This struggle eventually led to the point on the timeline occupied by the book called "". While the entire metaplot has always been meant to be altered as each play group sees fit, "Ascension" provided multiple possible endings, with none of them being definitive (though one was meant to resolve the metaplot). Thus, there is no definitive canonical ending. Since the game is meant to be adapted to a group's tastes, the importance of this and the preceding storyline is largely a matter of personal preference. The metaplot of the game involves a four-way struggle between the technological and authoritarian Technocracy, the insane Marauders, the cosmically evil Nephandi and the nine mystical Traditions (that tread the middle path), to which the player characters are assumed to belong. (This struggle has in every edition of the game been characterized both as primarily a covert, violent war directly between factions, and primarily as an effort to sway the imaginations and beliefs of sleepers.) The Traditions (formally called the Nine Mystic Traditions) are a fictional alliance of secret societies in the "Mage: the Ascension" role-playing game. The Traditions exist to unify users of magic under a common banner to protect reality (particularly those parts of reality that are magical) against the growing disbelief of the modern world, the spreading dominance of the , and the predations of unstable mages such as Marauders and Nephandi. Each of the Traditions are largely independent organizations unified by a broadly accepted paradigm for practicing magic. The Traditions themselves vary substantially from one another. Some have almost no structure or rules, while others have rigid rules of protocol, etiquette, and rank. Though unified in their desire to keep magic alive, the magic practiced by different Traditions are often wildly different and entirely incompatible with one another. Understanding Traditions as a whole requires understanding each Tradition separately, and then assembling them into a somewhat cohesive whole. The nine traditions are: the Akashic Brotherhood, Celestial Chorus, Cult of Ecstasy, Dreamspeakers, Euthanatos, Order of Hermes, Sons of Ether, Verbena and Virtual Adepts. The Technocracy is likewise divided into groups; unlike the Traditions, however, they share a single paradigm, and instead divide themselves based upon methodologies and areas of expertise. The Marauders are a group of mages that embody Dynamism. Marauders are chaos mages. They are completely insane. To other mages, they appear immune to paradox effects, often using vulgar magic to accomplish their insane tasks.