At the end of the first Ascension War, the Traditions suffered a resounding defeat.  They were beaten back, beaten down, and the Technocracy asserted a more dominant hold over consensual reality.  Wild magic became tamed as the Tapestry hardened against it.  The masses fell into complacent routines of television and the Internet, science over faith, fact over fantasy.  Even the Traditions' last retreat became closed to them in the wake of the Reckoning, when the Avatar Storm screamed through the Umbra and made even their safe havens dangerous and unpredictable to reach.<br/><br/>The second Ascension War began as a grudge match in late 2006.<br/><br/>A mixed cabal in Chicago assaulted one of the most prominent Technocratic Constructs in the area.  History is unsure why, as neither the cabal nor the Technocrats within the Construct survived the conflict.  It is said that the Technocracy took something near and dear to them, something so important, so loved, that the Tradition mages would risk life and limb to retrieve it.  Whatever the reason now, it's unimportant in the long run.  What is important, however, is what came afterward.<br/><br/>The Technocracy reacted harshly and immediately.  The Chantry the cabal called home was infiltrated, its Node spiked and its members killed or captured.  Over the next six months, Chicago became open ground for battles in the streets between Tradition and Technocracy.  It's still not known how many lives were lost in the opening skirmish, but the impact was felt worldwide.<br/><br/>It was slow at first, like a cancer, but spread rapidly after the Christmas Massacre of '07 in Columbus, Ohio, when a malfunctioning HITMark VI, experimental at best and dangerously unstable at worst, opened fire on a plaza full of shoppers in search of the mages it had been released to hunt.  Though the Union spun their propaganda and covered up the true origins of the tragedy as best they could, the Traditions declared open war in the United States.<br/><br/>As the Union continued to pour resources into the US to combat the growing Reality Deviant threat, other cabals and Chantries across the world joined in on the action.  Their memories were long, their grudges bitter, and the Union found themselves beleaguered on every front worldwide.  They had no choice but to pull out the biggest, baddest, most vulgar guns they had in order to defend themselves and their interests.<br/><br/>The Traditions held their own, however, backed this time by the Virtual Adepts and the Sons of Ether.  The two technomagical Traditions had resources to offer the Traditions hadn't taken advantage of in the first Ascension War, resources they used to their fullest extent.<br/><br/>The more aggressive factions within the Traditions -- the Li Hai of the Akashics, the Dissonancers of the Cult of Ecstasy, the Cypherpunks of the Virtual Adepts, the Verbena Twisters of Fate, House Flambeau of the Order of Hermes and others -- were publically identified as terrorist factions, and the Technocracy's files on the most prominent members (carefully doctored to remove all mention of magical capabilities) were released to public media outlets.   The Traditions retaliated in kind, spreading their own propaganda through less-reliable but equally-devoured tabloids and news networks, spreading paranoia and conspiracy theories throughout the Sleeper population.  Rebellions and revolts rose and fell in underdeveloped countries; protests, rallies and riots were reported in higher numbers than ever before in First World nations.<br/><br/>The War raged on for years, neither side giving an inch of ground without first soaking it with blood.  Though victories and setbacks occurred for both sides, no end was in sight.  Even potentially tide-turning events such as the fourth Great Crash of the Web in 2017 affected both sides equally.<br/><br/>Then came the Battle for New York.  October 19, 2029.<br/><br/>To this day, even the brightest and most analytic minds cannot fathom what happened in New York that day as the Traditions and the Technocracy faced off in a city that had been among the most hotly contested over the last decade.  An explosion likened to a nuclear bomb rocked the area of dozens of miles in every direction.  When the smoke cleared, nothing appeared to have changed. There were Sleepers still moving about their day-to-day business as if nothing had happened.  Buildings were intact, electricity still flowed, shops were still open, and reality appeared unaltered...<br/><br/>...until the first mage attempted to use magic.  A rift in the Umbra opened the moment magic began to coil around him, and the Avatar Storm came screaming out to tear him to shreds.  He was the first to die this way, but he wasn't the last.  With the proof at what the Ascension War was doing to reality blatantly obvious before their eyes, both sides withdrew to lick their wounds and try to comprehend what had gone wrong.  That was five years ago.  The War's been cold since then, with no new reports of outbreaks of violence from anywhere in the world.<br/><br/>And so here we stand, on the eve of a new year, with Christmas just passed and 2034 about to begin.   It's been five years.  Our memories of the toll the war has taken are still fresh, our anger bitter and cold.    The infighting has already begun anew, and the grumblings from die-hard Ascension Warriors are becoming louder with each passing season.  It's only a matter of time before the violence begins again. What the future holds, none may say, for even the best and most insightful Oracles cannot See far in the chaotic swirl the timestream has become.<br/><br/>When judgement comes and the long night descends, where will you be standing?