This -- THIS is the setting and background that Mage: the Awakening should've had!!

The introduction describes the theme as "Techgnostic Espionage", and that both fits perfectly and is something the New World of Darkness has needed for a while. Player Characters are rebelling against a nearly omni-present, inhuman God Machine that is manipulating almost everything behind the scenes of humanity for purposes unknown -- and only PCs (and those like them) can see the strings pulling mortals (or can I say -- Sleepers?) around like puppets. The description of the principles behind demonic powers -- Embeds and Exploits -- are in terms straight out of the Matrix: demonic powers are based on exploiting a meta-reality, created by the God Machine itself, that lies invisibly behind the day to day reality most people (again: Sleepers, again: great for Mage) take for granted. I even like the concept of Cover, a stat that measures how plausible a PC's day-to-day identity is (and with the God Machine and its Angels scouring the system for anomalies like the PCs, maintaining Cover is important). Now, I'm personally not wild about what sounds like PCs devouring mortals to maintain their cover, or the "searching for Hell, a place I can belong" part, but besides that, there's a lot here to like.

This line should have a lot of appeal for oWoD Mage fans. Myself, I'll be getting the main rules ASAP, and cannibalizing this setting and background to make Mage: the Awakening rock!