It's easy to forget that ideal which is The Traditions only formed to combat Technocratic Hegemony. And even then it almost didn't happen. Perhaps the lesson here is that the seed of hope must sometimes be planted in the ashes of despair.
Although individual Traditions claim histories or inheritances that date back millennia, the origins of the modern Traditions as we know them date back to a period referred to as the Low Mythic Age, when mystics worked their marvels in isolation. These dark ages were a time of superstition and fear, the Church was beginning to lose control as pagans thrived. Various groups of High Artisans, dabblers in sacred geometry, planned to bring the world together under one Order of Reason. This ideal later became the oppressive Pogrom of the Technocratic Union.
In 1210, a group of angry peasants and jealous lords stormed a Hermetic Chantry and battered down the walls with cannon - weaponry unlike anything ever seen before. The Technocracy had arrived. In 1325, early Technocrats arrived at a magician's tower, slew her, and held a parliament that came to be called the Convention of the White Tower. There, magicians of Reason from all over the world united and declared war upon the supernatural world. From that meeting the Order of Reason emerged armed with the weapons and tools of Science. Thus began the Ascension War.
As the years went by, Hermetic and pagan magi became aware of the growing power of the Order of Reason, and spurred by Sh'zar The Seer's vision of a dark future, gather together at Mistridge in 1440. Representatives from this Convocation spread across the known world and beyond, to gather others.
In 1449 the second Convocation at Mistridge resulted in the agreement to create Horizon, a grand shared realm in the Otherworlds. Finally at the Grand Convocations of Traditions, in 1457-1466, the nine Traditions were formed to be overseen by a Council of the Nine Mystic Traditions. One Seat on the Council for each Sphere. It was argued at the time that the number nine, compounding the mystic significance of three by three, would be a very auspicious number.
The objectives of the original Council of Nine Mystic Traditions were simple, noble even:
The Traditions signed the Protocols in 1466, near the end of the Grand Convocation, to govern inter-Tradition interaction and the relation between Mages and Sleepers.
Magick without conscience is a terrible thing. In order to sidestep the worst excesses of wizard-tyrants (and to punish them when necessary), the Convocation established Tradition Protocols that would apply to all members equally. As with any set of laws, the “equally” part has turned out to be rather flexible over the years. Even so, the following rules have lasted over five centuries.
The Eight Tradition Protocols are as following:
Tradition mages who break minor Protocols are usually dealt with by their group’s elders. Serious violations, however, may be brought before a formal Tribunal. In the absence of strong organization and Master mages, such Tribunals are pretty rare, so serious offenders might simply be killed by their cabal-mates if they step too far out of line.
The Ascension War raged on down through the centuries. Over the years that followed, one tradition of Alchemists, the Solificati, disbanded after one member, Heylel Teomim, betrayed the First Cabal appointed by the Grand Convocation, earning Heylel the moniker of Great Betrayer, as well as a punishment of Gilgul and death. The remaining members of that Tradition folded back into the Houses of the Order of Hermes. This left the seat of Matter empty for nearly 400 years, until the Electrodyne Engineers defected from the Technocratic Union, to join the Council as the Sons of Ether through their ties with founder of the Hermetic House Golo.
Unfortunately, this period of mystic completeness did not last, in 1934 the Ahl-i-Batin withdrew from Council activities to protect their middle eastern homelands from the Technocracy hunger for oil and haven't been heard from since. But in 1961 the Difference Engineers also defected from the Union, and under the sponsorship of the Sons of Ether they joined the Council taking the vacant seat of Correspondence as the Virtual Adepts. Once again the Council was complete.
But like a fly in the ointment, a tenth group appeared, calling themselves the Hollow Ones. They claimed no interest in the Council, but did not wish to join the Technocracy, they just hung around on the fringes of the Council...
Despite upheavals, vacant seats within the Council for long time periods and the infighting between the various sects, the Traditions survived mostly intact into the Final Nights. But the Technocratic Union slowly gained influence over the course of human history. Many mages died horribly painful deaths at the hands of each other, and Paradox. And then a new kind of Storm struck a blow to both sides.
The Ascension War pretty much ended with the turn of the 21st Century, when the Avatar Storm exploded across the Umbra, thickening the Gauntlet, killing more Mages, and cutting off access to many of the Far Realms. Out on the edge of Reality, Horizon Chantry, seat of Tradition leadership (political, spiritual, and magical) fell to the Storm and Technocratic assault. Some say the was due to Hollow One treachery, others whisper of the return of The Great Betrayer. Regardless, the Traditions became a mere shell, a shadow of what they once were - many of the Tradition Primi and Masters having either died or been stranded out on the Horizon in the Deep Umbra by the Storm. Many of those remaining Masters who weren't caught in Horizon when the Storm hit because they were traveling, or in their chantries in the material plane, withdrew from public view. And a new Red Star, an ill omen, appeared in the sky
The Traditions and Technocracy spent most of the aughts in various stages of fighting and rebuilding from the Ascension War. Some say the world ended in that time and no one noticed because they were too busy fighting over the ashes. The Technocracy managed to maintain some central control; the Traditions not so much. And so the Traditions as of 2004-ish were already more of a loosely-associated collection of groups rather than something more formal. Occasionally, clusters of surviving Tradition Mages might receive a strange missive, instruction or warning from a mysterious entity calling itself "The Sphinx," and hinting a new "Rogue Council." But Horizon was fallen and fading into but a memory, Doissetep crashed and burned, and the Council of Nine was gone...
The Technocracy spent much of the next ten years in cleanup operations around the globe, routing out and eliminating groups of “Reality Deviants” wherever they found them - severely depleting their numbers. And once that was sufficiently done, they fortified their strongholds in major cities like Chicago, turned inwards and began to stagnate and rust. Little by little their grip on Consensus began to slip, as new threats emerged from within and without...
The dust of the Avatar Storm was settling when in late 2015, a group of Mages and Werewolf shamans banded together to eliminate the looming threat of the Red Star, also known as “Anti-helios,” and “Wormwood,” by performing powerful mystic Rites in the Astral Realm of the Umbra. They managed to extinguish the Red Star, which some say endangered all life on Earth. But even as the the titan shattered and fell, some new and perhaps greater danger was awakened.
Today, the Traditions operate primarily as independent underground cells, without centralized leadership, on limited resources they’re struggling to maintain as many different "Councils of Nine" attempt to exert local control. But the good news is that the Technocracy is also largely working with limited resources as well, stretched thin trying to maintain their hold on Consensus and advance the Pogrom. Something the Technocracy wishes to keep secret has been going on in their Ivory Towers and they’ve consolidated their power in response. This may present an opportunity to the surviving Traditions mages in hiding. With so few Nodes, mentors, or libraries left on Earth, this could be a unique opportunity to gain power, information, and improve your magical skill and follow your path to Ascension - so long as you stay below their radar. Or it may be an opportunity to blow the Sleepers out of their complacency and undermine Technocratic control before the Men in Black know what happened... the Choice is yours.