Category:Hollow Ones

Tradition: Any

Paradigm Although disparate and lacking one cohesive Paradigm, the Hollowers are largely dedicated to the ideal of Romance. They are careful to stress that this is not the "grocery store novel, picture of Fabio on the cover" type of romance, but the story of gothic horror, tragic romance and mysterious whimsy. Hollow Ones are likely to invoke their magic using "watered down" versions of classic spells, or rote spells borrowed from other Traditions. For instance, while a Hermetic mage might use his properly dedicated Pentacle of Mercury in a ritual, the Hollower might simply draw a star on a quarter with eyeliner and use that.

Organization Since they are not functionally a Tradition, the Hollow Ones do not occupy a seat on the Council of Nine, they have no recognition among the Traditions and other mages generally consider them a pain. They don't have the luxury of an extensive library of history, either. Instead, they point to Romantic poets, Victorian spiritualists, 1920s flapper counterculture and modern Goth culture as their architects. Hollow Ones themselves can't agree on their foundations; instead, they're more concerned with what they get out of it. As a hodge-podge subculture, they take what they like and discard the rest; this applies equally to people, philosophies, magic and belief.

Cliques rule the day among the Hollowers. Instead of forming philosophical factions or Avatar-driven groups, these mages just hang out in small clubs or social groups. Cliques tend to be fiercely competitive and jealous, but they can put aside their differences to work together sometimes. Since Hollow Ones often come from broken homes or dysfunctional families (whether wealthy or poverty-stricken), they indulge in whatever sorts of passive rebellion they can find — and that means hanging out with other people who've survived similar experiences and taken up the same candlestick. There's no hierarchy. There are young Goths and dead Goths, but old Goths are just pretenders.

Hollowers form the only real families they know, and they're fiercely protective of them, but without any political vision, they shrug off any attempts at real "organization." About the closest that Hollowers come to any sort of recognition in their ranks is when they choose someone to speak for a clique, or when they compete for pieces of unusual arcane lore or trivia in an attempt to seem spooky or knowledgeable in occult esoterica.