I see this take, or variations of it, somewhat often and I think it's rather disingenuous. It's treated as some problematic implication about Ascension as a whole.

But that's not what they are.

I think it's most helpful to examine this concept through the lens one of western history's oldest scapegoats, the Witch, or in this case the Verbena.

This Verbena woman doesn't disdain the Technocratic paradigm because they're cutting into her ability to shill for Scentsy to her downline, or because they're interfering with the healing properties of her essential oils.

She hates them because for centuries she was a midwife, an herbalist making home remedies, and perhaps even a brewer. And the entire way she was demonized for it by the powers that be.

She hates them because she was always treated as a scapegoat when something went wrong, and now these arrogant Technocrats have come along and taken away all of the things that used to be hers, that were her domain, her practice, and that she saw her friends burnt to a crisp over, and they've claimed it for their own.

And not only that, but they've commoditized it, they've turned it into big business, and people love them for it.

I think it's helpful to look at the Traditions from the lens of resistance to the Capitalist, Imperialist, and Patriarchal meat grinders.

That isn't to say that the Traditions can't fall into these same traps, but the same can be said of the oppressed in our own world too.

This isn't a response to anything I've seen here recently, but it's something I've seen a few times in the past, and I felt that I'd gathered my thoughts enough to share them here now. I hope this can help you all come up with fun new ideas for your Mages, if nothing else.