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The third volume of the Traditions Gathered series brings us the remaining 3 Tradition books in one single package. As a sidenote, I found the relation between the 3 Traditions in the first two bundles, but I really think the Chorus has nothing to do with the other 2 Traditions in this package. Anyway, they had to bundle the remaining 3, so here we go: Akashic Brotherhood

I really wanted to like this one, but I couldn't. I liked the layout and the artwork somehow reflects the Brotherhood oriental style. Unfortunately, the information you'll find on this one is not only scarce, but sometimes even erroneus. Of course, being the most distant of all Traditions, the Brotherhood needed either an oriental expert to do things right, or a "westerning" process. The book tried to do both, but did neither.

Rather than doing my usual summary of the book, I'll just limit myself to saying that although the book shines in some few parts (I especially liked the section on the Akashic Record), in general is not worth it. Of course, if it was a separate book, you could just not buy it, but as the other 2 books are good ones (as I'll explain later), you'll just have to live with it if you want the others.

Overall, the book is missing important information on eastern philosophy and gives you wrong information on monasteries training. It also makes the Brotherhood a stereotype in all the book, but then this stereotype is broken in the templates section, unfortunately with bad templates. I'd give it a 3 in style, and a scarce 2 in substance, like with the Verbena. Unlike the Verbena book, however, the Akashic Brotherhood book is unfortunately not even a good read.

Celestial Chorus

I'll start by saying I'm an atheist, so maybe that's why my views on the Chorus are completely open minded and without any religious taboo. I really liked what I got in this book, but my views are entirely game oriented, so please be forewarned!

The book starts with something like the introduction to the Order of Hermes book. The book is supposed to be the Fourth English Edition of "The Theophanies", the main book in the Celestial Chorus. The first chapter is, as usual, the history of the Tradition; but this time it's in the form of musical verses, a very appropiate form for the Chorus. It also makes clear that not all people in the Chorus are christians (although much are), but all do believe in one greater entity. This really catched my eye...

The second chapter speaks a little bit about Chorus ranks and internal relations, as well as their view in religious themes like "the One" (God), "the Many" (Angels?), and the Soul. It also has a description of a lot of factions within the Chorus, which make for a good change if you're planning to run a Chorister. The factions are really diverse, and some are really interesting!

The external relationships chapter is one of the best of such I've seen in the Traditions books. It explains how the Chorus view the others, including what they think the "others" are. Almost all the creatures in the world of darkness are something completely new and in some way miraclous to the Chorus. Spirits are not the same for them as for, say, the Dreamspeakers or the Hermetics. For the Chorus, the spirits are rather "Angels" or "Demons". The book also claims that the faction that suffered the most during the inquisition was precisely the Chorus, and explains why.

Chapter four is rather curious, but it serves a good purpose: it breaks stereotypes. From the four templates this book brings, none is christian! Plus, the noted figures explained under the "children of God" section are really interesting ones. The appendix is the usual collection of rotes and explanation of magickal paradigm. I've seen better appendices, but this one does just what it has to do.

I really liked the layout and the artwork. In fact, this layout is one of my favorites from all Tradition books, so I guess that's a 4.5 in style. For the content, I'd give it a good 4 in substance!

Euthanatos

Along with Order of Hermes, this is my favorite Tradition book. I expected something huge from this one (hey, Kathleen Ryan and Phil Brucato are my favorite White Wolf writers!), and I wasn't dissapointed. The book itself is the story of a trial before the Council of Nine of a young Euthanatos (Theora Hetick) who is accused of commiting the worse crimes on Earth. Mitzi and her apprentice Julia (both mentioned briefly in the Amanda chronicles by Kathy Ryan) are to defend Theora in a trial, and by the way, they'll tell you a whole bunch of information about the Euthies.

The historical part is nicely done, and is probably, among with the Order of Hermes likewise section, the most well explained of all. It explains why the first Chakravanti decided to follow the death roads, what appened with them along history and what's going on now.

The second part explains how much care an Euthie must take doing his work, and the protocols all Euthanatoi follow. For the Tradition, a violation of these protocols is a very serious offense, and although other mages normally don't distinguish between a normal Euthanatos and a corrupt one, the difference is clear as water to the Tradition. The chapter also describes 10 different Sects within the Tradition, each with different methods but similar goals.

The external reations section is a good read, but it fails explaining much of what the Euthanatos think of the rest of the Mages. It does, however, explain their relations with their closest supernatural allies (and enemies), and this part really shines.

The templates are simply charming. So charming that one even gets tempted to play one of them just as it is given! The famous Euthanatos section is rather short, but useful. The Appendix is excellently done, with the variants in philosophy among different Euthanatos from different geographic regions, and Jhor is described clearly for the first time. It also gives you information on Necromancy and some cool Chakravanti weapons.

All in all, this book is great. The layout is perfect for the Tradition (black pages are my favorite ones), and the artwork is good. I'd give it a 4.5 in style, and a definite 4.5 in substance!

The Bundle Again, like in Volume 2, this package has 1 good book, 1 excellent one and 1 mediocre one. Unfortunately, the mediocre one is not even a good read, so overall I'd say Volume 2 has a superior quality. Anyway, I love the Euthanatos book, so I'm a little biased toward Vol 3 too. As with the other ones, if you're looking for a specific Tradition book, get the corresponding Traditions Gathered. If not, this one should be a nice read (except for the Akasgic part)!

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Traditions Gathered Vol 3: Swords of Faith
Author: Akashic Brotherhood: Emrey Barnes; Celestial Chorus: James Estes, Looking Eagle; Euthanatos: Kathleen Ryan, Phil Brucato Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Line: Mage Cost: 20 Page count: 216 ISBN: 1-56504-447-9 SKU: WW4055 Capsule Review by Andres F Pabon on 04/12/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern_day Conspiracy Gothic	The third volume of the Traditions Gathered series brings us the remaining 3 Tradition books in one single package. As a sidenote, I found the relation between the 3 Traditions in the first two bundles, but I really think the Chorus has nothing to do with the other 2 Traditions in this package. Anyway, they had to bundle the remaining 3, so here we go: Akashic Brotherhood I really wanted to like this one, but I couldn't. I liked the layout and the artwork somehow reflects the Brotherhood oriental style. Unfortunately, the information you'll find on this one is not only scarce, but sometimes even erroneus. Of course, being the most distant of all Traditions, the Brotherhood needed either an oriental expert to do things right, or a "westerning" process. The book tried to do both, but did neither. Rather than doing my usual summary of the book, I'll just limit myself to saying that although the book shines in some few parts (I especially liked the section on the Akashic Record), in general is not worth it. Of course, if it was a separate book, you could just not buy it, but as the other 2 books are good ones (as I'll explain later), you'll just have to live with it if you want the others. Overall, the book is missing important information on eastern philosophy and gives you wrong information on monasteries training. It also makes the Brotherhood a stereotype in all the book, but then this stereotype is broken in the templates section, unfortunately with bad templates. I'd give it a 3 in style, and a scarce 2 in substance, like with the Verbena. Unlike the Verbena book, however, the Akashic Brotherhood book is unfortunately not even a good read. Celestial Chorus I'll start by saying I'm an atheist, so maybe that's why my views on the Chorus are completely open minded and without any religious taboo. I really liked what I got in this book, but my views are entirely game oriented, so please be forewarned! The book starts with something like the introduction to the Order of Hermes book. The book is supposed to be the Fourth English Edition of "The Theophanies", the main book in the Celestial Chorus. The first chapter is, as usual, the history of the Tradition; but this time it's in the form of musical verses, a very appropiate form for the Chorus. It also makes clear that not all people in the Chorus are christians (although much are), but all do believe in one greater entity. This really catched my eye... The second chapter speaks a little bit about Chorus ranks and internal relations, as well as their view in religious themes like "the One" (God), "the Many" (Angels?), and the Soul. It also has a description of a lot of factions within the Chorus, which make for a good change if you're planning to run a Chorister. The factions are really diverse, and some are really interesting! The external relationships chapter is one of the best of such I've seen in the Traditions books. It explains how the Chorus view the others, including what they think the "others" are. Almost all the creatures in the world of darkness are something completely new and in some way miraclous to the Chorus. Spirits are not the same for them as for, say, the Dreamspeakers or the Hermetics. For the Chorus, the spirits are rather "Angels" or "Demons". The book also claims that the faction that suffered the most during the inquisition was precisely the Chorus, and explains why. Chapter four is rather curious, but it serves a good purpose: it breaks stereotypes. From the four templates this book brings, none is christian! Plus, the noted figures explained under the "children of God" section are really interesting ones. The appendix is the usual collection of rotes and explanation of magickal paradigm. I've seen better appendices, but this one does just what it has to do. I really liked the layout and the artwork. In fact, this layout is one of my favorites from all Tradition books, so I guess that's a 4.5 in style. For the content, I'd give it a good 4 in substance! Euthanatos Along with Order of Hermes, this is my favorite Tradition book. I expected something huge from this one (hey, Kathleen Ryan and Phil Brucato are my favorite White Wolf writers!), and I wasn't dissapointed. The book itself is the story of a trial before the Council of Nine of a young Euthanatos (Theora Hetick) who is accused of commiting the worse crimes on Earth. Mitzi and her apprentice Julia (both mentioned briefly in the Amanda chronicles by Kathy Ryan) are to defend Theora in a trial, and by the way, they'll tell you a whole bunch of information about the Euthies. The historical part is nicely done, and is probably, among with the Order of Hermes likewise section, the most well explained of all. It explains why the first Chakravanti decided to follow the death roads, what appened with them along history and what's going on now. The second part explains how much care an Euthie must take doing his work, and the protocols all Euthanatoi follow. For the Tradition, a violation of these protocols is a very serious offense, and although other mages normally don't distinguish between a normal Euthanatos and a corrupt one, the difference is clear as water to the Tradition. The chapter also describes 10 different Sects within the Tradition, each with different methods but similar goals. The external reations section is a good read, but it fails explaining much of what the Euthanatos think of the rest of the Mages. It does, however, explain their relations with their closest supernatural allies (and enemies), and this part really shines. The templates are simply charming. So charming that one even gets tempted to play one of them just as it is given! The famous Euthanatos section is rather short, but useful. The Appendix is excellently done, with the variants in philosophy among different Euthanatos from different geographic regions, and Jhor is described clearly for the first time. It also gives you information on Necromancy and some cool Chakravanti weapons. All in all, this book is great. The layout is perfect for the Tradition (black pages are my favorite ones), and the artwork is good. I'd give it a 4.5 in style, and a definite 4.5 in substance! The Bundle Again, like in Volume 2, this package has 1 good book, 1 excellent one and 1 mediocre one. Unfortunately, the mediocre one is not even a good read, so overall I'd say Volume 2 has a superior quality. Anyway, I love the Euthanatos book, so I'm a little biased toward Vol 3 too. As with the other ones, if you're looking for a specific Tradition book, get the corresponding Traditions Gathered. If not, this one should be a nice read (except for the Akasgic part)! Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Traditions Gathered Vol 3: Swords of Faith