Mage: The Orders
More thoughts I'd like to share, on my personal views/interpretations of Mage. I briefly talked about these things in chat, and have seen them passed on here and there, but thought I'd collate them.
The Pentacle
The Pentacle makes up the five Orders of the Awakened -- arising from the Diamond's union with the Free Council. It's important to note that there are beliefs and heresies that are native to each, and these are the things which should determine your character's membership.
A combat-intensive character does not have to be an Arrow. A scholar does not have to be a Mystagogue. Do not confuse the archetype with the role or the Order.
The Diamond
The analogy I put forward in chat that got traction is to look at the Diamond like a big, fucked up religion. It's a church, with a belief system, that everyone in the Diamond espouses. Understand that. You don't walk into a church and spout heresies aloud, whether you believe them or not. You do walk into a church and toe the party line.
To put this into real-world analogs, let's look at the Roman Catholic Church:
The Adamantine Arrow are the Swiss Guard.
Aside from their militant function (to protect the church and prosecute her enemies), they are the shining, glorious public face of the church. Splendorous, and magnificent, they espouse Honor to give an honorable face to their church. They should be feared, but most importantly, they should be admired. It is because of this role, that base acts, most notably cowardice, cannot be tolerated. If a mage cannot publicly adhere to this code of conduct, expulsion protects the integrity of the whole.The Adamantine Arrow whitewash the noble facade.
The Guardians of the Veil
These don't have a clear analog because they're closer to a faction or archprelacy. Opus Dei. Sedes Sacrorum. Ordo Verbi Dei. If the glorious battles of the Crusades were fought by knights, then all the dirty work was done by inquisitors. The Guardians exist solely to do what the other branches of the church (aside from perhaps the Mysterium) cannot, without impugning their own functions. Deeper than that, they are the caretakers of the two underlying beliefs of the church: the Abyss is Bad, and Someone Is Coming. Everything that Guardians do, serve these two holy mandates. It is because they are the caretakers of these beliefs, that they are tolerated, and allowed, to cross boundaries.The Guardians are the religion's Most Devout that will do anything.
The Mysterium are the Vatican Archives.
True power is information, and secrets. Whether those secrets are who blackmailed their way to Hierarch, or an Artificact that needs procuring before Bad Guys do, the Mysterium is in the business of information -- which they jealously guard, because the wrong secrets in the wrong hands are disastrous. Payment for information is both an extension of trust and more leverage. Information is how you keep from repeating the same mistakes, and if knowledge is power, then giving it away for free is the ultimate crime.
The Mysterium enforce the keyholder paradigm.
The Silver Ladder are the ordained priesthood.
Everyone sees Thearchs as lawyers and politicians -- but their true function is to make sure that the church is eating, sleeping, and shitting the Silver Dream. Pass out communion. Pound the tenets into peoples heads. How do they do this? By enforcing the ruling and judging processes. Every time their methodology is followed, it's reinforcement of the belief state. It is also their job to convert the unbelievers (and doubters).
The Silver Ladder tend to the flock.
Where does that leave...
The Free Council are all the other churches.
Being a jerk is bad. Being nice is good. There are moral and ethical truths that the Libertines agree with The Big Fucked Up Church on, but they do not subscribe to their rabid beliefs. Might is not Right. Humanity needs to be given a chance, rather than kept in the dark and spoon fed.
What does this mean?
Fundamentally, the Diamond is a keyholder religion. Everything that they do, from the hoarding of rotes to the layers of secrets within their own beliefs, is designed to forward their belief: supernal power is the be-all, end-all. The Free Council disagrees, but, finds them the lesser of evils compared to the Banishers and Seers.
It also probably means your character is in the wrong Order.
Do not look at what an Order does. Look at what an Order believes. If your'e playing a morally ambiguous combat monkey, you probably should be a Mystagogue or Guardian rather than an Arrow. And so on. But most importantly? If you don't believe what the Diamond Church believes, you should be a Libertine or Apostate (or Independent). If you're a Diamond mage who thinks Duel Arcanes are silly, you're in the wrong Order. This is why a true representation of the Pentacle should put the Free Council at equal, or greater to, the numbers of the Diamond.
The Diamond needed the Free Council because they're a dying religion.
I see players, and characters, struggling (whether they realize it or not) because they picked the wrong Order -- because they picked their Order based on the pictures in the book. Maybe not, but close enough. Orders will represent themselves as their public functions, but will vet candidates for their belief states before allowing membership.
Anywho, hopefully, this gives a different, more clear, outlook on the Pentacle, and might help understand the Orders and how to choose the proper one.
TL;DR
Orders aren't about what you do, they're about what you believe.