holy Mission of Zion Church.
Holy Mission of Zion Church is a beacon to any musically
inclined mages who might need a sanctuary or a place to use as
a base of operations. Carrie takes in a series of wayward souls,
and as long as they pull their weight within the community,
offers them a place to stay, food to fill their bellies, and pro-
tection from the outside world.
Into the Aether Amusement Park
Into the Aether is located in a small town in Western
Connecticut, two hours north of New York City and two
hours from any of the larger towns of Connecticut and New
York State. This location makes it close enough to major met-
ropolitan areas for a family day trip, but far enough away that
it flies under the radar of most Technocratic Amalgams. Into
the Aether is the largest employer in the several small towns
surrounding it. Home to seven space-themed rollercoasters and
30 other rides, its news reels from the turn of the 20th century
play throughout the queues, focused on science, technology,
and early space travel theories.
Into the Aether intends to focus the excitement of space
travel by tapping into park attendees’ hope, joy, and even slight
fears about what might lie beyond the stars. The Park offers
several yearly scholarships to astronaut-hopefuls, many of whom
spent their childhood summers in the park. While the park’s
owner holds onto his sense of nostalgia for the innovations
of the early 1900s, staff have updated many of the exhibits to
show the early excitement of the Apollo era and the commercial
space initiatives of the early 2000s and beyond.
Founded in 1971, Into the Aether is still owned by eccentric
millionaire and Etherite Pavel Novak, a former Czech national
who immigrated to the United States as a young child in the
early 40s. While over 80, those who meet him are surprised
at how youthful and spry he appears. He claims this is due to
the joy and wonder he sees on the faces of those who come to
his park, and while he’s likely not wrong, he has a little help
from technology. The park is host to a very popular exhibit
on short-term cryogenic hibernation, which is how Novak has
been keeping himself looking like he is in his late 50s for the
last few decades.
The paradigm within the park allows members of the
Society of Ether to use their technomantic effects in an area
where they appear to be less vulgar than normal. Further, both
beneath the park and tucked away in administrative buildings,
Novak provides safe laboratories that are open for the use of
any techno-mage willing to work within or around the outdated
theories that Novak espouses. Much of the equipment available
has an old-timey feel to it, though its actual era is a blend of
late-1800s brass and gears mixed with pieces right out of a
1950s classroom reel.
Chapter Five: The Best Money Can Buy 99
 “What’ll we do with ourselves this afternoon?” cried Daisy, “and the day after that, and the next thirty years?”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

The board room was cold, a state exacerbated by the austere
decoration. Glass table, white walls, sleek chrome chairs. The law
firm catered to rich clients, people with multiple estates, garages full
of classic cars, and more money than they or their children could
spend in their lifetimes.
Four people sat at the table, eyeing one another warily. Two
seemed perfectly at home here, dressed to the nines, jewels winking
subtly in the light the floor-to-ceiling windows let in. The other two were
very much out of place: a man in an ill-fitting suit, a young woman
in jeans and a tee shirt, her only concession to formality an oversized
blazer she’d probably borrowed from a parent.
No one spoke or sipped their complimentary coffees, though the
lawyer’s assistant had poured them each a steaming cup before scurrying
away to attend their duties.
The clock on the wall ticked over to the hour, and a gray-haired
woman in a navy suit entered. She sat at the head of the table, and
took her time settling her papers and a small wooden box just so.
When she was satisfied, she stared at each of the attendees in turn.
“You’re here today to hear the last will and testament of William
Banesworth. The four of you are his chosen heirs.”
The young woman sat up straighter. “I don’t know any Will—”
“That doesn’t matter. He named you — all of you. Shall I proceed?”
They nodded, one by one.
The gray-haired woman opened the box and withdrew a small
device. Here in this ultra-modern room, it seemed like an ancient thing,
all brass and polished wood. “Mr. Banesworth has a few words for you.”
She pushed a button on the side and gears whirred within.
A sigil glowed bright silver on its side. Four pairs of eyes widened.
The image of William Banesworth swam into focus above the
box. “You may be wondering why you’re all gathered here,” he began.
The gray haired woman watched their reactions. She’d heard the speech
before, from any number of other clients: chosen heirs, ridiculous sum
of money, all the papers drawn up.
It was the sigil that made this one different. That, and the subtle
feel of Resonance winding around all four of them: mages all, and
talented ones at that. Did they know, how fate — and Banesworth
— had marked them? How he drew their destinies together even now
that he was gone? The young woman seemed to be catching on. The
others, it took them a little longer.
This fortune’s all yours...
...if you do this one task.
They sat in stunned silence after Banesworth’s hologram finished
its monologue. One by one, they turned to her, as though she might
be able to make sense of their sudden riches.
“The papers are all drawn up,” she said. “I just need you to sign,
and we can begin.”

Chapter Six: Storytelling the Rich and Famous 101

 The World’s Your Oyster
Telling stories for rich characters presents its
own set of opportunities and challenges for
Storytellers. In a game where your characters can
bend Reality itself to their will, you’re already
thinking big. Throwing money into the mix
means you’re thinking even bigger, anticipating
how their wealth affects your plot and setting on
a social, global, and economic scale. Villainous
CEOs aren’t necessarily strangers at the top of
a faceless conglomerate; now they’re potentially
colleagues, old classmates, or members of the
character’s own family. Someone’s hosting an exclusive party?
It’s much easier to get added to the guest list if your characters
are famous for being famous or have the cash on hand to bribe
a bouncer. There’s a good chance when they ask “Do you know
who I am?” that the answer will be yes.
So how do you prepare for that?
You don’t need a degree in economics or finance to run
a game for rich characters. People spend entire lifetimes learn-
ing about how money works and how markets move; you’re
allowed to read a few Wikipedia articles to get the shape of it.
You might check out a few books from the library or watch a
documentary, if you find inspiration for a certain plot point and
want to learn more, but if you’re not expected to understand
astrophysics for the Etherites’ inventions, neither do you need
to learn how to calculate a country’s gross domestic product
for the Ngoma dabbling in hypereconomics.
It’s okay if your corporate takeover plays out more like
an episode of a TV drama than the often years-long process
of board meetings, investor votes, lawsuits, countersuits, and
government oversight that happens out in the real world. That’s
all assuming you and your players even want to delve into those
aspects of wealth; your group might just want to joyride around
the Tellurian in a voidship, drinking champagne and wearing
fancy clothes. That’s fine, too.
Allowing for Excess
Mage 20 recommends that Storytellers use caution in
allowing characters to have more than 6 dots in a Background,
and reserve 9–10 dot Backgrounds for Storyteller characters
only. Deciding to lift that cap for player characters should be a
discussion between the Storyteller, the players spending those
Background dots, and everyone else at the table.
First, discuss why that level of Resources is coming into
play. What does the player want to do that Resources 5 won’t
grant? If it’s a matter of wanting to buy one cool Wonder from
Chapter 5, it’s probably better to stick with Resources 5 and
work out a different way for the character to acquire it — having
102 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Genre
You can tell any kind of story in Mage, from intimate,
street-level mysteries to tales that shake Reality to the core.
Still, there are some genres that lend themselves well to rich
characters.
Heist stories often feature the characters stealing a valuable
object from under heavy guard. Half the fun is in the set-up:
initial surveillance, gaining access to the item, and the coor-
dination and teamwork it takes to pull off the job. Characters
almost always have to dress the part to acquire an essential com-
ponent: an access card, a keyring, a fingerprint, or the like. This
may mean scoring an invite to a black tie dinner and spending
an evening dressed to the nines, or getting their hands on a
company’s uniforms and ID badges. High-tech devices shine
here as well — earpieces, signal jammers, safecracking software.
Intrigue and espionage plots are close cousins to the heist.
Where heist stories usually involve infiltrating the target’s
domain for one job, then getting out (usually within only a
few hours or minutes of the breach), these stories require the
characters to immerse themselves in the target’s world to a
greater degree. They may be maneuvering in the halls of power,
trying to sway a politician or an executive toward a specific
decision, or embedding themselves into an organization to
understand its workings. Now add in Bond-style car chases and
cool gadgets — the New World Order has an entire Methodology
devoted to such inventions — and you have yourself a spy game.
You don’t need to keep your characters earthbound.
Space and the void are excellent settings for weird science and
exploration. Characters can travel to other Realms, whether
on the deck of their private Etherite or Void Engineer ship,
aboard a space-proofed galleon, or by opening up portals to
elsewhere. Send them glamping on Mars, or draw them into a
murder mystery on a space station owned by a billionaire rival.
it on loan from a mentor, working in a subplot that lets them
earn it or steal it, or spending character creation points to
buy the item on its own. However, if they have an idea for a
company, or a plan to change the world that requires them to
operate on a global scale, it’s worth permitting.
Talk about any limitations you’re setting as a Storyteller.
While you don’t have to break out the calculator every time
the character wants to spend money, you might want to specify
how often the character can make a massive purchase. Springing
for the executive suite any time the cabal travels isn’t worth
tracking, but if the character’s buying a hotel in a new city every
week, or she’s sacrificed a Monet and wants to immediately
buy a replacement, it’s your call whether to allow it or restrict
such expenditures to once per story, or until she’s met some
in-character milestones.
Six Questions
Mage 20 recommends you ask the classic “five w’s and an
h” as you brainstorm your concept: Who, What, Where, When,
Why, How? Chapter 2 asks players to answer questions about
their characters’ wealth, which provides some answers, but as the
Storyteller, you get to delve deeper into the characters’ families,
friends, and contacts, and the sources of their wealth. These
questions also help flesh out antagonists and their motives.
• Who are the other power players in the characters’
circles? Who opposes their agenda, covets their fortune,
or wants to use them for their own gains? Who stands
to benefit from the characters’ success or failure?
• What are the antagonists’ goals? What assets do they
control that the characters might need, or would stymie
their efforts?
• Where does the character’s wealth come from? If it’s a
physical asset, where is it stored? Where do her enemies
operate out of? Are all their offices or valuables in a
single building, or do they have offices and safehouses
all over the world?
• When did the character first come into their money?
When did their rivals or competitors earn their fortunes?
Is there a timeline for when their resources might change
— a product launch, or an investor meeting? Is there a
ritual or celestial event tied to their riches, and if so,
when does it next need to be performed, or when do
the planets align?
• Why are the antagonists gunning for the characters? Why
might others admire them? Why might they dispense
or withhold information or resources?
• How did the characters come into their wealth? How
did their rivals come into theirs? How do characters and
antagonists help or harm others with their spending,
their companies, or their other pursuits?
Wealth as a Character
You’ve probably heard about certain stories, like Shirley
Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, where the setting feels
like a character all on its own. Similarly, as you examine the
mage’s riches in terms of your overarching plot, it’s worthwhile
to think about the ways their money and assets might act like
Chapter Six: Storytelling the Rich and Famous 103
another silent character in the story. This isn’t to say that
their wealth is literally an actor in the story, but its presence
can significantly affect the plot, and colors many interactions.
It can be as simple as a company with a clear purpose and
catchy slogan. When the character’s the CEO of a popular snack
brand, its products might appear throughout the chronicle, its
jingle in the background every time the nightly news breaks
for commercial, or a social media site runs an ad. A character
whose wealth comes from their celebrity might be constantly
stopping for selfies with fans, or always on the lookout for
paparazzi. Antiques collectors can’t resist ducking into that
cute little shop the cabal walks past.
A character who’s the head of a business may be extremely
involved in its day-to-day affairs, requiring a regular cast of
supporting characters she’ll hear from often. These might be
people like members of the board of directors, an extremely
competent executive assistant, the head of Research and
Development, or the company’s spokesperson. If she owns a
mansion, a castle, an art gallery, or any other space that requires
significant upkeep, she may employ a caretaker and other staff
who will become familiar faces to the characters as they visit.
A Virtual Adept with their own private Save in a C-Sector has
any number of bots running programs to keep their space clean
and secure, many of whom are AIs with distinct personalities.
Within the Group
It’s worth discussing how the character’s wealth affects her
relationships with other people, especially the other players’
characters. If she’s the only wealthy member of the cabal, to
what extent is she sharing her fortunes with her friends? Do
they live together in an apartment or home she pays for? Does
she pick up the tab for travel and necessities?
How much does her fame spill over onto her friends? If
she’s someone who’s constantly in the public eye, there’s a
good chance their pictures get splashed all over the tabloids
alongside hers, unless they’re magickally keeping the cameras
from capturing their faces. Once someone hits a critical mass
of social media followers, every conversation becomes ripe
for fan scrutiny — someone’s going to take that jokey banter
between the two of you, recap it with smartass commentary,
and give it a clickbait headline.
With all that in mind, does the character even let on to
her friends that she’s rich?
Talk with your players about whether their characters come
from different income brackets, and to what degree they want
that disparity to be part of the story. Money can be a fraught
topic in the real world, so making sure everyone’s on the same
page about how it appears in your game is essential. Tension
between characters can lead to growth and development, but
it’s also wise to discuss how much players want it to be a plot
point — is this a conflict they eventually want to resolve, or
is it merely something that gives the characters’ relationship
context but they’d rather not explore in-game? As with any
104 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
discord between characters, Storytellers should keep an eye on
the interaction and be ready to step in if they start bleeding
into an out-of-character argument.
Sharing the Wealth
Players may also decide to pool their Resources, creating
characters whose shared backstories lead them to their for-
tunes. They might be a group of mages whose startup brought
in millions as Sleepers leapt to their platform. They could be
a rock band changing Reality one hit single at a time. Their
first meeting might be at the reading of a rich benefactor’s
will, where they learn they’re the heirs to a massive fortune ...
which they only get to keep if they work together.
Discuss what goals and expectations you have for the
organization, and how it came to be. If it’s a company or a
non-profit, how involved are the characters in its day-to-day
operations? What roles do they fill within the ranks? Where
does it operate out of — do you maintain offices in a big city’s
financial district, or is everything run out of someone’s garage?
Is it completely virtual, with meetings held in the Digital Web?
Talk about the competition. This may be rival companies
competing for market share, copycat businesses looking to peel
off some of your customers, or an entire government looking
for ways to kick your associates out of their country. To what
degree are other mages involved in your organization? Maybe
the Traditions are content to leave you be, but the Syndicate’s
sending in auditors to pore over the company’s tax records,
and the Progenitors are after the lab’s research.
During character creation, players decide how many
Background points they’d like to spend on Resources, divid-
ing the cost up among the group (Mage 20, p. 301). Other
Backgrounds may tie into the concept, such as Allies, Laboratory,
Library, Mentor, Node, and Wonder. Others, such as Fame, Influence,
and Rank, may depend on individual characters’ roles within
the organization uniting them: the head of public relations is
probably more visible than the chief financial officer. Maybe
the lead guitarist had a career before she pulled the band
together, making her a household name while the others are
relative newcomers.
Rich Peoples’ Problems
Immense wealth opens up a plethora of story hooks, com-
plications, and antagonists for the characters. During character
creation, the Storyteller may wish to write down ideas that stem
from discussing their backstories, and what things the players
would prefer to keep off-limits. While money matters don’t
always have to be front and center, making the character’s
wealth an active concern in their lives makes the Background
feel like more than dots on a page.
How does the character intend to use their fortune over the
course of the game? Are they directing their resources toward
fighting hunger, curing sickness, or making sure everyone has
the opportunity to get a good education? Do they keep their
eye on auction listings for fine art and ancient grimoires?
What Great Works are they gathering the components for, and
what projects are they overseeing in that regard? They might
be designing buildings that channel ley line energy, building
roads that create sigils, or launching a Device into orbit that
will gather and redirect etheric energy.
Consider how your Storyteller characters view such proj-
ects. While your main antagonist is likely concerned with their
own goals, they may recruit the characters’ rivals or bribe their
employees to turn on them. Discovering that someone’s drained
your assets or filed a dozen lawsuits to halt your progress is a
hell of a distraction.
Likewise, higher-ups in the Traditions, the Technocracy, or
the Disparate Alliance may want to have a say in their endeav-
ors. The mage’s plans may run counter to those their elders
set in motion centuries ago, and the Union tends to frown on
those things that muck with their carefully calibrated timelines.
Superiors within their Awakened organizations might have no
legal or financial authority over the mage’s actions, but their
Things Money Can’t Buy
The temptation for characters to solve problems
by just throwing money at them might be strong.
If you’ve got all the riches in the world, surely
there’s someone to bribe, something to buy,
or a cause to back that fixes everything, right?
The Storyteller’s job in that situation can
be tough. You want to find the balance between
making sure players feel like the points they
placed in the Background were well-spent,
while not letting a cool plot go because an
official accepted a bribe and made the problem go away. You
have a few solutions to try, before handing down that No.
Saying Yes*
Mage 20 encourages Storytellers to embrace the power of
yes, while allowing you to tack conditions and consequences
on to that affirmation. Sure, the official takes the bribe, but
the NWO’s been watching his bank account for months. The
second he makes the deposit, Operatives are on the way to ask
him some questions, which lead to the mage.
A yes doesn’t always have to give the character exactly
what they wanted, either. That seller on the dark web is more
than happy to take the characters’ money in exchange for the
Primium he has in stock, but delivery’s not part of the deal.
If they truly want it, they’re going to have to come get it them-
selves — no couriers, no middlemen. That gets the characters
to the sketchy old warehouse, where the seller (and the next
part of your plot) waits for them.
Take a moment and determine what information char-
acters need to progress the plot, and what events were cool
clout within magickal society might give them an opportunity
to shoulder in and start giving orders.
Dialing it Down
The degree to which a character’s wealth becomes a plot
point can vary throughout your chronicle. Some sessions, it
may simply be a tool in her toolbox: a credit card to whip out
when she needs to buy plane tickets, or a killer outfit that lets
everyone in the room know he’s a force to be reckoned with.
Micromanaging bank accounts and board meetings isn’t fun,
for players or for Storytellers, and if everyone in the group is
rolling in cash, that’s a lot of bookkeeping.
As with any story, it’s perfectly acceptable to focus on the
times when the status quo changes: someone stole the prototype
from the company’s lab, strange market manipulations caused
stock prices to plummet, or the spirit guarding the cabal’s
country estate comes howling in about the rift that opened
up in the conservatory. If everything’s humming along as it
ought to be, the characters are free to pursue other plot points.
ideas you wrote down when you were planning the session.
Ultimately, you want your players to be able to move the story
forward. You can work those neat flourishes or that character
you want them to meet into a future session. Remember that
Storyteller characters have their own agendas outside of what
the player characters do. What do they do in the background
when the official suddenly changes his vote? How might that
put the characters on their radar, or give them insight into
their methods?
Reality Bites
While the character’s plans might technically be possible,
Consensus might take issue with their methods. Wiping out
all the world’s debt at once — whether it’s done by a Virtual
Adept erasing all the ones and zeroes that track such data,
or a Hermetic depositing thousands of dollars into peoples’
accounts like Santa Claus in rune-covered robes — is going to
cause some Backlash. It might look like mundane investigations,
with Congressional hearings and teams of forensic accountants
trying to get to the bottom of it all, but that’s also Reality saying
“This sort of thing doesn’t just happen.”
It’s complicated, fighting against Unbelief. Getting the
world to buy into the idea that suddenly there’s enough food
for everyone (even though there is!) means smashing through
millennia of people in power telling us that there’s not. Your
characters are also up against other willworkers, pushing back
against people who want to keep the status quo, or who are
just plain evil. Their spells might not fail, but there’s someone
out there who cast a more powerful working.
Chapter Six: Storytelling the Rich and Famous 105
Communication is Key
If you get the sense your players are trying to avoid a
particular outcome or are trying to keep their character out
of trouble, you might pause the action to ask what their
goals or plans are. Sometimes players try to anticipate the
Storyteller’s next move, and have their characters take actions
that are either barreling through the plot, or running like
hell away from it. A Mage game at its best is a collaborative
effort; being open and direct with your players helps you tailor
the game to keep them engaged, and builds trust between
everyone at the table.
So what if you have a really interesting or intricate sce-
nario planned, that you were looking forward to running?
Before you set it aside for another day, consider putting it
out there to your players: Sure, you can spend the money to get
out of there quickly, but if you do, you’ll miss out on something I’ve
been cooking up all week. Players are at your table for the story;
if you tell them they’re running away from the shiny stuff,
they might just turn back around. Give them the option to
rethink their last couple of actions, if they’d like a do-over.
If all other remedies fail, you might want to change the
way you handle the Resources Background. Again, this is worth
a gentle and honest discussion, either at the end of a session,
or the start of a new one. Players might not realize how often
they’re resorting to the characters handing out money, or may
not have considered it a big deal. You might want to limit how
many big expenditures they can make, as mentioned above, or
reinforce your right as the Storyteller to say No.
A Sudden Change
of Fortune
Resources are set at character creation, and can’t be in-
creased by spending experience points. The Storyteller might
grant an extra dot or refund one to reflect gains and losses
that occur over the course of a chronicle, but otherwise the
value remains static.
The sudden gain or loss of a fortune is a classic plotline,
and might be one Storytellers wish to consider in a game where
the characters aren’t among the filthy rich. A character might
inherit a sudden windfall, or design a product that not only
sells, but gets bought by a bigger company. She might mess
around with Entropy and a lottery ticket and, in true “The
Monkey’s Paw” fashion, come into riches that have rotten
106 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
Asset Reallocation
When faced with a character whose first instinct is
to pay their way out of trouble, it might feel like the
easiest way to circumvent it is to take the character’s
money away. While this could work in the short-term
— they’re in a place with no cell signal and can’t log
into their bank account, or a judge froze their assets
— it’s not an ideal permanent solution. The player
spent the points to take the Background, after all.
Talk it out with them. You might find out they’re not
sure how else they can wield their wealth, or what
other options are available to them. If you both do
decide the best choice is to reduce the character’s
Resources, allow the player to redistribute the points
to another Background.
strings attached.
It’s up to the Storyteller whether these financial gains
are only available for the course of the story arc, and thus
grant only a temporary boost to their Resources, or if there’s
something the character can do to hang onto them once the
arc ends. It’s easy to blow through lottery winnings or the
proceeds from a lucky streak at the roulette wheel. A thriving
company bequeathed to the character by a long-lost relative
likely keeps providing revenue until she signs it away or sells it.
A temporary loss of fortune can be as much a charac-
ter-building plot as a sudden gain. A no-confidence vote finds
the character removed from her company, her desk cleaned out,
security escorting her out of the building. A reality hacker steals
not only her Sleeper identity and assets, but alters her pattern
so thoroughly no one recognizes her. Frequently, these stories
are about clawing your way back to normality and learning who
you are when you lose everything.
Along the way, the character might discover they don’t
need their vast fortune, or that money doesn’t bring them the
happiness they thought it did. Maybe there’s a better way to
spend it, or someone whose life it’d change. Storytellers should
give the characters the chance to win back their riches at the
end of the arc, but if everyone agrees the character would be
happier or better off without it, refund the character creation
cost for the drop in Resources, and allow the player to spend
them on Traits and Backgrounds that reflect the character’s
growth.
 Never a Dull Moment
This section contains a number of adventure
seeds and plot hooks relating to matters that
might engage the attention of an ultra-rich
mage. There are mysteries to solve, enemies to
overcome, and items to fight over. None of it
comes cheap.
Wolves in the Woods
Mages with membership or contacts in the
Oakenash Foundation hear rumors of strange
incidents in some of the more remote holdings. Rangers report
sightings of uncanny creatures — part man, part beast — standing
or sitting in a circle. Sometimes they seem to be holding meetings.
Others have heard strange chanting in an alien language. The
initial inclination of members of the committee and, indeed,
most major donors, is to believe the staff on the ground are
imagining these incidents or making them up in the hope of
getting more resources for their individual projects, and more
visitors to their forests. The deputy treasurer, Natalya Semyonov,
encourages this interpretation, which is distressing to the staff
who reported the incidents. Natalya was a recent addition to the
board; none of the staff know her well. She has an in-your-face
manner and attitude which some interpret as bullying. There
have been complaints.
In the short period in which Natalya has been involved
with the Foundation, there has been an influx of new donors,
most brought into the fold by Natalya herself. Many, but by
no means all, are from her native Ukraine. They seem to be
from a different demographic from previous donors. Although
widely spread geographically, they come from no more than
half a dozen families, many of which are known for their
ecological activism.
On following this up, it emerges that Natalya and many of
her family members are werewolves who have taken advantage
of the tight security Oakenash erects around their holdings to
use these wild places for their own purposes. Are they trying to
take over the Foundation? Will the Foundation make common
cause with them or will it try to force them out?
A Rescue Mission
Tristan da Cunha is a remote group of volcanic islands.
The nearest inhabited area, Cape Town, South Africa, is
nearly 2000 miles away. Tristan is a British Overseas Territory,
Chapter Six: Storytelling the Rich and Famous 107
normally only accessible by boat. A group including at least one
filthy rich mage fly there in their helicopter, perhaps thinking
of buying some real estate somewhere on the archipelago on
which to develop a private sanctum or laboratory. Maybe they
are members of the Escapists or the Sensational Adventurers
Club; maybe they just want a remote getaway. All goes well at
first. A local estate manager facilitates matters with the British
Embassy and the locals. They find a suitable site and make
plans to bring in the skills, labor, and materials they need.
Then the volcano erupts. The population of the island is
around 250, mostly elderly. The helicopter is grounded due
to the ash in the sky. It’s not safe to fly everyone out of there
via magickal means, either — something’s making the Prime
in the area do strange things.
Exploring the caldera reveals a Void Engineer laboratory
just under the rim, protected from the lava flow. Whatever
they were doing in there caused the eruption, and from the
readings on their instruments, another one’s not far behind.
A Friend in Rehab
Linus Lundgren, a close friend of the cabal, has checked
himself into the Greenhill Spa, in a last ditch attempt to cure
himself of his heroin addiction. A wonderfully creative visual
artist, he took his first steps on the road to addiction in the
belief that drugs would sharpen his vision. They never blunt-
ed it but, in the months before he checked into Greenhill,
his hands started to shake. While both his outer and inner
vision remained intact, he was less able to express his ideas
on canvas. He emails his friends from the clinic, raving about
the wonderful scenery, the miraculous cure, and the multiple
spa treatments available. He begs them to visit and see for
themselves. He comes across less like a recovering addict and
more like a religious convert.
The Spa is, indeed, wonderful. Security is tight but, with
so many filthy rich celebrities among the clientele, this is only
to be expected. The spa treatments are fabulous, and the food
is excellent. Linus, however, doesn’t seem like himself. He
shows the cabal his latest work —wooden, realistic depictions
Thought Field Therapy
Thought Field Therapy a controversial “alternative”
therapy based on theories of a life force (chi) that
flows through the body. Tapping on acupuncture
points in the upper parts of the body invokes and
alters the thought fields which are believed to cause
a whole range of psychological and physical
problems.
While conventional medicine and psychiatry are
dubious about the efficacy of this therapy, a mage
might suspect that some form of life magick was
involved.
108 The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick
of the scenery, not like his usual wild and abstract work at all.
He doesn’t sound like his old self either. He praises the clinic
staff and the regime he has been following. He claims that a
scientific approach to work and diet can rid him of his crav-
ing for extreme experiences. He feels happier and healthier.
If questioned closely, he admits his creativity has gone. But,
he explains, creativity led him to make things that were not
real. He feels the rest of his life, facing up to reality, will be far
better and more productive.
Heidi, his Thought Field Therapist, takes a member of
the cabal aside and pleads with them not to question Linus
so closely, warning them they’re interfering with his recovery.
Linus thinks highly Heidi and explains that she brings him
special medication created in a lab somewhere on the premises.
He’s never found any reason to explore the staff-only areas.
The Yachting Party
One of the advantages of having more money than sense
is the kind of parties you can go to. The mages receive an invite
to an exclusive gathering on Wardell Nelson’s private yacht, the
Vagabond Voyager. Upon arrival, Wardell’s staff take them on
an orientation tour. There’s bedrooms for around 50 people
(depending how many care to get into the huge circular beds at
once), each of which has an en-suite Jacuzzi. Black and chrome
spiral staircases connect the decks, which boast three swimming
pools, more hot tubs than anyone cares to count, and a ten
person Jacuzzi on the top deck. A fully equipped discotheque
with a live band (and DJs to cover in the band’s breaks) blares
out reggae, and the dancing never stops. Cocktail waiters work
with the best rum from Barbados, and more exotic intoxicants
are available for those who require or enjoy them.
The Vagabond sets sail from Barbados. Wardell tells the
party he expects to remain at sea for four days and five nights,
footloose in the Caribbean. This party, he says, is not for the
faint hearted. What could possibly go wrong?
The party is rocking. The first couple of nights are fine. The
crew look after the passengers, many of whom are in states of
extreme intoxication. Late the second night — or early the third
morning, the party learns that Isako Tsukatani, the drummer’s
girlfriend, has disappeared. Wardell is too drunk or stoned
to be of any use. The First Officer assembles a search party.
Suzie, the drummer, last saw her girlfriend in the Jacuzzi. She’s
not there now. Isako does not appear to be on board. Could
she have fallen overboard, was she abducted? No one knows.
None of the lifeboats are missing, but some of the guests
report seeing slithering, leathery objects close to the surface of
the water. The First Officer insists it’s merely a kind of seaweed
native to these waters that can give that impression on moonlit
nights, but Barry, the band’s lead guitarist insists he saw what
he describes as “weird suckery things making gloopy noises.”
Isako eventually turns up, cowering under one of the
huge circular beds. She’s terrified and isn’t making a great
deal of sense. She’s insisting it (whatever “it” is) is alive. Suzie
says she’s never been like this before. Is there really some sort
of Bygone monster out there, is Isako having a bad trip, or is
this her Epiphany?
A Mysterious Statue
Murat, a local merchant, is offers the rich mages “very
interesting, very beautiful” items for sale. He’s disinclined to go
into details initially but implies a group of refugees entrusted
him with some small statues they bought with them when they
left Syria. He is swift to point out the people on whose behalf
he is acting are desperate for money in order to get medical
treatment for their sick baby. He has a photograph of a cute,
and not obviously sick, baby, held by a smiling woman who is
obviously pregnant. He doesn’t show images of the objects he
has for sale. For that, it’s necessary to enter his shop.
Murat’s shop is dingy, but there are boxes covered with
clean rugs to sit on. Murat offers mint tea and starts to bring
out the objects. Anyone with a knowledge of Middle Eastern
antiquities has a good chance to realize some of what is Murat
is showing is fake. Once Murat realizes his customer(s) know
what they are looking at, his attitude changes. He brings out
priceless antiques, some of which should certainly be in a
museum. To a collector, these pieces are irresistible. But where
do they come from? And why does the statue of Atargatis have
such a strong resonance? The statue, if Murat permits close
inspection, is definitely magickal, a trinket imbued with Life.
Atargatis is a goddess of fertility and nature and it appears that
the powers of the Wonder reflect that.
Should anyone buy it, it rapidly becomes apparent that
the statue promotes fertility to the point of inconvenience.
Crops grow apace and flocks flourish. The only way to put an
end to this embarrassment of fertility is to ritually destroy the
Wonder or get rid of it.
Strange Gift
A business acquaintance gets in touch shortly before a
rich mage’s birthday. Although the giving of valuable gifts is
completely counter to business practices in China, Gao Nuan
enjoys the novelty of giving and receiving. For her last birthday,
the mage gave her a gold bracelet inlaid with lapis lazuli and
pearls, so she insists on returning the favor in kind. The mage
and Gao Nuan arrange to meet in her office in New York.
The office is high in a skyscraper and tastefully appointed.
In one corner is something covered by a black cloth. After the
pair have taken a meal and a glass of Jack Daniels together,
Nuan sends her staff away and removes the black cloth with
a dramatic gesture.
Under the cloth is a cage. In the cage is a small creature.
It looks a bit like a vole, or a rat, only cuter. Nuan, who is a
little drunk at this point, tells the mage it is an Ilia pika. She
gives brief instructions on its care and feeding but no further
information.
Minimal research reveals that the Ilia pika (Ochotona iliensis)
is one of the rarest animals in the world. Other kinds of pika
are more common and distributed widely through the colder
parts of North America, Asia, and Europe. They aren’t rodents,
but are closely related to hares and rabbits. The Ilia pika lives
only at increasingly high elevations in the Tianshan mountain
range. Due to climate change and habitat destruction, their
population has declined by 70% since the discovery of the
species in 1983. There are only about 1000 left in existence
and the mage is now proud owner of one of them. It’s cute!
The problem is, it’s too cute. Maybe it would have been
better if the pika’s new owner had been able to resist showing
it to their friends. Now some mages from the wrong side of
the tracks have decided that it’s actually a Bygone and are
determined to remove it from the care of its devoted owner.
Race for the Stars
The cabal gets an invite to an exclusive, once-in-a-century
race, hosted by a small club of Tradition gearheads. The entrants
provide their own vehicle — cars, motorcycles, small jets — and
meet in the Shade Realm of Forces to prove who’s the fastest.
Anything goes, as far as modifications are concerned. Soup up
your car, spring for some implants to make your reflexes faster,
add in some weapons, whatever you like. Does it fit under the
hood? Does it help you win? Good enough.
The race lasts three days, with the grand prize rumored to
be an artifact recovered from Doissetep. Intrigue abounds, as
racers and their teams spy on each other, attempt to sabotage
opponents’ vehicles, and of course, steal the grand prize before
the starting pistol even fires. It’s a non-stop party in the stands,
and the track’s looking more deadly every day.
Chapter Six: Storytelling the Rich and Famous 109
 Spend It While You’ve Got It.
This Mage 20th Anniversary Edition sourcebook expands on the mystique of the
elite with an exploration of how the real movers and shakers operate when you throw
magick into their world as well. The Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick contains:
• An examination of money and mage society, exploring what it means to have
magick and wealth at your fingertips.
• Money Magic: viewing the technocratic concepts of Hypereconomics and the
Primal Utility Sphere through a non-technocracy POV. Includes new money-based
magickal effects.
• Movers and Shakers: Organizations, private clubs, elite locations, and the sample
characters you might meet in such places.
• High-Ticket Items: A collection of the best talismans, instruments, devices, and
wonders money can buy (or can buy you access to), plus costly enhancements for
sanctums, laboratories, chantries, etc.