Historical Figures in Mage

A number of characters in Mage: The Ascension are billed as both mages and historical figures. Below is a list in alphabetical order. Following other list pages on this wiki, names are listed alphabetically by the first character generally used to recognize them.

Independent Mages

• Albert Hoffman - Solificati /Children of Knowledge mage. Hermium alchemist. Discoverer of LSD. (The Book of Crafts p. 34)
• Jesus of Nazareth - Founder of Christianity and son of God. A mage according to Hermetic lore. (Order of Hermes Tradition Book, p. 11)
• Joan of Arc - Unaligned mage, associate of Gilles de Rais of the Order of Hermes. Burned as a witch. (Order of Hermes Tradition Book, p. 14)
• Marie Laveau and Jean "Dr. John" Montanée, Louisiana voodoo practitioners, co-founders of Bata'a. An eshu changeling in New Orleans claims to be the real Marie Laveau. (Book of Crafts, p. 16; Kithbook: Eshu, p. 69)

Marauder

Nephandi

• Gilles de Rais - Former Hermetic mage of House Ex Miscellanea who fought at the side of Joan of Arc. Later became a Nephandus out of despair. (Mage Storytellers Companion, p. 11)
• Johannes Faust - Hermetic mage of House Tytalus who after never achieving much skill turns to infernalism, at which he fails horribly and perishes. (Order of Hermes Tradition Book, p. 15)

Technocracy

• Al-Khwarizmi - Also spelled Algoritmi. Persian scholar, Artificer. Pioneered modern mathematics. (Technocracy: Iteration X, p. 22)
• Alan Turing - Mage, cryptographer and member of the Technocracy until defection with the Virtual Adepts to the Traditions. Believed to have opened the modern entrances to the Digital Web and may have died in the process. (Tradition Book: Virtual Adepts)
• Albert Einstein - Void Engineer, discoverer of the special and general theories of relativity and the theory behind the photoelectric effect, brownian motion, and several other major early 20th century problems in physics. He advanced the Technocratic project of unification and worked with Johannes Kepler to develop faster-than-light travel in the 1940s. (Technocracy: Void Engineers p. 24)
• Albert Michelson - Mage, worked with Edward Morley to disprove the existence of the luminiferous aether. Much to the annoyance of the Sons of Ether. Technocrat. (Book of Shadows p. 189)
• Ambroise Paré - French surgeon and anatomist, originally Hippocratic Circle, later Artificer. Pioneered prosthetic limb development. (Technocracy: Iteration X, p. 29)
• Charles Babbage - Scholar of the Voltarian Order, inventor of the Analytical Engine, the first computer. (Technocracy: Iteration X, p. 22)
• Edward Morley - Mage, worked with Albert Michelson to disprove the existence of the luminiferous aether, much to the annoyance of the Sons of Ether. Technocrat. (Book of Shadows p. 189)
• Hero of Alexandria - Classical Greek engineer and inventor, Artificer. Built many advanced devices and popularized technology. (Technocracy: Iteration X, pg. 21)
• Isaac Newton - Void Engineer, co-inventor of Calculus and first to apply it to physics, died in the 1920s at the hands of a Euthanatoic gangster. (Technocracy: Void Engineers p. 24)
• Isabella I of Castile - Queen of Spain, high-ranking member of the Cabal of Pure Thought, founder of the Spanish Inquisition. In addition to religious minorities, the Inquisition also targeted rival mages. (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition p. 128)
• Ismail al-Jazari - Arabic scholar, Artificer. Spread scientific knowledge with his Book of Ingenious Mechanical Devices. (Technocracy: Iteration X, p. 22)
• James Cook - Void Seeker who in 1779 met his end at the hands of two Hawaiian kahunas. (Dead Magic II: Secrets and Survivors p. 21)
• Johannes Gutenberg - Mage, inventor of the printing press and member of the Order of Reason. Found a way to use Mind magick to hide thoughts in pages of text. (Book of Shadows p. 188)
• Johannes Kepler - Member of the Celestial Masters (now known as the Void Engineer), discoverer of the laws of planetary motion. Worked with Albert Einstein to develop faster-than-light travel in in the 1940s. (Technocracy: Void Engineers p. 24)
• Joseph Goebbels - Nazi and right-hand man of Hitler, great rhetorician and minister of propaganda. Rumored to have been a Virtual Adept. (Tradition Book: Virtual Adepts, p.19)
• Leni Riefenstahl - Nazi propagandist who according to older New World Order agents had once been a prized member of their Convention. (Technocracy Reloaded, p.106)
• Luca Pacioli - Italian mathematician who advanced the field of accounting publishing the first text on double entry bookkeeping. Learned and integrated the learnings of the Mokteshaf Al Nour (M20: Victorian Age, p. 92)
• Michael Faraday - Archmage, physicist and innovator in electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Technocrat and one who advanced unification of forces. (Masters of the Art)
• Nicolaus Copernicus - Mage, astronomer and member of the Order of Reason.  Namesake of Copernicus Station (the Cop). Worked to raise the Gauntlet to keep out threats. (Book of Shadows p. 188)
• Nikola Tesla - Mage, inventor and experimenter in alternating currents. Indicated to be quite capable in Forces. (Beyond the Barriers: The Book of Worlds, p. 122)
• Norman Borlaug - Agronomist in the Progenitors responsible for the discovery of useful dwarf wheat cultivars (Convention Book: Progenitors, p. 41)
• Parmenides - Greek philosopher, Artificer. Developed laws on the conservation of matter, momentum, and energy. (Technocracy: Iteration X, p. 20)

Traditions

• Aleister Crowley - Cultist of Ecstasy, Victorian and early 20th century populariser of the darker side of magick. Became a vampire in 1930, although that was possibly just a Malkavian impostor. (Cult of Ecstasy p. 54)
• Alessandro Cagliostro - Hermetic, known among Sleepers as a leading figure in the occult during the 18th century. Became a vampire, Setite (Order of Hermes Tradition Book, p. 15)
• Euclid - Ancient Greek mathematician. Awakened by Khwaja al-Akbar according to the Ahl-i-Batin. (Book of Shadows, p. 93)
• Gilles de Rais - Formerly, see Nephandi above.
• Isadora Duncan - Cultist of Ecstasy, dancer and killer of Nephandi. (Cult of Ecstasy p. 55)
• Jim Morrison - Cultist of Ecstasy, musician and member of The Doors. (Cult of Ecstasy, p. 56)
• John Dee - Adviser to Queen Elizabeth and a prominent mage of the Order of Hermes. Became a vampire of Clan Tremere.
• John von Neumann - Mage, mathematician and denizen of the Digital Web. Attempts to create a machine to solve paradox resulting in paradox. (Digital Web)
• Maimonides - Archmage, Rabbi, and a powerful Jewish Kabbalist who achieved an impossible task of a cure to reverse the curse of Caine (Horizon War 1: The Road to Hell, p. 76-79, 277-288; A World of Darkness, p. 72-74)
• Paracelsus - German alchemist who was a Master in the Order of Hermes. According to some sources a member of House Bonisagus, while others say that he claimed no House. May have become an Oracle. (Order of Hermes Tradition Book, p. 15, 33; Tradition Book: Order of Hermes, p. 29)
• Plato - Ancient Greek philosopher. Awakened by Khwaja al-Akbar according to the Ahl-i-Batin. (Book of Shadows, p. 93)
• Plotinus - Founder of Neoplatonism. A mage of the Cult of Mercury. (Order of Hermes Tradition Book, p. 11)
• Pythagoras - Mage, founder of the Cult of Pythagoras. Awakened by Khwaja al-Akbar according to the Ahl-i-Batin. (Order of Hermes, p. 11; Book of Shadows, p. 93)
• Rasputin - Cultist of Ecstasy, character of purportedly many backgrounds. (Cult of Ecstasy, p. 54)
• Roger Bacon - Roger Bacon, also known by the scholastic accolade Doctor Mirabilis, was a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empiricism. Later joined the Order of Hermes. Also a strong influence on Iteration X. (Isle of the Mighty, p. 17; Technocracy: Iteration X, p. 22)
• Solomon - Archmaster of Spirit, wrote Greater and Lesser Key of Solomon and created the laws that govern djinnkind to this day. Killed by the demon Belial. (Order of Hermes, p. 11)

Mortals

• Akhenaten - Also spelled Ilkhnaten. Pharaoh of Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty. Mentu-Hetep, founder of the Celestial Chorus, converted him to worship of the monotheistic god Aten and served as an advisor in his court. (Celestial Chorus Tradition Book, p. 14-17)
• Alexander the Great - Not a mage, but the fusion of Greek, Egyptian, Hebrew, and Persian cultures that occurred under his rule was highly influential in shaping the Order of Hermes and Celestial Chorus. (Order of Hermes, p. 11; Celestial Chorus, p. 15)
• Count of St. Germain - Courtier and adventurer. Said by the Order of Hermes to have been a fraud with no magickal ability. (Order of Hermes, p. 15)
• Edward Kelley - Alchemist and consor to Hermetic mage John Dee. Assisted Dee in developing Enochian. (Order of Hermes, p. 15)
• Erastus Corning - A Kamrad (consor) of the International Brotherhood of Mechanicians. Sponsored the creation of the New York Central Railroad. (Technocracy: Iteration X, p. 64)
• Lewis Carroll - Author of Alice in Wonderland. Said to have spoken to the last griffin on Earth before the species retreated to the Umbra. (The Book of Madness, p. 95)
• Qin Shihuang - First emperor of China. The mages of the Wu Lung helped him secure a place of power in the Dark Kingdom of Jade, and in return Qin granted the Wu Lung a position of power and influence in the Chinese imperial court. Drove the Wu-Keng into hiding. Emperor Qin, as Yu Huang, later became a powerful wraith. (Book of Crafts, p. 112-113, 127)
• Robert E. Howard - Texan author and poet. Part of his poem "The Song of the Mad Minstrel" is taught to Nephandi neophytes as "The Entropic Chant". (The Book of Madness, p. 25)