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Paradox

Away from mage-only society and in situations where we might cast magick with sleepers around, we'll need to be more strict about coincidental versus vulgar magick. After some discussion, we decided that an alternative metaphysics might make things more reasonable, especially in an online setting. This says that paradox is caused by the "ripple" effect on reality.

The difference between Vulgar and Coincidental is the difference between Impossible and Improbable. Coincidental magick means coming up with an improbable effect to take the place of an impossible one. 

So, we propose the following:

* Magick with no physical evidence is considered non-vulgar and causes no paradox. This is regardless of level and the presence of sleepers. Physical evidence doesn't always mean something you can touch. For example, if you are racing at superhuman speed, that's evidence. If you disappear from one place and appear somewhere else, that's evidence.

* Magick with physical evidence and no sleepers around earns no paradox at low levels (1 or 2). At higher levels, 1 or more points will be earned depending on the level and effect.

* Magick with physical evidence and sleepers around earns paradox (usually 1 point per level of the highest sphere plus 1, but it could be higher)

As an example:

Grace stares for a moment at the ruffian who's been nicely bound by Miles and Aaron on his own sofa. After a few seconds, her eyes close and she stops moving. A minute or two passes and Grace opens her eyes and smiles. 

'I think you'll find the address we're looking for under some papers near the telephone over there' she said.

[Coincidental Mind 3 to probe his thoughts and get the address. The explanation to the universe is that the address happened to have been written down at his flat]

So in the above example, Grace could read the guy's mind and get the information with no paradox earned. Now she has to be careful not to let the sleepers around know what she did. For example, if she announces, "Okay, I've got the information from him," that would be a bad thing and earn her 4 points of paradox (Mind 3 + 1) because it would mess with the sleepers' reality. In effect, the sleepers act as the eyes and ears of the Paradox spirits.