Mage Fiction - City of Darkness: Unseen

Pooka and Lee Webb revisit White Wolf's 1995 anthology City of Darkness: Unseen, a collection of interconnected stories featuring mages, vampires, werewolves, and wraiths.

This episode focuses on the Mage stories and examines magical hubris, the Technocracy, supernatural crossovers, and what makes fiction feel true to Mage: The Ascension.

Spoiler warning: Major story spoilers throughout.

Show Notes

• “Assault on Treasure Island” by Bill Crider: A Dreamspeaker, a Hollow One, and their allies attempt an ill-advised assault on a Technocratic stronghold.
• “Persistence of Vision” by James Lowder: An Etherite filmmaker confronts a supernatural reflection and the consequences of her cinematic experiments.
• “Self-Portrait in Nightmares” by Thomas S. Roche: A Verbena's blood paintings become entangled with a vampire's desire to escape his existence.
• “Antiphon” by Jackie Cassada: A Progenitor confronts a crisis of loyalty when a Celestial Chorister becomes the target of a cloning operation.
• “The Dark of the Year” by Kevin Andrew Murphy: Necromancy, supernatural contracts, ghostly legal intervention, and the continuing Penny Dreadful storyline.
• “Sparrow's Song” by James S. Dorr: A jazz musician uses supernatural music to evade the authorities.
• “Career Move” by Edo van Belkom: A stage magician recovers from a previous encounter with the Technocracy while pursuing his career.
• “A Place to Stay” by David Chart: A young mage and a lupus Garou form an unlikely partnership around an urban Node.
• “Shadow of a Reflection of a Cat's Head” by Jane M. Lindskold: An Akashic mage investigates altered memories, betrayal, and the death of fellow mages.
• “Waiting for Goddard” by Philip Nutman: An encounter involving mages and a Silent Strider leads to further supernatural complications.
• Related material
  • Truth Until Paradox — earlier Mage fiction anthology
  • When Will You Rage? — Werewolf fiction anthology
  • Death & Damnation — Wraith fiction anthology
  • The Beast Within — Vampire fiction anthology